Bodybuilding: the Flushing Principle
In anything we do, there are lessons from history we can learn and apply. Take bodybuilding and war. A strange analogy, you might say, but think about it. In World War II, the strategy of bombing and blitzing was a significant factor in the Allied victory. Bombing and blitzing were simply a non stop, concentrated attack on a specific area.
Through trial and error, experimentation and observation, we have also found the principle of bombing and blitzing to work especially well for bodybuilders. But, at first, applying this strategy wasn’t so easy. There was still another major war we had to win – the one in the gym.
Back in the early days of the sport, bodybuilding as we know it today did not exist. There was only weightlifting and the goal was to lift heavy weights – period! The method of training was much different, too. Most weightlifters trained their entire body three times a week, usually with a Monday, Wednesday, Friday sequence. One week they would do one set of nine repetitions per body part, then the next week they would do one set of ten reps per body part and so on until they finally worked up to one set of 12 reps per body part. Once they could do 12, they went back down to nine reps and increased the weight by 5 – 10 pounds, depending upon the exercise.
If you were tired on a Monday, you had to do the same routine. If you were full of energy and wanted to do more on a Wednesday, you couldn’t. At that time, you had to follow all the conventional rules of weightlifting and stick to your workout, no matter how strong or weak you were. The order in which you did your routines was also different. You might do a set of prone presses, then go to biceps curl and maybe a leg exercise after that. There was no logical order for the exercises in a workout.
Saturation Training
It was by observation and experimentation that we found the only way you could really work a muscle and make it grow was to do more than one set of one exercise for it. You had to saturate an area and train it intensely to recruit more muscle fibers, exhaust it and bring more blood and nutrients into the area to nourish it while removing the waste.
]]>
If we wanted to flush a certain area completely, we’d concentrate on doing all the particular exercises for that area during the same workout. For example, to flush the arms we’d work the forearm, the biceps, the triceps and the deltoids with supersets to bring blood into the muscle area and engorge it.
Incredible results were achieved when we used the push-pull superset. This is when we’d do a push-down movement for the triceps, then immediately do a curl for the biceps. While one muscle was resting, another muscle in that same muscle group was being bombed and blitzed, causing very intense muscle flushing and saturation. Because bombing and blitzing the muscle worked so well, the Flushing Principle was born and from it evolved such principles as Compound Sets, Giant Sets, the Double and Triple Split system and many others.
As soon as bodybuilders tried the flushing principle, they loved it. And for good reason. Not only did it cause their bodies to grow beyond anything they had ever experienced, but they also became psychologically attuned to what their bodies were telling them. For the first time, they felt the muscle pump and blow up as they became aware of the size their muscles could attain. It inspired them psychologically and helped them intensify their training.
The same is true for you, You’ve got to pump, flush and make the muscle work for it to grow. Think about something for a moment. When you say that today is your leg day, what does that mean? It means that you are going to go into the gym and thoroughly work, engorge and flush your leg muscles completely. It’s the same with any other body part. You use a variety of exercises, weights, sets, reps and rest to bomb, blitz and flush and area completely so it will grow and become stronger. This is the essence of the Bodybuilding Flushing Principle.
The Time Factor
Think about another factor. How long does it take you to do an arm workout? If it takes you 45 minutes to train your arms completely, and 45 minutes to do each other body part, you’ll be in the gym for hours – way too long. Even the most advanced champions keep their workouts to no longer than one hour. The intensity level for growth after one and a half hours is just not there, not to mention the high probability of exposing yourself to over training and possible injury.
To counteract these dangers, the split system of training was developed with the flushing principle as its foundation. As you advance in your workouts, get stronger and increase your recuperative powers as your body adapts to training, you may decide to train one body part in the morning and one in the afternoon, or possibly another in the evening, or maybe work the upper body one day and lower body the next, or any other variation.
By splitting your training, you’re able to work a particular muscle group more thoroughly. This is how you grow, get stronger and continue to progress. The flushing principle is a very intense way to work a muscle. To get the most out of it, you’ve got to know instinctively when you’ve pushed the muscle to the limit. One of the biggest mistakes you can make is over saturating a muscle area. You’ve got to listen to your body. No one can tell you how much you should lift or how many sets or reps you should do. Only you know when your muscles have reached that point. Instinctive use of the flushing principle brings about incredible results – results that can’t be experienced without its use.
Think of bodybuilding as a form of art with the canvas being your body, the exercise and principles as the paint, and your imagination as your brush. Believe in yourself and your bodybuilding goals. Use the Flushing Principle instinctively in your training and see what kind of masterpiece you can create.
Sandra Prior runs her own bodybuilding website at http://bodybuild.rr.nu.
