Progression in Resistance Training

You must have noticed the guys in the gym who always train hard, always train heavy, and always train the same. You may also have noticed that, no matter how long you have witnessed their training, they also always look the same.

There may be a number of reasons for lack of progress: inadequate nutrition or rest; poor timing of nutrition and supplementation; inappropriate exercises. Often lack of progress can be ascribed to poor knowledge, poor technique, and a lack of variety.

The body is a lazy organism. It is concerned with the conservation of energy and assiduously tries to cling to homeostasis, maintaining its biological state within pre-set parameters. Unless muscle fibres are stressed to the point of overload there will be no incentive for them to grow. If they are taken to the point of momentary muscular failure (or beyond, as with forced repetitions) the signal to grow is even greater (in the latter case up to 30% greater). To ensure muscular overload is progressive, leading to bigger gains, there are a number of variables that can be manipulated. For many recreational bodybuilders, however, it is always about increasing the weight at all costs.

In addition to poor exercise knowledge, poor form, and an ignorance of specificity, the other contributing factor to training plateaus is lack of variety.

If you perform the same routine week in, week out, there will come a point when you cannot increase the weight without sacrificing form. Your body will also quickly adapt to a particular way of training. If it is no longer taxed it will cease to develop.

In order to increase the intensity of a workout there are a number of variables that can be manipulated: resistance (weight), repetitions, rate (speed), rest (in between sets) and range of motion. Experiment with each of the “5 Rs”. Cut down your rest in between sets. The muscles won’t be fully recovered and will fail earlier in the next set. Move through a full range of motion (fully extend the arms at the start point of a biceps curl for example); sometimes pause along various points in the range of movement and allow the muscles to statically contract; exploit peak contraction positions; slow the movements down, control the negative. Sometimes use faster movements; sometimes work with heavy weights, but only if you can maintain good form. Experiment with high intensity techniques (rest-pause, supersets, pre and post-exhaust, negatives, static contraction etc). If you increase the intensity you may need to reduce the volume. Mike Mentzer advocated short bursts of extremely high intensity training using very heavy loads (with perfect form) and then leaving the gym to start the recovery and growth process. Dorian Yates, six times Mr Olympia, successfully exploited this type of training philosophy but there is, for the recreational bodybuilder, a caveat: Yates suffered his share of major injuries, including a detached tricep, and when Frenchman Francis Benfatto experimented with heavy training he seriously damaged his pectoral. If you use high intensity, don’t use it exclusively. Vary your training.

Don’t allow your workouts to become totally random, however. Follow a basic programme that gradually progresses resistance (consider using step loading cycles for 4-6 weeks). Intersperse your regular training with sessions of high intensity work. Don’t be afraid to modify your routine every 4-6 weeks. Listen to your body. Keep notes of how you respond to different approaches and mix your approaches. Francis Benfatto, who recently staged an incredible comeback at the Australian Grand Prix, makes the comparison between training and music:

“You don’t play with just one note of music, and we bodybuilders can’t play just with weights. We must play with technique, reps, speed, machines, dumbbells, barbells, inclines, declines, supersets, giant sets – everything. We must push our bodies with new things all the time so we can always progress.” (Flex, September 2006, p118)

With a combination of good nutrition, adequate rest, clear goals, exercise knowledge, good form and variety you will continue to make gains. Don’t be one of those people who always seem to be in the gym, always train hard, and seldom change their physiques. Think about what you want to achieve, study the most effective exercises and learn correct form (consider having a session on technique with a personal trainer who has knowledge of bodybuilding), manipulate the “5 Rs” and experiment with high intensity at intervals. Don’t worry about what everyone else is lifting. Focus on form – it’s all in the execution not the ego.

