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Arnolds Advanced Training Program


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Arnolds Advanced Training Program

  1. 1. c H A p T E R 5 Building a Quality Physique: The Advanced Training Program THE ADVANCED TRAININGProgram is for people who want to challenge themselves more, who are not content with simply being fit but want to develop a powerful, impressive physique. For these individuals, it is not enough to just gain a few pounds of muscle. Instead, they want not only serious gains in strength and muscle mass, but to sculpt the body as well- to achieve muscle shape and separation, to balance the proportions of the various muscle groups, and to create impressive muscular definition. But wanting to achieve it is not enough; you also have to learn how to do it. Nobody would expect to become a surgeon without learning every- thing about the body-how it is constructed, how it is put together, what all the parts are. To become a great bodybuilder you must learn all about the body-what the body parts and muscles are, the different areas of the body, how they tie together, and how the body responds to various pro- grams of exercise. If you don't know these things, you won't be able to de- velop your body to its full potential no matter how intense your motivation may be. And these are the subjects I will be dealing with in this and sub- sequent chapters of this encyclopedia. The bodybuilder's physique is a carefully balanced combination of many factors, including shape, proportion, and symmetry. Bodybuilding
  2. 2. 201 has been compared to sculpture, with the bodybuilder creating and shap- ing a physique the way the artist sculpts a statue from marble or granite. For the bodybuilder, the only material he has to work with is muscle. The exercises and training principles you learned in the Basic Train- ing Program are not enough to give you the total control over your body that is needed to develop a sculpted, championship physique. You need more and different kinds of exercises, a knowledge of how to design your workouts to get very specific results, and an ability to generate sufficient intensity so your body will continue to grow and change. You can't leave any muscle groups out. You must include everything-the forearms, the two major calf muscles, the lower back, the rear delts, the serratus, and the intercostals. And it isn't enough to have big muscles. For the chest, for ex- ample, you need upper, lower, and middle pees, inner and outer fullness and development. There are three heads of the deltoids to be developed and separated. You need traps, middle back, lats, and lower back in order to be complete. In addition to developing the quadriceps and the ham- strings you have to create a distinct line between them. Biceps require length, thickness, and peak-not just size. Development on this level is absolutely crucial when you finally enter a competition, but waiting until you are training for competition to start detail and Weak Point Training is too late. The time to start is when you begin serious, advanced training and then you can further refine your training program when you go on later to Competition Training. Of course, setting these higher goals for yourself in Advanced Train- ing will demand more time, energy, dedication, and, therefore, commit- ment. And it will be much more demanding mentally, requiring a steadfast awareness of purpose. Purpose doesn't come from just an act of will. It has to involve a real and joyful degree of motivation; you have to be hungry to achieve your goals; the necessary effort shouldn't be seen as a burden but an opportunity. Not, "Damn, I have to go work out today," but "Wow, I can't wait to get to the gym and work out." The additional workload is nothing if you are hungry enough. One way to achieve this state of mind is by having a vision-a clear idea in your mind of where you are going and what you want to become. I'll deal with this subject in detail in Chapter 7. As a young bodybuilder I remember looking at a lot of photos of Reg Park hitting the major poses. When I saw his Herculean but highly detailed physique-his abdominal development, lower back, and calves in particular-that gave me the vi- sion of what I needed to become a Mr. Universe. I could close my eyes and see clearly in my mind what a championship physique should look like, and that vision guided me in my training, diet, posing, and everything else I did in bodybuilding. Summing up, the specific goals you will be working toward in Ad- vanced Training workouts include:
