Dave Draper’s Musclebuilding Q&A

Question for you regarding supersets: Let’s say you are doing four supersets for arms. Should you rest after each superset or should you complete all four supersets before resting? I have seen it recommended both ways.

The rest between sets within the superset are short, the rest between supersets is a few beats longer to allow agreeable re-breath and re-assertion assert. Often weight incrementing and matching rep-decreasing accompanies supersetting.

Commonsense, mood, energy level and insanity-factor are variables effecting the action.

Have fun, survive… Dave <Godspeed>

Today’s bodybuilders talk of working one bodypart once per. week. Is this enough? Shouldn’t a person train a bodypart at least twice per week? Some bodybuilders have said in numerous articles that they have trained a bodypart up to three times per week. Three times seems excessive. I know this theory of training one bodypart per week hinges on the rest or recuperative period.

Slowly but surely read all the articles (former newsletters) listed in davedraper.com for information to some of the questions crossing your mind. They run the broad subject of muscle-building, nutrition and exercise methods, and keep you encouraged and on track. You can pick up a copy of Brother Iron Sister Steel or Your Body Revival at the library or local bookstore or through this website store — full of answers, encouragement and routines and nutritional info. There’s too much hype, wrong thinking and too many lies out there.

The best training methods include volume in sets and reps and mix in heavy training days each month and use the basics as the most important part of their muscle mass building. Twice a week per muscle group is best. Intensity is important and smart frequency is needed. Ignore the ignorant “once-a-week training for 45 minutes” theories. Rubbish.

Learn to love your training, commit to it, be consistent, be confident and don’t expect miracles. As long as you’re training, you’re growing and going forward, though it may be that painful step back that is so mysteriously necessary.

Press on. The truth will set you free. Yeah, sounds corny.

God’s speed…dave

The thing that bothers me the most is: Why is there so much contradictory information out there about how to train? After reading all this contradictory stuff, I am confused. How can it be that people with great bodybuilding know-how can hold such diametrically opposite views? Obviously, someone has to be wrong. The only way I gain is to add weight onto my exercises (benching more, curling more, chinning more). But inevitably I reach a plateau and cannot go higher. I guess I am not searching the perfect way as much as just to ask: how can it be that people hold such widely differing views? It is extremely confusing and frankly hard to comprehend.

You’ve got to invest in one basic, logical training style and adapt it to your needs — dial it in — here and there, a little and a bit over time. Get to know your training, trust it and go and go hard.

Remember, you’ve got to love and enjoy your training, tough and relentless as it might be. It should be functional, healthy and practical.

Plateaus (slumps) are the athlete’s Nemesis. We don’t just improve and improve, develop and grow, skip, jump and play. It’s two steps forward and one step back if we’re lucky. Lifters – muscle builders – look too closely for results, doubt, and wonder. The head gets in the way of the body.

That you do not continue to lift more weight in the bench does not mean you will not continue to grow in size, shape and definition. Side note: Keep up the heavy bench work, going for one-rep-maximums, and you are bound to incur chronic shoulder problems. Then you’ll have something real to suffer over.

Put in your training time with appreciation, affection, intensity and confidence. Concentration and focus and joy and progress are diminished by doubt and the stress that accompanies it. Spit the poisons out.

Become your own trainer with all your built-in systems for understanding and advancement. Become your own best friend with tolerance, your own fan with high hopes. You’re the man, I’m your buddy.

I’m real corny, too. Push that iron and go with God… Dave

Next year I want to change my workout routine every 8 weeks. Right now I’m in the planning stage and I am wondering if you have any suggestions on an initial workout for Jan-Feb from your list of workouts on your website. Preferably something that can be completed in an hour every other day.

You’re on your own, kid. I have no idea what goes on in your head or your body, and any ironclad training plan is a flip of a coin — make that a 10-pound plate. I have come to delight in mix ‘n match workouts throughout the week determined by how I feel the day of the workout, what I suspect I need and what I want to do.

This apparent casual approach ensures I apply my most spirited self to the work at hand. I choose five or six customized fundamental exercises I know and love — and hate — that complement each other, four sets of 8 to 12 reps each, but for core and gut work. Superset where desirable.