Heavier Isn't Always Better

Generally the recreational bodybuilders who seem to have reached a plateau in their development adhere to a decidedly myopic training philosophy: increase the resistance, but keep everything else the same. Good form is often sacrificed at the expense of more weight. The result has been the evolution of some rather bizarre lifting techniques: how many times have you witnessed the ectomorphic novice trying to swell his biceps by holding a barbell with elbows flexed, swaying back and forth from the waist before throwing the weights down with a mighty crash and then striding off to admire the supposed growth in the mirror. Lateral raises are the funniest exercise performed poorly. Determined to keep pace with the big boys, the over-zealous bodybuilder extends the prescribed slight elbow bend to a full ninety degrees (thus reducing the lever length and the comparative resistance), and then proceeds to flick the dumb bells up to shoulder height with a complex multi-joint movement focused chiefly on the lower back and wrists.

In such cases the target muscle gets off rather lightly whilst there is an unintentional, and largely ineffective, working of the lower back and forearms. The risk of injury is high and the likelihood of muscular development low.

Let’s look at the bicep curl. This exercise, presumably, is meant to stimulate growth of the biceps/brachialis muscles. To effectively target a muscle it is necessary to focus on the relevant joint action. In the case of the biceps, the role of the muscle is to flex the elbow joint (not the lower back!). It is essential, therefore, to isolate this joint by fixing the elbows at the sides and keeping the wrists in line with the elbows and forearms throughout the motion (many body builders make the mistake of curling the wrists over at the top of the movement). The torso should remain upright with a neutral spine position and the shoulders down and relaxed. The abdominals should be pulled in about 25% and the knees should be soft (slightly bent).

Generally the speed should be moderate with control of the eccentric (downward) movement during which the muscle is lengthening under tension. Poliquin (1990) demonstrates that the greatest hypertrophy gains are made using a repetition range of 8-12 and a moderate resistance: it is not necessary to lift very heavy weights to develop muscle. A weight should be selected that allows the trainer to perform within the prescribed rep range so that overload is achieved at the end of the set. Weight increases should be made in small increments allowing for the retention of perfect exercise form.

The challenge for the recreational body builder is to compete not with the other people in the gym, or with Arnold Schwarzenegger or whoever one’s idol is, but to compete with oneself. The weight must fit the person and that person’s specific goal. The exercise chosen, the form, the speed, the number of sets, the rest periods must follow the law of specificity. What do you wish to achieve? What is the best exercise to achieve this? What joint actions are involved and how do you best perform the exercise? Training is not random and it is not about brute force. You must know what your goals are and how best to approach those goals by using safe and effective exercises. If you must flick your wrists and sway your back during lateral raises then you should be able to explain exactly why you are doing this.

Diets Don't Work

Whilst the diet industry would like you to believe that you can shed weight by purchasing their products, it is unlikely that you will achieve any long-term benefits from the majority of diets and weight loss products on the market. Sustainable weight loss is best achieved by creating a negative energy balance – that is burn more calories than you consume.

The problem with traditional diets is that they often advocate eating fewer calories than those needed by the body to sustain its basic functions. If you consume fewer calories than this Basal Metabolic Rate the body will enter starvation mode and cling on to fat stores in an attempt to preserve life. If blood sugar levels drop as a result if inadequate nutrition, particularly for those on low carbohydrate diets, such as the Atkins diet, the body will create its own glucose for energy by scavenging amino acids from lean muscle tissue. This self-cannibalisation results in less lean muscle which consequently reduces the metabolic rate. In effect this means fat gain will happen even easier in the future.

A reasonable approach to sustainable fat loss has a number of elements. Energy out has to be greater than energy in. Rather than reducing your calories to amounts lower than Basal Metabolic Rate, additional calories should be burnt through exercise (incidental exercise such as walking to work and taking the stairs, or using the cardiovascular equipment in a gym).

Metabolic rate can be raised by increasing lean muscle tissue through resistance training (each additional pound of lean muscle burns approximately fifty calories per day at rest). Weight training also burns between 240 and 400 calories for a typical session.

