Welcome! I'm very happy to announce this new Q&A column right here at Bodybuilding.com!
First a little about me:
“One of the signs of a great teacher is the ability to make the subject matter seem simple. Charles Staley is one of these rare teachers. After listening and talking to him, you suddenly achieve a new awareness of training. You go to the gym and, suddenly, everything makes sense, and you wonder why you haven’t been doing it his way since day one.” – Muscle Media 2000 magazine August, 1999
Over the past 20 years or so, I've been busy presenting seminars across the globe, including Italy, Iceland, England, and Canada. Along the way, I've managed to publish over 1000 articles in publications like Muscle & Fitness, Muscle Media, Ms. Fitness, Inside Kung Fu, and Kettlebell Sport And Fitness magazines. I've been fortunate enough to have appeared on NBC’s The TODAY Show and The CBS Early Show. Not too bad I guess for a guy who failed Phys Ed all the way through school :-)
OK with those formalities out of the way, it's time to ask for your questions. All of us have things that we find confusing or perplexing (me too BTW). Let's talk shop— I want to know what's keeping you up at night (no not THAT, I mean training questions, sheesh!). What's keeping your training from reaching the next level? What should you be doing that you currently aren't doing, and what are you doing now that you should discontinue?
Let's get clear...let's develop and plan...let's make it happen.
PS: If your question is intriguing enough, I'll use it as a platform for a new article here.
OK, over to you guys— hit me up!
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05-10-2011, 03:17 PM #1
- Join Date: May 2007
- Location: Scottsdale, Arizona, United States
- Age: 64
- Posts: 60
- Rep Power: 0
Staley On Performance (NEW Q&A Column!)
Last edited by staley; 05-11-2011 at 11:47 AM.
Charles Staley
Staley Performance Institute
Seek It. Learn It. Live It
O: (602) 453-5567
http://www.StaleyPerformance.com
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05-10-2011, 03:46 PM #2
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05-10-2011, 03:58 PM #3
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05-10-2011, 03:58 PM #4
I am forced to train in the morning due to scheduling. However, I find that I am about 10% weaker when I train in the morning. My morning routine looks like this-
0600-wake
0605-meal (Usually a shake with some fruit)
0630-pre-workout supplement (I take it for the stimulants)
0630-0635-cycle, apply liniment
0635-0659- Foam roll, stretch really tight areas that inhibit my movement
0700-training begins
I take every care to prepare myself properly, but I am still significantly weaker in the morning. Will I be unable to progress since I am lifting way under my capacity?
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05-10-2011, 04:03 PM #5
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05-10-2011, 06:45 PM #6
How long does it take to maximise sarcoplasmic hypertrophy?
At the moment I'm focusing on getting strong with fullbody 3x week routine, heavy compound movements with low reps, i then intend to reduce weight to increase volume after reaching certain strength standards (for example 5x3 squats at 315).
The plan behind this is to focus on myofribular hypertrophy, then when strong pump that meat up with sarcoplasm. Would this be a valid way to go, or is focusing on hypertrophy at the start a more efficient way to focus on muscular size?If its yellow let it mellow, if its brown flush it down, maybe
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05-10-2011, 08:03 PM #7
High Volume, thoughts
Perhaps I'm using this thread wrong, but if not, I hope this will be a good start to this thread with a question I posted and ended up deleting due to no answers. I'm someone who does not seem to respond well to low volume well at all, for instance I was giving Max-Ot a try and on week three, I had actually lost strength...(wtf right) So here is the question, would 30 sets per workout be to much on this split?
M-
T- Chest
W- Back
T- Legs
F-
S- Delts and Traps
S- Arms
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05-10-2011, 11:32 PM #8
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05-11-2011, 11:22 AM #9
- Join Date: May 2007
- Location: Scottsdale, Arizona, United States
- Age: 64
- Posts: 60
- Rep Power: 0
Thanks Yahweh— I'll assume that training any other time of day isn't an option for you as I put my thoughts together here.
As long as you're training at the correct percentage of your momentary 1RM, you can expect to make progress, regardless of what time of the day it is. The famed Bulgarian National weightlifting team during their heyday trained with this principle in mind: on any given session, they'd work up to a momentary 1RM, then train at a % of that number, even if it was significantly below their "true" (meaning best ever) max.