This is a departure from the norm and takes courage, trust and practice to apply… It works for oxidized ironheads with  a few years in the foundry… less tedium, less injury, less overtraining.

Quick Sample:

1)

Rope tucks and leg raises — 4 x higher reps (25 +)

Dumbbell inclines, seated lat rows

Cable crossovers

One-are lateral raises

2)

Hanging leg raise

Leg extension

Leg press

Calf action

Barbell curl, dips

3)

Rope tucks

Smith press, wide grip pulldowns

One-arm dumbbell row, stiff-arm dumbbell pullover

Gotta let go to maintain a tight grip…

Calculated chaos, designed kalidescopes…

Go into 2011 with a brave heart and strong faith… Dave

Thanks for the information on tendonitis in the newsletter. I have this on both of my elbows and I cannot bench press heavy. As a result of this tendonitis, my arms are lagging behind compared to the rest of my body. Please advise  how I can correct the situation.

First, you might re-read the newsletter. It is a bit info-packed and complex and each line offers more insight than you might realize upon one reading.

A few suggestions:

• Don’t bench… Go to dumbbells. This bench limitation should not affect your arm growth.
• Wrap the elbows (on-off set-by-set) when doing tri extensions and other tri-direct work.
• Try working forearms regularly as part of your arm routine — don’t ask why and expect an answer beyond “it helps.”
• Reverse curls, thumbs-up curls, wrist curls add ammo to your arm arsenal.
• Try biceps, triceps supersetting: Standing barbell curl and lying triceps extension//seated dumbbell alternates and seated overhead triceps extension with barbell//low-incline dumbbell curl and machine dips or pulley pushdowns.
• Train hard, mixing weight between moderate to heavy and moderate to light-moderate.

Don’t hurry, stay focused, be precise, keep moving. Work arms up to twice a week.

Pack in the protein and have pre- and post-workout feedings for growth and energy.

Be strong and God’s speed… Dave

*Note:  A reader responded with the following suggestion*

On  the tendonitis issue,  whenever I get it, I get one of those tennis elbow armbands…wear it practically 24/7 till it goes away.  It works.  It just wraps around the arm, hooks with velcro.  Be sure to place it BELOW the elbow, about two inches or so…

Depending on the injury, it can take from days to a couple of months before it’s all back to normal.  Be sure to wear it when lifting, of course, but  also…just all the time. 

I have an important question regarding working different muscles on the same day. I seem to be more comfortable with working chest and back on the same day, and sometimes superset the chest and back.  I get pretty worn out but feel great afterwards.  My workout buddies say never do this– they want to do the traditional chest, triceps day 1, back, biceps day 2 off, shoulders, traps day 4 and legs, calves day 5.

Training is for our painful pleasure and disciplined joy for muscle and might. Do it your way, according to your instinct and wisdom, your desire and need. Let science and theories leap for the moon. Pass me the iron as I please.

They lose… I’m sure their way works, very popular and thoughtful. I’m not saying my way or no way, but…

Now, where was I? Oh yeah, training as I please…

Train hard, eat right, be strong, have fun… follow your nose… Dave

The thing is I have hit the wall… I sort of lose motivation as progress appears to slow down…

Here’s where we lose a lot of musclebuilders…

The following links to past articles sum up my thoughts and will hopefully help you. I consider them sort of timeless.

• http://www.davedraper.com/article-89-plateaus.html
• http://www.davedraper.com/article-373-overcoming.html
• ttp://www.davedraper.com/article-392-discouragement.html

And the truly timeless: Draper’s Slumpbusters

Go… Push that iron, savor the good times, endure the tough and be thankful always.

Godspeed… Dave

I just got my certification to be a personal trainer. My question to you is, what do YOU like to do with the first session with a client? I have heard that some trainers like to get to know their clients during that first session, but I feel if they are  paying for that hour they need to walk out of the gym feeling like they got something done.

I’m with you. Get to know them sufficiently — basic exercise and nutritional background, general health, goals, available workout time — and introduce them to the gym floor ASAP. Make the training meaningful and playful and irresistible, packed with all the wonderful incentives. Persuade, encourage, inspire…

Check out Gray Cook’s new book, Movement, for a simple pre-exercise screening for your new clients. Very useful to get a baseline before you start, and only takes about 10 minutes.

