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*copied from a subreddit
While sifting through*/r/Bodybuilding, you may have come across a user talking about "feeder workouts" and asked yourself, "wtf is that?"
Well, it's not nearly as foreign as you might think...
Rich Piana coined the term "feeder workout" during 2014 in one of his*YouTube videos.
In it, Rich describes how he workouts the muscle he worked the day before, for a mega set warm-up the next day.
For example, if you worked out arms on Wednesday, Thursday when you get to the gym you'll do 3 sets of 100 curls to start off and then begin your regular workout that day OR 3 sets of however many you can do. Obviously you'll want to workout contrasting muscles so your main workout isn't hindered.
"Feeder workouts" are also known as "double stimulation workouts". They are the same thing, so the term is interchangeable.
Why Feeder Workouts, i.e double stimulation, work
The first and foremost reason they work is their A+ ability to prolong protein synthesis in the muscles. If you are unaware, protein synthesis is the*process in which amino acids are rearranged into protein structures and used to build muscle. Protein synthesis lasts approximately*48 hours post workout, with the peak being at about the 24 hour mark post workout.
Why is this important? It's important because feeder workouts*extend*the protein synthesis conversion time, thus allowing for the muscle you worked out to continue growing for a longer period of time. The important thing to remember about feeder workouts and protein synthesis is that your nutrition and diet must be proper. If so, you will experience very low amounts of protein destruction, thus allowing for more synthesis and more gains.
A great supplement to use the day of a feeder workout is BCAA's right after.
The second reason why feeder workouts are important is because the muscle group you're working out is still "raw" and therefore will respond to a feeder workout exceptionally well.
What I mean is, the muscle group you blasted into submission the day before is still recovering. The muscle fibers are still healing, the blood is transporting oxygen at a higher rate and the onset feeling of "soreness" is happening. By introducing a feeder workout, or a double stimulation as some like to say, you're going to get a better alertness from the muscle group. As sore as they may be, you will feel your workout 10x more then you did the day before, therefore allowing you to focus on isolating the muscle group since you can feel it.
This is really a mind awareness thing but it works. If you aren't feeling your muscle isolated when working out, you're doing it wrong.
The last benefit to feeder workout is muscle responsiveness. By blasting your muscle in a workout, giving it some rest, then quickly blasting it again the following day, your muscle will respond better to the weight, allowing for maximum weight to be used and maximum muscle growth since. Your biceps, triceps, lats, pecks or whatever you choose will automatically respond to your workout.
A better explanation to what I wrote above is, say you're on the bench press. You're pushing 225 for 5 reps and you have no problem lifting then dropping to your chest, but when you are trying to push up, your have trouble getting your elbows vertical.
The following day, do a feeder workout of triceps only. When bench pressing, you're already using triceps, so isolating them the following day with a feeder workout with increase their responsiveness and thus, over time as you train, they will "respond" better to bench press and help you push the weight up and lock those elbows.
Complementary muscles. Knowledge about them goes a long way.
Below shows you three ways to utilize the feeder workout. I found this online with a quick Google search.
1 – For Faster Overall Size Gains
This is the application to use if you want to increase the gains you get from your main workouts. It requires that you split your training into synergist groups:
•Day 1: Pressing muscles (pecs, triceps, delts)
•Day 2: Pulling muscles (back, traps, biceps)
•Day 3: Legs (quads, hamstrings, calves)
It ideally requires training every day or using a 4-on/1-off schedule.
If you train daily it would look like this:
•Day 1: Legs (low intensity pump work); Pressing muscles (main workout)
•Day 2: Pressing muscles (pump work); Pulling muscles (main workout)
•Day 3: Pulling muscles (pump work); Legs (main workout)
•Day 4: Legs (pump work); Pressing muscles (main workout)
•Day 5: Pressing muscles (pump work); Pulling muscles (main workout)
•Day 6: Pulling muscles (pump work); Legs (main workout)
•Day 7: Legs (pump work); Pressing muscles (main workout)
Note that you could take days off during the week. If you do, don't do the pump work at the beginning of the workout. You have to do it within 24-36 hours of the main session.
