From a letter from M. (Moscow): “I’ve been doing bodybuilding for four years now, and I’ve achieved, in my opinion, good results. In general, further progress is being observed, but there is a problem - for the last nine months, the volume of the biceps has firmly “stood” at around 45 cm. Please advise a training methodology in order to “break through” it.”
Answer: Without knowing your background and current choice of “general” training methodology, as well as the reaction of specific muscles to specific exercises and certain modes of their implementation, it is as unrealistic to give any correspondence recommendations on training and make accurate forecasts of their success and similarly “schedule” courses. Just a general framework...
I will not make a discovery if I say that there can be only two reasons for stopping the growth of the volume of any skeletal muscles during training with weights - either the muscle group is overtrained due to the excessive volume and frequency of its training, or it is “undertrained”, i.e. does not receive sufficient stimulation to grow. In the case specifically with arm muscles, as a rule, the first option is present, although almost all trainees are sure that it is the second. To avoid unnecessary doubts about the correctness of the self-made “diagnosis”, we can first recommend doing the following: for just a month, leaving the general training regimen the same, remove from the complex used all “arm” exercises – barbell and dumbbell biceps curls, French curls bench and seated presses, etc., that is, completely abandon “direct” work and be content only with “indirect” load received by the biceps when doing pull-ups and bent-over rows, and by the triceps when performing various presses for the chest and deltas.
The further scenario depends on the results obtained. Quite often, a seemingly paradoxical situation is observed - in the absence of “direct” load, the arm muscles begin to grow. Diagnosis: the “indirect” load received when performing bench presses and rows is optimal and sufficient to stimulate growth; no additional “direct” work is required.
Situation two – the measuring tape remains at the same level or there is a slight decrease in volume (within 0.5 cm). Diagnosis: “indirect” load is enough to maintain the achieved results, but to stimulate growth, a little “direct” work on the hands is still required. I can recommend starting with a small amount of isolated work in the “pump” style (high number of repetitions) after completing the “base” (presses and rows) - as they say “for hammering”, that is, the split should be built in this way: exercises for triceps exercises are performed after chest and shoulder presses, biceps exercises are performed after back exercises.
Approximate exercises for this case: 2-4 sets of 15-20 repetitions of arm curls on a block and straightening from behind the head with a rope handle, standing with your back to the block. All kinds of supersets (sets of various exercises without a pause between them) are also acceptable here - for example, sequentially performing arm extensions with dumbbells while sitting overhead, lying down and bending over.
The goal is to achieve a “burning” feeling in the “target” muscle. To avoid monotony and habituation, you should sometimes give your hands a “shake-up” - perform an accented “manual” complex (see below), but not often - once every 6-8 weeks.
And, finally, the third option: by refusing “direct” work, the volume of the hands decreased significantly - by more than 1-1.5 cm. In this case, the hands really require long-term (2.5-3 months) focused work. You can approach it in different ways, for my part I can recommend paying attention to the following points:
Including focused work on any muscle group in training programs – the so-called “specialization” – makes sense only after achieving a certain level of strength results. For example, for the “pushing” muscles of the upper body, this is the ability to perform 6 repetitions in the bench press with a weight equal to 1.5 body weights; for “pulling” muscles – 8 “clean” (following “strict” technique) repetitions of bent-over barbell rows with a weight equal to body weight. Before reaching this level, there can be no talk of any “specialization”, only “basic” training - at this level of development (by the way, it does not depend on the length of training - thanks directly to the Muscle&Fitness magazine, many even after 3-4 years are not in able to “master” this) performing curls with a half-empty bar according to the efficiency for increasing the volume of the arms is comparable to practicing masturbation.
You can focus on only one muscle group, since the risk of overtraining is very high even while taking androgens. And the training itself, in the case of simultaneous use of several “specializations,” turns into the same “general complex,” but only unproductively overloaded in volume.
In addition to the fact that the volume of training for “non-specialized” muscle groups should be deliberately reduced to a minimum, you should also not go all out on what is left. The emphasis is only on one thing, for the other groups there is a “supporting” training regime.
Combining work on biceps and triceps within one training session gives a greater effect than working them separately on different days of the split.
Design the split in such a way as not to plan any loads on the upper body (since due to the “indirect” effect of upper body exercises on the arm muscles, a “load overlap effect” that interferes with sufficient recovery may be observed) for a day or two preceding the implementation of a specialized complex, and within the next two days after the complex. Also keep in mind that training the thigh muscles, although it does not carry a “direct” load on the upper body, gives such a noticeable stress to the whole body that any training the next day will occur against the background of under-recovery - regardless of taking or abstaining from taking androgens, i.e., whatever one may say, the day preceding accentuated arm training should be free from any weight training.
