Keep Your Routine Challenging, Rewarding and Fun!
By TOM BONANTI
Like every hobby, bodybuilding and weight training can become boring and routine. Doing the same old thing the same way every time is monotonous and counter productive even in the gym. That’s why it’s important to read about new routines and the latest findings on muscle growth, etc., so that your workouts remain challenging, rewarding and fun! This week, I’d like to go over a
few common but often misunderstood terms/techniques that can put some fire under your workouts and some burn in those muscles.
“Superset” is a widely misused term. Technically, a superset is when you train two opposing muscle groups (i.e., biceps versus triceps, back versus chest) with only a small break between exercises. For example, you may do a set of flat bench barbell press for chest, then move quickly using the same barbell for a bent over row for back. Go back and forth for three sets of each. Take a brief break and then alternate incline dumbbell presses and wide grip lat pull downs. Supersets create balance and joint strength and allow one muscle group a brief rest while you blast its opposing muscle group.
Compound sets are great, especially if you have a problem muscle group that won’t grow. Compound sets employ two intense exercises for the same muscle group. For example, a standing barbell curl can be combined with a preacher curl to really fry those biceps. Perform a set of barbell curls to exhaustion, then move to a set of killer preacher curls to isolate those twin peaks. Compound sets bombard a muscle group working it to exhaustion.
If you’re really cruising for a burn, go for tri-sets.
This simply means that you add a third or even a fourth exercise to the above torture as you max out those mighty arms.
Forced reps are a great way to push muscles just a little harder, once they’ve been pretty much exhausted. Just when you think you can’t do another curl, press or squat, recruit someone else’s muscles to help you! That’s right, get a trainer, partner or buddy to help you squeeze out a couple of forced reps before you rack your weights and call it quits.
Learn to accentuate the negative – at least with your reps! When I train clients, I’ll often have them focus on the negative or eccentric contraction during an exercise. For example, during a bicep curl, explode as you bring the weight to your chin (concentric or positive contraction) then, as you lower the weight (eccentric or negative contraction), slow down and focus as you push your muscles to a new level of fatigue. Try doing negatives with bi’s, tri’s, chest, legs, etc., once a month to maximize size and strength.
Don’t overdo negatives, or you may risk injury or overtraining.
Have a great summer and take advantage of these techniques to add variety to you training regime. For more tips like these, contact TrainerTomB@aol.com by email.
Tom Bonanti, is a certified personal trainer and owner of Pump’n Inc gym at 1271 NE 9th Ave., Ft. Lauderdale, FL, Email: TrainerTomB@aol.com Facebook: TrainerTomB. On the Internet at: www.pumpnincgym.com