Modifying Set Numbers: 1, 3, or 5 Sets - How Many Shall We do per Exercise in 2015? First Study to Investigate Potential Benefits of 5 Sets in the Long (6 Months) Run

I have to admit. I am surprised that the total lean mass didn't but the sleeve size of the subjects did benefit from increasing the number of sets from 1 to 3 and from 3 to 5 sets. For legs this would have been something I would have expected. For arms, which are trained with almost every other exercise? No, not really.

With their latest study, scientists from the University of Rio Grande do Sul, the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire and the Federal Universities of Rio de Janeiro and Maranhão tried to fill the gap that exists with respect to studies comparing the effects of multiple sets, greater than 3-sets, on strength and muscle hypertrophy over long training periods. Accordingly, the aim of the study was to compare the effects of 1, 3 and 5-sets on the changes in the muscle strength and endurance, muscle hypertrophy, vertical jump performance and body composition over the course of a six months standardized training regimen.

The hypotheses of the study was that multiple sets would result in greater changes in training outcomes than single sets and that there would be a dose response for training outcomes.

Are you looking for other muscle builders than volume increases?

Tri- or Multi-Set Training for Body Recomp.?

Alternating Squat & Blood Pressure - Productive?

Pre-Exhaustion Exhausts Your Growth Potential

Full ROM ➯ Full Gains - Form Counts!

Battle the Rope to Get Ripped & Strong

Study Indicates Cut the Volume Make the Gains!

In view of the fact that the subjects were 48 men from the Brazilian Navy School of Lieutenants (mean ± SD age = 24.4 ± 0.9 yrs; body mass = 79.3 ± 9.1 kg; height = 174.5 ± 5.5 cm) who were familiar with all sorts of body weight "strength training" drills, but had not trained on any of the Life Fitness machines that were used in the study, it's not unlikely, though, that even one set of bench presses, leg presses, lat pulldowns, leg extensions, leg curls, biceps curls, ab crunches and triceps extensions, which were performed thrice a week, would suffice to produce significant results (also compared to the regular military training the men in the control group performed).

Figure 1: Overview of the 6-week resistance training protocol used in the study at hand.

All exercises were performed with a weight of 8-12RM (meaning the subjects failed after 8-12 reps) and a rest interval of 90 to 120 seconds between sets and exercises. The training resistance was increased by 5-10% for the next session when subjects were able to perform more than 12 repetitions in all sets of an exercise.

Remember? A 2012 study by Robins et al. suggested that experienced strength trainees need 8, not 4 or 1 set for legs | more

What's different to previous studies? As previously mentioned this is the first study to compare three set-ranges (1, 3, 5 sets) over a long study period. Accordingly, it's not necessarily surprising that the results of the study at hand stand in conflict to studies by Bottaro et al. (2011) ot Hanssen et al. (2013),  which found no significant difference between one and three-set training protocols. On the other hand, the results are partly in line with those of a 2007 study by Rønnestad, et al. who found benefits of three sets, albeit only for the legs. Overall, the total training volume (number of exercise) and study length of the previous studies was yet lower than that of the study at hand. This suggests that it may be the 2x higher volume difference between 4x1 vs 4x3 as in Ronnestad et al. (2007) and 8x1 vs. 8x3 vs. 8x5 in the study at hand that may have made all the difference.

The scientists made sure that all subjects participated in at least 95% of the training sessions (missed no more than four sessions). All training sessions were monitored by an experienced investigator and the subjects were not allowed to perform aerobic or flexibility exercises during the six month training period. What the scientists found was:

• 

  Figure 2: Changes in body composition (top) and bench press & lat pulldown 5RM (Radelli. 2014).

  All training groups recorded significant strength gains for bench press (BP), front lat pull down (LPD), shoulder press (SP) and leg press (LP) (p≤0.05) exercises, but the 5RM (maximal weight the subjects could lift 5 times) increased significantly more for both bench presses and lat pulldowns in the 5- SETS compared to the other training groups (p ≤ 0.05). 
• In the 20RM (maximal weight with 20 reps) bench press tests both the 3- and 5-SETS groups saw significantly greater strength increases than the 1- SET group, with the 5-SETS protocol also producing significantly greater increases in strength, than the 3-SETS group (p≤0.05). 
• In the 20RM leg press tests only the 5-SETS protocol yielded significantly greater strength gains than the 1-SET protocol. 
• For the 3- and 5-SETS groups the scientists also observed significant increases in elbow flexor muscle (biceps) thickness (MT) with the 5-SETS increase being significantly greater than the other two training groups (p≤0.05). 

In spite of these differences, all training groups decreased percent body fat, increased fat free mass and vertical jump ability (p≤0.05), with no differences between groups. In spite of that, "the results demonstrate a dose response for the number of sets per exercise and a superiority of multiple sets compared to a single set per exercise for strength gains, muscle endurance and upper arm muscle hypertrophy" (Radelli. 2014).

Example Split-Routine for 2015: If you still need inspi- ration here is an example of how you could train using the 5 sets per exercise principle in a 2-day + cardio split in 2015:

(Mo) Push day: Squat, bench press, military press, nose breaker, calf raises

(We) HIIT day 10x45sec sprinting or cycling at maximal velocity, 2 min walking / slow cycling

(Fr) Pull day: Pull up, DB row, biceps curl, stiff legged deadlift, abs.

Same procedure as in the study at hand, 90-120s rests between sets, 8-12RM (to failure).

Bottom line: If we go solely by the results of the study at hand, it would appear prudent to add a set or two to your training regimen. In view of the fact that most of you will probably be training according to a body-part split, I doubt that you will be doing significantly less than 5 sets for any of your muscle groups, anyway. In view of the absence of beneficial effects on the body composition and considering the fact that the arms, of all muscle groups, were the only ones that grew significantly, it's still questionable how beneficial a volume increase in 2015 would be.

As a SuppVersity reader you will also be aware that previous studies showed that a higher volume training is beneficial for the legs ("8 sets of squats outperform 1 and 4 sets" | read more). This result was yet observed in highly trained individuals and stands in contrast to the recent revelation that you can "Cut the Volume, Still Make the Gains!" (read more). I would thus suggest you keep that in mind, when you plan your 2015 workout routine. 5 sets per body part!? Fine! 10 sets for legs? Fine! But four exercises à 5 reps for chest? Madness! Comment on Facebook!

References:

• Bottaro, M., et al. "Resistance training for strength and muscle thickness: effect of number of sets and muscle group trained." Science & Sports 26.5 (2011): 259-264.
• Hanssen, K. E., et al. "The effect of strength training volume on satellite cells, myogenic regulatory factors, and growth factors." Scandinavian journal of medicine & science in sports 23.6 (2013): 728-739.
• Radaelli, Regis; Fleck, Steven J.; Leite, Thalita; Leite, Richard Diego; Pinto, Ronei S.; Fernandes, Liliam; Simão, Roberto. "Dose Response of 1, 3 and 5 Sets of Resistance Exercise on Strength, Local Muscular Endurance and Hypertrophy." Journal of Strength & Conditioning Research: Post Acceptance: December 24, 2014. doi: 10.1519/JSC.0000000000000758
• Rønnestad, Bent R., et al. "Dissimilar effects of one-and three-set strength training on strength and muscle mass gains in upper and lower body in untrained subjects." The Journal of Strength & Conditioning Research 21.1 (2007): 157-163.

Periodization Techniques Revisited: Improved Strength & Size Gains W/ 12-Week Undulatory vs. Linear Periodization

There is going to be a point in everyone's training career, when 100 push-ups a day alone are no longer going to "cut" it and you got to to modify and later periodize your training to keep making progress.

Ah, that feels so good... No, not what you are thinking, now. I am sitting at my desk - alone, no female White House intern around ;-) Still, it's simply nice to see another study with real-world relevance for the average and not so average trainee.

