. Add small poundage increments when you are training full-bore. Do not
go short-circuiting a cycle by adding a minimum of pounds to the bar at a
shot. Get some pairs of little discs.. Dependable training for typical people with regular lives is about doing
things slowly, safely, steadily and surely. It is not about trying to do in two
months something that needs half a year. It is about patience and know-
ing that getting there slowly is the quick way, in the long run, because the
chance of injury and mental or physical burnout is much less. Quick gains
bring a higher chance of injury and burnout. And if you cannot maintain the
enthusiasm to train over the long term, how can you keep the gains you have
made over the short term? Patience is one of the priority qualities needed for
training success.. What matters is what works. If you can only gain on a routine that is absurd
in its brevity and simplicity by conventional standards, fine. If you can gain
well using a routine that most hard gainers would not gain an ounce on,
that is fine too. When gains dry up, investigate radical alternatives with the
general belief that less is best (without taking it to the extreme and giving up
working out), and that harder training is better than easier training.. Train hard, but avoid overtraining. en when you leave the gym you will be
tired and well worked, but not exhausted. ere will be no more struggling
just to recover from the systemic fatigue from training, and never actually
getting around to doing any growing. You will recover from the workout
quicker, and stimulate more growth for your less-stressed recuperative abili-
ties to respond to. You will put in more productive workouts over the long
term, and thus clock up more progress.. Low-rep work can be very productive, at least for some people, so long as it
is carefully worked into, form is kept tight, and absolute-limit poundages are
used only very rarely.. High reps, especially in leg and back work, have been proven to pack on
loads of muscle.. Do not neglect your calves, abdominals, grip, or the external rotators of your
shoulders. is accessory work matters. So long as it is done in moderation,
it is not systemically demanding and should not interfere with your progress
on the big mass-building exercises other than perhaps during the very final
stretch of a training cycle. At this stage the accessory work can, if neces-