Maxing: Is it Really Necessary?

[SpartanHuge]

To mods: Please move this to the "post your articles" sections. for some reason it won't let me post there at all. thank you.

Maxing, is it really necessary?

This is a question I am asked constantly by my friends. “I am bodybuilding, not powerlifting, so do I really need to max out?” These friends of course aren’t really doing either, they are just going into the gym every other day, going on the machine section, looking for girls, and then heading over to do free weights. Which free weights, might you ask? Curls, standing preacher curls and concentration curls. Clearly, they don’t have any clue what they are doing. (You can always tell this when folks head straight to the dumbells or EZ curl bars. Back to the question, the answer is quite simply, yes.
While you may not care how much you lift, or want to know, you need to know. In order to plan your workouts you must have a main number from which to derive percentages. Most plans are laid out in a fashion as such:
# of reps x % of max

If you are attempting to gain the most from your workout you need to use a newly updated max. Even when attempting to gain sheer muscle mass, you won’t make nearly as impressive gains with weight that is too light. Here is why.
When you are gaining muscle, what your body is doing is regenerating muscle fibers town in the process of contracting, or simply stressing muscles. When muscle fibers tear more will grow back, and in greater volume. When you put 100 pounds of pressure on a muscle that can only hold a maximum of 120 pounds more fibers will tear than is the same weight is placed on a muscles that is capable of lifting 400 pounds. Allow me to elaborate. If you have ten muscle fibers (just an example) in a very small or weak muscle and you place 5 pounds on them, some may tears. However, if you have 50 muscle fibers and you place 5 pounds on them there will be 1/5 as much weight exerted on each. While some may tear, the percentage will be lower than that of the muscle with ten muscle fibers. Now comes the gaining phase. Each muscle is forced to compensate for its new workload and it will “train” itself to become stronger, and, in turn, larger. The muscle fibers will be forced to grow back, and in greater volume, as I previously stated.
So, if you were to workout with ½ of what you would be working out with, many fewer fibers will tear, and gains will be less than impressive. Even bodybuilders must max out occasionally to derive their workouts from. Obviously, I do not mean you must max out every other week. Generally the rule of thumb is once per 3 months. This gives your body time to get into its rhythm without undertraining your muscles.
For those of you who do not have a current workout, do not max out to begin with. Workout for a couple weeks and allow your muscles to adapt to the new ways in which they are being used. This will also allow time for your nervous system to learn balance your body and limbs while lifting. Then, once you have become accustomed to lifting, (generally no more than a few weeks) max out. If you are not training for a specific sport and are training for strength here is a fairly good workout for your main lifts. I cannot tell you what “accessory” lifts to do (i.e. dumbell bench, curls, Romanian deadlifts etc.) but for you main lifts:

Warm-up: 10x55%
1st set: 8x70%
2nd set: 7x75%
3rd set: 5x80%
4th set: 4x85%

Generally toward the time you are going to max you want to end your sets higher in weight to ready your nervous system for the load placed on them and re-train your muscles for high weight and low reps.

Some others may like repetition; this as well is all right for some bodies, but remember all bodies work differently.
Warm-up: 10x55%
1st-4th sets: 8x75%

I would also recommend 4 day splits for beginners. This also involves 4 main lifts. I suggest: Flat Bench press, Squats, Inclined bench press, Power cleans. (If you want higher trap development substitute hang cleans for power cleans.)
Day 1: Bench. (Biceps, triceps, pectorals, shoulders)
Day 2: Squats. (Quads, hamstrings, lower back, abdominals)
Day 3: Incline. (Shoulders, triceps, pectorals)
Day 4: Power Cleans. (Traps, calves, biceps, hamstrings, upper back)
Day 5: Optional (Mild cardio)

[ex_banana-eater]

i dont max. too much risk of injury and is useless for muscle building. i figure out my max with calculators

[SpartanHuge]

i almost care. . .

j/k

[Tony]

I am the same as Ex banana eater, only i dont calculate my maxes. I dont care at all what my max is

[SpartanHuge]

Originally posted by ex_banana-eater
i dont max. too much risk of injury and is useless for muscle building. i figure out my max with calculators

with a good spotter there is VERY little risk of injury. virtually none actually, as long as you do everything properly.

[SpartanHuge]

Originally posted by Tony
I am the same as Ex banana eater, only i dont calculate my maxes. I dont care at all what my max is

Maybe if you read the article you'd realize WHY you need to.

[ex_banana-eater]

idont really need to figure out my percentages. i usually know what weight i can do for a certain amount of reps.

[Tony]

me to

[SpartanHuge]

Originally posted by ex_banana-eater
idont really need to figure out my percentages. i usually know what weight i can do for a certain amount of reps.

I have feeling you simply aren't pushing youself far enough then. Also, you need to train your body to lift heavy weight. If your muscles aren't accustomed to heavier weights you will get stronger much slower.

[BodybuilderOlym]

Spartan couldnt be more right about training heavier gets you stronger faster but not if do the technique wrong which is what some people do.

