Train Hard, Train Smart and Train for Longevity
Relentless Pursuit
By IFBB Pro Josh Wade
Presented by Allmax Nutrition
Train Hard, Train Smart and Train for Longevity
Q: Recently I’ve seen videos of you doing one-rep deadlifts. Is that a new program you are doing for bodybuilding?
A:Not really, even though anytime you build strength it will relate to lifting heavier weight and building muscle tissue. Honestly sometimes it’s just fun to lift heavy shit, challenge yourself and see what you can do. I’m just having fun in the weight room and my workouts have been better because of it. After so many years even differing workouts can get boring, so just doing something you’ve never done or haven’t done in a long time gives you a reinvigorating feeling and makes things fun.
Before I ever started lifting weights, I read the bodybuilding magazines. I’ve always trained like a bodybuilder, doing sets of eight to 12 reps that I still do 99 percent of the time. Another one of my trainers has been working on building up his deadlift, so it became fun and kind of a challenge to see what I can do. As a bodybuilder when I did do deadlifts I always did them at the end of a workout to focus on building muscle. By then the muscles were pre-exhausted/fatigued, so I wouldn’t have to lift as heavy chancing an injury while getting maximum stimulation in the muscle. Recently I’ve been doing them at the beginning of my workout to be fresher and stronger just to see what I can lift. Here’s my routine:
I’ll start with 135 for eight reps, then add a plate to 225 for eight reps, then add another plate to 315 for five reps, then I start doing singles after that to get a feel for the heavier weight. I’ll go to 405 for one rep, then add again and at that point it might be 10s or 25s that get added. My first week doing this I went to 495 and it was pretty easy. The next week I went through the same progression but finished with 545. The following week I did it again but pulled 585, then the following week I struggled but pulled 635. It’s not normal to progress up in weight that fast. For me, even though I never really deadlifted I am strong, so it wasn’t hard for me to progress to that weight fairly quickly.
The following week I went through the same progression till I got to 675 (seven plates per side) which is all that will fit on my bars at my gym. I was pretty excited to do it and after getting it off the ground to mid-shin I felt a pulling sensation in the back of my shoulder, then a bad burn, so I dropped it. While trying to finish my back workout I felt burning and pain constantly in that spot so I couldn’t even complete the workout. After a week it was feeling better, so I know it wasn’t a major injury, maybe just scar tissue or a slight connective tissue tear.
Moral of the story is lifting weight that heavy is very hard on connective tissue. It really shouldn’t be done every week; every other week at most when attempting max lifts is probably best. As for me, I’m going back to my hypertrophy rep range for a while! No one wants injuries but almost everyone gets them when training long enough or hard enough. Everything can be a learning lesson so pay attention and never stop learning. Now I know and as G.I. Joe said, “Knowing is half the battle!”
Train hard, train smart and train for longevity because you always have to think about life after bodybuilding!
De-loading Doesn’t Build Muscle
Q: What are your thoughts on de-loading?
A:I was asked this question after seeing one of my gym members lifting extremely light one day. I was wondering if he had an injury or something, otherwise why was he lifting so light? He said he was de-loading. Then he proceeded to ask me what I thought about de-loading. I first asked him why would you train with the intent of going through the motions and not building muscle tissue? He had no answer to that question. My point is we are bodybuilders and there always comes a point where you can’t continue to increase the load hence the reason we do drop sets, rest pause, iso holds and supersets as shock techniques to build muscle tissue without always using heavier weight and forced reps as a way to grow. If you need to train lighter or are working around an injury, then do things to make the exercise harder; like more control of the weight by lowering it slower and squeezing the muscle harder to “make a light weight heavy,” but don’t go through your same exercises lifting light weights thinking you are de-loading. Every workout you do as a bodybuilder should be for the purpose of stimulating and building muscle tissue, otherwise just call it a rest day and move on to the next day where you train to build muscle! We all know it takes a long time to build muscle and every productive workout adds up. Those days you aren’t putting in effort aren’t doing anything for your physique goals!
Find Your Happy Place!
What is wrong with the world today and why does it seem like so many people are unhappy? That’s an easy answer for me and I feel it’s because those people don’t go to the gym! Everyone I know that goes to the gym to work on their health, fitness and physique goals is a lot happier because that’s one area of their life that they are in complete control of. It doesn’t matter your race, creed or gender, when someone asks you for a spot are you going to say no? Hell no you aren’t, you are going to get behind them and try to get them to bang out a couple more reps than they even thought they could. The gym is a support system to better ourselves and the effort we put in gives us pride and a sense of self-accomplishment, instead of just being negative about the things we can’t control, like politics or the negativity on the news! Be positive, help your fellow man or woman out and make the world a better place one workout at a time. I always say, “You can’t help someone until you help yourself” so allow your positivity to radiate to others around you.
Strengthening the Immune System
With the COVID-19 situation, I’ve been getting a lot of inquiries as to which supplements can strengthen the immune system and help prevent infection. These are the supplements that I take every day year-round for immune system function and antioxidants, but they are even more beneficial at times of stress or sickness.
Allmax Immune-Boosting stack
Glutamine: 10g 3x day, upon rising, post-workout and before bed.
R+ALA: 2 caps (300mg) with first and last meal.
CytoGreens: 1 scoop upon rising.
Vitastack: 1 multipack with first meal.
Omega 3: 2g with first and last meal.
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Website: www.teamwadefitness.com
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For more information, visit allmaxnutrition.com
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