1. With three workouts per week
Monday – hands
Tuesday – rest
Wednesday – legs
Thursday – rest
Friday – chest, back, shoulders
Saturday – rest
Sunday – rest
2. With four workouts per week
Monday – hands
Tuesday – legs
Wednesday – rest
Thursday – chest, middle delta
Friday – back, rear deltoid
Saturday – rest
Sunday – rest
As for the complexes directly for accentuated training, I really like the use of the principle of “stretched supersets” or “alternation” in them - in different literature it is different. This technique involves sequentially alternating sets of two exercises on the antagonist muscles, but not without rest between them, as in regular supersets, but with a normal break, as between sets of the same exercise. Thanks to this technique, it is possible to lift working weights and achieve incredible “pumping”.
Approximate version of the complex
Stretch Superset 1 (3-5 sets of 8-12 reps per exercise)
Simultaneously lifting dumbbells for the biceps while sitting with your back supported on an inclined bench without supination of the hands (the best exercise for the biceps, in my opinion, allowing you to feel its work along the entire trajectory);
Close grip bench press.
Stretch Superset 2 (3-5 sets of 8-12 reps per exercise)
Lifting the barbell for biceps (not necessarily while standing, it is quite possible - on a desk, standing at an angle, sitting, etc., depending on preference);
French press (lying, sitting, straight or curved bar).
Exercise 3
Raising the barbell for biceps with a reverse grip or “hammer” - bending the arms with dumbbells with a palm-inward grip. This exercise is aimed at developing the brachialis - a muscle located under the biceps on the outer part of the arm, thanks to the good development of which the biceps visually looks longer and “fuller”. Warm-up set of 15 repetitions (mandatory, since the brachialis is easy to injure even with “warm up” hands), then 3-4 sets of 12-15 repetitions in a very strict technique. In addition to the brachialis, these exercises provide a good load on the muscles of the forearm, but these muscles, along with the calves, are considered “stubborn”, so it would be quite reasonable to complete the accented complex by performing a couple of exercises for the forearm muscles - 2-5 sets of 12-15 repetitions each .
I guarantee that the next day after performing this complex you will have obvious problems pulling on a T-shirt. Well, the final touch to the recommended training of the arm muscles - everything should be proportionate! The “butts”, pumped up to the maximum, against the background of a chest as flat as plywood and narrow shoulders, look, to say the least, ridiculous.
Dr. Luber - CULTURISM IN OUR WAY, or SECRETS OF THE “ROCKING CHAIR” Chapter 2. Where does everything grow from (ABC)
To be honest, initially the author thought of doing without this chapter, because he assumed that more than enough reading about what exercise to perform and what exercise affects which muscle group has been written without it, and this topic has already been firmly established for a long time." closed." But a recent excursion to famous fitness centers in Moscow and the “pearls” that I heard from the lips of the local instructors...
To be honest, initially the author thought of doing without this chapter, because he assumed that more than enough reading about what exercise to perform and what exercise affects which muscle group has been written without it, and this topic has already been firmly established for a long time." closed." But a recent excursion to famous fitness centers in Moscow and the “pearls” that I heard from the lips of the instructors there (such as the terrible risk of injury when performing deep squats or the equivalence for the shoulder girdle of performing overhead presses and pull-downs, etc.) etc., etc.) greatly shook the faith in the universal erudition of fans of bodybuilding in general and its advanced “teacher” squad in particular. (An amazing thing: simple boys from the working-class outskirts, it turns out, understood much more about working with weights than these tanned bisexual boys with dyed hair, who also managed to earn money from their “educational activities.” All this only confirms Mac Robert’s idea about that there is an extremely small category of people who, due to good genetic makeup, can build a muscular body, without even thinking about how to train, and using the most unnatural training methods.) Therefore, apparently, it makes sense to start with the ABCs.
A short guide to muscles and their functions.
- Neck muscles are responsible for head movement.
- Trapezius muscle - raises the shoulders.
- Deltoid muscles - are responsible for the movement of the arms in the shoulder joint.
- Pectoral muscles - bring the arms and shoulders together in front of the body.
- The latissimus dorsi muscles lower and retract the humerus back.
- Biceps - flexes the arm at the elbow joint and rotates the forearm outward.
- Triceps - extends the arm at the elbow joint.
- Forearm muscle group - provides grip.
- The rectus abdominis muscle contracts and brings the chest toward the pelvis.
- Oblique abdominal muscles - rotate the torso.
- Quadriceps - extends the leg at the knee joint.
- Biceps femoris - flexes the leg at the knee joint.
