Next REPETITION alters TECHNIQUE… most often for worse

This article is not about Olympic lifting … I mean not exclusively… keep reading .

Next REPETITION alters TECHNIQUE… most often for worse

This is something a lot of coaches started to embrace when it comes to weightlifting movements (snatch, clean, jerk and assist exercises). Our Strength Training community probably heard about it multiple times when reading online rants about Crossfit’s big mistake of doing Olympic lifts for multiple reps.
I need to mention here that occasionally I commited this sin and I got …. gains. Unfortunately I cannot say these gains were improving technique so much.
So what’s the solution ? Instead of doing 3 sets x 8reps of power snatch @80% of 1.R.M. do 8 sets of 3 reps @85-90% and see how much better you will feel the movement, paradoxically with bigger weight.

Yes – the more compound movement – the better technique you get through bigger weight, I will write about it in a separate article.

OK, so we know it has a lot to do with olympic weightlifting, and it’s technique is a mystery for most trainers/athletes anyway so no matter what reps, chances are you do it wrong without someone competent watching you and correcting little mistakes done for as short as 0,1 second.

HERE’S THE FACT: EVERY EXERCISE PERFORMED FOR TOO MANY REPS WILL BE AT THE EXPENSE OF THE GOOD TECHNIQUE.
– (Partial) Exception may be fixed movements on the machines, but still some muscles fatigue faster than other muscles and even if its – say – Smith Machine Bench Press – the pathway of your elbows or body’s position on the bench in relation to the bar pathway will change during a prolonged set.

But lets see more common exercises.
BENCH PRESS:
As someone who benched 220% of my bodyweight RAW (= no competition shirt) I can honestly say that it’s technique is definitely not easy to learn .
A recreational gym member, who begins each Monday from bench press will almost inevitably develop shoulder pain due to technique imperfections.
Often it takes me 30-60 minutes to teach this exercise correctly with all the hints and tips, including mentioning some assistance work (wrist, rotator cuff, neck, triceps, etc).
And even people with kind of good form , will do all sorts of errors in the last 2-3 reps.
Worse case scenario is if someone helps them to force the reps, and helps them too much. It becomes a different exercise in best case.
You don’t get better technically by failing to lift correctly.

Now I could mention more common exercises, Squats, Deadlifts, Overhead press, Chin-ups etc , but I guess you got the POINT 🙂

SIMPLE SOLUTIONS

1.  compound movements come first in workout, and stick to low reps, even in warm-up sets. I suggest no more than 5, and if you are a fast twitch type, no more than 3 reps. Someone being really slow twitch in certain exercise – well – lets say 7-8 reps is MAX Whatever your goal is, if you are fast twitch – you should not try to cheat this fact. Testing how fast twitch/slow twitch you really is another article coming soon.

2. Less complicated exercises, or the ones where technique is less important (not saying unimportant) – make more reps, usually rep range you scored in your muscle fiber test at 70-80% of 1.R.M.

3. If your muscles are not fatigued after 2 exercises, you either are a professional, either you haven’t trained hard enough in previous exercises , either muscle group is very complex(chest is not complex by the way LOL).
To finish off and push anything like forced reps I would recommend fixed machines, where its hard to mess the technique up.

4. My golden rule:  “Rather do one more set than one more rep” , do the maths 🙂

“If you are not assessing, you are only guessing”

TRAINING A SUPERHUMAN STEP BY STEP MANUAL

HOW DIFFERENT ARE YOU?

“If you are not assessing, you are only guessing”

-This is a saying I heard loads of times while studying with the Poliquin Group. And it’s one of my favourites.

