What You Need to Know About Periodization

     If you've been training with weights for more than 5 minutes chances are that you've heard of periodization. Periodization means different things to different people. But here's what most gurus don't want you to know about periodization:

YOU DON'T NEED PERIODIZATION!!!!!

     Take the Westside Method for example, you have a max effort (ME) day where you work up to a max once per week. You also have a dynamic effort (DE) day, where you don't go heavy, but instead focus on bar speed. You have to change exercises every week...or was that every 3 weeks...I forget. And when you change exercises, do you change ME and DE exercises or just ME? Also I remember reading about repetitious effort (RE) work, but for the life of me, I can't remember when you're suppose to do that.

     Don't even get me started on Sheyko.

     Now I'm not making fun of either of these systems. Plenty of guys bigger and stronger than me have used both. But here's the deal, the guys that train at Westside, were already big and strong before going to Westside. That's why they were invited to train there. Advanced and elite level lifters might need a program like Westside to take them to the absolute peak of human capabilities, but at least 90% of gym goes don't need a program this complicated, and probably never will.

     On the other hand, I've seen some average people make great progress with mind numbingly simple programs. I once went to a gym with a guy who benched every workout...and he worked out 5-6 days per week. He lifted heavy most days which meant hitting 450-485. If he needed a light day, he would stop at 405-420. All of these lifts were raw, no bench shirt. This guy was tall, with long arms; definately not built to bench. Oh yeah and he was in his 60's.

     I've seen this a thousand times...ok maybe just dozens of times, but that still a lot considering most people in most gyms never make any progress. But when I have seen poeple make progress, its guys following simple programs that internet gurus say won't work, or will lead to overtraining. Yet these people are getting the best results in the gym. And the guys who are always trying fancy routines struggle year after year.

     I know because I've been there. I've tried workouts that were way above my head and tried various "periodized" routines, and it cost me years that could have been spent making progress.

     Learn from my mistakes. Know you're limits. If you reading this, chances are that you are a beginner or at best and intermediate. Don't get fancy. Stick to simple methods of progression. Just because a system is used by an elite level lifter, doesn't mean that it will give you the best results. Advanced and elite level guys have exhausted the gains they can get from simple programs and may have to resort to more exotice methods for further results. But these methods are probably less than ideal for beginners and intermediates.

     Here is an old school method of progression: take your 5 rep max and do 3-5 sets. When you can do 3-5 sets of 5, add weight. Don't go to max on any set. You don't have to go to failure to get results. In fact going to failure is probably a detriment for steroid free lifters.

     Periodization is a waste of time for at least 90% of trainere. I've seen drug free lifters lift huge weights and develop great bodies from simple progressions like I outlined above. Fancy and even simple forms of periodization are for advanced trainees. Those of us in the beginner & intermediate ranks, which is the overwhelming majority of lifter, don't need them. I wish I would have known this 10 years ago.

     Until next time, gents.

5 Reasons You Should Bodybuild

I used to be a strength athlete. I was moderately strong. I could snatch 100kg and C&J 120kg at a body weight of less than 85kg. I didn't max on squats but 150kg was my workout weight, and 170kg was the heaviest I ever lifted and it wasn't very hard. And that was done with no special prep. 

For most of my time as a strength athlete, I had an elitist attitude to towards bodybuilding. I turned up my nose at anything that wasn't strength oriented. I rationalized my view by saying to myself that strength training is inherently functional and thus carried over to real life, or something like that. Bodybuilding as I saw it, was just exercising for vanity.

As I have grown older, I have also grown somewhat wiser. And I have learned that there are plenty of reasons to train for hypertrophy. 

1. Big muscle keeps trouble makers away.

In case you are unaware, criminals and other assorted bad guys profile before they engage in their nefarious activities. Now every one knows that size does not automatically mean that you can fight. The bad guy knows this better than most people. He's probably been in tons of street brawls and knows first hand that while size can play a role in the outcome of a fight, it is not the sole determinant of success. So when he sees a swole sucker walking down the street, the criminal's ego won't let him believe that he would lose. But he does a quick, mostly subconscious, risk/reward calculation & then decides that others people would make better victims.

Your enlarged musculature will be even better at dissuading average Joes from starting trouble. We've all seen it: two guys are at a party. Maybe one guy A accidentally bumps into guy B. So guy B turns on his heels ready to kick the crap out of guy A only to find that Guy A is jacked to the max. Guy B loses his courage and nearly pisses himself. The worst part is he also loses face.

Again it doesn't always turn out like this, but it does help stack the odds in your favor.

2. Other men will look up to you.

This idea goes back to Jack Donovan's book The Way of Men (<--- by using this link to buy the book, you help support the blog.) In the book Mr. Donovan makes a compelling case that men's job in society, historically speaking, has been to "defend the perimeter". As such, anything that you do to help raise the status of the group, also raises your status within the group. So by becoming larger and more intimidating you help raise the image of your group and thus your peers will hold you in higher regard.

3. Women like guys with big muscles.

We've all heard women say how they don't like huge muscles. The trouble is, every time one of these women finally sees a large muscular male in the flesh, one hemisphere of her brain shuts down, leaving her standing there, knock kneed, with her mouth agape and her tongue hanging out.

Having big muscles significantly increases your attractiveness to women. There is something about being big that elicits a primal, visceral reaction from women. And based on what I've seen, they are helpless to stop it. If I had to guess, I would say a guy who is a 6 could raise his attractiveness to women maybe as high as an 8 if he put on enough muscle.

Women also like to be with men who are esteemed by other men. So having big muscles increases your value to women, but you get another increase in her eyes because other men look up to you. So you get double bonus points for doing one thing.

Could you imagine how that would change your life? If you're single, imagine knowing that wherever you go you'll be able to meet women who will want to talk to you. Or if you're in a relationship, imagine how much better sex will be because you partner doesn't have just a mental attraction to you but she has a primitive, subconscious "OMG! I want to that hunk to pump his superior genetics into me" kinda of attraction to you?

4. Increased strength

There is this belief that floats around the internet, especially among third rate strength athletes, that training in the higher rep ranges doesn't make you stronger. Nothing could be further from the truth. Training in the 8-12 rep range just doesn't transfer well to a 1 rep max. This is because heavy lifting in the 1-3 rep range is neurologically different from training in the 8-12 rep range. (For more on this, read an article called Grease the Groove by Pavel Tsatsouline.) 

This means that if you had been training in the 8-12 rep range and wanted to enter a powerlifting competition you would be well advised run a special training cycle geared more towards strength. I think in the Russian training system this is called transmutation. There are a couple of different ways to do this, but that isn't the point of this post.  

The point is, training in the higher rep ranges does make you stronger, which like point #1 will cause you to be admired by other males.

5. Self Esteem

Finally, and maybe most importantly, being jacked will help your confidence.Being intimidating to other men, envied by other men and alluring to women is bound to give you a healthy dose of self esteem. It is hard to imagine an aspect of your life that would not benefit from this added self esteem. 

You wouldn't sit around despondent because you're single. You'd just go out and get a date. A healthy self esteem mixed with the fact that you're looked up to by other guys means that you probably won't have problems making friends. This self confidence would probably help your career too. You wouldn't hesitate to ask for a raise or a promotion, so you would probably have more money. 

Don't misconstrue this article to mean that I have attained swoleness, because I haven't yet. I have simply realized the error of my ways and intent on fixing them. For all you younger guys out there, I suggest that you learn from my mistakes.

That's it for this post. See you guy next time.