The 12 Habits of Big Lifters

by Clay Hyght, DC | 11/24/14

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Here's what you need to know...

If hypertrophy is your main goal, spend time in all rep ranges. It's
not all "go heavy or go home."
To optimally build muscle, you also need some Olympic lifting
and powerlifting.
You're probably not training hard enough. (Yes, you.)
Twice a year, get your physique professionally evaluated.
You cannot wing it. Have a plan, keep a training log, and focus
on consistency.
Many bodybuilders look good not because of what they do,
but in spite ofwhat they do.
Don't blindly follow the advice of someone just because they look
great. Instead, seek out a good coach.

1.Big lifters use a variety of rep ranges.

Training for size and training for pure strength are different. Sure,
there's some correlation between size and strength, but just because
someone is big doesn't mean they're all that strong... and vice versa.
The reason for this is largely due to just how different hypertrophyoriented training and strength training actually are. Getting stronger
requires creating maximum tension in the muscle, and you accomplish
this via heavy weight and moving that heavy weight as forcefully as
possible. This leads to more myofilaments being laid down and
improvements in your nervous system, both of which help you become
stronger.

On the other hand, training for hypertrophy requires a much more

varied approach. In addition to doing some heavy sets using your 15RM, you'll also have to spend ample time inducing metabolic fatigue
via higher-rep sets. This includes the 6-10, 10-15, and 15-20 rep
ranges.
So the realistic question becomes, where do you spend your training
time? If building muscle is your main goal, you're going to have to
spend time in all rep ranges.
It's not just rep ranges, either. Even the execution is different. With
bodybuilding training you need to focus more on feeling the muscle,
whereas with strength training more of your focus is on simply moving
the weight.
Rest intervals are also different. Strength training requires longer rest
intervals while hypertrophy training calls for shorter ones. Again, you're
forced to decide if your goal is hypertrophy or strength, and then train
accordingly.

2.Big guys use the powerlifts and even some Olympic-style lifts.

If I were starting over again in bodybuilding, one thing I'd certainly do

different would be to implement some Olympic-style lifting as well as
some powerlifting.
Now, the only two Olympic lifts these days are the snatch and the
clean and jerk, but for bodybuilding purposes you should do the nowretired clean and press over the clean and jerk.
When it comes to powerlifting, we're talking about the bench press,
squat, and deadlift. Despite the popularity of the bench press, you
should focus more on the latter two.

Now let's get specific.

Not many bodybuilders have great backs. That's just a reality. Even if
someone has big lats, they tend to be thick in the upper back between
the scapulae.
However, by implementing the snatch, you'd not only beef up your
upper back, but also the external rotators of the shoulder. The same
goes with the clean portion of the clean and jerk, a.k.a. power cleans.
They're excellent for building a thick, powerful upper back, traps, rear
delts, etc.

Related: More on the clean

If you'd like to hit these upper-back areas as well as work on your
shoulders, try the clean and press. It's not as easy as sitting on your
butt and pressing the barbell overhead, but it's sure as heck more
functional and offers more bang for your training buck. That doesn't
mean you shouldn't ever do seated barbell or dumbbell overhead
presses. Instead, swap them for the clean and press fairly regularly.
For the record, do these Olympic lifts near the beginning (or first) in
your workout, which is where explosive power movements belong.
As for the big three of powerlifting, surely you already do the bench
press and squat, but instead of doing them in a higher-rep
bodybuilding manner, occasionally do them like a powerlifter would
heavy weight, low reps, and long rest periods. The same goes for
deadlifts, which sadly aren't as popular in bodybuilding circles as they
should be.

3.They have their physiques honestly evaluated.

You are the worst judge of your physique. When judging ourselves we
tend to be overly critical or overly praiseworthy. Either way, if you want
to build a really high-quality physique, you need to elicit outside help.
Oftentimes, someone who has experience judging physique
competitions will be well suited to assess your physique. Or have an
old-school bodybuilder who's been around the block take a look. And
don't discount people outside the world of competitive bodybuilding
who just so happen to have a really good eye.
Until you have one trusted person to go to, have a few willing people
take a look at your physique. You'll likely spot trends in what they say.

If so, they're probably on to something, whether you like it or not. As a

last resort, take pictures of yourself and evaluate them (as best you
can), pretending it's someone else's physique. Perhaps cropping your
head out of the photo will help.
Evaluate your physique at least a couple times per year. That's the
only way you can construct a personalized training program to help
take your physique to the next level.

4.They use a variety of set, rep, and rest schemes.

It's true that if you had to train in one rep range for hypertrophy, it'd be
8-12 reps per set. Three sets per exercise with 60-90 seconds rest

between sets are also no-nonsense rules of thumb. However, you

really shouldn't spend any more than half of your training time
implementing these "ideal" variables.
Time and time again the best results come from spending more time
using a variety of set, rep, and rest protocols. For example, try doing
10 x 3 with 2 minutes rest between each of those 10 sets. Doing this
for 6-8 weeks will do wonders for your strength and it does a great job
of building dense muscle. Then when you return to training in that
coveted 8-12 range, you'll be able to use more weight, which has
obvious benefits that'll ultimately lead to larger muscles.
On the flip side, implement periods of lighter sets with shorter rest
intervals. For example, try 5 x 15-20 with just 20-30 seconds rest. This
will create a lot of metabolic stress that does wonders for making
muscles fuller and "rounder" looking.