Go… Godspeed… Dave

If I’m doing two body parts per workout, , say arms and legs, should I do all legs and then all arms ? Or can it be split up —two sets for legs followed by two sets for arms , etc., to the end. Or does it not matter?

Don’t train randomly, unless you’re a pro and know what you’re doing, or you’re just goofing around.

I mix pushing and pulling when supersetting (complimentary or closely related muscle groups). Ex: press (Shoulders) and pulldown (Lats/back), curl and pushdown.

But legs I separate and train alone till fully loaded.

Commonsense, instincts, exercise appeal, progress and personality equal one’s training style.

Go… Godspeed… Dave

In my combination of martial arts and weight training, probably overdoing both, at what point does the pain degenerate into more pain and eventual injury? And are there specialized workouts for psychos like me who actually enjoy lifting weights seven days week?

Soon, real soon. You need to fix your head, your body, your goals, your priorities, your realities…

Nothing personal, we’re all nuts and we all need to do the same things: Live, lift, practice you art, learn and grow and be happy. The weights and martial arts are big contributors. They can also be great detractors… too much, like anything, can break you.

The body needs rest, the mind needs space, emotions need relief, creativity needs room, dog needs kibbles, kitty needs petting, baby needs shoes.

Part of your discipline and growth is to take a day off. Try one. Try two. Real whackos are afraid to. No other interests… insecure… think they’ll slide backwards or fail, or be forced to face responsibilities and/or themselves.

There are ways of balancing your training endeavors… your best friends are common sense and instinct. Only you know which is most important — iron or martial arts — to you. Blend them sensibly: alternate days, 3 iron and 3 art, or 2 iron/4 art, or 2 art/4 iron. Trial and error and experiment and experience. I hope you’re young.

dd

I’ve read that a lot of bodybuilders of your time would do, say, bench press with five sets with reps of 12, 10, 8, 8, 6.  On the 12, 10, 8, 8, 6   should only the last two sets be a 100-percent effort? I am confused on how to interpret this particular workout.

There is a a specific incremental weight-increase methodology I  applied years ago for about a month before I grew sick of the fussing. I forgot it intentionally. I always use the above rep-scheme, but with the will to get the last rep with form and appreciation, and seeking the 90-percent-max range of output, plus or minus.

Each day has its own devils and angels — pain and injury factors, high or low spirits and energy and wellness, enthusiasm and drive or lack thereof; desire, encouragement or disappointment. These affect — vary — output big time.

I ramp up for each workout and take the weight and reps to that 90-percent place with most every set. The first set of, say, 12 is a warm up, yet high performance.

Choppy answer. I trust my training thrust, and find love for training compromised when bound too closely to watching numbers.

Roll…flow… Godspeed…   Dave

I am a 19-year-old bodybuilder training for an upcoming power meet, and have been training for five years. My training partner and I have been training to failure for about three months. Here is the sets and reps we train with: 1st set-12 reps (warm up), 2nd set-10 reps,  3rd set-8 reps, 4th set-6 reps. What are your thoughts?

This has been my favorite rep scheme (adding a fifth set of 4) since I was your age (like 50 years ago). I like the weight and rep variation for interest and the power, mass, density and shape building qualities they provide.

For your power training, you’re ready to rearrange the reps to  include triples, doubles and one-rep maximums. How you should do this is every lifter’s personal journey and I suggest you seek some advice from masters like Rickey Dale Crain or Lou Simmons… folks like them.

You’re on your merry way. Be alert, be wise, be daring and be safe. There are injuries out there and you do not — I repeat  — you do not want them.

Bombs away… Dave            <<<Godspeed>>>

When performing deadlifts what rep set scheme do you prefer to use? Are deadlifts meant to be performed heavy weight low reps, or treated like any other exercise?

Treat them like any other exercise till you gain familiarity, build a sound foundation, develop good form and get the irrepressible urge to go heavy. Then be careful. I’m not a reputable powerlifter.

