Haven’t we always been told that overtraining is bad and we should avoid it like the plague? How can overtraining be good? Well, let me take you through it.

The first thing to understand is that the Blast system is "controlled" overtraining. This is an advanced training program. You should have at least one year of training under your belt before trying this.

The Blast system is a great way to push through those stubborn plateaus. It will shock your body into new growth and strength development. It is intense and requires self discipline but is well worth it in the end. It is based on controlled overtraining and active recovery followed by complete recovery. This program has proven itself time and again under controlled, as well as uncontrolled (self reporting), training situations. Under optimal conditions (proper diet, complete rest on rest days, and close supervision) this program has added as much as forty-five pounds to the individual lifts and up to three inches to the chest, back and legs.

Let me explain the concept behind the program first. We get stronger through weight training because our muscles tear down during the workout and then our body overcompensates and builds the muscles back a little stronger and a little thicker for next time. Your body does this as a protection. The next time you work out with the same load and intensity your muscles will not break down as far, thereby requiring less repair.

Okay, so overcompensation explains the repair of the muscles. But, why overtraining? I played college football and every preseason we had triple sessions. We sprinted, pushed the sled, pushed each other, and lifted. We worked the same muscles three times a day, all week. If that isn’t overtraining I don’t know what is. But, surprisingly, on Monday morning, after two days of rest I felt stronger and faster than I had the week before. When the regular season started I was able to push players around with greater ease and move faster on the field. My weight was usually close to the same (give or take five pounds.) What I noticed was that my body fat went down and my muscle weight increased. If the idea of overtraining being completely evil was true, I should have been lighter with less muscle weight.

The important thing to remember in the above example is that we only did this for two to two and half weeks and then we started once a day practices with more recovery time. We were also encouraged to eat a lot of food and keep hydrated. I am not encouraging anyone to go out and train the same muscle groups every day for weeks on end with only the weekend to rest. But, it is important to understand that "controlled" overtraining can have benefits.

This program shocks the muscles through controlled overtraining and the body must compensate. It does this by boosting your recovery rate and shortening recovery time so your body repairs itself faster and tries to avoid the overtraining stage. Second, the body overcompensates during the recovery phase to make the muscles stronger and more resilient delaying the onset of overtraining.

Okay, this is a glimpse at the premise behind the program, now let’s look at the program. Let’s look at the Chest Blast program to explain the concept further. The whole system includes Chest, Back, and Leg programs. Each program is used for six to eight weeks and then a rest period follows before beginning the next program. I must also note that during the Chest program (or Back or Leg program) you do not neglect the other muscle groups. They get worked during the program as well, but are not emphasized.

It is important not to gauge your success on this program by the weights you are using during each workout. By the third day of chest work you may be lucky to use twenty percent of your normal weight, but that is okay, you are just finishing off those last muscle fibers. As you will see in the program below you use different rep schemes on each of the three chest days. The reason for this is to fully exhaust the different fiber types and totally exhaust the muscle. On the first day you are working the explosive fibers with heavy weight, low rep work. On the second day you are working the slow twitch (endurance) fibers with lower weight, high rep work and the third day is a mop-up day to tear down those left over fibers. It is also important to do the heavy weight work early in the program when your muscles and tendons are fresh, to avoid injury.

Expect plenty of soreness. You will be tired as your body tries to repair all the muscles you are tearing down. Make sure to eat plenty of food. Do not do this program on a reduction type diet. Your body needs lots of energy and protein to repair those muscles. Always warm-up well before each workout and stretch between exercises and especially after each workout. Because of the heavy weights and repetitive work in the same area you may experience some joint discomfort, if it persists after your rest period discontinue the program and have it evaluated. At the end of the program give yourself a full three to four days of rest before starting another program. That means three to four days away from the gym. (Hey, it’s a great time to get caught up on everything you missed because you were too tired on this program.) Don’t test your max until your body has fully recovered (one to two full days after all soreness has subsided.) This is a good rule of thumb for any program.

Check out a sample Blast Training routine here.

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