- Calf muscles - adduct the heel.
- Longus dorsi muscles - straighten the back.
Basic exercises for major muscle groups
Breast- bench press on horizontal and inclined benches, push-ups on uneven bars. In the 80s, basic exercises for the chest also included lying flyes with heavy dumbbells in a low number of repetitions;
latissimus dorsi- wide-grip pull-ups to the chest and behind the head, bent-over barbell rows, T-bar rows, dumbbell rows;
deltoids- standing chest press, sitting overhead bench press, dumbbell press;
trapezoids- shrugging shoulders ("shrugs"), pulling the barbell with a narrow grip to the chin;
biceps- bending the arms with a barbell while standing or with dumbbells while sitting, pulling up with a reverse grip (palms facing you);
triceps- close-grip bench press, French bench press, lying and sitting;
quadriceps- squats with a barbell on the shoulders, leg press;
hamstrings- lying leg curls, straight leg deadlifts;
caviar- raising on toes while standing and sitting, “donkey”;
long back muscles- deadlift, bending forward with a barbell on the shoulders.
Exercise technique
There is no need to spend a lot of space philosophizing on the importance of proper weight training. The author has seen enough “athletes” who, while performing an exercise on one muscle group, pump up a completely different one. For example, they do squats with a barbell to pump up the quadriceps, but instead only the lower back grows, while the hips remain “chicken-shaped.”
In addition, in many exercises, moving weights along the wrong trajectory causes the formation of microtraumas in the joints and tendons, which over time can cause serious injury. Therefore, all movements should occur in the plane natural for a given joint. This is the first condition for correct technique.
The second condition is the full range of motion. You should stretch the muscle as much as possible at the beginning of the movement and contract as much as possible at the end. This is necessary so that the muscle develops along its entire length - from tendon to tendon.
In general, the movement should be smooth, without stops or delays.
Now specifically on the technique of performing the exercises, although it seems to me very problematic to master the correct technique only from descriptions and photographs.
Bench press
While lying on a bench, take the barbell from the racks onto your straight arms with a wide grip. As you lower it, make sure your forearms always remain perpendicular to the floor. Do not lift your pelvis off the bench or bounce the bar away from your chest as you press. The barbell at the lowest point of the amplitude should touch the chest in the area of the nipples. The incline bench press is performed in a similar way, only the bar is lowered closer to the neck.
Dips
If, when performing this exercise, the goal is to emphasize the load on the pectoral muscles, then this is achieved as follows: the elbows are moved apart from the torso, the torso is leaned forward, the back is rounded, the chin is placed on the chest. You should go as low as possible.
Lying dumbbell fly
The arms are slightly bent at the elbows, the movement is in an arc so that the shoulder bones are perpendicular to the torso, the amplitude is as wide as possible.
Pull-ups
From a hanging position with your arms fully extended, pull yourself up as high as possible until your chest or back of your head touches the bar.
Bent-over row
The torso is parallel to the floor, the lower back is arched, and the knees are slightly bent. Grip the barbell shoulder-width apart. In the lower position, the arms are fully straightened and the barbell is moved slightly forward. Pull the barbell in an arc until it touches your lower abdomen, bringing your shoulder blades together in the final phase.
The T-bar row is performed in a similar way, with the only difference being that a narrow grip is used and due to this the amplitude is somewhat shorter.
Standing chest press
Grab the barbell from the racks with a shoulder-width grip. When you press the weight overhead, try not to tilt your torso back, but rather, push it forward so that at the final position of the press your head is directly under the barbell. Do not use the help of your legs and back in the initial phase of the press.
Seated overhead press
It is advisable to perform this exercise while sitting with your back supported on a vertical bench. The grip is such that when the bar is at its lowest point, your forearms are vertical.
"Stretch" with a narrow grip to the chin
Raise and lower the bar with an overhand grip, raise your elbows so that their movement is ahead of the movement of your hands, and bring your elbows to the highest point in this movement.
Standing biceps curl
Bend your elbows without leaning your body back or bending your knees. Keep your elbows close to your sides and do not bring them forward at the top of the lift - the humerus should remain vertical at all times. The same recommendations apply to performing curls with dumbbells while standing and sitting.
Close grip press
If this exercise focuses on the triceps, then, unlike a regular bench press, the elbows should not be spread apart, but pressed to the sides.
French bench press
In the initial position, the humerus is slightly deviated from the vertical position towards the head. Lower the barbell behind your head, trying not to spread your elbows out to the sides.
When performing a seated French press, the shoulder bones must be strictly vertical.
