Training in “No Man’s Land” brings mediocre results, at best


In terms of fitness performance, the body develops that which you ask of it.


In other words, you get better at whatever you practice, a phenomenon known as the “training effect.”

When it comes to the number of repetitions required

to perform different sports activities and abilities, great variation exists. The repetition range can vary from as low as one to as many as one million, and theoretically even higher. Along with the change in the number of repetitions comes an inherent change in the “percentage of maximum effort” that can be exerted per repetition. By changing the percentage of maximum effort, and therefore the total number of repetitions per set, we determine whether we are training to develop strength, muscular size, muscular endurance, cardio, or pure endurance.


Health and Fitness Week

As the repetition range increases, the percentage of maximum effort per repetition must decrease. In terms of fitness performance, the body develops that which you ask of it. In other words, you get better at whatever you practice, a phenomenon known as the “training effect.”

To become stronger, one must challenge strength.

The ultimate strength challenge is the “one rep maximum” lift. In other words, no matter what the lift – biceps curl or triceps extension, squat, bench or deadlift, Olympic lifts or whatever – the idea is to discover how much you can lift for just one repetition. If truly at or very near your maximum, you will not be able to perform a second repetition in the same set, thus the expression, one rep max.


Health and Fitness Week

Training at one rep max has various pros and cons, and to enhance their training, people training for pure strength tend to stay within the one to five repetition range per set.

For muscular hypertrophy, as desired by body builders, top athletes typically train in the fifteen to thirty rep range.

They know that if they can perform more than thirty repetitions, the weight is too light, but if they cannot perform at least fifteen repetitions, the weight is too heavy for optimum results.


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Body builders do not lift weights that are as heavy as those who train for strength, but they do many more repetitions. The “time under load” required for those repetitions results in the desired hypertrophy of their muscles.

Thus the strength athletes get stronger, without getting much bigger, and the body builders get bigger, without getting much stronger.


Health and Fitness Week

The typical guy or gal that goes to the gym, however, is taught to lift in the “no man’s land” of eight to twelve repetitions per set. They will get a bit stronger and a bit bigger as a result, thus perpetuating the myth that bigger equates with stronger.

If they were hoping to develop size, the relatively low repetition range would be inefficient, and the results would be unsatisfactory. If they were hoping to develop strength, the relatively high repetition range would also be inefficient, and relatively ineffective, and the results would once again be considered unsatisfactory.


Health and Fitness Week

Train like the pros and you will get the results the pros get. Train in the “no man’s land,” inefficiently and ineffectively, and you will be relegated to perpetual mediocrity in terms of performance results.

That said, if you wish to get a little bigger and a little stronger, training in no man’s land may be just perfect for you.

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About Dr. Doug Graham

Dr. Douglas Graham, a lifetime athlete and raw fooder since 1978, is an advisor to world-class and motivated athletes and trainers from around the globe. He has worked professionally with top performers from almost every sport and every field of entertainment, including such notables as tennis legend Martina Navratilova, NBA pro basketball players Ronnie Grandison and Michael Porter Jr., track Olympic sprinter Doug Dickinson, pro women's soccer player Callie Withers, championship bodybuilder Kenneth G. Williams, Chicken Soup for the Soul coauthor Mark Victor Hansen, and actress Demi Moore. As owner of a fasting retreat in the Florida Keys for ten years, Dr. Graham personally supervised thousands of fasts. He was in private practice as a chiropractor for twenty years, before retiring to focus on his writing and speaking. Dr. Graham is the author of many books on health and raw food including The 80/10/10 Diet, The High Energy Diet Recipe Guide, Nutrition and Athletic Performance, Grain Damage, Prevention and Care of Athletic Injuries, and his latest, Perpetual Health 365. He has shared his strategies for success with audiences at more than 4,000 presentations worldwide. Recognized as one of the fathers of the modern raw movement, Dr. Graham is the only lecturer to have attended and given keynote presentations at all of the major raw events in the world for each of the last eight years. Dr. Graham has served on the board of governors of the International Association of Professional Natural Hygienists and the board of directors of the American Natural Hygiene Society. He is on the board of advisors of Voice for a Viable Future, Living Light Films, Vegetarian Union of North America, and EarthSave International and serves as nutrition advisor for the magazine Exercise, For Men Only. Dr. Graham is the raw foods and fitness advisor for The801010Forum.com. He taught the Health Educator program at Hippocrates Institute, served as the "source authority" for Harmonious Living, and authors a column for the magazines Get Fresh! and Vibrance (previously known as Living Nutrition). Dr. Graham is the creator of "Simply Delicious" cuisine and director of Health and Fitness Week, which provides Olympic-class training and nutrition for people of all fitness levels in beautiful settings around the world. He will inspire, motivate, educate, and entertain you like no one else in the health movement can.