The study comes from the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro and was conducted by Juliano Spineti and colleagues. The Brazilian researchers compared two periodization models: Linear periodization, which probably what most of you will have been starting out with what the scientists consistently (mis-)label  as "ondulatory periodization", a training method of which you will soon realize that you may be more familiar with it's fundamental principles than it may seem initially.

"Ondulatory periodization?"

I have to admit I was confused at first. I mean, I am the last person to complain about typos, so I willingly accepted that the scientists must have made a mistake in the abstract. When I downloaded the full text to the study and found that they stuck to "ondulatory" instead of "undulatory" periodization, I did however begin to question, whether this may in fact be a new twist to the good old undulating periodization, which is based on the hypothesis that changing reps, volume and intensity from one workout to the other (Table 1, left + red) would yield more beneficial results than the classic 4-week cycles.

Table 1: Undulating (left) and linear (right) periodization prgram used in the study at hand (Spinetti. 2013)

Apropos classic. I guess this is what everyone of you will be thinking of, when they hear about periodization. It's also part of the so called HST (=Hypertrophy Specific Trainting) routines and has you change the set and rep-ranges, intensity, rest times etc. on a monthly basis. In that, the order is usually as follows: "Resistance" (usually this is called "strength endurance"), "hypertrophy", "maximal strength" → repeat...

Suggested Read: "Periodization, Yeah! But How? " | read more

Don't forget that there is more to periodization than changing up your set/rep/intensity... no idea what that could be? Well, what about detraining or tapering? Taking some time off is about as important as hitting it hard. Unfortunately this simple wisdom is ignored by the majority of trainees who love to hit it hard, but hate and/or refuse to take it easy for some time - no matter how beneficial that may be (learn more).

If you look at the left-hand side of table 1 you will realize that the "misnomer" of the "strength endurance phase" which is called "resistance" in the Spinetti study is the only thing that would point towards an innovative training protocol and away from a simple typo in "ondulatory"... a typo that is repeated 5+ times within the full-text though :-/

Typos, but intriguing results

If we still put some faith in the results the 32 men from the Brazilian Marine corps (26 years, 15% body fat),  who were advised to refrain from any additional physical activity during the trial achieved, we'd have to follow the researchers' very own conclusion that the undulatory training regimen would make a better choice - at least for the average, lean, physically active individual who is starting his or her first resistance training regimen in the gym.

Figure 1: Effect sizes of 12 weeks tranining with undulatory (OP; remember the typo ;-) and linear (LP) periodization on 1RM strength, maximal voluntary contraction force (MVC) and muscle thickness (Spinetti. 2013)

Both the effect sizes (left, 3D) and the absolute values (right; muscle size only; 2D) clearly speak in favor of the more versatile undulatory training regimen.

Intra-workout periodiziation inspired by Dr. Squat: Some of you will already know that I personally like to train in a way that is based on a concept by Hatfield (Dr. Squat) with different rep/rest/intensity patterns within one training sessions.

If you have no idea what this may look like, these two examples may help:

5x5 for squats w/ max. 2min rest (strength); 3x10 for leg presses w/90s rest (hypertrophy) 2x20 for leg extensions w/60s rest (strength endurance)

5x5 for decline bench press w/ max. 2min rest (strength); 3x10 for incline bench press w/90s rest (hypertrophy) 2x20 for cable cross (strength endurance)

The fundamental pattern is compound for strength, basic for hypertrophy, stretch / pump exercise for strength endurance.

Linear periodization no more?If you look at the study data it is obvious that undulatory training makes you stronger, allows for faster muscle growth and... well, that's not in the study, but once you try it you will realize it, it's much more fun, as well. So why bother with linear periodization any longer? Well, the reason should be obvious: This is a single study the result of which are

• supported by Rhea et al. (2002), Monteiro et al. (2009), Prestes (2009), Miranda et al (2011)  and Simao (2012), but
• refuted / questioned by Baker et al. (1994), Bufford et al. (2007) and Kok et al. (2009),

who report identical gains in strength and size in 22strength and power in experienced male athletes (Baker. 1994), 26 recreationally trained college-aged male and female (Bufford. 2007), and 20 untrained but fit women (20yr, normal weight) (Kok; 2009).

Personally, I like to dabble with both undulating, but also with intra-workout "periodization" a la "Dr. Squat" (see box to the right) while I hate, and I mean "hate" as in totally detest, these lame 4-week cylces of doing the same stuff every workout. The "I hate ..." argument may not sound as if it would hardly qualify as being "SuppVersity Approved", but it in fact is. I am the last person to suggest you drag yourself to the gym and do something you hate. That's not going to be productive, trust me - no matter what science says, by the way.

References: .

• Baker D, Wilson G, Carlyon J. Periodization: the effect on strength of manipulation volume and intensity. J Strength Cond Res1994;8:235-42.
• Bufford TW, Rossi SJ, Smith DB, Warren AJ.A comparison of periodization models during nine weeks with equated volume and intensity for strength. J Strength Cond Res. 2007;21:1245-50.
• Kok LY, Hamer J, Bishop DJ. Enhancing muscular qualities in untrained women: linear versus undulating periodization. Med Sci Sports Exerc 2009;41:1797-807. 
• Miranda F, Simão R, Rhea M, Bunker D, Prestes J, Leite RD, et al. Effect of linear vs. ondulatory periodized resistance training on maximal and submaximal strength gains. J Strength Cond Res. 2011;25:1824-30.
• Monteiro AG, Aoki MS, Evangelista AL, Alveno DA, Monteiro GA, Piçarro IC, et al. Nonlinear periodization maximizes strength gains in split resistance training Stone routines. J Strength Cond Res 2009;23:1321-6
• Prestes J, Frollini AB, Lima C, Donatto FF, Foschini D, Marqueti R, et al. Comparison between linear and daily undulating periodized resistance training to increase strength. J Strength Cond Res. 2009;23:2437-42.
• Rhea MR, Ball SD, Phillips WT, Burkett LN. A comparison of linear and daily undulating periodized programs with equated volume and intensity for strength. J Strength Cond Res2002;16:250-5.
• Simão R, Spineti J, Salles BF, Oliveira L, Matta TT, Fleck SJ. Comparison between linear and nonlinear periodized resistance training: strength and muscle thickness effects. J Strength Cond Res. 2012;26:1389-95.
• Spinetti J, et al. Comparison Between Different Periodization Models On Muscular Strength And Thickness In A Muscle Group Increasing Sequence. Rev Bras Med Esporte. 2013; 19(4).

Building the Jack-of-All-Traits Legs Workout With Squats, Jump Squats and Body Weight Plyometrics? At Least for Physical Education Students that Seems to Work.

Image 1 (musclemag.com): You don't have to restrict your plyometrics to leg exercises - plyometric push ups, for example can help you to build a bigger chest and a bigger bench.

"How many sets, how many reps, which exercises...?" These are the standard topics people are chatting about at the gym. Things like ROM (range of motion), explosive training or plyometrics, on the other hand, are almost as rarely talked about as they are done.

What about you? When was the last time you counted the seconds it took you to compile the concentric phase of a squat? What about "plyos" (=plyometric exercises) do you have some in your current routine? No? According to the results of a recently published study by Eduardo Sáez de Villarreal and his Spanish co-workers, this may be a mistake - at least if your goal is not solely to maximize muscle size, but also muscle function.

Plateau busting plyometrics and power building explosives - more than just hilarious bogus?

In a randomized trial, 60 active male physical education students (78.3kg body weight; 12.7% body fat; 20.4y mean age) were randomly assigned to one out of five training groups. For the subsequent 7 weeks the students performed one of the following exercise regimen (see A-E in table 1) three times per week for a total of 21 sessions (participants were instructed to avoid any strenuous physical activity and to maintain their usual dietary habits for the duration of the study).