Squat
In the starting position, the legs are slightly wider than the shoulders, the feet are slightly turned outward, the back should be straight, the head raised, and the torso tense. Squat as deep as you can, not just until parallel to the floor. Do not use an upward chop from the bottom position. Do not force the growth of weights in this exercise until you have established the correct technique.
Leg press
Full range of movement until your knees touch your chest.
Hip flexion
When performing bends, do not lift your pelvis from the bench. Do not allow your legs to quickly and arbitrarily extend.
Deadlift on straight legs
In the starting position, you stand straight, holding the bar in your lowered hands. The shoulders are laid back, the chest is raised high, the spine is arched in the lumbar region. The movement begins with you slowly pushing your pelvis back, maintaining an arch in your lower back. Lower yourself until your pelvis moves back. If you go even lower, the hamstrings will be disabled and the effort will come only from the spine. The upward movement is due to the forward movement of the pelvis.
Calf raise
The main thing in all calf movements is full amplitude and retention at the top point.
Deadlift
Always keep a slight arch in your lower back when performing deadlifts. If your goal is to develop the back extensor muscles, do not use sumo style and a different grip. Use wrist straps. After each repetition, lower the barbell until it touches the floor.
In addition to the basic ones, several isolation exercises will also be used in the complexes given in this manual.
Pullover with dumbbell
Lie across a narrow bench, resting on it only with your upper back in the area of your shoulder blades. Holding the dumbbell overhead with both hands, slowly lower it back until your chest is fully extended.
It was believed that performing superset pullovers with high rep squats would help expand the chest.
Standing lateral raises with dumbbells
In the starting position, the torso is slightly tilted forward, the dumbbells are at the front of the thighs (may touch). Raise the dumbbells upward to the sides, keeping your arms slightly bent at the elbows. As the dumbbells move upward, rotate your hands downward with your thumbs - “as if pouring water from jugs” (sorry for the hackneyed cliche, but it’s hard to come up with a better definition). When lifting, never help yourself by jerking your lower back: cheating in isolation exercises is nonsense.
The exercise focuses on the middle part of the deltoid muscles. It can also be performed with one hand (holding a support with the other) or using a low block. Both of these options allow you to use a larger amplitude than with conventional dilutions.
Bent-over dumbbell raises
The torso is parallel to the floor, arms slightly bent. Raise the dumbbells as high as possible while keeping your arms perpendicular to your body. The exercise is aimed at developing the posterior bundle of deltoid muscles, and when you move your arms forward or backward from a position perpendicular to the torso, the load is removed from this bundle.
Curling arms on a Scott bench (desk)
To avoid injury to the elbow joints, never fully extend your arms in this exercise, and certainly do not use “bouncing” your forearms off the bench to provide the initial impulse for bending your arms. The upward movement goes only to the vertical position of the forearms; if you continue further, the biceps “turns off”. Never bend your hands inward.
Forward Bend Barbell Curl
The torso is slightly above parallel with the floor, the arms hang down freely, the grip of the barbell is narrow. Bend your arms and lift the barbell toward your shoulders using the strength of your biceps.
Reverse grip barbell curls
The exercise technique is almost similar to the usual standing barbell curl, with the only difference being that an overhand grip is used and, due to this, significantly lower weights are used.
Performing this exercise develops the muscles of the forearm and the shoulder flexor muscles lying under the biceps - the brachialis.
Triceps extension on a block
Step back slightly from the block so that your torso makes an angle of 30-40° with the vertical. Bring your elbows forward and lock so that your shoulder bones are vertical and remain motionless throughout the movement. In the initial position, the handle of the block device is at chest level. Squeeze it in a downward arc until your arms are fully straightened at the elbow joints. Hold the tension slightly at the bottom point.
Hack - squats
The most valuable in this movement are the lower amplitudes, and it is not at all necessary to straighten the legs at the knee joints to the end. In the 80s, a slightly different way of performing this exercise was adopted: the feet were not brought forward to the edge of the support platform, as is customary now, but were placed directly under the buttocks so that at the lowest point you had to rise on your toes - it was believed that this was the optimal way the patellar “drop” is loaded - the vastus medialis muscles.
Lunges with a barbell on the shoulders
Step forward with one leg and bend your knee until the thigh of that leg is parallel to the floor. The knee of the other leg should drop until it touches the floor. Keep your torso straight and tense, do not lean forward. Complete the planned number of repetitions on one leg before moving on to lunges on the other leg. Lunges are considered the best exercise for working out the “ligament” between the quadriceps and hamstrings, as well as for tightening the gluteal muscles.
Straightening the legs in the simulator while sitting
Do not use sudden movements in this exercise. At the top point, record the contractions achieved. Do not use variations in the position of your feet with your toes out and in - this will lead to nothing but injury.
