Curated by Emanuele Giuliani
The first thing to point out is that if pure strength is important in bodybuilding in general, in Natural bodybuilding it is even fundamental.
The transverse section of the muscle is in fact proportional to the strength, so the more load you use (always within the terms of the correct execution of the exercise), the more you will tend to gain lean muscle mass.
They say it because they have never needed to do them because, in addition to being naturally gifted, they have always kept it high thanks to cycles and cycles of anabolic steroids.
But most naturals, not having this genetic heritage and not taking drugs, are forced to constantly do mesocycles of strength, as this is the only way to increase it.
We have said that the force is directly proportional to the transverse section of the muscle, so let's suppose we have a muscle with a diameter of 7.5cm, thus having a section with an area of 44.12 square cm.
As we will see later, with certain mesocycles of pure strength, strength increases of up to 50% can be obtained in certain muscles in just two months.
Now, since there is a direct proportionality between the increase in transverse area and strength, we must deduce that our muscle has also increased its surface area by 50%, which is now 66.18 square cm.
In addition, strength work also improves so-called intermuscular coordination, which is the ability to achieve greater synergy between the main agonist muscles and complementary muscle chains. In the horizontal bench press, for example, the main agonist muscle is the pectoral, but the deltoid and triceps also work together with it in an important way. Regular work with large loads optimizes this synergy, increasing the efficiency of the nervous system and consequently improving performance.
Strength is the natural steroid, because it is the only variable that can raise the intensity with the same increase in the other qualitative components of the training. In fact, the intensity of a bodybuilding workout can be increased with various basic measures:
- Increase of sets.
- Increase in repetitions.
- Weight gain
- Increased exercises
- Reduction of recovery times
- Increase in sessions
However, it is easy to see that sets, repetitions, exercises, sessions and recovery times can be modified up to a certain point, as one cannot step outside the extreme margins of training for hypertrophy / hyperplasia. The only method to obtain results and increase the intensity it is the progressive increase of the load, as the same loads prolonged for years never lead to a muscle increase. Therefore strength is the only element that can and must be increased for ever greater muscle stimulation.
The intensity formula is: I = (kg x repetitions) / time
If you have a max of 120kg and you have to do 3 series of 8 repetitions with a 1 and a half minute break, you will have calculating that with 75% of the max you get about 8 repetitions:
Intensity = (90x24) / 90 = 24
If after the period of pure strength you have increased the ceiling to 140kg and try again to do the given exercise with the same variables, changing only the weight, which will be 75% of the new ceiling, you will have:
Intensity = (105x24) / 90 = 28
Training intensity is increased by 4 points, significantly stimulating your workouts and opening new avenues for muscle growth.
There are athletes who have been stuck on the same weights for years, perhaps convinced that their limits are insurmountable. The pure strength program raises the ceilings with a percentage, variable from subject to subject, between 10 and 18%, giving these individuals great motivation and a devastating psychological charge.
Strength work is based on a few exercises, an average total volume of work, long breaks and very rarefied sessions.
Think that many times in some subjects, especially if equipped with long levers, the transition from a traditional training to a training with sub-maximal loads, also causes a marked increase in muscle mass, on average 2-3kg.
This phenomenon is most likely due to the shock induced to the organism by the different approach to intensity and by the greater recovery given by the programming of strength.
For the structuring, in this phase, of the training, only basic exercises will be adopted, which stimulate the neuro-muscular system in an important way and which will also be used in the rest of the annual program.
The frequency of the sessions should be based on your personal resilience.
Normally, the three tables alternate 3 times a week, thus concluding the cycle in 7 days, but if you also practice other sports, or do heavy work, you can also train 2 times a week, in order to have an adequate recovery.
Before starting this workout, which in BIIO corresponds to the third mesocycle, calculate 90% of the maximum (a single lift with the maximum weight allowed) on the basic exercises.
We are going to make a 6 x 90% maximum.
At each series, all the repetitions that come with precisely 90% of the maximum are done, arriving at the last one in muscle failure.
On average they will come out from 4 to 2 repetitions, with a recovery time that goes to about 3-4 minutes to recharge all the creatine phosphate of the muscles.
In the second week, leaving the same weight as the previous session, the repetitions will increase by one repetition on each set, provided you have recovered enough.
This is a training that will bombard your nervous system and make it adapt to the heavy submaximal loads.
Bibliography: The science of natural Bodybuilding (C. Tozzi)
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