The 5 “R”s Principle

02.01.2010 | Author: reuben.garcia | Posted in Muscle Building

Let’s take it back and discuss the five “R’s”. In my opinion this is a crucial element for any personal trainer or weight trainer just beginning or professional. The concept or principles can be adjusted to any client and manipulated to mold their goals and objectives.

Range of Motion
Range of motion is the complete movement that a joint is capable of. What I mean by this is that every exercise must be performed in its entirety, from a full stretched position of the targeted area to a full contracted position.

Resistance
Resistance is the amount of weight being moved that forces your target area to perform through a full range of motion without swaying or cheating your way through the exercise. The weight must be small enough to perform this task and yet heavy enough to allow the muscle to work allowing for a reasonable number of sets and repetitions.

Repetitions
Repetitions means how many times the exercise can be done in a set. Depending on your goals this can range anywhere from low reps, medium reps, or high reps. Usually someone trying to work at an anaerobic pace will perform medium reps (10 to 20). Someone trying to increase strength will target low reps (4-8) while someone trying to increase their aerobic capacity will perform high reps (15-30). The key to this “R” is stress and how much you want to place on your target area.

Rest
During your workouts your muscles need at least 1-3 minutes of rest between sets. If you break things down to the cellular level then you will find out that after the first set your cells begin to deplete their enzyme capacity of ATP and PC which is used by your muscles as energy for every contraction. Rest is needed between sets to allow for ATP and PC replenishment.

Recovery
The last phase of “R” principle is recovery. This is a very important phase as adequate time must be allowed between one workout and the next. The muscles need time to recover. Usually a good rule to follow is to never workout the same muscle group two days in a row. Overtraining can occur if this phase is not practiced properly which can lead to injury due to micro trauma.

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