Hyperextension
Parts of the hips: the load can be focused on either the back extensors or the gluteal muscles.
Keeping your hands behind your head, lower yourself as low as possible. Rise up only to a horizontal line: lifting higher is dangerous for the lower back.
The rules of breathing are the same when performing any exercise with weights: at the moment of maximum effort there should be a powerful exhalation. Some athletes also scream at the same time, claiming that this gives them an additional boost. It should, however, be taken into account that these screams are not always adequately perceived by others, and if an athlete screams while squatting only with a barbell (or so), there is a high probability that the “well-wishers” can call for emergency psychiatric help...
As for the form of clothing, it should be loose and absorb moisture well. The ideal option is cotton fabrics. Despite the homosexual trends that have recently gained widespread momentum, it seems unwise to engage in something tight, since in addition to excessively emphasizing gayness, tight things disrupt blood circulation in the extremities, which significantly reduces performance and increases the likelihood of injury.
Regarding shoes, particularly snide “Lubers” have developed a certain criterion: if a person trains in the gym wearing flip-flops or house slippers, then, regardless of the length of training, such an “athlete” will not demonstrate any particularly impressive results. Over the 20 years that have passed since the discovery of this “law”, time has confirmed that it has 100% “hit the mark”. How can you squat or bent over without a solid foot support?
If you don’t have the money for hard sneakers (or, more optimally, “barbells” with heels), it’s better to exercise barefoot. Arnold Schwarzenegger, by the way, did just that (and apparently not out of poverty).
And finally, the last advice of this chapter - if you are not attracted by the prospect of getting a reputation as a “stinker” (depending on your size - behind the eyes or open) - take home and wash your sportswear after each workout. Athletes who leave their uniforms in the locker room tend to create such an odor around them that, willy-nilly, thoughts arise in the head that this individual has not washed for months, as well as a feeling of deep pity for the woman who sleeps or will sleep with such a " aroma."
Tags: ground, split
About the author of the program
“Doctor Luber” is a name familiar to most people seriously involved in gyms who are over 35-40 years old. It was this character who became, in fact, the founder of the “good old” Soviet school of bodybuilding. Yes, yes, you heard right, we didn’t know such a word as “bodybuilding” back then.
Behind the pseudonym “Doctor Luber” is the full name of Alexey Viktorovich Kireev. He is a coach and bodybuilding consultant who at different times advised Andrei Skoromny and Vladimir Ivanov, the founder of the popular bodybuilding community Do4a.
By the way, the pseudonym is associated with the place of origin of the oasis of bodybuilding, namely Lyubertsy near Moscow. In 1987, in the first open Moscow bodybuilding championship, the Lyubertsy team took first place in the team competition.
Training strategy and rules
Dr. Luber’s training strategy (and not so much a strategy, but a kind of life rules) for beginners is simple, like gyms of that time, and fits into several points:
- You come to the gym to train, not to have a good time.
- The best workouts are workouts with a partner.
- In the first 2-3 years, don’t think about the relief - grow in mass.
- Grow mass with basic exercises with barbells and dumbbells.
- The more you lift, the more you grow. The dependence is direct.
- To lift more, have time to recover, train every other day.
- Work your entire body in one workout using 1-2 exercises for a large muscle group.
- No pain – no gain.
- Eat more than before you started training.
- You don't need steroids for the first 3-4 years. (Zozhnik’s note – if you think about your health, steroids are not needed at all).
Training program for a beginner for the first year of training
The training program from Luber for the first year of classes is tied to the seasons and contains 4 complexes (autumn, winter, spring, summer) for three months for each of them.
Complex 1. “Autumn”
Training three times a week.
- Standing barbell clean and chest press 2-3×10.
- “Pulling” the barbell with a narrow grip to the chin 2-3×10.
- Barbell curl for biceps 2-3×10.
- Squat with a barbell on the shoulders 2-3×10.
- Bench press 2-3×10.
- Bent-over barbell row 2-3×10.
- Bringing straight legs to the bar while hanging - only 50 repetitions in any number of approaches.
If you feel strong enough to do a 4th set, it's time to add more weight to the bar.
Complex 2. “Winter”
Consists of two training days, which alternate. For example, Monday is day A, Wednesday is day B, Friday is day A, Monday is day B, and so on.
Day A
- Bent-over barbell row, 3-4×8.
- Seated barbell chest press, 3-4×8.
- Bench press, 3-4x8.
- Lying dumbbell flyes, 3x10.
- Lifting dumbbells for biceps, sitting with your back supported on an inclined bench, 3-4x8.