I'd keep training like this and then if/when you ever get a chance to train later in the day, you'll have big numbers waiting for you
Hope that's helpful
Charles Staley
Staley Performance Institute
Seek It. Learn It. Live It
O: (602) 453-5567
http://www.StaleyPerformance.com
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05-11-2011, 11:28 AM #10
- Join Date: May 2007
- Location: Scottsdale, Arizona, United States
- Age: 64
- Posts: 60
- Rep Power: 0
Personally I think bodypart splits are terribly inefficient, but assuming that you insist on doing that, let's think this through:
I'm looking at Tuesday as an example: one body region: chest. Question is, how many exercises. I know a lot of novices will perform 4-6 exercises per bodypart per day, but this practice is terribly redundant. Personally I'd only perform 1-2. So that means 30 exercises on one exercise or 15 per exercise on two exercises. That strikes me as excessive.
Given the enormous advantages of using antagonistic pairings, why are you training one muscle per workout? Just curious?
Charles Staley
Staley Performance Institute
Seek It. Learn It. Live It
O: (602) 453-5567
http://www.StaleyPerformance.com
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05-11-2011, 11:35 AM #11
- Join Date: May 2007
- Location: Scottsdale, Arizona, United States
- Age: 64
- Posts: 60
- Rep Power: 0
Hmmm. OK if you'll just allow me a knee-jerk reaction to your question, I'm not sure if it's useful or even possible to distinguish between these two types of hypertrophy in your training. For one reason, why would you spend time doing triples to get stronger, and then abandon that to work on sarcoplasmic hypertrophy (assuming that would even be possible)?
Personally "the pump" is meaningless to me— it's "exerciser" thinking, placing pain before performance (my personal boas is reflected in the title of this column FYI). Use valid exercises, performing 5-10 sets of 3-8 reps per exercise, and you should be good to go. I'm happy to provide more detail if you like but that's where I'd start from— hope that helps.
Charles Staley
Staley Performance Institute
Seek It. Learn It. Live It
O: (602) 453-5567
http://www.StaleyPerformance.com
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05-11-2011, 11:39 AM #12
- Join Date: May 2007
- Location: Scottsdale, Arizona, United States
- Age: 64
- Posts: 60
- Rep Power: 0
Hmm, I may not be able to provide an itemized list but I was a competitive martial artist from 1979-1987, then I competed in Master's level Track & Field (discus event) from 1992-1998, and currently I've been competing in Master's level Olympic weightlifting since 2005 (currently looking at breaking the National snatch record for the 55-59 age bracket, 94kg weight class. Thanks for asking!
Charles Staley
Staley Performance Institute
Seek It. Learn It. Live It
O: (602) 453-5567
http://www.StaleyPerformance.com
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05-11-2011, 03:07 PM #13
- Join Date: May 2007
- Location: Scottsdale, Arizona, United States
- Age: 64
- Posts: 60
- Rep Power: 0
Ah, this might end up being the aforementioned article :-)
There are lot of semantics to this question. For example, periodization vs planning vs cycling vs programming, etc., etc. But with that in mind, a few thoughts:
1) Planning certainly seems better than it's alternative, at least for things that can be planned. Question is, what can be planned and what can't? For example, can you "plan" to have a stellar performance in the gym 6 weeks from today?
2) Periodization refers to a TYPE of planning where a (relatively) long time-span is sub-divided into "periods" of time, each with a distinct goal and method of attaining that goal.
3) Periodization is ultimately a method of planning and organizing training over time. Theoretically, periodization will yield a better result than complete randomization. Which I think is a reasonable assumption to make.
4) During the course of training, one challenge is the need to somehow address the development of multiple qualities/training components at the same time. Two strategies are possible:
• Sequential planning, where several qualities are developed one at a time. This is sometimes called "linear" or "block" periodization
• Simultaneous planning, where all necessary qualities are training at the same time. This is also sometimes called "conjugate" or "concurrent" planning.
Dr. Vladimir Zatsiorsky (The Science And Practice Of Strength Training), suggests a third alternative: one quality is assigned a "training" load, while other qualities are placed on the back burner using a "retaining load." Since less training is required to maintain a fitness quality (compared to what is needed to produce progress), this quasi-concurrent approach strikes me as very logical.
Bodybuilders typically have a "bulking" phase (i.e., the off season) followed by a cutting stage, commencing in a brief contest readiness phases immediately pre-competition. Finally, an unloading or "taper" phase usually follows the competition, and then the entire process starts all over again. This process is so universal and long-standing that I find it hard to question personally. It may be that over time refinements will emerge, but I suspect the basic structure will remain intact for the forseeable future.
As for developing strength and/or speed, maximal strength is certainly foundational to hypertrophy and short term muscle endurance, so it's inclusion onto bodybuilding training should be a more widely accepted idea in my opinion. Speed may be another matter— I don't see any obvious application.
