6 Breaths

Here is a simple way to increase your intensity without changing much to the workout. After each set bend over, place your hands just above your knees and take 6 deep breaths through pursed lips.  This will help you get enough oxygen back into the muscle for the next set.  You never want to rest too long between sets because this will cause the blood to move out of the muscle. Once this happens you mine as well stop the training session,  it is not going to do you any good to continue.  During the exercise the blood is pumped into the muscle. The blood pump is important to increase the overall size of the muscle. However,  if you perform too many sets, or take too long of a rest, the blood volume decreases within the muscle.  In order to maximize the pump it is important to keep the blood in the muscle long enough to produce a positive effect.    Taking 6 deep breaths in between sets will allow the oxygen to get into the muscle without the blood volume decreasing too dramatically.

Mr. Universe trick:  Here is a simple trick to do to maximize your set count.  Take a tape measure and measure the muscle being worked at the end of each set. When the measurement becomes smaller than the previous measurements  that is when you will stop performing any more sets for that muscle.  What has happened is the blood volume has decreased and the neural circuitry has become retarded.  Continuing to work the muscle once the neural circuitry has become retarded is counterproductive.

Many guys will train the muscle, get the pump, and will continue to train the muscle only to notice that the muscle is cold and the appearance is smaller than previous sets.  They didn't know when to stop training the muscle.  It is important to know when to stop.  You always want to leave the gym with a warm pumped up feeling in the muscle.  If you leave with the muscle feeling cold or soft, then you just wasted time in the gym and made no reduced the possibility of making gains.

tags: Daryl Conant, Ron Kosloff, Vince Gironda, Mr. Universe