— I am writing here strictly for serious trainees who have the passion to train hard
and who are almost incapable of loafing in the gym.. If you are training on an abbreviated program dominated by the big move-
ments, with a good diet that provides a slight excess of calories, and a gener-
ous rest and sleep schedule, and you do not gain, then you may have a serious
deficiency in training intensity (and/or some physical problem in digesting
and assimilating food). en is the time to apply yourself to boosting your
effort levels.. I am a big advocate of training hard, because I know it is a pivotal part of
training success. But I also know that intensity alone will not cut it. All the
support factors have to be in decent order. Bodybuilding and strength-train-
ing success come about from a total package, with all the involved factors
being fully satisfied. You cannot compensate for a serious deficiency in one
area with an excess in another.Training intensity general recommendation
. Recall the three categories of training intensity—hard, very hard, and bru-
tally hard. To be practical, the more mileage that can be gotten from hard and
very hard training, the better. e reality is that very few people have the
mentality, willpower, youth or physical robustness to withstand very hard or
brutally hard training on a long-term basis.. Hard training as defined under ree Categories of Effort is genuinely hard
work, and harder than most people train. is is adequate for most of your
work sets, and is the mainstay of productive training. is level of intensity
is actually a rep or few more per set than most people deliver.. An occasional set in very hard mode (one set per exercise every – weeks),
and a rare set taken to isometric failure (brutally hard mode, no more than
once every – weeks, and only in exercises where it is safe) may provide a
productive boost in intensity. Whenever you inject such an intensity boost,
cut back your work sets in the exercise concerned, to reduce the chance of
overtraining.. Whatever you try, never persist with something that does not help to keep
your training poundages moving up, no matter how much it may be pro-
moted by others.