Body Building Info

Eating like a pigeon: There's nothing simpler than the fact that if you are not putting on weight, you just have to eat larger quantities so you can grow more body tissues. That means not only more proteins but also more carbohydrates and even fats.

I would like to clear up the myth that you can gain muscle tissue by training alone. It is only possible if you eat enough and then you will gain weight and consequently bigger muscles. Otherwise the weight you lift is irrelevant, but if you are gaining weight then you are both performing and eating in the correct manner.

Intensity Intensity: What bodybuilders like most is to train hard, boast of training hard, do the impossible, triple drop sets and forced reps, and anything else that will leave their body in a state of suffering. But the a serious problem that arises is that although the muscular structure can get back to normal within a short time period, the central nervous systems are basically f**ked. It can take up to a month or so for the CNS to get back to good working order after so many failure training attempts, meaning that getting back to normal training at these weights could take up to several weeks.

Why any bodybuilder should want to do this, I really don't know. Although normal tissue recovery takes about 72 hours; at which point you can push on with your training, if your CNS has been over stressed in any way, then you will become under-trained until the CNS has fully recovered. So when you can begin to train at your pace you will have lost any previous muscle gains...so just think about it in future.

To start with this will work out fine but on the long term it will have a very negative affect on training, forcing you to start back at your initial training loads. Frequency and total load are the two determining factors in correct training for size and strength! So why on earth would anybody minimise either of them on purpose?

Single factor training: Virtually all gym goers like to train according to single factor training theory, or the principle of super compensation. Only around 5% of so called strength athletes train through this method and they are curiously all bodybuilders. It's quite clear that the most people don't even realize what dual factor theory is, so I am going to try and give an explanation of what is means. Firstly single factor theory relates to fitness and fatigue as existing to the exclusion of each other.

The best example being that if you are tired with sore muscles post training, then you should completely recover before beginning to train again. This is called super compensation theory, which states that fitness is begins to decrease at this point and then will gradually rise back to its initial point just before you begin your next work out. Training should then take on a slightly increased weight load which pushes your fitness up a level. And so on.

Dual factor theory considers fitness, fatigue and preparedness as being factors apart but not exclusive to one another. Your long-term ability is considered to be fitness and it changes gradually and is not related to fatigue. Your immediate ability is considered to be preparedness which is what you can do NOW but is not influenced by fatigue.

The dual factor theory believes that can still improve fitness while training up to extreme fitness while having a terrible state of negative preparedness. The theory is really telling us not to recover between workouts in order to get better results.

(Don't miss part2)