As I write this, my left quad strain is possibly on the mend. It has awoken me less frequently these last few nights, and I only feel it mildly when climbing the three flights of stairs to my cozy abode. The tendinitis in my right bicep tendon is still quite noticeable as is my left elbow tendinitis. Such are the ills of powerlifting pursuits.
I’ve started dosing glucosamine and circumin along with using a heating pad to try to encourage healing and provide some relief of symptoms.
The last couple of training sessions have been painful so I ignore these lingering issues at great peril. For the first time, my TRAC reading said I was poorly recovered and needed a significant decrease in training volume and/or a change in training days.
So I’ve decided a deload is long overdue, as is a more consistent use of TRAC to prevent future overreaching or overtraining, whichever state I’m currently in.
What I’m also considering is shifting my emphasis to purely hypertrophy because A: I am small, and B: I think I have a better idea of getting after it than at any other point in my training life. Thanks to the hard work done by researchers in the field and the increase in evidence based formulations for training vs anecdotal guesses, I believe the path to a more swole version of myself is illuminated.
Allow me to pontificate. Muscle tension has been found to the primary mechanism by which hypertrophy is brought on. Not muscle damage, not metabolic stress, but purely the mechanical load applied to the body’s musculoskeletal system. The adaption to increased workload is improvements in muscular endurance and strength, which have a nice byproduct of bigger muscles. However the adaptations occur fairly quickly and only an increase in stress to which the body is unaccustomed will produce further adaptations. This is where things tend to go awry as well meaning advice based on gym lore, anecdotes and the plethora of online information and coaches trying to make their mark produce a dizzying array of options for continued progress.
Here’s what we currently know:
Total volume of work done seems to be the primary driver of continued improvements, which makes sense from an evolutionary standpoint as increased muscular endurance is a positive adaptation for the body.
Applying mechanical tension to the muscles with some degree of frequency produces better results than infrequently. Specifically for hypertrophy the research has found that a twice per week frequency is better than once, and that more than twice may be beneficial but with diminishing returns.
Increasing the total volume of work is most efficiently done by adding weight to the bar, however a conundrum arises as the heavier weights don’t allow for the lifter to complete as many repetitions, which may counterintuitively be producing less total work. Here, the maths help to clarify:
Selecting the squat as an example, as it is the best way of applying mechanical load to the quadriceps muscles, assume I use 200 pounds and complete a set of 10 repetitions. I’ve done 2,000 lbs of work. If the next time I squat, say three days later, I use 210 pounds, but can only squeeze out 9 repetitions, I’ve done 1,890 lbs of work. That’s less than I did previously. Following that pattern, three days later I try 220 pounds, but only get 7. That’s a paltry 1,540 lbs of work. By golly, I’m going backwards. Assume instead, I use the same 200 pounds on my second venture with the squat, and manage 11 reps. You can see I’ve now done 2,200 lbs of work, which is more than I did originally, and potentially enough additional workload for my body to perceive this as a stressor for which it must adapt.
Let’s now plan out how one might use this knowledge, along with the recommendations for total volume that’s emerging from the literature, and put together a whole body plan of attack to improve muscular endurance and deliver the aesthetically pleasing, and functional adaptations, of a more swole physique.
To best organize the training, I will do the classic Legs/Back/Bi, Chest/Shoulder/Tri split and do each twice a week. I will choose the best movements for each muscle group and stick with them, as adding new movements creates a new stimulus, but not necessarily the one we’re after. Adding an unfamiliar movement creates more muscle damage than doing a movement we’re adapted to, and again, counterintuitively, this actually inhibits hypertrophy as the increased muscle damage uses our precious amino acids for repairing damage as a priority over new muscle protein synthesis.
Today, for example, I will squat for the quadriceps, although I’ll use the Safety Squat Bar so as to not continue to aggravate my tendinitis. I will choose a weight that, in Dr. Eric Helms vernacular, is “heavy enough” and do 4 sets of 10 reps each. The weight should be challenging enough so that the set results in a 7 or 8 rating on the RPE scale. That will provide 40 total reps for the quads, which is the minimum number the literature supports as sufficient for a hypertrophic stimulus.
I’d like to move to the Romanian Deadlift for hamstrings, but as long as I’m trying to save the tendons in my arms from overuse, I’ll go with the Good Morning instead, and stick with the beloved Safety Squat Bar. Again, I’ll shoot for sets of 10. I’ll probably throw in at least 1 or 2 sets of leg curls afterwards, as the hamstrings need more than just a hip extension movement to optimally train them.
For the back, it’s pulldowns and rows, and the biceps will get some curls.
Exercise selection being completed, the real key to progress is progressive overload, and here is where I must discipline myself to use math and add total work, not just fall in love with the idea of adding weight to the bar. My mantra will be to increase muscular endurance, because dammit that’s what evolution calls for. It’ll make a better specimen to pass along my genetic material to the next generation. I’m obviously done with that part of my life, but the concept remains the same.
For now, I’m thinking 15 reps is about as high as I would be willing to go before adding weight to the bar, but I have to do some calculations to see if that makes sense. For example, 100-lb Good Morning for 10 reps is 1,000 lbs of work. If I can get to 15 reps, that’s 1,500 lbs of work. I’d have to be able to increase the weight to 150 lbs for 10 reps to equal that workload, which may not be attainable, so I can already see a two steps forward, one step back kind of dilemma. The other option of course would be to add more sets instead. 100-lb Good Morning for 4 sets of 10 is 4,000 lbs. Adding a 5th set would crank it up to 5,000 lbs. That may be a better plan for overload than adding weight and dropping reps.
That will be an ongoing experiment, but it’s one I feel excited to try, at least today. I’ve always found bodybuilding style training to be dreadfully dull, but perhaps it was because I wasn’t focused on the mathematical solution of increasing workload. Powerlifting training is more satisfying mostly due to the numerical evidence of improvement. Perhaps I can use numerical evidence of improvement in total work done vs. numerical evidence of more weight lifted to keep bodybuilding interesting, and produce a larger me.
A larger me will be in a much better position to lift heavier weights when I itch to get back to powerlifting.
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