Weider Principles!

 

 

Hello everyone!  This week's research assignment takes me back to my early college days when i first "really" got in to training.  Long before I had attained the degree and certifications I currently hold, I learned a lot of my best training techniques (and worst as well) from bodybuilding magazines that I read in the corner of the EWU bookstore. because I didn't have the money to buy them! Don't get me wrong, I'm not encouraging you to believe everything in a bodybuilding magazine.  Obviously, there is a lot of bad info hidden in them. But if you learn through research, how to sift through the good and the bad, you can find some great stuff in there.

In the world of strength and conditioning you have to be really carefully to separate the science of training and the "opinions" of training.  Believe it or not, nothing on the planet has been researched and studied more than human performance!  Human performance is much more similar to mathematics than art.  Many people believe that fitness is an art where you have freedom to be creative and try new things.  The reality with human performance is that there are very specific rules and principles you have to follow to get good and continuous results.  There is some room for creativity in the application of those rules, but not as much as some would lead you to believe. 

So, what is my point and purpose of my paragraph long diatribe?  I'm glad you asked!  The Weider Principles are a list of training techniques created in the 60's by Joe Weider and made famous by the best bodybuilders of the time (Arnold Schwarzenegger) and the best bodybuilding publications of the time (Muscle and Fitness).  These techniques are the perfect mixture of science and creativity!  They take a lot about what we know of human performance and employ it in a creative and often joyfully-painfull way.  I  have attached an article that gives a summary of all the "Weider Principles", I know you will recognize several! Please take a look at the article and answer the following questions:

Weider Principles

 

1.  In the most simple terms possible, what is the purpose Of the Weider principles and What makes them successful?  Why can't you just do 3 sets of 10 forever and simply add weight when you get stronger?

 

2.  This week we are utilizing the "pre-exhaustion" technique in our workouts.  In your own words give a brief description of how it is performed.

 

3.  Why is the "pre-exhaustion" technique a valuable addition to your training repertoire?

 

4.  What is a Weider principle that you would like to try that we have not performed in class, and Why?