Bodybuilding and fitness blog

Techniques of over intensive training – tips for athletes

Does one need to train beyond failure?

Let’s talk about the “failure” first of all. What is it? The essence of the “failure” is formally stated as follows: a complete inability of the muscle to perform the next repetition due to fatigue. There is a lot of controversy around the “failure”. All opinions are extremely contradictory. Someone says that t all sets are to be done to the “failure”, someone – that only one, the final. Ronnie Coleman believes that “failure” is harmful and stops the set, as soon he feels that “failure” is almost here.

For Dorian Yats, “failure” was the main weapon in the struggle for mass, but only on the condition that the exercise has only one working set. In any case, bringing the set to “failure” is always an extreme psycho-emotional stress, if simply, a nervous strain. If your life is full of stress, trying to finish each set with “failure” will drive you to frenzy and that’s all. In this issue, probably, are right the professionals bodybuilders, who sometimes work till “failure” and sometimes not. They say that everything depends on the well-being.

Training beyond “failure” is possible. It includes a number of forced or partial repetitions. Are they useful? There was no serious research on this subject. As for the experience, the majority of American coaches tend to believe that forced repetitions are useless while partial are useful. But only provided that you do them only in the last set of the last exercise and only once every 7-10 days. The attempts to do partial repetitions most often lead to overtraining. Partial repetitions require training for a couple. Let’s say you’re doing a bench press.

Agree in advance that after the “failure” you do 2 partial repetitions. This is needed to ensure that your partner is not nervous and is not going to help you ahead of time but at the same time is not going to be late to help. Remember, hard work in our sport is always carried out according to a plan. So, you reach a “failure” in the last repetition. When the bar is at the chest, press it up with all your strength. The amplitude will be insignificant only 5-8 cm, but such a repetition is worth a lot. Try to push the bar again.

Way to victory!

Examples of application of the technique of partial repetitions in a complex of exercises for the delta and triceps.

Delta

Exercises

Bench Dumbbell Press

Simulator press

Laterals

Bench Sitting Dumbbell Press

Triceps

Exercises

Bench Press with narrow grasp

Bench down press on the block

Bending extension of hands

Bench Press with narrow grasp

* After the “failure”, do 2-3 partial repetitions in the presence of a partner

Exercise Bikes

They are perfectly well developing your stamina, strengthen your cardiovascular system and at the same time train the muscles of the legs and back. 40 minutes of brisk ride on such a bike can burn as much as 500 calories!
- the on-board computer will show you the distance you have passed, with what speed and momentum and how many calories you have really lost. More modern models of bikes also have interactive heart rate programs that automatically regulate the load.
- There are usually used six levels of difficulty (although there can be thirty of them!). Only the first three are to be considered as quite safe for the self-exercising with the pulse area from 120 to 160 bpm. The remaining three are for the trained athletes under the watchful eye of a trainer. You can gradually increase the levels. The beginners need from two to three weeks for each new level (with two or three sessions per week).
- The overweight cyclists need a special bike, with a back support, on which he is exercising in an almost supine position on a more comfortable seat. It is much more convenient to pedal and just sit on this miracle. And the load on your back is much less.

Steppers

They simulate the process of climbing the stairs and thus successfully carry out not only the functions common to all the cardio, but also more actively train the muscles of legs and pelvis. The latter makes them particularly interesting for women. Unpretentious mini-steppers consist of pedals and a simple counter for steps and time. The closer you get up to the bottom of the pedal, the more difficult it will be to put it in motion – that’s the whole “program”.
- Expensive steppers have a computer that regulates the load, measures the pulse and gives the frequency of steps and rhythm. Such steppers occupy some space. They have handles or hand levers, which load the top upper body.

- If not so long ago it were steppers that were at the peak of the simulator fashion, but now they yielded the palm to the elliptical trainers.

Elliptical Trainers

In fact, this is a kind of “mixture” of a treadmill, an exercise bike and a stepper. The trainee interchanges foot or pedals with an elliptical amplitude. It is believed that such an “elliptical step” intentionally activates a variety of problem areas and especially the leg muscles, buttocks and thighs. These simulators give the possibility to move back, working the areas which are “unreached” by fitness.
- the handles allow you to engage in parallel exercises of muscles of the chest, arms and back. This is a good thing but it creates a significant burden on the joints and generally requires considerable energy. It is recommended only for strong athletes.
- The computer of the elliptical trainers gives the possibility to set the distance, the training time, the optimal value of the pulse. Some regimes were created specifically for fighters with cellulite. Maybe you will not say goodbye to this plague once and forever but in any case, such exercises on elliptical trainers will be much more effective than anti-cellulite creams.

People with different types of body differently react to the same system of training. What is good for one may not work for another.

In short, each type needs its own, highly individual program. Only it will give quick and effective returns. If you take a train following some “popular” sports guide, you will have to perform at least 5-6 exercises which you personally do not need.

Of course, it brings no bad, as all exercises are somehow useful, but how much time will you lose before you understand that you need your own exercises! However, you can answer this question precisely: about a year and a half. Anyway, this is the period that is usually spent by bodybuilders on fatuous training with general schemes, until finally they find in the sea of exercises, systems and methods those that suit their individual genetics.

By the way, the loss of time is not the worst. The worst is the fact that ineffective training destroys your faith in sport and deprives of enthusiasm.

There are three different body types which are called somatotypes: ectomorphic, mesomorphic and endomorphic.

Ectomorphy is characterized by short trunk, long arms and legs, long and narrow feet and palms, and very little fat reserves. It is narrow in chest and shoulders and the muscles are typically long and thin. The metabolism of the ectomorphs is very fast, so that body fat is usually not a problem. However, it is more difficult for them to build the muscles.

Mesomorph – broad chest, long torso, solid muscle structure and great strength. This is an athlete since birth.

Endomorphs – soft musculature, round face, short neck, wide hips and a large supply of fat. A typical endomorph is a stout man with a relatively high level of fat compared with muscles. Such people quickly and easily gain weight. Typically, their fat is stored in the hips and buttocks.

Of course, you can rarely meet a person with a distinct model stature of a single type. Most people have a combination of signs of all three types.

According to the existing classification there exist eighty-eight subtypes in total, resulting from the predominance of any indicators of each major type.

The degree of dominance is evaluated in units from 1 to 7. For example, if the characteristics of your body are estimated as ectomorphic (2), mesomorphic (6) and endomorphic (5), then you are endomesomorphic, that is, you have basically a sports type with well-developed muscles, but prone to excess of body fat. Take a closer look into the mirror and then compare what you see with the described above.

With proper training and nutrition it is possible to develop muscles and reduce the fatty layer under any type of physique, but people with different body types in the process of training have to solve different tasks, although the long-term goals can coincide.