Raúl Carrasco explains why you aren’t training correctly

Many people like you clearly understand that you have to do certain things to grow, get defined, and progress, but you never stop to think why don't you train correctly?.

There is a topic that Raúl Carrasco, currently our best IFBB Pro representative (sponsored by Amix), always loves and discusses in his seminars. It is one of those topics that has always been around and can also help you discover why don't you train correctly?.

This has already been discussed, videos have been recorded, and it may sound familiar to many, but Raúl, like many of our experts, would like to repeat it because it is worth repeating.

This is a fairly serious training mistake, especially when performing a set, several sets, and repetitions.

Understanding: why don't you train correctly?

When you get to the gym, the first thing they tell you, from day one, is that you have to work in sets of 8, 10, or 12 repetitions, even 15; sets of 20 are always for warming up.

But generally, you will use an average of 10 repetitions (the 10 repetitions carved in stone), which sounds familiar to all of us, and then we ask you, why don't you train correctly?.

And these 10 repetitions actually have a scientific basis, stemming from one of the essential points: muscle hypertrophy essentially depends on three factors, three important points.

• Metabolic stress.
• Muscle laceration.
• Time under tension.

Time under tension is the first and most important point, and it is known as the “muscle language.” So, if we go way back to the earliest scientific research into the appropriate time required to achieve hypertrophy in general, both sarcomeric and sarcoplasmic, the approach was to work at 80% and maintain time under tension until we reached, under strain or to failure, approximately 40 seconds.

Starting at 40 seconds, that international unit called a “repetition” is created, and it is based on:

• A repetition is: 3 seconds of eccentric movement and 1 second of concentric movement, or
• A repetition is: 2 seconds of eccentric movement and 2 seconds of concentric movement,
• A repetition practically takes 4 seconds.

Imagine your calves, which have a very short range of motion, and you do 10 repetitions and stop at 20 seconds… well, your calves never grow…

If you ask yourself why don't you train correctly?, it is because you never respect total recruitment. Why? Because you do not know this basic fact; it has always been this way, but you do not know it.

Cadence: why don't you train correctly?

To some extent, Raúl Carrasco states that trainers who “educate” do not necessarily know this, and then you ask yourself, why don't you train correctly?.

Well, as an educator, a graduate, and an educational technician specializing in food, nutrition, and supplementation, he does know this; that is why he tells us about this critical aspect of training.

When you look for how to train, you surely think of your favorite athletes: Coleman, Dorian Yates, Shawn Ray, Lee Priest…

Indeed,

• Lee worked with 6 reps using very slow movements.
• Dorian worked between 8–12 reps with a cadence of 3 seconds per rep.
• Coleman liked to work with higher repetitions but very quickly.

The point is that everyone fit within 30 seconds under tension, whether slower or faster, and this is what is not respected.

Time under tension

When you start respecting time under tension, in addition to lowering the weights on the machines, you will see how you achieve greater recruitment, greater fatigue, greater congestion, and greater stimulation; protein synthesis will be extended from 72 hours to 96 hours.

Nowadays, the new machines being developed already come with a digital timer that counts the time for you. In other words, you start the set, and whether you do it quickly or slowly, it makes no difference—the timer is set to 40 seconds.

We can already find several contrasts; it depends on the author who says you need to reach 60, 50, 30, or 20 seconds.

Raúl Carrasco cites averages, but he always likes to do one set—not repetitions—for 40 seconds, a second set for 30 seconds, and the third and final set for 20 seconds.

• There are weeks when he wants to give the type 2 power fibers a little rest, because it is true that they are innervated by many nerves and the nervous system becomes overtrained.
• So, he also wants to increase the amount of lactic acid in the body a little, so that internally, endogenously, the accumulation of lactic acid also has beneficial effects, such as increasing certain liver markers, growth hormone levels, and so on.

Therefore, he likes to work his first set for 60 seconds, his second set for 50 seconds, and his third set for 40 seconds.

It is difficult to have a clock on the ceiling while doing a bench press, which is why the international unit called a repetition was devised. Did you know that? If you didn’t, you now understand why you are not training correctly.

Repetitions, the precise unit

Our expert uses medicine as an example: it is used in type 1 diabetics, who inject insulin. Insulin is measured in milligrams, so a diabetic knows that for a certain amount of carbohydrates, they need to use 3 milligrams with 2 of insulin; and since that would be difficult for anyone, the international unit, IU, was created.

