What is the best way to develop your physique? Because I am a competitive bodybuilder and coach, I am asked this question more than any other, and in my experience, everyone seems to expect that there should be a black and white answer. The truth is that if a black and white answer were to exist, wouldn’t everyone who is seeking physique development already have the body they want? A common idea in the industry is that in order to get bigger, you must lift heavier and heavier weights and constantly work to gain strength. This is only partially accurate. The problem is that many people misinterpret this approach by striving to increase limit strength (1-rep max) in order to induce hypertrophy. In doing so, they focus exclusively on lifting more weight, thereby training the movement and not the muscle, and this flawed strategy undermines proper muscle fiber recruitment. Lifting better, not necessarily heavier, is what is essential for development! How much you lift is only relative to correct lifting technique and execution. Another industry plague is the ingrained dogma of bodybuilding. Put simply, bodybuilders are creatures of tradition. They tend to either do what they have always done or follow a trend because a champion bodybuilder did it, not because there is actual expertise behind it. Consider Dorian Yates, for example. Undoubtedly, he had one of the best physiques in bodybuilding. However, he also had countless injuries as a consequence of his training style. Many people followed his system not realizing that only a select few could actually achieve real progress from it. Dorian eventually reverted to more traditional hypertrophy training because he had to think more about the long-term as opposed to short-term, as most bodybuilders tend to do. Most individuals have no concept of how to monitor and vary their training in order to achieve the best possible results because they have simply never been taught properly. Unlike most other sports, physique development has never had the benefit of guidance from real coaches. There are thousands of coaches out there who help elite and amateur athletes alike excel in their chosen sport, be it basketball, hockey, swimming, gymnastics, or many others. Physique development coaches, however–with actual expertise in helping individuals who are not genetically superior to obtain an impressive physique–are a truly rare species. When it comes to training for development, there is a right approach to use when performing a movement to extract the most benefit, and that includes training the muscle through its full range of motion. This does not mean that every person should do the same program–it simply means that after you take into account the individual, his or her current fitness level, current phase of development, and other factors, you still must apply the same basic principles. There are many ways to design a program to suit an individual’s current needs, and this should always be taken into account
Posted on: Mon, 30 Sep 2013 22:10:53 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015