Getting Sick of Heavy Weights..

[SerbMarko]

my body aches, my joints are destroyed..

there's gotta be another way to build muscle, there just has to be lol

on a side note, i hear of guys de-loading? how often is this done and how does this work? is this where you go light for a week instead of just taking a break, this question is kinda of related to Tunen/IS as i've seen them talk about this method..

what are your opinions on the way Milos Sarcev trains his clients?

Thanks

 

[Bulkboy]

that milos thing, isnt that only for precontest training? doubt anyone will benefit much from doing a gazillion giant sets every day, even with milos wonder shakes

on another note serb, if ure feeling worn out, why not take a whole week off and then do a week of really high rep training to build capillaries and just try something new. then get back into the heavy stuff again fresh and with good joints

 

[Daniel Andersson]

I dont know if it actually would releave your joints, but a longer warmup with 1 set with maximum load wouldn't that do the trick?...kinda like DC, but still not

 

[Mygeeto]

weak

 

[SerbMarko]

both very good points guys, thanks.. im not going to take a week off since i've actually had too much time off since i've had a pretty bad flu this month and haven't really trained hard as it is.. but when i go get back into it, i just feel that these heavy weights are getting to me, im doing very low volume training, maybe i should increase the volume? who knows, but i need something new, im getting sick of the pounding, if anything im gonna do a week of high reps/light weight to get my joints feeling proper again.. thanks guys.

 

[TJ]

Proper de-loading:

-Less Volume
-Less Intensity (percentage wise)
-Far less time in the gym
-neutral grip movements for upper body
-laying off anything that taxes the lower back
-no regular or back squats
-shorter rest periods between sets

Upper body movements should consist of neutral grip stuff (DB presses, rows, etc) and you shouldn't train shoulders directly at all. For triceps, go with the rope extension doing overheads or pressdowns for high reps (15-20) and very short rest periods. Biceps can still be trained but, again, laying off the volume and intensity. For lower body; no deadlifts, bent BB rows or regular squats. Front squat and box squats for lower body and maybe some lunge variations. I'd say de-loading should be done very 4 weeks depending on what your "regular" training is like.

 

[Rocky]

I rarely do anything but heavy lifting (for me!), but when I feel like my body needs the rest I will. I've just finished my 2nd deload session which I'm doing to lead into a routine change.

 

[Paulie]

I tried to tell you that going to failure everytime is not necessary and there are other ways of building muscle. You just continued to argue with me.

 

[SerbMarko]

Wolf- appreciate that bro, that really helped

Rocky- your too hardcore for me good luck with the program change bud.

Paulie- i wont argue this time, thanks.

 

[Braaq]

The day I cannot lift heavy is probably the day I will hang up my towel and say good bye. My joints hurt, so i will take some time off. Like right now, but I could never back off because that is my drive for why I am there. Getting big for me is just a plus, this is why I train only when I feel like it. I do not have certain days that I train, I go by how my body feels and if I feel worn out I do not go. If I feel like I can train then I am there, sometimes that leads me into only training 3 times a week and sometimes 4. I hope your joints get better, try a glucosamine, chondroitin and MSM stack

 

[SerbMarko]

The day I cannot lift heavy is probably the day I will hang up my towel and say good bye. My joints hurt, so i will take some time off. Like right now, but I could never back off because that is my drive for why I am there. Getting big for me is just a plus, this is why I train only when I feel like it. I do not have certain days that I train, I go by how my body feels and if I feel worn out I do not go. If I feel like I can train then I am there, sometimes that leads me into only training 3 times a week and sometimes 4. I hope your joints get better, try a glucosamine, chondroitin and MSM stack

don't get me wrong, i love TRAINING and training heavy, but like you said, sometimes the body just gets tired of it.. from now on every 5th week i will train ligher with higher reps, exactly how Wolf pointed out, i think this will help a lot..

