mihou
Rang: Administrateur
Nombre de messages : 8092
Localisation : Washington D.C.
Date d'inscription : 28/05/2005
 | | The #1 Training Mistake | |
The
#1 Training Mistake
by Charles Poliquin
What's
the number one training mistake people make when their main goal
is hypertrophy? The most common mistake is choosing the easy way
out: choosing the exercises that don't recruit the most muscle.
Leg extension vs. squatting, back extension vs. deadlifting, etc.
Basically,
hypertrophy is a function of load times TUT (time under tension)
within a certain limit. It's always a matter of how many motor
units you can recruit. So bench pressing with chains (accommodating
resistance) is going to do far more for you than the same number
of reps with a plate-loaded chest machine. You need to choose the
exercises that give you the most bang for your buck.
Let's
say you have ten sets of twins and you divide them into equal groups.
One group does deadlifts with bands, squats with chains, bench
with chains, and chin-ups. The other group does leg extension,
leg curl, lat pulldown, and machine bench press. The difference
in hypertrophy would be monstrous between the free-weight accommodating
resistance group verses the machine group.
Another
example: Take someone and have them do ten sets of six in the pull-up
where each set is hard. Take his twin and have him perform ten
sets of six in the pulldown. The difference in muscle mass gain
is going to be night and day. You recruit more motor units with
the pull-up.
The
problem with plate-loaded machines is that the leverage is often
too good. Every kid in high school can do five plates a side, but
they can't do five plates a side with any barbell exercise. The
only time they do five plates is when they go to IHOP. And when
in real life would you have to overcome resistance in a seated
position? Never.
Another
problem with machines is the fixed pattern of movement. For that
same reason, I think dumbbells are a better choice for most exercises
than barbells, particularly if you're dealing with an athletic
population.
I
went to the Soviet Union in 1982. It was astonishing how little
variation of equipment they had. They had a lot of barbells and
a lot of dumbbells, but there was nothing very sophisticated. It's
what you do with the equipment that matters! Yet I saw a guy do
five sets of eight on the bench press, pausing for two seconds
on his chest, with 520. And he wasn't a lifter; he was a wrestler!
He built that strength with basic equipment.
Now,
these machines can be a good source of variation for the "beach
body" lifter. In bodybuilding, the muscles don't have to have any
function. They just have to look pretty. It doesn't matter if you
use rocks or selectorized weight machines, as long as you have
enough load and you last long enough (time under tension), you
can hypertrophy (just vary the exercises.)
I'm
not dogmatic enough to say that machines are "evil." It depends
on the population. The executive doesn't care if he can do a pair
of 90's on the incline dumbbell press; he just wants to look good
in a bathing suit at the five star resort. Whether he used machines
or dumbbells doesn't really matter. | |
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