Related: 22 Proven Rep Schemes

There are different ways to implement training variety. You can use
variety within one workout for a particular body part, or you can
implement training cycles of roughly four to eight weeks where you
emphasize heavy, light, or moderate resistance training with
corresponding rest intervals.

5.They train harder than you! (Probably.)

It's mind blowing how many people complain about how they can't
seem to make progress despite doing everything just right... or so they
think. Of course, when you actually watch them train, you see they're
not training anywhere near hard enough!
You're probably thinking that this doesn't apply to you and that it refers
to other people, but chances are you don't train hard enough, either.
It's just the statistical truth.
The fact is, training hard is... well, it's really hard! It takes tremendous
focus and even more effort to keep pushing when every part of your
body and brain is telling you to stop. But if you're able to push through

and block out the pain, you'll find that you can stimulate progress like
never before.
To be clear, we're not talking about training hard on every single set,
week in and week out. That'd lead to overtraining in no time. Rather,
we're talking about the intelligent application of training all-out.

Related: How Hard Do You Need to Work Out?

Once you've determined that a particular set needs to be taken to
concentric failure, then do that set like your life depends on it,
squeezing out every single rep humanly possible! Doing so is
analogous to telling your muscles to grow versus politely asking them
to.
And it's not just about doing more reps; it's putting all your "oomph"
into the concentric portion of each and every rep. This will ensure
maximal stimulation of the muscle by maximizing the number of
working muscle fibers.
To do this, you'll need to begin to mentally prepare for an upcoming
workout 30-60 minutes ahead of time. Use your drive to the gym as
part of this prep time, jamming your favorite get-fired-up music on the
way. Once you're at the gym, maintain that focus. Don't text your
girlfriend, update your Facebook status, or check to see who's posted
what on Instagram. Stay focused on your upcoming set.
It'll be tremendously difficult at first, but it'll get somewhat less difficult
over time. But don't expect it to ever be easy. If training hard were
easy, lots of people would have badass physiques.

6.Big lifters know when to take a rest.

Not resting enough is often the single biggest mistake people make in
bodybuilding. It stems from the desire to always outwork the
competition and the erroneous thought process that more is better.
But here's the deal: training week-in week-out takes its toll, particularly
on the central nervous system. This is especially the case if you take
most of your sets to failure.
We tend to think we've "recovered" when our muscles are no longer
sore. Not only is this a bad indicator of the myofibrils actually being
repaired, but it also fails to take into account recovery of the CNS. So,
to help ensure full and complete recovery over time, you should

employ two types of rest: 1) rest from hard training, and 2) complete
rest from training altogether.
Regarding rest from intense training, divide your training into eightweek blocks. During those eight weeks, train all-out for five of them.
During the other three weeks, don't take your work sets to failure but
instead leave two or three reps in the hole.
As for complete rest from training, either take a half-week off every
eight weeks, or take a full week off every 16 weeks. This may seem
like a lot of time off, but if you're legitimately training hard, then you'll
benefit from it.

7.They have a plan.

"If you fail to plan, then you're planning to fail." Good quote, and it
definitely applies to bodybuilding success.
Lifters that "wing it" tend to be lifters that are on a never-ending
plateau. Guys that make ongoing, steady progress have a plan, both
for training and nutrition. Whether your goal is to gain muscle, lose fat,
or a combination thereof, I simply cannot overstate the importance of a
plan.
It seems that training plans of six to eight weeks and nutrition plans of
two weeks in duration tend to be optimal, but you can arguably adjust
the duration a bit one way or the other and still succeed.

Whatever you do, don't just vacillate from meal to meal, workout to
workout. And don't try to justify it by calling it "instinctive training" or
eating. By doing so you'll be at the whim of your current mood, energy
status, etc., and that's simply not optimal.

8.They keep a training log.

When it comes to training, your logbook is an extension of your current

training program. Without it, you're going to have to wing it in regard to
a large portion of your workout.
A training program will tell you what exercises to do, how many sets to
do, and what rep range you should be in. But it's your training log that

will tell you exactly how much weight you used and how many reps you
performed the last time you did that workout or exercise. Only by
having that info can you select the right weight and know exactly how
many reps to shoot for in your current workout.
Let's say your training program calls for 4 sets of 8-10 barbell squats.
You refer to your logbook and see that (not counting warm-ups) you did
275 x 11, 285 x 10, 295 x 8, and 295 x 7 on those four sets.
You then know to shoot for something more like 285 x 10, 290 x 9, 295
x 8, and 295 x 8 this time around. You've finely tuned your weight
selection to put you back in the 8-10 range on that first set, and you
improved one rep on that last set of 295 by doing 8 instead of 7.
You simply can't train with that level of precision if you don't keep a
training log. And you don't have the benefit of seeing where you
potentially and realistically could squeeze out another rep without it.

