Fatigue every set? No…I Blew it, I was wrong.

1. The act or an instance of seeking or pursuing
something; a search.

2. An expedition undertaken in medieval romance by a
knight in order to perform a prescribed feat: the quest
for the Holy Grail.

3. Archaic A jury of inquest.

1. To go on a quest.

2. To search for game.

To search for; seek

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When I started this voyage I had no idea there would be so many ups and downs.

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Let me start here: I have not posted in a long time. I’ve still been training. I have made good gains in size. There was a time when I made good gains in strength. But: then I made a mistake. I blew it.

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My friend “Ocho” is a strength and conditioning coach. We sometimes bounce ideas off one another sometimes we train together. I have learned an awful lot in these sessions. Ocho will be doing something, and I will say to myself  “self, what the hell is Ocho doing?” Then I basically go and do research until I find the theory behind his technique. And then I realize that he is a couple steps ahead of me…. it is sad if you are me.

Anyhoo, HE  said I should present this information as “here is another way of doing it” rather than “I blew it, I was wrong.” But the truth is: I blew it. I was wrong.

And this resulted in me losing about 50lbs on my bench.

I am a bit angry with myself because really this was a rookie move on my part. Information that I  crossed up in my head. Like when you tell someone that they should use their right hand for something and they use their right hand and you realize that you meant that they should use their left… Come to think of it, that probably only happens to me…

Let me see if I can sort this out.

Near as I can figure, the best strength I had achieved on the bench was something like this:

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Flat Bench: 315 x 5-185 x12; 315 x 5-185 x 12; 315 x 4-185 x 10

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But after training a couple workouts with Ocho, and doing a bit of research I came to realize that I had been doing too many sets to fatigue. What is more than this: I HAVE COME TO LEARN THAT FATIGUE IS NOT ADVANTAGIOUS WHEN TRYING TO INCREASE STRENGTH.

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Strength gains are the result of an increase in myofibrils along the muscle fiber. As long as the intensity is low and the weight high(hard), myofibrils increase in density. It is unnecessary to produce fatigue. For SIZE(hypertrophy) you have to produce fatigue. NOT for strength.

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The problem with this: Flat Bench: 315 x 5-185 x12; 315 x 5-185 x 12; 315 x 4-185 x 10, is that I am trying to train each set to the point of exhaustion. Meaning that by the time I have completed my first set at 315lbs, I cannot achieve another rep at that weight. I sometimes required a spotter to help me get the bar back on the rack. Then, with as little rest as possible, I dropped the weights and did another set with lighter weights, again to fatigue- again requiring a spotter to help me get the bar on the rack.

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With this kind of training I was seeing pretty good gains in size(292lbs), but I had hit a wall with strength.

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I needed to adjust my training so that I could see measurable increases in strength. So, I dropped the weight back and began training sets of 5 reps with 4-5 minutes or rest in between. it looked something like this:

275 x 5 (5min rest); 275 x 5 (5min rest); 275 x 5 (5min rest); 275 x 5 (5min rest); 275 x 5 (5min rest)

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Over the course of 6 weeks I put 60 pounds on that:

335 x 5 (5min rest); 335 x 5 (5min rest); 335 x 5 (5min rest); 335 x 5 (5min rest); 335 x 5 (5min rest)

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I also want to mention that it always felt easy. I would do a set until I felt like I had one rep left. When I achieved 5 reps at a particular weight, I would add 5lbs per side. If the bar began to slow down, I knew it was too much weight. In that case I would reduce the weight and continue the workout.

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Once I had three workouts at 335lbs without further strength gains I had hit a plateau. And here is where I was wrong:

I decided to leave my strength training all together for 3 weeks to pursue size training(hypertrophy).

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That’s it. Because of this, I lost a significant portion of the wonderful strength gains I had made…

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Interlude:

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Thursdays with Andre are always a wonderful time. Andre Noel Potvin runs INFOFIT EDUCATORS, and they put on bi-weekly seminars about health strength and nutrition where they feature the latest research.

 It is a valuable resource for trainers and a wealth of information.

A couple of Thursdays ago, the topic was “Exercise strategies for the Holidays”. Due to the weather and a last minute shuffling of teachers, the attendance was poor. This is a gold mine for me! Because it means I get to turn what would have been a lecture in front of dozens of fitness professionals, into a semi-private tutoring session with Andre Noel Potvin!

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It’s this kind of opportunism that gives me my competitive edge.

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The gist of this lecture that I took away was that through the use of more intense workouts you can maintain your level of fitness throughout the hostile holiday season.

One of the points Andre spoke about, was that strength gains begin to diminish in 10-14 days.

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hold everything.

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Ten to fourteen days?! Well, I have been away from my strength training now for double that! Are you saying that I have lost strength??

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“Yes” Andre said.

“No.” says I, and began flicking through all my notes in my brain about disuse atrophy and type IIb recruitment and ATP and tapering protocols for competitive athletes and… and … and….

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No gettin’ around it, I was losing strength.

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Next day at the gym I rushed through the warm up and hit the bench.

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315 x 1; 295 x 3; 295 x 4; 295 x 3; 275 x 5

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I’m not gonna say Andre is always right, but he is.

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He said it’d take me a week to get back to where I was. So far it has been a week and a half and I am almost back.

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I still keep a bunch of volume and low rest stuff at the end of one workout every five days, cause I like the way it makes me look. But I have added strength sets at the begining of every chest workout(three times per week).

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Looks like this:

Flat bench: 315 x 4(4 min rest); 315 x 4(4 min rest); ; 315 x 5(4 min rest); ; 335 x4(4 min rest); ; 335 x 3

then:

Flat bench: 225 x 12(30 sec rest); 225 x 10(30 sec rest); 225 x 8(30 sec rest); 225 x 6(puke… just kidding)

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I started this Quest Blog a year ago with the intention of bench pressing 405lbs. I was going to do it then email Dan John and see if he responds(See the very first “Quest” entry).

There are so many problems that I have had to solve on the way to where I am. I am also certain there will be more before I reach my goal. I am starting to realize that it is these obstacles that, when overcome, really give the trainer or strength coach advantage. Solve these problems on your own. Learn about the physiology of the situation. Become strength through this. I think I am starting to get it, Dan John.

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