How to Supplement Your Weight Training With Workouts That Will Increase Your Definition…
Let’s explain one thing first. This blog post is not for the beginner. It’s for the guy who’s been training at least a year and has a fair degree of bulk and power.
It’s also for the individual over forty regardless of their condition. If you’re in either of these groups, reading this blog post could be the most important thing you’ll ever do.
To repeat then: if you’re a beginner, leave this blog post alone for now. Carry on with the basic bulk and power principles outlined elsewhere on this blog. If you haven’t already, sign up here to get my “Huge Gains Fast mini-course.”
If you’re an experienced trainee with some size, or if you’re over forty years old, consider working the following into your training. It’ll revolutionize the way you look and feel.
There’s an old saying that nothing is perfect. It’s true of most things and it’s also true of bodybuilding and weight training.
Weights provide the quickest and best means to improve yourself physically. There’s no denying it. You can convert yourself from a scrawny bag of bones into an absolute superman by training sensibly with heavy weights. Weight training is so superior to every other form of exercise that comparisons become ridiculous. But weight training, good as it is, is not perfect and we might as well be honest about it.
Weight training, as most of us practice it, has three flaws. Generally speaking, and unless you work specifically for it, weight training:
- doesn’t provide enough stimulation for your heart
- doesn’t necessarily ensure crisp definition, and
- doesn’t, as a rule, build outstanding endurance.
While the plaster is still falling, I’ll explain what I mean by that.
1) Weight lifting is not harmful to your heart. Quite the opposite, in fact. Heavy training strengthens your heart just as it strengthens all the muscles in your body. Weightlifters have hearts far healthier that that of the general populace.
But standard weight training, while good for your heart, doesn’t provide quite enough stimulation. Your heart is best stimulated and strengthened by light exercise of a rhythmical nature carried on uninterrupted for up to an hour. Exercise of that type provides the cardiovascular stimulation necessary for really outstanding heart health.
2) Weight training doesn’t usually build really sharp definition unless you train deliberately for it. You can, if you wish, alter your training routines and go all out for definition. If you work hard enough you’ll probably end up fairly well defined. The trouble is, you’ll also end up so weak and dragged out that it’s debatable if it’s worth it. Physique contestants who have to train deliberately for definition are a pretty weary bunch by the time the contest rolls around.
3) Weightlifters, as a group, have far more endurance than the average man. But, here again, weight training doesn’t generally build the kind of endurance you could and should have. Like definition, you can go on a program of very high reps and build endurance, but it usually wipes out your muscle building progress. Endurance is developed by very high reps, bulk and power by much lower reps. You can’t do both effectively in your weight workouts.
The solution to the three problems is to supplement your weight training with exercise of an extended, rhythmical nature. This will strengthen your heart, sharpen your definition, and increase your endurance without having to make any alterations in your weight training or do anything to hinder your bodybuilding progress.
The best supplementary exercises, far and away the best, are light progressive running, swimming, and road biking. All three will work wonders for you. They’ll improve your physique tremendously. They’ll put the finishing touches to your appearance, giving you that polished, rock-hard look.
Run, swim, or bike at least two, and preferably three, days per week. If you’re lifting three days a week, run, swim, or bike on the alternate days. You can exercise any time during the day, early morning or midnight if you prefer, it doesn’t really matter.The whole thing should take less than an hour and you’ll never spend time more wisely.
Posted by: Mike Buckinson
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