Table 1: Training program for all the groups, participants were randomized to groups and trained 3x/week for 7 consecutive weeks; velocities are given in m/s for the concentric phases of the full squat equaling 1 m/s = 60% 1RM, 0.9 m/s = 67%, 0.8 m/s = 74%, 0.7 m/s = 80%, 0.6 m/s = 86%; full-squat means thighs to the ground, while squats are done until 60°;
plyometric jumps are done with body weight only (based on Sáez de Villarreal. 2012)

While the subjects in group A performed all types of training within one session, the other three groups served as what you may call a "control" the former "crockpot" regimen was compared to. Thus the researchers expected to be able to decide

Video 1 (click to watch): Loaded countermove- ment jumps (CMJLoaded)

1. whether the combination training (A) would elicit similar performance increases as a specialized training routine and
2. which of the specialized training routines (B-E) would elicit the greatest effects on the two outcome variables of the study.

The latter, i.e. total strength and explosiveness, as well as the 30m sprint performance of all participants were assessed in individual tests at baseline and at the end of the 7-week period and the results did in fact partially confirm what conventional wisdom would tell us: Training for speed will make you faster, training for strength will make you stronger *surprise!*

30m sprint improvements: C > A > B > D > E - but all below 1% and not significantly different

And despite the fact that none of the improvements did result in significantly improved 30m sprint times  (A: 0.23%; B: 0.13%; C: 0.33%; D: −0.68%; E −0.91%), there were statistical significant differences in the dynamic strength / power (measured via 1-RM full squats), as well as the maximal velocity of displacement during the full squat (a measure of the explosiveness), between the five study arms that may give us some clues in terms of what type of training could promote your individual training goals best.

Figure 1: Relative changes in full squat 1RM and full squat velocity (left) and ratio of power (1RM) and explosiveness (velocity) improvements (right) after 7 weeks on the 5 different protocols (based on Sáez de Villarreal. 2012)

So what exactly are the implications for your training regimen, then? Well, lets start with the most obvious things first - so, let's assume that you ...

• want to become more explosive; in that case, you would perform regimen C, because despite the fact that regimen E may be similarly specific (see figure 1, right), the overall increase in full squat velocity with C was 33% greater than with regimen E (25% vs. 16%). 
• want to improve your overall power; in that case you would perform regimen A, because neither the classic power protocol B nor the surprisingly power-specific CMJloaded protocol D (see video 1) elicit similarly pronounced gains in 1-RM squat performance as the combined protocol.

And what if you want to do both - get stronger and faster? Well the answer should be easy: Protocol A! After all, it did not just produce the most pronounced strength gains, it is also a very close second (+22% vs. +25%) as far as the improvements in explosiveness are concerned.

But that's unfair - the volume was much higher!  

Image 2 (muscle-fitness-tips.net): Plyos make an excellent addition to every routine, no matter if you want to gain muscle, build strength or agility or just don't want to do the same boring workout all the time. If you need some inspiration on which ones you could simply add to your current routine, check out the exrx.net list and pick your favorites.

Yeah, that's right... and that's not even all you would have to consider before you draw otherwise foregone conclusions based on the results of the study at hand. Despite the fact that the study participants were trained individuals, for example, their 1RM squat performance at the beginning of the study was (only) roughly their body weight, so that there was still more than enough room for improvements (what's your squat?). The testing procedure, the 1-RM full squat, as another example, is - at least in my humble opinion  - not the very best method to test "real" strength gains as it requires a decent amount of proficiency to be performed correctly. If you are a power lifter and squatting is part of your competition, fine - otherwise, testing leg-strength / power with 1-RM squats always reminds me of telling Mr Average Joe to sprint 100m as fast as he can, while dribbling a soccer ball... nonsensical? Well, so is the 1-RM squat performance test.

I could probably come up with a dozen of other "confounding factors" and "things to consider", but in the end we have to cope with what we have and based on the data from this study it does not appear to be too far-fetched that you could also benefit from incorporating some explosive CMJs (or jump squats) and plyometrics into your regimen - even if it was for nothing else than a speed and agility building, fat burning body weight based HIIT protocol you can perform at the end of your regular workout sessions and even when you are traveling!

Additional resources:

Chest	Biceps	Back	Core	Legs	Triceps	Shoulders
In case you are looking for the best classic exercises click on the body part above to see the most effective ones

References:

1. ExRx.net. Plyometrics and Power Exercises: Instruction and Movement Analysis. < http://www.exrx.net/Lists/PowerExercises.html > retrieved July 15, 2012.
2. Sáez de Villarreal E, et al. Enhancing sprint and strength performance: Combined versus maximal power, traditional heavy-resistance and plyometric training. J Sci Med Sport. 2012.
3. SportStrong.uk. Loaded Countermovement Jump. YouTube Video < youtube.com/?v=f69faqO1tto > retrieved July 15, 2012.

Leucine & Leptin, Two "L"s for More Muscle & Less Fat? "I'll Get There, When I Can!" How Important is it to Stick to the Plan? Is Organ Growth Inevitable for the Big Guys?

With annual costs of $560-$635 billion chronic pain is going to bankrupt the US before the diabesity epidemic can. After all the $146 billion obesity cost the US economy in 2008 is pretty cheap compared to the ~$300 due to chronic pain, wouldn't you agree?

$560-$635 billion that's the SuppVersity Figure of the Week and it quantifies the annual amount of money that is spent for treating chronic pain in the US (Institute of Medicine (US) Committee on Advancing Pain Research, Care, and Education. 2011). According to the latest data (2011) each US citizen is thus paying $2,000.00 to relieve the pain of 100 million chronic pain patients in the US alone.

Obviously you are not  paying those two grands to your sick neighbor, directly. In fact, the $2,000 consist of the total incremental cost of health care due to pain which ranges from $261 to $300 billion and a $297-$336 billion "penalty" due to lost productivity (that's more than 2x more than the $147 economic costs of obesity; CDC data from 2008)... what? Now, you are in pain, as well? Ah, never mind. At least a few cents of the two grand are now going to be spend on yourself.

Leucine & leptin: There is more than the "L" they have in common

(Mao. 2013) Yep, that's right there is more than the "L" that links leucine and leptin and that's not the fact that both are two-syllabled words. If the results, Xiangbing Mao and his colleagues from the State Key Laboratory on Animal Nutrition in China translate from the rodent model to human beings, the physiological relation between the two may turn leucine into an important tool in our war against diabesity, because the special thing about leucine is that ... leucine increases leptin and leptin receptor expression.

Figure 1: Protein synthesis, degradation and leptin mRNA expression of mice on alanine or leucine supplemented diets (Mao. 2013)

In the C57BL/6 mice the researchers used for their experiment, Mao et al. also observed significant reductions in plasma urea and protein degradation in skeletal muscle. What's also interesting is that both treating the mice with leucine and injecting them with leptin lead to similar increased weight of the gastrocnemius and soleus muscles in ob/ob mice (rodent model of diabesity). In that,

"[t]here were interactions (P 0.05) between the leucine and leptin treatments with regard to protein metabolism in C2C12 myotubes and soleus muscles [predomintantly oxidative] of ob/obmice but not in the gastrocnemius muscles [pred. glycolytic] of ob/ob mice." (Mao. 2013)

So that it can be assumed that the "anti-obesity" hormone which has as of late acquired somewhat of a bad rep is also a "muscle builder" that supports the muscle building prowess of leucine.

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Suggested read: "Leucine + Resveratrol - Synergistic Sirtuin Boosters: +118% Fatty Acid Oxidation, 60% Increase In Muscular Glucose Uptake, -30% Visceral Fat & More" (read more)

Now the bad news is that these results would suggest that both people starving themselves, as well as the victims of years of gluttony are not going to benefit from this synergy, because their leptin levels will either border zero (starvation) or the receptor expression will be so downregulated that even the 100% increase the researchers observed in the high leucine diet (compared to a high alanine diet) would not matter.

For the rest of us, it may yet be another research to keep an eye on the quality of each of the 30g+ protein servings you are supposed to have with every meal (learn why), after all you want your body to know that there is not need to store it as fat, don't you?