  3. 3. 202 1. developing extra mass and, eventually, muscle shape; 2. focusing not just on muscle mass but on the details of each muscle group as well; 3. creating a physique with the aesthetic qualities of balance, propor- tion, and symmetry; 4. working on the separation between muscles and the major muscle groups; 5. learning to totally control your physical development so that you are able to correct imbalances, weak points, and problem areas. WHEN TO MOVE ON TO ADVANCED TRAINING Once you have gained 15 pounds or more of muscle mass, put about 3 inches on your arms, 5 inches on your chest and shoulders, 4 inches on your thighs, and 3 inches on your calves, you are then ready to begin adding a greater variety of exercises to your routine, to train for shape as well as size, for balance as well as mass. But this is not accomplished in one sudden jump. You need time to learn new exercises, to begin to understand how specific exercises affect the body in different ways, and to learn to use these exercises and a wide range of new training principles to accelerate the response of your body to your workouts. Since you gradually increase your workload, your transition from Ba- sic to Advanced Training does not happen all at once. The point is that if you want a championship body, you have to train with championship in- tensity, technique, and knowledge. It is a difficult task, but it can be one of the most rewarding challenges of your life. "HIGH-SET" TRAINING Some training systems claim you can make great progress by training with only a few sets per body part. Actually, this idea is not new; that was the way bodybuilders trained in the early days of the sport. When Reg Park began serious training, many bodybuilders still used the old-fashioned, low-set approach to working out. 'Training strictly for power like a weightlifter," Reg says, "gave us certain advantages in the old days, a really solid foundation of muscle. But it wasn't until I learned to do fifteen or twenty sets per body part that I felt I was getting enough shape and definition in my physique. I'm sure that a lot of the bodybuilders from the very early days would have improved a lot if they had understood the need for high-set workouts the way we do today."
  4. 4. r a 203 True, but it's also true that the more advanced you become as a body- builder, the more the body tends to resist further development. That means you have to work harder to create the necessary intensity in your workouts and be certain that you are training in the most efficient manner possible. To ensure that this continued development takes place, the Ad- vanced Training Program requires performing a relatively high number of sets. This is not arbitrary or just a matter of personal preference; it is de- signed with specific physiological purposes in mind: (1) to recruit and in- nervate all the fiber available to each muscle, then work the muscle to exhaustion in any particular exercise; and (2) to do enough different exer- cises for every single body part so that each individual muscle is worked from every angle to create the fullest possible shape and development- and to be sure that no major muscle of the body escapes this complete stimulation. Some training systems advocate as many as 75 sets per workout, but a this is not what I mean by high sets. As far as I'm concerned, the ideal training program involves doing 4 sets per exercise. The fact that you can keep going for 4 sets, resting very little in between, proves that there is still fresh and unrecruited fiber available after the first few sets. The second task is sheer necessity, since no one exercise is enough to fully develop even the simplest muscle. Take, for example, a relatively small muscle like the biceps: You can train to develop the upper area (point of origin), the lower area (point of insertion), the thickness of the muscle, the inner and outer areas, or to create a really high peak. Once you start dealing with the larger and