Jeff McCarrell - S.A.I.S. Mass-Building Routine

[admin]

Anyone who wants to build a substantial amount of muscle in the shortest possible time must follow a carefully designed, methodical program based on undisputed scientific facts. This most certainly applies to the design of the training program. Full details on this amazing workout!

http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/jeff1.htm

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[EricS]

Its really a waste of time to try to use different numbers of reps to "stimulate" the different types of fibers. If you were to review your trusty physiology text(im sure they have on at nutrex sports science labs!) you would find a little law called the Henniman Size principle.

This law demonstrates that muscle fibers are reqruted in a sequence that is directly related to the mechanical load placed on the muscle.

they are recruited in the fashion of typeI --->typeIIa---->typeIIb.

TypeI fibers do not stop contracting as typeII fibers are recruited, this would just limit force production. So when the heaviest loads are used(<6 rep) you have effectivly stimulated all the fibers there are to stimulate. you might as well just do all exercise with 6 reps and don't waste any more time than you have to.

[kas]

Good stuff EricS.

[TonyPessegueiro]

This was stupid. So much talking just to tell us to do what we're tired to know that works: overload progression, high intensity, adequate rest and post workout recovery.
As for the stimulating different fiber of the muscle in each set, calling the the most ****ing idiot thing ever would be an understatement.

[nukkaready]

this program is sound and looks good. i actually tried something like that myself years ago when Fred "Dr. Squat" Hatfield published a similar routine in his book 'Bodybuilding-A scientific Approach'. Since this approach is very intense, I would only use it occasionaly and for no more than 8 weeks. I got good results of Hatfield's plan and it also broke the training monotony.

If you always train with only heavy weights and 6 reps you will never develop your muscles to its fullest potential and all ypu do is overtaxing your central nervous system. If you use 20 reps you will still stimulate some fast twitch fibers but you also cross over into stimulating slow twitch fibers which do not assist in low reps.

nukkaready

[EricS]

Originally posted by nukkaready
If you use 20 reps you will still stimulate some fast twitch fibers but you also cross over into stimulating slow twitch fibers which do not assist in low reps.

nukkaready

yes they do, re-read what I said before.

[Malteser]

their blatent attempts at product placement continue....

[nukkaready]

Originally posted by EricS
yes they do, re-read what I said before.

ever heard of holistic training? if you train all exercises with 6 or less reps you primarily stimulate (overtax) your nervous system and fire fast twitch fibers. this does not translate into much hypertrophy but rather into an improved intra muscular co-ordination. if i follow your logic we should all do just heavy singles and grow like a weed.



ever heard of cycling your training? doing heavies year round is not smart. of course, if you are on a massive stack of steroids and other goodies you can afford to be much less dilligent in your efforts.

nukkaready

[EricS]

Originally posted by nukkaready
ever heard of holistic training? if you train all exercises with 6 or less reps you primarily stimulate (overtax) your nervous system and fire fast twitch fibers. this does not translate into much hypertrophy but rather into an improved intra muscular co-ordination. if i follow your logic we should all do just heavy singles and grow like a weed.



ever heard of cycling your training? doing heavies year round is not smart. of course, if you are on a massive stack of steroids and other goodies you can afford to be much less dilligent in your efforts.

nukkaready

actually repetitions 3 or less are what have been found to stimulate the nervouse system the greatest, however, they are also the loads that recuruit the high threshold motor units. These are the ones that can produce the most force and can grow the biggest.

When you talk about "overtaxing" the nervous system you have to take into account just which nerves are in fact being used. the Motor units(nerves) that intervate your calves, are not the same ones that intervate your chest, are not the same ones that intervate your biceps. So by training each mucle group but once a week, you will allow for pletny of recovery time. both structurally and nervously.

I also recommend taking a complet week off of training ever couple of months.

And if you re-read the article a bit more closely, you will see that every routine has sets that consists or 6reps, and that the lighter sets are just tacked on to the end. You are STILL training heavy all year round. When you realize that it is the heaviest loads(>3 reps however) that produce the greatest stimulous for growth, those sets of 15 are a waste of time.

All I suggested was dropping them and just doing what you really need to do. plain and simple.

I'm not concerned about being "holistic" im concerned about building slabs of muscle, And I've yet to see a scrawny power lifter, who training will consist mainly of triple(3 sets of 3 reps). No where in my "logic" did i say just max and go home.

So when it says on Monday's chest routine to do 20 reps on vertical bench you should add more weight and do one set of 6 reps?

