Workout considerations

Things to consider when devising your own workouts

When devising your workouts you need to bare the following requirements:

1. Stress on the muscles - trying to achieve the optimal stress / workload to trigger maximum hypertrophy.

2. Overtraining - tied in with the above, it is very tricky to get the right amount of training to cause maximum growth without tipping over into an overtrained state.

3. Injury risk - bodybuilding is a marathon, not a sprint. Risking injury by training too heavy or with poor form might help you in the short term by upping the intensity in your workout but if you get injured you'll suffer a lay-off while you recover but from now until you die you'll have a risk of re-injuring the same spot every workout due to scar tissue. I injured my pecs by doing crazy workouts so many times when I was young that eventually my left pec gave out along a scar tissue stress line and my pec tore almost completely apart (90%).

4. Muscle prioritisation. Once you've packed on some good muscle you'll start to notice that some muscle groups seem to respond better than others and you'll start getting out of balance. To counter this you need to prioritise your weaker groups. You can do this by training them first in your workouts, with more intense workouts for the weak groups or by reducing the volume and intensity on the faster growing groups.

Return to the Training Home page.

Go to my Chest, Delts and Triceps workout
Go to my Back and Biceps workout
Go to my Legs workout

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With effort, determination and consistent dedication to your diet, training and supplementation you will be able to achieve a physique like you can barely begin to imagine. There is nothing stopping you...

Want to learn more about weight training, read our guide on weight training basics.