Today was supposed to be deadlifts. Most every night this week I had been sleeping ten hours a night, so this was bound to happen. Shit sleep.
Normally I would train anyway, but since today was deadlifts, I passed.
My goal was to get 275 lbs for two sets of 12 reps. I did one set of leg curls and left the gym. I don't like to "force" my training, unlike my eating.
Id like to stick with deads and shrugs for back, just to put on the extra mass. Im not big enough to be isolating my lats.
I may go back and see how my biceps feel later. If theres one muscle group that responds to isolation, it would be my biceps.
I was doing my split routine, with compounds then isolation. However, that really only works if your on a lot more juice, and your tendons can recover properly.
I will miss the pump I get from doing splits... but I know its good to listen to your body, and make the most out of my cycle.
Thanks again to IML for helping me reach my goals.
What do you mean you shouldn't "isolating" your lats? When you said you are doing deads & shrugs for back because you want to get big, does this mean you are ONLY doing deads & shrugs? If so, that is a huge mistake. First of all, deads and shrugs don't work yoir lats (bareky at all) and neglect the majority of muscle in your back. The only muscles in your back they work directly are traps and erectors. your lats are barely touched. You definitely need to be douing plenty of rows and chin/pulldown movements if you want to develop your back, as doing them is the ONLY way to develop not only your lats, but all the other important back muscles that contribute to a big back.
In terms of isolation, the only way to isolate your lats is to do some type of pulllover. All other movements, such as rows and chins/pulldowns are compound movements and are absolutely necessary for building up your back to its fullest potential. You will never come anywhnere close to developing your back to its full poitential when doing only deads and shrugs.
Also, just because something is an "isolation" exercise does not mean it isn't a mass-builder. for example, nearly every bicep and tricpe exercise is an isolation exercise--all curls and all types of tricep extensions. Are you going to stop doing those movments just because they're isolation movements? No, so if you wouldn't do that, then why you would stop training nearly your entire back? If your back lacks size, you don't gain size by negelcting almost every muscle in your back. You get big by working every single muscle in your back with the best mass-builders available. As another example, if you want your rear delts to get big, are you going to stop training them just because all rear delt movements are isolation exercises? Hell no...unless you don't want them to grow. You don't get big by negelcting muscles.
When people say you should not be focusing on isolation exercises if you want to get big, what they mean is that you shouldn't be focusing on exericises which don't build much size. Sometimes these end up being isolation exercises and sometimes they aren't. It all depends on the bodypart and the exercise you're referring to. In order to get big as fats as possible, you should be focusing on the best mass-builders available for each muscle, regardless of whether they are an isolation of comphd movements. Now, when it comes to muscle groups like the chest, back, and legs, the best exercises for growth are usually compound movemnts, but for other bodyparts, like arms and delts, you absolutely must do isolation exercises. For example, when it comes to delt training there are both compound and isolation exercises. Overhead presses would be considered a compound exercise, while side and rear laterals would be considered isolation exercises. Does this mean you should only be doing overhead presss for delts and nothing else? Sure, if you want to have shitty looking delts with very little size on the side and rear heads. If you want big delts, you will need to develop all 3 delt heads, which will require an overhead press, a side lateral, and a rear lateral. There is no way to get around it. Side and rear delts absolutely require isolation exercises in order to train them properly.
When it comes to a bodypart like the back, which contains many different muscles, doing only deads & shrugs would be a horrible freaking idea. You would be completely neglecting most of the muscles in your back!!! Doing that would be no different than doing just stiff leg deadlifts for your legs and then expecting your qauds to grow. Would anyone ever think that? Of course not, so why would you negect almost your entire back? Deads are not a lat builder...nor do they build the teres major, teres minor, infraspinatus, or rhomboids. You will get some minor, indirect work in your lats when doing deads simply because they are used to stabilize your torso, but this is nowhere near enough stress to cause appreciable growth in any of the muscles I just mentioned. Deads do not cause any of those muscles to strech & contract under load, which is crucial for stimulatimng meaningful growth. Basically, by doing only deads & shrugs, the only thing you would be doing for your lats and other back muscles is giving them a little static contraction...and not even a strong static contraction at that! Now, you may be thinking to yourself..."I have seen some powerlifters who do nothing but deads and they have a huge back". It is true that if a powerlifter focuses very hard on the Big 3, eats like a horse, and gets up to using very heavy weights on those lifts...his entire body will grow, including his lats, but they will never be anywhere near as big as they could have been. When is the last time you saw a powerlifter who does only deads that has a back like Dorian Yates or Ronnie Coleman? Uhhh...never.
When trying to get any muscle to develop as quickly as possible, you need to select those exercises which best work each muscle/muscle group. As another example, when selecing your bicep exercises, barbell curls would be considered a great mass-builder, but it is still an isolation exercises, as it is a single joint movements. However, something like one arm standing crucifix curls would NOT be considered a good mass-builder for the biceps. In the same way, lying tricep extensions (skulls) are a great mass-builder, but tricep kickbacks are a relatively poor mass-builder, even though both are isolation exercises. All the exercises I provided for you in the previous routine are good mass-builders. The routine will thoroughly work every major muscle group in your body...and it doesn't include any of the extra, unecessary stuff that won't do you any good at this point in your development. Now, as you gain experience you will eventually learn which exercises are the best for you and gravitate towards them, but this takes time. Right now, it is impossible for you to know if one mass-builder better suits your body than another, so until that time comes it is best to just stick with exercies which are considered good by just about everyone.
Ohh...and by the way, steroids don't heal the tendons--steroids damage the tendons...all steroids do. We used to think differently, but research has now shown this is not the case...at all. They actually prevent tendon healing, which is one of the reasons steroid users suffer injuries so much more frequently than non-users. As for your comment that it "takes a lot more juice"--I dont really think you understand how strong DMZ 3.0 actually is. It is stronger than any single prescription oral steroid ever released...period. Per mg, it is significantly stronger than testosterone or just about any other drug. This is not my opinion, it is a scientific fact, as proven by more than one clinical study and plenty of real-world experience. I gain more muscle in 30 days using DMZ 3.0 than when I use a gram of test a week...by a significant margin...and mor strength too! I have seen too many guys who don't realize or appreciate what they are actually using. They think that just because it is legal, that it couldn't possibly be that strong. It is. I either currently have or have access to basically any oral steroid I want and you know what oral I choose to use more than anything else? DMZ 3.0 or SD (was in the old DMZ).
