TRAINING Q&A
WITH DANE FLETCHER
THE STEEL DUNGEON
TRAIN LIKE YOU MEAN IT!
Dane Fletcher is THE Training Authority – sure, he’s got all the industry recognized “certs”… but here is one chap you won’t see hanging that s**t on his den wall. Dane is more comfortable in the dirtiest hole in the wall gym, than your local polished “Fitness Corral”. Originally from London, he has trained in gyms all over the world and has picked up knowledge all along the way from some of the industry’s most recognized personas. If you have a training question, he has an answer – send questions to Dane@GetAnabolics.com.
LEG DAMAGE
Heavy Cardio
After Heavy Legs
Q:Can you do fat burning cardio sessions after leg workouts, or are you begging for small legs? Sometimes that’s the only time I have. Suggestions? Comments?
A:On one hand, a lite cardio session can help with clearing lactic acid and soreness, so it aids recovery in that way. However, if you’re going to do fat burning, high intensity stuff, you’re going to tax your legs. Plus, if you do legs right, can you even walk? Well, some feel more of the burn the day after, but if you train your legs to total failure and exhaustion, you will only feel like cycling the couch. But pushing yourself mentally, provided it isn’t a heavy session of cardio, is probably smart.
Personally though, for fat burning - doing it correctly anyhow... which is the only way to do anything or you’re wasting your efforts - is for days off. I think recovery is MUCH more important. Here are some other ideas: On your last leg workout, such as extensions, run a set of stairs and then rest and repeat. Or do some plyo kicks or jumps or box work. This can be fat burning too, remember, and it’s part of your workout and intensity level DURING training. Might try interval train, with short burst of effort, during the week. But not on the same day as a leg workout for max muscle growth.
The Deal With
DELTS
Q:Dude, my front delts are sorely lacking. I never do isolative exercises for them. I always feel they get enough on chest days, but I guess I’m wrong. What’s a quick way to add more meat to my FD without sacrificing strength on bench day?
A:Well, first off, the most obvious answer is to add front delt work into your routines. The problem is, it could affect your bench. However, if you are comfortable dropping some pounds in the bench until your delts improve, and your chest is good, then I’d do that. If you’re patient, your bench actually will make your front delts bigger, unless you’re doing something wrong or making your chest concave and bracing with your upper back. Add FD work a month or two before cutting to make them appear thicker and denser. You can have insanely strong delts and be weak looking in the front delts, so don’t feel like a failure, it’s just the way in which some people feel their delts or hold and express weight through the range.
You should try to play around with the overall plane of your shoulder and how much trap you are involving. My guess is that you have great rear delts and traps, and either they overpower the front or they just take over during a movement that might otherwise develop you evenly. Military press and Incline Press at a slight angle with dumbbells can help you a lot, as can Arnold presses, and Front raises (no hammer grips!). Really drop your shoulder joint so your trap is NOT involved when you do a front raise and lean slightly forward into the exercise and movement on the effort. You can also take a little narrower grip on the bench too, which should help. I hope that helps.
Trouble Growing
NOW THAT HE’S ALL GROWN UP
Q:I used to be able to do 10 sets of 12 reps of a certain weight and now I can barely do 5 reps of the same weight and 4 or 5 sets of that exercise. My muscles seem to give out and I tire easily. I’ve tried taking more rest, both in my workouts and between them. Has my routine failed me? I eat 6 times a day - 3 meals and 3 whey protein shakes, which is different for me, because my mom stopped buying my food, so I had to trade out food for whey. If I were to change my nutrition back, would my strength go up?
A:I think you’re seeing how difficult it is to be an adult and buy your own food and realize your lofty bodybuilding goals. I also think that you overtrain voraciously! Who does 10 sets of 12 reps of any one exercise. You didn’t say how many other exercises and sets you do. Unless that’s it, in total. However, even if those are the total number of sets, say, for chest, you definitely need a lesson in training and training load. You shouldn’t train with the same weight for 10 sets! A lot going on here... I’d love to know more, but since I don’t, here’s the deal: Have you taken a break from training or that particular training routine for awhile? If you haven’t, your body may be saying, “Hey, give me a damn break already!” Poor nutrition, or a change in the quality and quantity of it - both of which you describe - can really alter your results in the gym. Eating is more important than training, to be honest.
Protein is important, and it sounds like you’re getting that, but you’re probably not getting the number of carbs you need to sustain yourself through that workout., so of course your strength is going to go down. You don’t talk of supplements, other than whey, but you should be using creatine or other strength-garnering products. If you are on your own with food and this is the best you can do, start at least adding fat to your protein shakes for increased energy and calories. Use flax seed oil, peanut butter (natural) or olive oil. Poor nutrition and lack of calories opens you up to injuries, particularly if you continue to try to do the same workload and your body just can’t. Take a week off, dude, and just eat and rest. Then go back and try to work up to your old level, but change something about your routine - I suggest that you try varying the weight you use in each set, so it’s not so static. Other than that, without knowing more, that’s what I suggest.
FAILING WITH
FAILURE
How To Train For Pure Strength
Q:I’ve always heard differing opinions on this and wanted to hear what you guys think... If you are training for pure strength and size, should you go to failure? And if you don’t go to failure, how close should you get? We all know the 4 rep deal isn’t intense enough unless you’re powerlifting, so how else could you get intensity but going to failure on certain sets?
A:There are so many opinions on this it isn’t even funny. Some recommend never going to failure, and others recommend making “failure” a regular part of your routines. There is a lot of research out there that says that the difference between the amount of stress placed on your muscles when going to failure is dangerously larger than when you stop just shy of it. Since overstressing can hinder growth, stopping just short of failure seems to be the concensus. However, I think that you should mix all of it up, within moderation.
Just make sure you aren’t just randomly doing whatever in the gym from day to day. Have a plan and then stick to it. If you know you’re going to want to go to failure, have a partner that day. Same goes for choosing your exercises. It’s a lot easier to go to failure on a Hammer Strength machine than it is on an actual bench press, without someone there to help you with forced reps, taking the bar, preventing death... you know. The best policy in terms of work ethic is simply this: Train until you feel that you can barely squeeze out 1 more repetition. Then stop. I do think that if you’re just starting out, since weights are relatively much lower than those of experienced lifters, training to failure is important because it teaches you how to ascertain intensity.
If you don’t understand intensity or what it feels like to push yourself to the wall, and know your limits, you probably won’t ever grasp what it is to train hard throughout your entire lifting life. If you’re convinced you’re missing out by not going to failure as a more seasoned lifter, though, you can always take your last set to failure on your final exercises. It isn’t going to hurt you, provided you aren’t fatigued enough or unsupervised enough to make stupid mistakes. One final word: There is a guy I know who is a big, bad mofo (Ikeep him around because I’m afraid to nix the dude) who says that he has gotten amazing gains from NOT training to failure for the first time in his lifting career! Go figger. As he says, “My friggin’ gains are through the roof, dude!” I choose to take him at his word on the hopes that he won’t put me through the roof, or out a window when the time comes to drop his ass!