There is alot that i forget that I wrote....but after reading a cut and paste of something I wrote on a site i decided to throw that one up here..........................................
This is the strongest statement I can ever, ever, ever say about bodybuilding. In my opinion the most important thing in this endeavor is mechanical positioning. It is the make or break of it. Everyone who isn't gaining loses sleep that they aren't doing
a) enough sets,
b) too much sets,
c) are in the wrong rep range,
d) etc.
It’s a bunch of bull****… Do you know what you aren't doing if you aren't gaining size? One of two things mainly...You are not training progressively… which most smart people who have figured out training know they have to do so that's the lesser problem......THE MAIN PROBLEM IS MECHANICAL POSITIONING. You need to put yourself into positions in exercises unique to your own body’s structure and then get progressive with those mechanical positions. Do you think people ever do this… NEVER! They have ****ty arms and have been training for 8 years and still do the same 4-8 bicep movements and the same 4-8 tricep movements they have just proven to themselves for the last 8 years HAVEN’T WORKED FOR THEM! Yet they keep thinking "well maybe I’m not doing enough sets, maybe I’m doing too many sets, maybe I’m in the wrong rep range… NO! You are doing the wrong exercises for your unique physical makeup.
Want to know an exercise that works for virtually everyone? Squats… not everyone but for the majority taking 135 for 12-20 squats and bringing that up to 405-500 pound squats for 12-20 reps are going to make your quads monstrous… almost universally… and with your connections and genetics and shape… the outcome will be determined by your unique genetics.
So there is an example of an exercise that is almost universally beneficial to people… but there is a slew of exercises that don't work… just don't plain work for people… and it’s your job as a bodybuilder to tweak and experiment and put yourself into mechanical positions until you think "AHHHH there it is… I think that is it… now I have to get progressive with this.”
I’ll give you an example. A lot of people myself included… barbell curls and cable curls and dumbbell curls really don't do much for us. We do the same things the majority of people do bicep wise but there isn't much of a result. I have to find exercises that do two things
1) stabilize my elbow totally,
2) pull my arm backwards first before I begin the curl process (maybe I’ll put up a video and show this).
Lats - a lot of people do the same same same exercises year after year over and over and they have proven to themselves (although they won’t admit) that these exercises the way they are doing them aren't doing jack **** for themselves.
I can spend 30 minutes with someone (and have just ask Dusty Hanshaw or Justin Harris who I showed a few tweaks in person) and show someone how to transform a simple lat movement that hasn't worked for the last 5 years to something that starts packing on width from that moment onward.
So what I’m trying to put out there for thought process is… stop worrying so much about "Am I doing enough? Am I doing too much?" and start really putting some thought about the mechanical positions you are in, the stretches you are in, the pauses you are in, the angles you are in that have proven over time to work for you or NOT work for you.
-Dante Trudel
