With the end of summer rapidly approaching, many of us are finishing up our seasons of athletic endeavors. While in some ways this is a little sad, trust me I hate the cold weather that I know isn't too far away, it is an exciting time in terms of training approach. I always go into the fall and winter months with a goal of increasing strength and muscle mass and I set up my training programs in order to facilitate this. Being a triathlete, I pretty much burn myself out by this time of year with swimming, biking and running, so changing things up and focusing in on weight and cross training is a breath of fresh air....albeit cold air BURRRRR!
To be completely honest here, my approach to weight training doesn't change during the off season all that much. I still use the heaviest weights that I can safely move and I use 4 exercises per body part for sets of 10, 8, 6, and 4, yet the exercises I choose do change up a bit. I am a huge advocate for using machines vs. free weights during the in-season phase of my training year to reduce the risk of injury, but the off season is go time for heavy compound free weight movements. What exactly do I mean???? Squats, dead lifts, dumbbell benches and overhead presses! Those old-skool movements that have been the foundational lifts of every sporting champion in the last century and a half! It is important that you learn correct form and utilize it in order to prevent injury with these exercises, yet once you master the movements and start piling the weight on, you'll see huge gains in terms of strength and mass in a realitively short period of time.
The way that I set up my workouts is that I do one body part per workout. I then perform 2 compound exercise and 2 auxillary type movements for each body part. Compound movements are those lifts that incorporate more than one body part into the exercise (think of how squats work multiple areas of the leg and entire lower body). Auxilalry movements are the more isolated exercises that target only one muscle group such as leg extensions for the quadriceps. This way by doing the compound movements, you target growth and mass building, then with the auxillary movements you're working towards shape and toning. Those heavy compound movements trigger the body to release growth hormones. Shape and toning is still important areas to target even in the off season. It's also an important focus even if you are "bulking" as bodybuilders and athletes often do to increase size and strength.....which takes us into the next topic.
So what's my stance on bulking (purposely gaining weight in order to increase muscle mass and overall size)? Honestly, I feel like it is a great way to give yourself a break from the strict in-season approach to diet and training that most athletes follow. You have to mentally prepare yourself to put on weight, as some of the weight is naturally going to be body fat, yet by taking a methodical and modest approach to bulking, you can decrease the amount of fat gain while still putting on a nice amount of muscle. The trick is to maintain a clean diet and allow your increase in calories to come primarily from proteins, then carbs, and finally healthy fats. Also, don't go over board and eat whatever you want when you want because I can say from experience that the only thing you'll noticably gain is body fat! And the more fat you put on, the harder you'll have to diet come preseason. Don't consider the weight gainer powders, which aren't any fun and I always opt for real, whole and healthy foods over powders and supplements when it comes to nutrition. Target upping your daily caloric intake by 200-250 calories per day and monitor your progress. If it appears that the weight gain is primarily muscle and not body fat, then you can up the calories a little more each week (roughly 50 calories per day) and see what the result are. On the other hand, if 250 extra calories per day makes you appear to gain primarily body fat, back down in 50 calories increments as you experiment. It's about finding the ratio that works for you!
So what about cardio? Should you do it year round? My answer is absolutely yes!!!!! Cardio training in my opinion is the fountain of youth. For every hour of cardio you do, you extend your life span by 2 hours!You can drop the cardio verses your in season training frequency, but still do a minimum of 4 sessions per week at a minimum of 20 minutes per session. Make certain these sessions are at a moderate intensity.
So that's it y'all! Once your season wraps up, consider hitting the weights and put on some muscle mass so that next season is even more of a success! This goes for you ladies as well! I know using the term bulk probably scares most women, but by taking my moderate approach and continually monitoring your progress, the bulking due to fat gain will be minimal and the lean muscle mass gains will be substantial! Always remember, muscle equals faster metabolism, which will really make a big difference come next spring when we work towards our "beach bodies!"
Stay Focused and Happy Training Y'all!!!!!!
No comments:
Post a Comment