more complex muscle groups, the number of different ways you can train and shape them becomes really immense. You don't have to be a mathematician to realize that a task this size cannot be accomplished by doing 3 or 5 total sets per body part. The physiques of those modern bodybuilders who are seduced into following an old-fashioned theory of training masquerading under the guise of a new scientific approach to bodybuilding will surely be lacking. It takes a minimum of 4 or 5 exercises to train each major body part, at least 3 for the smaller ones, and this can add up to a total of 20 sets. With the right combination of exercises, you not only develop each in- dividual muscle fully, but also build definition, striations, and a full sepa- ration between one muscle group and another. DOUBLE-SPLIT TRAINING One way to deal with the demands of Advanced Training is by following a program of Double-Split Training, which simply means breaking up each day's workout into two different training sessions. I discovered Double-Split Training on my own, strictly as a matter of
  5. 5. 204 necessity. After a year of training I really began trying to push my body to its ultimate limits. I wanted to train each body part as hard as possible and then come back the next time and train it even harder. One day I came into the gym and had a really dynamite chest and back workout. I felt great. Then I went on to do legs, but I noticed I was not training with the same intensity and enthusiasm as I had felt during my upper-body work- out. Looking in the mirror at my developing teenage physique, I had to ad- mit that my legs were not progressing as rapidly as my upper body. The next day, after training shoulders, biceps, triceps, forearms, and calves, I again took stock and realized that those last three muscle groups were also somewhat weak. They obviously were lagging behind. As I thought about it, it didn't seem to me that I lacked real potential to develop those weaker areas, so it had to he sornefault in my approach to training. I experimented with nutrition, being much more careful of what I ate, trying to keep my blood sugar level up, but though this helped, it was not enough. As I analyzed my training further, it became obvious that each of these I body parts came toward the end of my workouts, when I was tired from doing numerous sets. Training my chest, back, and legs in one day was very demanding, and it occurred to me that I could train each body part with more intensity if I trained my chest and back in the morning, and then came back late in the afternoon, fresh and rested, to give my legs a really hard workout. Without knowing that any other bodybuilders trained this way and never having heard the name, I found myself doing Double- Split Training as the only means possible for training the entire body with the kind of intensity I knew had to be generated if I were to become Mr. Universe. Advanced Training can often involve 75 total sets-I5 to 20 sets for each of four body parts, or three body parts plus calves and abdominal training. Trying to do all of this work in one workout would be a killer, es- pecially since some of the same muscles are involved in training different body parts, and if these muscles get too tired and don't have a chance to recuperate, your training can be severely hindered. A 75-set session takes something like 3 hours to accomplish, and no- body can train straight through for this long without running out of energy. Many bodybuilders try to cope with this workload by pacing themselves, not training as hard as possible the first and second hours, knowing that they could never make it if they did. But this lack of intensity means the body will not be forced to respond and grow.You have to go all out if you want maximum results. With the Double-Split System, you train full out in the morning, re- cuperate during the day, and come back to the gym rested and ready to go the limit again. I've always preferred a good 8 to Hi hours between work- outs to ensure full recovery. And that means making sure you actually get