Nutritionally, a balanced diet comprised of approximately 55-60% carbohydrate, 30% fat and 10% protein is recommended for health. There will be some variations depending on desired outcomes and exercise programmes. Carbohydrates should be from wholegrain, wholemeal sources and of low-medium GI (glycaemic index). Avoid simple sugars as these will spike blood sugar levels causing insulin production which will store the sugars as fat.

A useful aid to ensuring you eat enough to lose weight is the keeping of a food diary in which you record times, amounts and types of food eaten. For optimal results a programme of exercise involving both cardiovascular and resistance training is recommended. The anatomical adaptations that take place through a progressive exercise programme increase the ability of the body to metabolise fat as fuel whilst raising the metabolic rate and burning additional calories.

Effective Personal Trainer-Client Relationships

For Personal Training to be most effective it is important that:

1) The Personal Trainer is qualified to the appropriate standard (REPs Level 3);

2) The Trainer has expert knowledge and experience related to the trainee's goals;

3) The Trainer works collaboratively with the trainee to determine SMART goals which are based on the client's "wants" rather than what the trainer perceives as the client's "needs";

4) The Trainer is able to build rapport with the client leading to a trust-based collaborative relationship;

5) The Trainer and the trainee are able to identify obstacles to exercise, nutrition, and recovery compliance and to agree on strategies to minimise or overcome them;

6) Exercise goals must be regularly evaluated and adjustments made to the plan to account for aptitude, efficacy, exercise preferences, over-achieving and under-achieving;

7) A sound nutrtional plan should be in place, preferably along with recording systems, body composition monitoring, and regular revues.

From looking at the above it is clear that the trainer needs to possess excellent communication skills, exercise knowledge, nutritional knowledge, and an ability to motivate, be non-judgemental, supportive, and able to focus on positives rather than condemning non-adherence and set-backs.

The skills required are not disimilar to those found in the helping professions - counselling, Cognitive Behaviour Therapy, life coaching etc.

The minimum requirement is for the trainer to be fully conversant with the concept of "active listening", which at its most basic means being attentive to the client, indicating (verbally and non-verbally) that you are listening to what they are saying; not interrupting; seeking clarification of what they are saying; summarising to show understanding, and allowing the client to express what it is they want rather than telling them what they need.

In additional to being a good listener and to being able to elicit accurate goal-oriented information from the client, the trainer will also need to be a resource person, a provider of reliable information on exercise and nutrition. This will necessarily involve a recognition of personal limitations and a willingness to refer on or conduct the relevant research.

Additionally, the trainer may well have a role as a "skilled helper". As an adjunct to active listening skills, the trainer will be able to help the client formulate strategies to overcome problematic behaviour (exercise avoidance, eating problems, sleep hygiene etc). In this capacity it may be useful to adopt some cogntive behavioural strategies (for example food/mood diaries and formulations for problematic eating and associated responses).

All of these skills can be acquired through brief courses or through relevant reading. I am not suggesting that the trainer becomes fully qualified as a counsellor or cognitive behaviour therapist, merely that they add some of these skills to their professional "tool-kit".

At a more basic level, the trainer must be discreet, confidential, trustworthy, reliable, respectful, punctual, diligent, observant, encouraging, supportive, a good record-keeper, and an honest, but tactful, appraiser.

Don't leave training to chance: plan and record everything and hone your interpersonal skills.

Training Infrequently

When I first started training with weights I was influenced by the high volume approach advocated by, amongst others, Arnold Schwarzenegger. I found myself in the gym for two to three hours six (sometimes even seven) times a week.

Initially I made some progress. Mostly this was due to moving from a sedentary to a very active lifestyle and the caloric deficit created by hours of training. After a few months, however, the progress stopped/ By now I was psychologically addicted to training and found myself going to the gym even when I knew further training would be counter-productive.

During this period I discovered the writings of Mike Mentzer whose "Heavy Duty" training system (High Intensity Training) recommended brief but extremely intense bouts of exercise followed by long rest periods. I tried this for a while but found training for only twenty to thirty minutes once every four to seven days unfulfilling. Whilst Mentzer might have commented that this was due to a psychological need, I was never fully convinced of his infrequency principle.