THIS CHAPTER IS ALL ABOUT THE VALUE OF KNOWING WHAT WE DEAL WITH BEFORE CREATING A SPECIFIC PLAN.
THIS IS ABSOLUTELY SAME AS MARKET RESEARCH BEFORE INVESTMENT.
TRAINING AND NUTRITION ARE INVESTMENT.
IF YOU DON’T WANT TO RISK GOING BANKRUPT IN YOUR “FITNESS INVESTMENT” – YOU NEED TO ASSESS TO CREATE A RELEVANT PLAN OF ACTION.
IF YOU HAVE TOO MUCH MONEY – THINK OF IT AS INVESTMENT OF YOUR TIME, AND YOU HAVE AS LITTLE TIME AS SOMEONE POOR.

IF YOU DON’T NEED BACKGROUND AND MOTIVATION, IF YOU ARE ALREADY ASSESSING EVERYONE YOU TRAIN (honestly?), JUST SKIP MOST OF THIS TEXT AND GO STRAIGHT TO “MANUAL” AT THE END OF THIS SECTION, WHERE YOU HAVE 4 VITAL ASSESSMENTS MENTIONED. DO ALL OF THEM. NONE OF THEM IS NEGLIABLE.

IF YOU FEEL YOU COULD NEED MORE REASON TO ASSESS – GO ON AND READ IT ALL, ITS JUST FEW MINUTES OF READING ANYWAY.

Before I ask you how did you come up with a plan of action in the areas of training and nutrition, let me ask those IMPORTANT questions:

-How would you feel if you went to a doctor and you’d be diagnosed instantly without any assessments?
-How do you feel when you remember your doctor prescribes you PARACETAMOL 10 times of 10? Even in case … well … any case.
-How would you feel if you did 3 sets of 10 reps all the time, “because everyone trains like this in your gym”, and after HIRING A PERSONAL TRAINER, you are given 3 sets of 10 reps “because everybody trains like this in his gym”.

Sure we are not as different as we sometimes think we are, but differences are this little detail that changes everything.

To show how little change makes MASSIVE DIFFERENCE: apparently PLASTIC SURGEONS believe that
-distance between lips and nose equal to eye “height” makes woman “beautiful” (OPTIMUM RATIO)***
-1mm bigger distance in this area makes her “average” (NON-IDEAL RATIO)***
-2mm bigger distance makes her “dead ugly” (HARMFUL RATIO)***

ALSO ALL LITTLE DIFFERENCES IN POSTURE make a hell of effect in how we are perceived, our body language can change DRASTICALLY when we fix postural issues***.
– Our messages are perceived as trustworthy (works like magic)***
– We appear much more attractive***
– Our moving patterns are so improved, that any sport we do – we get better at it
– All sorts of different muscular/soft tissue pains (often manifesting as joint pains/low back pains/”pins and needles” ) originate from bad posture, so why don’t we fix the posture?

***I am not an expert on this, so please treat this as a hint. I am only repeating after Tony Robbins (you know who he is, don’t you?)

LETS TRANSLATE THIS TO STRUCTURAL BALANCE BETWEEN MUSCLES/EXERCISES
We will discuss ratios in muscle strength many times in this book.
-Optimum ratios = maximum performance, supports good posture,
-Non-ideal ratio means plateaus and under-performance, indicates minor postural issues
-Harmful ratios – “building of Injury in progress”, bad posture AND often moving/walking patterns that are literally funny to observe, which may have implications even in social life.

Same in training design, certain “unthinkable” changes – totally change the game. But which changes to do? Well – I can tell you after assessment J . We will discuss assessments in more detail later on in this book.

If I told you don’t really know yourself or at least your body, you would most likely deny at first. But give me a chance here! For example I am using my WEIGHTLIFTING SHOES. I seem to know them. But really how much do I know? I know how my foot feels in them; I have no idea and no resources to build shoes like that. I know of the brand, and even know the model!  I know some of the names of parts (sole, shoe lace, insole).
But when I recommended them to one of my clients Marcin Pyrzyński, who is a Doctor (Orthopaedic, Chiropodist), he examined them and started elaborating on different sorts of wedges build inside to correct the posture when lifting.
It made me feel like he told me things I was only guessing before.
“If you’re not assessing – you are only guessing” – remember? It applies even to shoes, so why would anyone not apply this to living human being?
SERIOUSLY, it happens all the time. Go to any gym – and see that over 90% trains the same way.
In the little world of PERSONAL TRAINING or even SPORTS COACHING unfortunately same happens, maybe not on such a scale but it does.
If you get what I try to say in this article, you will understand how WRONG this negligence is.
One of the main purposes of this book is to show what to assess and WHY. If you don’t know why – you won’t have any motivation to do it.

