Auto-regulation is a process where you determine the volume and intensity of training for the day, literally based upon how you feel during that training session. The strange (and awesome) thing is, both research and anecdote has proven that training this way seems to stimulate significantly greater strength gains compared to traditional methods.
If you’ve had the chance to talk to some veterans of the iron game, you’d come across nebulous claims like “I train by feel” and “I listen to my body”. It turns out that what these people were doing, was training just enough to stimulate gains, but not too much.
Therein lies the first key point: Training too much is worse than training too little. When in doubt, do less, not more.
What we want to do, is create a system by which anyone can auto-regulate their training, and therefore train just enough. This is opposed to systems which call for fixed weight increases week-on-week.
An Important Note
Auto-regulation isn’t for beginners. This is because it makes use of the Rating of Perceived Exertion (RPE) scale.
This is an arbitrary scale by which you gauge how close you are to muscular failure. For example, an RPE of 10 means that you are just on the cusp of muscular failure; you couldn’t do another repetition if you tried. An RPE of 9 means that you could have managed 1 more rep if you tried.
This is key in auto-regulatory training, since we aim not to train too much by hitting an RPE of 10, while training enough to hit an RPE of 9.
Beginners face the problem of not having adequately good technique, as well as being unable to judge for themselves how close to failure they are. For such trainees, a strict protocol works best.
Still, there are a group of gym-rats who love to push themselves to the absolute maximum during a workout (I was one of them). If you persist in doing that, I will guarantee minimal gains.
This is the second key point: You need to be honest with how hard you are training, only training to RPE 9 on most occasions.
Some Specific Protocols
With that out of the way, this topic is still pretty broad. What I’ll do is to point you to 3 knowledge bases of information, and you be the judge upon reading those.
For a tried and true method, look up Reactive Training Systems by powerlifter Mike Tuchscherer
For a good review of the methods out there, view the article by Matt Perryman.
Finally, if you’re more ambitious, hit up Google translate and read the article by Børge Fagerli on some of his methods to auto-regulation, as well as his four part series on myo-reps. [Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4]
Personally, I have made tremendous gains on Børge Fagerli’s Myo-reps program. An example of my gains include an increase in the Dumbbell shoulder press from 15kg x 8 to 25kg x 8 in 8 weeks (and is still going up), a great feat for me given that shoulders were one of my weak body parts.
After all that touting of greatness, one may ask: If this is so great, why aren’t many people training like this.
I think it’s mainly because traditional methods work, so there’s no harm in following them. Most people would rather stay safe and do something that they know works, rather than venturing out to novel territory.
Probably more important is the fact that you just don’t see many people train this way. There’s no reassurance that you’re going on the right path. (see the sample routines in the notes to see what I mean)
And that’s the third and final key point: You have to take a long term view and accept progress over a period of months. At the end of the day, the only way you’ll know if auto-regulation is as great as I make it seem will be to resolve to give it an 8 week run.
Do it soon though. I predict that we’ll see more and more people talking about auto-regulation in the future. Jump on the bandwagon today and you can boast of your gains when the hype finally peaks. Until then, keep this secret weapon in your arsenal.
—
Notes:
As mentioned above, the way such routines are set out may surprise people. What is most surprising in my opinion is the number of exercises per workout for each body part: oftentimes having only 1 exercise in each workout.
I too was thinking, “How can I grow off so little work?” My experience has proven me wrong.
Sample workout routines:
Heavy Core Day – Training in the 5-6 rep range
(weights in kg. Worksets in Bold. Everything else is a warmup/ramp-up set)
- Decline Bench Press: 60×5, 70×5, 80×5, 85×5, 90×5, 95×5, 85×9
- Barbell Rows: 60×5, 70×5, 80×5, 85×5, 87.5×5, 90×5, 85×5, 85×5,85×5
- Military Press: 30×5, 40×5, 45×5, 50×5, 52.5×5, 55×5, 52.5×5, 52.5×5
- Barbell Curls: 30×5, 35×5, 37.5×5, 40×5, 42.5×5, 45×5, 40×10
Light Limb Day – Training in the 12-15 rep range
(all training with myo-reps. Not including warmups)
- Leg Press: 13 reps + 4 + 4 + 4 + 4
- Calf Raise: 12 reps + 4 + 4 + 4
- Romanian Deadlift: 13 reps + 4 + 4 + 4 + 4
- JM Press: 15 reps + 5 + 5 + 5
- Barbell Curls: 15 reps + 4 + 4 + 4 + 4
5 sets – one for each major body part.
Yes, they look weird. But rewards are there for the adventurous, and I encourage you to read the articles linked above.
No related posts.
Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.
