Yesterday, I was feeling pretty pumped when I hit the gym for my back workout. I had good energy, had eaten well all day, and was psyched to try out my new workout gloves (Vain girls wear these in the weight room to avoid ugly callouses!) I had what I thought was a great workout. I did seated machine rows, seated low rows, T-bar rows, cable lat pulldowns, seated pullovers, back extensions, and some exhausting deadlifts! I came home and had a good protein and simple sugar shake (might have poured in a bit too much maple syrup, OOPS!) So how do I feel this morning??
Nothing. Nada. Zip.
Sure, I might feel a bit sore tomorrow in delayed onset muscle soreness, but I know from experience that if I’m not feeling a little buzz on day 1, I didn’t get the training I needed. My feeling is that while I did a lot of work, I wasn’t using weights that were heavy enough to get the effect I wanted.
A few months ago, following a fitness hiatus, I trained with a trainer, who showed me the proper weight I should be using to exercise. Boy, was I surprised! Although I thought I had a good amount of training under my belt, it took another person to show me what “heavy” really means. Lifting heavy really is an exhausting struggle, and sometimes it’s hard to hit that point. As you increase your strength, it becomes even harder to challenge yourself to increase your weight since your last workout. What I mean is: If you’re using 25 pound plates on your barbell deadlifts, you’ll keep using those plates because you know they work. You must constantly re-evaluate your power in order to determine when to increase the weight. When you’re looking for a quick workout, it’s easier to slap on those 25’s than to challenge yourself, isn’t it?
So, last night’s workout taught me that I need to start increasing my weights if I want to see some results. If I had remained present in my workout last night, I might have caught on that I was doing 8 reps no problem, which indicates to me that I need to increase my weights. And this morning I would have felt that beautiful sore feeling of growing muscles!
When you’re just starting out, or picking up after a hiatus, or changing your goals, how to know how many reps and sets to perform, and at what weight? The general rules are:
Goal: Increase muscle strength
How to train: Low reps (1-7) are best for training for strength. In other words, you should choose a weight that is so heavy that on the seventh rep, you can no longer lift the weight and maintain proper form. Lifting such a heavy weight puts a large overload on your muscle fibers, and may train muscle nerves to fire in rapid synchronization.
Goal: Gain Muscle (growth)
How to Train: Perform a medium-range of reps (8 to 10) at such a weight that the 11th rep cannot be performed with good form. Lifting in this rep range creates enough stress on the muscle fibers and metabolic stress on muscle cells to kick start growth.
Goal: Endurance
How to Train: Perform a high-rep range of 13+ at a weight level that allows you to perform at high reps. (Think lower than in the above scenarios) This trains the muscle pathways to build endurance without providing enough overload to start growth or strength increases.
Notice a pattern, here? No matter your goal, make sure that you’re using enough weight so that you can barely eke out single new rep!! Remain present in your workouts and you can avoid wasting time in the wrong weight range.
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