6 Principles of Strength Training, You must know to Reach your Fitness Goals

Strength Training is definitely your weapon of choice, if your goal is to improve either with muscular strength or muscular hypertrophy. But what if you’re losing some results because of minor mistakes in your training protocol.

The following are the Principles of Strength Training that you must keep in mind, when you get into Strength Training to optimise your results:

1. Principle of Specificity: This is broadly about training specifically for a particular goal. The way one trains for improving muscular strength is not same as the training style for muscular hypertrophy. Even if one selects the same set of exercises and movements for both the goals, there will still be certain parameters that will be needed to be optimised specific to the individual’s goals. Parameters like Rep Ranges, Rest Periods between sets, weights used for sets will be varied for different goals(i.e different for strength and hypertrophy).

*Parameters like Rep Ranges, Rest Periods between sets, weights used for sets will be varied for different goals(i.e different for strength and hypertrophy).*

2. Principle of Individuality: A training protocols, even when two different individuals are working with similar intensity and follow the same diet plans will not bring out same results for both the individuals. Two different individuals can have different biomechanics, different genetics, different somatotypes and different physical conditions at the same time. To explain this, we consider two different persons X and Y. X is genetically gifted with great biceps and shitty genetics for calves and Y is genetically gifted with calves but has shitty genetics for biceps. They both get 6 working sets of both the muscles in a week. The results will be, X will see a better growth in his biceps and poor results for calves and vice-versa is true for Y. So, even if they both follow the same program, the results are quite different. In addition, X can require more intensity than Y for calves to match the results of Y and Y may need more intensity than X to bring in similar results as X when it comes to biceps.

3. Principle of Progressive Overload: In the layman’s terms, it just says to build up for greater challenges with time. This can be done by gradually increasing the level of challenges during your training. Improvements with Strength Training can only be dynamic and progressive when one continuously increases the intensity of workouts. This can either be done by increasing the resistance keeping the rep range constant, or by increasing the rep range keeping the resistance constant, or by increasing the number of working sets performed for a particular exercise in a workout session, or by decreasing the rest periods between the sets, or by simply increasing the Time under Tension during the sets.

*Principle of Progressive Overload is the key to improve with time using Strength Training*

4. Principle of Variation: If you’re someone who follows fitness and fitness related content on the web, I am sure you must have heard this line, “Our body is smarter than we think.” and honestly I cannot agree more. If one trains under a particular training regime for years, they will see stagnant results and no progress eventually. The body adapts to the challenges of the training protocols with time and now doesn’t even consider it as a challenge, hence it doesn’t have a reason to progress further. To avoid this, we bring in minor changes like changing training cycles (switching between strength and hypertrophy phases in few months, i.e. Linear Periodisation) or changing in stimuli to avoid a plateau.

5. Principle of Maintenance: There will be a certain limit till which we can push our bodies. If for some reason, we have reached that limit, we cannot progress further, we have to maintain what we have achieved with our hardwork. To maintain and preserve our previous results for a particular fitness component, one must continue with previous training while he can bring in some newer protocols for training other components of fitness and improve in them.

6. Principle of Reversibility: As simple as it sounds, there will be reversal of your progress, even to the very starting point once you discontinue your training. To keep moving forward, we must ensure we are training consistently without fail. So, the next time you take off from your workout sessions, be very clear in your mind, you are surely gonna lose some strength and size. The longer is the break, greater is the loss.

December 30, 2020 0

Covid-19 Pandemic | Lockdown | Returning Back and Restarting at Gym | My Progress, Approach for Powerful Comeback

2020 was challenging for all of us with all the craziness that the virus brought into the world. We were all locked in our houses, till the situation normalises. So, with everything being shut, the gyms being closed, most of us did lose some of our progress towards our respective fitness goals.

Personally, I was training at home. Atleast, I didn’t just give up and sit back, waiting for things to normalise again. At the beginning, I was doing some bodyweight training and kind of stuff, then I got a bit creative to use empty gas cylinders as my resistance and luckily I got my hands on a 5 kgs pair of dumbbells and I tried to do the most with it.