[nukkaready]

Originally posted by Pimpercrombie02
So when it says on Monday's chest routine to do 20 reps on vertical bench you should add more weight and do one set of 6 reps?

if you intend to do this you might as well train like a powerlifter, and go with the 5x5 routine.

however, i would try the suggested routine for 6 weeks if i would be you. it worked for me in the past when i was doing the Fred Hatfield program.

nukkaready

[elargentino]

This program tells you that when performing heavy sets (6 reps or less), you should do explosive movements.

My question is the following. When I use heavy weights (for 6 reps or less) my movements are quite slow, because I simply can´t move the weight faster. Most people I see lifting really heavy weights move slowly because they simple can´t move faster with all that weight on them. Would it be better to decrease the weight a little, so that I can´t still superate 6 reps but I can move in an explosive way?

Thanks for the answers!! (if any :-)

[EricS]

explosive means the transition between the eccentric and concentric phase of the movement. I think the word forecfully would be more descriptive of it tan explosive.

[elargentino]

Thanks for the answer Erics!

[BigRig]

While the physiology texts agree with your argument EricS, there is an intangible element there that is not mentioned, injury. I love, and I mean LOVE, to train heavy in the 4-6 rep range. But anytime I try to do this (using Max-OT guidelines for warm-ups and work sets) I end up injured. The low rep warm-up sets just do not prepare my muscles and joints for the heavy-ass weights to come. I still train heavy, but I do some higher rep work first usually adhering to a 10, 8, 4-6 progression. Yes, I am a little weaker on the top-end sets, but I do not get injured and am able to remain more consistent. Ultimately, this will lead to more gains than injury-riddled, consistently heavy training.

[EricS]

Thats really an individual thing. How much you do/don't need or don't need to warm up to prevent injury.

I have been using 4-6 for everything from my calves to my forearms for about two years.

Haven't missed a day(unless it was planned) in that time.

[raycruise]

hi I am 21 64kgs, a beginner, working out for 3 months now, can this workout routine help me or is it for hardcore builders?

[EricS]

by "work" i assume you mean that it will encouracge the formation of lean muscle tissue? If so, then it doesn't matter what program you use. What does mater is that you train with intensity and always strive to lift heavier and heaveier weights. If you do this, SAIS, HIT, ICE, Max-OT, it doesn't matter. Yes you will add muscle mass.

The real question is which on will allow you to put on the most amount of muscle in the shortest amount of time with the least amount of effort.

[EricS]

MICHAEL writes:
Appearntly someone didn't like the way I responded and decided to send me this little email...Thought it would be entertaining.


> Below is the result of your feedback form. It was submitted by
> MICHAEL (ZANSHIN61@AOL.COM) on Sunday, March 16, 2003 at 08:35:32
> ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> state: NY
>
> comment: If you were to review your trusty
> physiology text(im sure they have on at
> nutrex sports science labs!) you would find
> a little law called the Henniman Size
> principle.
>
> THIS IS EXTREMELY ARROGANT FOR ONE WITH
> LITTLE TO NO EDUCATION.
> YOU EVEN DON'T KNOW HOW TO SPELL
> EFFECTIVELY AND RECRUITED
> LEARN HUMILITY. PRESENT YOUR POINT
> PROFESSIONALLY IN A PUBIC FORUM.
>
> WHEN YOU HAVE A BACHELORS, MASTERS,
> DOCTORATE AND POST DOCTORATE EDUCATION THEN
> YOU WILL GROW UP AND TAKE THE RATTLE OUT OF
> YOUR MOUTH AND REALIZE THAT YOU DON'T KNOW
> ****.
> YOU ARE HARDLY AN INTELLECTUAL SUPERFREAK.
> GET A REALITY CHECK PLEASE.
> STUDENTS ARE THE WORST BECAUSE THEY THINK
> THEY KNOW IT ALL - when they really don't.
>
>
> submitform: submit
>
> ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
>

Hi Micheal,
I welcome all feedback, good or bad. And I expect both. I suppose my comment was arrogant, but no more arrogant that the way you just presented yourself. So rather than attack me, it may have been more productive to ask why I said what I said or what I meant by it? Well, I'll will explain myself.

I did come across as a bit arrogant, and for one reason. The article wasn't written to help people, it wasn't a revolutionary new training method designed to maximize peoples efforts. That article was written by the president of a supplement company to sell his products.

But lets get to what I said. The Henneman size preinciple, which our knowledge of has been greatly aided by Burke & Edgerton in the mid 70's tells us that motor units with the small somas are recruited first and usd most frequently in motor tasks,right? That makes up our fatigue resistant fibers. As more force is generated more and more motor units are called upon and the ones with the larges somas are last and used the least frequent. The size principle also says that these requitment patters are additive. So if one can produce enough force to recruit the fibers with the largest somas, we know that we have recruited the ones with the smallest as well,right?

