Hey...hey you. All that stuff you're doing...all those plans..all those workouts all those hours.
Staaahp. Stop it.
I have a friend who likes to do all sorts of crazy sh*t all the time. She works out like four hours a day six or seven days a week. Honestly there is an enormous part of me that is impressed by her and totally digs her drive to beat the ever-lovin' shit out of herself on a regular basis. The thing is then she comes to me and asks me questions like, "how do I recover faster? Why am I always sore?" Questions I answer by way of making this face:
Or at least I do in my head. She's fucking scary when she's angry. And she totally lifts, bro. Like...a lot...haven't you been paying attention?
Anyway I think a lot of people have unfortunately fostered a "more-is-better" attitude when it comes to working out, particularly when their main focus is trying to change the shape of their body. Well, I'm trying to get skinnier so I should just try to burn as many fuggin' calories as I possible can in any way possible right? No, dummy, not right. Not completely wrong, but not right either.
The most common mistake I see with people who don't have a lot of experience with programming workouts is the almost hilarious amount of volume they're doing. Some people show me their workouts and they're in the gym for like an hour and a half, running four miles and then lifting for almost an hour; doing twenty or thirty sets and hundreds of reps all under the paradigm of "more is better." There are a handful of cases where this is the case and we'll get to those later. For right now we need to focus on a simple truth when it comes to strength training: less is more.
Professional bodybuilders train each body part once, maybe twice a week. Professional powerlifters train the main movements 1-2 times a week as well. These are the athletes that occupy the upper echelon of strength sports. If they only train each body part once or twice a week, why are you doing more than that?
I recently finished reading a book, Practical Programming by Mark Rippetoe and Lon Kilgore. I've mentioned Rippetoe before a couple of times, most notably in my post "Superhuman Strength." He's the author of Starting Strength (what is generally regarded as one of the best introductions to barbell training) and a bit of a pariah in the fitness field because, well, he's f*ckin' EXTREME. He had widely publicized falling outs with both the NSCA and the CrossFit organization. Still, from everything of his I've read, he definitely knows what's up when it comes to lifting a lot of heavy sh*t. I don't want to do Rippetoe and Kilgore a disservice by giving out any of the information in their book for free, but one of the overarching themes in all of their programs was simplicity. Every workout plan was 3-4 workouts a week, 3-5 movements per workout. In certain cases they recommend a fair amount of accessory work (athletes with sport specific needs, for example) but even so the workouts are straight forward. Squat, press, deadlift, pull, push run.
That's pretty much it.
It's hard for some of us to swallow the less is more pill. I was definitely one of them. When I was in college I would workout six days a week for about two hours a day, sometimes going back to the gym two or more times per day. That sh*t was crazy and stupid and I wish I hadn't done it. While I was in very good shape, I'm also pretty sure all of that overuse is why I have a torn labrum in my hip and likely a torn labrum in my shoulder as well. This is the primary reason why working out too much is no bueno. I've said it before and I'll say it again, overuse injuries got their name for a reason. You don't want one, don't overuse your sh*t.
The second reason and perhaps more important to some is that the beneficial adaptations that occur in your body from working out happen while you're resting, not while you're in the gym cranking out your fourteenth set of burpees or running your twenty third mile. Think about it like this: your body is a construction site with your cells being the work crew. Each workout gives your crew a new biological blueprint of how it needs to improve your body. You need to let the crew finish the alterations from the last blueprint before you interrupt it with new instructions of something else to change. If you are never adequately rested you're turning your body into a poorly maintained construction site full of a bunch of pissed off (read: inflamed) workers who're tired, annoyed and less efficient at following any of the repair plans you give them.
The great thing about recovery and workload tolerance is that it can be trained. There are some people out there who can work out for four hours a day and get some kind of benefit out of it. If you've been a regular exerciser for two to three years or more then you probably need a longer, more complex program than a newbie could get away with. For the record when I say longer I' talking the difference between working out for a little more than an hour versus forty five minutes, not justifying your psychotic four hour a day, seven day a week exercise binges. That sh*t, if it's happening, has got to stop. Like, now.
