Question: can you really shock your muscles into growing and developing? Old-school bodybuilders used this expression all the time, but is there any truth to it?
Answer: Yes, I think it still holds true. And if you feel that a particular body part or muscle refuses to develop, train it three days in a row.
I once worked with a state-level bodybuilder who simply couldn’t get his legs to grow. At his height, he should have weighed at least 108 kg, but he weighed just 95 kg. I had him train his legs nine times a week, and four months later he weighed 110 kg.
One of my mentors once told me: “If you’re not developing and can see that you’re making no progress, overwork that muscle/body part until it’s completely exhausted and on the verge of overtraining. Then take 5 days off and you’ll start growing.”
Let’s say you’re the kind of person who just can’t get your lats to grow—you’re as wide as a pencil. Train your lats 3 days in a row. Your rep ranges could look like this:
Day I: 6–8 reps
Day II: 10–12 reps
Day III: 20–25 reps
Then take a rest day and train your other body parts too. As for exercise selection, change things up on each of the three days.
Remember that hypertrophy is a biological adaptation to biological stress. If you do something that doesn’t kill you, the more stress you put yourself under, the more you adapt to that strain.
The fact that you can train a muscle/body part as often as 9 times a week is supported by the scientific literature, provided, of course, that you give that muscle/body part enough rest afterward. In other words, unless you train to that point of exhaustion or the brink of overtraining, this approach won’t work.
Follow the 20% rule. Let’s say you can press 135 kg for a set of five. Train on consecutive days until you can manage a set of five with only 110 kg, then rest for 5 days, return to the gym and try pressing 140–145 kg for a set of five.
Translator’s note: In the original, Poliquin says that someone who presses 135 kg for 5 reps can try pressing 150 kg after the exhaustion cycle, but I think that’s overly optimistic. I think 140–145 kg would be more realistic, if even that!!! Still, after proper rest, you should definitely feel some gains from the compensatory effect!!! Just how much each person gains is another matter.
Another way to use this approach to develop maximal strength is to perform sets of one in a single lift for five consecutive days (10–12 singles per workout). Then take two days off, come back and attempt a new personal record in that lift.
The problem is that most people don’t have the courage to try such an extreme approach. They’re afraid to train to the brink of overtraining and become hysterical when they’ve lost even 5 kg from their bench press record. These are the people who need a strict “slave driver” of a coach. You absolutely have to reach that 20% drop. You’ll know you’ve reached it when you turn up at the gym again and, for some reason, start crying over nothing at all :). If that happens after you’ve been training this way, you know you’ve arrived.
I’ve used this approach when training national alpine skiing teams. These athletes are among the strongest, because their legs work hard every day and throughout the time they spend skiing. It was normal for them to squat in the morning and deadlift in the afternoon. There was no free time at all, but after a training period that shocked their bodies like this, we’d take 5 days at the beach, after which they could squat a whole tonne. So it works!
Translator’s note: Young lifters, don’t assume you can train your chest every day for a week, rest the next week and smash records in the third week. It’s not quite that simple, but the general principle does hold true. You train a muscle/body part for several days. Then you take a few days off, and when you return to that same muscle after those rest days, properly recovered, it’s as though you’ve reached a new level. This is especially useful for breaking through plateaus and bringing up lagging body parts. Still, be careful not to run yourself into the ground. The condition and energy levels of the muscle working for three consecutive days are one thing; your overall energy levels are another, and this method takes a considerable toll on those too. Not everyone may be ready for it, and overall exhaustion may also start to affect your workouts for other muscles/body parts!!!
Question answered by Charles Poliquin
Translated by:Janar Rückenberg
Come and train! ArtGym