As the lockdown became a bit lenient, I ordered myself few resistance bands and resistance tubes and this was perhaps one of my best investments in the lockdown phase. Now, the resistance bands are not a replacement for a fully equipped gym but they can definitely give you a decent workout. The linear variable resistance of the resistance bands just gave a better peak contraction and improved my mind-muscle connection to a great extent. My mind-muscle connection and muscle activation improvements while training with bands were so amazing that I would recommend everyone for using bands along with free weights, even if the gyms are now reopened.

Coming to diet side of things, I absolutely lost control over my diet. I wasn’t into binge eating but I can surely say I went for typical Indian Homemade Food, which are calorie dense foods in general and I am someone who easily stores fat, in short, not the best choice to go for. I am still continuing with my homemade food. I don’t track my calories and macros now. I began tracking my weight as soon as I returned back to the gym recently and I am trying to maintain at the weight for sometime before I go for a cutting phase.

**Picture Captured on 23rd December, 202**0

The next thing is returning back to the gyms. We are gonna talk about what should be our approach and similar stuff. Now, personally I took things slower for two weeks. The first two weeks basically were 60 minutes Full Body Split Workouts for 3 days a week. I was trying to relearn all the exercise movements after a break of 9 months and just feeling all the muscles in general. I was training easy and stopping at 3 to 4 reps before failure. The reason why I decided to go easy and not go super hard was because firstly, my focus was relearning all proper forms again, not be super sore after a workout day and miss the next training day.

The 3rd week is where I decided to add in a few more exercises into my workouts. The training split was still a 3 days Full Body Split but for 90 minutes. I was still not going for failure and was stopping with 1 to 2 reps left in the tank.

So, for the first 3 weeks I actually went for Full Body Splits for 3 days and 4 rest days, out of which 3 were active rest days where I included 40 minutes of moderate intensity cardio.

The 4th week is where I changed the split, training the full body in 2 separate days, upper body on a day and lower body on another. I was training both the lower and upper halves twice a week, so our training days have now increased to 4 days and rest days have reduced to 3 days of which 2 days were active rest days where we included 40 minutes of cardio. The 4th week is the time where I go to failure in our top sets. So, as the weeks passed, the training became harder.

After a month into training, I changed the split again to go for a 60 minutes Push, Pull and Legs Training Split. Things became really interesting now because I was now pushing really hard. We are now going beyond failure in our top sets and I am going to continue with the split for 2 months now. This is basically my simple approach to get back to training again.

Now, there were couple of things that I learned in the lockdown. I actually learned that dieting is a lifelong process and there’s no going on and off it. So, the diet should be something that we enjoy. So, the lockdown was majorly dedicated to search for all low calorie alternatives for my daily use condiments. I also searched for low calorie high volume food options.

The next thing that I learned was consistency is key when we are trying to make progress in our fitness journey. The lockdown has specially taught me to train in a much safer way for injury prevention and training for longer time being injury free. To explain this, I have actually substituted my Dumbbell or Barbell Shoulder Press with Shoulder Press Machines, substituted all my rowing movements for back to chest-supported rowing machines that are equally effective and more safe.

In term of training, I have been emphasising more on full range of motion and proper form in the excercise and not just moving heavier weights. Time under Tension, this is something that I learned just because of the lockdown. I have been putting in more time under tension during my isolation exercise, really focusing on negative part of the exercises.

Now, warming up before workouts is something that has become a lot more important for me lately. I have actually seen better muscle activation and more strength in my lifts on days I am properly warmed up. Currently, I go for moderate intensity cardio for 10 mins before the workout and one or two warm-up sets before going for my real sets.

December 23, 2020 0

Realistic Expectations for Natural Lifters and Knowing all about your Body type: The Most Basic, yet the Most Important Concept for a Successful Fitness Journey

If you are an fitness enthusiast and follow some fitness related page on any of your social media handles, it’s most likely that you often see posts like: you gain 15-20 lbs muscle in the first year, 20-30 lbs muscle in second year and the range goes on increasing with the training period with a picture on the side of the ranges that depicts, you can grow from being a tiny little man in the first year of training to a huge bodybuilder’s size in a matter of a decade of consistent training. Or maybe, you have also seen those motivating quotes with a shredded, ripped to the bones fitness athlete in the background saying, “It takes Discipline, Dedication and Sacrifice for your goals to become reality”.