  6. 6. 205 some rest. If you are too active during the day, that lO-hour rest period won't be enough. Of course, scheduling a second training session in the late afternoon or evening creates yet another demand on your time, and you will have to make further adjustments in your schedule. An added advantage to this system is that you bum up a lot of additional calories in the course of your two workouts, which means you do not have to subject yourself to quite so demanding a diet as you would training only once a day. AdvancedTraining Program THE TWO-LEVEL ADVANCED PROGRAM Just as in the Basic Training Program, I have created two levels for Ad- vanced Training to provide a ready means of increasing workload and gen- erating greater intensity on a progressive basis. Both Level I and Level II in this program require that you train each body part three times a week. Level II, however, is a more demanding pro- gram, including a lot of supersets and a number of extra exercises. Begin your training with Level I, and take the time to learn each new exercise thoroughly (or twice if you need extra recuperation time). Once you have been working at this level for 6 weeks or longer and feel your con- ditioning and recuperative powers will allow you to work even harder, go ahead and begin to add new exercises to your routine until you have made the full transition to Level II. One final note: If you are sore from a previous workout, take an additional day off. Work up to the suggested workload. ADVANCED TRAINING SPLIT WORKOUT WORKOUT WORKOUT WORKOUT WORKOUT WORKOUT #1 #2 #1 #2 #1 #2 MON TUE WED THUR FRI SAT MORNING Chest Shoulders Chest Shoulders Chest Shoulders Back Upper arms Back Upper anTIS Back Upper arms Forearms Forearms Forearms Calves Calves Calves EVENING Thighs Thighs Thighs Calves Calves Calves Abdominals every day
  7. 7. 206 Level I Exercise Program WORKOUT #1 Monday /Wednesday /Friday CHEST Barbell Bench Presses 4 sets: 1 set of 15 rep warm-up; sets of 10, 8, 6, 4 reps- stripping last two sets Barbell Incline Bench Press 4 sets: same formula as Bench Presses Every third workout, substitute Dumbbell Presses and Incline Dumbbell Presses for barbell exercises. Dumbbell Flys 3 sets of 10, 8, 6 reps Parallel Bar Dips 3 sets of 15, 10, 8 reps Pullovers 3 sets of 15 reps each BACK Chin-Ups 4 sets: 10 reps minimum each set Use a dumbbell fastened around your waist for greater resistance; do chins to the rear one workout, to the front the next. Close-Grip Chins 4 sets of 10 reps each T-Bar Rows 4 sets of 15, 12, 8, 6 reps Bent-Over Barbell Rows 4 sets of 8 to 12 reps THIGHS Squats 5 sets of 20 rep warm-up; 10, 8, 6, 4 reps Front Squats 4 sets of 10, 8, 8, 6 reps Hack Squats 3 sets of 10 reps each Leg Curls 4 sets of 20, 10, 8, 6 reps Standing Leg Curls 4 sets of 10 reps each Straight-Leg Deadlifts 3 sets of 10 reps each CALVES Donkey Calf Raises 4 sets of 10 reps each Standing Calf Raises 4 sets of 15, 10, 8, 8 reps ABDOMINALS Crunches 3 sets of 25 reps Bent-Over Twists 1oO reps each side Machine Crunches 3 sets of 25 reps Crunches 50 reps
  8. 8. -- 207 WORKOUT #2 Tuesday/Thursday/Saturday SHOULDERS Behind-the-Neck Barbell Presses 5 sets of 15 rep warm-up; 10, 8, 8, 6 reps Lateral Raises 4 sets of 8 reps each Bent-Over Dumbbell Laterals 4 sets of 8 reps each Dumbbell Shrugs 3 sets of 10 reps each UPPER ARMs Standing Barbell Curls 5 sets of 1.5,10, 8, 6, 4 reps Incline Dumbbell Curls 4 sets of 8 reps each Concentration Curls 3 sets of 8 reps each Lying Triceps Extensions 4 sets of 15, 10, 8, 6 reps Triceps Cable Pressdowns 3 sets of 8 reps each One-Arm Triceps Extensions 3 sets of 10 reps each FOREARMS Barbell Wrist Curls 4 sets of 10 reps each Reverse Wrist Curls 3 sets of 10 reps each CALVES Seated Calf Raises 4 sets of 10 reps each ABDOMINALS Reverse Crunches 4 sets of 25 reps Seated Twists 100 reps each side 7ertical Bench Crunches 4 sets of 25 reps
  9. 9. 208 Level II Exercise Program WORKOUT #1 Monday /Wednesday /Friday ABDOMINALS Begin workout with 5 minutes of Roman Chairs. CHEST AND BACK Superset: Bench Presses 1 set of 15 rep warm-up; 5 sets of 10, 8, 8, 6, 4 reps Wide-Grip Chins (to back) 5 sets of 10 reps Superset: Incline Dumbbell Presses 4 sets of 10, 8, 8, 6 reps Close-Grip Chins 4 sets of 10 reps Dumbbell Flys 4 sets of 10,8,8,6 reps Parallel Bar Dips 4se~of15, 10,8,8reps T-Bar Rows 4 sets of 15, 10, 8, 8 reps Bent-Over Rows 4 sets of 10 reps Superset: Seated Cable Rows 4 sets of 10 reps Straight-Arm Pullovers 4 sets of 15 reps THIGHS Squats 6 sets of 15, 10, 8, 8, 6, 4 reps Front Squats 4 sets of 10, 8, 8, 6 reps Superset: Hack Squats 1 set of 15 rep warm-up; 4 sets of 10, 8, 8, 8 reps Lying Leg Curls 1 set of 15 rep warm-up; 4 sets of 10, 8, 8, 8 reps Superset: Standing Leg Curls 4 sets of 10 reps Straight-Leg Deadlifts 4 sets of 10 reps CALVES Donkey Calf Raises 4 sets of 10 reps Standing Calf Raises 4 sets of 10 reps Seated Calf Raises 4 sets of 10 reps ABDOMINALS Hanging Reverse Crunches 4 sets of 25 reps Seated Leg Tucks 4 sets of 25 reps Bent-Over Twists 100 reps each side
