10 pounds of muscle gains - followed by a new approach
31/8-2015
10 pounds of muscle gains – and now I’m changing my routine
Today I abandoned the high volume approach that I have been training in accordance to the last three or four months.
Since late spring my workout routine has been combining the following high volume philosophies: 1. The mass-building 8-12 reps/set approach utilized by Schwarzenegger and the other bodybuilding legends of the 70s (often called, in my opinion for very good reasons, the Golden Era of Bodybuilding). 2. The Nubret pump method (6x12 being the typical set and reps range for each exercise). 3. GVT (German Volume Training, also known as 10x10).
These are all high volume, they all aim at adding muscle size fast – and they all work. I have put on 10 pounds since May, without changing my diet and without losing muscular definition or lowering my degree of muscle tone.
Still, despite these gains, I today took on a totally different approach – one that I intend to stick to for at least the next few weeks. This approach offers the following guidelines: 1. Low volume. No more than 10 sets per muscle group in one session – and no more than 6 reps in any set. 2. Finishing each set far from failure. 3. Most often only two different exercises per muscle group in one workout session.
As you can see this is a totally different approach that stands in sharp contrast to that of the last few months.
Now you are probably wondering: what are the reasons for this drastic change? Why do I want to change a winning concept?
There is a short and a more elaborate answer to these questions. The short one goes like this: I am a firm believer in change and in shocking the body in order for it to overcome any plateaus in development. And then there is another factor that comes into play: my aesthetic tastes. Just because I have added 10 pounds of muscle the last few months it mustn´t automatically be presumed that I aim to add another 10 pounds between now and Christmas. I have other goals, in accordance with the Pen and barbell ideal that you can read about here.
The long answer? That will be provided – at length and in detail – over the next few weeks, in the form of new articles and, eventually, an E-book that is currently being written. The former you will find at my Articles page. As for the latter I will surely keep you updated. Right now I will be content to let you know that the e-book in question will aim to help its readers to burst through plateaus, both in strength and in muscular development.