If you want to do a 4-on/1-off split it would look like this:
•Day 1: Pressing muscles (main workout)
•Day 2: Pressing muscles (pump work); Pulling muscles (main workout)
•Day 3: Pulling muscles (pump work); Legs (main workout)
•Day 4: Legs (pump work); Abs, conditioning (optional)
•Day 5: OFF
•Repeat
Low intensity pump work should be just that. The goal is not to kill yourself or go balls out. Save that for your main workout.
It's simply to drive more nutrient-rich blood into the muscles worked the previous day. You also want to keep this first part of your workout under 15 minutes.
If you're using this first approach, it means that you'll need to pump all the muscles trained the previous day. Since you must do this in less than 15 minutes I suggest doing it as a circuit with one exercise for each of the muscles trained the day before.
For example, if your main workout Monday was pressing muscles, on Tuesday you'd start with a circuit like this:
One isolation exercise for the pectorals (pec deck machine, cable crossover, squeeze press, cable flyes, etc.)
One isolation exercise for the deltoids (front raise, lateral raise, 3-way laterals, etc.)
One isolation exercise for the triceps (dumbbell triceps extension, cable pressdown, etc.)
The reps should be between 8 and 12.
The type of contraction should be "constant tension" meaning that you control the movement, flexing the target muscle as hard as you can on every inch of every rep, never relaxing the muscle before the end of the set.
If you do 8-12 reps with the constant tension method, it means that each set should last at least 30 seconds and up to 50 seconds.
So the pump portion would look like this:
•Pec deck machine, 8-12 reps with constant tension
•15 seconds of rest
•Dumbbell lateral raise, 8-12 reps with constant tension
•15 seconds of rest
•Rope pressdown 8-12 reps with constant tension
•30-45 seconds of rest
Do this 3 to 5 times, as long as you're done in 15 minutes or less.
2 – To Bring Up a Slow-to-Grow Muscle Group
This is an easier approach to plan since you'll only do the feeder workout in one or two sessions a week. It'll be easier to include rest days and will allow you more leeway in selecting your training split.
It's fairly simple. First, choose one or two stubborn muscle groups in a training cycle. Then, every time you train one of these muscle groups, do a second stimulation session 24-36 hours later.
Since you're only doing one muscle group in your stim session, you don't have to do a circuit. In 15 minutes you can do two exercises using either straight sets of 8-12 reps with the constant tension rep style, or intensity techniques like drop sets, rest-pause, partials, etc.
It'll look like this:
•Reps per set: 8 to 12
•Sets: 3 or 4 per exercise
•Number of exercises: 2 or 3 (if doing a superset)
•Basic style of repetition: Constant tension (hard flex during reps)
•Possible intensity methods: drop set, rest-pause, full reps with added partial reps, or occlusion training
Remember, the goal of these stimulation workouts for slow-to-grow muscles is to engorge the muscle with as much blood as possible. The weight is irrelevant since you'll have done your heavier work the day prior.
3 – To Strengthen a Weak Muscle Group
Your focus here isn't so much on a muscle that's visually smaller than the others, but one that's a weak link in a big compound movement. For example, your triceps could be your weak muscle in the bench press, or weak glutes could be a limiting factor in the deadlift.
This approach is obviously for individuals training mostly for strength or doing a strength phase in which you focus on one main lift per workout.
Every time you perform a big lift, ask yourself which muscle is the weakest of the prime movers. Now, begin the next day's workout with isolation work for that muscle.
Since our goal is to develop strength and not necessarily size, we use slightly different loading parameters to correct the weakness:
•Reps per set: 6 to 8
•Sets: 6 to 8
•Number of exercises: 1 (Pick the exercise where you feel the target muscle group the most.)
•Basic style of repetition: Control the eccentric or lowering phase, accelerate during the concentric or lifting phase.
•Possible intensity method: Rest-pause, but stick mostly to normal sets.
Nutrition
Nutrition is important and if you eat like shit, you will train like shit and your muscles will look like shit.
Feeder workouts extend protein synthesis and allow the body to remain anabolic for a longer period of time. Proper utilization of Amino acids and carbohydrates should be used!