Things that matter: Sticking to the plan

No schedule? No routine?  No clue? No Problem! Read the SuppVersity Step By Step Guide to Your Own Workout Routine and find a plan to stick to (learn more)

(Gentil. 2013) It should actually go without saying that showing up at every training session and sticking to a plan is the primary parameter of training success. Unfortunately, the camp of fitness and physique enthusiasts is a pack of notorious "I'll get there, when I can"-s, "Just another set"-s and "Rest days suck I'll just do some bicep curls"... we have been discussing the counterproductive effects of the two latter strategies, which will usually lead to overtraining often enough (read up on overtraining). What I am not so sure about, though is whether or not we have ever taken a look at whether there is actually good evidence that the former group, the "I'll get there, when I can"-s actually don't see the results they are striving for.

Against that background I decided to take the very recent publication of a paper by Paulo Gentil and Martim Bottaro as an incentive to pose the question: "Does sticking to the plan make a difference?" Ok, ok, it probably won't come as a surprise that those of the 92 resistance training noobs (21.7 ± 2.7 years; 175.4 ± 6.7 cm; 74.1 ± 15.0  kg) who simply did not show up got what they deserved: nothing.

On the other hand, I would guess that some of you  may be surprised to hear that the XX% of the subjects who skipped 10-20% of their resistance training sessions, which consisted of

• five exercises -  leg  press,  knee  flexion,  bench  press,  pull down and sit ups 
• performed for two sets of 8-12 repetitions, with 90-120 s rest between sets
• for 11 weeks with two training sessions per week

did actually show (100% non-significant) greater increases in 1-RM strength on the bench than their more reliable peers (18% vs. 17.6%).

Figure 2: Scatter plot of 1-RM bech pres gains according to training attendance (in % on the x-axis; left); mean bench press and leg extension strength gains (right) expressed relative to mean levels of all three groups at baseline (Gentil. 2013)

As you can see in figure 2 there are still significant inter-individual differences, but the trend is clear - if you skip more than one out of 10 workouts on a 2x per week training schedule your gains suffer. Even Gentil and Bottaro were yet surprised that there was not a more distinct statistically significant correlation between  training attendance and strength gains after RT in these previously untrained young men and conclude that it "is not possible to suggest that, in the initial training phase, a higher attendance would lead to better results" (Gentil. 2013) At the same time, the authors do yet acknowledge that

"[...] there seems to  exist a cutting point, from  where  the  lack  of  compliance  starts  to  hinder upper  body  strength  gains.  In  the  present  study,  the group  of  subjects  with  less  than  80%  of  training attendance showed less gains in 1RM bench press [but not leg strength; my note] than the other groups." (Gentil. 2013)

Against that background the experiment was not totally useless. In conjunction with a previous study by Chin et al. who found a similar cut off level (75% non-attendance) in their 2006 study of the effects and feasibility of controlled exercise in long-term care facilities, it does yet confirm the notion that some lesser-fair ain't detrimental.

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Bottom line: In view of the results of the study at hand and the 2006 study by Chin et al. it appears that the non-athlete who must manage his workouts around his professional and social life won't hamper his progress, if he skips a workout once in a while. On the contrary, listening to your body (not your lazy weaker self, though) may even be something many of the most dedicated trainees could benefit from. When I think about the stubborn, frustrated faces of the vast majority of trainees who are simply always there, when I hit the gym, I don't need a study to tell you that doing the opposite, i.e. training when you actually have a rest day scheduled is much more detrimental to your physical development and psychological well-being than vice versa. 

Organ growth without drug abuse

(Miyauchi. 2013) The GH gut, i.e. the protruded abdomen many professional bodybuilders and strength athletes have, is a pretty nasty and unaesthetic abnormality and certainly not completely unrelated to the (ab-)use of all sorts of growth promoting "supplements". According to a very recent paper from the Waseda University in Saitama, Japan, it is however perfectly normal that increases in lean mass are accompanied by organ growth.

So, chronic overfeeding + exercise grows muscle, liver, heart, kidney & more, but it ain't going to grow your brain... no, I don't think this part of your body is going to grow. It's not exactly an organ and the corpus cavernosum is no muscle, either ;-)

"Fat-free mass (FFM), skeletal muscle, and adipose tissue mass were obtained using dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry. Liver, kidney, brain, and heart volumes were calculated using magnetic resonance imaging or echocardiography. Compared to the freshman players, the senior players had 10.8 kg more FFM, and 0.29 kg, 0.08 kg, and 0.09 kg greater liver, heart, and kidney mass, respectively. In the longitudinal study, FFM, liver, heart, and kidney mass of the freshman players increased by 5.2 kg, 0.2 kg, 0.04 kg, and 0.04 kg, respectively, after one year of overfeeding and physical training. On the other hand, the organ-tissue mass to FFM ratio did not change except for the brain in neither the cross-sectional or longitudinal studies." (Miyauchi. 2013; my emphasis)

Ok, admittedly, their subjects, collegiate male American football players (10 freshmen vs. 17 senior players in their second and third years of college) are certainly not 100% drug free study objects. The results are yet probably still relevant for the average trainee who will thus have to cope with some protrusion of the abdomen if he wants to compete with the heavy weights. After all, according to the results of the study at hand a 30% increase in lean muscle mass would yield a 30% increase in organ mass without a concomitant growth of the rib-cage, so that a slight protrusion of the abdomen is not unlikely to become visible even if you don't do drugs.

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Bottom line: Being big is a "whole body issue" and organ growth (as nasty as it may look) obviously a normal result of overfeeding and chronic training. In the end you can even argue that it's functionally important. I mean how is a heart that is used to fuel say 60kg of lean mass continue to supply a 90kg lean mass body with enough blood, just by increases in effectiveness? Well, that's like buying a VW Golf to which you then add extra after extra until it weighs as much as a Royce Royce Phantom and trying to compensate for that with nothing but chip tuning... sooner or later your Golf engine is going to get winded ;-)

Happy weekend everyone

If we discard the Facebook news that's it for today's installment of "On Short Notice", the "Short News" and all the funky names I have been giving these mini-items which will by the way no longer exists, whenI will finally find two weeks time to get the blog over into the new design. So, once you've checked out..

• 

  Don't worry, sweet & regular potatoes are equally suited for human consumption. And if they increase the risk of diabetes at all it is in the form of  French fries, potato chips & co, or in response to the effects of juicing, which is not only 100% unpaleo but notorious to produce exorbitant increases in the glycemic load of otherwhise healthy foods... You don't believe a word? In that case I'd suggest you (re?)read parts I & part II of the the SuppVersity Potato manifesto.

  ... how creatine can activate the alpha-1 adrenoreceptor according to a recent study from the  Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina in Brazil | read more...
• ... how endurance training leeches the salt from the bones and may thus increase the risk of osteopenia | read more... 
• ... how the molecular weight is the main determinant of the glucose blunting effects of beta-glucans and not, as it was previously thought the viscosity | read more... 
• ... how the antinutrient content of sweet potatoes and yams will put some inhabitants of the blogosphere at the verge of extinction, once they get wind that those two items are now also on the never-ending list of items "you are not supposed to eat" | read more...

I hope all of you are going to have a nice, painless weekend. Enjoy it, if you've been eating too many sweet potatoes in the past it may be your last ... just kiddin' folks ;-)

References:

• Chin APMJ, van Poppel MN, Twisk JW, et al. Once a week not enough, twice a week not feasible? A randomised controlled exercise trial in long-term care facilities. Patient Educ Couns. 2006;63:205-14.
• Gentil P, Bottaro M. Effects of training attendance on muscle strength of young men after 11 weeks of resistance training. Asian J Sports Med. 2013 Jun;4(2):101-6. 
• Institute of Medicine (US) Committee on Advancing Pain Research, Care, and Education. Relieving Pain in America: A Blueprint for Transforming Prevention, Care, Education, and Research. Washington (DC): National Academies Press (US); 2011. 
• Mao X, Zeng X, Huang Z, Wang J, Qiao S. Leptin and leucine synergistically regulate protein metabolism in C2C12 myotubes and mouse skeletal muscles. Br J Nutr. 2013 Jul;110(2):256-64.
• Miyauchi S, Oshima S, Asaka M, Kawano H, Torii S, Higuchi M. Organ Size Increases With Weight Gain in Power-Trained Athletes. Int J Sport Nutr Exerc Metab. 2013 Jun 24.
   

