Hey Chris I follow the intermediate workout plan on your youtube channel. I've been eating in a deficit and am now down to 12-11% body fat. I now want to focus more on building strength and muscle mass by eating in a caloric surplus. Should I edit the workout to incorporate some weighted calisthenics and more time under tension stuff in order to focus more on building mass or just focus on time under tension with the standard intermediate workout? Please help!
Hey emile24spirit,
i am not chris but nevertheless i hope i can help you with my answer.
first of all, there is no "perfect workout routine" which is perfect for you. So i think you don't get an inside of the topic when someone just writes "yeah you can add some weights bro". Here a more or less detailed answer. Of course it is my own opinion and you should feel free to do whatever you want to do.
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Muscle Mass:
-not low, but not high intensity:
65-85% of your one repetion maximum
6-14 reps is a good amount
time under tension 25-60 seconds
you need the mechanic stress, so it is good to train until or even beyond muscular failure and by keeping the rest times short, 1-2 mins depending on the intensity
in general you can also ignore all of this scientif stuff:
there are methods which use low volume and high intensity and methods which use high volume and medium intenstiy. find your right one. both are claimed to be the best for hypertrophy. test both.
-progess of overload
it means to gain the resistance your muscles have to deal with over time
if you do not overload your muscles get used to the stress and won't get another stimulus to grow after a short time.
-right frequency
your body needs after hyptertrophy training about 36 to 48 hours of regeneration, after that time you should set the next stimulus to increase the muscle mass, that means to train every second day.
-stratetic reload
it means to have a longer rest after some hard weeks of training (around 10) 7-14 days, depends on your ability to recover.
why? your body can recover from the training stress and is able to set a new stimulus when you start back training
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Maximum Strenght:
training for maximum strenght means not to build muscle mass in the first place which is good if you want to stay on a specefic weight.
-fresh body
-fresh mind
This means you don't have to train until failure and to have long rest. (3-5min)
Try to stay 80% of your max. reps for a specific restistance
-high intensity
low reps with a lot of time under tension
- medium volume
5-6 sets per muscle group
-variety (extra boost)
focus at first on your main goal but complementing other exercices which work for the same muscle group with various movement patterns.
-high frequency
train as often as possible (gives your brain the stimulation for the movement) however you have to consider to be fresh as possible every time you train, so take care of your rest time between two training sessions. listen to your body. (tipp: you are less exhausted when you don't train until failure (80%))
IMPORTANT:
you need a very good warm up because training for max strength requires a high intensity and the risk of injury without warm up is very high.
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Both at the same time?
of course it is possible, but the focus is more or less on one goal. if you want to bulk than train for building muscle mass, you will also develoap your strength when you train for muscle mass. :-D
variety is the key.
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weighted calisthenics:
In my eyes no one of us can really answer you this question. We have to know what is your current fitness level? there is for example no sence to incooperate weights when one can do only 10 pull ups. it is just an example but i think it is really important to achieve a special level to use weights. But when you train the intermediate routine part 2, you should be able to do some muscle ups, so i believe you have enough strength.
also your technic has to be very good, because there is way more pressure on your body and can injure quickly.
I found this on the internet:
"Adding more weight to your body weight exercise may seem simple enough, but there are a few risks to be aware of.
The first issue is that you shouldn’t sacrifice your technique in the name of greater loads. Using a shorter range of motion or different body position doesn’t always mean you’re getting stronger. Often times, it simply means you’re trading one aspect of strength for another. In some cases, you might even erode your technique so much you actually regress your training. Even though you think your stronger doing pull ups with a weight vest on, your shorter range of motion and floppy kipping style just means you’re no longer as disciplined as you were before.
Another consideration is that technical advancement should always be the focus of your training. Loading more weight onto yourself is fine, but always remember, that weight is there to test your technique. The weight itself doesn’t make you stronger, the strength of your technique does.
Lastly, always, always, always pay attention to your joints. Exercise should never come at the cost of pain or discomfort in your back, shoulders, hips or anywhere else. If anything, you should feel yourself becoming more resilient over time. If any extra load is causing any sort of discomfit it should be seriously questioned.
Personally, I used to use a lot more external load for my calisthenics than I do now. As my skills have advanced, I’ve found more benefit and challenge through adding resistance with technical adjustment. That said, it is sometimes fun to sling a 25# chain on my shoulders and rock out some strap dips.
Over all, adding resistance to a bodyweight exercise should be a pretty minor aspect of your training. The more you rely on adding weight, the less you’ll seek technical advancement." [http://reddeltaproject.com/2013/12/02/dont-do-weighted-calisthenics-until-you-read-this/]
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In short:
- make slow with the weights
- chose the best method for you
- rest enough, listen to your body
- i would recommed you a surplus of calories around 500+ to your daily amount, you can also try out the nutrition guide of chris:-) the nutrition is very important, if you have questions just ask.
- variety, the routine is great, but you can change it after a while because your body gets used to it
in the end, don't be upset from my answer. maybe you knew all these things allready, but there are allways other people who read on this forum and maybe your question and hopefully also my answer can help them.
salute