[Broin]

i also agree with not maxing out (max being i rep failure)...it is too easy to injure yourself..even with a spotter and in good form...remember one thing...muscle is not strength...i'm sure you have all heard the stories of cars falling on husbands and little petite 100# ladies lifting it off of them...why do you think they can? our bodies are all able to lift huge amounts of weight...why don't they then? built in safety mechanism...ever hear what happens to these people after such feats of strength? severely ripped muscles, compressed spines(and worse), etc...

what you say about getting strong quicker is true in most cases..however not safe...one day your mind and nervous system will get used to the weight before your body adapts to it and you'll do something like rip a pec muscle benching..this is possible with higher reps but much more unlikely.

take the top power lifters in the world, the top body builders in the world...do they max out all the time? nope...there is a reason

[Deejay_Spike]

"take the top power lifters in the world, the top body builders in the world...do they max out all the time? nope...there is a reason"

1) did he say all the time? no
2) Do they max ? hmm... i don't think powelrifters lift for reps at meets....



3) about the risk of injury : that is just bull... you have less risks of injury handling a heavy weight (which you automatically respect more) for a few reps with prefect form, than handling a light(er) weight (which you respect less) for many reps, and certainly at failure and beyond.

why do you think many people can squat big, but blow out their backs picking up a 45 plate?


i agree completely that you should max out a regular times to keep track of your process

by the way, when the body adapts = when the nervous system + the muscles who adapt.

so it's like i said above, it's a matter of mind...

[SpartanHuge]

I'm incline to agree with you, however, you are completely wrong

[bigjay00]

great artical. have you ever considered writing for this sight? you should. good idea too i learned a good deal of stuff.

[BodybuilderOlym]

Originally posted by SpartanHuge
I'm incline to agree with you, however, you are completely wrong

Whos completely wrong?

[Broin]

3) about the risk of injury : that is just bull... you have less risks of injury handling a heavy weight (which you automatically respect more) for a few reps with prefect form, than handling a light(er) weight (which you respect less) for many reps, and certainly at failure and beyond.
why do you think many people can squat big, but blow out their backs picking up a 45 plate?

if that is true i better be carefull next time i grab the box of kleenex!..lol.. i do agree with the point that people don't respect lighter weghts like they should...i still however think that maxing isn't good for most



i agree completely that you should max out a regular times to keep track of your process

why? if we are talking BB then the progress is in the mirror



1) did he say all the time? no

my most humble appologies, i somehow missed that part of the post...must have been tired (or just stupid) i got the wrong idea, i thought he meant all the time...my bad. i still don't like the idea (my opinion) of maxing but wouldn't have replied if i had saw that line...sorry

[Gaash]

Figure out what your new max is with a calculator and then use that to make your workout. I've found max days to be wasted workouts because some of the axillary muscles that are normally fatigued after repetitions (i.e. those that don't have to work much harder whether or not you are benching 200 or 300 lbs) don't get a work out.

[DIABLO]

Ok, heres my 2 cents for what its worth on the topic. I agree with the maxing out occasionally. I personally max out 1 time a month have never sustained an enjury for the any of the time in the past that i have lifted. To say that there is no risk of injury in maxing out wouldn't be true, but to say that it is likely that you will sustain injury from maxing out is also untrue. The majority ( not all but the majority ) of injuries due to fitness training in the gym are due to either someone that does'nt know what they are doing, bad form, using too heavy of weights or trying to max on a isolation movement such as side laterals, bent laterals, preacher curls, isolation curls, flies, etc. Lifts like bench press, military press, squats, and deadlifts should be maxed every so often ( not all the time ) with proper form, spotter, and equipment for MAX gains. I do realize that everyones body is diffrent and that some people are more prone to injuries than others due to there body type, but for me, i have found that using a power lifting type routine for beating mass is onstopable. Would i max out just coming off a layoff? or after just starting lifting weights? or even if i had not been handling weights in the 6 rep set to failure zone? HELL NO! When lifting heavy weights you need to use common sense to avoid injuries and even doing so eventually some people will have honest to god injuries even doing it the right way. I realize that this is a very controversal topic. My OPPINION is that heavy weights ( not machines, including bowflex or joeflex etc ) produce the best results for size and strength and i even push to the three rep zone and do a forced rep at the end, followed by two negatives. Not all the time of course but at times i will mainly pyrimid up to my max and back down two sets not going to failure until i have reached my max weight then on the last two sets go to failure and the very last set use a more intense method or methods to "finish the muscle" . Great article.

[manish43322]

yes it is

[Metalmank]

Im a lone wolf in the gym and prefer to wrokout by myself. I hardly ever ask for spotters from a random mainly because I avoid 'maxing' or reping to failure because I prefer to work out in my own world. Now I still increase weight over time and go heavier and heavier, But I make sure I'm comfortable doing a few reps before attempting a next weight level.. (SO I guess that would technically be maxing?) but liek stated. I work alone

[iLiRaM]

as long as you are adding more weight/reps than the previous workout and experiencing mass gains and/or doms, what is the point?