Specialization Training

 

Some Thoughts on How and When to Follow Specialization Programs Whether You’re Trying to Improve the Size of a Bodypart or Increase the Strength on a Specific Lift

     This morning, I sat down with the intention of cranking out an article I had in mind for strength-specialization on a certain lift.  But, as I was working on it, I started to think that perhaps I should just write a “general” essay regarding my thoughts on when and how to go about setting up a specialization program.  The result is what you’re now staring at—I’ll save the other article I had in mind for another day.  (Hopefully, at least.  I forget more articles, unfortunately, than I actually write.)

     First things first, for the most part you shouldn’t follow specialization programs the majority of the training year.  Specialization programs are needed when one of your lifts is falling behind the others—or if you’ve never really focused on a lift to begin with—or when you’re trying to increase the size of a particular muscle group that is (also) falling behind your other bodyparts in terms of muscle size.  It’s not uncommon for lifters to start out focusing on more of their “show” muscles, all those muscle groups that you see in the mirror (chest, arms, abs), and then, because of neglect, they have to follow a specialized program for their backs and legs, as just an example.

     Anyway, for the vast majority, you should focus on more “generalized” training the greater bulk of the time.  When you’re trying to get big and strong—and this goes for elite athletes, rank beginners, and everyone in between—you don’t need to focus, for instance, on getting big arms or increasing the peak of your biceps.  (Actually, no one needs to focus on nonsense such as biceps peak unless you’re already an advanced bodybuilder who really needs to work on that for an upcoming show.)  Instead, what you need to do is focus on the basics, utilizing all those big, bang-for-your-buck movements that I’m always rattling on-and-on about on this blog (and, well, I guess, in pretty much all of my writings).

     When you specialize on a lift or a muscle group, you will often lose size and/or strength on other bodyparts or lifts.  This is sometimes intentional, too, and is one of the reasons that bodybuilders do need to specialize on a certain bodypart(s) periodically.  If you reach the point, say, where you have a massive back, a large muscular chest, boulder shoulders, and large, serrated calf muscles, but small legs and arms, then you need to spend a couple months concentrating on your legs and another couple months focusing on your arms.  In addition to building up your quads and arms, this specialization period will also cause you to lose a little size in all of your “good” bodyparts, creating a much more balanced, symmetrical physique.

     But, as said, for the majority of the year, you shouldn’t specialize.  Let’s say you’re a bodybuilder, and your primary goal is to gain muscle size.  Then you may want to set up your training so it look something such as this over the course of a year:

Months 1-4: full-body workouts focusing on both strength and power.  For these 4 months, you could run 2 different programs.  Months 1 and 2 could be something along the lines of my last article, “The Full-Body Big Barbell 5 Program,” and then months 3 and 4 could be something like my Marvin Eder inspired program in my “Old-School, Full-Body Mass Building.”  Of course, those are just suggestions, but if you read both of those programs, you’ll get a sense of what I’m talking about.

Months 5-6: full-body workouts still but with a focus on one or two specific bodyparts.  For these two months, continue to use full-body workouts, but utilize ones where you train your “good” bodyparts with half the volume of the bodypart(s) that need improving.  If you needed to improve your arm size, for instance, you could follow something along the lines of Brooks Kubik’s singles-oriented arm-specialization program.  Even if it’s another bodypart that needs improving, take a look at that program, and it will give you an understanding of what I mean.

Months 7-10: split programs focusing on getting generally bigger and stronger.  By this point, you would probably want a break from all of that full-body training, so spend a couple months on one program, then a couple months on a different split program.  (I generally think a program “runs its course” at about the 8-week mark.)  For program suggestions as to what these months could look like, check one of my programs from my “Old-School Split Training” article or even my recent “Power Bodybuilding” program.

Months 11-12: specialization using split training.  For the last 2 months of the training year, continue to use split training, but select the bodypart or two that need the most work, and set up your training split so that (or those) bodypart(s) get more volume at each session and are trained more frequently.  You will then need to cut down on the total volume for all of your other bodyparts, doing perhaps half of what you had been doing for them during months 7 through 10.

     Keep in mind that the above are simply suggestions—but ones that would work well if you chose to do it exactly as I outlined—as you may have other goals outside of hypertrophy (albeit the above comes with a definitive strength side effect).  If you’re only a strength athlete, then you could arrange your training in a similar manner, simply replacing lift specialization instead bodypart-specific specialization.  If you’re a powerlifter, then you might spend the first 4 months doing a Bill Starr-style heavy-light-medium program.  Then follow that up with another 2 months of H-L-M lifting, but focus on your 1 lift that is lagging behind the other 2.  After that, spend 4 months on a Westside-style program.  And then, for the final 2 months of the training year, do a Smolov-style program focusing on your 1 lift that is lagging behind—which might be a different lift at this point than what you focused on in months 5 and 6.  (Smolov is “made” for squats, but it could be used to specialize in the bench press and deadlift, too.)

     If you’re an athlete in a specific sport, or a hybrid athlete that lifts and trains in something else (such as running or martial arts), then you would need to focus your specialization around your sport.  Use the off-season to focus on bringing up weak points through lifting, and then you will transition to the more “generalized” training needed for competition in the in-season.  Of course, you may not actually compete in any event if you’re a hybrid lifter/runner or lifter/fighter, and in that case you could set up your training much like my above example for bodybuilders.  Spend about 8 months of the year doing general weight-training—any “easy strength” method like my 30-Rep Program would work well here, as would just a basic 2-days-per-week full-body program.  That’s the kind of training that you can sustain even while running a lot or training in martial arts frequently.  Then spend about 4 months of the year specializing on just lifting or just running, giving your body a break from the hybrid training during those months.

     To sum it up, spend most of the year doing general strength training or general bodybuilding, and then spend a few months of the year really trying to focus on your weak spots or weak lifts.  If you do this systematically, then you should be able to make consistent progress.