Different Workout Programs and Genetics

There are so many different types of workouts that plenty of people swear by available out there that I am not going to get too in-depth in this article. I have tried almost every workout program you can think of over the years; powerlifting, 5x5, H.I.T., periodization training, and many others that I do not feel the need to mention. I had better success with some programs over others, but that is because everyone’s bodies are different.

I was able to meet plenty of people that loved to work out when I was in the Marine Corps, and I could see how what worked for one person would not for another. I knew guys that could naturally bench 400 pounds, and other guys that had to work for years to accomplish that goal. Some guys could bench twice their bodyweight, while some could barely bench their own body weight. It made me wonder why some people were naturally strong or fast, and why some people really had to work for it.

A significant percentage of the equation is probably what you have already guessed, which is genetics. If you study human anatomy, you learn that muscles are made up of fast-twitch and slow-twitch fibers. Everyone has a different amount and percentage of each depending on genetics. Fast-twitch fiber is more specialized to perform explosive, powerful movements, while slow-twitch is better at endurance exercise. This is also why a lot of those guys that could bench twice their bodyweight were not very good in the 3-mile run. Now, some guys are naturally beasts and could do very well in both, but that definitely was not the norm.

There is no accurate way to tell what your muscle composition is, excluding a biopsy, besides finding out what you are naturally good at, and then tailoring your workouts. Personally, I have never been a strong heavy-bench or squat person, but what I always excelled at were repetitions. I could never bench 400 pounds, no matter how hard I worked, but I could perform more repetitions with 135 or 225 than most guys could. Yes, I am stronger than a majority of guys in the gym, but my genetics and muscle make-up prevented me from passing a certain weight when it came to strength.

What this meant to me was that my muscle was made up of a larger percentage of slow-twitch fibers when compared to fast-twitch. The good news is that both muscle fiber types will grow, if provided the proper stimulus. What I will cover are tricks I have learned to stimulate muscle growth no matter what your genetic predisposition is.

Factor 1: Weight and Repetitions

No matter what program you decide to follow when you are planning each of your workouts, there are 3 main factors that I have found have the greatest impact on results, and that you can manipulate at your discretion: the first one being the weight and repetitions.

Of course, heavy weights and low repetitions are going to provide the greatest stimulus to fast-twitch muscle fibers and cause the most damage in the shortest amount of time. They allow you to recruit large amounts of muscle fiber and induce micro-tears that cause muscle to respond by adapting by growing back stronger.

On the other hand, a moderate weight with higher repetitions has advantages as well. Like I said before, both types of muscle fiber can be stimulated to grow, and the best way to fatigue slow-twitch fibers are higher repetitions. It is a good idea to include both styles in your workout program. This could be heavy sets followed by lighter sets to failure in the same workout, one heavy day a week and one lighter day, or I have even seen programs where it is a week or two of heavy workouts followed by a week or two of lighter workouts.

Once you get an idea of the hand genetics has dealt you, you can focus more on heavy or light sets to failure for the majority of your workouts, to stimulate the most muscle growth.

There is one more important point I want to make in this section. Through research, scientists have discovered that overall, more people benefit from higher repetitions when working muscles such as the calves, shoulders, glutes, abdominals, and arms because these muscles contain more slow-twitch fibers on average.

You can also try a technique called a drop-set, where you start with a set to failure and immediately drop down to a lighter weight without rest to failure once again, so you are able to push out more reps and induce more muscle hypotrophy. Usually a drop-set includes the first set and then one or two following sets, dropping the weight each time.

One thing to keep in mind is that your muscles can sense the slightest increase in resistance or weight, even the slightest amount. This is called “progressive overload”, and it should be one of your main goals, only if it’s a small percentage each week. That being said, you can only progress up to a certain point to where you will reach your genetic potential and plateau. This is a great time to change up your workout program by doing different rep ranges, different exercises, or the techniques I cover later in this section. The goal is to always confuse your muscles and give them a new stimulus that forces them to grow.

Factor 2: Rest Between Sets

The second main factor you can take advantage of to stimulate muscle growth is rest. What I am referring to is the amount of time you take between sets.

For the greatest muscle growth, resting 1 to 3 minutes has shown to be the best, with 3 minutes being the sweet spot in the latest studies.

