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Muscle by design: use this lesson in the finer points of lifting to build a better workout and a better body

Men's Fitness, May, 2005 by Alwyn Cosgrove

MOST GUYS HAVE A SIMPLE PHILOSOPHY WHEN IT comes to building muscle: If it works, don't fix it. That seems logical, but here's a secret: Almost everything "works."

In fact, if you followed no other rule than simply to lift heavy weights four or five days a week over the course of an entire year, you'd achieve impressive muscle gains. But you'd probably fall far short of your full potential. That's because the details of most workouts aren't designed to maximize muscle size. Typically, such workouts are a random allocation of exercises, sets, and reps, with very little thought put into the specifics of how each workout variable contributes to maximizing muscle growth.

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Don't believe it? Ask yourself for the exact reason you chose the number of sets and reps you did in your last workout. Chances are, you're probably not sure, other than that number has worked in the past, other guys am doing it, or you read it in a magazine. I call that building muscle by chance--and you can do better. In the following pages (the complete workout starts on page 106), I'm going to show you how to build muscle by design. You'll find it's far more effective--and efficient--than simply doing what you've always done, even if you thought you were getting good results before.

Of course, you might think I'm full of it. But consider this: I individualize every single workout program for the clients in my training facility, and each program is monitored by either me or my staff and recorded. So in any given week, I see the results and progress of more than 300 workouts. To put it in perspective, the average guy who works out five days a week sees the effects of only 260 workouts a year; I see the effects of 15,000. That gives me a very good idea of not only what works, but also what works the best. After all, the numbers don't lie.

START WITH REPS

If you ever want to test a trainer, just ask him to design a workout for you. If he starts by writing down exercises, give him a failing grade. The reason: The number of repetitions you'll be performing must be decided first, since that's what ultimately determines the result of your workout. In other words, if you want to maximize muscle gains, you need to use a repetition range that supports that goal. From there, you'll easily be able to dictate every other workout variable, from your exercise selections, to the number of sets you do, to the amount of time you rest between sets. For instance, if your program calls for 20 repetitions, pullups won't be a choice if you're only able to do five; jump squats wouldn't be an option, either, since your body has a limited capacity to perform power movements. So by choosing your reps first, you're always able to choose the most appropriate exercises. In the accompanying workout, I've done that for you, using a system of exercise selection that's based on movements instead of muscle groups. (Check out "Function Trumps Anatomy" on this page for an explanation.)

FIND YOUR RANGE

Most guys lift one of two ways: They either perform the same number of reps for every set of an exercise--for instance, three sets of 10--or they use a method called pyramiding, in which they start with higher reps--say, 12--and do several sets, each time increasing the weight and lowering the reps. Unfortunately, neither is optimal. If you use the same number of reps for each set, you won't train your muscles maximally, even if you use heavy, low-rep sets. That's because low reps increase the size of your muscles by building the fibers themselves, but higher reps increase the size of your muscles by stimulating the growth of energy-producing structures in the space around the fibers. So using more than one rep range is more effective for adding size. However, you need to start with the lowest reps--so that you're lifting the heaviest weights first, when your muscles are fresh--before moving on to lighter-weight, higher-rep sets, making it the opposite of the classic pyramid. Using a combination of repetition ranges allows you to work the greatest number of fibers possible, which results in bigger muscles.

KNOW YOUR SPEED

For maximal muscle growth, your muscles need to remain under tension for 30 to 70 seconds each set. That's a generalization, but it never fails. Think of it this way: If you were a boxer who needed to maintain your body weight while getting stronger, virtually every trainer in the world would have you lift very heavy short-duration sets that, if you timed them, would last only 10 to 20 seconds. In other words, it's a guaranteed way to gain strength but without gaining muscle, which proves that the duration of your set does matter. So you need to control the speed of your repetitions--known as your lifting "tempo"--in order to keep the time your muscles are under tension in the optimal range. Start lurking on Internet fitness message boards, and you'll find that a lot of strength coaches bash the idea of purposely controlling the speed that you perform each repetition. I'll agree that there's nothing magical about tempo, but I simply employ it as a tool for ensuring that all sets are performed for the ideal amount of time. My experience has been that, unless you give guys a tempo guideline, most lift faster when they're told to increase the number of repetitions, which defeats the purpose of changing the repetition range. Following a planned lifting tempo ensures that you're truly exposing your muscles to the weight for a longer period of time when you move from six repetitions to 12. In the workouts that follow, you'll see I've used a three-digit number to designate the tempo for each exercise; for maximum gains, this is one set of directions you must follow.

Muscle by design: use this lesson in the finer points of lifting to build a better workout and a better body

Men's Fitness, May, 2005 by Alwyn Cosgrove

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