Adelfo Cerame RtWC12: Shoulder Your Weaker Body Parts! Bring Up Those Lagging Delts - Exercises, Splits, Routines

Image 1: After his 2nd place at the Nationals, Adelfo wanted to bring up his rear delts and although the lighting does not really do him justice, he made use of the weeks between the Nationals (right) and the USA (left) and filled up considerably.

It is more than 3 months ago that Adelfo and I have been talking about ways to bring up his somewhat lagging delts (if you could even say that there is something "lagging" about Adelfo's physique), yet still, it seems as if it had been yesterday that I told him that he would not have to wonder that those delts were not growing, when he was working them almost exclusively with compound movements for stronger body parts, which wouldn't allow the side and, more importantly, the rear delts to reach that highly productive, growth triggering point of just too much load to handle, but still not so much load that adaptation could not make up for it. And judged by his latest progress pics, Adelfo did not just take that comment to the heart, but was also able to make the appropriate changes to his routine. Good for you that he is no magician who would never betray any of his illusionist tricks, but gives away practical advice every week ;-)

Boulder shoulder tweaks

After my Florida show, I felt that my shoulders (front, side & rear) were an area in my physique that could use some improvement. It was not a clearcut weakness of mine, but when the initial disappointment subsided and I took another look at the comparison shots, I felt that Adel (aka Dr. Andro) had been right, when he said "If anything, you lost on one maybe two of the backshots, where Neil looked somewhat more massive - his rear-delts in particular." And yeah, he had been right, those rear delts did not really keep up with the rest of my back development, which - as you may probably remember - had been one of my priorities (aside from coming in as shredded as possible) during the prep for my first competition of the year. I knew I would not make the same mistake twice, and decided to level out those imbalances in the weeks to come.

Image 2:  The left hand side is a current image of me 4 weeks out from the USA’s, and the right hand image was me 4 days out from Nationals.

And allegedly, the results, now 14 weeks later, may not be earth-shattering, but the changes are unquestionably visible and that despite the fact that the "mini-bulk" I had originally planned for in-between the shows turned out to be more of an ameliorated diet ;-)

Make changes to see changes

While I guess that it should actually not be necessary for me to point out that continuing along a way that has lead you astray is a pretty stupid undertaking, I still see people do just that day by day - and not just in the gym, but also in their private and professional lives! Often ridden by the fear to make a change for the worse they'd rather continue along a known path that won't produce the desired results than to try something new that would at least hold the chance of improvement.

My old path consisted of training my shoulders once a week, following my basic training principle to use heavy compounds wherever possible and simply rely on the fact that those would provide an intense enough stimulus to both, the primary, as well as the auxiliary muscles that are involved in the respective exercises.

According to the aforementioned primacy not to follow a path which has lead you astray before another time, I increased the training frequency a bit and made a  couple of additional adjustments with respect to the exercise selection (see table on the right) and the grouping of the bodyparts, with auxiliary shoulder work on chest day.

Barbell jammers, bent over reverse cable fly’s and lat pulls behind the neck are 3 exercises that I have added into my training. Out of the three, I really enjoyed were those jammers - I felt they really targeted all areas of my delts, plus they are less stressing on the shoulders joints, because you're pushing in a forward/upward motion rather than right over the head. What was particularly surprising, though was how effective those three rear delt exercises actually were - I have never really paid much attention to it, let alone trained them in in isolation, but the way they felt during and after each workout told me that it may have been a mistake not to do DB rows (which are certainly more difficult for me to do than for an able person), lat pulls behind the neck and bent over reverse cable flys, before.

Training shoulders twice in a bi-weekly hybrid routine cycle

Image 3: Planned changes deliver results

Consequently, all three (DB rows, lat pulls behind the neck and bent over reverse cable fly’s) have turned into staples of my routine - irrespective of whether I am training at a higher or lower training volume on my new bi-weekly alternating hybrid routine

• EDT/5x5 = 2 week phase
• Overkill/5x5 = 2 week phase
• Hypertrophy/5x5 = 2 week phase

While cycling through these basic templates, I incorporated the aforementioned additional shoulder work into my existing split on "chest-" and "back-days" which allowed me to train my shoulders - just as my chest and back - twice a week.

The following example routine (which is not intended to be copied without adaptations) goes to show you how you can reconcile all that in one routine, where you would split your shoulder workout up into front and side delts on "chest-" and rear delts on "back days" (click to enlarge):

Workout routine: No blueprint, just an example - Overkill (left), 5x5 (middle), EDT (right) hybrid

As I said before, both the volume and the intensity of these workouts are pretty insane and I am not suggesting that any beginner should simply copy this workout. The idea, however, to incorporate front and side delts on your "chest-" and the rear delts on your "back-day" is yet something that will have merit regardless of your training status or overall conditioning. So pick your favorite exercises from table one, align them into a routine with a total volume and intensity that suits your need, eat well, train heavy and get enough rest and you will see your shoulders will grow ;-)

Step By Step Guide to Your Own Workout Routine - Part VII: "How Was Your Workout?" Evaluate & Tweak Your Routine

Image 1: It's pointless to "hit your chest from every angle", when none of the 10+ exercises you do hits it at all.

"How was your workout today?" If you consider this question odd, this part of the "Step By Step Guide to your Own Workout Routine", could be the most important one for you to read. After all, squeezing your workouts into your daily routine, finding the right workout type, understanding the basics of reps, sets, density, intensity, volume etc. deciding on a health, hypertrophy, fat loss or strength focus and even having an idea of how to best periodize your training is of little value, if your workouts suck! I mean, you know that feeling when you already think about your next workout, before you even leave the gym,right? A feeling that nothing really seems to work and results that not far from abysmal.

Don't have your ego stop yourself from making progress

Over the years, I have found that the #1 reason my workouts sucked were my ego and my ambition. While I was constantly preaching others to "leave their ego at the door", the first thing I did on "chest day", when I hit the floor after a brief warm-up was the flat bench press. And I can tell you - that sucked! That and the rest of the workout which resembled Jay Cutler's chest + biceps workout - with the difference that I did some more sets, trained over a greater rep range and used as many intensity techniques in one workout as Jay during his whole prep.

Chest	Biceps	Back	Core	Legs	Triceps	Shoulders
Navigate the SuppVersity EMG Series - Click on the desired body part to see the optimal exercises.

"You got to hit a muscle from all angles!", that was my mantra. And since "you got to do power and stretch movements", "you got to lift heavy" and "you got to totally exhaust a muscle" were right next to the former on my list of to-do's, I ended up doing the flat bench, the incline, incline and flat bench flies, cable flies and - as a finisher - dips to failure. I could outline similar idiocies for other muscle groups, but that would thwart the idea of this series...

Your brain is the thing that resides (hopefully) next to your ego in your skull

It was not like I was not aware that the workouts were shabby and the results meager, but for whatever reason, the single most important question "How was your workout?" never passed my mind. I was simply too occupied with thinking about "How is my next workout going to be?" and "How do I bring up this sagging chest of mine?" to ask myself any of the following questions:

Image 2: Believe it or not, but your nervous system has to be trained, as well. And more often than you may think it has had enough long before your muscles quit their service.

• Did you feel the muscle working? Many trainees (me included at that time) focus way too much on lifting the weight, than on the lift itself. Your muscles could hardly care less how much weight you have packed onto the bar, and so should you: Focus on your muscle, not the weight!
• Which exercise worked best for you? Unless you have a twin brother / sister, it is very unlikely that you will find another person in the gym that has the exact same build as you. And even if you did, your twin could well outperform you on the flat bench simply because he / she has a better technique. Try all exercises and don't simply rely on what works for most people - I mean, look at them: In most cases it produces at best mediocre results!
• At which time point of your workout did you lose the mind-muscle connection? It is actually not difficult to decide when you have had enough, once you start listening to your body. When you can as hard as you want and still the one thing you can think about is "How much reps in this set and how much sets still left?", it's time to go - not to the next exercise, but home. Don't ignore the limits of your central nervous system, when your brain says "no", you better go!

