Re-Thinking “Light” Day Training and the Need for “Play” in Your Workouts In my last essay on Spring Training , I mentioned briefly that summertime is, from a training perspective, the time for “play.” This is not the essay for summer training—we’ll save that, you know, come summertime—but I do want to discuss the need for lifting sessions that are play no matter the season or how it is that you train. That’s right. All year-long, you should do at least some “play” workouts where you experiment with new things, try out some “odd” lifts or set/rep sequences, and, perhaps above all, just have some fun . One of the best times for play is during your “light” day sessions, whether you follow a structured program such as Bill Starr’s heavy-light-medium system or if you are just more intuitive about it and throw in a light workout when you feel as if your body could need or use it. Play is essential for cont...
Spring is the Time for Getting Serious, Losing Some Bodyfat, and Looking Good Winter is done. Spring is upon us. As I type these words, sitting in front of the window in my office, looking out upon the sunny skies, it’s the first day of Spring. A couple of months ago, on a cold, decidedly wintry day, I wrote an article on winter bulk-building . In it, I mentioned the idea of training seasonally, especially for the casual lifter who doesn’t have a competition of some sort. If you have a bodybuilding competition in January, my ideas wouldn’t really apply, but for lifters that don’t compete in some kind of physique show, strength competition, or athletic event of some sort, here are my ideas—mentioned first in that article—on how one should train seasonally: Winter: basic, brief, hard workouts. Train like a madman, then go home. Eat like it’s winter-time, as well, the way a bear does when he is...