Thing is you can build a lot of complexity in by lengthening your work periods and altering your schedule; you don't have to build unnecessary complexity into each individual workout that will lead to it taking an eternity. Let me explain. A brand-spankin'-new, just off the couch from lazyland exerciser may be able to see progress by using the same workout three days a week. Someone who's been working out out for a month or two on the other hand might benefit from using two workouts and alternating them: workout A-Mon, B-Wed, A, Fri and so on. As your training requirements increase in complexity you can use three or four different workouts over the course of a week, or widen the particular interval to two weeks and use 5-6 different workouts. For example:
Workout A (Monday)
Back Squat
Overhead Press
Deadlift
Pull Up
Workout B(Wed)
Power Clean
Bench Press
Front Squat
Chin Up
Workout C (Friday)
Back Squat
Overhead Press
Power Clean
Chin Up
Workout D (M Week 2)
Deadlift
Bench Press
Front Squat
Pull Up
Workout E (W Week 2)
Front Squat
Overhead Press
Power Clean
Chin Up
Workout F (F Week 2)
Deadlift
Bench Press
Back Squat
Pull Up
So right there we've got a two week workout schedule that only uses eight movements in six workouts and doesn't repeat a single identical workout...and that's doing a full body workout each day. If we split it into two days, either upper body/lower body or push/pull and do four days a week (day 1/push-day 2/pull, repeat) then making a multiple-week cycle becomes even more simpler=.
For most people interested in general fitness you probably wont need a perfectly periodized six week at at a time strength training program. My point was more to highlight that you can keep your workouts fresh and varied enough to stimulate progress fairly easily. This actually brings me to my next point. Since we're on the subject of factors that contribute to progress you guys need to know something. You absolutely can not make up for lack of training intensity with increased duration. Quality wins over quantity every single time. If you didn't leave it all out their on the gym floor you can't make up for it by doing an extra set or running another semi-slow mile. If you half assed it your first time out, do you really think half ass-ing it some more is going to make a significant difference?
At the risk of repeating myself I'm not saying everyone needs to go balls out meth-monkey style, running wind sprints and doing power snatches until they paint the wall with the semi digested remains of last nights lasagna. I'm just saying that if you're not putting in a real effort during your workout then putting in extra time with the same level of effort isn't going to change anything. On the flip side, if you are putting in a serious effort then you don't need to be in the gym for hours. Not to mention the fact that your muscles and joints probably can't handle the repetitive, high-intensity loads that you're subjecting them to if you do that.
There are cases where this kind of training has its purpose. The military, for one. Soldiers need to be strong, fast and capable of enduring the extreme. On top of the physical demands of their profession there is an enormous mental aspect to this type of brutally repetitive physical punishment. Building mental toughness in soldiers is just as important as fostering physical integrity. To that end, if you are preparing for any type of competition or event that involves hours upon hours of physically demanding activity then you're probably going to need to train for hours and hours. One of the oldest and most accurate fitness aphorisms is that the best way to prepare your body for something is to do it.
Which brings us full circle. If your main goal is to get bigger and stronger or to create some type of physical change in the way you look, frequently a higher intensity, well designed program is significantly more effective than a lower intensity program of higher volume or even a program of similar intensity with higher volume. In terms of your body serious change means growth (muscle growth, specifically) and your body needs rest to grow (and food. Preferably meat. Muscles love meat.) Every type of exercise is a different tool for the toolkit and there are situations where extreme duration programs may have a valid use. Shit, if you f*cking love working out and as far as you can tell you're happy and healthy because you spend most of your time in the gym, running or at yoga then I'm not gonna be the guy to tell you to spend more time on your couch.
Becoming Invincible is all about setting goals and working hard to accomplish them. Self improvement takes time, effort, and a well designed plan. My point is not to dissuade people from engaging in a surplus of physical activity. There are few things that drive me crazier than the couch jockeys that talk down to fitness enthusiasts about how their bodies are going to fall apart and they're going to get hurt if they keep doing so much. Shaddap. That's not what I'm saying. All I'm saying is that if your specific goal is to get bigger or stronger, your programming should stay simple, intense and err on the side of rest.
Take home message? If you're training mainly for strength: 3-4 large compound movements per workout/ 3-5 sets per movement/3-5 repetitions for set. Rest should be 1-5 minutes between sets depending on the overall workload. If you are looking for some hypertrophy you can go up to 8-12 reps per set, but I would stay at 4 sets or fewer. As always, the weight should be high enough that you can complete each set with perfect form but could not do any additional reps per set. Failure on the final set is not necessary but acceptable.
Now get out there and go kick some ass. Good luck and good lifting.
Cheers.
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