9.They take care of their bodies.

Some lifters don't do a very good job of taking care of their bodies.
They think that all is well as long as they look good, a classic example
of naivet. These are also the types of lifters who have very few "glory
years."
For starters, pay attention to aches and pains. For some reason it's
considered tough to train through injuries, but tough doesn't mean
smart. Pain is your body's way of telling you something's wrong.
Let's say you're doing barbell curls and you feel pain on the inside of
your elbow. Guess what? It's likely the onset of medial epicondylitis
(golfer's elbow). If treated early, it's a pretty simple fix. When it's

ignored for weeks, or even worse, months, it's going to be a lot harder
to fix and it's going to be a lot longer until you're pain-free again.
For the record, by stretching your wrist flexors you can quite likely
avoid getting golfer's elbow to begin with. Now that we're on the topic
of stretching, it's something that you should be doing daily. Just
consider stretching part of training because it is!
The same goes for foam rolling, and if you can afford to get soft tissue
work done regularly, do that, too!

Related: 15 Foam Rolling Techniques

Lastly, if you're over 35 or use performance-enhancing drugs, get your
blood work and probably urinalysis done fairly regularly. Much like
soft-tissue injuries, if you find something wrong, it'll be far easier to
correct sooner rather than later.
Even if you couldn't care less about being healthy and only care about
getting jacked, you still need to take care of your body. Otherwise you'll
eventually end up having an injury or illness that'll force you to take
time off from training and you're definitely not going to make progress
then.

10.They keep it all in perspective.

There's more to life than just lifting weights and eating.
Undoubtedly, bodybuilding (competitive and recreational) teaches
discipline, patience, goal setting and achievement, and good ol' mental
toughness, among other things. Every single person would benefit
from at least having a season of life where they trained hard and ate
really well in an effort to take their body to the next level.

But make sure bodybuilding enhances your quality of life instead of

detracting from it. For example, do you avoid doing social activities
with friends or family because you might miss a meal or only get seven
hours of sleep instead of eight? Heaven forbid someone invite you on
a weeklong vacation or road trip. That'd require you to miss quite a few
meals and workouts!
But here's the thing, fast forward a few month or years and it'll be that
vacation you'll be reminiscing and talking about, not another week of
training and eating six meals per day.
There's a time to forgo certain activities, no doubt, but unless you're
within 12 weeks from a really important competition, then you can
probably skimp a tad on your training and eating to do fun things with
family or friends.
Keep your muscle building goals in perspective, especially if you don't
make a living with your physique. After all, you don't want to end up
with a great physique and a nonexistent social and/or family life.

11.They don't blindly follow the advice of bigger bodybuilders.

My current training partner is a really good competitive bodybuilder

who's a few weeks away from a contest. In other words, he
looks great! I, on the other hand, have recently resumed training hard
after a long layoff. In other words, I look mortal.
So when people come up to ask a training or nutrition question, whom
do you think they ask? Him, of course. He'll quickly and humbly point
out that I'm actually the one to answer the question because I'm his
coach.
It's natural to want to get advice from someone who looks how we want
to look. However, there's a big difference in being a good athlete and a

good coach. For example, you'd be better off taking tennis lessons
from Venus Williams' coach than from Venus herself.
The reality is many bodybuilders look good not because of what they
do, butin spite of what they do.
Before I'd ever coached a pro bodybuilder, I assumed they were virtual
encyclopedias for training and nutrition information. Some are, but the
reality is, most are not. In fact, you'll hear some of the most absurd
things come out of the mouths of high level bodybuilders and figure
competitors, especially regarding nutrition.
The point is, don't just blindly follow the advice of someone because
they look great. They may look great because of genetics, drugs, or
some combination thereof. Instead, seek out a good coach or strive to
become one yourself.

12.Successful lifters are consistent.

Even if you have the best genetics you're still not going to get
anywhere in bodybuilding without consistency. At the same time, even
with subpar genetics, you can build an impressive physique if you're
willing to be consistent over a long enough period of time.
To be clear, I'm talking consistency with both your training and your
nutrition, not one or the other. The two go together like a car's engine
and transmission one without the other doesn't work.
Too many people train hard and eat right for a few weeks, or perhaps
even months, but then get discouraged and stop. Then at some point

they'll get back on the wagon and go at it again for a period of time,
only to soon stop again.
Building muscle ain't stamp collecting! After quitting you don't pick up
where you left off. Instead, you start over. That's why consistency is
critical.
To really maximize your physique, you need to eat 5 or 6 meals per
day and train 4 or 5 days per week for years on end. Sorry to burst
your bubble if you expected something easier. If you want an easier
hobby, try the aforementioned stamp collecting, restoring old cars, or
something that doesn't require the insane amount of consistent
discipline that building muscle does.