In the previous installment I addressed conditioning progression and gave examples of programs. When it comes to strength training, progression is many times shoved aside. I believe if more people paid attention to strength training progression there would be more muscle roaming the planet. It’s pretty simple: force your muscles to do more over time.

The following bit of advice will take ANYONE a long, long way to achieving goals:

Lift the resistance for as many good repetitions possible. Record the number of repetitions achieved. Attempt to do more in the next workout.

How difficult is that to comprehend? It isn’t, however due to the information overload that exists out there, it can become over-complicated, especially with progression plans that use the antiquated percentage system. The percentage system uses various percentages of a one-repetition maximum (1RM) for a specific number of repetitions (reps). In short, you determine the maximum amount of resistance you can lift one time (1RM), then you use that figure to base your future workouts on. Examples:

• 3 x 10 @ 75% – Three sets of 10 reps at 75% of the 1RM
• 8/80%, 6/85%, 6/85%, 4/90% – Eight reps at 80%, two sets of six reps at 85%, and four reps at 90% of the 1RM

These examples at least offer some type of guidelines for lifting. The percentage system, however, has major flaws for these reasons:

1. Genetic differences. Due to a host of genetic differences between people, there is no accurate way to determine a perfect number of repetitions for a specific percentage. That is, if 80% of a 1RM for eight reps is the prescription, it could be unattainable for one person, dead-on for another, and not challenging for a third person. A number of studies (1 or 2, to note a few) have shown the variance in rep possibilities with various percentages of a 1RM. Can you see the confusion this can create, especially in multiple-set protocols?
2. Intensity interpretation. Proponents of the percentage system consider “low” intensity to mean percentages around 60% of the 1RM and “high” intensity to mean around 90% of the 1RM. Not to go into a diatribe here, but this is too subjective and arbitrary. Please understand a variety of resistances can be used to overload muscle. 60% of a 1RM can be effective if it challenges (fatigues) the muscles. And if it indeed challenges the muscles – that is, is used intensely to create an overload – would this not be considered high intensity? So, toss out the ridiculous intensity labeling of percentages of a 1RM. Heavy resistance can be high intensity and relatively lighter resistance can be high intensity. It all depends on how hard you work with them.
3. There is no place for low intensity in the iron game. If a plan suggests a low-effort day as a back off or recovery day, then just take a day off and let the body heal. Training half-assed is un-measurable. It is a subjective and a wasted activity based on some pseudo-guru’s opinion. To stimulate muscle tissue one must work hard. A wide spectrum of resistances can be used to fatigue and overload muscle provided objective, measurable effort is exuded.
4. Rep speed. Real-life example: the objective is 82.5% for eight reps. Joe Schmoe uses poor form – bouncing, jerking, heaving, and squirming – and gets the eight rep goal. John Doe uses impeccable form – a slower controlled movement, no momentum, optimized muscle activation – but only obtains six reps. What data do they record? What about the next set or next workout goal based on the result of this set? Should John Doe then use lousy form to get the required reps? Do you see a problem here?
5. Periodization nonsense. Many have been sucked into the embarrassingly complicated verbiage of periodization. Periodization originated in former Eastern Bloc (and drug assisted) Soviet Union and East Germany in the 1970s. Periodization is essentially a sexy word for variation. Periodization is characterized by training periods broken down into microcycles, megacycles, and mesocycles. Within these cycles is the anticipated development of strength, speed-strength, starting-strength, strength endurance, speed endurance, power, power endurance, blah, blah, blah. These qualities are purportedly attained via various exercise prescriptions based on specific set/rep/% scripts. Understand most of this is unsupported by legitimate science, primarily due to the variance of the percentages of a 1RM, one’s genetic make-up, and the reality of how we contract muscle (see Henneman’s Principle).

Okay, rant mode off. It’s time to make you happy with a progression tool that is simple to understand, very productive, but highly underused: the repetition range. As opposed to the unpredictable and inaccurate percentages of a 1RM, rep ranges use a range of reps to provide reasonable progression. In example, a 10-14 rep range would entail the selection of a resistance where at least 10 repetitions could be performed but no more than 14 when the exercise is taken to the point of volitional muscular fatigue (VMF).