However, The S.A.I.S article suggests that one should work each classification of muscle fiber with a different rep range and speed of contraction. But based on what we know about recruitment patterns, you don't need to do all of that. And his statement - "Anyone who performs six sets per muscle group in such a manner is guaranteed that all muscle components are maximally stimulated." is a little misleading because anyone who performs six set per muscle group with a load heavy enough to recruit the fibers with larger somas is garunteed that all muscle compnents are maximally stimulated.

That is all I was saying, but I didn't think I needed such a lengthy answer. I assumed the writter of the article would know what I was talking about.


Maybe we should email Ryan Deluca today and ask him to remove all articles and responses by people who do not have a post grad degree or make spelling errors.


"Cuts To The Bone"

[david_off]

Is that published S.A.I.S. Training Program just for an example or is it "real"?

rg,

D.

I started this workout 2 weeks ago and have found it to really exhaust each bodypart. I really enjoy this workout thus far.

I started this workout routine Last week, and i plan on following it exactly for the 6 weeks. I will try to remember to post another reply, after i am finished, and tell everyone how it worked for me.

[TerryC]

I'm also going to give it a try. I'll let you know...

Originally posted by EricS
actually repetitions 3 or less are what have been found to stimulate the nervouse system the greatest, however, they are also the loads that recuruit the high threshold motor units. These are the ones that can produce the most force and can grow the biggest.

When you talk about "overtaxing" the nervous system you have to take into account just which nerves are in fact being used. the Motor units(nerves) that intervate your calves, are not the same ones that intervate your chest, are not the same ones that intervate your biceps. So by training each mucle group but once a week, you will allow for pletny of recovery time. both structurally and nervously.

I also recommend taking a complet week off of training ever couple of months.

And if you re-read the article a bit more closely, you will see that every routine has sets that consists or 6reps, and that the lighter sets are just tacked on to the end. You are STILL training heavy all year round. When you realize that it is the heaviest loads(>3 reps however) that produce the greatest stimulous for growth, those sets of 15 are a waste of time.

All I suggested was dropping them and just doing what you really need to do. plain and simple.

I'm not concerned about being "holistic" im concerned about building slabs of muscle, And I've yet to see a scrawny power lifter, who training will consist mainly of triple(3 sets of 3 reps). No where in my "logic" did i say just max and go home.

the other sets of 10 and 20 are for better overall growth. the 20 specifically works with the width of you muscel. I think your an idiot and half ass things . and that is why you probably lood half assed too.

If you want to get the full benefits of the program do it like it is suggested and get the best results . instead of listening to arrogant loosers who think they now everything but can't follow directions Hence is never satisfied with or gets results

so is it a good work out or not?

I think what's important here is to note that you need to change "routines" every six weeks or so to keep your body from becoming used to your workout. The most important aspect of this article is to continually increase your effort by increasing the weight. You have to push your body or it will stay the same. Same weight, same reps, same body. Go heavy for a while, then go high reps, or vice versa, mix it up, hell just work out hard. Try to increase your weight and your reps, change exercises often, and eat lots of good food.

[Errol]

I started this routine yesterday. It seems great... however I don't really like the 10 minute rest period between splits. who here uses this routine? do you do a lot of stretching and psyching yourself up during the 10 minute rest? lol

This routine, although founded on essential prinicpales, does not hit all of the major muscle groups. It only has one day for legs and hits only the hamstrings and Quads. Also it leaves out important groups such as stomach, traps, gluts, calves, abductors, and more. Although some of the following muscle groups aren't as major as the ones mentioned in the plan, working them out will make anyone look 10 times bigger then just doing the muscle groups outlined in the article. He should and an extra day putting in a routine covering more muscle groups.

I was wondering whether you had to do the exercises it in the order specified. It says do the heavy(6reps) sets/exercise, then medium(10rs) then light(20rs).

Would it make a difference if for example you did, light, heavy, medium?

Done This for a week now, and i find it V.challenging.

Second week of SAIS here, not as challenging as I thought it would be. I managed to up the weight on most of the exercises by 10 to 20 percent... No cables, so some stuff I even changed and adapted to freeweights. I like this program, there's a lot of effective lifting, a lot of rest, and a lot of confidence because I'm writing everything down and seeing the progress (somewhat similar to losing 70lbs in 4 months in 2003 - every day I was writing my diary, my diet, my overall impression of improvements)... Good stuff SAIS, but I would support the idea of changing programs and gung ho workout.

Outsider613