- . e deadlift, too, would often have been done “from the bottom.” But for
this particular exercise a partial movement from knee cap height upward
would have been preferred.Long gaining cycles
. I would have cycled my training intensity to some degree, but because of the
slow but consistent poundage increment scheme I would have been using, I
would not have burned out like most people do (even on cycled routines),
and thus I would have worked at full-bore intensity nearly all the time. I
would not have needed to have had much in the way of layoffs and “break-
ing-in” periods because I would have been handling the progression scheme
properly, and not changing my exercises around much. My dictatorial men-
tor would have kept me from getting greedy about adding too much pound-
age at a time.. I would have added poundage slowly and in line with the rate at which I
could build strength. is would have made my gaining cycles long, and
reduced the amount by which I would have needed to cut back to start a new
cycle.. I would have been trained very hard, and at times extremely hard. But I
would never have been pushed so far that I would have become fearful of
training; and I would never have been driven to vomiting during a workout.
Poundage progression in good form would have been the criterion for train-
ing success, not intensity per se. My mentor would have repeatedly stressed
that effort is merely the tool to stimulate strength gain and muscular growth,
and not the end in itself. So long as my strength was increasing, then I was
training hard enough.. My mottos would have been “less is more” and “less is best.” Whenever in
doubt I would have chosen less rather than more—fewer sets, exercises and
workouts, but lots of effort.Everything would have been geared for making my body able to
withstand another small dose of iron on the bar for each exercise
every week or two, even if it was just a few ounces.