In example, if 150 pounds where used and 12 reps were perform to VMF, that is, a 13^th rep was unable to be performed, 150 x 12 would be documented. Because the 12 reps fall within the 10-14 range, the goal in the next workout would be to obtain at least 13 repetitions with the 150 pounds. If a 13^th rep (or more) is obtained, it would represent improvement. Remember, strength increases occur in small increments at a time, and a one-rep improvement is how they are accrued. When the upper end of the range is obtained, the goal in the next workout would be to increase the resistance reasonably (i.e., five to ten pounds – 155 or 160) and attempt to achieve at least the 10-rep minimum in the 10-14 range.

Rep ranges are a no-brainer. Let me explain why:

1. Rep ranges account for variations in genetic variability due to the wide range of repetitions possible with different percentages of a 1RM. It does not matter what the exact percentage is with rep ranges. Using 80% of a 1RM may result in 8, 9, 10, or 11 reps. The only thing that matters is what was obtained at that point in time.
2. Rep ranges can be varied for different cycles such as heavy, moderate or light resistance exercise protocols. This can mirror traditional periodization plans if one seeks that route. Heavy could be rep ranges of 2-6 or 4-8, moderate might be 6-10 or 8-12, and light could be 10-14 or 12-16 reps.
3. Rep ranges are objective. They show you exactly what to do in forthcoming workouts to assure progression. Perform 150 x 13 in a 10-14 reps range? The goal would be 150 x 14 or more in the forthcoming workout. If 14 reps were achieved, the resistance would then be increased and the goal would be the minimum of 10 reps in the next workout. Very objective and simple to understand.
4. Rep ranges do not require exasperating thought when creating a training plan, even when using multiple sets. Here is an example over four workouts:

Click on image to enlarge

Remember, if you’re increasing your ability in resistance and/or repetitions over time, you are increasing your strength, power, and endurance. If you do not believe me, re-read any legitimate physiology textbook. I will expound on this in a future article if you seek more legitimate science on this topic. Happy training to all of you!

But what if you are a spacing out on cardio? Check out:

Idiot’s Guide to Progressive Conditioning Workouts

The post An Idiot’s Guide to Progressive Strength Workouts appeared first on Breaking Muscle.

1. Overload
2. Recovery/Adaptation
3. Progression

Believe it or not, any exercise plan you successfully used in the past was supported by the following principles (otherwise, you wouldn’t have improved or observed results):

1. Overload
2. Recovery/Adaptation
3. Progression

Think about a time when you were seeing noticeable improvements in your endurance or increases in your strength. Somewhere along the line you were creating a stress on the cardiovascular system and/or your muscles via physically demanding workouts. This was the overload principle. The off-time between these demanding workouts allowed your body to improve or grow in response to the imposed stresses. This was the recovery/adaptation principle. Now, being in better shape and/or stronger, you were able to handle higher levels of stress. You gradually “did more” in your workouts even though it may have been small, incremental stress applications. This was the progression principle.

Essentially, you worked hard, gave your body time to rest and heal, and were able to do more as a result. You might not have had a specific, in-writing training plan that followed these long-standing principles of training, but you did it.

There is one principle some trainees need to shore up a bit. The progression principle is where many fall off the cliff. It’s time to revisit this often-neglected underpinning of a successful exercise plan as it applies to conditioning workouts.

Many trainees work their butts off, rest and eat sensibly, but fail to have progressive plan in front of them. You cannot hit the running trail, run intervals, or boot camp-it in the same manner over and over without upping the ante gradually. If your bodyweight circuit workout uses the same exercise, reps, and workout time, you’re getting nowhere. Run, bike, or swim the same distance at the same time/pace again and again and you’re also on the flat-line path to nowhere.

Doing more does not have to be complicated. In fact, it can be very simple provided you take a little time to plan it out. Let’s look at a few conditioning progression options (i.e., running, cycling, swimming, circuit training, etc.). There are four variables that can be manipulated in a number of ways to assure progression in conditioning workouts:

• Volume – the number of bouts (runs, reps) performed.
• Intensity – the level of physical effort expended.
• Duration – this could be two things: the length/distance of each bout and/or the time of each bout.
• Recovery – the rest time between bouts, if applicable.

Using interval running as an example, take a look at this first chart to see all the possible options for progression. Over an eight-week period, for example, you could manipulate the variables weekly to assure you’re still challenging yourself. As you can see, it could be one, two, three, or all four variables altered over the training period.

