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10-14-2018, 12:16 AM | #1 |
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Join Date: Jun 2015
Posts: 1,502
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Training by feel
Over the last few years I've had to move away from the heavy lifting and changed my training based on injury prevention. It's a lot of sets and reps as opposed to the 6 to 12 rep schemes a lot of guys use. It was really like undoing what I have done for years and starting over.
When I first started training like this I had to find a middle ground where I wasn't under or over training. It took a little time to be able to know when to stop or to keep going. Of course it will also depend on what's going on in our lives and supps we are taking. GH, insulin, aas, diet, rest and stresses so no different than lifting any other way. After training for so long you know when you're doing too much or too little. It takes time to see how we respond and then we make the adjustments. As we do this we get a feel for things. I found the best way for me was to slow everything down, keep everything controlled, use holds at the top and slow on the negatives. It's the easiest way to achieve and maintain a mind to muscle connection for me. Too heavy and too many of the surrounding muscles are used or too little and you don't feel the isolation of the particular muscle being trained. My training consists of 3 days a week. I use opposite and same muscle super sets, tri sets and giant sets. I train 1 1/2 to 2 hours per session. I do up to 5 exercises at once consecutively. Here is an example of a giant set consisting of 5 exercises- Cable isolation delts w/biceps and triceps one arm at a time- Rear delts / Side delts / Front delts / Biceps / Triceps Example of 4 exercises- Chest / Rows / Biceps / Triceps Example of 3- Dumbbell Deads / Leg Press / Calves on leg press Example of 2- Leg press / Leg extensions Dumbbell dead / leg curls Leg extensions / Leg curls Every bit of my routine is like this. It took some time to get it dialed in but I can grow as much as I can eat. It's more of a technical approach rather than pushing the heavy ass weight. I'm becoming more and more brittle as the years pass and I have no intentions of sitting on the side because of nagging injuries. I've got some problems with back, neck, shoulders and knees and this type of training has been good to me. I rarely count anything anymore, I don't really feel it's necessary for me. The count can be different each time anyways as I vary on speed with negatives, sometimes long holds sometimes short super hard squeezes, sometime repping it out and I will switch with each set in the same exercise. I do the same exercises but mix it up with everything else. Moderate weight doesn't mean easy either, I train hard as fvck every session but the difference is I'm good to train hard the next session because I don't have any problems. The biggest and hardest part for me was using the moderate weights in front of people. I had to put the ol ego in my back pocket for this but once I started getting the results, I didn't give 2 shits. Anyone else training similar or may be interested in a different approach besides always heavy? |
10-14-2018, 06:28 AM | #2 |
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Join Date: Nov 2003
Location: Cimmeria
Posts: 18,386
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I have had to moderate training for the past several years due to shoulder problems. You can get a very good workout without going super heavy.
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10-15-2018, 09:05 PM | #3 |
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Join Date: Jun 2015
Posts: 1,502
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Ya, shoulders are my biggest problem these days. If I take my time and keep everything controlled, I do well.
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01-11-2019, 09:36 AM | #4 |
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Join Date: Dec 2018
Posts: 38
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Old thread, I know, but still wanted to chime in.
My left shoulder is garbage so I have to be careful on everything from grip to form to weight. Sometimes I work around the painful area with different movements, and can't go heavy at all most of the time. I still enjoy doing controlled negatives and pauses, though. Sometimes the pauses on lateral raises hurt some, but it's nothing terrible. Like you mentioned, feel it out. See what works for you and listen to your body. Be smart and keep the ego in check. It will work out. |
01-17-2019, 12:14 AM | #5 |
VET
Join Date: Nov 2016
Posts: 270
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I find "going heavy" is only useful on big movements where you're aiming, at least partially, for strength.
When training a muscle specifically, especially isolation work, the dumbbell stuff, etc... I usually lower the weight and end up with a better workout because I was cheating away from the targeted muscle before. Finally learned that a few years ago, I still remember: yeah, I can hammer curl 40s. 35s were better?! 30s better still! Holy shit, it's working! |
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