Over time I completed my Personal Training course with YMCA F.I.T. and continued to read as much as I could on weight training: Denie's"Psycho-blast", Stuart McRobert, Charles Poliquin, John Hansen etc.

The approaches and theories are somewhat conflicting and bewildering. Up to a point you can achieve results with any of them. Some are safer than others, and this leads to the possibility of long-term progression. Others are more suitable to experienced trainers or elite body builders. Stuart McRobert's approach is extremely sensible and he provides excellent advice on technique and steady progression, but, for me, his approach is mechanical and uninspiring. I also found the rate of progression a little too slow - although I agree with using very small weight increments for progression at times.

In my own training I have evolved a somewhat eclectic approach that focuses primarily on compound exercises (squats, dead lifts, bench press, bent over rows, chin ups, dips, and bar bell biceps curls). I now train each body part for 4-8 sets once per week (formerly I could do anything up to thirty sets for chest twice a week). I currently use a three day split, although recently whilst setting up the F.I.S.H. studio I've been limited to two workouts at home and have been surprised at the growth achieved with relatively lights weights and lots of rest.

So Mentzer had a point about infrequency but perhaps too much of a point. I find that resting at least 48 hours between workouts is keeping me growing and that three (sometimes four) workouts per week allows me the time to hit each body part effectively and does fulfill my (pathological?) need to train fairly frequently. Taking seven (or even up to fourteen) days of rest between workouts seems excessive and may actually interfere with the habituation which is essential to continuing with an exercise programme.

I still throw in the odd super-set, pre-exhaust, post-exhaust, drop set or rest-pause, but whereas before I would use these techniques at every workout I now use them only occasionally (often not for weeks). They have become plateau busters and novelties that keep me interested. Sometimes they are time savers and enable me to do an effective and intense workout in under half an hour.

In conclusion, for drug-free body-building (from my experience) it is effective to train three to four times a week with at least one whole day off in between workouts. If you are forced, through circumstances, to take an extra rest day don't be disheartened or frustrated. See this as an opportunity to recover and grow. This cognitive re-structuring has been a key to my recent progress - being able to see rest days in a productive light.

Personal Trainers

Personal Trainers sometimes come in for a great deal of criticism in the bodybuilding magazines.

Sometimes this is due to the almost delusional beliefs of the writers in their own expertise. Often, however, their remarks have some validity, although they are seldom qualified.

Years ago, anyone could claim to be a personal trainer - the industry was not regulated. Generally, these days, trainers have to train for about a year (some organisations offer intensive, fast-track, training that takes only 3-4 months).

The training itself is rather good and involves practical and theory tests. However, it is possible to become qualified and yet have no commitment to the ongoing training, reading, personal practice, and experience that are essential to becoming an effective, safe, and reliable trainer. The Register of Exercise Professionals goes some way towards remedying this by insisting on continuous education accreditation, but even this does not make up for a lack of true passion for training knowledge and practice.

There is another caveat when it comes to personal training: some of the big gyms employ fitness instructors (who possess a level 2 qualification that implies competence in gym inductions and in formulating a basic gym programme) and then pass them off as personal trainers. These companies have their own training packages which they offer to customers as "personal training" and are shameless in doing so. Often these same gyms encourage genuine personal trainers to practice on their sites for an extortionate rent but then proceed to undermine their businesses (often the trainers are sub-contractors) by selling their own products, which are facilitated by level 2 gym instructors. The customers are short-changed (some would say defrauded) and the level 3 trainers are under-cut and often go out of business.

There are, nevertheless, some extremely effective trainers, but you have to know what to look for.

Essentially, a good personal trainer is 100% attentive. This means that they listen to their clients, particularly in the setting of SMART goals, and that they also watch their clients at every moment, identifying errors in technique or gauging intensity and when it is time to stop a set or exercise due to technique starting to deteriorate.

