I hope everyone is having an excellent afternoon and ready for another installment of the 12 week body transformation series.

This week you will focus on three things: Learning to train to muscular failure, continue with moderately intense aerobics and moderate calorie restriction. As you can see week 2 will be pretty much like week 1 but with a few adjustments.

Weight Training

Your weight training program now becomes a little more serious and intense (in terms of effort). More time will be spent on learning to feel the muscles contract to help achieve this increased perception of intensity. Remember that increasing ones lifting intensity requires extreme mental focus and determination. I often tell my clients to get a little angry when they lift weights.

The reason is because an angry person is a strong person because of the increased adrenaline production. This may be one reason men tend to be more intense with exercise, since, perhaps, women are raised to be calmer and nurturing and their demeanor reflects this. I believe this is why women often find it difficult to be aggressive when they train, particularly if it means grimacing or exerting themselves in public.

Regardless of your gender, you must make an effort to increase your level of effort this week and during subsequent weeks as well. I do realize that if you are new to exercise, any stimulus can be overwhelming at first. Don’t let this distract you from what you are capable of doing. When the muscles can no longer contract against the resistance then you’re there. Just because it gets uncomfortable doesn’t mean you should terminate the set. This is the zone you want to encourage and extend as long as mechanically possible.

Now that you’ve had some decent practice in the first week, it’s now time to adjust the number of sets you perform to match the level of exertion ( as described above) that you are experiencing. This means that the harder you work, the less sets that are needed to get the job done.

Once this number has been determined you will begin to increase the demands each week until your tolerence to weight training is at it’s threshold. For now however,  just focus on adding reps to each exercise every workout. It doesn’t need to be a lot, just more than you are accustomed to.

You will also need to change your routine to 3 workout split to allow for greater focus and volume per muscle group. If you follow a Monday/ Wednesday/Friday schedule ( as most do) you’d be advised to use something like this:

1. Mon- Back and Chest
2. Wed- Lower Body
3. Fri- Arms,shoulders,abs

or another option would be

1. Mon- Chest, shoulder and triceps
2. Wed- Lower Body
3. Fri- Back and biceps

Aerobic work and nutrition.

Nothing much changes here. Keep your heart rate around 60% of your HRmax. Trying to do more while simultaneously increasing the weight training demands will only result in sub optimal recovery and eventual burnout. The aerobics are best done on your off days, between weight training session to facilitate recovery and not hamper it. If you must perform it on the weight training days, understand that your strength and muscle building potential may suffer.

Your calorie consumption also must not change, in order to cope with the aforementioned training needs.

This should get you through week 2 of your 12 week body transformation. We”ll pick things up from here in the next post in the next post.

Please share your comments and progress if you’re giving this challenge a try….

Today I want to write about a subject that is closest to my heart.  In fact, it is the inspiration behind my Vancouver personal training business and the main focus of this blog - the art of transforming your body in 12 weeks.

First, let’s define what a body transformation is :  A body transformation is an intensive period in which an individual attempts to achieve the greatest change in body composition (loss of fat and increase in muscle) in a predefined time period. Why 12 weeks you ask? This just happens to the traditional time-frame used for most physique transformations.  This can certainly be set to a 6 week, 8 week or even 16 week body transformation depending on your goals and physical condition.

The popularity of transformations was established about 20 or so years ago when supplement companies enticed the public with expensive prizes in exchange for their dramatic before and after photos which were used to sell more supplements.  Since then, the 12 week body transformation has been the standard in demonstrating what someone is capable of achieving if the proper motivation and work ethic is applied.

One factor that helps make these transformations so impressive is that they are usually carried out by absolute beginners or recreational intermediate trainees.  Someone more advanced, who is already lean and closer to their genetic potential, has much less potential to make dramatic changes in their appearance.  Beginners respond well in part because their muscles have atrophied from disuse.  Their bodies overall have adapted to a sedentary lifestyle and when the muscles are “awoken” with exercise, the response is almost immediate.

