A Quick and Dirty Way To Add Muscle
I’ve spent the first part of this week writing about action heroes and poking a little fun at CrossFit, so I felt it was only fair to write something actually useful to those of you heading to the gym today.
Most everyone reading this blog is interested in getting stronger and/or adding muscle (usually both). Well there’s also my uncanny wittiness, good looks, and pop cultural references. But mostly it’s the getting strong and muscles part.
Both endeavors are relatively simple to do (but not easy to accomplish).
Getting stronger entails picking (heavy) things up and putting them down…repeatedly. Progressive overload is the term most commonly used. Do a little more work today than you did the last time out, stay consistent, and good things will happen.
There’s more “stuff” that comes into the conversation of course – maximal effort, dynamic effort, repeated effort, speed strength, strength speed, absolute strength, rate coding, intra/intermuscular coordination, Batman – but I don’t want to deal with all the mental and intellectual gymnastics involved.
To keep things simple: do more work today than you did last.
Muscle building very much mirrors everything above. Progressive overload is kind of a big deal, in addition to all those fancy terms from above. I mean come on: someone with a 500 lb deadlift is usually not a small human being.
Then again there’s this video which has been making its rounds on social media the past few days of a 16 year-old girl deadlifting 418 lbs (at a bodyweight of just under 150 lbs):
Training for strength doesn’t always equate to big muscles – especially when someone competes in a sport where weight class comes into play and relative strength (strength as it relates to their bodyweight) is more of the goal.
That said, getting bigger almost always comes down to total volume. Most people who’s goal it is to add muscle don’t do enough of it.
They perform their 3 sets of 10 for a particular muscle group and move on. Unless it’s biceps than it’s more like 17 sets of 10.
And while counting total sets/reps (and hence total tonnage) is a fool proof way to attack things, we also can’t neglect the innumerable ways to illicit mechanical stress and muscle damage (all of which break down muscle and stimulate it to grow.1
To quote the great Zatsiorsky:
“A muscle fiber that is recruited but not fatigued is not trained.”
Constant Tension Sets
A key component to muscle growth is time under tension, and one “trick” I’ve been using lately in my training (thanks to Greg Robins) is the notion of constant tension sets.
As an example lets take your standard flat bench DB press.
You’d set up like you normally would, but the idea is to maintain constant tension on the pecs by not locking out your elbows.
You’d lower the weights to get a nice stretch in the pecs, and then press making sure to stop just short of locking out. Moreover, instead of focusing on a specific number of repetitions you’d shoot for a time.
It may look something like this:
Week 1: 3 sets of 40s
Week 2: 3 sets of 45s
Week 3: 3 sets of 50s
Week 4: 3 sets of 60s
It can be brutal. 40s never felt so long.
These have been a great addition to my upper body days as an accessory movement after I perform a (heavy) bench press variation.
And you don’t have to limit yourself to DB presses, either. You can be inventive. I’ve used the same method with Goblet squats, front squats, RDLs, shoulder presses, and you can bet your ass I’ve used it as a killer finisher for bi’s and tri’s. Yeah buddy!
It’s nothing fancy, but the method is effective.
Hopefully it’s something you can implement and try for yourself soon. If so, let me know what you think.
Comments for This Entry
Rachel
1. That video! That girl is my hero! 2. Science and Practice is currently sitting in a stack of books on my desk with a bookmark somewhere in the first few chapters. I will read the whole thing eventually! There's so much I want to read in my life. Maybe I shouldn't spend so much time on blogs... :p 3. CSP protégé Conor recently introduced me to constant tension work. He had me do dumbbell RDLs and my legs were involuntary quivering. Brutal. 4. I do enjoy your wittiness. :)September 23, 2015 at 4:04 pm |
TonyGentilcore
I like Science and Practice a lot. I like it because it doesn't give me a headache to read compared to Super Training. Still not a book you'll be able to read cover to cover.September 27, 2015 at 11:00 am |
Kalliopi Sakellariou
Very informative and love you writing style!Let's do some job today at the gym! http://www.2activelab.comSeptember 24, 2015 at 6:57 am |
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Chris
I used to track time under lift, but always in conjunction with a rep target. I even used a metronome for a year or two to try to keep the rep speed consistent over the course of a set. When training strictly for time, would you do it as a super slow set or just slow and controlled?September 25, 2015 at 6:57 pm |
TonyGentilcore
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Pawel Ciszak
I've been implementing that for years and do 60sec sets/60sec recovery for upper moody and as many as 120sec sets of leg press with 2min rest in between. But a very good call- I'm Glad that others also discovered time under tension being superior to counting reps.September 27, 2015 at 2:56 pm |
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Angela Greene
I do a lot tension type training. Stretch and squeeze the muscle. Especially with chest taking the DB over the eyes add that nice squeeze. Its my favorite way to train coupled with higher volume reps and sets. I train under Scott Abel and he loves high volume work... because it can work well! Nice article!September 30, 2015 at 4:22 pm |
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