Now think about it – do you know your car so good, that you could build it? Most people can hardly drive and fill the tank. Using your car doesn’t mean knowing it well.

What about your body? Oh, yes… we know names of some organs. But is that same as knowing all you need to know about health?

Now the same applies when it comes to training and nutrition OF INDIVIDUAL CASES.
FORGET that training knowledge is the same for everyone. I know this is how we were taught. Even scientific studies mislead us into thinking “this works because statistics say that”, and then we extrapolate statistics of “averageness” (=mediocrity) into every person. And trust me – even most average person will have at least one muscle far from average in terms of how it should be trained.

1. Do you know which muscles are tight and how your posture affects your performance?
2. Do you know what your Structural (im)balance is?
3. Do you know what your current personal 1RM continuum is?
4. Do you really know all your food sensitivities?

I’m quite sure that over 99% of people wouldn’t know much of those 4 assessments.
They wold be the first 4 to test and assess.
Once we made those 4 assessments, we know how to build your training program, manual therapy and diet.

Sure, without this knowledge you will have results, but results arising from ignoring who you really are will be quite limited. Often the difference between success and failure on the World Level is as little as symbolically 1%.

Aim for the top.

-Andrzej Wodyn Roszkowski

EVERYDAY SQUAT – WHAT YOU MOST LIKELY OVERDO…

TRAINING A SUPERHUMAN STEP BY STEP MANUAL

EVERYDAY SQUAT – WHAT YOU MOST LIKELY OVERDO…
PATIENT LIFTER METHOD…

Every day squatting is a STANDARD among elite level weightlifters. Even 2x a day!!!
 And surely there is a method in this “madness”. Squat is a king of exercises for a few good reasons, and if you are a natural athlete you need to BOOST your HORMONES in a natural way.
Best way to do it is by squatting as often as you can recover from.  It means that before you will squat heavy 2x a day you will have to spend months/years building up slowly to this level.
TO REPHRASE: NO – YOU CANNOT DO ALL-OUT HEAVY SQUATS EVERY DAY , YOU NEED TO BUILD YOUR WORK CAPACITY TO IT, AND IT TAKES MONTHS/YEARS (probably no more than 3 years).

I can give you a great way to get started, and benefits will be very easy to observe, in just week or two you will notice your technique and coordination on a totally new level.
 
Test your maximum weight for 1 rep squat (1.R.M.) in both front squat and back squat.
According to Structural Balance charts, ideally front squats would be representing 85% of back squat. This indicates perfect balance between quads and hamstrings and makes you better in any sport, plus reduces the risk of injury. In my experience to avoid skewing of results, during the test use
-olympic weightlifting shoes (My recommendation Adidas Adipower, size 0.5 bigger than your everyday size).They will take away any calve tightness from equation.
-pausing for 4 seconds on the bottom in the tests. That will take any differences in “bounce” between exercises out of equation!
-doing no more than 2 reps in warm up sets to preserve energy
– 8-10  warm up sets of front squat / followed by 5-8 warm up sets of back squats. It takes 8-11 sets to fully prepare Central Nervous system for a maximal effort. Back squat needs less sets only if you have already done front squat and your CNS already runs “on high revs” thanks to front squat test.
Still you need some “feeling sets” to adjust CNS to a different movement/motor pattern.

-If your front squat is less than 85% of back squat – you are hamstring dominant.
-if your front squat is more than 85% of back squat – you are quad dominant.

