5.
Why Training Frequency is
Ten Times More Important Than You Think
Article: Why Training Efficiency is Ten Times More Important Than You Think
Author: Peter Sisco
Precision Trainer
Revolutionary High Intensity Training System gives you
Huge Strength and Mass Gains with every Workout --- Guaranteed !
Training Efficiency is Ten Times More Important Than You Think
Have you ever seen the guy in the gym who pumps iron for two or three hours every day? You see him every time you go to the
gym and no matter how long you stay, he stays longer.
You might be impressed by this guy…but you shouldn’t be. I want you to think of him as a Neanderthal. He’s
a guy who uses the lowest possible technology and intellect to solve a simple problem. He does twenty hours of work when fifteen minutes would
do the job better.
More Bang for the Buck
The purpose of lifting weights is to trigger an adaptive response in the body. That response is to build more muscle tissue.
This happens when muscles are forced to operate at a higher intensity of output than normal. Intensity is measure in work per unit of time.
So all you have to do is get each muscle group to hoist more weight per minute than you did the last time. And even if that
maximum stimulus lasts only five seconds, it will trigger the desired growth. In fact, those five seconds will trigger more growth than grinding
out the same twenty sets on same five exercises using the same weights as your last workout.
It’s like getting a suntan. Five minutes in full July sunlight will stimulate more tan than two hours sitting in the
shade.
Here are four ways to get more bang for your buck:
Use the one exercise that allows you to hoist the most weight for that muscle group. For example, to work the quadriceps you
could do squats or hack squats or leg extensions or the leg press. But if you experiment you’ll discover that you can use the most weight
on a leg press. Do that. Perform one all out set on the leg press then move to the next muscle group.
If you can’t increase the weight on a particular exercise, use a power rack or a Smith machine to reduce the range of
motion and lift the weight in only your strongest range. The muscle building stimulus works whether you move a weight one inch or two feet. After
all, it’s still your muscle that is forced to hoist that weight, the distance is not the most important factor, the weight is.
Divide your workouts into an A and B routine that each involves half of the muscle groups. This allows you to work harder
each time you visit the gym because you do fewer exercises.
Write down what weight you use on each exercise so you can be certain to add a bit more each time. Four hours in the gym is
meaningless if the intensity of overload (weight per minute) does not increase.
Less Wear and Tear
Exercise is stress. Every time you do a workout your body must fully recover before any growth will take place. It’s
obvious that recovering from hours and hours in the gym will take longer than recovering from five or six exercises that last two minutes or less
each. This point is completely missed on the Neanderthal who never fully recovers and – because he insists on working out every day –
has to decrease the intensity of his workouts in order to complete them.
If you think of exercise as medicine this issue becomes crystal clear. Suppose you had high blood pressure and needed to take
a medication for it. You’d want the lowest possible dose that would place your blood pressure within the acceptable range. You would never
subject your body to five or ten times the dose necessary to achieve that goal because it places unnecessary stress on your body. But the Neanderthal
would. He just uses the “more is better” philosophy and in doing so he exposes himself to more wear and tear on his body and greater
risk of injury.
When you walk into the gym, ask yourself what the minimum dose of exercise is that will trigger a strength increase in your
quads, chest, biceps or whatever muscle groups you are working that day. Take the minimum dose and leave the gym.
More Time Outside the Gym
Which brings me to the most important point. Use your new strength and health to enjoy life outside the gym. If you build muscle
for martial arts, go practice your techniques. If you build strength for rock climbing, get out of the gym and go enjoy climbing in the great
outdoors!
The Neanderthal spends far too much of his life in the gym because he doesn’t know any better. He uses a low technology
and limited intellect and he suffers greatly for it. The greatest things in life pass him by while he vainly sweats in a gym.
I want you to use a higher technology that lets you get out of the gym with all the health benefits of strength and fitness
and the maximum time to go squeeze the juice out of life!!
Have a great workout,
- Pete
Revolutionary High Intensity Training System gives you
Huge Strength and Mass Gains with every Workout --- Guaranteed !
Peter Sisco is co-author of Power Factor Training, Static Contraction Training and Train Smart.
Pete is also the editor of the five-book "Ironman's Ultimate Bodybuilding" series.