Sent from my SM-G950F using Tapatalk
While sifting through*/r/Bodybuilding, you may have come across a user talking about "feeder workouts" and asked yourself, "wtf is that?"
Well, it's not nearly as foreign as you might think...
Rich Piana coined the term "feeder workout" during 2014 in one of his*YouTube videos.
In it, Rich describes how he workouts the muscle he worked the day before, for a mega set warm-up the next day.
For example, if you worked out arms on Wednesday, Thursday when you get to the gym you'll do 3 sets of 100 curls to start off and then begin your regular workout that day OR 3 sets of however many you can do. Obviously you'll want to workout contrasting muscles so your main workout isn't hindered.
"Feeder workouts" are also known as "double stimulation workouts". They are the same thing, so the term is interchangeable.
Why Feeder Workouts, i.e double stimulation, work
The first and foremost reason they work is their A+ ability to prolong protein synthesis in the muscles. If you are unaware, protein synthesis is the*process in which amino acids are rearranged into protein structures and used to build muscle. Protein synthesis lasts approximately*48 hours post workout, with the peak being at about the 24 hour mark post workout.
Why is this important? It's important because feeder workouts*extend*the protein synthesis conversion time, thus allowing for the muscle you worked out to continue growing for a longer period of time. The important thing to remember about feeder workouts and protein synthesis is that your nutrition and diet must be proper. If so, you will experience very low amounts of protein destruction, thus allowing for more synthesis and more gains.
A great supplement to use the day of a feeder workout is BCAA's right after.
The second reason why feeder workouts are important is because the muscle group you're working out is still "raw" and therefore will respond to a feeder workout exceptionally well.
What I mean is, the muscle group you blasted into submission the day before is still recovering. The muscle fibers are still healing, the blood is transporting oxygen at a higher rate and the onset feeling of "soreness" is happening. By introducing a feeder workout, or a double stimulation as some like to say, you're going to get a better alertness from the muscle group. As sore as they may be, you will feel your workout 10x more then you did the day before, therefore allowing you to focus on isolating the muscle group since you can feel it.
This is really a mind awareness thing but it works. If you aren't feeling your muscle isolated when working out, you're doing it wrong.
The last benefit to feeder workout is muscle responsiveness. By blasting your muscle in a workout, giving it some rest, then quickly blasting it again the following day, your muscle will respond better to the weight, allowing for maximum weight to be used and maximum muscle growth since. Your biceps, triceps, lats, pecks or whatever you choose will automatically respond to your workout.
A better explanation to what I wrote above is, say you're on the bench press. You're pushing 225 for 5 reps and you have no problem lifting then dropping to your chest, but when you are trying to push up, your have trouble getting your elbows vertical.
The following day, do a feeder workout of triceps only. When bench pressing, you're already using triceps, so isolating them the following day with a feeder workout with increase their responsiveness and thus, over time as you train, they will "respond" better to bench press and help you push the weight up and lock those elbows.
Complementary muscles. Knowledge about them goes a long way.
Below shows you three ways to utilize the feeder workout. I found this online with a quick Google search.
1 – For Faster Overall Size Gains
This is the application to use if you want to increase the gains you get from your main workouts. It requires that you split your training into synergist groups:
•Day 1: Pressing muscles (pecs, triceps, delts)
•Day 2: Pulling muscles (back, traps, biceps)
•Day 3: Legs (quads, hamstrings, calves)
It ideally requires training every day or using a 4-on/1-off schedule.
If you train daily it would look like this:
•Day 1: Legs (low intensity pump work); Pressing muscles (main workout)
•Day 2: Pressing muscles (pump work); Pulling muscles (main workout)
•Day 3: Pulling muscles (pump work); Legs (main workout)
•Day 4: Legs (pump work); Pressing muscles (main workout)
•Day 5: Pressing muscles (pump work); Pulling muscles (main workout)
•Day 6: Pulling muscles (pump work); Legs (main workout)
•Day 7: Legs (pump work); Pressing muscles (main workout)
Note that you could take days off during the week. If you do, don't do the pump work at the beginning of the workout. You have to do it within 24-36 hours of the main session.
