Recent Posts
Posted by Joel Marion on March 18, 2009
97 Comments
On Tuesday I told you about a pretty cool technique I’m currently using in my training called SUPER supersets (or at least that’s what I decided to “name” it :-) in which I am utitlizing both antagonistic and post-fatigue supersets within the same workout.
And today, as promised, I’m back with the full workout, right on down to sets/reps and muscle pairings.
Check it out:
Day 1 – Hip Dominant Legs & Shoulders
A1) Deadlift supersetted with Lying Leg Curls [12 reps each; no rest between sets]
Rest 45 seconds.
A2) Standing Dumbbell Shoulder Press supersetted with Lateral Raises [12 reps each; no rest between sets]
Rest 45 seconds.
Repeat the above sequence 5 times.
Day 2 – Chest & Back
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Posted by Joel Marion on March 17, 2009
71 Comments
Guess who’s back?!
Me, that’s who! :-)
That’s right, yesterday marked my first day back in the gym after my much needed week off, and in case you can’t tell, I’m seriously excited to get back to regular training! (looks like my week off did exactly what it was supposed to do, eh?)
So today, I’d like to celebrate my return by sharing with you a really cool technique I used in yesterday’s workout called SUPER supersets.
So what’s a SUPER supset? Well, nothing official, but rather a name that I more or less just came up with to describe a technique in which you combine two different superset techniques: Post-fatigue supersets and antagonistic supersets.
If you have no idea what that means, don’t worry, I’ll explain.
When you hear the term “superset” in regards to weight training, it generally refers to performing two exercises for a particular muscle group back to back (with little or no rest inbetween) in order to maximally fatigue the muscle group in question. This is an example of post-fatigue and isolated failure as we discussed in our last post.
A great way to use post-fatigue supersets is to start off with a big, multi-joint movement (for example, the bench press) and then “superset” that movement with a smaller isolation exercise (i.e. dumbbell flyes) to ensure maximal stimulation and fatigue of the target muscle group (in this case, the chest).
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Posted by Joel Marion on March 15, 2009
108 Comments
In the second part of our discussion on training to failure, we talked about several very important things.
For starters, we cleared up the ambiguity surrounding the term “failure” and established a simple, clear-cut definition of the term.
Alas, we were all on the same page.
At that point, we went on to discuss the pitfalls of regularly training to failure, including the extreme stress these techniques place on the central nervous system.
The end result: overtraining, burnout, skipped workouts, extreme fatigue, and an overall lack of results. Not exactly the type of things you’d hope to generate by “giving it your all” in the gym.
And that’s the point−training hard without training SMART leads to nothing more than a bunch of futile, wasted effort.
That said, training to failure isn’t all bad, and in fact there are several “intelligent” ways to use the technique to get you the results you’re after, faster.
Here are a few of my favorites:
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Posted by Joel Marion on March 12, 2009
92 Comments
In Part I of our discussion on training to failure, I asked you a question:
“When do YOU terminate your sets?”
In the comments section of that post, you responded.
The consensus?
There wasn’t one. I mean, not even close.
Replies ranged from the very conservative “when the speed of movement slows down” (which I think is bogus, and I’ll provide my thoughts in another post) to the much more extreme use of “forced” reps (having a spotter assist you to complete more repetitions, as “the kid” from my previous story reluctantly had me do for him) on a regular basis.
Needless to say, due to the wide range of replies, this is an area that is an area that most here could use some clarification on, and that’s exactly what I plan to give you over these next few posts.
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Posted by Joel Marion on March 9, 2009
162 Comments
Last Monday I was at the gym performing my regular “Monday” squat workout.
There are several reasons why I choose to squat on Mondays (I also squat at least one other time during the week as well), but the major reason is that everyone else seems to be working chest on this day.
Walk into any gym across America on a Monday and I can almost guarantee you that every bench press station will be occupied, along with just about every flat bench to boot.
For whatever reason, Monday has become the “unofficial” day to work chest nationwide.
And while I don’t really understand why, it works out just fine for me as the squat racks are never occupied (let’s be honest, they’re hardly ever occupied, but on Monday there’s even less of a chance).
So there I am, Audioslave pumping on my iPod getting ready to start my second set of wide-stance squats and someone taps me on the shoulder.
“Would you mind giving me a spot?”
The kid was probably about 18 years old, maybe 150 lbs.
And even though I genuinely hate to be interrupted while working out, I’m still a nice guy, so I agreed to give him a hand.
And yes, he was bench pressing.
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Posted by Joel Marion on March 5, 2009
69 Comments
Okay, so here’s the deal. Yesterday I went to the gym and before I even had the chance to mix my workout drink, I was out the door.
Why? Simple: I straight up didn’t want to be there, so I left.
You see, every so often I’ll go through a period of time when my motivation to exercise is severely lacking. I’m sure you’ve experienced it, too−despite generally looking forward to your workouts, you get to the gym and just loathe the thought of going through with the next 30-60 minutes.
My advice: leave.
Now, before getting into a more “scientific” explanation for my recommendation, let’s first examine what’s most practical.
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Posted by Joel Marion on March 2, 2009
351 Comments
Today was Movie Day—a day in which I do nothing but watch movies, and I try to have one at least once a month.
You see, I love movies :-)
And today, perhaps to rekindle my inner child, I spent 91 minutes watching a movie that I literally watched every day for an entire summer when I was 12 years old: Rocky IV.
Now, you may not agree with me that Rocky IV is one of the best movies of all time, but if you’re a Rocky fan at all, you’ve GOT to agree that it’s the absolute best out of all the Rockies (and there will be time to debate that later if you don’t :-)
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Posted by Joel Marion on March 1, 2009
404 Comments
As I sit here and type this, the time reads 11:06 PM. And you know what? I’m eating.
*Gasp*
What?? Eating after 7 PM?! Yes, I know, I’m breaking the rules.
But frankly, that’s what I do.
When rules don’t make sense to me, I simply choose not to follow them (unless, of course, those “rules” are “laws”…not really into the whole illegal activity thing).
But as far as the whole “no eating after 7” nonsense goes, I break that one just about every day.
And so should you.
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Posted by Joel Marion on February 23, 2009
322 Comments
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Hey, it’s Joel! So you want to know a little more about me, huh? Well, I’d be happy to oblige :-)
I guess it all started back in 2001 (my freshman year of college) when I was just a “skinny fat” 19-year old kid. At the time, I was spending close to 2 hours a day in the gym (now my workouts last about 30 minutes), and despite my efforts, you’d probably never guess I worked out a day in my life by looking at me...