# Lucky on December 18th, 2008 12:03 pm

Andrew, no I don’t mean to do the SET faster but the entire workout faster. Did you read Vince’s program? You have specific lifting times, how long you raise the weight and how long you lower it. So you can’t change that. But what you can do is make sure you don’t cheat on your rest periods, which are sometimes 30 seconds. So the overall time is shorter. Also I didn’t state that you try to do more on your last set, I don’t know how you got that. It’s about how much work you do per body part and overall and surpassing that workload the next workout. THAT is progressive overload and that’s why you should complete the required reps in a set before moving on to the bigger weight.

TOTALLY AGREE WITH YOU. REST PERIODS- I NEED TO READ MORE PROFESSIONAL RESEARCH ON THIS. I KNOW ABOUT IT, BUT IT DOESN’T MAKE TOO MUCH SENSE. IF YOU TAKE LESS REST, YOU LIFT LESS WEIGHT. IF YOU TAKE MORE REST, YOU LIFT MORE WEIGHT. IF YOU LIFT MORE WEIGHT, THEN MORE FORCE APPLIED TO A RECRUITMENT PATTERN OVER TIME, WHICH RESULTS IN MUSCLE GROWTH. I JUST SWITCH IT UP BASED ON MY GOAL OF THE ROUTINE. SHORTER REST PERIODS DEF HELP OUT WITH TEACHING YOUR BODY TO FIGHT THROUGH FATIGUE, GREAT FOR SOCCER, BASKETBALL, AND LAX PLAYERS.

# Lucky on December 18th, 2008 12:10 pm

Oh yes and you DON’T hit the same exact muscle fibers when you do the second set or the third set or the forth one. You recruit more and more muscle fibers because the muscle is forced to do so to lift the weight on the other sets, which equals to maximum muscle fiber recruitment for that body part. This is proven actually and it recruits more muscle fibers than with just one set. Aldo if you do only one set, that set is never the maximum of work you can preform but in most cases the second or the third one or one of the following, this is because you need to activate your neuromuscular connections (one of the most important things) first and if you perform just one set you won’t do that.

I DISAGREE WITH YOUR TOTAL STATEMENT. THE ONLY WAY YOU HIT MORE OR DIFFERENT FIBERS IS IF YOU CHANGE THE DIRECTION OF RESISTANCE OR DO MORE THAN YOU DID THE PREVIOUS WORKOUT. I SUGGEST YOU RESEARCH HOW THE MUSCLE FIBERS ARE ACTUALLY RECRUITED DURING EXERCISE. SLOW TWITCH FIRST THAN FAST TWITCH.

if you do only one set, that set is never the maximum of work you can preform but in most cases the second or the third one or one of the following, this is because you need to activate your neuromuscular connections (one of the most important things) first and if you perform just one set you won’t do that.

I ACTIVATE MY NEUROMUSCULAR CONNECTIONS EVEN BEFORE I START LIFTING THE SET. WHAT DO YOU THINK TELLS YOUR MUSCLES TO MOVE? IF IT AIN’T YOUR CNS, THEN YOU ARE NOT WORKING OUT. IF YOU JUST PAVED YOUR DRIVE WAY, WOULD YOU REPAVE IT? NO, BECAUSE IT WOULD REQUIRE YOU TO WORK MORE AND USE VALUABLE RESOURCES TO REPAVE IT WHEN IT DOESN’T NEED TO BE DONE. THE SAME WITH EXERCISE. WHY DO TWO OR THREE SETS, WHEN YOU CAN DO ONE. I AM NOT SAYING THAT YOU ALWAYS HAVE TO LIMIT YOUR SELF TO ONE SET, BUT IF YOU’VE BEEN DOING 3 OR 4 SETS FOR EACH EXERCISE, I THINK THAT YOU MIGHT BE OVERDOING IT AND HINDERING YOUR CHANCES OF SUCCESS.