If you are training for endurance and really want to kick up your fat-burning and energy expenditure (as well as getting some cardio), switch to a moderate weight and only rest 30 to 60 seconds between sets of any particular exercise. You’ll be surprised how quickly your strength goes down and your heartbeat stays elevated with less rest, but I have noticed great pumps using this style of workout!

Factor 3: Time Under Tension

The third and last main factor that I want to cover is in my opinion the greatest stimulus of muscle growth, and that is time under tension. Most studies say that any given set should have 30 to 70 seconds of time under tension to really stimulate the muscle. That means that counting the concentric and eccentric phases of the movement which would be number of reps times the seconds up and seconds down (in bench press for example) should equal that time under tension.

I want you to actually pay attention the next time you got to the gym and see if you are anywhere close to those numbers. I see plenty of people doing 8 to 12 reps going 1 second up and 1 second down, which is pretty much throwing the weight around and using momentum to hit a certain rep number for ego.

As I have gotten older and become a higher risk for injuries in the gym, I tried to find a way to keep the weights moderate but maintain my size and muscle mass. What worked for me was to draw out time under tension. I had to lower my usual working weight for most of my exercises, which was an ego hit, but I found the workouts to actually be more difficult than the heavier weights.

For most people, 2 seconds concentric and 3 to 4 seconds eccentric is a great starting tempo for workouts like this. You’ll be surprised how slow 3 or 4 seconds go when you are holding weight! Your goal should be to set your tempo or time under tension so that the positive and negative parts of the repetition fail on the same rep. For flat dumbbell press, what I found to work for me was to do the normal 2 seconds up, and 5 or 6 seconds down to achieve this. On the last rep I struggled to get the weights up and then could barely slow them at all on the way down. That is actual “total failure”.

The Importance of Eccentric Movements

What most people don’t realize is that the eccentric phase of the repetition actually has been found in some research to have greater muscle stimulus than the concentric phase! A study was done where they had 3 groups of lifters; one group did only concentric movements (contracting), one group did only eccentric movements (the negative part of the rep), and the last group did regular full concentric and eccentric reps.

As expected, the group that did the regular full rep had the greatest muscle growth, but guess which group had the second greatest muscle growth? The group that did only the eccentric or negative part of the movement, and the concentric only group came in last.

When I first read this study, it didn’t make sense to me so I researched the actual science behind it. What I discovered was that the greatest stimulus to a muscle is when it is contracted and then stretched. In other words, the muscle is holding a weight and then lengthened. This causes the most damage to the muscle, in turn triggering the largest amount of growth. This is also why most muscle injuries such as tears and strains happen during the negative or eccentric part of a movement.

Negative-Only Training Techniques

What most people don’t realize when lifting weights is that when they go to “failure” on a set, it is the usually positive failure. If I got on a bench and did 10 reps with the heaviest weight I could to failure, I guarantee I could still do a couple negative only reps with that same weight if someone lifted it up each time for me. This is because the negative side of any movement is stronger than the positive side.

I used to do negative only sets on bench with 405, but could never bench that much in a regular set. Another way you can achieve this, for example, is once you fail on a set of any given exercise have a partner assist you in the positive movement of the rep, then slowly do the negative on your own. Do a couple of these until you can barely slow down the weight and it also has the same effect. These negative only sets are very stressful to your body, and it is recommended to do them once a week at most for a muscle group.

Another trick I learned is to do a 1-minute rep. This involves picking a moderate weight, and then trying to get 30 seconds straight in the eccentric and 30 seconds straight in the concentric. Finishing my chest workout with this gave me a great pump and made me sore, which rarely even happens.

On bench for example, I would pick up the weight and count to 30 in my head, moving the weight as slowly as I could. I would then pause at the bottom, then lift the weight as slowly as I could to reach 30 seconds to the lock-out. Trust me, your muscles will be twitching and shaking during the rep if you do it correctly. 30 seconds seems like an eternity and it will seem like you are barely moving the weight, but it works. Just remember to start with a weight that is a little bit lower than you can do for 10 reps. So, if I could bench 275 for 10, I would probably go around 20 percent lower than that (225) to start with.

Moving Forward: Timing

We’ve broken down macronutrients, sugar, calories, the glycemic index, and workouts. Now it’s time to put it all into practice. The final step will show you how to structure your day—what to eat, when to eat it, and when to train—so you can fire up your metabolism, balance hormones, burn fat, and build real muscle.

— Return to the navigation page, scroll to the bottom, and click the link to start building your personalized plan. The time for learning is over—the time for action is now!