The Sprinter Versus Endurance Athlete…Again
But fundamentally basic cardiovascular training isn’t the same as endurance performance training which makes that particularly comparison dumb as hell. Similarly neither is the type of high-intensity interval training (HIIT) that usually comes along with this stupid comparison actual sprint training in the first place. And that’s where I’ll finish up next week.
Train Like an Athlete to Look Like an Athlete
In any case, I’m going to start today by addressing one of those trite phrases that gets thrown around from time to time in the fitness arena. I’ve looked at one of these before, in an admittedly tongue in cheek way (get it?) but this article is actually serious. Specifically the phrase I want to look at is the one that makes up the title of this piece: Train Like an Athlete to Look Like an Athlete.
Do Drugs Only Help a Little?
So in addition to any direct effects drugs have, the very concrete fact is that without them, guys can’t even get to the top levels in the first place. The training isn’t survivable or recoverable without them to begin with; the recovery and benefits is insurmountable. Hell, it’s usually been felt that most athletes top out in progress after about year 3…unless they start using drugs. They allow you to move past any upper genetic limit that might exist and without them; you hit a performance wall you won’t ever get past without them.
The Hypertrophy Zone
The second point, that is actually relevant was that Wes Barnett (then one of the US’s top lifters and hopefuls) was there to demonstrate. He was a big dude and I asked the coaches what he did for muscle growth. They told me that he would just do a high volume of sets of 5. This, of course, blew my all-knowing mind, I knew that the hypertrophy repetition range was higher than that. How could sets of 5 get it done? Clearly there was more to the topic than I then understood but I’m getting ahead of myself.