If you have been training for a while let me ask you this question: when did you see the most dramatic results from your efforts in the gym? You’ll probably tell me that you got the best results near the beginning of the program.  This is when your potential for change is greatest, when you are most sensitive to the benefits of exercise and nutrition. You see, supplement companies aren’t stupid.  They set up campaigns to draw in the untrained, sedentary population (who are more easily influenced by quick fix solutions) and consequently end up with the best results in the 12 week program.  Was it the supplements that transformed their body? Of course not, although that is what the the supplement companies would like you to believe.

Ok, now that you know what a body transformation is, I’m going to set you up with a 12 week plan to help you achieve your best body.  I should note that this will only work for those who are new to vigorous exercise or have been seriously training for less than 6 months. More advanced individuals require a different protocol and wouldn’t likely tolerate the demands of a 12 week program.

Week 1- Starting Point

At this point you need to take some “before” pictures. Front, back and side profiles work best. Capture and store in a safe place until after the transformation. Next, take measurements of the waist (at the narrowest part), hips (at the widest part) and thighs (at mid thigh). Why these sites?  Because they are generally where you will see the most dramatic changes in girth. You can certainly measure other body parts if you desire.  If you have access to a body composition scale or caliper, then you’ll want to determine your body fat levels as well.

The first week will be characterized by 3 components: skill practice, moderately intense aerobics and moderate calorie reduction. Let’s look at each component . . .

Skill practice

You may need to devote about an hour a day for the entire first week (4-5 days) learning to lift weight properly so that your movements are smooth and controlled and learn to isolate the targeted muscles more effectively.  Make sure not to use more than 10 exercises per session to work the whole body while performing 3 sets of each for 8-10 repetitions.  Your exertion level should only  be  moderate and your lifting speed slow.  Use a cadence of 2 seconds as you raise the weight and 4 seconds as you lower it.  This will ensure maximum concentration on your part. Your exercise choices are highly individual, but try to balance your pulling and pushing movements (in the sagittal and frontal planes) as well as the upper and lower body parts.

Moderately intense aerobics

This week we’ll be focusing on calorie burning through an increase in activity rather than extensive calorie restriction.  Is initially difficult to increase activity levels AND reduce your intake at the same time without being hungry.  Include low impact aerobic activity for 30-40 minutes at a moderate effort level on a treadmill, bike, elliptical trainer or brisk walking. If you are really out of shape, you may need to start with 10-15 minutes.  Heart rate should be kept around 60% of your maximum heart rate (MHR).

You should also include low-effort activity as often as possible to enhance your metabolism and the fat burning process. This means using stairs instead of elevators, active stretches while watching T.V., flexing and  tensing your muscles whenever it’s convenient and walking a little faster all add up to more calories burned at the end of the week. Just move!

Moderate calorie reduction

The number of calories in a physique transformation is specific to the demands of the exercise and the current needs of the individual. Sorry, but you’ll have to figure this one out for yourself unfortunately. You must ensure that you eat enough food to get enough nutrients. So food quality must be high. Women should never go below 1200 calories and men should avoid less than 1600. Too few calories will not permit proper recovery from and execution of your exercise. It is also very hard to obtain all the essential nutrients your body needs if food intake  is excessively low and if exercise demand is high. So for this week we want only a 250 calorie deficit from your maintenance levels.  This because we want the exercise to do most of the work in the first week. There are many formulas out there to help you find the number but you’ll have to experiment to find your true maintainence calories and subtract the 250 from that.

Week 1 expectations

Your fat loss should not exceed a 1/2 pound per day for the obese, 1.5-2 lbs per week in the overweight, and 1-1.5 lbs/week in the relatively fit and lean. Losing anymore weight than this is usually the result of excessive fluid and muscle loss. This is to be avoided at all costs if you are to be successful in the long run.

In my next post I’ll give you the rundown for week 2. I do realize that I haven’t done everything for you since the processs is more complex than I can address in one post. Do your research and apply this plan and you should do just fine. Good Luck!

If this post helps you transform your body please leave a comment.