Now, as motivating and inspiring, it may sound it actually becomes the reason why most people either give up on their fitness journey or they switch from being natural to being enhanced to achieve their dream physique. Unrealistic Expectations, they are dangerous and you need to know what you can expect as you begin your training to be satisfied with your gradual progress.

*Captured in the Frame: Chris Bumstead*, Mr Olympia Classic Physique Category
*The Picture is borrowed from ‘Wallpaper Cave’ for educational purposes only*. **Please mail the page moderator for any copyright infringement and the image shall be replaced/removed.**

Most of us will dream to achieve a physique in the above picture, maybe a bit smaller or bigger depending on their personal choice but the majority will be happy to achieve a physique shown above. But if I am being brutally honest, 90 percent of us will never ever look that in our lifetime, even with a shit ton of PEDs, forget about achieving it naturally.

This is where Genetics come into the picture and I do think this is one of the least discussed topics in the fitness industry because every other fitness influencer is convincing you to buy their programs with promises of achieving an unrealistic picture that’s in your mind with the help of their training protocols.

Here’s a table for Men and what they can achieve in the continuous years of training. Now, this table is for Men with Good to Average Genetic (with reference to building muscle).

Muscle Gained for Training Experience:
8-12 lbs for Year 1
6-8 lbs for Year 2
4-6 lbs for Year 3
3-5 lbs for Year 4
2-4 lbs for Year 5
2-3 lbs for Year 6 to 9
0-1 lbs for Year 10 and more

The following is a table for females and men with poor genetics (with reference to building muscles):

Muscle Gained for Training Experience:
4-6 lbs for Year 1
3-4 lbs for Year 2
2-3 for Year 3
Nearly 2 lbs for Year 4
1-2 lbs for Year 5
Less than 1 lbs for Year 6 to 9
0-0.5 lbs for Year 10 and more

So, to summarise a man with gifted genetics can expect to put on somewhere around 30-50 lbs of muscles naturally whereas, a man with poor genetics can put on somewhere around 15-25 lbs of muscles in lifetime naturally.

So, not all of us can be bodybuilders even if we train all our lives and stay dedicated, do all the sacrifices and all but at the end it’s the genetics that play a huge role in the amount of muscle one can pack on. Even someone with poor genetics, enhanced with PEDs can sometimes pack less muscles from an individual who’s natural with gifted and best of genetics for muscle building.

The next popular thing in the fitness industry is those shredded and ripped freaky bodies and by shredded I mean 5 to 6 percent body fat. Is it really attainable and maintainable for everyone?

If I keep it short and give a single word answer, the answer is ‘NO’. Again, this comes down to our genetics. Now, humans are a spectrum of Endomorphs, Mesomorphs and Ectomorphs. They are a mixture of all of the body types. Some have a less of Endomorphs quality, less of Mesomorphs quality and more of Ectomorphs quality and the others may have any possible combinations of the three.

Ectomorphs: These are people who have a hard time putting on muscles and fat.
Mesomorphs: These are people who are more likely to gain muscles.
Endomorphs: These are people who are more likely to gain fat with ease. These are people who have hard time putting off weight and they just feel more hungry all the time and they have more fat cells of all bodytypes.

Now, based on your samatotypes spectrum, your body has a specific range which is decided by the Set Point Theory (Lowest Attainable Weight – Highest Attainable Weight Range). Every individual who stays in this range will be able to keep his hormones(Ghrelin and Leptin Hormones) in moderation, experiencing a good mood and functionality. What’s achievable is trying to stay in the lower limit of the range and staying as lean as we possibly can but if we look for crazy shreds, going below our lower set point limit, we may achieve it for a day or maybe a week till we eat back to our lower limits again.

Lastly, the major takeaways from the articles are the realistic muscle building capacity of humans naturally and understanding that striving for the shredded physique year round is definately not the way to look forward to. What we need to do is train hard, keeping our expectations in check with the reality and trying to get as lean as we can without suffering.

November 29, 2020 4