number of repetitions at the same weight? What played a key role strength, performance? Iсно только, что удвоилась энергоотдача организма. At the same time, of course, training stress also increased. But again, not necessarily twice. After all, the physical capabilities of a person have also grown - endurance and "coherence" of muscle groups. Because of this, it is easier to transfer training, i.e. deal with stress. This does not mean that stress has ceased to stimulate growth. If you "balance" the increase in stress with adequate recovery, progress will not slow down.

Slowing down or stopping growth is by no means the result of a reduction in the frequency and volume of training. The reason is overtraining. Before the crisis, the bodybuilder feels great: the energy is overflowing, you literally fly into the gym on wings. But here comes the decline. With the same training regimen, rest does not bring relief, fatigue does not go away at all. Feeling signs of physiological stress, be sure to reduce the load and extend the rest time. Remember: this is the guarantee of your continuous progress!

2. Choice of exercise.

Program II носит рекомендательный характер. This means that you can periodically change the exercises at your discretion. For example, do leg presses instead of squats, incline bench presses instead of dips, and alternating dumbbell presses instead of overhead presses. Remember, this is a holistic program and there are no isolation exercises that target individual muscles or muscle details. It is made up exclusively of complex exercises, designed primarily for a fundamental set of strength and "mass".

The main advantage of the program is that it provides the maximum growth of muscles in general with a minimum of exercise. This significantly saves the recovery resources of the body and virtually eliminates overtraining.

Why aren't biceps curls included in the program? Because to stimulate both biceps and lats more than enough traction down with a narrow reverse grip. Push-ups on the uneven bars simultaneously load the chest, deltas and triceps. And the deadlift is generally a universal exercise: it works out every muscle of the entire back of the body from the Achilles tendon to the back of the head, involves deltas, forearms and many other muscles in the work.

For a beginner with weak recovery abilities, this program is a sure way to success. And for an experienced cultural, who has reduced the volume and frequency of training to three to four sets once a week, this will be the “last stop” on the way to the full realization of muscle potential.

3.Advanced technology.

For experienced bodybuilders, I recommend that you gradually include more complex techniques such as forced and negative repetitions, cheating, and the rest-pause principle in the training of this program. Which ones and when, decide for yourself. Все, что касается принципов выбора веса, количества повторении, времени отдыха между сетами и т.д, я уже перечислил в комментариях к Программе one.

Training frequency.

The break between workouts A and B should last five to six days. As you gain strength, add one or two days to the break. And then, gradually increasing the rest time, go to training once every six-seven days and even less often.

Many bodybuilders today still do not realize that training should be aimed primarily at increasing strength. It is the strength of the muscles that determines their growth, there is an inextricable link between strength and "mass". It is a self-evident fact that a heavyweight is stronger than a lightweight, and the one who "pumps muscles" becomes stronger from training to training. That's the way the world works.

Training researchers have long discovered that the strength of a muscle is directly proportional to the size of its cross section. How then is it that an athlete with less body weight and less muscle mass sometimes lifts more weight than a mighty giant. The point here is that an athlete with less muscle mass may have additional advantages for lifting the projectile. For example, stronger ligaments (and this gives a "lever" advantage) or high neuromuscular activity (that is, a more powerful motor impulse). And the last factor (according to the account, not in importance!): as the muscle grows, it moves further away from the bone, and the angle of application of the force somewhat reduces the power of the effort. All in all, it is true that athletes with voluminous muscles have more strength. But it happens that they "demonstrate" less power capabilities.

Don't make the common mistake of not comparing yourself to others! So what? Let lying down you press less than your neighbor in the hall. You are not going to compete with him in competitions. Compare yourself only with yourself: you can’t go wrong here! And here is one criterion: is the strength growing? Your musculature increases as you gain strength. And as long as you continue to gain strength, you are on the right track. All the "equipment works", the program of heavy-duty training works, and then the question of nutrition arises by itself ...

* * *

If you follow my recommendations, then with each workout you become stronger. The athlete is gaining strength from week to week, this is a sign that positive changes are taking place in his muscles.

If during this period you receive as many calories as are required to maintain body weight, you will remain at the same weight mark. This follows from the laws of physics, more precisely, thermodynamics. You can't build muscle by eating air. Growth requires additional calories and appropriate nutrition.

Getting the usual, "normalized" number of calories, to some extent, you undermine the mechanism of growth, which is "turned on" by training to "failure". Yes, you are gaining strength. But building muscle requires the building blocks of food and calories. The usual amount of nutrients is not enough for you, otherwise there will be no quantitative shift, i.e. mass growth.

There is an opinion that for a set of "clean" mass during high-intensity training there is no need for a positive energy balance (i.e. there is no need to receive more than you spend). Adherents of this opinion argue that the body in these conditions begins to "steal" calories from adipose tissue and "transfer" to building muscles. This is how Arthur Jones explains the case of Casey Viator, who gained 28 kg of mass in a month of the so-called "Colorado" experiment. Jones claims that the number of calories that Casey received that month was insufficient for such an increase. In particular, it was calculated that the calories received by Casey should have been enough for only a 20 kg increase in "clean" weight. So, 8 kg "has grown" due to fat fabrics.

Perhaps there is some truth in this, although I am skeptical about this. Either Jones miscalculated a little, or simply did not know that Casey was then on steroids. Steroids are potent substances, they dramatically change the biochemical balance of the body, and in many ways. For example, they accelerate protein synthesis and increase muscle storage of glycogen and water. So the steroids probably did their job. A few years ago, I did an experiment on myself: I trained without steroids, sat on a low-calorie diet and lost 4 kilograms in the first week. Затем к той же диете добавил стероиды и за вторую неделю нарастил one килограмм.

When working with my students, I always emphasize the importance of counting calories. Without these calculations, you may become stronger, but you will not gain mass. For my students, mass growth almost never lags behind strength growth. Why? Because by reducing the volume and frequency of training, we establish a positive energy balance (we get more than we spend). Moreover, the increase is mainly due to muscle, and to a minimal extent due to fat. If a year, two, three, four years ago, my students gained 4.59 kg of mass per month only occasionally, today such increases have become the rule.

Diet

What diet is considered "correct"? One that provides the body's needs for food and calories to build mass and at the same time blocks the growth of adipose tissue. To achieve this, i.e. to get consistent and predictable results, start by looking at your usual diet. Five days, in the evenings, after the last piece for today is eaten, arm yourself with a food calorie guide and calculate how many calories you received per day. At the end of the fifth day, divide the amount of calories received for the "five days", divide by five and you will get the average daily calorie intake. If you haven't gained or lost weight in those five days, then your average calorie intake is normal, keeping your weight at the same level.

Let's say you need 2,200 calories per day to maintain weight. Now, with a conscious effort of will, go on a diet with a positive energy balance. That is, add approximately 300 more calories to 2,200 calories (but no more than 500). What for?  you ask. To supply energy mechanism of muscle growth!

На каждый килограмм наращенной мышечной массы идет немногим больше one200 калорий. Если вы прибавляете в неделю полтора килограмма, вам надо one200хone.5, т.е. one 800 калорий сверх обычной нормы, т.е. an additional 275 calories per day. And you added 300 calories to your normal daily allowance, that is, 47 calories more than you need to build muscle. This excess turns into fat. One kilogram of fat is known to contain 7700 calories. This means that this amount of fat (with an excess intake of 47 calories) accumulates in the body in 74 days. If after two months of training on a diet containing 300 calories above the norm, you notice an increase in body fat,