You will probably have to re-test in few weeks’ time…

If you train 5 days a week, and would like to introduce every day squats without compromising recovery,  I suggest waving like this:

Day 1:
suggested muscle groups : chest, triceps
SQUAT  60% , 5sets x 5 reps , speed work, because weight is ridiculously small

DAY 2:
suggested muscle groups : QUADS, CALVES, HAMSTRINGS, LOW BACK 
SQUAT HEAVY :
-quad dominant athlete: DO BACK SQUATS
-Hamstring dominant athlete: DO FRONT SQUATS

EXAMPLE OF A PROGRAMME FOR A QUAD DOMINANT ATHLETE:
A. PAUSED (at the bottom) Back squat 10 sets x 3reps, when you reach the bottom  position, count to 3 and drive yourself up accelerating as fast as possible.
-Constant weight, rest 2-3 minutes, begin the cycle with “too easy weight” , probably @75-80% of maximum (or a weight which allows you to perform 6 reps in one set). If you manage all sets of 2 reps – you are allowed to increase the weight by 2.5kg next week

B. Calve raise with the bar, squat weight plus 20kg, 1set x MAXXX reps –  as many reps as possible without shoes.  If you can do 50 reps – next time add 40kg to your squat weight for this exercise
B1. Calve raise with body weight, immediately after exercise B. 1 set x MAXXX reps

C. Leg Curls 5 sets of 5 reps (Please read the chapter about hamstring balance to determine more sophisticated exercise selection)

D. Good Mornings 4 sets x 8 reps
 If you are flexible enough do Seated Good Mornings.
If you are not doing well even in standing good mornings, usually due to flexibility issues, please do Back Extensions with a light bar on your back

EXAMPLE OF A PROGRAMME FOR A HAMSTRING DOMINANT ATHLETE:
A. PAUSED (at the bottom) front squat   5 sets x 2 reps ,  constant weight, rest 2-3 minutes, begin the cycle with “too easy weight” , probably @80-85% of maximum (or a weight which allows you to perform 4 reps in one set). If you manage all sets of 2 reps – you are allowed to increase the weight by 2.5kg next week

B. Calve raise with the bar, squat weight plus 20kg , 1set x MAXXX reps –  as many reps as possible without shoes.  If you can do 50 reps – next time add 40kg to your squat weight for this exercise
B1. Calve raise with body weight, immediately after exercise B. 1 set x MAXXX reps

C. Snatch Grip Deadlift on the podium 5sets x 5 reps
-If you are not flexible enough, do it without podium
-if you are still not flexible enough, do classical deadlift with a shoulder shrug , and stretch 3 times a day  god damn it ! 😉
D. Petersen Step Up 4×20 reps
-if you cannot do it for any reason, try Poliquin Step Up
-If you still cannot do it – do Poliquin step up from twice lower platform (step box)

Day 3:
suggested muscle groups : Biceps, Forearms
SQUAT  60% , 5sets x 5 reps , speed work, because weight is ridiculously small

Day 4:
suggested muscle groups : Deltoids, Trapezius, Rotator cuff  
SQUAT  65% , 6sets x 4 reps , speed work, because weight is ridiculously small

Day 5:
suggested muscle groups : Lats, Neck,  Abs.
SQUAT  70% , 7sets x 3 reps , speed work, because weight is ridiculously small

Next two days – rest in case of 5/7 cycle, and/or begin all over again (in case of 5/5  or 5/6 days  cycles)

And Remember, Incorporate this into the rest of the knowledge from the book, this is a piece of a “BIG PICTURE puzzle” .

PERSONAL TRAINERS Screening Part ONE

Just some useful questions to ask a PERSONAL TRAINER in order to improve his work, self-awareness, motivation etc
Perhaps you should ask yourself ? I know I had to ….

 

 

PERSONAL TRAINERS Screening PART ONE

NAME:
AGE:
Training Age:
When did you first trained others (regardless if it was for money or for pleasure)

TRY ANSWERING IN ONE SENTENCE.

