Received this e-mail from a very competent gym-goer - is it true?

SuprSi

3 lifting mistakes you MUST not make

If you're serious about building muscle there are three critical mistakes that you absolutely can't afford to make.

The first is training each muscle group only once per week. To elicit a growth response you must provide the muscles with a certain level of volume, which should be absolutely no higher than the bare minimum. Research and empirical evidence has shown this to be roughly 50-100 reps per muscle group, per week. Any more will lead to overtraining and less usually won't be enough for anyone but the inexperienced newbie.

The way you reach that magical number of total reps is very important, however. If you do them all in one workout you'll make far slower gains than if you broke them up into two sessions of 25-50 reps or three sessions of 17-33 reps. Doing that will allow you to get 2-3 times as many growth stimulating workouts per year, per body part.

I think anyone can do the math on that one and see which option would be more effective.

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click here: edit: link removed.

The next mistake is allowing your workouts to last more than 45 minutes (not including warm up time). After your first heavy set your body will start pumping out growth hormone and testosterone at much higher levels than normal. Blood tests have shown this to peak at approximately 27 minutes. By 45 minutes you're back to baseline.

At 46 minutes and beyond your anabolic hormone levels actually start plummeting and the evil, muscle destroying, fat storing hormone, cortisol starts pumping like crazy. That's why you have to get in and out of the gym as fast as possible.

The third critical mistake that far too many skinny guys and girls make is constantly using the same weights. The most important thing you can do if you want to build muscle rapidly is to constantly add weight to the bar. Consistent strength gains in a hypertrophy rep range will help you grow faster than anything else you could possibly do. This may go against a lot of what you've read but think about it logically.

If you took two twins and had one do supersets, drop sets, forced reps and steadily increase his training volume over the course of six months, then had the other simply double the weight he could do for ten reps on a squat, deadlift, military press and chin up, which twin do you think would be bigger at the end of the experiment? The answer should be obvious.

Eliminate these mistakes today and start growing tomorrow.

Train hard,
Jason Ferruggia

The guy I received this from is a serious lifter in the gym and due to his size and strength I would imagine he knows his stuff, though a lot included in this e-mail goes against my current workout routine as I train each muscle group once a week. Is it an accurate article?

brianthebard

I think its broadly true but a bit ott-its not the end of the world if your session goes over 45 minutes, and adding volume also helps growth although to keep increasing it over 6 months would probably lead to overtraining. His first point is the most important though and I think the most correct.

itsallaboutheL

SuprSi wrote: »

The guy I received this from is a serious lifter in the gym and due to his size and strength I would imagine he knows his stuff, though a lot included in this e-mail goes against my current workout routine as I train each muscle group once a week. Is it an accurate article?

Depends on training level and goals./.

O.P.H

I've been visting the fitness forum here now for about 2 years and one thing I'm sure of now is that there is no exact science on the best why to get "big". There are so many different opinions, ideas and programs. All bodies are differnet and respond in differnet ways to different programs. Who says split routines where you do one body part a week isnt as good as whole body work outs etc. Who says Starting Strength is the best beginner program. I mean I dont think any of these different training programs or points that the OP made have been examined in any long term scientific studies to determine which is the best. I did the Starting Strength program for a few months, did'nt like it and went to a 4 day a week splitt routine. I'm seeing better strength and size gains. I really think its to each there own and find out what works for you. Just becasue someone says "oh you have to do it this way", dosent mean you can't question that and try somethin else.

itsallaboutheL

O.P.H wrote: »

I've been visting the fitness forum here now for about 2 years and one thing I'm sure of now is that there is no exact science on the best why to get "big". There are so many different opinions, ideas and programs. All bodies are differnet and respond in differnet ways to different programs. Who says split routines where you do one body part a week isnt as good as whole body work outs etc. Who says Starting Strength is the best beginner program. I mean I dont think any of these different training programs or points that the OP made have been examined in any long term scientific studies to determine which is the best. I did the Starting Strength program for a few months, did'nt like it and went to a 4 day a week splitt routine. I'm seeing better strength and size gains. I really think its to each there own and find out what works for you. Just becasue someone says "oh you have to do it this way", dosent mean you can't question that and try somethin else.

:pac:I say it.

And yes it does.