If you want to do a 4-on/1-off split it would look like this:
•Day 1: Pressing muscles (main workout)
•Day 2: Pressing muscles (pump work); Pulling muscles (main workout)
•Day 3: Pulling muscles (pump work); Legs (main workout)
•Day 4: Legs (pump work); Abs, conditioning (optional)
•Day 5: OFF
•Repeat
Low intensity pump work should be just that. The goal is not to kill yourself or go balls out. Save that for your main workout.
It's simply to drive more nutrient-rich blood into the muscles worked the previous day. You also want to keep this first part of your workout under 15 minutes.
If you're using this first approach, it means that you'll need to pump all the muscles trained the previous day. Since you must do this in less than 15 minutes I suggest doing it as a circuit with one exercise for each of the muscles trained the day before.
For example, if your main workout Monday was pressing muscles, on Tuesday you'd start with a circuit like this:
One isolation exercise for the pectorals (pec deck machine, cable crossover, squeeze press, cable flyes, etc.)
One isolation exercise for the deltoids (front raise, lateral raise, 3-way laterals, etc.)
One isolation exercise for the triceps (dumbbell triceps extension, cable pressdown, etc.)
The reps should be between 8 and 12.
The type of contraction should be "constant tension" meaning that you control the movement, flexing the target muscle as hard as you can on every inch of every rep, never relaxing the muscle before the end of the set.
If you do 8-12 reps with the constant tension method, it means that each set should last at least 30 seconds and up to 50 seconds.
So the pump portion would look like this:
•Pec deck machine, 8-12 reps with constant tension
•15 seconds of rest
•Dumbbell lateral raise, 8-12 reps with constant tension
•15 seconds of rest
•Rope pressdown 8-12 reps with constant tension
•30-45 seconds of rest
Do this 3 to 5 times, as long as you're done in 15 minutes or less.
2 – To Bring Up a Slow-to-Grow Muscle Group
This is an easier approach to plan since you'll only do the feeder workout in one or two sessions a week. It'll be easier to include rest days and will allow you more leeway in selecting your training split.
It's fairly simple. First, choose one or two stubborn muscle groups in a training cycle. Then, every time you train one of these muscle groups, do a second stimulation session 24-36 hours later.
Since you're only doing one muscle group in your stim session, you don't have to do a circuit. In 15 minutes you can do two exercises using either straight sets of 8-12 reps with the constant tension rep style, or intensity techniques like drop sets, rest-pause, partials, etc.
It'll look like this:
•Reps per set: 8 to 12
•Sets: 3 or 4 per exercise
•Number of exercises: 2 or 3 (if doing a superset)
•Basic style of repetition: Constant tension (hard flex during reps)
•Possible intensity methods: drop set, rest-pause, full reps with added partial reps, or occlusion training
Remember, the goal of these stimulation workouts for slow-to-grow muscles is to engorge the muscle with as much blood as possible. The weight is irrelevant since you'll have done your heavier work the day prior.
3 – To Strengthen a Weak Muscle Group
Your focus here isn't so much on a muscle that's visually smaller than the others, but one that's a weak link in a big compound movement. For example, your triceps could be your weak muscle in the bench press, or weak glutes could be a limiting factor in the deadlift.
This approach is obviously for individuals training mostly for strength or doing a strength phase in which you focus on one main lift per workout.
Every time you perform a big lift, ask yourself which muscle is the weakest of the prime movers. Now, begin the next day's workout with isolation work for that muscle.
Since our goal is to develop strength and not necessarily size, we use slightly different loading parameters to correct the weakness:
•Reps per set: 6 to 8
•Sets: 6 to 8
•Number of exercises: 1 (Pick the exercise where you feel the target muscle group the most.)
•Basic style of repetition: Control the eccentric or lowering phase, accelerate during the concentric or lifting phase.
•Possible intensity method: Rest-pause, but stick mostly to normal sets.
Nutrition
Nutrition is important and if you eat like shit, you will train like shit and your muscles will look like shit.
Feeder workouts extend protein synthesis and allow the body to remain anabolic for a longer period of time. Proper utilization of Amino acids and carbohydrates should be used!
Sent from my SM-G950F using Tapatalk
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