Perhaps there will be follow-up questions?
Charles Staley
Staley Performance Institute
Seek It. Learn It. Live It
O: (602) 453-5567
http://www.StaleyPerformance.com
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05-11-2011, 11:01 PM #14
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05-11-2011, 11:22 PM #15
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05-12-2011, 08:53 AM #16
Yo, I haven't actually started that split yet, but if I did the point of the single muscle group a day and high volume would be to really focus in on destroying that one muscle, and then give it a week of recovery. I was planning on 30 sets, maybe 25, that I would achieve with 5-6 exercises, 5 sets per exercise. The massive volume was going to be an experiment with my own body, as , and idk why, but I don't really respond well to low volume. No good IYO?
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05-12-2011, 09:45 AM #17
- Join Date: May 2007
- Location: Scottsdale, Arizona, United States
- Age: 64
- Posts: 60
- Rep Power: 0
K well first, the gay porn music makes this very painful to view. But that aside:
1) Watching your snatches, to be honest your pull looks fairly good—but the problems begin to surface on the catch. For example, you miss 40 kg out in front, and then instead of cleaning that up, you move up to 50 kg where you do a power snatch. Then you move to 70 which you miss completely. So afew thoughts for you:
• When a given weight doesn't go as you'd hoped, stay with that weight until you manage to fix the problem. THEN (maybe) add weight, and repeat the process.
• This may be related to my first point, but you full snatch 40, then power snatch 50, etc. You need to be consistent with what you're trying to accomplish.
• Try to "stick" the catch like a gymnast sticks the landing— don't be happy with simply "making" the lift- make the lift in acceptable fashion.
2) As for your cleans:
• Your basic concept of the execution is sound.
• That said, you need to develop a more consistent "catch:" Your receiving stance looks different on every rep, and you lose your balance on every rep also. You need to develop a stable and consistent technique. Again - hold yourself to a high standard: don't be happy just because you "made" the lift- make it with better and more consistent technique.
Hope that helps!
Charles Staley
Staley Performance Institute
Seek It. Learn It. Live It
O: (602) 453-5567
http://www.StaleyPerformance.com
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05-12-2011, 10:29 AM #18
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05-12-2011, 10:59 AM #19
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05-12-2011, 11:10 AM #20
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05-12-2011, 11:11 AM #21
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05-12-2011, 11:14 AM #22
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05-12-2011, 11:18 AM #23
Staley,
You mentioned that excessive training for a single muscle group is unproductive. In your opinion then, what is the ideal training sets x reps for each body part, split or one major body group a day?
Biscuit"The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy." - Martin Luther King Jr.
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05-12-2011, 11:25 AM #24
- Join Date: May 2007
- Location: Scottsdale, Arizona, United States
- Age: 64
- Posts: 60
- Rep Power: 0
Well by definition "excessive" means too much, so, yes, "too much" is unproductive.
There is no answer to your question unfortunately— it has to be looked at within the context of everything else you're doing, how much time you have, what your goals are, etc., etc., etc
With that said, on any given exercise, if your performance doesn't diminish within 10 sets, your load is probably too light. So for any given # of reps/set/exercise, there'd be no point of doing more than 10 sets maximum, and more typically, 4-6 sets are sufficient. Very rough rule of thumb but it gets you in the ballpark
Charles Staley
Staley Performance Institute
Seek It. Learn It. Live It
O: (602) 453-5567
http://www.StaleyPerformance.com
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05-12-2011, 11:28 AM #25
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05-12-2011, 11:35 AM #26
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05-12-2011, 08:20 PM #27
what program should i use?
ok so i'm 16 worked out for 4 months in the gym, gained 10lb,(gained very little fat, barely noticeable).
i made a thread in here about a week ago and got some good pretty helpfull comments but i still lack some info.. (was told to do all pro's without the DL)
i don't deadlift at all and prefer not to do any sets with less than 8 reps...
will wait for your first comment and than probably continue with questions about your answer..
if you need any more info that might help you reach a better decision than ask.
thanks!
(btw goal is to gain equally strength and size)
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05-13-2011, 04:03 AM #28
300lb
I weigh 300lbs...5'10. I've finally got some motivation to start slimming down...I did workouts before and went from 270-240 in 3 months but than stopped and never did it again. So now... I'm thinking about following Kris gethin program to slim down, what are your thoughts? Is it the right program for me? Any hints/tips for loosing more efficiently?
Can't paste link too new... but if you type Kris gethin on this website u can find it
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05-15-2011, 10:51 AM #29
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05-15-2011, 01:02 PM #30
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