Here is an 8-week progression example with only volume and recovery altered and intensity and duration remaining constant:

For circuit-type exercise modes (non-running, biking, swimming, etc.), the same thing applies:

• Increase the number of stations/exercises.
• Increase the intensity of effort.
• Increase the work period time.
• Decrease the rest time between stations/exercises.

For continuous modes of exercises such as distance running or work on an exercise machine (i.e., elliptical), it’s the same:

• Work longer at the same pace.
• Work harder at the same time/distance
• Work longer and harder.

The bottom line on conditioning progression: have a plan that requires you to do more bouts, work harder, work longer, and/or decrease rest time between bouts. Plan it out. Write it down. You’ll be doing yourself a huge favor.

And what if you’re trying to get stronger? Well then check out the Idiot’s Guide to Progressive Strength Workouts.

Photo courtesy of Shutterstock.

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It’s pretty easy to see why companies spend so much time telling us sports drinks and various supplements are so valuable to our performance – in 2007 sports drinks sales alone in the USA accounted for more than $1.5 billion. With so much money at stake in the sale of supplements it’s hard to get solid information on what is optimal and what is just marketing hyperbole. I’m lucky to have been around for long enough to see many trends and opinions come and go as well as having the opportunity to see current research on the subject.

Keep in mind that the following guidelines are for endurance recovery, although they will work just fine for team sports too, and even workouts such as CrossFit, where significant fuel comes from glycogen.

Why Post Exercise Recovery Drinks Are Important

The body’s glycogen stores are fairly limited, so the ability to resynthesize or replace glycogen is a critical part of recovery between events or even when training sessions are close together. In some cases this replenishment may need to be accomplished in just a few hours.

Another large part of the recovery process is rehydration. Losses in fluid levels of more than two percent of total body weight can lead to drops in performance of more than ten percent. In other words, if a 200lb man lost 4lbs of sweat his hundred-meter time would potentially drop from ten seconds to eleven. At elite levels that is the difference between making the final and not even getting out of the heats.

Understanding Glycogen Restoration

Glycogen restoration occurs in two phases post exercise. The first is quite rapid and without insulin, for thirty to sixty minutes; the second happens more slowly and in the presence of insulin. The presence of insulin is an important factor as glycogen stores can be replenished much quicker during this phase, while insulin sensitivity and glucose uptake are high. In fact, a study on cyclists found that glycogen synthesis was forty-five percent slower when a carbohydrate solution was used two hours post-exercise versus immediately after.¹ So learn to refuel immediately post training, then take care of your other activities such as cool down, showering, etc.

There also seems to be a ceiling on how quickly the body can absorb glycogen, as well as how much it can absorb. At two hours post exercise, glycogen resynthesis peaks between 1-1.5g/kg. In comparison, during exercise researchers have found that no more than 0.7g/ kg was beneficial. This difference has led to speculation that rather than try to ingest a massive amount of carbohydrate post-exercise it would be better to take small amounts more often to maintain blood glucose and insulin levels.²

Further Improving Glycogen Synthesis

As any gym rat will tell you there is a huge reason to add protein to recovery drinks. Muscle loss, and with it lowered force production, are a real problem facing endurance athletes. As I wrote about here, elite athletes tend to understand the importance of this better than recreational athletes and deliberately ingest protein during their efforts. During recovery this becomes even more crucial as the addition of amino acids with a carbohydrate post-exercise has been shown to increase insulin response³ while at the same time lowering the risk of gastrointestinal distress.⁴

Putting It Together

While it may just seem easier to eat a good quality meal post-exercise, preferably within the second window at the two hour mark, if a quick turnaround is needed then it will be impossible to digest this much food quickly. Additionally, because appetite can be suppressed for the first few hours post intense activity, it is best to look for a drink as a way to cover all your rehydration and glycogen needs.

The most effective post workout drink seems to include 0.8g/kg of carbohydrate and 0.4g/kg of protein along with electrolytes such as potassium, chloride, and about 0.3-0.7g of sodium per liter of fluid to help restore sweat losses and stimulate thirst.

While there is a current marketing trend to promote chocolate milk in this category I must warn you of what happens when you try to ingest any form of dairy during or immediately after intense or particularly draining bouts of exercise. Let’s just say the results are explosive and leave it at that.

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