  10. 10. 209 WORKOUT #2 Tuesday /Thursday /Saturday ABDOMINALS Begin workout with 5 minutes of Roman Chairs. SHOULDERS Superset: Behind-the-Neck 1 set of 15 rep warm-up; Barbell Presses 4 sets of 10, 8, 8, 6 reps Dumbbell Laterals 4 sets of 8 reps Superset: Machine Front Presses 4 sets of 8 reps Bent-Over Laterals 4 sets of 8 reps Superset: Upright Rows 4 sets of 10 reps Seated One-Arm Cable Laterals 4 sets of 10 reps each UPPER ARMS Superset: Standing Barbell Curls 4 sets of 15, 10, 6, 4 reps Lying Triceps Extensions 4 sets of 15, 10, 6, 4 reps Superset: Alternate Dumbbell Curls 4 sets of 8 reps Triceps Cable Press downs 4 sets of 8 reps Superset: Concentration Curls 4 sets of 8 reps One-Arm Triceps Extensions 4 sets of 12 reps Reverse Push-Ups 4 sets of 15 reps FOREARMS Triset: Wrist Curls 4 sets of 10 reps Reverse Curls 4 sets of 10 reps One-Arm Wrist Curls 4 sets of 10 reps CALVES Standing Calf Raises 4se~of15, 10,8,8reps Calf Raises on Leg Press Machine 4 sets of 1O reps ABDOMINALS Vertical Bench Crunches 4 sets of 25 reps Seated Twists 1OOreps each side Cable Crunches 4 sets of 25 reps H yperextensions (lowerback) 3 sets of 10 reps GOING TO THE LIMIT In Basic Training, we talked about the necessity of occasionally having "heavy days"-trying to go to your maximum on certain lifts. Heavy days are even more important when you get to Advanced Training. I recommend that every so often you forget about your regular pro- gram and do an entire workout consisting of only power exercises or just
  11. 11. 210 heavy ballistic training. Remember that no amount of refinement, bal- ance, and proportion looks exactly right unless it coexists with the kind of hard and dense muscle structure that comes from occasionally challeng- ing your body to the mqx:imum with heavy weights. VARYING YQU:R PROGRAM Advanced Training requires that you change your exercise program every three to six months, dropping certain exercises in favor of others. This is necessary in order to: (1) provide the variety of movements to develop every area of every single muscle and muscle group; (2) force the body to do new and unexpected movements to help shock it intp further growth; and (3) hdp keep you from getting bored. Exercises that seem fairly similar can feel very different. For example, if you are used to pressing a barbell over your head, doing the exercise with dumpbells im;tead feels tptally different, although both are for the front deltoids. Having to balance and coordinate two weights instead of one puts very different demands on your muscles. Therefore, after a cou- ple of months of an exercise like Behind-the-Neck Barbell Presses, it makes a lot of sense to switch to Dumbbell Presses for a while. Certain basic exercises are so fundamental that they have to be in- cluded in any complete exercise program. However, exploring a whole range of different exercises like this gives you a much better idea as to which exercises work best for you and which don't really suit you. This will lead eventually to a much better understanding of your own body and of how to get the best results. A Sample Alternate Workout ABDOMINALS Begin workout with 5 minutes of Roman Chairs. CHEST AND BACK Superset: Bench Presses (on machine) 5 sets of 12, 10, 8, 8, 8 reps Wide-Grip Pulldowns 5 sets of 12, 10, 8, 8, 8 reps Superset: Incline Presses (on machine) 4 sets of 12, 10, 8, 8 reps Close-Grip Pulldowns 4 sets of 12, 10, 8, 8 reps Dumbbell Flys 4 sets of 8 reps Decline Dumbbell Presses 4 sets of 12, 10, 8, 8 reps Bent-Over Rows 4 sets of 8 reps One-Arm Dumbbell Rows 4 sets of 10 reps each arm Superset: Seated Cable Rows 4 sets of 10 reps Machine Pullovers 4 sets of 10 reps