Why did you train them initially?
–

What type of client do you prefer to train?
–

What is the main reason you exercise
–

What is the main reason you train others
–

Why is training with you is better for the client than training alone?
–

Who is your trainer?
–

Do you think that if someone better than you trained you – you would have gone much further?
–

Would you hire a PT after you are shown your deep underlying lifestyle, mechanical and nutritional issues exposed in a complimentary screening?
–

Would you learn from that person “as they fix you” or would you read random articles on internet while repeating your mistakes for next few years that take to learn all those lessons through trial and error on your own?
–
Do previous questions change your ideas and attitude to the function/importance of Personal Training? (YES/NO)
–

If YES – specify.
–

If NO – please share feedback how to make a PT understanding how important they are to society and how to make them feel comfortable about own importance.
–

How would you speak to a guy who prefers experimenting rather than RELYING ON you – an already experienced trainer ?
–

How would you speak to a person who is not willing to experiment because he is on top of his game, i.e. he is a National Champion in Bodybuilding or other sport. How would you make them interested in PT from you, and what chances do you think you have ?
–

List few types of people who cannot afford 1 session of PT a week. Do you see them often in your gym?  How much do they spend on products that are detrimental to training results.
–
Why a busy millionaire would ignore investable opportunity of training with a PT.
–
Are there any gym members that are afraid of you or your workouts?
–

What is your “Target Market” ? Kind of people you tend to train most often.
–

List 3 most common problems of your “target market”
–
–
–

List how to solve those problems with investable opportunities
–
–
–

What is your NUMBER ONE most relevant and most obvious result you help your clients achieve.
–
What do your clients experience DEEP INSIDE thanks to your service? GUESS if you have not been told by them.
–

ADD 3 USEFUL QUESTIONS TO THIS LIST.

 

 

Analyze the answers, and come back to them in few weeks time.

YOURS IN STRENGTH
-Andrzej Wodyn Roszkowski
Personal Trainer / Strength & Conditioning Coach

Team Leader at Lifestyle Fitness Manchester

07 515 80 94 69

https://twitter.com/PTWodynPICP

http://www.facebook.com/andrzej.w.roszkowski

 

FULL BACK development – how to split that ?

HOW TO FULLY DEVELOP YOUR BACK ?

I cannot understand why people treat “BACK”  and “CHEST” both as a “equal-rights” muscle group while PECTORALIS MAJOR is a single muscle, and “Back” is more muscles I than I can count .

I prefer Spliting the BACK WORKOUT into 3 or 4 “sections”

1) TRAPS/trapezius , PRACTICALLY trained on “shoulder” day

FAST TWITCH DOMINANT, hence big weights and usually up to 8 reps .

     trap1: shrugging motions, high pulls, cleans etc
     trap2: Rowing motions, facepulls, technical olympic lifts (especially snatch)
     trap3: technical overhead motions, scap-ups, full contraction pull-ups

2) LATS/Latissimus Dorsi: PRACTICAL to train on a “back-dedicated” day but taking part in many stabilization tasks.

OFTEN SLOW TWITCH DOMINATED MUSCLE, hence at least 5-15 reps should do the trick.
 Pull-ups, chins, rows, pullovers, deadlifts, technical squats (YESSS)
EVERY DIFFERENT GRIP WORTH using , since there are many separate motor units in this muscle.

3) ERECTORS + CORE muscles: PRACTICAL to train “on the LEG DAY”

MIXTURE OF FAST AND SLOW TWITCH muscle fibres, hence anything from big weights and 1 rep, speed work, to slow motion high reps (even 25) should help.
Many different patterns of motion and motor unit activation, for example front squat focuses a lot on higher parts while back squat has emphasis on lower parts.

Back extensions, olympic lifts, deadlifts, squats, neck extensions, single hand exercises.

IF YOU TRAIN USING SPLITS, TRY THAT:

MONDAY: CHEST + LATS
TUESDAY: THIGHS + ERECTORS
WED:OFF
THURS: ARMS, FOREARMS
FRIDAY: OFF
SATURDAY: SHOULDERS/DELTS + TRAP:1-2-3
SUNDAY: OFF

Fitness and Bodybuilding in FASHION industry – “The HATER’s F.A.Q.”