In bodybuilding, that international unit called a repetition was created.

How do you detect that in yourself? Very easily: during the first week, you will train with a stopwatch; afterward, you will already know how much time you spend on each movement you perform.

• On the one hand, the eccentric phase is more important than the concentric phase because it induces hypertrophy through muscle damage, which occurs in some way.
• On the other hand, the concentric phase is also important because, so to speak, it is a starting point to which we can apply a system—the Second Law of Newton—to achieve results.

Everything we are discussing here is more important to take into account for developing muscle mass and avoiding injuries.

If you use that unit called a repetition, both contractions (time under tension) must be taken into account, and this is more relevant than simply considering whatever weight the trainer puts in front of you.

So, by knowing these laws, you educate yourself, learn, and gain precise knowledge of why you do not train correctly… this includes knowing how to add pre- and post-workout supplements…

Newton's Second Law

Let us remember that Newton's Second Law is practically based on velocity; it is an equation. It can be expressed in different ways: force x velocity, intensity x velocity, but it is always equal to mass (1).

• The relationship between an object's mass (m), its acceleration (a), and the force applied (F).
• The formula would look like this: F = m x a

Acceleration and force are vectors; in this law, the direction of the force vector is the same as the direction of the acceleration vector, or force = mass x acceleration.

What makes this law so great?

This law is what Dr. Vladimir Zatsiorsky, a renowned scientist, was talking about when he stated that there are three methods for increasing muscle tension (2).

• Dynamic effort (DE): moving a light load explosively
• Maximum effort (ME): moving a heavy load for 1 to 3 repetitions
• Repetitive or repetition effort (RE): moving a submaximal weight for higher repetitions.

Newton's Second Law describes it perfectly and fits perfectly with the force-velocity curve, so we cite it here as a reference. Surely, you are now beginning to understand why you do not train correctly.

How the body works

Raúl Carrasco gives us a good example:

• With a weight of 20 kg, you lift it slowly; since the body is an efficient machine, it will use only type 1 fibers to raise the weight.
• If you lift those same 20 kilos quickly, what happens? The body will need more muscle fibers because you lift it with more force and need greater muscle recruitment.

That is why power runners in particular—those who run without added weight but run very fast—have incredible shoulders and calves, because they run at full speed by increasing their execution speed.

• In the bench press, for example, if you want to start recruiting muscle fibers, you can use 20 kg on each side and practically reach 15 repetitions to failure.
• In those 15 repetitions to failure, they are roughly equivalent to 80% of a 1RM (it is lower); practically, the type 1 fibers and some of the 2A fibers have been used and fatigued, but the 2B fibers have not been recruited.

To continue that set and work the part of the chest you want to develop further, which trains the type 2B fibers (the ones with the greatest number of myofibrils), you add weight or keep the same weight and, instead of taking 3 seconds, lift it in 2 seconds.

In the third set, the same applies and, instead of adding more weight, you have to launch it—but carefully, as Dorian Yates did. He was a genius at applying Newton’s Second Law… it is a perfect descent, a brief pause…

With the same weight, you can increase the speed, increasing the impulse of the movement, and recruit type 2B fibers. Ronnie Coleman lifted everything explosively, recruiting type 2B fibers from the beginning, but it is a complex technique that requires care to avoid injuries.

You understand, why you don’t train correctly.

With the example of the application of Newton’s Second Law, which says that greater intensity and power are produced by lifting a 100-kilogram weight quickly than by lifting a 150-kilogram weight slowly, you can understand why you train correctly.

• The amount of weight a person can lift is directly related to the amount of force their muscles exert on the weights.
• Performing repetitions faster with greater acceleration requires more force to be exerted.

Honestly, you need to take a step back and analyze things to begin developing your knowledge and experimenting with your trainer, your training partner, or with the support of our team of advisors, who offer not only their master classes but also the necessary support to do it in a personalized way.

Seek advice from the best when you want to make progress

Here is the video in which Raúl Carrasco talks to us about everything related to this, including where the idea of 3 sets of 10–12 repetitions comes from and whether you should only think about that when training.

References

• Newton’s Three Laws of Motion – 2015
• Science and Practice of Strength Training