Had I asked myself those questions after each and every workout, instead of just asserting that it sucked and my results were suboptimal, to say the least, I wouldn't have wasted hour by hour in the gym and had still seen way superior results.

It's good to have a large toolbox, but in the end, you never need all at once

Regardless of whether you want to build muscle, stay healthy, shed fat or gain strength. Having a broad range of "tools", i.e. workout styles, exercises, intensity techniques etc. is important. It is yet even more important to apply them correctly. The flat bench press, for example, has been figuratively gathering dust in my toolbox. I cannot even tell you why, but it simply does not work for me - the only thing I train doing it, are the front delts. And I would never have realized that without asking me the aforementioned stupidly simple question over and over again: "How was your workout?" I want you to answer this question - honestly! And that before you apply any of the following randomly arranged workout-tweaks:

• 

  Image 3: Vince Gironda was a proponent of a training style that, just like German Volume Training, focused on doing many sets of exercises that work, instead of doing dozens of exercise that don't. And I would say that his results spoke for themselves.

  Stick to one... if you are training to gain muscle, forget your current workout for the time being and try to identify the exercises that work for you by switching to a stupidly simple 3-day split routine where you do exactly one exercise for 10x10 sets x reps for one of the larger muscle groups (legs, back, chest) and exactly one exercise for 5x10 sets x reps for a smaller (shoulders, arms, auxilliary stuff) muscle group on each of the day. Go through all exercises that would qualify as a main lift on a given day and ask yourself the first of the three aforementioned important questions: "Did I feel the muscle working?" - When you have established the exercises that work, go through this series again and make them the staples in your routine.
• Do two more and one less... if you are training to gain muscle or strength, either pause in at the end of the eccentric or concentric phase (depending on the movement) or rack the weight at what would usually be the end of your second last set; pick up the weight again and perform another two reps; skip the last set! - Trust me, done periodically those two reps will produce increases in strength and size gains beyond what performing a regular last set would produce.
• Do the dumbbell push-over... if you are not feeling your chest working, try to turn the classic dumbbell pullover lying across (!) a bench into a pressing movement by briefly pulling the dumbbell up into a position that allows you to push it through the rest of the movement - This exercise really helped me to realize how it feels when your chest is working, not your shoulders; but the exercise is tricky and does not work for everyone
• Walk... if you want to lose body fat ignore the allegedly greater caloric expenditure from jogging vs. walking; if you decide to do light intensity steady state (LISS) cardio training for 30-45 minute, walk on an incline! - Even if you are well conditioned, the minimal difference in caloric expenditure is not worth taking the risk that you burn yourself out; and to increase your VO2Max you would have to train at a much higher intensity, anyway.
• Row... if you want to lose fat and do something for your muscles at the same time, do your LISS cardio on a rowing machine - I am not aware of another "cardio" equipment that would offer a similar full-body training effect
• Be flexible... if you don't want to waste your time waiting, you better plan for an alternative option for every exercise: All ergometers taken? No problem, you walk. Your 30lbs dumbbells in the hand of another trainee? No problem you do your side-laterals at the cable tower or 15 reps with 25lbs instead of your usual 10-12 reps with 30lbs dumbbells - By staying flexible you do not only avoid wasting time waiting, you also rotate through exercises and "keep your body guessing", something that can never hurt, no matter what your training goal may be.

• 

  Image 4: I guess you will be past that stage already, but do you actually know how to walk? I mean in way that your abs are working to keep you torso up right, your calves are trained with each step you take and your glutes literally burn after 30 min on an incline treadmill? No? Well, then you got to practice!

  Practice... even if you are just walking on the treadmill, everything - yes, even correct walking - must be learned; feel the movement, feel the muscle, change the tempo, control the weight - Improvements in your form, or the way you feel your muscles working will exponentiate your strength and size gains and they will help you shed body fat, because you activate more muscle fibers
• Do acclimatization sets... if you are training for size or strength, you do 1-2 sets with 50% or less of your target weight, picture perfect form and the exact number of reps you want to perform in your working sets. Contrary to regular warm-ups, these sets are meant to "warm up" or rather prime your brain not your muscles. You memorize the exact movement pattern, pick your regular weight and then simply recall the exact same movement pattern - you will be surprised about the positive impact this is going to have on your mind-muscle connection
• Do 100... if you want to build muscle or get into shape, pick one of the basic exercises, like squats, pull-ups, push-ups, farmers walk, etc. and do 100 reps in as much sets as it takes; try to reduce the number of sets from workout to workout - With the high intensity and build-in progression it is quasi impossible that you don't see results.
• Do it the other way around... to see what works better or just to surprise your body, do biceps before back, or cable flies before the bench press - Aside from the benefits any new stimulus will provide pre-exhaustion can allow you to work the target muscle even harder; give it a try! 

I guess, I could continue this list for ever, but that would only increase the chances that you are getting bogged down in details again, when either a lack of consistency or a plain overload of useless exercises and things that work for others, yet not for you, are hampering your progress. Therefore I suggest, you put the Flex and Women's Health magazines with all their tips, tricks and workout programs aside for an hour or so and ask yourself a simple question: "How was my workout?"

Step By Step Guide to Your Own Workout Routine - Part V: Example Routines - Round 3: A Detailed Strength Workout

Image 1: Being strong has gotten somewhat out of fashion these days. Apropos fashion, can you imagine David Beckham doing that?

Aside from Thursday, when Adelfo "guest lectures" here at the SuppVersity, you usually have to content yourselves with the sometimes more, sometimes less knowledgeable stuff I am putting out on a daily basis. For today's sixth installment, you are yet lucky that I could convince my friend Sean Casey from CasePerformance to take care of the strength workout template in the "Step By Step Guide to Build Your Own Workout Routine" series. And though Sean, modest as he is, started out his article with a the words "I would like to thank my friend Adel aka Dr.Andro for giving me the opportunity to share a one week sample strength training regimen  with the SuppVersity community", I am the one to say "thank you", sit back and just have Sean take you through your new workout routine ;-)

Sean Casey's Strength Workout Template

Some of you may have seen my face on the SuppVersity facebook wall, already. Others may know me from (accidentally?) clicking on the "suggested reading" link in the navigation of the SuppVersity. Yet regardless of whether you know me or my business @ CasePerformance.com, I want you to know that I do not claim to be an originator of any revolutionary training technique or an "almighty" guru. Similar to everyone else, I'm searching for the best way to maximize human performance (ed. Dr. Andro: highly recommended article "The Guru I am not!" by Sean Casey).

Image 2: Sean's way of designing workouts was inspired by Ian King (photo) and Luke Richesson

My training philosophies and the way I set up training programs are heavily influenced by the writings of Ian King. Those familiar with his work will be able to note several of his original principles in my approach to program design (tempos, general layout, etc). I also must give credit to my mentor, Luke Richesson, with whom I worked for many hours when I first started in the physical preparation field. This does not mean that the program below is endorsed by either of these individuals, but I do feel it's important to give them credit.

If you will, take those workouts as being are "inspired" by these two extraordinary physical preparation coaches.

General Discussion on The Training Week – Strength Focus

There are a thousand different ways you could write a strength based training program depending on your goals. For instance a strength based program for a powerlifter will differ from that for a ball/speed/team sport athlete. Additionally, one's training age impacts things as well. I could have a novice lifter with <1-2 years of experience impressive gains in absolute strength while working in the 5-7 rep range. In contrast, if I went up to a powerlifter with 15-20 years of experience and told them that we were going to lift predominantly in the 5-7 rep range during their peak strength phase, my "street cred" would be tarnished and I'd  probably get laughed out of the gym.