Day B
- Bench press, 3-4x8.
- Wiring, 3×10.
- Biceps dumbbells sitting, 3-4×8.
- Barbell squat, 3-4×12.
- Wide-grip chest-to-chest pull-ups, 50 reps for any number of sets.
- Bent-over barbell row, 3-4×8.
- Seated overhead press, 3-4×8.
- Hanging straight leg raises, 50 reps in any number of sets.
Complex 3. “Spring”
Just like the previous one, it consists of two alternating training days.
Day A
- Bench press 4-5x6.
- Bent-over row of a barbell at one end or a T-bar 4-5×6.
- Standing chest press 4-5x6.
- Biceps with dumbbells sitting 4-5x6.
- Breathing squats (see details of what this is below).
Day B
- Bench press on an inclined (45°) bench 4-5×6.
- Bent-over barbell row 4-5×6.
- Seated overhead press 4-5x6.
- Biceps with barbell standing 4-5×6.
- "Breathing" squats.
- Pull-ups on a curved bar with the widest possible grip. 50 repetitions in any number of approaches.
It is necessary to dwell separately on such an exercise as “breathing squats” and tell us more about it.
“Breathing squats”
First set. Perform 20-25 repetitions with an empty bar. Then add weight and do 20 repetitions and immediately, without pause, 15 repetitions of dumbbell pullovers, lying across the bench.
For the second set, add weight and perform 15 squats and 15 pullover reps.
Third set – again increase the weight on the bar, perform 12 squats and 15 pullovers.
The weight of the dumbbell when performing a pullover is stable; in this exercise, your task is to stretch the chest as much as possible.
Complex 4. “Summer”
Training three times a week.
- Wide-grip chest-to-chest pull-ups, 50 reps for any number of sets.
- Bent-over barbell row, 4×10.
- Bench press on an incline (45°) bench, 4x10.
- Dips, 4x12 with weights.
- Barbell squat, 4x15.
- Seated dumbbell press, arc, overhead, palm inward grip, 4x10.
- Biceps with dumbbells, standing, arms working alternately, 4x10.
- Straight leg raises on parallel bars or hanging, 50-100 repetitions.
Comments on the program
In the first complex “Autumn” Don’t rush to increase the weight on the bar. Pay attention to safe lifting technique and fluid movement. Don't perform reps too quickly. Smooth ascent and proper technique are the main recommendations.
Complex “Winter”. Vary the weights on the main exercises from workout to workout, based on your own feelings.
Complex “Spring”. Your body is already prepared for the load, it’s time to increase the weight on the bar, reducing the number of repetitions and increasing the speed of the exercise. You can use “cheating”. Naturally, everything should be within reasonable limits.
Cheating is a method of transferring the weight of a weight from large muscles (already tired during the exercise) to smaller ones that have not yet been included in the work by changing the trajectory of lifting the weight. For example, swinging your body when doing pull-ups.
Complex “Summer”– a kind of rest from the “impact” training of the “spring” complex. It is advisable to include cardio exercises in this complex - running, swimming or cycling.
Repost of a rather old (about 2004, I think) article by Alexey “Doctor Lyuber” Kireev, about the Lyubertsy approach to the gym
The article is really ancient, and much that is now taken for granted at that time was directly “innovation” and “revelation from the guru”)))
“I’m starting another article with the phrase “fitness is on the rise,” but now I want to approach this “rise” from a slightly different angle. It just so happens that, according to glossy magazines, bodybuilding (be it health fitness or extreme bodybuilding) is not the point important) in the minds of many people have NOW become unambiguously associated with such attributes as a multi-storey gym equipped with unimaginably expensive exercise equipment - a palace with a swimming pool-sauna-solarium, the daily consumption of a “car and a small cart” of super-abstruse nutritional supplements, and, of course, a personal trainer - “charming” with an indispensable laptop on which you can calculate a “super-duper-program” that instantly turns the average typical goner into Hercules or Apollo, depending on your desire...
The fact that bodybuilding has got out of the basement “rocking chairs” “closer to the sun” certainly cannot but rejoice. (As well as the fact that bodybuilders now have the opportunity to earn a living only by doing what they love, and not by standing at a lathe while training or collecting “tribute” from tents.) And yet I undertake to assert that all of the above attributes are not so are absolutely necessary for the successful restructuring of your body. I will justify my point of view - point by point.
Regarding gyms and exercise machines, I won’t make a big fuss, since I have good relations with the “manufacturers and sellers” of these products, I would advise you to just watch a cassette with Dorian Yates’ training in the off-season - if you managed to get by with a minimum of equipment to build these monstrous volumes, which talk about those whose goals are much more modest...
