What Is A Feeder Workout And Do They Work?

[MuscleMecca Crew]

When considering working out or bodybuilding this year, it's ideal to go for quality over quantity. It can be challenging to start working out, however, the benefits are many. Feeder workouts can be high density, fast and smooth, it takes perseverance to complete sets.

Many people have shown immense progress with these kinds of feeder workouts, and the health benefits are immense.

Let's discuss in detail what feeder workouts are if they work, the benefits from engaging in these workouts, and other important information on bodybuilding.

What is a Feeder Workout?​

Feeder workouts are referred to as small sets of regular workouts. This means that after rigorous bodybuilding, you will undergo another session in the day. However, with feeder workouts, you are targeting some specific muscles using light exercises.

Moreover, let's say Sunday you start with pushing muscles (shoulders, shoulders, chest). Then the following Monday after your regular fitness routine, you choose to undergo feeder workouts on the triceps, shoulder, and chest. This is a person who is done in isolation and allows you fully concentrate on a specific muscle via strict reps.

A good example of a feeder workout recommended for push muscles might be :

• Lateral Raise =4 sets 60-110 reps.
• Pec Dec = 3 sets, 40-80 reps.
• Dumbbell skull crushers = 3 sets 60-120 reps.

The aim of feeder workouts is not to bring out the muscles or pulverize them. These workouts and bodybuilding exercises are low-intensity fitness work to drive many-body nutrients into your muscles.

It is important to know that muscles grow when they are stimulated and fed with rich nutrients.

Types of Feeder workouts​

There are two main types of feeder workouts you can engage in, they are :

• Chest Feeder Workouts​

In chest feeder workouts, there are six core body parts to focus on:thighs, calves, arms, shoulder, back, shoulders, and chest. The most stressful thing to build is the chest, and it cannot be done in isolation but with other body parts.

With Chest feeder workouts, you can learn to build muscles around your chest region. Most chest feeder workouts will focus on trapezius muscles and pecs.

• Arm feeder workout​

When talking about Arms, these are popular body parts that people are interested in building muscle around. Arms are easy for building muscles and you can see the results easily. Arm feeder workouts will make you excel quickly in fitness exercises and bodybuilding.

Anyone interested in arm feeder workouts should focus more on their biceps and triceps as this will facilitate building essential body parts. It is important to use important workout equipment when basing your arm on feeder workouts.

Are Feeder Workouts Effective?​

Yes, feeder workouts work when you know how to go about it. Here are why feeder workouts work:

• Extended protein Synthesis​

When using feeder workouts, they tend to prolong the time increased muscle protein occurs. Usually, when a muscle group is worked on, your body's protein synthesis is heightened for about 30 hours and it returns to its normal stage.

When you perform additional small workouts a day after the first one, your protein synthesis will be extended by another 20-24 hours. What makes this fascinating is that growth will only happen if you do the workout well.

You will experience muscle growth, tissue repair, and recovery when you consume protein and take the caloric surplus.

• Enhance Mind-muscle connection​

What this implies is that when you continue doing something expect to be better. If you want your bodybuilding and fitness exercises to have a positive effect on pull-ups, you need to start doing them regularly.

Why this is so is that your muscles are adapting to your fitness habits. Aside from getting bigger, your muscles are getting stronger and your mind is getting better. Feeder workouts can be great when you struggle with some muscle exercises during a lift.

• Helps lessen weakness​

After lifting heavy fitness equipment and engaging in bodybuilding exercises, your body muscles become more responsive to intensive workout methods. You get more used to lightweight lifting, high reps, and sit-ups.

This is ideal for strengthening muscles and encourages you to lift heavier compounds. A good example is when you find it difficult with the lockout portion of the overhead press, or higher rep triceps, feeder workouts can be of help.

• Increases Blood flow​

Feeder workouts can help your body, by making it easy for blood to circulate easily to the muscles and other body parts. The boost that comes with this blood circulation helps stretch fascia tissue and helps your muscles to grow.

Also, the blood easily helps transport body nutrients to all body parts that need them. For better results with a feeder workout, it is vital to have a good pump in your muscles.

The History Behind Feeder Workout​

Feeder workouts and bodybuilding techniques were developed by Rich Piana. Rich Piana was a lover of everything workouts and exercise. Before he was 15, he won a national physique award in the USA. In 1989, he won the Mr. California award and made several TV appearances when called upon.

His track record is there for everyone to see when it comes to fitness and bodybuilding. While he spent a lot of time engaging in feeder workouts and pumpkin his muscles, he has confessed severally to using anabolic steroids as early as 18 years.

However, he never encouraged anybody to use steroids because he said there are adverse effects that he wouldn't want anyone to suffer. Aside from steroid usage, he was an exceptional figure in bodybuilding and fitness exercises. He preached about the effectiveness of perseverance, tenacity, and patience.

His fitness routines and drills were different from what other fitness instructors or bodybuilders engaged in. In 2017, he died due to a heart attack as his brain was starved of oxygen for more than 40 minutes.