Image 3: One of the things, I like about my friend Sean Casey is his modesty. So, I am not sure that he is going to like me promoting his service and knowledge - sorry, Sean ;-)

Other things to consider when designing the program are: How many days per week will you be training? How much time do you have available per day? What type of "build-up" work have you done in previous training phases? I'm not going to have one prioritize their bench and squat during a strength phase if they walk hunched over with caveman-"esque" posture and absolutely no back or posterior chain strength. This would be setting them up for injury by simply exasperating a problem that is already present. You will also have to take into account which of the main lifts you are specifically looking to increase your strength in – those that are most important should be placed first in the week when you're most fresh.

The latter brings up another issue, relating to the type and amount of baseline stress that is going on in your life at the moment. If you're overworked at the job, getting only 5-6 hours of sleep a night, this may not be the best time to start up a max strength training block (unless you're one of those individuals who thrives in the gym when life is crazy outside of it!) ...This list could go on forever, luckily I won't have to go into to much more detail on this as Adel covered them nicely in Part 1, Part 2 and Part 3 of this "Step By Step Guide to Building Your Workouts".

First things first… What are you doing for your warm-up?

The warm-up seems to be a highly debated topic amongst many individuals, some like to jump rope for a few minutes, do a few warm-up sets and hit the weighs hard. Others like a more comprehensive warm. I personally fall on the more comprehensive side of things. The "looser" I feel going into a workout, the better I recover after it. After playing around with various warm-up protocols, I have found the below to work well:

• Total Warm-up Time: 15-25 min
   
• Light Aerobic Activity: 5-10 min*
  *ride a bike, light jogging on a treadmill, etc.

Your goal in whatever type of warm-up you may be performing is just what the term "warm-up" implies, you want to get the muscles warm. To this ends, I find it most useful to perform your warm-up at an intensity that will give you a light sweat. You should be able to do it at a pace where you could have a conversation with someone standing near you. This will make you a little more limber for the stretching to follow.

Tip on warming up: A nice way to warm up is to simply ride your bike/walk to the gym (this will obviously work only for those who live close enough and don't have a super hilly ride that would turn something that is intended as a warm-up into a brutal leg workout ;-). This convenient and time saving strategy can also be applied to your cool down, once you've finished your workout and need to get back home.

Static Stretching: 5-10 min

I know, I know … "static stretching decreases muscular force and should NEVER be used prior to working out!" I used to repeat this mantra as well, until it was challenged by Ian King (read up on the issue in Sean's interview with Ian King). The fact alone that a highly respected and successful physical preperation coach like Ian, a man who has been coaching elite athletes on an international level for 30+ years questioned this "longstanding truth" made me think: "Could someone like Ian King be so completely wrong on a subject?" Thus, I forced myself to reevaluate the allegedly "conclusive" science which supposedly confirms that a stretching would decrease muscular performance. In doing so, I found that when followed by doing a dynamic/sport specific warm-up, static stretching DID NOT decrease performance (click here for Sean's full review of the literature on the subject).

From what I have learned during this research I deduced these two simple rules for my own, as well as my clients pre-workout static stretching regimen:

1. Focus the static stretches on the muscle groups that will be used during a given workout or are specifically tight
    
2. Before you slam static stretching during the pre-workout time, give it a try for 3-4 weeks. The best research study in the world is N= 1, with that 1 being you. Thus, If you find it effective – Great! If not, ditch it.

Dynamic Stretching: 10 min

Common ones that I'll do, depending on the workout I'm doing, include the following:

1. "World's Greatest" stretch
2. Walking heel-to-butt - Stretching quadriceps
3. Backwards lunge with lateral flexion - Upper body will flex towards side that has leg up
4. Handwalks/Inchworms - I've heard this referred to various things, but basically you get in a pushup position, "walk" your hands out in front of you and then "walk" your feet up to your hands. Your hips will pop up into the air similar to how the middle of a tent pops up when you stand it up
5. Single Leg RDL's/ Walking RDL's
6. Walking Knee Hugs
7. Walking Leg Cradles
8. Lateral Squats
9. Drop Lunge

I'll usually do 3-4 reps per leg, pausing for 2 seconds at the end range of motion. All of these are body weight only.

Ok, Let's Start Pushing Some Iron - The Workout

Here's an example workout for someone with a training age that would fall in the "intermediate" range. Overall body strength, with a focus on his posterior muscle groups, is going to be the general priority for our workout. Thus, we place these exercises 1st in the week on day's 1 and 2 followed by pushing exercises later in the week.

Day 1: Pullups, Wall Slides, DB Overhead Press, Abdominal / Core Training

• A1) Pullups
  
  Warm-up: 1x7, 1x5
  Workout: 5x3
  
  Rest: 3-4 min for less advanced, 5-6 min for advanced lifters
  Tempo*: 201
  *time in seconds spent in eccentric, isometric and concentric phase as created by Ian King. Although the weight may be heavy which makes it impossible to perform the concentric action in 1 second, the intent should be to move as fast as possible during the concentric phase

• A2) Wall Slides
  
  Workout: 1x 6-8 reps
  
  Tempo: 212
  
  Set 1 done prior to the first warm-up set or between 1st and 2nd warm-up set.
  Purpose of these is to activate the lower traps and scapular muscles.
   
• B) DB Overhead press
  
  Workout: 2-3x8  
  
  Rest: ~ 1.5-2 min
  Tempo: 311 or 211
   
• C) Abdominal/Core Training To be completed in circuit fashion (20-30 seconds rest between exercises fine); rest 2 min after completing all 3 exercises
  
      C1) PB Pikes- 2x 8-10  > Tempo 301
      C2) Prone Pillar Planks: 2x 40-60 sec          

Day 2: Romanian Dead Lift, Glute Bridges, Glute Ham Raise, Abdominal / Core

• A1) Romanian Dead Lift
  
  Warm-up: 1x7, 1-2x5
  Workout: 5x3
  
  Rest: 3-4 min for less advanced, 5-6 min for advanced lifters
  Tempo: 201 or 301
   
• A2) Glute Bridges
  
  Workout: 1x 6-8 reps
  
  Tempo: 121
  
  Set 1 done prior to the first warm-up set. If needed, the 2nd  Set 2 would be done inbetween 1st & 2nd warm-up sets. Purpose of these is to activate the glute muscles.
   
• B) Glute Ham Raise*
  *if no machine, have someone hold your ankles and do them off floor
  
  Workout: 2-3x8
  
  Tempo: Between 201, 211 or 301
   
• C) Abdominal/Core Training To be completed in circuit fashion (20-30 seconds rest between exercises fine); rest 2 min after completing both
   
• C1) ½ kneeling Cable Chops 2x8-10*
   
• C2) ½  Half Kneeling Cable Lifts 2x8-10*
  
  *Tempo: Multiple parts in these lifts; can't use traditional tempo numbering system

Day 3: Active Recovery day

1. 20-25 minute easy conversation pace on a bike. The purpose of this is not to enhance your "cardio" fitness or accelerate your fat loss. It will rather help you to shake out some of the stiffness that may have build up in your legs following Day 2's leg session and increase the muscle blood flow. You should place the bigger emphasis on accomplishing the former vs. the latter so don't go at high speeds with the thoughts of getting a good "muscle pump workout".
    
2. Stretching. 20 minutes, combination of static and dynamic (regimen see above)
    
3. 15 minutes relaxing in a pool (submerged up to the neck or at least nipple line) while drinking one of those fruity drinks with the cool umbrella top straws that are always advertised with with those tropical vacation advertisements ;-)

Day 4: Bench Press, Band Pull Aparts, Single Arm DB Row, Abdominal / Core

• A1) Bench Press 
  
  Warm-up: 1x7, 1x5
  Workout: 5x3
  
  Rest: 3-4 min for less advanced, 5-6 min for advanced lifters
  Tempo: 201 or 211
   
• A2) Band Pull Aparts
  
  Workout: 1-2x10 reps
  
  Set 1 done prior to the first warm-up set or between set 1 & 2. Focus on pinching the shoulder blades down and behind you, activating the scapular muscle groups, similar to how they should be during the actual bench press.
   