Rickey Dale Crain’s is a site you might check out.

Never Quit… Dave

I am just wondering if there is more muscle recruitment involved in barbell bench pressing, and if I will be missing something if I do dumbbell presses instead. Also, I think in the past when I have gotten shoulder pain, it was when I tried to do too low reps. Maybe keeping the reps between 8 and 12 would help eliminate that?

You’re in good hands with the dumbbells. There’s more and safer muscle recruitment with the dumbbells — you need to engage different muscles of the body to position the weights for pressing. You require more muscle to control the individual dumbbells, and with practice you are able to modify the tracking of the dumbbells to accommodate your specific needs. Not so with a bar.

Using higher reps is thoughtful. Build strength and muscle and familiarity with the mechanics over time. What’s the rush, right? Warming up is super important with all exercises.

You have plenty of time to investigate six reps and doubles and singles when you decide the time is right.

Don’t be afraid, but be safe.

Dave

I’m starting my 3rd combat tour here in Afghanistan and have some time to devote to physical fitness. I was wondering if there was any training advise tailored more to a soldier’s requirements than just bodybuilding. A soldier’s physical fitness test is currently graded by how many pushups and situps we can do in two minutes and then how fast we can complete a two-mile run. Being in tune with the bodybuilding and performance community as you are, can you direct me to a program that is more in line with performing this test as well as possible?

Two links to view to get you started: Nate Morrison’s Alpine Tactical and our Police and Fire Testing fitness overview page.

To enhance your performance as a runner, I  suggest you run regularly, including sprints and hills and stairs. Time your two-mile runs on occasion and seek to improve your numbers. Don’t flog yourself.

Same for pushups. Practice them every other day to avoid overtraining, and apply x sets of  y reps (perhaps 5 sets of 80-percent-max reps) to build muscle and power and technique. Once weekly go for a set of max reps. Modify my set-rep and weekly max according to your own abilities and common sense.

All basic bodybuilding (I prefer the idea of musclebuilding) exercises are effective in increasing muscle and strength.

God Bless America and our amazing military… Big Thanks for your sacrifice and service… Dave

I recently read an article on bodybuilding.com about HIT training. I used the theory for 15 years when I competed. I am wondering now that I would like to return to competition what can I expect to gain from the HIT training in 3-6 months. You are the guru and I trust your advice so I’m all ears.

I’m no more or less a guru than you. I do my traditional training with a little spice and a lot of might, which is less lately than it was when I had an infant daughter and hair 45 years ago. I have always lifted for expression and wonder and the longed-for muscle and strength and functional results.

Honestly, I’ve never applied or advocated or understood or tried to understand HIT methodology. I’m not being negative, but I thought, like, why? Where’s the flow of the journey along the way?

Different sets and reps for different nuts and bolts.

Older, and at a later stage of training, you might find HIT to be less desirable, less productive and whole lot more injurious.

Another odd thing — I’m not a big fan of competition, not in the day, not today. I’m a lazy coward at heart. Give me the iron, the ascending weights, the descending reps, the supersets and the volume in an uncrowded gym and give time to blast it joyfully, even when it’s ugly.

So much for a sound and encouraging answer from Dave Drapeless, the Bomber.

Where’s brother Mike Mentzer when we need him?

Go… Have fun… God’s might… Dave

Most bodybuilders never really varied their workouts much whether they were volume trainers or HIT trainers. They might tweak a program with being more instinctive or amp it up when contest time was around the corner, but you knew roughly what they were going to do when they came to the gym. Few ever logged a training program, the question is to you: Did you logged workouts and did you have a program that you stuck with by and large?

I logged for a short period during one winter while training at the Muscle Beach dungeon, 8-10 weeks — mid-’60s. It had its purpose and value then. Ever since, I’ve followed more or less some version of the scheme I enjoyed then. Today my workout it’s a skeleton of what it was years ago, but it has the same taste and smell and silhouette.

Hey! Wait! I think it’s my shadow.

I don’t remember any bodybuilders with noticeable muscle ever logging their workouts. A few might have made notes at home. Guys who did log overtly looked like students, trained like students and disappeared before the ink dried.

