Learn how to exercise and eat to build strength without making too much weight change. Today's article will be devoted to the rules for organizing strength training without increasing mass. Today we will often operate with such a concept as the repeated maximum. It is determined as a percentage of the maximum working weight with which an athlete is able to perform a movement in one repetition with strict adherence to the technique, and it is denoted as follows - PM. Also in the literature you can find numbers in the designation. For example, a 10RM record means that an athlete is capable of performing 10 repetitions with a weight of 100 kilos.
Working weight for strength training without gaining mass
The American College of Sports Medicine or ACSM has made a great contribution to the study of issues related to the training process of athletes. According to the recommendations approved by this institution, athletes with low to intermediate training should use weights of 60-70 percent of the RPM to improve their physical performance.
For example, you can squeeze a 100-pound barbell once. In such a situation, for the development of physical parameters in this movement, it is necessary to train with a projectile, the weight of which ranges from 60 to 70 kilograms. It is quite obvious that these numbers could not marvel from scratch and the results of many scientific studies confirm this recommendation.
We do not recommend increasing or decreasing the working weight and using the recommended one. Scientists have shown that if an athlete works with a weight of 80 percent of the repetitive maximum, then the effectiveness of the training decreases. If the athlete is well trained, then the working weights should be increased to 80-110 percent of the repetitive maximum.
You are probably familiar with such a legendary Soviet weightlifter Yuri Vlasov. He talked in some detail about how strength training was carried out without increasing mass by Soviet weightlifters. According to him, increasing the load leads to structural and functional changes that persist for a long time. This is what serves as the main factor for increasing the power parameters.
However, at first, strength does not grow as rapidly as athletes would probably like it. But as soon as the intensity of the training increases, everything changes. The only important point here is that high intensity training cannot cause deep adaptation of the body. Scientists have found that the body adapts effectively when working with medium weights. This is exactly how the Soviet weightlifters trained, using weights weighing 70-80 percent of the repetitive maximum in the classroom for about the entire training period.
Should you work on denial of strength training without gaining mass?
If everything is quite simple and clear with the working weight, then many athletes are interested in whether it is necessary to train for failure. In bodybuilding, this style of training is very popular, but the goals are different there. Most often, experts do not recommend training in this way, including to minimize the risk of injury.
We all remember how strong the Soviet school of weightlifting was, and we will again turn to the existing developments. In the USSR, weightlifters most of the time worked with weights from 70 to 90 percent of the re-maximum, but not to failure. With the above weights, the athletes performed one or two reps out of three possible.
If the working weight exceeded 90 percent, the athletes performed only one repetition. At the same time, they also used lighter weights, which were less than 70 percent of the repeated maximum. In such a situation, they performed a third of the maximum possible number of repetitions.
Many fitness trainers speak negatively about failure training. Their main argument here is a violation of the technique, which is practically impossible to avoid. This not only reduces the effectiveness of the exercise, but can cause serious injury.
It is this fact that is the main one when prohibiting the use of failure approaches by novice athletes, who must first thoroughly master all the technical nuances. Experienced athletes, in principle, can work on failure, but this should be done only in isolated movements or with a stable position of weights.
At the same time, in certain situations, muscle failure cannot be avoided, because the load must be progressing. Most professional coaches periodically introduce refusal repetitions into the training program of their wards, but only if the above requirements are met.
The variability of loads on strength training without weight gain
Simultaneously with the growth of an athlete's fitness, it is necessary to increase the variability of loads. Previously, among the security officials, the basic training scheme was the following - 3 weeks of increasing loads and a week of rest. However, in the USSR, it was used only for training beginner weightlifters. Experienced athletes did not increase the load on a weekly basis so as not to be physically exhausted after three or four weeks.
Of course, they changed the intensity of the training unexpectedly for the body, but they did not do it so dramatically. Professor Vorobyov, in the course of his research, found that an unexpected change in loads during the training process is the most effective in comparison with others. According to the results of the studies carried out, it can be stated that such changes in the load were more than 60 percent more effective in comparison with a gradual increase in intensity.
Basic and auxiliary exercises for training without gaining mass
Strength training without increasing mass involves the presence of basic (target), as well as auxiliary movements. Experienced trainers conduct specific testing to determine one to three of the most effective core movements for each athlete. Most often, they are deadlifts, squats and presses.
All other exercises performed by the athlete are auxiliary. When they are performed, a lower intensity is used, but at the same time the number of repetitions is often increased, while the duration of the pauses between sets is reduced. This diversifies the training process, which, as a result, has a positive effect on the progress of the athlete.
Most often in the classroom, the same mistake is made - the use of excessive intensity when performing auxiliary movements. If you want to increase the strength parameters, then it is absolutely not necessary to arrange a test of the "strength" of your body. When performing basic exercises, the working weight should be increased a maximum of once every 14 days.
It is generally accepted that the load should be increased only if you are able to perform one or two additional repetitions in the used intensity zone for two sessions in a row. In turn, auxiliary movements must be performed in strict accordance with the established scheme.
What should be the pause between sets when increasing strength?
It is generally accepted that strength training without gaining mass involves pauses between sets of about three minutes. Recall that to gain weight, it is recommended to rest no more than a minute. However, for a long period of time there was no scientific basis for such statements.
It is quite obvious that this issue could not remain unexplored all the time. Brad Schönefeld was the first scientist to shed light on this mystery. The experiment involved 20 subjects. Representatives of the first group rested for a minute between sets, and in the second group the pause duration was three minutes.
The workouts were carried out in the style of bodybuilding, and the subjects performed seven movements, pumping the whole body in one workout. Note that they used a 3x12 scheme, practicing three times a week for two months. As a result, the experiment confirmed the theory of the need for long rest during strength training.
Recommendations for strength training without gaining mass
Let's now summarize all of the above and draw up specific recommendations for athletes who want to do strength training without gaining mass.
- Working weights. Beginner athletes should use 60 to 70 percent of the RHM. Experienced athletes must work with weights of 70-75 percent RPM, and sometimes "surprise" the body with weights of 80-110 percent RM.
- The number of repetitions. Novice athletes should try to avoid failure training and complete the set one or two reps before muscle failure occurs. Experienced athletes can sometimes work on failure, but not too often and try to do 2/3 of the reps of the maximum possible number.
- Load progression. It is very important for progress to periodically change the load, but you should not do it abruptly. It should also be remembered that a constant increase in loads is not permissible, and it is necessary to take pauses for rest, as well as work with a low intensity.
- Rest between sets. This is the last metric that matters a lot to your progress. There is now scientific evidence that strength training without gaining mass involves a pause of three minutes between sets.
Do you need to develop strength to gain mass?
This question also haunts many athletes. It is known that bodybuilders rarely use maximum weights, as it is believed that the time of loading the muscles is more important for gaining mass. Large weights and low reps are used by powerlifters to increase strength. Above, you could already get acquainted with the recommendations for organizing strength training without increasing mass.
However, an increase in strength is associated with a gain in mass and vice versa. This topic is quite interesting and extensive, and perhaps a separate article will be devoted to it in the future. For now, let's say that in order to answer the question posed, you need to know about the process of hypertrophy. As you know, it can be of two types - myofibrillar and sarcoplasmic.
For builders, the second type of hypertrophy is of greatest interest. But due to the increase in the number of myofibrils, strength indicators increase. Note that this can be achieved by thickening the muscle cells. If you are constantly working to increase the number of myofibrils, then you are laying the foundation for future muscle growth.
5 principles of strength training are revealed in the following video:
