The AMP Your Workout Personal Exercise Pentagon (PEP) is your secret to how best to train each of your muscle systems according to your genetic strengths for the fastest results.
We saw in previous articles that:
- We have been training for decades based upon paradigms – specific beliefs that have been locked in over the years
- The people who respond best to the training beliefs, reinforce those paradigms, by “proving them” – the people who do not respond to that training do not get to the limelight so no-one seeks their opinions
- Muscle size, shape, and performance depends on many elements within the muscle, not just the fiber types
- The interaction of the elements within the muscle system is actually more important than the elements themselves – knowing the elements in detail does not help predict or determine the muscle system characteristics
- There are many variables in training, besides weights and reps, that, depending on the muscle system make-up as described above, determine the output of the muscle system and ultimately, the overload and hence the repair and compensation process.
- Because of the complexity of the system and the fact that it is the synergistic interaction of the elements within the muscle system that ultimately determine the output of the system, the only approach to analyze the output is a “black-box” approach that looks simply at the outputs for any combinations of inputs
This process of “black-box” analysis with iterative guidance to optimize the performance of the system as a whole, is similar to a mechanic using a dyno to tune a car, or a missile guidance system using laser feedback to adjust the flight path of the missile.
AMP Your Workout provides this black-box analysis and guidance system. It empowers you or our personal trainer beyond what would otherwise be possible, to be more strategic with your training, finding and operating around your genetic strengths for optimal performance and results. The complexity of the muscle systems and the sheer volume and difficulty of the equations and processes involved would otherwise make this impossible. Wearable technology and the high computing power of the modern smart phone can now put this technology in the hands of every trainee and personal trainer.
The AMP Your Workout system, besides guiding your training automatically to your optimized profile according to your genetic strengths, also provides you with a visual representation of your preferred training profile. This is done the moment you finish each exercise, with the AMP Your Workout Personal Exercise Pentagon (PEP).
The PEP maps out for you personally, each of your exercises and shows you, over time, how you best perform for each exercise. Whilst you do not need to learn about the PEP since the AMP Your Workout system will, itself, guide you automatically to your genetically optimum training –the PEP will also give you valuable feedback each session, for each exercise.
If you beat your previous best, the PEP will show you how you achieved the improved performance in relation to your previous best – do your muscle systems for that exercise prefer higher reps? Or higher weight? Or greater intensity? etc etc.
Alternatively, if you do not meet your target (set for you by AMP Your Workout based on the trends it has recorded and analyzed on your training), you can easily see what aspect let you down. Perhaps you did not meet the targeted TUT specified for each rep – you were supposed to do 3 seconds TUT but you only achieved 2.6. The question then is whether you could have achieved the same reps with 3 second TUT, or would they drop and cause the score to drop? Either way, it could signal that this particular muscle system does not work well with that TUT at that rep range.
You are now training, tracking, and utilizing ALL the variables that are relevant to muscle improvement!
It means that, as you train, you will get true indications on the value of your workouts, rather than the unknowns that were described earlier that “mask” your true efforts and mislead you.
The AMP Your Workout program will guide you in every exercise, to your peak performance – and the PEP will provide instant feedback and insight into your genetic strengths. Following is an explanation of the graph use and meanings.
You will see that the graph plots on 5 axis at equal angles (and hence looks a bit like a spiders web) the Sets, Weight, TUT, Reps, and Intensity.
If you have some history for an exercise (i.e. have done it before) then the system will be giving you predictions and targets. When you attempt the target, the program will record all aspects and plot them against your previous best. You will therefore have a visual representation of how you beat (or didn’t meet) your previous best as follows:
The target is shown in red as a line and the actual stats are shown as the shaded area behind the line. If the shaded area is within the red line in sections, it means that you were under your target for those aspects, and exceeded targets if the shaded area protrudes past the line.
Comparing your overall score will give you an idea whether the workout you just did was a better one than your target, and you can therefore gauge from that if the variations in your stats helped or hindered you.
For instance:
- Your score exceeded the target and your sets, reps, weights were as specified, but your TUT was greater than the target and intensity was slightly less
– Means in this case that you performed better with slightly greater TUT and although it caused you to rest a bit longer, the overall stress from the longer TUT resulted in a better overload
– In future, you could experiment with longer TUT - Your score exceeded the target and your sets and weight were as specified but you were able to add one or two extra reps in some sets and your tut was as specified but your intensity was down a bit;
– Means that in this case you could achieve more than your predicted reps (possibly because in the past your rest periods were too short, resulting in fatigue with reps lower your 1RM prediction) – and even though the extra reps caused you to rest a bit longer, it did not outweigh the benefit of the extra reps – the system will adjust your 1RM predictions for this exercise in future and base your complete exercise parameters bearing this in mind as well as the other performance factors it measured.
– In future, you could experiment with more reps and longer rests - Your score was less than target and you had tried a bit more weight but your reps dropped and so did your TUT, but your intensity was as specified
– Means that the drop in reps and TUT with the higher weight resulted in a lower effective workout
– In future, you could experiment with lighter weights and longer TUT (the heavy weight may have caused you to power it up and down rather than feeling the load over the range of motion)
These are just a few examples – but you hopefully get the idea and the graph is quite easy to read once you try a few sessions. It will, over time, give you an idea of your “preferred” training style for each body-part and exercise.
Generally, the larger figures, provided you are beating your previous best, means that these are possibly your “preferred” training modes for that muscle system and exercise. For example, you may see the trend for chest and bench press is for higher reps and high intensity with low TUT. Your lats however, in pull-downs or chins, might perform better at high weights, low reps, lower intensity, and moderate TUT. AMP Your Workout will also note these factors and adjust your training targets accordingly.
Note that you do not however have to study and learn the PEP charts – the AMP Your Workout system will automatically drive your workouts to where you best perform anyway. It sets your targets each workout and reviews your outcomes, and based on that and the trends of previous workouts, determines the next targets that are likely to match your genetic strengths for that muscle group and that exercise (unless of course you are in a micro-cycle “recovery” or “detraining” phase)
You can alter the targets using the “Change Intensity” option in the quicklinks – but if your selection does not results in a superior performance, AMP Your Workout will take note and guide you back to your strengths.
The AMP Your Workout system and the PEP charts are a complex system using scientific principles to accelerate your training – yet are very easy to use because of the fully automated system that does calculations and projections from your entire training record database – that would otherwise take weeks to calculate, every workout!
It means that you do not need to think about it – the AMP Your Workout system tracks everything for you and presents you with tailored workouts, matched to your genetic preferences for each muscle, and each exercise. At the same time, there is total flexibility if you decide you want to over-ride the recommendations or try something different.
The system, in that case, will give you immediate feedback the second you finish your last set, so you can compare it with your previous best effort and see how the altered parameters affected your workout – and get further confirmation of your genetic preferences for that muscle group.