Today’s post is quite close to my heart. As a trainer to countless women over 50 that are either at risk for or have been diagnosed with osteoporosis/oseteopenia, I’ve seen first hand how it can impact their lives. Now I’ve got a bone to pick with all you  ladies over 25 out there who are not taking your bone health more seriously. Ok, bad joke, but I promise it will be the last one.  The reason is because this is a very serious matter and needs to be at the forefront of anyone’s overall wellness plan. Most women that I talk to don’t even give their bone mass asecond thought. This is a huge mistake!

In North America, osteoporosis affects about 10% of the population, with average bone loss measuring about 1% per year after age 35, 3% per year during the first five years of menopause and 1% per year there after. So why do we care about this ?

Osteoporosis is a major health threat for the aging population. An estimated 10 million Americans have the disease and almost 34 million have low bone mass, putting them at risk for spine and hip fractures. Women are more likely to suffer from it than men.

Our skeleton is what enables us to stand erect and achieve extraordinary feats of artistic grace, athletic endeavor and physical endurance. It supports surrounding tissues and protects vital organs and other soft tissues of the body. The skeleton gives attachment to the muscles, providing leverage and assisting in body movement. It is also the storage site for many important minerals and lipids. Our skeleton along with our muscles give us our shape and to a large degree this is something we can control.

Drugs and Supplements to Combat Bone Loss

Annual sales of prescription bisphosphonates, the most popular drugs to combat bone loss, exceed $3.5 billion. This is amazing statistic and one that is sure to grow.  Two new studies show the bones of some post-menopausal women who take bisphosphonates (Actonel, Boniva, Fosamax, Reclast) to ward off osteoporosis can stop rejuvenating and become brittle after long-term use. Those using some of these  medications for four to five years may be at risk for sudden fractures of the femur, the main thigh bone. I have a few personal training clients that have reported the relief they felt  from going off the drugs and that it did not affect subsequent bone density scans. So is it worth it? To put your fate exclusively in the hands of perscription companies? Do they really have your best intrests in mind?

Many people concerned with bone loss take calcium and magnesium supplementation to auguement their efforts. Does it work? Well yes and no. Skeletal tissue serves the body as a major calcium storage facility; in fact it contains 500-1000 times more calcium than all other tissues combined. But healthy strong bones also contain many other minerals including phosphorus, fluorine, iodine, iron, magnesium, manganese, silicon and vanadium. Ideally a multiple mineral compound featuring a dozen or more essential minerals and trace elements should be taken throughout the day to ensure an optimal range and reliable intake of minerals (supply the demand).

Is Weight Training The Best Option For Bone Loss?

 To a large degree, the composition of bone is regulated by the amount of strain or pressure on the bone. This is a function of both gravity and the influence of muscle contraction.
More strain leads to greater mineral integration and a favorable influence on bone density. Inactivity is harmful to our bones and accelerates porosity and decay. As muscles shorten they force movement by tugging on bones through attachment by tendons. Weight-bearing exercise, the ONLY safe and natural way to create and maintain bone mass.  

Swimming, cycling, running, dancing and aerobics are fine for improving heart and lung capacity, and many sports provide excellent recreational enjoyment. But aerobic exercise alone provides minimal growth stimulation, as the mechanical “pull” of muscle attached to bone is almost always countered by cortisol (tissue wasting) elevation, a decline in testosterone and massive oxidative stress caused by breathing in high volumes of oxygen. What is needed is a controlled and progressive strength training program aimed at maximizing the development of skeletal muscle, cartilage, connective tissue, ligaments, tendons and bone mass.

How to get started on a weight training program?

Your program must consist of lifting heavy weights that are consistant with your current needs and abilities. The range of training options are highly individual but should stress the body effectively. Read some of my recent posts to get a clear idea of how to set  up aweight training program and how hard you should be working  to get the best results.

It’s no wonder osteoporosis is so prevalent, as the average North American adult drinks too much alcohol, smokes too many cigarettes and eats too much refined food. Heavy metals, antacids and many medications cause extensive bone loss. The consumption of high fat denatured protein, damaged by extended exposure to heat, excessive salt and even milk consumption can all contribute. The average diet is just too acidic. And the #1 risk factor? Inactivity.  As we age without any opposition, bones start to deminerialize after about age 30 and even sooner! In women this process accelerates as estrogen levels decrease. It’s time we all take our health into our own hands and use the best natural anti-aging product and osteoporosis prevention prescription on the market today- weight training.

