strength does not grow in a straight line. To prepare for a surge of power, you must first step back. This is the main law of any training cycle. You can not start from your previous maximum! First, "sit down" in the sense of weights, and then begin to gain momentum in moving forward, adding load at each workout. Estimate, you could not add anything to your previous maximum - that's why it's the maximum. But if at the beginning of the cycle you reduced the training weights by 30-40 percent, then it’s a completely different matter. So go on and on, little by little, until you overshoot your past maximum point on this very inertia. And again, achieved a record - stop. Do not even try to squeeze even more out of yourself - you are already at the limit. On the contrary, drop the weights to a minimum, let the body on these scales rest and again gradually forward - to a new record. - Well, what did Chat achieve at the second stage?
"He surprised me," Flynn said. - Я знал, раз парень "слез" с ежедневной жимовой программы, он должен прибавить в жиме минимум four.5 кг. А переход к системе 5х5 гарантирует прибавку еще на four.5 кг. But Charlie exceeded all my expectations. By the end of the first 12 week program, when I let him go for a personal best, he had maxed out at 95kg! And this is a guy who "hung" on 80 kilograms for a year! Then he took a weekly "time out", once again went through the very first program, and by the end of it he brought his maximum to 101 kg!
Yes, and besides, for the first cycle he gained 3 kg of muscle, and for the second - another 3. Which, however, is natural. You can't build bench press strength without adding mass.
- And what happened after program number two?
- In 12 weeks of the second program, he gained another 2 kilos of muscle and got to the 108-pound bench press. Then again a week-long respite, and the same cycle on a new one. This time his bench press "grew" to 113 kg. In short, during the first year of training under my leadership, Chat increased 8 kg of “mass” and “weighted” his maximum in the bench press by 33 kilograms. This is great progress! Most amateur jocks would be happy with half of that result! But Chat had been sitting on his idiotic program for so long that his body really craved the transition to meaningful training. It simply could not fail to respond to a reasonably planned technique! In addition, Chat worked very seriously on technique. The heavy bench press requires absolutely precise biomechanics. Well, and then, of course, I explained to the guy what was happening. The legs should rest on the floor with the entire foot, and the shoulders and ass should lie tightly on the bench, without separation. And then, the weight must be squeezed up and back, in an arc. Yes, yes, with the bench press, the bar moves both vertically and horizontally. First you press up, then a little to hell - towards the face, and not strictly above the chest. And at the top, fif is above your eyes - or even above your forehead. And you need to lower the weight slowly and calmly, exactly where you need it: on the chest just below the nipples. Chat used to literally drop the bar, and then push it off his chest. In a word, it is both dangerous and useless. Meanwhile, after each repetition, you must pause for at least two seconds.
Naturally, Chat used to tear his butt off the bench by ten centimeters when pressing - in order to "help" the barbell. From this, I quickly weaned him. And from bending your back - too. "Bending" is a sure way to hurt the lower back.
True, powerlifters in competition often arch their backs to shorten the path of the bar. But this is a very dangerous technique, so do not follow their example. And so that Chat would not "bend", I slipped a platform 10 cm high under his feet. So he pressed me with raised legs. You kill two birds with one stone: you save your lower back, and you give your body a chance to develop a more powerful effort in the press.
And then, the guy used to press with an "empty" chest. I explained to him that before each repetition, you need to take a deep breath, lower the barbell also with a full chest, and on the rise, at the most difficult point, exhale with force. In addition, like most dummies, Chat took on the neck with a grip too narrow for his physique. I fixed this issue. And since then, at the lowest point, his elbows were exactly under the hands. And to make the grip stronger, he always sprinkled his palms with talcum powder. You can also wrap the fife with a tape - this will strengthen the grip.
The main thing is that the grip is strong, durable, reliable. First, it's safer. And secondly - it adds self-confidence. It gives a feeling of strength, and this is already half the success. And finally, I replaced the risky “thumbless” grip with a proven, safe one: the thumb wraps around the bar and touches the index finger. I also taught Chat the elbows against lats technique. Most uninformed guys involuntarily spread their elbows when benching. And this is a very weak position. The fact is that when the elbows are apart, the lats are relaxed, but the secret is to press with tense lats. And they will tense up by themselves if the elbows are kept closer to the body. With rest between sets, Chat used to have "typically wrong" too. That is, he did not rest at all. Well, everything went differently for me: 3-5 minutes between heavy sets, and 5-10 minutes between very heavy sets.
- What about power "uniforms"? I asked.
"Chat wasn't ready for that yet," Flynn replied. - That is, he, of course, immediately put on the belt. In general, I think that the belt is a very useful thing. Protects against injury at any stage of training. Chat bought himself a high-quality belt from a reputable company, not some cheap stuff. It is important that the belt is wide, made of very thick leather. No need to spend money on fakes: the miser pays twice. But it was too early for him to put on a bench press shirt. Unless you're tormented by old injuries, it makes no sense to get into a T-shirt until bench you haven't made it to 135 or even 160 kg. Muscle "base" is better to build without it. The same goes for the wrist straps. And in general, in my opinion, even experienced athletes should not get carried away with any "equipment", except for the belt. It is much more useful to train "on your own", and wear T-shirts and wrist straps only for competitions in order to "spur" the result.
What else helped Chat was a normal diet. He used to live solely on supplements and egg whites. I advised him to quit nonsense and eat like a human being. Meat, chicken, turkey, fish, eggs, milk, cheese, bread, potatoes, rice, pasta, fresh fruits and vegetables - three to four times a day. At the end of the year, Chat greatly increased both in strength and in total body weight. However, could it happen that all my cycles and schemes did not help him? Of course. Fortunately for him, he did not practice the multi-set approach for so long - no longer than 3 years. During this time, he did not have time to drive himself into absolute stagnation, or, as we say, "dry" the muscles. But even if I "dry", I would not give up. I would take it even further down.
I would "register" such a scheme: twice a week bench press and squats, 3x5 for each exercise. And that's it, period! 2 sets - warm-up, and one working. Such a program will put the dead on their feet! The recipe is always the same: if there is no result, do not do more - do less! 99 times out of a hundred it works flawlessly.
THIRD CHAT PROGRAM
- Well, what program did the guy start working on? I asked.
"Another one, my favorite," Flynn replied.
- Short, simple, but terribly effective. One hundred percent guarantee of success!
Unless, of course, you can already handle real heavy training with a low number of repetitions, and you have already completed the first two cycles at least twice, and you will not immediately attack the limit weights. Here again, you need to calmly start with comfortable loads and increase the weight gradually over the first six weeks. And then the hard work begins.
Monday
1. Squats: 4 x 5 (warm up), then 2 x 5 (heavy sets) 2. Standing calf raise: 2 x 10-15
3. Twisting with a dumbbell on the chest: 1x30
Wednesday
1. Bench press: 3x5 (warm up with increasing weight), then 5x1 with 70% weight
from the maximum for one repetition. Each week you add weight until you reach 90 percent of your maximum (around the sixth week of the cycle).
After that, start add 2 kilos per week. For most, such an "increase" is given only in the first two weeks of the second half of the cycle, and then they move on to 1 kg. Once you're past 90 percent of your max, you can cut down on heavy single presses from 5 to 2-4 (if needed).