Hail to the Dinosaurs!
A guy sent me an email saying he likes
to train four time per week. He does
one exercise per workout.
Something like this:
Mon -- Squat
Tues -- Bench press
Thurs -- DL
Fri -- Press
In other words, he's doing what I call
ultra-abbreviated training -- using a
divided workout schedule.
Things were going fine, and then he read
something on the internest (that's not
a typo, it describes the thing -- especially
when it comes to strength training advice)
where some guy said if you train more than
three times per week you're overtraining.
So the Dino sends me an email and asks,
"Am I overtraining?"
Well, that's a good question.
Here's the answer.
1. Stop reading internest stuff about
strength training. It will get you messed up
and second-guessing yourself every time.
2. Are you overtraining? Heck, I don't know.
The real question is -- are you GAINING?
2A. If you're adding weight to the bar on a
regular basis, you're not overtraining. Keep
on doing what you're doing.
3. As you add weight to the bar and increase
the intensity of your workouts, it becomes
easier to overtrain. So a program that works
great for you NOW may not work as well six
months from now.
4. As you grow older, it becomes easier to
overtrain (and harder to recover from your
workouts). So what works great NOW may not
work as well five or ten years from now.
5. One exercise workouts work really well,
and are a great way to avoid overtraining.
They let you focus and drill down and get
the most out of each exercise you do -- and
that's one of the keys to great gains -- so
if you like them, do them!
6. One exercise workouts work great if you're
crunched for time.
7. Always remember, the way to judge the
effectiveness of a workout is to look back
over your training and log and see if you're
adding weight to the bar. If you ARE, keep
on doing what you're doing -- and if you're
NOT, make some changes.
As always, thanks for reading and have a
great day. If you train today, make it a
good one!
Yours in strength,
Brooks Kubik
P.S. You can read more about abbreviated and
ultra-abbreviated workouts in these books and
courses:
http://brookskubik.com/dinosaur_dumbbelltraining.html
http://www.brookskubik.com/militarypress_course.html
http://www.brookskubik.com/strength_muscle_power.html
http://www.brookskubik.com/grayhair_blackiron.html
http://www.brookskubik.com/dinosaur_training.html
P.S. 2. My other books and courses are right here:
http://www.brookskubik.com/products.html
P.S. 3. Thought for the Day: "Abbreviated training
is the way to go for gains in strength, muscle and
power." Brooks Kubik