He was in a coma for about 15 days hoping that the swelling in his brain would go down. Unfortunately, he died and when an autopsy was carried out, results showed that his heart and liver were enlarged. He will be sorely missed in the fitness and bodybuilding world.

What is the Best Time For Feeder Workouts?​

Feeder workouts are best carried out after a full training session. Usually, it is ideal to be done after 1-2 days after a thorough workout when a muscle is stretched and the renovation process is on the way.

The reason is that when the muscle needs nutrients and requires enough body fluids and nutrients, it responds easily. According to the developer of feeder workouts, Rich Piana, the late night before going to bed is the best time to engage in feeder workout training. This is because food must have already been taken and recovery is on the way.

Things to Avoid When Undergoing Feeder Workout​

When you want to get the best results on feeder workouts, here are some important tips:

• Don't overwork yourself​

Engaging in feeder workouts is fine as long as it is done reasonably. Some people are very anxious to get in shape and tend to strain their body parts and muscles to achieve their aims.

When doing feeder workouts, it isolates some muscles with high rep supersets. When you feel your triceps are holding you back, stay calm and stop workouts. If you notice any troubles with your valves, you can postpone it till the next day.

• Start slowly​

Like regular exercises, new fitness enthusiasts who are interested in feeder workouts and other bodybuilding exercises should start slowly. You don't force results when it comes to feeder workouts, you allow your body to adapt to these fitness drills.

You can start 10 minutes today working on your arms, in a few days you increase it to 20 minutes, and so on. In time, your body parts will adapt to these workout sessions and the results will be obvious.

• Diet​

While feeder workouts can produce good results when done regularly, you need to take a good diet. Protein, vitamins, and calories can be good. These nutrients are important to allow your muscles to be firm.

Also, avoid taking carbohydrates at night if you want to engage in feeder workouts. While they can give strength, carbs make you heavy. Ensure you also take enough water and have water by your side during the workouts.

• Set realistic workout objectives​

Be real to yourself when engaging in feeder workouts. You can't jump from 5% to 90% in a month. Visible results in bodybuilding and workouts take time and perseverance. You need to set goals that can be achieved and work towards them.

• Enroll in a workout class​

While you can work out yourself, a little help from trained bodybuilding experts is helpful. These classes can be online or in bodybuilding forums. Learning from the best will facilitate good results.

Final Thoughts​

A feeder workout is not a get-quick technique. You can't just build your arms and chest muscles in a day. However, feeder workouts can be a good way to increase and grow your muscle.

Anybody in good health can start feeder work and all bodybuilding drills. Feeder workouts help with general strength and muscle expansion.

 

[Charles]

Feeders help for building legs as well?

 

[Morepower]

This is my first time hearing about a feeder workout. Was following the FS-7 training principle, which was showing me good results. Am planning to mix up my routine. Would give this feeder workout a try. As my plan to increase my overall mass, felt like this routine would be helpful to me now.

 

[MuscleMecca Crew]

Quality over quantity workouts is the aspect of training and building muscles. In the case of feeder workouts, it’s the other way around. This training technique involves lifting light weights but comes in rapid reps. A feeder workout aims to increase the blood flow and oxygen to lagging muscles by supplying more nutrients.

Those who have tried this technique said it is effective in quickly growing muscles. Feeder workouts became one of the most popular techniques because of their effectiveness.

If you’re considering applying this to your fitness routine, this guide will give you the information you may need about feeder workouts. We’ll discuss how it grows muscles, how to do it, its connection to the recovery period, and the possible pros and cons.

Definition and Understanding of Feeder Workouts​

Rich Piana introduced the feeder workout on his YouTube channel in 2014. According to him, a feeder workout is the fastest way to build bigger and stronger arms when done every night. This technique can help those who are in the bodybuilding industry.

When you do a feeder workout, you do it in a few sets but with lots of reps compared to your routine. People use this technique to increase their training volume but do not want to affect their muscle growth.

A feeder workout is a high-volume and fast-paced exercise with low weights after resistance training. Though you only do this with a few sets, you must finish each set quickly. Each group may have up to a hundred reps.

Suppose you train a muscle group on a specific day. The feeder workout follows the day after it or on the same day but at a later time, targeting the same muscle groups you worked on. You can do the feeder workout sets before or after training your scheduled muscle group.

You can choose any exercise that targets the same muscle groups you previously worked on. Remember that you must do hundreds of reps, so choose the exercise and weight that works for you.

The Science Behind Feeder Workouts and Muscle Growth​

Feeder workouts are also beneficial for muscle hypertrophy. The high-repetition sets create metabolic stress, increasing protein synthesis during recovery. Though it only involves low weights, it can still cause muscle tissue ripping, especially those not activated on heavier weight lifting.

This technique also extends the time of increased muscle protein synthesis. A typical routine has elevated protein synthesis for 24 hours and returns to normal during the recovery period of 36 hours. If done with a feeder workout, the elevated protein synthesis occurs for another 23 to 24 hours.

