Find Your Best Training Style

[Joe Pietaro]

By Joe Pietaro
08-13-2014

We are all guilty of it and as long as there is something learned, then it not all for naught. Reading your favorite bodybuilding magazine, asking your friend or even watching how someone else performs an exercise in the gym is fodder for 'committing' these common offenses and it comes down just how long it takes you to find your own style.

Just because Phil Heath does an X amount of sets for his biceps does not mean that if you emulate his exact routine (as if what you read is all of his secrets, anyway) you, too, will have Olympia-sized arms. Perhaps so, but the odds are against it.

So when you get some information from even what is a reliable source, that does not mean it will have the same positive effects as it did for others. Your arms may respond better to, let's say, a higher volume routine. Or drop sets, super sets (biceps and triceps) and even possibly half reps or 21s.

Now that doesn't mean you should just recklessly try everything available to you and ignore said advice. But if someone tries to tell you that his or her mouthed is the only one that works, then find a new advisor. That is complete nonsense and the only tips that you should immediately heed is one that has to do with safety and/or injury prevention.

But if you are doing a set a certain way and feel it, then you are on to something. Even if the meathead nearby gives you some words of wisdom that you are wasting your time. Having proper form is always a good idea and should be something that is always on your mind but how many times have you seen someone who is built like a brick shithouse and had less-than-stellar form? More than you would think, if you're new to the gym scene.

So if you are using a weight that you can handle but feel it better not locking out, maybe a shorter range of motion is what works for you. The full time under tension using that style gives the muscle a beating and you are also saving your joints potential wear and tear, so it is a trial and error type of experience to find out what is the best workout style for you…even if it is not part of Heath's program.