Nutritional supplements. Again, it’s not news that athletes of the competitive poster level (domestic, at least imported - those are far away, I had to communicate with them less often and not so openly) do not particularly favor them.
And finally, the carefully inflated myth about personal training. No, I do not question the need for some kind of individual approach, it’s just that in practice this idea is distorted to the extreme. It was perverted precisely by its “carriers to the masses” - recently everyone has become a “fitness instructor”. Having “at heart” only an athletic (from God, but not from “hardware”) physique, and maintaining for years “deep knowledge”, such as equivalence for the development of the shoulder girdle of pull-downs and overhead presses. Not funny, sir. (Oh, how I want to get lost in a sore point! Fortunately, you can’t imagine a better reason. I knew one individual who, at the time of our acquaintance, had been working as an instructor for more than five years, and had competed at the championships in Moscow and Russia for the same amount of time with varying success, but, However, he could not perform a single (!!!) exercise technically correctly. And in the January 2004 issue of the magazine “Pump Up Your Muscles” I see him in his guise... as a demonstrator of the correct technique. Yeah, learn! So as not to be accused of a completely understandable bias, I strongly recommend watching “this" in action with your own eyes. An unforgettable, instructive and educational spectacle. A surge of healthy emotions, no less than in the circus, I guarantee. Oh yes, I almost forgot - Welcome to Korpus-Art! A To get to the performance, you need to ask Maxim Ermakov.)
There is another reason for my negative attitude towards personal training. In the early 80s, when I was just getting acquainted with the delights of bodybuilding, on the wall in our gym (there was such a modest “rocking chair”, over 600 m2 - the club was called “Prometheus”) there were homemade posters with complexes - exactly the same for everyone involved for the first two years, they were extremely dogmatic - “a step to the right, a step to the left” was considered an escape and was stopped by “senior comrades” (as far as I know, the same approach was in some Kazan “winders”). At times, practicing these complexes was terribly uncomfortable, but... the “exhaust of the final product” more than paid for everything - if you stood it and “didn’t break,” then after these two years, with a guarantee, you received a bench press of 120-150 kg, arms of 42- 45 cm, horror in the eyes of classmates and languid glances of girls on the beach. Compared to the achievements of Ronnie Coleman, these results are, of course, very modest. But the trouble is - I’ve seen enough of those who visit gyms for a much longer period of time, spend crazy money on personal trainers, and in the end don’t even have this, i.e. the “individual approach” in its current version has degenerated into a series of endless experiments, a kind of “movement for movement’s sake.”
Perhaps for someone it was just the right time: he tugged on a half-empty bar, hung out on the treadmill, in between, “glued together” a girl who came to the gym especially for this purpose - “getting fit” in general... But I, as a rule, address my articles to for those who really want to reorganize their body. It is to them, after such a protracted and unpleasant speech, that I want to offer some time-tested version of the Training System. It has significant differences from what is usually published in magazines - the word “minimalism” is not included in the title of the article by chance. The implementation of this System does not require an abundance of equipment (only the most necessary), nor the mandatory intake of nutritional supplements, nor a sensei with a stick. But two things are strictly necessary - the desire to remake oneself and the Power of Spirit...
The basis of the System was, as you might guess, those same complexes of the 80s. In this regard, I would like to immediately note the idea that probably appeared in the minds of some readers about the parallel between my calls for minimalism and the places where I am now. If anyone remembers Dr. Luber’s articles about training in the “Pump Up Your Muscles” magazine two or three years ago, then it was the same thing - a minimum of equipment, exercises only with free weights, in general - strength training without too much “brainwashing”. All within the framework of Joe Weider’s postulate: “Bodybuilding is not rocket technology.”
Preparatory Course
Lack of muscles (dystrophy) is a serious disease, and it should be treated in several stages. At the first of them, keeping in mind the idea of “minimalism”, it is quite possible to make do with what is always at hand - the weight of your own body (although first you will have to build a horizontal bar, and then the parallel bars; it is difficult, but you can’t do without them.)
I am sure that I will not be very original by suggesting that before training with weights, you should practice push-ups and pull-ups for some time. There are several justifications for this approach. Firstly, based on the future. Exercises with weights involve, in addition to stimulating muscles to grow, also a considerable load on the ligaments and tendons, and I, as a practicing trainer, do not know of a better medicinal means for strengthening them than performing push-ups and pull-ups in a high number of repetitions. Secondly, having learned to cope with the weight of your own body, during your first training sessions with a barbell you will be surprised at the weights that you will be able to work with. Agree - someone who is able to do 20 reps on the uneven bars is unlikely to be satisfied with 30-40 kg in the bench press (I saw these very weights too often in all sorts of Gyms and Classes - that’s what stuck in my soul...)