Please leave a comment if you enjoyed this post

Well I hope everyone is having a great weekend so far. So what am I doing this weekend? Writing more content for you, my loyal readers of course. As always my goal for updating this blog is to give you some insight and practical strategies to make your workouts more productive. So let’s get started!

I am no different from most people who exercise, in that I like strong muscles and being healthy, but my prime objective and motivator to exercise is to look good. I enjoy seeing my abdominals, the vascularity in my arms, the detail and separation in my thighs, and the feel of pumped, firm musculature. It is a mental rush. I should note that I am not just speaking to bodybuilders but rather to anyone trying to promote an increase in lean muscle mass whether you are trying to improve your body composition , building strong bones or just increasing your overall longevity.The same rules apply to you too, if you are trying to achieve the optimal workout.

My personal obsession has inspired me to experiment with any and all types of muscle building training methods, to discover what works best to optimize development. Today I’d like to focus not so much on what a productive strength training workout looks like, rather on an almost forgotten but crucial element; what it feels like.

How does one know that a workout is optimal? There are several things that must be considered, but something that should not be ignored is the ‘feel’ of the workout. A productive workout (one that is deemed productive from the overall euphoria of a good mind-muscle connection) often is characterized by a skin-tight muscle pump and for the muscles to pump quickly and optimally.

“The Muscle Pump” is the tight, blood-congested feeling in a muscle after it has been intensely trained. Muscle pump is caused by a rapid influx of blood into the muscles to remove fatigue toxins and replace supplies of fuel and oxygen. Anyone with sufficient exercise (bodybuilding experience) is well aware and has experienced unusually good workouts, in that you can ‘feel’ when a workout was productive, that growth will occur from that workout (or is more probable), and always that feeling is accompanied by a very good muscle pump.

This is only reflected in those who are able to achieve or experience a pump, a phenomenon that is uncommon with many neophytes and some female trainees, perhaps because of lack of muscle tissue to allow for the muscles to ‘inflate’ sufficiently in order to sense a ‘pump. Different techniques tend to increase muscle pump better than other techniques or styles of lifting. The degree of muscle pump also seems to vary among individuals, exercise selection and  muscle groups. Beginners have a hard time feeling muscle contractions as they are still adapting to the neurological demands of learning a new skill.

It really comes down to experimentation whereby you need to find the best exercises, workout volume and load that allows the greatest pump. I should note that cycling for 2 hours has given me the best quadricep pump I’ve ever had but it hardly resulted in increased muscle mass since the other important muscle building factors were not present; load and time under tension.

The winning combination in optimizing building lean muscle mass, then, is to produce intense muscular contractions, which require a sufficient load that is controlled throughout the intended range of motion.All the while aiming to achieve an optimum muscle pump for whatever number of sets is required to achieve that “pump effect”. The directive of ‘intense muscular contractions’ is served best by trying to flex the muscle throughout the intended range, as if to squeeze into the movement, rather than merely lifting a weight without intentional flexing or squeezing of the muscle.

Many trainees lift weights, but they rarely forcefully flex the muscle being trained, and there is a difference in quality of control and net effect when the goal is to produce results with as few sets as possible. The squeezing of a muscle is an important point when performing  reps, since it is that squeezing that improves quality of movement and control over the exercise environment.

It’s wonderful that just about everyone from the media to your family doctor are promoting weight training, but you should now have a good idea that it is not enough to just go through the motions of lifting a weight ( although some is better than none) if you want to achieve the optimal workout for increasing lean muscle mass.

Share your thoughts on this post . . . .

I have always believed that weight loss is fundamentally not that difficult. The bottom line is that you have to adjust your food intake (or activity levels) so that you’re burning more calories than you take in. Over time, this causes you to lose weight. That’s really all there is to it. The greater issue is how to maintain the weight loss, but that’s a topic for another day.