  12. 12. ~ 211 THIGHS Squats 6 sets of 15, 10, 8, 8, 6, 4 reps Machine Front Squats 4 sets of 8 reps Superset: Vertical Leg Presses 4 sets of 8 reps Lying Leg Curls 4 sets of 10 reps Superset: Standing Leg Curls 4 sets of 10 reps Good Mornings 4 sets of 10 reps CALVES Donkey Calf Raises, Standing Calf Raises, Seated Calf Raises as in regular workout ABDOMINALS Crunches 30 reps Seated Leg Tucks 30 reps Hanging Reverse Crunches 30 reps Seated Twists 50 reps each side Stomach Vacuums 5 minutes SHOULDERS Superset: Dumbbell Presses 5 sets of 10,8,8,8,6 reps One-Arm Cross Cable Laterals 5 sets of 10 reps each arm Superset: Front Dumbbell Raises 4 sets of 8 reps Bent-Over Cable Laterals 4 sets of 8 reps Superset: Wide-Grip Upright Rows 4 sets of 8 reps (each side) Lying Side Laterals 4 sets of 10 reps (each side) UPPER ARMS Superset: Standing Dumbbell Curls 5 sets of 8 reps Lying Dumbbell Extensions 5 sets of 10 reps Superset: Incline Curls 4 sets of 8 reps Standing Barbell Triceps Extensions 4 sets of 10 reps Triset: Preacher Curls 4 sets of 8 reps Dips 4 sets of 10 reps One-Arm Cable Reverse Pressdowns 5 sets of 10 reps each arm Dumbbell Kickbacks 5 sets of 12 reps FOREARMS Preacher Bench Reverse Curls 4 sets of 8 reps Behind-the-Back Wrist Curls 4 sets of 10 reps One-Arm Wrist Curls 4 sets of 10 reps
  13. 13. 212 WEAK POINT TRAINING Once you have developed the necessary mass, you must then begin to con- centrate on quality. To do this, you need to study your body in the mirror or in photos and try to discover your weak points (although your friends at the gym will probably be all too happy to tell you exactly what they are). For me, my initial weak points were the thighs and calves, so I adjusted my training to put more emphasis on the legs, to bring them up and im- prove my lower body in proportion to my upper body. A year later when I was ready to compete in the Mr. Europe and the NABBA Mr. Universe contests, my thighs and calves had improved-they weren't perfect, but they certainly were a lot better. Now the criticism was that my muscle separation and definition weren't as good as they could be. So I had to add more exercises to my routine. For example, I started do- ing a lot of Front Lateral Raises to separate the pectoral muscles from the deltoids, and a lot of Pullovers to separate the serratus from the lats. But even this wasn't enough. People told me, "The center of your back isn't cut enough," so I started doing more Bent-Over and Cable Rows. "Your leg biceps aren't as good as your quadriceps," "You could use some more rear deltoid development," and so on-and each time, when I real- ized where I needed improvement, I changed my program to try to over- come the deficiency. Too many bodybuilders train to improve their strong points at the ex- pense of their weak points. One bodybuilder who is famous for his tremendous arm development and equally infamous for his lack ofleg de- velopment comes into the gym day after day and trains-arms! Endless repetitions of biceps and triceps work, set after set, yet anyone looking at him can tell that he should do nothing but basic maintenance training on his arms for the next year while he bombs and blasts his thighs and calves to bring them up to championship level. But he seems to lack that "sense of perfection," and it is doubtful he will ever learn to balance his physique. Many bodybuilders do not start out with a sense of perfection, but ac- quire it later on. The truth is, it is possible to go quite far in competition- "rinning the Mr. Universe title, for example-with glaring weaknesses in your physique. But all too often a Mr. Universe winner will go straight from the amateur championship to a professional contest and finish very poorly or even dead last! Stepping up from one level of competition to another-from state contests to the National Championship, from the Nationals to the Uni- verse, from amateur bodybuilding to the pros and on to the Mr. Olympia-you will find that weak points in your physique become in- creasingly detrimental. Bodybuilders often find themselves unable to make the effort needed to correct them because it means, in a sense, start- ing over. After years of successful competition, you have to admit that you
