Inefficiency Experts, Part 2 Print E-mail



If you think this is a comical exaggeration, you're only partially right. This caricature isn't too far off the mark. Oh yes, and in case you were wondering, we didn't forget to include the leg work in the previously discussed routine. After all, most guys in the weight room avoid serious leg training like it's the plague (we don't really count riding the stationary bike or performing nothing but leg curls and leg presses as serious leg training). And even when leg work is included, we're certainly not fond of the quarter rep squat exercise a lot of trainees are so enamored with. Not familiar with this one? Perhaps you perform it? The quarter rep squat exercise is the one where you load up a barbell with more weight than you can handle and squat down about 6 inches or so.

So, steering back to the original question after our digression, the kind of compartmentalized approach to training that includes all this split-type training is of extremely limited value to guys who have a hard time putting on size. Dividing the body into different units and blasting away at said units with a barrage of exercises and sets performed at every possible angle simply doesn't offer enough of an overload to spur any serious growth. How can this be, you ask? After all, extreme local muscular fatigue accompanies this type of training, and that's gotta count for something, right? Well, it does, but only if you're more interested in getting sore and tired than getting big and strong.

Don't confuse training (and fatigue) with a training response. Bodybuilding-style training primarily stimulates one type of muscle fiber, and heavy, basic training stimulates another. To paraphrase famed muscle researcher William Kraemer, "some weightlifters can spend decades training but will never train their fast-twitch fibers. Since the fast-twitch muscle fibers are the ones that respond best to training, it's important to include both heavy, basic lifts and explosive lifts (i.e., Olympic lifts such as the clean and jerk, or snatch) with lighter loads to maximize their development." Seeing as how ectomorphs typically have a lower proportion of fast-twitch muscle fibers than most, if their goal is to get bigger and stronger, it only makes sense to make the most of what they've got by targeting these fibers in their training.


 
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