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Strength Training Routines Guideline - Part 2

February 13, 2008

This document is to serve as a basic guideline for designing your own strength training routine. It is not an exercise prescription and does not take into account any previous injuries or physical conditions. It is highly recommended you see a physician before starting any exercise routine.

NOTE: This is Part 2 of a 2 part series. Part 1 focused on Basic Guidelines for Advance Weight Training Techniques.

Advanced Training Techniques

There are several ways to stimulate muscle growth and endurance without necessarily increasing resistance. These techniques are used to keep your body adjusting and avoiding plateaus. It is important to note that each technique should be used sparingly because it might be too intense to use on a regular basis, and may not give a muscle group adequate time to recover and repair. It you are beginning to strength train I would avoid most of these techniques until you have adequate tendon, joint, and ligament strength.

1. Drop Set: Start with 1 warm up set. Select the amount of resistance you would normally use on your last set to failure. Lift to failure, drop 10% resistance, and lift to failure and drop another 20%, lift to failure, drop 50% and do as many reps as you can. You can do a drop set with four, three, two, or a single drop in weight.

2. Compound Set: A compound set is performing two exercises for the same body part back to back with no rest in-between. Ex. bench press / push up; preacher curl / hammer curl; triceps kickback / bench dip. Compound sets will quickly bring a muscle group to failure therefore it is unnecessary to perform multiple exercises.

3. Super Set: A super set works opposing muscle groups back to back with no rest in-between sets. An example would be performing a bicep curl and triceps extension, leg extension (quadriceps) and leg curl (hamstrings), seated row (back) and chest press. Super sets are great for minimizing the amount of time needed to workout.

4. Partials: Normally an exercise works a joint through a complete range of motion. Partials are used when the muscles are too fatigued to do a complete range of motion and attempt to squeeze the last bit of strength out of them. Once you have reached failure in the full range, complete several more reps to failure using the last half of the range of motion.

5. Negatives: You can accomplish just as much in the lowering or negative phase of an exercise as the positive or exertion phase. The negative phase for a bicep curl would be lowering the weight to the starting position. For biomechanical reason your muscles can accommodate 20% more resistance in this phase therefore increased weight and usually a partner are needed. Negatives increase the load on tendons, joints, and ligaments therefore I use negatives on only my most stable clients who have been strength training for some time. You can perform a form of negative resistance by taking as much as ten seconds to lower the weight. This is much safer and easier on the joint. Note that negatives are used for mass building not endurance.

6. Super Slow: When you work out you attempt to recruit as many of the fibers in a muscle as possible; at failure you are achieving maximum recruitment. The super slow method is an effective way to recruit muscle fiber without using a lot of weight. Simply take ten seconds to perform both the positive and negative phases of an exercise. You will want to use lower weight. The first few reps will be easy but the muscle will quickly begin to burn. Because the super slow method is tedious I do not recommend its’ use in an entire workout. I would use this method sparingly in one set per body part.

7. Rep Sets: Your muscles are composed of mix different fibers, some are used for short bursts of power others for endurance. Generally speaking the power fibers hypertrophy, or get bigger than the endurance fibers, but the endurance fibers still can be worked. A rep set works a muscle group using low weight and high repetitions versus the normal mass building routine. I use a single rep set occasionally at the end or a workout for a muscle group.

8. Pre-Exhaustion: An example of pre-exhausting the chest would be to perform two sets of push-ups to failure prior to doing your bench press. I like to schedule pre-exhaustive outlines approximately every four weeks. Use light weight and high reps isolating the same muscle group you will use on your next exercise.

9. Burn Out Set: A burn out set is similar to a drop set. Perform your normal set group (ex 12-10-6) of an exercise, immediately following the last rep performed drop the weight in half and continue to do as many reps as you can to failure.

The Exercises

Compound versus Isolation exercises: For the sake of simplicity we will assume your body can be worked in two ways, by tackling each muscle individually or by working a group of muscles at once. When we work an individual muscle or a muscle group that acts on a joint in the same manner, it is called an isolation exercise. Examples of isolation exercises for the legs are leg extensions (quadriceps), leg curls (hamstrings), and calf raises. Compound exercises work several muscles or muscle groups at once. Examples of compound exercises for the legs include squats, leg presses, and lunges which work the glutes, hamstrings, and quadriceps as well as a variety of smaller support muscles. Once again I recommend using a variety of compound and isolation exercises. Sometimes I pre-exhaust my quadriceps with leg extensions making them work extra hard when I perform squats, or I finish my leg presses with hamstring curls to really make sure I got everything out of them. Alternate between isolation and compound exercises but remember the large compound movements should be the emphasis of your workouts.

About the Author:

Matt Russ has coached and trained athletes around the country and internationally. He currently holds licenses by USAT, USATF, and is an Expert level USAC coach. Matt has coached athletes for CTS Carmichael Training Systems, is an Ultrafit Associate. Visit www.thesportfactory.com for more information.

Tagged: Strength Training, Weight Training

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