Training Log

Sometimes it’s difficult to gauge progress, especially when you’re building muscle and losing fat at the same time. Your waist size might get bigger before it gets smaller, or your arms may decrease in size if you’ve lost an appreciable amount of body fat.

So, how can you tell when both the mirror and the tape measure lie?

Check your training logs! If you’re able to lift more for a given set/rep combination, you are progressing! Those are tangible results that cannot go unnoticed!

Another way to look at this is the following: If you’re not gaining strength and/or muscular endurance, you may not be building muscle OR losing fat! In fact, you may be losing muscle and getting fatter!

But rest assured, if you are getting stronger and your endurance is building, then you’re on the right path.

Here’s an update on my training. As you may know, I’ve been a proponent of low-volume, low-frequency split training. It is simply the best muscle-building system I have come across. Typically, I split my body into two parts, and train each half every other day (Monday-Wednesday-Friday, for example).

However, I am experimenting with a new split – a 3 way split where I train my Legs, Torso, and Arms and Shoulders on alternative days.

Here are the benefits to such training:

First, I get a whole week to recover from a workout. This is working great for my recovery. The other cool thing is, since I’m training harder, with more volume and weight, little injuries crop up and I can structure my workouts such that I can get nearly 2 weeks between workouts for an injured bodypart.

(Right now, I am dealing with a knee injury. It’s NOT from my weight training. Rather, it’s the unfortunate outcome of three knee surgeries after being hit by a car when I was a teenager. In fact, the heavy training has made my knee feel better than ever.)

As I alluded to earlier, some other benefits of this schedule is that I can work with heavier weights, higher sets, and more variety between reps, weights, and exercises.

The drawbacks to this split are:

I’m not sure I’m getting enough stimulation. I mean, the higher intensity and volumes work wonders. But I feel like there’s too much time between workouts.

One of the things I can do to deal with this is to focus on a specific bodypart that I want to improve. For example, if I feel like my biceps are not getting enough frequency, I can split them out and train them separately from the rest of my bodyparts on a Tuesday, Thursday, or Saturday.

This is an option I haven’t tried yet, but it is certainly feasible. I also am not doing much in the way of supplementation, either. Currently, I’m taking a multi-vitamin, calcium, and a glucosamine/condroitin mix (to help repair the knee).

When I really get back into my weight training again, I’ll begin taking a weight gain powder, creatine, and some BCAAs. I’d like to gain about 20 pounds of muscle.

What do you think about this new split? Have you tried something like it? Any pointers?

7 Minute Muscle

I just picked up a copy of Jon Benson’s 7 Minute Muscle, and I have to say, it’s eye-opening. It’s hard for me to believe that one can actually get a workout done in 7 minutes, let alone a good one!

Jon has put a LOT of theory into this book. It’s hard to get your mind wrapped around it at first. Much of it seems a little dry.

But do it.

It’s worth the few minutes out of your life to read and learn about things that

• you never knew or
• you knew but don’t follow
• you knew, try to follow, but cannot

The emphasis of the book, and of the subsequent training, is all about getting your MIND into your workouts. Jon calls it flow. He not only tells you what it is, but how to get there, and how to use it once you’re there.

Now, I fully believe that you can get in a great workout in 7 minutes using Jon’s principles. Of course, I may be even MORE convinced once I’ve read the book in its entirety.

This is quite possibly the most important book you can read about elevating your bodybuilding program to a level you’ve never seen before. At the very least, learn as much about the mental aspect as you can, even if you don’t do the specific workouts, though you’d be hard-pressed to find a reason NOT to do the workouts. They’re very good, targeted, and specific.

Read more about Jon Benson’s 7 Minute Muscle here.

Samir Bannout is one of my favorite bodybuilders of all time. While he won only one Mr Olympia (1983), he was at or near the top of the sport for a long time. He didn’t dominate like Schwarzenegger, Haney, Yates, or Coleman, but his body, in my humble opinion, was the standard by which other bodybuilders could be judged.

Perfect symmetry, good size, great cuts, very good separation (see those quads!). Steeve Reeves, only bigger and better.

But by today’s standards, Bannout might finish last in the “O.” He’s not big enough. Nor does he have the thin-skin vascularity that today’s best possess.

What is your take on all this? Is today’s bodybuilder better or just bigger and more vascular?

Too freaky big? Cartoonish?

Or, is today’s superstar bodybuilder just an evolution of the sport?

Tell me in the Comments (by the way, I’m giving “do follow” free backlinks for thoughtful comments).

SamirBannout1.jpg (JPEG Image, 300×450 pixels)

By Jason Ferruggia

Here are 5 random muscle building tips that may make a big difference in your training.

– Don’t exceed 5-6 reps on most of your warm up sets. Your first set could consist of a very light weight for 10-20 reps just to get loosened up and get the blood flowing but beyond that you want to keep the reps low. The reason for this is that you don’t want to build up too much lactic acid or accumulate too much fatigue with your warm ups.

– Don’t stretch before your workout in the hopes of preventing injury. This doesn’t work. The only benefit of stretching before a workout is to help you get into positions you might not be able to reach (such as a full squat) because you are tight in specific areas (such as the hamstrings and hip flexors). But stretching for the sake of injury prevention is an outdated idea and doesn’t really work.

– Don’t over-analyze and over-think everything you do in the gym. This never gets you anywhere. Don’t worry if the incline of the bench is supposed to be 50 degrees or 55 degrees. Don’t worry that if you don’t supinate at exactly the right time that you won’t activate your biceps optimally. Don’t stress out about the exact grip width on the bar. If someone tells you that a 16? grip on the bench press hits your triceps better than anything else, but because of an injury or anatomical difference you can only comfortably use an 18? grip, don’t sweat it. People over-think themselves to death and they never get anywhere because of it. Go to the gym, get stronger, go home, eat, sleep and repeat. Don’t turn it into advanced calculus. That is one of the best muscle building tips I can give you.

– Always train both sides of the joint with equal volume. Therefore if you do six sets per week of pressing exercises you need to do six sets per week of pulling exercises. If you do two sets of curls you should do two sets of triceps work. And so on and so on…

– If you can’t get your forearms to grow, try hitting them with more frequency than other muscle groups. They can easily be trained three times per week and recover without any problem. Also, try to hold the bottom stretched position of wrist curls for 3-5 seconds per rep. When you finish training the forearms, hit them with a deep stretch for both the extensors and flexors for 30-60 seconds. These muscle building tips should get the forearms to grow.

For more incredible muscle building tips please visit MuscleGainingSecrets.com.

Jason Ferruggia is a world famous fitness expert who is renowned for his ability to help people build muscle as fast as humanly possible. He is the head training adviser for Men’s Fitness Magazine where he also has his own monthly column dedicated to muscle building. For more How to Build Muscle Fast tips, check out http://blog.muscle-build.com/go/muscle-gaining-secrets.php