• B) Single Arm Dumbbell Row (opposite arm supported on bench)
  
  Workout: 2-3x8
  
  Rest: ~ 1.5-2 min
  Tempo: 201 or 301
   
• C) Abdominal/Core Training To be completed in circuit fashion (20-30 seconds rest between exercises fine); rest 2 min after completing all 3 exercises
   
• C1) Curl Ups or Kneeling Cable Pulldowns/Crunches- 2x 10-1, tempo 301   
   
• C2) Prone Pillar Planks: 2x 40-60 sec

Day 5: Squats, Walking Lunges, Abdominal / Core,

• A1) Squats
  
  Warm-up: 1x7, 1-2x5
  Workout: 5x3
  
  Rest: 3-4 min for less advanced, 5-6 min for advanced lifters
  Tempo: 301
   
• A2) No Specific "activation" exercise for Squat. However, if you have tight hips, doing kneeling quad-hip flexor stretch can help assist hip mobility. If needed, I go with ~ 6-8 reps with each leg, holding the end range of motion for 2 seconds before relaxing out of it and completing the next rep (if one side tighter, will hit it in a second set).
   
• B) Walking Lunges
   Workout: 2-3x8
  
  Rest: ~ 1.5 min
  Tempo: Between 211 or 201
   
• C) Abdominal/Core Training To be completed in circuit fashion (20-30 seconds rest between exercises fine); rest 2 min after completing both
   
• C1) Lateral Pillar/Planks 2x 40-60 sec  
   
• C2) Standing Cable Russian Twist 2x8; Tempo: 211 or 311

Day 6: Active Recovery day

1. 20-25 minute easy conversation pace on a bike
    
2. Stretching. 20 minutes, combination of static and dynamic (see above)
    
3. 15 minutes relaxing in a pool (submerged up to neck)

Day 7: Lazy Day

That's right; I said "Lazy Day", rejoin the normal population and simply relax. Mentally prepare for your following week of training. 

A brief note by Dr. Andro: Although I am sure Sean is going to chime in on all your questions in the comment area, you may also want to check out his website for more information on training and supplementation and consider using his services. Unlike me, Sean is a fitness professional and not just some stray physicist ;-)

Notes on "The Workout": Tweaks, Upper Before Lower Body & More

Image 4: Exercises like the squats or deadlifts, here performed by Arnold, are more taxing to your system and require longer recovery times. Than bench presses and other upper body work. This is why you will perform the upper before the lower body workout, so that the squats and deadlifts won't hamper your performance on the bench.

As mentioned earlier, we have placed the upper body workouts in front of the lower body lifts simply because upper body days are less stressful on a "system wide" basis. In contrast, the heavy lower body lifts (squat variation, deadlift variation) which involve the entire body have, at least in my humble opinion, a much greater carryover effect on your exercise performance, when you perform them on the day before your upper body workout. This is also, the reason that a rest/recovery day subsequent to each lower body workout is an absolute must.

In general, I will place the abdominal/core work at the start of the training day after doing the warm-up.  When the day's workout is so heavily focused around a single lift and you've been mentally gearing into it since the previous day, however, I like to hit this one first. Hence, during this particular strength phase the main lift is done right away and core done afterwards. The reason I mention this is that you will find the core work as the first element of your workout, so I deemed it necessary to give you an explanation for why I deviate from this principle, which, by the way, is another one from Ian King's book.

On the core lift, take whatever amount of warm-up sets you need to get your body feeling "primed" to start the work sets. While I did suggest reps/sets, you know your body better than I!

Important: As Adel mentioned on his previous workout templates (Hypertrophy & Health, Fat Loss). There is no template that will work for everyone. For the one I outlined above, one of the most convenient tweaks you can apply is simply flip day 5 and day 6 depending on what works best with your schedule.

You will notice that I have 1 set of an "activation" exercise of some sort paired with the primary lift for the day. An experienced lifter may not benefit from this to the same degree as a less experienced individual as they may already be efficient at activating these muscle groups.

Rest Periods for the Rookie & Advanced Lifters and Tempo Prescriptions

There are not a whole lot of exercises per day for a couple of reasons. First, we have long rest periods on the main lifts (4-6 min). If we do 5 work sets, you're looking at ~ 20-30 minutes on one exercise alone, plus whatever time is needed for the 2-3 warm-up sets. Longer rest intervals  (5-6 minutes) are needed for those with greater lifting experience. Most of the individuals I work with tend to be in the 3-4 minute range. Second, I want all of your attention focused on that main lift for the day. Previous lifting cycles should have taken care of support musculature, etc to allow you to thrive for a few weeks with lower volume. Remember, our goal here isn't necessary to add slabs of muscle mass. Rather, we're trying to make our nervous system more effective at using the slabs of muscle mass that we already have in place!

The tempos I have listed are suggestions only. The main focus is to make sure you're under control during the eccentric phase and pushing as fast as possible during the concentric phase. The use of the "0" or "1" at the isometric pause interval is dependent upon goals. If you're looking to take advantage of the Stretch Shortening Cycle effect to assist the concentric phase, make the isometric as short of possible. However, if you're looking to emphasize the concentric portion of the lift, take a 1 second pause during the isometric portion of the lift. Again this is just another variable you can manipulate based off your desired goals

A Note on Intensity, Weights, RM-Prescriptions and Your Form of the Day

Image 5: Your form of the day is important not only on the days of big meetings. Weight prescriptions in % of RM do thusly have limited value. If your 1-RM max varies from day to day, it should be obvious that whatever percentage of this 1-RM you may be shooting for will vary as well.

Although some people like to work off % 1RM's for all of their lifts, I tend to work more off how my body, or that of the individual I'm training is feeling. 1 RM's (3 RM's, 5 RM's, etc) are only an accurate measure of strength for the day that it was originally set. Let's say that someone is having a phenomenal day (solid night of sleep, promoted at work, the good looking guy/gal that they've had their "eye on" finally agrees to go out on a date with them, etc). More than likely their given 1RM will test amazing.

Unfortunately with the ying comes the yang. Let's say that 1 week later, this individual oversleeps their  6:30 AM alarm (while staying up to 2 am just to get their business papers completed), gets yelled at by their boss for arriving late and were told to "take a hike" from their significant other, etc. etc. In this case doing 5x3 reps at a predetermined X% of their 1 RM may be absolutely futile if they're already mentally and emotionally drained from all the other occurrences of the day.

Thus, as long as you give yourself a planned deload at some point in the cycle, I encourage you to base your rep weights off how you're feeling on a given day; Not off your 1RM from a previous point in time.

Post Work Regeneration – Are you serious…. There's More?

In one word – YES! Remember, you're only as strong as your ability to recover between sessions. Dr. Andro has discussed many nutrition protocols and supplements that assist with this process. Thus, I'm just going to touch very briefly on some of the non-nutritive strategies, of which you may not have read that much on the SuppVersity, as of yet:

• I have found that taking my muscles though gentle, slow stretches to "re-limber" the body to be quite effective.
• If at all possible, I also like to follow my workouts up by doing hydrotherapy. This can involve either contrast, cold water immersion, thermoneutral water immersion or hot water immersion protocols. I've written an ebook on hydrotherapy which may be of interest to some of you who are interested in the research and applied evidence on this topic (you can get it for free when you sign up for my newsletter).
• Massage, when done by a skillful hand, can be helpful as well. I stress the word "skillful" because some massage therapist seem to confuse, "let's bring the muscle tone back to healthy levels" with "I am going to press as hard as I can on the muscle until the client screams, call it Advanced Trigger Release Mumbo Jumbo therapy….". I've seen to many people actually have to back off their workouts simply because their massage was way too aggressive and they're still sore 3 days later. 
• Although I've never done it myself, I do know that some individuals swear by acupuncture and similar types of modalities.

Assuming that you have made it thus far in this epic workout template, I hope that I have been able to give you an idea of how a strength specific workout could look like. If you have questions, feel free to post them in the comment area, or just reach out to me either via the contact formula on my webpage or via Facebook!