  14. 14. - , a ........ 213 have a weakness that might take one or two years to totally correct. Mak- ing the decision to overcome a weak point, once you are advanced in a bodybuilding career, can take a great deal of moral courage. When I came to the United States I was criticized for my poor calf de- velopment, so I cut off the bottoms of my sweatpants to make sure my calves were visible at all times. That not only reminded me to train them harder, but let everyone else see how they looked-which doubly moti- vated me to train them even harder. As another example, my left arm used to be slightly smaller than my right arm. I noticed that whenever I was asked to show my biceps, I would automatically flex the right arm. So I consciously made an effort to flex my left arm as much or more than my right, to work on that weak point in- stead of simply ignoring it, and eventually I was able to make my left bi- ceps the equal of my right. Actually, this stage of training, this pursuit of perfection, never really ends because there is no such thing as a perfect body and you can always improve your physique. Every year, as you train and compete, you learn more about your body and what kinds of diet and exercise programs ben- efit it the most. You never really stop doing the basics, you just add new ways of doing things. TRAINING WEAK AREAS Bodybuilding is as much an art as a science, so you can't always be gov- erned by a rigid and unchanging program. From the first day you walk into a gym it may be apparent to you that one body part or another is much weaker than all the rest. One basic method of correcting such imbalances is by using the Priority Principle-work your weak areas first, when you are fresh and capable of generating the greatest amount of intensity. Or arrange your Double-Split schedule so that you are training only the weak body part in one of the sessions. Another remedy is to increase the number of sets you do for the weaker area from 5 to 7 sets. Continue doing this for as long as necessary, until you see an improvement, and then go back to a more balanced rou- tine. This is a good time to use the Staggered System. Every third or fourth set, throw in one set of an exercise for the weak area in addition to the nor- mal sets you do for that body part. There will also be times when a body part lags behind because you are overtraining it, hitting it so hard, so often, and so intensely that it never has a chance to rest, recuperate, and grow. The answer to this problem is simply to give the muscles involved a chance to rest and recover, and then to adjust your training schedule so that you don't overtrain it again. Re- member, too much can be as bad as too little when it comes to bodybuild- ing training.
  15. 15. 214 But how do you tell the difference between slow growth due to not enough training and lack of development because of overtraining? To a degree, this is something you need to learn to tell instinctively as you get more experience, but here is a good rule of thumb: 1. The remedy for understimulation is most often learning to train harder, more intensely, using additional Intensity Techniques, than it is in- creasing sets to any great degree. 2. Overtraining is almost always the result of training with too many sets, too often, with too little time to rest for a body part between workout sessions. (One sign of possible overtraining is a lack of a pump during your workouts.) Remember, one of the reasons there are so many good body- builders nowadays is that they have learned to train extremely intensely in short bursts, while giving their muscles plenty of time to rest and recu- perate between workouts. Always keep in mind that training stimulates growth, but that actual growth takes place while you are resting. Of course, sometimes your weakness is in just one area of a body part-your biceps may have a great peak, but not enough width; your lats may be wide and sweeping enough, but you might lack density and mass in the middle back. The answer is to choose the particular exercises that work that specific area and arrange your training program to give those ex- ercises special priority. In the exercise section (beginning on page 247) you will find a full analysis of each body part designed to help you spot your weak points and specific instructions as to which exercises or specific training techniques you can use to correct any weaknesses.