Training methods on cycle

[Harnold]

I'm posting this here as the on cycle question is my curiosity and feel most of the smart people are in here at one time or another.
I know how I train on cycle, but am curious to know how you guys train on cycle.
Example of what I mean is I continue to add weight and try maintain the 8-10 rep hyper trophy zone.12to 15 reps for legs and back. I'm not referring to competitive BB or individual sport specific training. I realize it depends on your goals, thinner athletic look, big thick look...etc..but for most of us we want to get the most from our cycle. I understand shocking the body, but.....
I don't vary from this style very often to be honest. I have never responded well in over twenty years of training to light weights. they always gave me a great pump, but left me feeling depleted and small the next day. it's always been that way. on or off cycle. with heavy weights, I keep my pump for a few days, feel fuller and sore but not depleted completely like lighter weights. Really interested in your responses.thanks.

 

[China_Wall]

results are nearly 100% diet related bro... as long as your training is intense, and you're training your whole body over a one week period, that's really all you need to think about

when you say you never really responded well to light weight training, I would say most of your "non results" come down to just a lack of food. Our muscles are not nearly as smart as we think, a muscle doesn't know the difference between an 8 rep set to failure and a 12 rep set to failure... failure is failure

train hard, eat plenty, and rest... that's about it

 

[Black Beard]

You hit the nail on the head when you said "I continue to add weight". That's what it's all about. 4-12 is the best rep range. Progressive overload+nutrition+rest is what gets you the results. Lower rep ranges recruit more muscle fiber from the start. Higher rep range will only recruit 100% in the last few reps. A lot of the growth from higher reps comes from sarcoplasmic growth. Your muscles become more efficient at storing glycogen and other stuff. So it gives you that pumped look. A lot of people think Dorian Yates had that "THICK" look because he trained heavy as hell. Look at ronnie coleman, the guy is strong as fuck. That's two of the greatest bodybuilders of all time that lift heavy ass fucking weight. At the end of the day, the most important thing is progressive overload, nutrition and rest. The rest is just optimization.

 

[Southernfish]

Ill add something on top of these two bros. I believe in strict form and heavy weight for building muscle, form is key in my books. The only groups I don't train heavy is bis, tris and calves, those three muscle can be very stubborn and I find, at least for myself, that lighter weight, NOT LIGHT, BUT LIGHTER and high reps works best. This method will pump large amounts of blood into the muscle forcing the fascia to stretch, this is key for these muscle groups that a lot of people have a hard time make grow, ill do anywhere for 12-20 reps. Its never about the amount of weight on the bar or machine, its about how you lift and perform the reps and sets.

 

[Black Beard]

Good form can make a hell of a difference for hypertrophy. Try doing a session of the squats you see most people doing at the gym(quarter/half squats). Then try another session doing ass to grass squats. You can feel the difference. Same thing with curls.

 

[Harnold]

thanks for the replies guys, I really appreciate it. coming in on 25 years training and still learning, as I believe we all can if we come out and ask questions. that's what I love about this board, opinions and knowledge. cheers!

 

[Black Beard]

Yeah, every year i pick up a huge amount of information. The amount of knowledge i have now compared to two years back is insane.

 

[cdiggity]

results are nearly 100% diet related bro... as long as your training is intense, and you're training your whole body over a one week period, that's really all you need to think about

when you say you never really responded well to light weight training, I would say most of your "non results" come down to just a lack of food. Our muscles are not nearly as smart as we think, a muscle doesn't know the difference between an 8 rep set to failure and a 12 rep set to failure... failure is failure

train hard, eat plenty, and rest... that's about it

Just curious, but how important is that bolded part for training? Ive started Water Polo recently, and I find myself too sore/tired out from fitting in the polo with all my weights. Is it really bad that I just rotate my body parts when I can fit them in even if it doesn't fit into a full week?

 

[China_Wall]

Just curious, but how important is that bolded part for training? Ive started Water Polo recently, and I find myself too sore/tired out from fitting in the polo with all my weights. Is it really bad that I just rotate my body parts when I can fit them in even if it doesn't fit into a full week?

no problem, less is more... I would say if you're are getting your each muscle group worked over a 10 day period, and focusing on each muscle when you train... you will be getting much better results than someone that is training body parts 2 or 3 times per week... this theory is based solely on the basis that your diet is sufficient

 

[Black Beard]

Yeah, one to two times per week is more than enough with the right intensity.