The Journal of Human Sport and Exercise published research about the effectiveness of feeder workouts. According to this research, if you do the feeder workout 24 hours after your primary training routine, you can boost your protein synthesis for another 24 hours. However, it would be best to consume proper meals during your primary and feeder workouts to maximize their benefits.

Role of Feeder Workouts in Overcoming Training Plateaus​

Training plateaus happen when your training progress has stopped, even with a continuously healthy lifestyle. It typically occurs when your body is ready to advance on a more intense workout. The signs of having a training plateau may include being bored, unmotivated, or lazy about working out.

Everyone experiences a training plateau and wants to go past it. The good news is feeder workout can help with it. It can break training plateaus by providing a new stimulus, leading to new muscle adaptations. Feeder workouts also bring back your training motivations since they introduce a new, more intense routine.

It may also be a gauge of your resistance and strength. You can evaluate your progress by looking at the intensity and volume of lifting during your feeder workout.

Practical Application: How to Implement Feeder Workouts​

Bodybuilders usually do feeder workouts on the chest, arms, and shoulder muscles. A feeder workout involves three super sets, depending on the exercise you want to do. However, you must finish these sets in at least 100 reps, with minimal rests of at least 20 minutes. The idea is to move to another exercise immediately after the other to get pumped and release toxins out of the muscles.

If you want to build your arm muscles, you can do 100 reps of bicep curls, followed by a superset of hammer curls. If you’re not satisfied with the size of your triceps, you can have supersets of skull crushers and tricep kickbacks. You may also grow your forearms by doing 100 wrists and reverse curls reps.

You can incorporate 50 reps each on barbell push presses and dumbbell overheads for shoulders. As for the chest, Rich Piana recommends 100 reps of push-ups in a single set.

These exercises are examples only, and you may change them depending on which muscles you work on. However, you must note that doing this will tear more of your muscle tissues, so you must prepare for muscle pain. Though this only uses low weights, adjust them according to strength and resistance since you will do high repetitions.

The Role of Recovery Period in Feeder Workouts​

The recovery period is essential in feeder workouts, just like in your regular training routine. High repetitions may cause muscle stress and fatigue, even if you only use light weights. During your recovery period, your body repairs the muscles and adjusts to the stimulus of the feeder workout.

It also allows you to replenish your energy since you have time to eat healthy and nutritious meals. You can ask your nutritionist to adjust your meal plan since feeder workouts may require you to consume more carbohydrates to replace the depleted energy and still have a reserve for your future training sessions.

Benefits and Potential Drawbacks of Feeder Workouts​

Like other workout routines, feeder workouts also have their benefits and drawbacks. Before incorporating them into your routine, consider these factors based on your goals. It can be a helpful, but it may also cause muscle growth imbalances throughout the body.

Benefit: Extreme Muscle Pump​

The intensity of feeder workouts creates and maintains continuous muscle tension since it has minimal or no rest periods. Because of this, you can enhance metabolic stress, which leads to an intense pump effect on the muscles and improved muscle definition.

Benefit: Enhanced Nutrient Delivery​

The continuous muscle contractions and the absence of a recovery period create a demand for more oxygen and nutrients. The role of feeder workouts is to increase the blood flow to the muscles using high-repetition sets. Increased blood flow ensures greater glucose, amino acids, and oxygen delivery to the trained muscles.

Benefit: Training Variety​

Feeder workouts allow you to break away from regular training and challenge yourself with a higher workout intensity. This routine introduces new movements and goals to achieve. It also involves different muscle groups, so you don’t have to do the same daily way.

Drawback: Increased Risks of Injuries​

Lifting weights quickly and on high repetition will force your muscles to work more. Your previous session has torn some muscle tissues. Overtraining your muscles from feeder workouts without adequate recovery can lead to inflammation and tissue damage over time.

Drawback: Needs Compound Exercises​

Feeder workouts should only serve as supplementary workouts. It prioritizes metabolic stress and muscle pump. You must rely on more than these exercises if your goal is to enhance strength. You may not achieve increased muscle mass and improved strength if you do not lift heavier weights from compound exercises.

Conclusion​

Feeder workout is a food to enhance your fitness routine since it can improve building muscles and help you get out of the training plateau. However, only those whose bodies have already adjusted to lifting weights can do this routine since it involves high reps without resting. If you plan to include feeder workouts in your fitness routine, it is best to understand their pros and cons before engaging in these exercises.

Frequently Asked Questions​

Do I need special equipment for feeder workouts?​

Most of the time, yes. The most common training equipment used for this routine are dumbbells and some gym equipment. However, it still depends on the exercises that you want to do.

Can a beginner in weight lifting do feeder workouts?​

As a recommendation, only those with experience in weight lifting can do feeder workouts. These exercises involve high intensity, which a beginner’s body may not have adjusted to yet.

Do feeder workouts cause muscle pains?​

Yes. You may experience muscle pains since your muscles do not have enough time to recover after an intense workout from your previous exercises.

 

[Rot-Iron66]

Just another insane term in modern lifting culture... Embarrassing...