Fat loss programs and experts are many, but few give you the knowledge to make educated decisions on your own. This is  key or you can expect to join the overweight majority, caught up in a hopeless merry-go-round of disappointing short term and quick- fix solutions; perhaps you are already one of them.

To help you out I’ve put together the only 4 dieting principles that you need to be successful in obtaining the leanest, and healthiest body possible.

1. Lose the “canned” diet programs

You know the ones I mean. The ones in the ads with bold promises like “Lose weight without diet or exercise!”,“Lose weight no matter how much you eat of your favorite foods!”, “Lose weight permanently! Never diet again!” and the list goes on.

Understand that these programs are set up for bulk sale. Once they are written by some guru, endorsed by another guru and promoted, they tend to take on a life of their own. Everyone is scrambling to pick up a copy of the new miracle program (we’ll call it the Best Diet Program Ever”).  As soon as they realize it didn’t work very well, the expert introduces the “Best Diet Program Ever 2.0″. If the first version was so great, why the need for a second? These programs are usually set up to work for about 4 weeks (until you’re sold on the greatness of it) and then things come to a screeching halt. Now you need version 2.0 and all of its bonus programs to get you through the next few weeks

What? Still no results? That’s ok because now these experts have come up with a whole new system, it’s called the “Greatest Fat Loss Program in History“  with a fresh new set of rules and exercises. So you’re inspired again, and tear into the next few weeks with exceptional vigor. You lose some weight and are now convinced that the author has given you the keys to the fat loss kingdom.

Things have stalled again? No problem, they’ll have a “Greatest Fat Loss Program in History Extreme” out next month and that will change everything right?

Can you see the system here? Don’t follow the pack. Learn how to exercise and eat properly. Your salvation isn’t in a book or on a piece of paper; it’s within you. Keep reading to find out how.

2. Focus on the long term

By ignoring diets promising quick, easy weight loss, about the best you can usually do with true fat loss is somewhere between 1.5-3 lbs./week (fatter individuals can sometimes lose more). Sure you can drop a lot more total weight if you factor in water weight and other contributors, but true fat loss typically peaks at about that rate (some lighter women may have trouble even losing one pound of fat per week). For someone with a large amount of fat to lose, 50 or 100 pounds, this may mean one-half to a full year of dieting. You’ll need a plan that you can live with for that amount of time.

And what happens when you lose the weight? A lot of dieters seem to think that once they have lost the weight with one diet or another, they can revert to their old habits and keep the weight off. So they change their eating habits drastically, drop the weight and then go right back to the way of eating that made them fat. And, to their apparent surprise, they get fat again.

Here’s the painful reality that all dieters must come to terms with: the only way to both lose fat AND maintain that loss in the long-term is to maintain at least some of the diet and exercise habits you changed.

3. Be Flexible

It’s rare to see perfectly linear fat loss without stalls or plateaus. Consider the reality of that, if you have 50-100 pounds to lose you may have to alter eating and exercise habits for nearly a year just to reach your goal. Do you really expect to be hungry and deprived for that entire period? I thought not.

Consider that you have vacations, parties and trips that will make sticking to a rigid diet unbearable if not impossible. Scheduling a break from the diet to coincide with the long term plan has many merits. Psychologically, feeling like the break is now under your control, or that it’s part of your overall plan, makes it far easier to not feel like the diet is completely blown and get back on the diet when things settle down.

Rigid diets will eventually give in to craving and you will begin binging on everything in sight, only to feel worse than ever and higher numbers on the scale to boot. You need to schedule periods (during the full diet) where you go off the diet and return to normal eating. The same holds true for each week, when you go out for dinner with friends or if you just have to have that double chocolate brownie you’ve been craving.

I’ve always believed that if the changes you’ve made to your diet and exercise program stay solid for 80% of the time, the other 20% is no big deal.

4. Exercise application

Forget about fat loss training zones because we are not interested in burning fat. Why? Because burning fat as fuel requires an exertion level far too low to burn enough calories to make a difference in your weight. The focus is on progression and proper application of weight training and cardiovascular activity.

