Slow Repetition and Negative-Accentuated Training for Renewed Mass Gains I have over many years of writing in several different articles and essays mentioned my general disdain for such things as really slow repetitions, negative-accentuated training that focuses on making the eccentric decidedly slower than the positive portion, negative only training, and “time-based” repetitions in general, where you count a certain number of seconds on the descent, the pause at the bottom of a rep, followed by counting the ascent for another number, whatever those numbers might be. This is despite the fact that there are certain bodybuilding coaches who I admire(d) that have proposed these methods—Charles Poliquin comes to mind. If strength and power are your primary goals, and especially if strength is your sole goal, such as a competitive powerlifter or weightlifter (this might be doubly so for the weightlifter) who needs to st...
Double Split Training for Quick Hypertrophy Gains If there is one form of training that is more controversial than any other, it just might be the idea of “double-split” training, where you do two workouts in a single training day. Popular among pro bodybuilders from the ‘70s up through the ‘90s, it was usually viewed as a form of training that could only be performed by the genetically few “easy gainers.” It was used by Arnold, and many others, in the ‘70s, and was the favorite training system of many European bodybuilders in the ‘90s. Arnold utilized it to work different muscle groups at the morning and evening sessions. Bodybuilders like Francis Benfatto, who possessed one of the most aesthetically pleasing physiques of all time in the ‘90s, used it to train the same muscles at both the A.M. and P.M. sessions—the common way that it is still used among East European bodybuilders. It’s also oft-used by...