Skinny to Strong

In my previous post I mentioned that I switched from strength training to a more balanced strength and muscle mass training. Why the switch? There are several reasons. First and foremost, it so happened that I have plateaued in most of my exercises. Especially bench, rows and pull-ups. I wanted to have some change in the routine to keep me moving without tiring myself to loss of motivation. I wanted to go back to my 8 reps exercises as I have done before I switched to 3x5 back in February 2010 so I can keep moving. Second, it is a well known fact that low rep (4-6) high weight (90-100% 1RM) exercises are useful in developing strength and high rep (8-10) and low weight (70-80% 1RM) exercises help in developing muscle mass. There are literally thousands (if not millions) of articles on this very subject. I will not elaborate especially because I do not know the mechanics or the biology behind the theory. So it is natural that I decided to go with some muscle mass trying to break the...

I have been doing all my workouts with a slow tempo for a while now. I like it. It puts more strain on my muscles for longer and I have a lot more control. I don't lose energy all of a sudden in the middle of a rep especially on my bench press, because it is the most dangerous exercise to do without a spotter. Losing energy in the middle of a rep means you just have to let the barbell drop on your chest and roll it off your stomach. In that process you will most likely hurt your shoulder. On the other hand doing slow reps means you have to reduce the weight to be able to do the same number of reps and sets as you would do with power lifts. When I first started doing slow reps I wanted to do it for a month or so and go back to power lifts. But once I started doing the slow ones I felt so good about the immense control I am getting and the good form I am able to maintain I decided to go with it as long as I cannot increase my weights for 4 weeks straight. Then I will switch to powe...