Weight training helps your weight loss efforts in two ways: it adds calorie-consuming muscle to your body and keeps metabolic drive high (which lowers with prolonged dieting). Weight training is not mandatory if you want to lose weight, but unless you want to look and feel like a raison when it’s over, I’d get myself some weights. You want to track strength progress as this can be a sign that you are eating too little. Regular weekly progressions should be obtained or you may be dieting too strictly.

Cardiovascular exercise increases your body’s operating efficiency (which slows with prolonged dieting) and, of course, burns up a lot of extra calories. It too is not compulsory, but makes thing go smoother and faster. You also need to track progress with your cardio. You may be burning 500 calories today but by the end of the month it may only be 300 calories as your body adapts and becomes more efficient at the task. By creating a regular overload (more difficulty) each week you can ensure that you’re getting the most out of your efforts.

Hope these tips help keep you in the real world when it comes to developing a weight loss program. If you’d like to share your ideas please leave a comment…

Good Friday evening, I hope you’re doing great.  I’d like to follow up my entry on why we get fatter as we age with the solution to the problem.  So what can we do to prevent the loss of lean mass over time as we age?  Is it possible to control anabolic (tissue building) forces within the body to oppose the destructive effects of oxidation and gravity?

I’m glad you asked.

Weight-bearing exercise is the ONLY safe and natural way to create and maintain a true anabolic drive to compensate for the catabolic (tissue breakdown) toll that life and nature takes on skeletal muscle, cartillage, connective tissue, ligaments, tendons and bone mass.  While few would dispute this, many experts still debate the best application of weight training strategies.  As someone who has lifted weights for over 20 years, dead-lifted over 500 lbs, added 40 lbs of lean muscle to my body (100% naturally) and helped countless others achieve strong, muscular physiques, I think I may be qualified to voice my own opinion on the process.  As I break this down, I’ll assume everyone reading this is interested adding muscle and strength in the most efficient manner possible, regardless of how much you want to add.

How Much Weight Should I Lift?

As it relates to exercise, intensity is: the degree of strain your muscles are under at any given time during an exercise.  Intensity is considered to be at its highest (100%) when the individual has reached the point of momentary muscular failure.  This is when the muscles can no longer generate enough force to move the resistance placed on them from the exercise.  Most of the people I’ve observed rarely work up to this level of effort, opting to set the weight down after completing a certain number of reps even though many more may have been possible.

Failure in this case is not considered muscular but mental. The reason why training with a high-intensity is important is because muscles grow in response to the demands placed upon them.  Unless there is sufficient reason for muscles to grow larger as a result of the work imposed on them they will not, because additional muscle above what is needed to function at a “normal” capacity is metabolically demanding and the body doesn’t want that.

We know that skeletal muscle is comprised of fast twitch (responsible for explosive movements), slow twitch (responsible for sub maximal actions) and mixed fibres types. Fast twitch and mixed fibers are primarily responsible for muscle growth however, this can only occur if those fibers receive adequate stimulation.  At the beginning of a set, when the effort and force needed to perform the lift is lowest, the smaller slow twitch fibers are recruited first.  As fatigue accumulates, the mixed fibres take over and finally at the onset of muscular failure the fast twitch fire and are working at a maximum.

So it doesn’t really matter if you lift a heavy weight or if you lift a moderate weight, as long as the set is demanding enough that you physically cannot complete another rep.

How long should my set last?

Volume refers to the amount of exercise performed in a workout.  It is the totality of the time under tension or TUT (length of each set), number of reps, and the number of sets performed in a workout.  As is true with the other variables (sets, reps), TUT is dictated largely by the makeup of the individual.  If you excel at strength and speed sports you probably have more fast twitch fibers, in contrast to those who excel at endurance activities will usually exhibit more slow twitch characterisitics. 

There is no practical way to know for sure but this will give you a ballpark idea . . . muscles that are predominately fast twicth will respond best to exercise that places them under maximum strain (tension) for 30-50 seconds. Training for muscle growth in the slow twitch type of individual/muscle is difficult, but for the greatest stimulation muscles should undergo a TUT of 80-120 seconds. The ideal TUT for mixed fibers can be anywhere from 50-90 seconds.

