Hail to the Dinosaurs!
One of the most important things
you can do is to make your training
progressive. Progression is the key
to getting great results from your
training.
To make your training progressive,
you can do any of the following:
1. Add weight to the bar.
2. Do more reps.
3. Do more sets.
4. Do your exercises in better form.
Or -- and this my favorite -- you can
combine several of the above "progression
techniques."
But you don't do all of them at
once. That would be more than your mind
and body can manage. You might do okay
for awhile, but soon you'll either burn
out, start doing your reps in bad form, or
hurt yourself. It's better to use a slow,
controlled progression, earn your weight
increases, and make steady long-term
progress.
So try something like this.
Let's say you're doing the Trap Bar
Deadlift once a week, and your current
top weight is 300 pounds for 5 reps.
In workout no. 1, do a series of
four or five progressively heavier
warm-up sets, and then do 1 x 5 with
300 pounds.
In your next deadlift workout, do the
same exact workout, but perform your
reps in tighter, better form. In other
words make the workout more progressive
by doing the reps in better form.
In your third workout, add a second set
of 5 reps. So you would do your warm-up
sets, and then do 2 x 5 with 300 pounds.
In your next session, do 2 x 5 working
sets with 300 pounds. Once again, endeavor
to make each rep absolutely perfect.
Next, do 3 x 5 work sets. (Do your warm-up
sets first, of course -- I won't keep saying
that, but always do them.)
In the next workout, do 3 x 5 work sets but
strive for even better form.
Keep going like that until you are doing
5 x 5 in your work sets.
At that point, add weight (10 or 20 pounds),
drop back to 1 x 5 work sets, and build back
up to 5 x 5.
That's an example of how to progress by
focusing on (1) better form, (2) more work
sets, and (3) more weight.
There are other ways to progress by adding
reps, and we'll cover them another time.
The point is -- always, always, ALWAYS strive
to show some sort of progress in your workouts.
But don't just throw weight on the bar and start
tossing it around in random fashion. Follow a
more systematic approach. It will work far better
for you.
In short, make haste slowly -- but progressively.
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. I cover many more methods of training progression
in my books and courses. You can find them right here
at Dino Central:
http://www.brookskubik.com/products.html
