E-zine #11: Direct/Indirect for Efficiency/Recovery

We've worked through some very productive routines the past few months. They've all led us to a point from which we're almost ready to shed all the fat and take a look at what progress we've really made. We've learned through our experience at the ITRC that it's best to go into that fat-shedding mode at a slow pace. Our current routine serves to slowly allow us to add more volume gradually, without overly increasing our time in the gym. ITRC Development: Direct/Indirect for Efficiency/Recovery

We've worked through some very productive routines the past few months. They've all led us to a point from which we're almost ready to shed all the fat and take a look at what progress we've really made. We've learned through our experience at the ITRC that it's best to go into that fat-shedding mode at a slow pace. Our current routine serves to slowly allow us to add more volume gradually, without overly increasing our time in the gym.

With this particular routine we'll be able to work each bodypart directly once a week, but we'll have the added benefit of some indirect work as well. The direct/indirect approach is similar to the heavy/light work we did a while back, but there's really no light days. Take back as an example, when you work midback with rows and shrugs, you indirectly train the lats. When you work lats with chins, pulldowns and undergrip rows you indirectly train midback. Train these two sections'midback and lats'on separate days, and you get the direct/indirect effect. This is a sample of our new split (still keeping an off day during the week):

Monday:
– Middle/lower chest (indirect upper-chest and triceps work)
– Lats (indirect midback and biceps work)
– Upper traps (indirect delt work)
– Forearms/brachialis (indirect biceps work'reverse curls)

Tuesday:
– Quads (indirect lower-back work)
– Hamstrings (indirect lower-back work'stiff-legged deadlifts)
– Gastrocs (indirect soleus work)
– Abs

Wednesday: Off

Thursday:
– Delts (indirect trap work)
– Upper chest (indirect middle/lower-chest work
– Triceps
– Biceps (indirect forearm work)

Friday:
– Midback (indirect quad and hamstring work'regular deadlifts' and indirect lat work)
– Soleus (indirect gastroc work)
– Abs
– Lower Back

Weekends: Off

You can see that we're still taking the weekends off (with no plans of adding weekend training sessions soon), and we'realso keeping a mid-week rest day. By examining the sample day below, however, you'll notice that the volume is still increased. This should work out to be a great transitional routine.

Here's how our Thursday direct/indirect delts, upper chest, triceps and biceps routine looks:

Delts (indirect trap work)
Behind-the-neck presses 3 x 9, 7, 5
Dumbbell lateral raises 2 x 9-12, 8(5)

-Aftershock superset
Leaning one-arm laterals 1 x 7-9
Leaning one-arm laterals 1 x 7-9

Forward-lean lateral raises 1 x 9-12

Upper chest (indirect mid/lower chest work)
Smith-machine incline presses 2 x 9-12
Incline cable crossovers 2 x 9, 8(5)
Flat-bench cable flyes (middle, low) 1 x 8(5)

Triceps
Decline extensions 2 x 8-12

-Aftershock superset
Two-arm overhead dumbbell extensions 1 x 7-9
Pushdowns 1 x 7-9

Overhead cable extensions 1 x 8-12
Pushdowns 1 x 9(5)

Biceps (indirect forearm work)
Blaster barbell curls 2 x 8-12

-Aftershock superset
Incline curls 1 x 7-9
Barbell concentration curls 1 x 7-9

Concentration curls 2 x 8-10

Note: A rotation of 8(5) indicates a drop set'eight reps, reduce the weight and immediately do another set, aiming forfive reps.

Compared to last month's routine, this one may look a bit ominous. It's not that bad though. We're aiming to increase our volume and intensity, so you'll notice the addition of more Aftershock supersets. Increases such as this should be gradual, so if this seems like too much to start with, it's perfectly acceptable to add the intensity techniques or the extra sets slowly. Make whatever adjustments are necessary to help you avoid overtraining by jumping in too quickly.

For the complete ITRC Program 18, see the April '01 IRONMAN. For more on POF training go to http://www.ironmanmagazine.com

This special report was submitted by Jonathan Lawson
From the IRONMAN Training & Research Team
www.ironmanmagazine.com

The ITRC Training Newsletter is not intended as training advice for everyone. You must consult your physician before beginning any diet or training program. You may forward this email to as many friends as you want, but do not photocopy or reprint this report in any format without the written permission of the copyright holder.

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