How many sets should I perform?

If you perform sets of a high-intensity or high-quality, this will greatly reduce the need to perform many sets for the muscle you are working.  The lower the intensity the greater the need for more sets.  For those who think they can work with light weights and just do 10 sets I’ve got some news for you.  Too much volume will not be tolerated by the body for very long before you become overworked.  This is why it is usually a better option to train hard with fewer sets.  You’ll tax the fast twitch fibers without wearing yourself down.

Individual fiber type is an important consideration and so is the muscle being trained.  Each muscle group has its own unique fiber distribution.  For example, the extensors (eg. triceps and quadriceps) are usually more fast twitch in makeup.  The flexors (eg. biceps and hamstrings) tend to be more fast twitch. For a fast twitch muscle or individual, as few as 1-3 high intensity working sets total are suggested.  For a mixed muscle, I find 3-5 sets to be suitable for most.  For slow twitch muscles 4-6 sets is usually enough if intensity is high.

How many reps should I perform?

This is the one everyone is most concerned about.  “How many more Craig? I need a goal”.  This is all well and good but unless you know the answer to all of the above questions, you cannot accurately determine a rep number.  Most media publications will have you believe 8-12 reps are best to build muscle.  The problem is that they don’t factor in your fiber type, how much TUT, how many sets or how intense you are training. These generic rep prescriptions are useless without consideration of these factors. Even still I’ll make some generalizations myelf.

If your TUT is low, intensity high, for  fast twitch dominant muscle, then reps of 4-10 are about right. If your TUT is high, intensity high (at the end of the set), slow twitch dominant muscle then reps of 10-20 are about right.

 How fast or slow should I lift weights?

When you watch most people in the gym performing their exercises they are usually moving very quickly, banging out a given number of reps and then setting (or dropping) the weight down when finished.  This is precisely how not to perform your exercise, at least not if your focus is on doing high quality exercise.  When moving at this quick pace the muscles are not working as hard as they could or should be.  This is best accomplished by moving at a slow and controlled tempo.  I like to use the term smoothto describe repetition cadence. You should avoid momentum and be able to stop at any point in the range and at a moment’s notice without carrying over additional momentum.

The faster you move the weight the LESS muscular work you are performing. Conversely, when you move slowly, you must generate more muscular force in order to complete the rep.  Additionally moving slower makes performing the exercise HARDER!  And, as we know, the harder or more demanding an exercise is, the greater the likelihood of it encouraging a physically adaptive response.

How often should I train a muscle?

There are two ways of looking at frequency.  The first relates to how often a particular muscle group is trained (e.g. training the back muscles once every 7 days). The second relates to how often any workout is occurring.  It is important to note that your muscles must have enough time between workouts to FULLY recover and overcompensate otherwise they will not develop, function or perform up to their potential.  It does not matter that each day you might be training a different muscle group.  If the body is being systemically rundown it will have a direct effect on local (muscle) recovery.

Just as there needs to be a “certain amount” of intensity to stimulate growth there needs to be a “certain amount” of frequency for optimal results. Generally, novice lifters (1-6 months experience) should train each muscle up to 3x/week.  Intermediates (6 months-2 years experience) would train 2x/week whereas advanced lifters would only require 1x/week or less. You need to allow at least 48 hours recovery between workouts for the same muscle.  It also depends on hard you train.  You could train more often if you reduce the overall intensity of some of the workouts. The bottom line is that you need to slowly and methodically decrease or increase frequency to what is ideal according to your individual requirements, the intensity and volume of each workout.

Hopefully this gives you a better understanding of the many variables to consider when designing an effective strength and muscle building program.  It isn’t quite as simple as just showing up to the gym, doing “x” amount of reps and then calling it a day.  The more you understand the principles, and how to apply them, the closer you’ll be to achieving the leanest and most muscular body nature will allow.

 Please leave your comments/questions as they relate to this post.