1. Lift For Strength - I would say the best thing I did in the past 6 months was to start following a upper/lower split instead of following a "bodybuilding" routine. My outline looks like so:
Monday - Lower Body
Tuesday - Upper Body
Wednesday - Activation Work/Slow Steady Work/Off
Thursday - Lower Body
Friday - Upper Body
Saturday - Kettlebell/Body weight Work
Sunday - Off
To get strong you have to lift for strength. My maximum effort lifts now have a rep scheme of 6x4, 5x5 or 8x3 for most part, depending on the week. You would think putting this much stress on your body lifting up to 90% of your maximum would lead to injury. Keep good form and you'd be surprised what a difference you'd see if you traded that squat from 3x8 to 8x3. Let your nutrition influence your physique and your training influence your strength. After only 16 weeks of switching from a body part split to a lower/upper split I've noticed a huge difference not only my physique but also my strength.
You don't need to follow a "bodybuilders" routine to get big
2. Decreasing Aerobic Work - This was a hard one for me to give a try, let alone actually see it work. Doing less has helped me a great deal. Strength gains are hindered if aerobic work is to heavy. I realized I was putting a lot of effort into aerobic work when I could do something fun like finishing up a workout with pulling a sled or some kettlebell work in interval fashion for example. The thought of running on the treadmill four times a week makes me bored just thinking about it.
3. Adding A Lot Of Single Leg Work - Playing baseball for the past four years at the college level has put some nasty imbalances in my legs. I'm lucky because I throw right and swing left so that has helped keep imbalances from getting to bad but they are still there. My right hip is less mobile compared to my right. The left knee pain I was having I thought was because of catching in college. But when I started incorporating some heavy single leg work the pain started to diminish. I've covered this in a past post, but fix imbalances/mobility issues and most people depending on the situation will see a loss of pain.
4. Working On Weaknesses - I have always had terrible deadlift form. Not because I can't deadlift, mainly because I've never felt comfortable with my technique. After just 16 weeks I took what used to be a 385 lbs deadlift to a 435 lbs deadlift. Sure a lot is thanks to improving mobility in my hips and thoracic vertebrae but I don't know how I went through years of training without a deadlift.
I also had terrible internal rotation (GIRD) in my throwing arms shoulder. Adding both dynamic and static movements to target the posterior capsule helped a bunch. Not only has pain in my shoulder diminished but my lifts (pull-ups, push-ups, rows....) have improved greatly once full mobility was reached.
Loosen up that posterior capsule
5. Getting Away From Program Design When Needed - There are days when you get to the gym and you don't have it. A cookie cutter approach doesn't work. I don't go a week or mini cycle where I don't need some modification in what I planned on doing. No reason beating yourself into the ground on what may not feel good that day. An example would be a deadlift switched to a trap bar deadlift a day where your deadlift doesn't feel up to par.
An somewhat extreme example of this is due to my shoulder I have dropped barbell benching for the past 16 weeks. Push-ups love me. Once I feel my external rotation strength and my internal rotation improves to where I want it I know I'll more then likely see a new personal record in my bench.
Another point that is somewhat along the same lines is it amazes me how in tune you get to your body. The days when I feel that left hip become a little more active than my right in a lift, I can tell. If I can't get that right glute/hip to "wake up" with some activation work it's time to modify and find a new exercise.
6. Incorporating A Deload Week - This the hardest thing I have ever done but plain and simple a deload is where volume is dropped so your body has a chance to recover from the previous 3 weeks. It's hard to stop when you know you have more in you after a lift but this little modification has helped. The intensity is still there but to a point. The weeks after a deload week my mind and body can tell a difference.
7. Nutrition Changes - I've put on 25-30 pounds in a little over 16 weeks. I was on a very low carbohydrate following for a long while and seen great results. When I tried to start putting weight on adding 100-200 grams of carbohydrates to my post workout meal/shake has make a big difference. I'm not as lean as I used to be (which was a hard thing to get over at first!) but I know if I started to cycle my carbohydrate intake a bit I would see a difference within a couple weeks. Again, I'm just amazed how in tune you get to your body not only on the training side but on the nutrition side also.
The pyramid sucks
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