Like
deadlifts for back, there are just far too many people who've built
great legs with squats to deny their effectiveness. Don't get caught up
in reading those muscle tabloids and the fact that many
pro-bodybuilders don't do squats. If you dig deeper (as I've done)
you'll find that the vast majority of them builttheir legs with squats and now maintain them with other exercises. As
Ronnie Coleman so eloquently stated, "Eva body wanna be a bodybuilda,
but don't nobody wanna lif' no heavy-ass weight." The same could be
said for squatting.

7) Don't Always Train to Failure It's ingrained in many of us that, sans
a warm-up or two, if you're going to pick up a weight, you're going to
lift it until you can't lift it anymore. After all, that's the way a
Testosterone Nation man should train, right? Not necessarily. If
you're going to train to failure you're going to have to severely limit
the number of sets you do in order decrease your chance of
overtraining. While training to failure for a limited number of sets
can work (a la Max OT Training, DC Training, and Heavy Duty
Training) it's a lot easier, probably safer, and just as effective to
stop a rep or two short of failure. I know I've made my best gains in
strength when training to just short of failure. If it's
scientific studies you're interested in, a recent study showed that
training to failure led to hormonal signs of overtraining. Yet another
study showed that only training to failure on the last of three sets
was more effective than training to failure on all three sets. Like Lee Haney said, "You should stimulate, not annihilate the muscle."

Don't have Training ADD I'll
admit it. I have a severe case of Training Attention Deficit Disorder.
How many times have you started a new program only to ditch it for yet
another program after only two or three weeks? If you're like me, it's
fun to just go to the gym and do whatever you feel like that day.
However, there's a serious downside to that. By switching
programs and exercises all the time, you don't give your body enough
time to reap the benefits of your current program or exercises. For
instance, if you decide to do H.I.T. for three months, then do it for
three months! Don't be an idiot and ditch it after five weeks because
you're bored and wanna do Advanced German Volume Training and a unique
exercise you saw Christian Thibaudeau do. Save it for when you've
completed your current program. To appease your inner ADD
child, occasionally do 8 or 10 weeks of fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants
training. Just don't turn that eight weeks into eight months or you'll
end up spinning your wheels.

9) Ditch Total Body Training I'm
well aware of the plethora of benefits of Total Body Training (TBT),
and I'll agree that you can build a very good body with it. In fact, I
train some of my clients with TBT. With that being said, I simply don't
feel that TBT can take your physique to its ultimate potential. Now,
by "ultimate potential" I'm speaking of size and definition — a
physique that would win a local bodybuilding or even Figure show. I
have no studies, but tons of anecdotal evidence to back this up. You've
got to hit a muscle with a fairly high number of sets or crazy
intensity to get maximum hypertrophy. In other words, you need to
induce a lot of micro-trauma to the muscle. It's simply not feasible to
do that to more than two or three muscle groups per day. So
if throwing things or people is your forte, then rock on with TBT. If
you wanna have a stage-worthy physique, then split your body into
groups. As for anecdotal evidence, not one pro or top amateur
bodybuilder trains their whole body at one time. While I'm not one to
blindly follow others, you've got to admit that that's some pretty
convincing anecdotal evidence.

10) Consider Stretching Part of Training As
someone who treats soft-tissue injuries, I could go on for days about
the benefits of stretching to prevent injuries and imbalances. But how
does stretching have anything to do with looking good naked? Let me
tell you. Stretching, over time, will help to expand the
fascia that tightly encompasses muscles and muscle groups. This
tight-ass fascia is thought to be one of the limiting factors of muscle
growth. Therefore we want to find a way to stretch it to allow the
muscle tissue some room to breath (or grow). Since site-injecting a few
cc's of oil into a muscle isn't the smartest thing to do, let's just
use stretching to accomplish this goal of expanded fascia. In
order to maximize the volumizing effects, stretch right after training
a particular body part while it's still pumped. Also, keep in mind that
for connective tissue (like fascia) to stretch, you're going to have to
do a lot of stretching (essentially Time Under Tension) and that
stretching is going to have to be pretty intense. I recommend
stretching a muscle for about 60 seconds immediately after training it.
You should be stretching hard enough that you're really counting down
those final seconds. Additionally, stretch another time or two during
the day.

11) Try Low-Frequency Training In
case you didn't know, most bodybuilders these days train two or three
body parts per day and train each body part only once every five to
seven days. I'll admit that training each body part once per week
doesn't scientifically seem like the optimal way to train.
However, when you consider that about 95% of physique competitors
(natural or otherwise) train that way, it's hard to argue with the
real-world results. Now
keep in mind that when training each body part only weekly, you need to
hit that body part with plenty of work — again, lot's of micro-trauma.
Three sets of eight reps on bench for chest ain't gonna cut it; three
to five exercises per body part is more like it. While I think
training each body part once per week is a great basic template, I also
advocate some higher frequency training from time to time in order to
bring up a lagging body part. However, one can still improve body parts
by training them only once per week. People do it all the time, and I'm
doing it right now. For the record, Figure competitors should
(and typically do) train in a similar fashion to bodybuilders. Sure,
leg hypertrophy often has to be kept in check, but training for Figure
is more similar to training for bodybuilding than it is different.

12) Feeling the muscle work is of utmost importance As
previously discussed, simply being strong isn't a guarantee that you'll
get the muscle size you desire. When you train with a focus on simply
moving a lot of weight, you will (albeit subconsciously) lift in such a
manner as to make the exercise easier, either by changing the leverage
or by coordinating other muscles to aid you in executing the lift. Take
the bench press for example. To really have a big bench you have to do
it in such a manner as to use your front delts, triceps, and even lats
as much or more as you use your pectorals. However, while this may
boost your ego, it's not doing wonders for making your pecs grow. If
your goal is big pecs, then you need to perform the bench press in such
a way as to maximize the stimulation on your pecs while minimizing the
role the ancillary muscles play in the lift. To
a bodybuilder, the weight on the bar is only a means to an end. Really
focus on feeling the working muscle during an exercise. Then, and only
then, try to do more weight or more reps while maintaining that
mind-muscle connection.

Conclusion If
your primary goal is looking good in your birthday suit, I encourage
you to really think about and apply these principles. If you want to
enter a strongman contest, then train like a strongman competitor. If
powerlifting is your sport of choice, train like they do. But
if you want to look like a bodybuilder, then I'd suggest you learn how
successful physique competitors typically train. Even better, learn
from some of those who built a great physique from a less-than-stellar
foundation, and you'll be well on your way.

About the Author
Clay
Hyght, DC, CSCS, CISSN has been a competitive bodybuilder for 16 years
and an NPC Judge for many of those. Residing in Danville, CA, Dr. Clay
practices and serves as a training and nutrition consultant. To contact
or read more about the author, go to www.DrClay.com. To learn more about his private training facility, visit www.THRiveTraining.net.

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