Powerlifters scribbled away on pads as they reached for their chalk and inhaler, and for them logging works quite well, some might say mandatory even.
We press on, never alone… Dave

I’ve got a couple of personal training goals: a strict overhead military press with bodyweight and a one-arm pullup.  I’m getting close to both.  I’ve been training mostly in the low-rep zone, going to momentary failure.  The number of sets is around the 6-8 range.  I’ve also used some cheat moves  (push press, weighted negative pullups). The problem is I feel like I’ve hit a plateau.  Do you think the rep /set combination is good? Some people suggest a lower number of sets, but that doesn’t feel like enough training.

When I hit a plateau — meaning, I’ve applied focus and intensity for a sufficient time and determined progress has become severely limited and my confidence and interest are waning — it’s time to change.

Sometimes it’s a good thing to modify your goals as you press on in the same direction. Go back to the original rep systems or go off on a bodybuilding tangent that revives your overall training spirit and achievement. The goals you aim for now might not be achievable with this approach and this round of forcing and pressing on.

Unless you’re 99, have fun and play with a strong heart and will. Plateaus are inevitable and, if we are inflexible and stubborn, can be downright depressing and destructive.

Blast on… from another direction or with a different approach… slight changes can be significant… substitute dumbbells for bar, use steep incline and DBs, heavy barbell curls with full range of motion plus preacher curls for a worthy cycle…

You are a perfect candidate for Dan John’s book, Never Let Go.

Godspeed… DD

I do my biceps on leg day and my triceps on chest day. I’ve read mixed opinions on this and would like yours.

I’m not crazy about separating bis and tris. I’ve trained to build muscle by good feeling and fun, though it mostly hurts and is a tedious drag. Thus, shoulders and arms, the tank top muscles, always fit nicely together. You push, you pull  and you curl, you extend and you pump.

And, too, the large areas of the back and front torso are a perfect match, pushing and pulling the chest and back muscles to make them big and strong.

And legs are legs are legs, of course… ooph!

Try that three-day combo as a plateau-breaking change of pace and approach. Dare to superset and dig a whole new way to excite your workouts.

> Shoulders and arms

> Chest and back

> Legs and core

With focus and form and confidence, we press on… Godspeed… Dave

I am 40 years old and was working out on a four day per week program, but seems like I may have been over-doing it.  I tried to go heavy when I could,but I work as a laborer on pipeline construction. I am in a slump and haven’t worked out regularly in over a year. Any suggestions? Thank you.

I’d stick with the three-day-a-week scheme. I suspect your job has you hustling, so you can forgo the aerobic exercise; save time and energy and motivation for focused and formed workouts.

Here’s an idea:

Day 1) chest and back, Day 2) legs and core, Day 3) shoulders and arms — a day between workouts.

Day 1) chest and back>>>

Bench press supersetted with wide-grip pulldowns  (4 sets x 10,8,6 reps)

Dumbbell incline supersetted with stiff-arm dumbbell pullover  (4 x 10,8,6 reps)

Cable crossover  (4 x 8-10 reps)

One-arm dumbbell row  (4 x 10,8,6 reps)

Day 2) legs and core>>>

Rope tucks and leg raises

Leg extensions (4 x 12,10,8 reps)

Leg curls (4 x 12,10,8 reps)

Squats (4 x 12,10,8 reps)

Calf raises (lots of sets of burning high reps between ext and curls and squats)

Day 3) shoulders and arms>>>

Steep incline dumbbell press supersetted with side arm lateral raise (4 x 10,8,6 reps)

Barbell curl supersetted with lying triceps extension (4 x 10,8,6 reps)

Seated dumbbell alternate curls supersetted with pulley pushdowns  (4 x 10,8,6 reps)

That’s plenty for now, providing you train intensely and with focus… Try it and tweak it… add more or less of this and that.

Here you hit everything directly once a week, and everything, but legs twice a week by virtue of muscle-overlap.

On a fourth day if you get the shakes you can blast a little of what you think is missing.

Some worthy links, please read:

Superset Training

Instinctive Training

Slumpbuster Workouts

Focus and form and confidence, we press on… Godspeed… Dave