Skip to main content

Old-Time Bodybuilding Methods: Train Through the Soreness

Old-Time Bodybuilding Methods:
Train Through the Soreness

I know this method's going to be a bit controversial, given all the emphasis in muscle magazines the past few years on giving your muscles enough time to "recuperate" and "repair." But, let me explain, and maybe I'll have a few converts (especially once you put the method to proper use).

I think it's mistakenly believed that bodybuilders of the past trained so frequently (usually 3x weekly for each bodypart) because they simply didn't know any better. But, if you were to ask the great Bill Pearl if he would change the way he used to train considering all the new "knowledge" about recovery, he would flatly tell you, "no." The same goes for longtime Iron Man contributor George Turner. He's seen it all, and done it all, and still believes frequent, volume-oriented training is better.

One of the reasons bodybuilders who train each bodypart once-per-week get so sore is because, well, they train everything once-per-week. This never allows you to increase your rate of recovery, because the demands are never placed on your body to do so. Sure, if you start training everything two, or even three, times a week you're going to be sore, but after a couple of weeks the soreness will subside. Then, look out, because it's growth time.

Strength coach Bill Starr has trained a lot of lifters over the years, and he still believes three-times-a-week training is best for each bodypart. Even if his lifters could get the same strength gains from once-a-week training that they get from 3x training, he wouldn't let them do it. Why? With once-a-week training an athlete simply never gets in good condition. Old time bodybuilders knew this.

Now, I'm not suggesting you rush to the gym and start performing the same "heavy," all-out workout you've been doing once-a-week and increase it to twice-per-week. Start off by adding an extra "light" workout 72 hours after your "heavy" session (no matter how sore you are). After about a month, increase the frequency to three times-per-week, using a heavy/light/medium rotation. The longer you train this way, the harder you will be able to start training at each session. And remember, it does take years of training to reach up to the type of regimen Bill Pearl used.

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Feel free to leave us some feedback on the article or any topics you would like us to cover in the future! Much Appreciated!

Popular posts from this blog

Marvin Eder’s Mass-Building Methods

  The Many and Varied Mass-Building Methods of Power Bodybuilding’s G.O.A.T. Eder as he appeared in my article "Full Body Workouts" for IronMan  magazine.      In many ways, the essay you are now reading is the one that has had the “longest time coming.”  I have no clue why it has taken me this long to write an article specifically on Marvin Eder, especially considering the fact that I have long considered him the greatest bodybuilder cum strength athlete of all friggin’ time .  In fact, over 20 years ago, I wrote this in the pages of IronMan magazine: In my opinion, the greatest all-around bodybuilder, powerlifter and strength athlete ever to walk the planet, Eder had 19-inch arms at a bodyweight of 198. He could bench 510, squat 550 for 10 reps and do a barbell press with 365. He was reported to have achieved the amazing feat of cranking out 1,000 dips in only 17 minutes. Imagine doing a dip a second for 17 minutes. As Gene Mozee once put ...
Post a Comment
Read more

The Big and Strong Series - Legs and Back

  The High-Set, Low-Rep Training Manifesto Part 1: Training the Legs and Back      In several of my recent essays and articles, I have discussed various HFT methods, most of them using higher volume.  Starting with this article, I’m now going to turn my attention to a series of essays on (what I believe to be) the most effective method for attaining a combination of muscle mass and serious strength: workouts that combine high sets with (relatively) low reps.  I’m going to do a series for one primary reason—different lifts/muscle groups should be trained in different ways.  I will cover legs and back (this one), shoulders (overhead press training), chest and lats, and arm training.  Each of those are best developed when trained a little bit different from one another.  So, we will have 4 parts, with, perhaps, some additional essays on how to bring the 4 together into a cohesive, holistic strength program or on anything else that come...
Post a Comment
Read more

High-Frequency Wave Load Training

A Highly Effective High-Frequency Program for Strength, Power, and Muscle Mass      In several recent articles, I have presented a few key concepts to building strength, power, and muscle mass.  One of the concepts is the “90% method” where you do most of your sets at 90% of a certain rep range.  It could be 90% of 1 rep, of 3 reps, of 5 reps, or even as high as 10 reps.  (If you want more in depth discussion on the 90% method then read my article “ Skill Training as Size Building .”)  I have also presented the concepts of weight ladders and wave loading , where, instead of sticking with the same weight throughout several sets before moving to a different weight, you move back and forth from heavier to lighter sets.      One of my more popular recent articles that used the above concepts is “ The 1-5 Program .”  It’s a high-volume program.  It’s good for lifters who like to use split programs, as it’s a mul...
Post a Comment
Read more