So, push-ups and pull-ups
How and how much? Good questions. In the book “Bodybuilding in Our Way,” I already wrote about that “old-fashioned” standard in exercises with your own body weight, without which it is premature to touch the barbell and dumbbells: 12-15 pull-ups on the bar in a “strict” style and 40-50 times do push-ups on the floor or 20-25 reps on the uneven bars in one approach.
In the same book, I also cited the “old” complex aimed at quickly achieving these results. But, as many years of being the owner of a gym have shown, the current younger generation for the most part is much more dystrophic than their peers who lived in the 80s (in Lyubertsy, at least). And not only young people... Well, a person cannot do pull-ups in several approaches with a wide grip or by the head, if he is not able to do pull-ups at all! Therefore, the initial complex for such “weakened” people should be simpler and include only two exercises.
1. Push-ups(table, bench, battery) with a gradual (from training to training) lowering its level to the floor level.
Start at the level at which you can perform 20 repetitions in the first approach (I fully admit that this may be a standing position, almost at full height against the wall). As soon as you can overcome the amount of 50 repetitions in three approaches, lower the support level. Once you reach floor level, start increasing the amount and bring it up to 100 repetitions in three sets.
2. Pull-ups in a hanging position with support on your legs extended forward. There were two supports in the hall, on which the level of the crossbar placed between them was adjusted - from the height of the arms extended upward in a lying position to a full vertical hang.
The idea is the same as the previous exercise - start at a level that allows you to perform 10 reps in the first set, and work up to a total of 20 reps over three sets. Then gradually raise the level (correspondingly bringing the support closer to the crossbar with your feet) and reach the vertical level. Then - increase the amount to 20 repetitions in three approaches.
That is, at the end of using this complex you should be able to do the following:
1. Do push-ups - 100 times in three approaches.
2. Pull up on the bar - 30 times in three approaches.
Yes, here’s another thing - the successful implementation of this complex requires daily training. Finding 15-20 minutes a day is not so difficult, but the risk of overtraining with such “loads” is out of the realm of fantasy...
Having overcome the extreme degree of rickets (or having initially avoided it due to a good genetic predisposition), you should move on to training according to a more “advanced” program. 2-3 months of practicing it - and you will feel noticeable changes in your physique.
The program looks like this:
- Push-ups.
- Pushups.
- Push-ups, legs supported.
- Wide grip pull-ups to chest level.
- Head pull-ups.
- Medium grip pull-ups.
- Pull-ups with a narrow reverse grip (palms facing you)
Start by performing one set of the exercise until failure. In each exercise, increase the load as follows: in push-ups - as soon as you are able to perform 12 repetitions in exercise 4, add a second set in exercise 1. Then, as soon as after this “addition” you can again perform the same 12 repetitions in exercise 4 , add a second approach in exercise 2, etc. And so on until you reach three approaches in all four exercises, and in the last approach of the same exercise 4 you must perform at least the same 12 repetitions. Progression in pull-ups is built in a similar way, only the starting point is 6 repetitions in exercise 8.
The load when using this program is already quite noticeable, so it is better to train with it every other day. You can go this way - divide the complex into two parts and perform exercises 1-4 on one day, and 5-8 on the next. But at the same time, each of the parts must be performed at least three times a week, i.e., when using this option, you will have to train at least 6 times a week. Which option to choose is a matter of personal preference.
Well, if you supplement the program with straight leg lifts to the bar while hanging (50-100 repetitions in total of all approaches) and jogging at a jagged rhythm or swimming for at least half an hour, then you have one of the best, in my opinion, ways of training for building a muscular body according to the standards of “men’s fitness” without purchasing a subscription to the “super gym”.
On what basis do I make this conclusion? Of course - based on practice. During my school years, I had the opportunity to communicate quite a lot with those who chose the ideal figure of young Belmondo or Gojko Mitic (there was such an actor who played Indians - Chingachkuk, Winneta, Osceola, etc.) So, to get closer to the ideal for them, in for the most part, it worked, and the means to achieve this was precisely a combination of aerobic work and various modifications of push-up-pull-up complexes. However, judging by the publications in the press of that time, Belmondo and Mitic themselves followed the same path to their body. (In parentheses I will list the most frequently used options: 1st - leave only dips on the uneven bars from all push-ups, but perform them with additional weights (on the belt or on the legs) in 12-15 repetitions; 2nd - alternate alternately performing the approach push-ups and a set of pull-ups; 3rd - perform both push-ups and pull-ups daily, etc.)