Enriching your training
. Over the decades, bodybuilding has produced examples of men who have
built very large muscles but without the strength that you would normally
expect would accompany such large muscles. e training methods that
account for this are typically called “pumping.” e most striking examples
of the success of this type of training are either genetic phenomena or drug
assisted, or both. I am not advocating pure pumping.
. If you are gaining strength well, but not getting much if any bigger, and your
recovery machinery really is in good order, you need to make some changes if
you want to build size.
. My recommendation is that you first experiment with training frequency,
and try things as given in the first part of this chapter. en, if you still feel
you are not getting the size gains you think your strength progress should
produce, try further changes.. When strength building, adding just pounds to your squat is not likely
to make any measurable or visible difference to your quads. It is substantial
strength gain that is more likely to produce significant size gain. If, however,
you add pounds to your squat with no noticeable size gain on your
quads (or proportional increases in other exercises without any growth),
that is when you need to make changes in your training if you want better
size gains.
. In general, and of course there are exceptions, here are perhaps the main
variations between training with the emphasis on strength, and training
with the emphasis on size:
Strength focus
a. low reps
b. long rests between sets
c. pauses between reps (on some movements by some trainees)
d. infrequent training
e. few work sets (low volume of work)
Size focus
a. higher reps
b. briefer rests between abs
c. very short or no pauses between reps
d. greater frequent of training
e. not so few sets (higher volume of work)