Instinctive Training Bodybuilding
Science tells us that despite any genetic advantage one bodybuilder might have over another, or the amount of HGH and testosterone floating around, all muscles are built in the same way at the molecular level. A muscle fiber is activated by alpha motor neurons that force the muscle to contract is based on the firing speed of these neurons which is called the rate-coding.
Slow twitch muscles fibers or type 1 muscle fibers start to reach fatigue when the resistance starts to increase. The brain then opens the gate for the release of stronger and bigger muscle fibers called type 2 or fast twitch muscle fibers. These fibers are best activated with explosive movements using heavy weights.
It is important to keep in mind when training instinctively that each muscle or muscle group has different fiber compositions. For example, part of the calf muscle is a muscle called the gastrocnemius composed out of 60% type 1, or slow twitch muscle fibers, the other calf muscle is called the soleus muscle, which is 85% type 1.
This means that if you want this muscle to increase in size you need to do at least 15 to 20 reps when doing these movements to train these two calf muscles. If we want to recruit the type 2 muscles in the calf we need to go into the pain barrier and stay there, it is not easy to activate the fast twitch type 2 muscle fibers in the calf.
Training instinctively is similar to eclectic training because you are changing your workout according to how you feel that day. It does not mean that if you don't feel like squatting today that you should ride a bike rather. It means that with bodybuilding instinctive training you still need to train with squats but you change your sets and reps that you use, which immediately changes the weight you lift.
Keeping a workout journal will help you to keep track of what training schedule works best for you. Some of the great bodybuilders that kept journals of every workout they did are Bill Pearl and Frank Zane who have left a valuable contribution to understanding their muscle building success.
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