D'ya wanna fight???:p:D

Edwardius

"The next mistake is allowing your workouts to last more than 45 minutes (not including warm up time). After your first heavy set your body will start pumping out growth hormone and testosterone at much higher levels than normal. Blood tests have shown this to peak at approximately 27 minutes. By 45 minutes you're back to baseline."

At 46 minutes and beyond your anabolic hormone levels actually start plummeting and the evil, muscle destroying, fat storing hormone, cortisol starts pumping like crazy. That's why you have to get in and out of the gym as fast as possible."

This is an odd statement. Does that mean that if I stand in the gym for 45 minutes I'm turning into a catabolic mess? This sounds like "broscience". 45 minutes could be a few sets of squats+presses+pullups with a few minutes in between and a bit of a run or row, it could be hammering on a treadmill, doing 6 or seven types of curls or it could be a recovery session. That "rule" might apply to someone that works at a particular intensity and volume adhering to a particular programming and schedule with a particular capacity for recovery, in that case it's true, but not for others.
These apparent truths will tend to confuse folks as there's another guy saying the exact opposite with the same level of conviction.

Transform

on all three points there are some truths

1. Yes most people need some volume in training (especially a beginner) but as you get stronger, say after 2-3 years training, your recovery rate has not gotten better so you will not need as much volume as the weights your lifting are much heavier i.e. deadlifting 80kg to say 180kg.

2. I have to say i agree with the time one as the majority of people who train in typical gyms just put in time. They might as well be clocking in to a job they really do not like as they follow what ever comes to mind - guys its chest exercises and lots of biceps curls and women its lots of cardio followed by a silly amount of stomach exercises and maybe the adductor machine.

WHEN TRAINING ALWAYS PICK INTENSITY OVER VOLUME (at times volume is needed but along with decent intensity).

3. totally agree with the last one - if your not getting stonger then your just pumping up! You see this all the time if you go to any gym long eough - the same guys and girls lifting the same weights and worse the same exercises week in week out. They then have the audacity to even wonder why they always look the same and are the very ones looking on t-nation or other sites for the next best program!

Lots of thruths there alright

O.P.H

itsallaboutheL wrote: »

:pac:I say it.

And yes it does.

D'ya wanna fight???:p:D

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4IXmHqPWxUw

ragg

To be honest, some of the the biggest mistakes I made in the gym for years are contained in that email. I was doing a complex split with little or no structure and no balance, limited progression. I never saw any real results. The right Diet and a full body programme, that pushed me soon saw me getting the results I wanted in no time

rubadub

SuprSi wrote: »

The first is training each muscle group only once per week.

So if you do full body workouts it should only be once a week? (or is it a different way of recommending splits). -(EDIT: I got that wrong, see next 2 posts)

SuprSi wrote: »

Research and empirical evidence has shown this to be roughly 50-100 reps per muscle group, per week. Any more will lead to overtraining and less usually won't be enough for anyone but the inexperienced newbie.

Surely there has to be some % of your 1RM taken into account. Otherwise I do a single set of 100 pushups and that is all I am "allowed" for the week?

SuprSi wrote: »

If you do them all in one workout you'll make far slower gains than if you broke them up into two sessions of 25-50 reps or three sessions of 17-33 reps.

I don't understand what is meant by this, he is saying only workout once per week, but that you can't do them all in the same workout? So when do these sessions occur?

SuprSi wrote: »

The next mistake is allowing your workouts to last more than 45 minutes (not including warm up time). After your first heavy set your body will start pumping out growth hormone and testosterone at much higher levels than normal.

So if you did a "light set first", e.g. forearm or calf exercises could you get away with longer workout time? e.g. doing deadlifts midway through so the real effect kicks in later.

d'Oracle

rubadub wrote: »

So if you do full body workouts it should only be once a week? (or is it a different way of recommending splits).

That stick you have there.

I believe you are holding it by the wrong end.

rubadub

d'Oracle wrote: »

That stick you have there.

I believe you are holding it by the wrong end.

I sure do!, read it again and copped it now, also found the original site it may have came from and it was even clearer

One critical mistake all skinny guys and girls make is they follow traditional bodybuilding advice and only train each muscle group once per week. If someone just arrived here from Mars and I told them the best way to improve something was to do it only once per week they would think I was absolutely insane.