Victory Via Variety by Vinny Galanti Ever since I first picked up a weight as teenager, I knew right away that I loved lifting. Remember those old fashioned plastic sand weights… My dad brought a set home with a bench and barbell when I was about 13 years old, and after a while the plastic would crack, and sand was allover my bedroom. Then came the SoloFlex… Yes, I worked out on a SoloFlex for a while too-don't laugh. When I was about 18 yrs old I started to go to Billy's Gym in Bayonne, NJ. And that is when I knew… I loved the gym, I loved everything about it. After a while I started to notice a trend among the younger guys in the gym, they all wanted to lift heavy weight, and look like the guys that were in their 20's and 30's. I must say, I was one of those kids, but I quickly realized that heavy weight did nothing for me, and moderate weight with higher reps was the key for my body type. Since 1984 I have seen many new fads in training and nutrition. Every once in a while, a new style of training will emerge, and it will be the hot new bodybuilding trend. Through the last 22 years that I have been training, I have used the 100 rep per set training method. I have tried the 1 set to failure method, and even the German Volume Training method. But I always go back to what works for me--moderate weight, 12-20 rep range. Even though I knew what worked for me, I was confused as to why the body would shut down after a few months and not respond to my style of training. So I would chalk it up to overtraining, and take a few days or up to a week off from training, and start all over again. In 2001 I took off from lifting weights to open my business, and it wasn't until 13 months later that I started to lift again. The rest did me well, and after 6 months I noticed I was getting burned out and overtraining. I thought this can't be, I have only been training 6 months after a 13 month break. This time I was not going to take a week off, I decided to do something new, I was going to switch up the style of training, and do something that I have not been doing. I started training a little heavier, in the 8-10 rep range. After 2 weeks of doing this, I started to notice my body changing and I continued for another 2 weeks, and then changed it up again to German Volume Training. Again, my body started to respond and trained with this method for 4 weeks. I was never one to get technical about training or keeping a log. I don't believe in that. I realized that the style of training that I did, was only good for no longer than 6 weeks and then I would need to change it up. Some bodybuilders will train heavy for 6-8 weeks and then switch over to light training for a 2 week period to give there tendons and joints a rest, but I do the opposite. I train with moderate weights and high reps for 6 weeks and then go heavy for 2 weeks in the 5-8 rep range. Then I might go and train another way for a week before going back to what works for me. I will be turning 40 years old soon, and I can tell you that I enjoy training more now than ever. I look forward to each training session, and knowing when to change it up comes with experience. If you are new to training, leave your ego at the door and find what gives your muscles a pump.