12-Week Cycle Update

While gym night is generally Wednesday, I shifted it to Thursday. The plan kept it as a lighter night. What I’ve done is shifted from the four day split to the more common three day split. This pattern allows for Monday to be the moderate intensity night, Wednesday to be light intensity, and Friday is Beast Mode.

Friday is Beast Mode because there are two days for recovery. And, two days for my wife and kids to laugh at me. When any of my kids join me at the gym, which they occasionally do, we laugh And cuss at each other for what we’ve done.

Another change that I’ve done to the 12-Week mass routine is changing some of the 8 to 10 repetitions for three sets into drop sets. I love the intensity of the drop sets.

If you are not familiar with the overload capabilities of drop sets, we can cover them quickly. You set the weight to start at just about your max repetitions. Whatever that number looks like, you set the bar with that weight. I am setting the weight for a rep range of 3 to start with. I know that I will be able to max out at 6 to 8 repetitions as the weight drops during the set.

So, for example, you’re doing squats. I set the weight today at 345 pounds. Being a light day, I only did 3 reps and racked the bar. As quickly as I could, I stripped 20 pounds from the bar, shouldered the weight, and did the next set. Then, I acmes the weight and stripped another 20 pounds. And squatted more.

You keep this pattern of squat, rack drop weight, squat, rack, drop weight, and so on going without stopping or resting until one of two situations happens. One, you have only the empty bar on your shoulders. Two, you have completed the number of drops you have set for yourself.

For me, that’s 10 drops. My 12-week cycle has become a mix of drop sets for the compound movements and sets of 3x8 for isolation exercises.

This is week 10 of 12. At the end of 12 I will tell you how much weight I’ve added to my squat, deadlift, bench, bent row. I will also share how much my body weight has changed. To date, I’ve put on just under 10 pounds of body weight. The rest of the update will have to wait until the end of the cycle.

I will also outline the full routine again so that you all can go and grow, too.

Stay healthy!
Stay strong!

12-Week Cycle

         About 8 weeks ago I pulled a 12-week cycle out of the depths of my memory. The notebook I logged it in years ago has long since disappeared. I tried my best to rebuild the 12-Weeks to Mass routine. 

         This has two split variations, the traditional 3-day split and a lesser used 4-day split. The routine is a push/pull setup. One Day One you do push muscle groups (Squat, {include leg extensions and toe raise}, Bench Press, Shoulder Press {barbell or dumbbell}, triceps extensions, and abs). Day Two is the pulling groups (Deadlift {include leg curls, back extensions}, Bent Row, Upright Row, Curls, Abs.

         The idea is to keep each workout at about the same length of time. Yes, Gym Rats, we all love the sound and smell of the iron; however, many of us do have family to spend time with. Or, friends outside of the gym. Yes, I know ... this may come as a shock to some, but there can be friendships outside of the gym. I made some very good and lasting friendships in a local MMA club. I haven’t been for a long time, but I do intend to go back. One thing we love about our relationship is that lifters can eat lots of hits. Smiling. It’s frighteningly fun!

But, I digress!! Anyway, the traditional 3-day split alternates the Day One and Day Two workout every other day. Week 1 will have you doing two Day One workouts, or two push days and one pull day. Week 2 will have you doing two pull days and one push. Easy enough, right?

The 4-day split is Monday/Tuesday:Thursday/Friday. Monday and Thursday are both Day One, push, days. Tuesday and Fridays are Day Two, pull, days. 

Doing abdominals at each workout is not a problem. This massive muscle group adapts quickly and responds very well. Personally, I do planks for increasing amounts of time followed immediately by bicycle crunches. 

Again, I’m at Week 8 of 12. I’m enjoying some great gains in strength. I’ve come from nearly cold and jumping back into the gym to adding 80 pounds to my squat and deadlift. My bench has not increased so dramatically, it has gone up 30 pounds in the first 8 weeks. My rowing lags as, when I get there, my back wants to get away from me.

I can’t wait to update you at the end of the 12 weeks.

Get the Picture: Mental Imaging

What the mind of man can conceive and believe,

he can achieve.

Napoleon Hill,

Think and Grow Rich

Mind over matter. A phrase that we have all heard throughout our lives. We have heard countless times used in innumerable ways. Some sites claim it first appeared in 1863 in a work called the Geological Evidence of the Antiquity of Man. It was used in reference to an evolutionary growth of animals’ minds in relation to humans. Personally I have used it, tongue in cheek, as “If you don’t mind, then it doesn’t matter!” The trouble I got into that way.

Napoleon Hill knew about this concept when, in 1937, he wrote his book Think and Grow Rich. He instructs readers to write down positive affirmations and solid goals. You read this list several times during the day, but most importantly just before going to sleep and right after waking up. These two times are paramount.

Right before sleep and just after waking up, Hill knew, that the line between our conscious and subconscious minds was the thinnest. This is when the messages of success are going to pass into the subconscious mind. That is of primary importance. It is the lynch pin on which everything else will hang in this piece.

Why? Because our subconscious mind does not know the difference between what is reality and what is not.

MEDITATION

When we meditate and focus on thoughts and images of strength and success and get those images into our subconscious, they become a reality for our mind. What becomes a reality in our minds becomes a reality in our actions. It is a natural cycle. What we believe, we do, say, and perform. These outward actions bring success. This success reinforces our thoughts and beliefs. So the cycle continues.

I want to introduce you, in a manner of speaking, to Mark Divine. He is a former Navy SEAL Commander, an entrepreneur, an author, and a very successful man in very many ways. In his book The Way of the SEAL he teaches what he calls the “envision The Future Me” exercise.

