Toward Giant Sets
August 29th 2007 10:01
The toughest way to train with weights is the ill-termed "giant set",in which all the sets for a specific body part are done in a series or circuit. When you use a giant set you are asking the muscle in focus to perform over and over without significant amounts of rest. This is not the kind of workout I would recommend for someone who is relatively new to weights. In fact, if you get all excited and try to do a couple of giant sets, you will either be amazingly unsuccessful or you will damage the muscle tissue so much that you will explore new vistas in post workout soreness. That kind of soreness is not really a good idea. It is better to tailor your long term workout strategy with giant sets as your ultimate goal.
If you are a beginner, you must acclimate your body over months,if not years, to the stress of training and progressively change your workouts to demand that adaptation take place. As I said in the last post, your body will try to hang on to homeostasis with a virulence. Much of real training is the battle against this proclivity. Jumping into giant sets without a slow transition isn't the answer either.
To really get serious about training after your initial period of getting accustomed to weight training you must divide your body into parts and train two, or maybe three, parts in one workout. The central issue in this division is to ramp up stress on each body part during a given workout,but to limit these workouts to no more than two a week. During these workouts you must also increase difficulty by systematically reducing the amount of time you rest between sets. This can be accomplished by setting up workouts where two bodyparts are trained at the same time with no rest between sets.
To train two parts at one you will want to select muscles that are not antagonistic one to the other. The back and calves are an example. The back is a big group and working it hard is simply going to require some rest time between sets. The calves,however, can be trained right after the back and will allow the latter to rest at the same time. If you follow the back-calves pattern you will be able to move from set to set with almost no rest. In a few moments you will have done the sets that make up the workout for each. At the end of your back-calves work you can do a combination of biceps and abs,moving back and forth as fast as you can.
I used the above technique for many years. During such workouts I tried to average one set per minute. With moving and weight changes this is a fast pace. Recently, I have gone to giant sets for most of my body. It was,I warn you, prepared by literally years of these fast sets to undertake a step up. You can do yourself a real favor by dividing your body into non-antagonistic combinations and trying to move through a workout of the two together as fast as you can. If you do not up the ante you will never come close to really tough training.
You will discover something as you try the one set per minute gambit. This is a pretty aerobic experience. Thus your general fitness will be enhanced as well as you muscle size and tone. Your servant,as always.
If you are a beginner, you must acclimate your body over months,if not years, to the stress of training and progressively change your workouts to demand that adaptation take place. As I said in the last post, your body will try to hang on to homeostasis with a virulence. Much of real training is the battle against this proclivity. Jumping into giant sets without a slow transition isn't the answer either.
To really get serious about training after your initial period of getting accustomed to weight training you must divide your body into parts and train two, or maybe three, parts in one workout. The central issue in this division is to ramp up stress on each body part during a given workout,but to limit these workouts to no more than two a week. During these workouts you must also increase difficulty by systematically reducing the amount of time you rest between sets. This can be accomplished by setting up workouts where two bodyparts are trained at the same time with no rest between sets.
To train two parts at one you will want to select muscles that are not antagonistic one to the other. The back and calves are an example. The back is a big group and working it hard is simply going to require some rest time between sets. The calves,however, can be trained right after the back and will allow the latter to rest at the same time. If you follow the back-calves pattern you will be able to move from set to set with almost no rest. In a few moments you will have done the sets that make up the workout for each. At the end of your back-calves work you can do a combination of biceps and abs,moving back and forth as fast as you can.
I used the above technique for many years. During such workouts I tried to average one set per minute. With moving and weight changes this is a fast pace. Recently, I have gone to giant sets for most of my body. It was,I warn you, prepared by literally years of these fast sets to undertake a step up. You can do yourself a real favor by dividing your body into non-antagonistic combinations and trying to move through a workout of the two together as fast as you can. If you do not up the ante you will never come close to really tough training.
You will discover something as you try the one set per minute gambit. This is a pretty aerobic experience. Thus your general fitness will be enhanced as well as you muscle size and tone. Your servant,as always.
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