Training Problems Solved | Iconic Trainer Charles Glass Answers Questions
Training Problems Solved
Iconic Trainer Charles Glass Answers Your Questions
As I am a natural bodybuilder, I believe I am probably at my full potential as far as gaining any more muscle size. I was measured for a suit and shirt today, and my measurements were: neck 19", chest 50", arms 17½" and a 38-inch waist. If I do gain any more muscle size that’s fine, but what I really am looking for now is to get the muscles to stand out and be more defined. I know this has a lot to do with diet, but is there a good workout or set and rep system I should be following? Or perhaps I should do more supersets, tri-sets and drop sets? I already include these methods in my training, but I could do more if you think it would help with definition. Is there anything else that you can recommend? Thanks very much for your time.
You may have reached your full potential, but I would have liked a little more information so I could have given you my opinion on that. For instance, how long have you been training hard and eating right, consistently? How much muscle mass have you gained since you started training? The measurements you gave me don’t really mean anything unless I know what your starting point was. But anyway, your real concern seems to be getting leaner. That’s a good idea, because a 38-inch waist is fairly large and you should address that— as it’s not only taking away from the overall look of your physique, but it’s also a health risk.
Forget about adding more supersets and all that to your workouts. Assuming you already keep a fairly quick workout pace, you’re not going to see much more in the way of fat loss by doing that. You do need to look at your diet and cut out all the junk, white bread and processed foods in general. In addition, you probably need to reduce your carbs in general. You didn’t mention cardio at all, and that tells me you might not think it’s necessary. Take it from me, it is! Start out by doing four weekly sessions of 30 minutes, and eventually you will need to work up to doing it five to six days a week for 45-60 minutes. The great news is that as you get leaner and more defined, you’ll actually start looking bigger.
What’s the science behind pyramid training? I’ve read some articles on reverse pyramid training, in which you warm up properly and then jump straight to your heaviest set— then reduce the weight for each successive set. Advocates of this philosophy say you conserve energy for your heaviest and hardest set by going straight to it, as opposed to working your way up to it (pyramid training). I haven’t had much luck finding articles that explain the logic behind pyramid training, so I was hoping you could help. What philosophy would you say you fall under/recommend, and why?
Here’s a question I don’t think you need a degree in ancient history to answer. When was the last time you saw an upside down pyramid in Egypt? I don’t even like the term “reverse pyramid” because as far as I’m concerned, a pyramid starts on a wide base and tapers up to a small point. Standard pyramid training is effective because it allows you to gradually warm up and build up to heavier weight— and because you’re not starting off with your heaviest possible weight, you are much safer in the long run because the risk of injury is drastically reduced.
I can understand the concept of conserving energy and going straight to your top weights, but I also feel it’s extremely dangerous. Over the years, I’ve known many men who have been injured in the gym— and do you know what the majority of them point to after the fact as to why they think they got hurt? “I didn’t warm up enough.” Let’s say you can bench press 405 pounds for 6 reps if you go right to it after warm-ups, whereas if you did a standard pyramid approach (225 x 12, 275 x 10, 315 x 8), you might only get to 365 for your heaviest set. Do you really think your chest was missing out by not getting those extra 40 pounds? Not at all, because that 365 felt exactly as heavy— and your chest had to work just as hard to get those reps as it would have with 405 minus the preceding sets. But you know what? Your tendons and ligaments got a break from using 40 pounds less, and over time that break makes a real difference.
I have known plenty of guys who liked to do minimal warm-ups and go right into very heavy weights, and I’ve also known plenty of others who would pyramid up and take more time to get to top weights. I can honestly tell you that the second group, the guys who increased the weights as their working sets went on, were just as big as the others— but as a whole they experienced far fewer injuries and nagging aches and pains. I have my clients build up to heavier weights. Just because you can lift x amount of weight does not mean you should.
On the issue of weight loss and weight gain, how do you gauge whether the weight you gain or lose is muscle or fat?
The number on the scale only tells you if you’ve gained or lost weight, but it fails to give you any information on how your actual body composition has changed. For that, I recommend having an experienced person test your body fat with skin fat calipers. Once you have that number, you can get a better picture of what’s changed in your body.
• Weight up and body fat the same— muscle gained.
• Weight up and body fat up— fat gained, with some muscle gain also possible.
• Weight up and body fat down— muscle gained, fat lost.
• Weight down and body fat the same— muscle lost.
• Weight down, body fat up— muscle has been lost while fat has remained the same.
• Weight down, body fat down— fat lost, some muscle loss also possible.
For those gray areas where you may or may not have lost or gained muscle mass, a pretty reliable indicator is your strength. If you haven’t lost any strength, you probably haven’t lost any muscle either. If your strength is up, you may have gained muscle— although it is possible to become stronger without a corresponding gain in muscle mass, particularly if you are training with very low reps.