Getting ready to do this mental imaging is the same for meditating and very similar to what I have experienced in some forms of yoga and what is done in tai chi and in many sports and arts.

First, find a comfortable seat or place to recline. The intention is not to fall asleep, but if you do, oh well. So long as you get the images into your mind.

Second, breathe deeply. Most of us only breathe into the upper part of our lungs. This restricts the amount of oxygen we take in. Think of the air coming into your lungs and filling them from the bottom up while you breathe in and push your belly out at the same time. As you are breathing, lightly press the tip of your tongue to the top of your mouth just behind your front teeth.

While breathing in, picture bright light coming in through your nose and into your body to illuminate all the dark recesses. As you exhale see and feel the darkness and dust leaving with your breath.

After several breaths of the light, just breathe and feel your body relax. Feel every muscle hanging under the effect of gravity.

Visualize what you want. Focus on it with laser like intensity. Go through your routine. Do your warm up. Feel all the stretches. Experience it in as much detail as possible. Use all of your senses. You already know how your workout area looks. Call up how it feels, smells, sounds. There is a unique taste to it as well, find it in your mind.

Go through your workout or the event you’re training for. Go through each play, each step, every single minute detail of what you will do. Experience it as a champion. Experience the victory. The deeper and richer the detail of sensations, the more real it becomes to your conscious and subconscious minds.

Back to Mark Divine. He writes about the Future Me exercise. Mark says in his book, The Way of the SEAL, on page 28 that

“Even though you may not feel or look the part now, you must envision yourself in your ideal state, activating your personal power and living in alignment with your stand and purpose. I learned in the SEALs that there’s no such thing as perfection, only perfect effort. Through practicing a “perfect” version of ourselves mentally, we’ll slowly become that person in real life.”

            Scientists are beginning to understand more about the mind/body connection. They are finding evidence to support this. One such study published in the Journal of Sports Science and Medicine just this past September. In this study participants were divided in two groups. Both groups had one of their wrists and forearms put into a cast for four weeks. One group would perform guided mental imaging and the other group would do nothing for the duration.

            During the guided imaging the study group was led to envision themselves doing gripping, flexing, and extending exercises.

            The key points from the study are:

·         Coupling mental imagery with physical training is the best suited intervention for improving strength performance.

·         An examination of potential moderator variables revealed that the effectiveness of mental imagery on strength performance may vary depending on the appropriate matching of muscular groups, the characteristics of mental imagery interventions, training duration, and type of skills.

·         Self-efficacy, motivation, and imagery ability were the mediator variables in the mental imagery-strength performance relationship.

·         Greater effects of internal imagery perspective on strength performance than those of external imagery could be explained in terms of neural adaptations, stronger brain activation, higher muscles excitation, greater somatic and sensorimotor activation, and higher physiological responses such as blood pressure, heart rate, and respiration rate.

·         Mental imagery prevention interventions may provide a valuable tool to improve the functional recovery after short-term muscle immobilization and anterior cruciate ligament in patients.

Both groups lost grip strength. The control group registered a 46% loss overall while the study group registered 24%. That is a significant difference for a four-week period.

There is also a correlation in how hard you focus on the image and how detailed you make your images. Frequency is also a factor.

Bill Bradley, who served as a democratic senator from 1979 to 1992, used visualization throughout his basketball career. To him, that was a key part of practice and training.

For us, as athletes, whether we are training for fitness, flexibility, or one event or another, we can also benefit from this fact. When coupled with training, the effects of mental visualization are going to speed up recovery and improve our training. Our training will improve in our ability to focus while there, our muscles will benefit from a stronger mind-body connection.

So, when you go to bed tonight, fall asleep focusing your mind on the experience of The New You.

From the No-Budget, No-Whining, No-Excuses Basement Gym. Stay safe. Train hard.

Explosive!

     One of the points relating to the Tabata Challenge that we have not discussed is the tempo at which we should be doing these. That is a point I wish to rectify here and now. It is important and it will make a difference in your training, strength, and stamina.

      Joe Weider is the Father of Modern Bodybuilding. His creativity, intelligence, curiosity, and determination paved the way for many of the greatest. Lou Ferigno, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Franco Columbu. Not to mention the hordes of athletes who train to day using the principles he developed without ever knowing who came up with these ideas.
      For this month's challenge, we are using Weider principle #27. This principle states that muscle contractions should be done as quickly as possible and the extension at a more normal speed. What this means and looks like is this:
     Push-ups; lower your chest as close to the ground/floor as you can without touching it doing so at a speed that takes two seconds. When you press against the floor to raise your body up do so explosively. It's as if you are trying to do a clapping push -up,  but not quite. This explosiveness results in more strength in less time. Studies have proven this. Time has held this as one of Joe Weider's principles. If it didn't work it wouldn't be in his list.
     You can do pull-ups with the same explosiveness. If doing free-hanging pull-ups with that much force limits you to one or two, it's not going to accomplish much. In this case, you could benefit from elastic bands to assist with the explosive reps for the first two sets. Then, lose the straps and do the best you can for the other 6 sets in the Tabata. If that means you’re doing cheats by hopping up to get your up over the bar, then so be it. Get yourself up over the bar and hold it for at least one second before beginning your decent. The decent should take about two seconds. Not that it will destroy the universe if you are unable to hold that pace. You are, after all, employing some intense techniques to really burn out your muscles. Another option might be having a friend help you up over the top so you can focus on the negative portion. There's nothing wrong with that.
     Employ explosiveness and enjoy newfound strength.
     Train daily. Train hard. Be strong.