Elite Physique The New Science of Building a Better Body

282 Elite Physique
Training to Failure and Pursuing PRs
Pushing yourself to momentary muscular failure is a technique you want to use
sparingly. It works best with body weight or single-joint exercises. Most of the
time, you want to stop a set a few reps short of failure, and before you need to
change your form to achieve a repetition.
As for PRs, you can still pursue them, with two caveats:
1. If you just turned 40, think of every set you do as a new PR for you in your
40s. Same if you just turned 50 or 60. There’s no point comparing your
current lifts against what you did in your 20s or 30s.
2. Don’t think of them as a one-repetition max. Establish a 5RM on a jointfriendly
exercise like the dumbbell bench press or hex-bar deadlift. Push
yourself to surpass it once or twice a year, but back away if it feels uncomfortable
or if you have to change your form to go heavier.
Rest
This is the most important rule of all. If you feel like you need an extra day
between workouts, you do. Same for those days when you get to the gym and
realize everything feels a little “off.” Spend that workout doing light cardio, or go
home and give your body the rest it needs. The gym will still be there tomorrow
or the next day or the next week.
Understanding your body’s signals is one of the biggest benefits of the aging
process. You’ve earned these insights the hard way, with thousands of workouts
and perhaps dozens of injuries. If you listen to your body at the right moments,
you’ll enjoy thousands more workouts with minimal risk of inflicting new aches
and pains.
Final Thoughts
Now that we’ve reached the end of the book, there are a few key things to keep
in mind. First, be patient. Making significant improvements in muscle mass or
fat loss takes months, not weeks. Sure, you should see some visual changes in
the mirror every few weeks, as we covered back in chapter 1, but for most of
you, the body and performance you seek most will require many months of
hard work and dedication. Second, take a few days off or decrease the volume of
your workouts when you’re feeling run down. If you’ve been training intensely
and haven’t missed any workouts for many weeks straight, often five to seven
days off actually increases your strength and muscle mass. Third, if your fat loss
comes to a halt, the culprit is almost always your nutrition plan. Adhere to the
guidelines for fat loss covered in chapter 11.