The trainer should have a good knowledge of muscle and lever functions and attachments and should be able to identify the most effective exercises for a given goal. They should pay attention to detail - posture, exercise form, range of motion, resistance, repetition speed and smoothness, rate of perceived exertion etc.

The trainer should intervene when there are potentially injurious factors, such as the rounding of the back during a dead lift, and they should continuously attempt to focus the client on the exercise by using appropriate levels of correction and encouragement.

If the trainer is asked to justify a particular exercise choice they should be able to do so - and should not feel threatened by the request. There must be a rationale for training approaches, and the training should always be the most effective, whilst being safe, for the client's individual goals.

I would also expect a trainer to have sound nutritional knowledge, an understanding of health related issues, and good communication skills (especially active listening).

One last thing to look for in a trainer is their commitment to their own training. A good trainer should be in regular training, but more than that, they should be always on the lookout for furthering their knowledge and experience. They must be forever questing for better practice, better technique, and better understanding of the needs, and wants, of their clients.

Qualifications are never enough: they are the bare minimum. Watch the trainers with their other clients; assess them as they work, or as they train themselves, and only when you are happy with what you observe should you place yourself in their hands. Once found, however, a good trainer is invaluable.

Fat Loss Tips

Whilst it is a good idea to estimate your resting metabolic rate and then to make adjustments for activity and weight loss/gain goals it is possible to make good progress even if you don't go through with the calculations.

In the past I have calculated my clients' nutritional needs down to the last gram of each macronutrient. I've then produced detailed meal plans that ensure a balanced array of nutrients, timed with military precision. I used to present the client with the plan confident that they would follow it to the letter and make the gains they wanted.

Bitter experience has taught me that there are very few "ordinary" trainees who are going to be consistent with such plans. Their lives are too varied; the dietary rules are too strict and it is only a matter of time before they break them. Usually these infringements of the rules incur a "oh, well, might as well give up" response and the goal gets ever more remote.

There are exceptions, of course, and these people make the best gains.

Others get into the idea of writing down what they eat - only they do this retrospectively and then beat themselves up for consuming too little or too much.

Recently I've elected for a basic ("ideal") meal plan with a number of alternatives for each meal and some general principles for those "can't be bothered" times.

Basically, there is a simple structure: eat six times a day at roughly three hourly intervals. At the simplest, divide your target calories (which you can determine by keeping a food diary for five days and seeing what you need to maintain, or you can do the calculations). If your goal is to lose fat, reduce this figure by about 15%.

Divide your calories by six and aim to eat roughly this amount at each of the six meal times.

For those who are busy, protein bars or drinks will provide convenient alternatives, along with hard fruit.

The diet should remain high in protein (1.6g per kilo of lean body weight is recommended for fat loss. There's no benefit from going above 2g per kilo). Carbohydrates should come from wholegrain sources wherever possible and should be low GI, and fats should be principally monounsaturated and polyunsaturated.

Once you decide on the sorts of foods you are going to eat, spend a bit of time calculating their macronutrient and caloric values by referring to the packet labels and using a calculator. It should then be possible to identify a variety of foods and snacks that could make up a meal slot.

You can work out the percentages of protein, fat and carbohydrate in accordance with your goals. For health the ratios are: protein 10%, carbohydrate 60%, fat 30%. For serious training, the retention of lean tissue and fat loss these percentages will need to be adjusted (for example 20, 55, 25). You may want to experiment with ratios or refer to a good nutrition book.

For simplicity, divide the values between the six meals (remember, there's little point consuming more than 25-30g of protein at one time - the excess will be excreted or stored as fat); and don't get hung up on carbohydrates: you need them! Your brain needs them, and your muscles needs them. Just make sure that they are from clean, fibrous sources and low GI, except within the fifteen minutes immediately after training when simple sugars help to speed recovery and optimise protein synthesis.