 

[Mr.Green]

diet, heavy weight,good form, rest= great success

 

[ketogenicbulldog]

results are nearly 100% diet related bro... as long as your training is intense, and you're training your whole body over a one week period, that's really all you need to think about

when you say you never really responded well to light weight training, I would say most of your "non results" come down to just a lack of food. Our muscles are not nearly as smart as we think, a muscle doesn't know the difference between an 8 rep set to failure and a 12 rep set to failure... failure is failure

train hard, eat plenty, and rest... that's about it

This is a perfect response!

I used to think add weight, add weight, always think to myself "keep getting stronger" but for my goals (just building muscle and leaning out independently) this is not necessary. It's how hard you can contract your muscles on each rep.

Use enough weight that you can get a good eccentric contraction on every rep and keep your form as strict as possible. Your body will love you for it after a few decades of lifting and your diet should keep you lean/bulky/athletic looking.

Just as an example i used to shoulder barbell press very near 300lbs for reps (free weight not on a machine) and although i don't do barbell overhead press anymore i bet 200lbs would feel heavy now and my shoulders have only grown from using better form and eating right

 

[Repo]

Intensity until failure works for me...

Short and intense - is what I've learned from Mentzer and Yates.

 

[Black Beard]

Speaking of Mentzer https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E-w9J6KZo-c

 

[SonOfZeu$]

if the first two sets are easy, i count them as a warm up, until I feel my muscles working hard, and then do 4 sets of 10-12. If you get 10-12, then you keep increasing the weight so you should struggle your last set

 

[KCinToronto]

I've always been curious if I am working hard enough when on cycle. I feel like I heal up really fast when on, but have a hard time getting to the gym more than 4 times a week. I hit every body part in those 4 days and hit them pretty hard.

Wouldn't it be better if I started a 5 day a week routine and hit parts that are lagging twice a week?
Or just keep it rotating in proper order so every week changes what gets hit twice?


KC

 

[Black Beard]

As long as the weight is going up and you are eating enough, you will build mass. On gear, you can get away with hitting body parts more often. Like you said, recovery is much faster. The rep range and frequency of training is not as important as progressive overload.

 

[SonOfZeu$]

As long as the weight is going up and you are eating enough, you will build mass. On gear, you can get away with hitting body parts more often. Like you said, recovery is much faster. The rep range and frequency of training is not as important is progressive overload.

i almost feel like if your eating right, getting your sleep, you can't over train. I almost never felt sore, and just kept on getting stronger. Besides on leg day, i wouldn't be able to walk the next day lol

 

[Southernfish]

i almost feel like if your eating right, getting your sleep, you can't over train. I almost never felt sore, and just kept on getting stronger. Besides on leg day, i wouldn't be able to walk the next day lol

I think it all depends on the person. This topic could be argued till we all drop dead without a definite answer. I personally think you CAN over train, like if you were to train any body part 7 days a week, that would absolutely be overtraining, or if you spend so much time in the gym you go past the point of being pumped so that you lose your pump, thats overtraining too. But if you were to train a muscle group three times a week with a little blast each time that would be OK, but that would eventually stop working like anything else. One thing is for certain though, you have a far LESS chance of overtraining if you are on gear, as well if training is the only thing you do all day.

 

[SonOfZeu$]

I think it all depends on the person. This topic could be argued till we all drop dead without a definite answer. I personally think you CAN over train, like if you were to train any body part 7 days a week, that would absolutely be overtraining, or if you spend so much time in the gym you go past the point of being pumped so that you lose your pump, thats overtraining too. But if you were to train a muscle group three times a week with a little blast each time that would be OK, but that would eventually stop working like anything else. One thing is for certain though, you have a far LESS chance of overtraining if you are on gear, as well if training is the only thing you do all day.

i would train one body part a week, and every week i could work one or two muscle groups twice and always switch it around. I use to do abs 3x/week. Def felt the toll on that one