 

[Beefcake]

Check out the '300' Training Program, Century Program, or a Push/Pull training for a week or so. And as Braaq said glucosamine and chondroitin will help with joints.

 

[Braaq]

don't get me wrong, i love TRAINING and training heavy, but like you said, sometimes the body just gets tired of it.. from now on every 5th week i will train ligher with higher reps, exactly how Wolf pointed out, i think this will help a lot..

I have been considering the same thing.

 

[Duality]

i feel for you here Serb. it sucks when the thing you love is hurting you. gotta keep on truckn tho man. i think the incorporation of "light" days here and there might help. just be smarter about the days you really go balls to the wall and really allow yourself to recover inbetween. best of luck!

 

[knight_rider]

don't get me wrong, i love TRAINING and training heavy, but like you said, sometimes the body just gets tired of it.. from now on every 5th week i will train ligher with higher reps, exactly how Wolf pointed out, i think this will help a lot..

de-loading should occur every 6-8 weeks if your training to failure! Failure training is the most effecient way of training as long as a de-load or cruize is added in as prescribed above! after 3 de-loads, the 4th one should be longer. so if you cruise every 7th week for 1 week, the 4th cruise should be like 2 weeks!

a de-load or cruise is as listed in earlier posts, your just going through the motions, cutting back working sets and intensity techniques and basically allowing you CNS to recover, muscles recover in 48 hours, but the CNS can take significantly longer!

a de-load is better than time off and you need to think of it as 'active recovery' your moving and staying in touch, but your not pushing it!

good luck, a soft week once in awhile is only going to make your gains better, i usually find my strength goes up no problems after a cruise week!

 

[MetalMX]

Sounds like overtraining trust me i know the feeling. I have always only trained heavy and hard all the time without rest. Even if you train 3 days a week but you train for say 75-90minutes and you go really heavy and do heaps of sets thats setting you up for overtraining.

You have to periodize your training. Some weeks 4-6 reps heavy, others 10-12 reps lighter with less sets. As well as taking a few days or a week off completely. I got horrible joint pain in both my shoulders all of a sudden couple of days ago when training shoulders and that tells me i need to decrease the volume and cruise a little.

 

[philosopher]

Imo you should periodize your training better. This means incorporate lighter day, meduim days and heavy days, deloading can also be part of it. You can do a planned deload every 4 to 8 weeks or a deload by feel. The moment when you feel you need rest you deload. Wolf gave a great discription of how to deload. Also make sure you performe a proper warm up this helps a lot for preventing injury's.

 

[Ironslave]

Do some slow eccentric contractions only for a little while, that should help. They probably wouldn't work for squats, but you could do it safely for any upper body exercise.

Do lots of stretching after (not before) your workouts, should be gently done with the purpose of increasing flexibility in all your joints. Try to see an active release (ART) provider too, I think I linked you to one a while ago.

The whole deloading thing is debated, less volume is definitely agreed but theres debate on just time off, lighter weight or just less sets. As I mentioned, I'd go with slow eccentric contractions only for a little while, with short workouts.

 

[Timeout]

Extreme muscles enhacement 2 by Carlon colker has some good tips for traing in regard to maximum muscle gain with lighter weights eg training within 70% of you maximum lift with higher intensity and training to failure.
I myself have tried his tecniques as i was lifting heavy (for me anyway) but was not feeling it in the muscle the next day as i am with his method.

 

[The Creator]

"The taper period, during which intesity and volume are reduced, should provide adequate time for healing of tissue damage caused by intense training and for the body's energy reserves to be fully replenished. Research suggests that, for example, taper periods range from 4-28 days or longer. Muscular strength increases significantly during the taper period. Less training is needed to maintain previous gains than wea originally needed to attain them, so tapering does not decrease conditioning. Performance improves by an average of about 3% with proper tapering."

Pulled that right out of my exercise physiology book.

Physiology of Sport and Exercise
Wilmore, J.
Costill, D.
Kenney, W.