A sample basic structure might look like this:

7am Shreddies, skimmed/semi-skimmed milk; glass of orange juice

10am Protein bar; apple

1pm Tuna salad sandwich (wholemeal bread - preferably with seeds)

4pm Protein bar; pear

7pm Sweet Potato, Chicken breast/grilled fish/broccoli, carrots

10 pm Protein shake; handful of nuts

Post workout (within 15 minutes) 1-2 bananas; protein shake


That's about as basic as it gets. Once you have your structure in place you can add variety by substituting foods of similar nutritional value. Make sure there are enough good fats by adding cold pressed extra virgin olive oil to salads, eating a handful of nuts or seeds, and eating salmon once a week. The protein bars and shakes should be the low GI/low-moderate carbohydrate variety if your goal is to lose fat.

The more planning and calculating you do, the better the results, but as I said at the beginning, there are few people who can commit to that. Find out the sort of foods you should be eating; approximate their caloric value, and slot them into the six meals a day structure.

If you can't afford, or don't want, protein supplements, eat more fish, chicken /turkey breast, eggs, low fat yoghurts etc. You might also want to look at quinoa.

Once you know what you should be eating you can stock up on all the required foods and snacks and prepare food in advance for convenience/packed lunches.

One last thing: if you do "fall off your horse" and binge/eat too much when dining out, don't fret. Enjoy yourself and then resume your normal eating structure. Don't skip a meal or try to adjust for the additional calories. The basic meal plan should be the norm but there will (and must be) exceptions (unless you are a competitive figure/bodybuilding athlete or have a pathological relationship with food and body image).

Reverse Anorexia in Body Building

We are all too familiar with the pathology of Anorexia Nervosa and the driving feature of over-evaluation of body image. Often this over-evaluation is reinforced by the activity of scrutiny - often looking in the mirror and focusing on what are thought to be the worst body features.

Is self-scrutiny in the mirror reliable? Differences between the subjective beliefs of anorexia sufferers and the consensus view of others (objective reality) leads us to conclude that it is not. Why is this?

The image we see in a mirror is actually half the size that we are (try getting someone to stick tape on the mirror image at the top and bottom and then measure it). The brain compensates for this by "doubling up the image". There are degrees of distortion in the processing, more so when pathology is present. "Bad" features become magnified. In addition, there will often be variation in mirror images depending on lighting, the mirror surface, reference points in the reflection, mood of the observer etc.

In body building we sometimes see the reverse of anorexia (in which the sufferer sees their mirror image as being fatter than it really is). In body building the goal is usually to grow larger, in terms of musculature. A body builder desperate to gain weight may look into the mirror and despair at the perceived muscular atrophy. Nothing seems to be growing - indeed everything seems to be shrinking. Whereas the anorexic is likely to restrict calorie intake even further, the body builder is likely to train even harder and longer. The net result of this will be over-training thus inhibiting the processes of recovery and growth.

In such cases, more reliable methods of gauging progress might include:

1. Photographs
2. Measurements
3. The appraisal of others

Continual progress can be ensured if the body builder:

1. Accurately assesses caloric needs for weight maintenance and then increases by roughly 20%
2. Consumes protein equivalent to 2g per kilogram of lean body weight
3. Ensures adequate supply of other macronutrients (carbohydrates and "good" fats)
4. Progresses training at each workout (increase resistance or reps within the target rep range; at times decrease rest; range of motion and repetition rate can also be manipulated).
5. Strictly adheres to correct exercise technique, generally adopting full range of motion and a controlled, smoothe, rep speed.
6. Rests sufficiently between workouts. generally keep resistance works to less than an hour and take at least one day off between workouts.

So what is to be done with mirrors?

If body-checking becomes problematic use mirrors solely for checking clothing coordination, hair and face. Remove any extraneous mirrors. Focus on the training and on maintaining adequate nutrition. Rely on the feedback of others and occasionally (monthly?) get someone to take your measurements.

Unless you are a driven, competitive level, body builder, don't set your sights on future gains. Enjoy the training, enjoy the journey, and most important, maintain a balanced life that doesn't solely revovle around your physique. Train with prescribed regularity and eat to match. If that's in place, quit worrying and let things take their course.