                       

This Picture may be one of “significators” of new era of trends in fashion industry.

To read more, please visit:
http://jezebel.com/5973202/mac-put-a-female-bodybuilder-in-a-makeup-ad-and-its-beautiful

What does it mean to me? Perhaps not so much, but it means a lot to the HEALTH of the population.
Bodybuilding has experiencd  the never ending criticism but still is raising up, going from strength to strength decade by decade.
(I am not biggest believer in Bodybuilding as the healthiest sport, but I can see the POTENTIAL FOR HEALTH in it)

Anyway it was very surprising when I saw “Fashion Photo” with a female bodybuilder.

I  don’t want to get into arguments with anybody but it never was any healthier for our ladies. Therefore to send haters away to read the answers – I have created this HUMBLE blog… well – yes, it is a kick-ass blog. literally if you carry on reading. 😉

MAKE UP.. as we have all seen make up can do wonders for shinny models. If we apply same treatment for a female athlete can we get any bad result ? Unless of course “photos are not her cup of tea” so tospeak 😉

HATER’s F.A.Q.  (Please note – everybody who has been blessed with a SUPERIOR sense of humor and does not understand the “hater-writer” relationship, please stop reading NOW.  )

Hater: “our women will be too big”
Wodyn: “WE ALL COME IN DIFFERENT SHAPES AND SIZES, BUT … I never met a female athlete bigger/thicker than average woman these days, and let’s face it – you have no courage to take chocolate or ice-cream away from the average woman in your family you are supposed to care about … because you are not big enough for them, wimp !”

Hater: “they will start using steroids”
Wodyn: “Really? Pregnancy pills are steroids. Do you think they have just positive effects? Go to  http://www.endocrinedisruption.com/home.php
and  read how many steroids you consume through processed food and cosmetics. And those man boobs you hide from me are the best proof, if you know what it’s all about, Bitch ”

Hater: “Women must be fragile and pretty, like a flower”
Wodyn: “ARE you are being romantic here? In this case why DIDN’T you decide to buy them jewelery or flowers instead of Pizza and a Beer at the party ? How romantic is that? If you cannot invest in your love, invest in love of yourself – BUY A GUITAR, since this is going to cover your belly and lack of style, Nerd”

Hater: “but they should never be as strong as men. I am not against dance classes, because I can dance ”
Wodyn: “do I smell discrimination here ? Is your mum still beating you for joining leg-bums-and-tums classes ?
I think it’s about to start to train like a girl, so one day you may actually protect yourself like a man”

                                                

Hater: “OK, but I don’t want women to be  ripped to the bones and be scary”
Wodyn: ” Boy-oh-boy ! You have no idea how hard this task is for a woman. You’d rather land your feet on the moon one day with your attitude.
You have been foollowing your chest and biceps program for 5 year time, eating sandwiches and chips , and I never thought you would make it to a Bodybuilding competition. But there you are. Good picture LOL
You would have won if that was a competition for the MOST AVERAGE GUY.

                                                                 

Hater: “You have no good manners. You made me sound like a fool. I hate you! ”
Wodyn: “Share the article and let’s see how many people can support you. ” 🙂

-Yours In Strength
Andrzej Wodyn Roszkowski

My ADAPTATION of Bulgarian Method – everyday squat example

MY ADAPTATION OF BULGARIAN METHOD

Bulgarian Method requires me to squat  say- 2x a day… not an easy task at the beginning…
I started everyday squats since my Weightlifting Seminar with John Broz – descendant of Bulgarian School. I have started going heavy bit too quick. Had to take my time. Tendonitis and such … different story if a beginner starts like that, but I was already very strong so it was too much.

After that I stepped back , recovered knee pain and started building weights slowly. With lighter days. Morning very light  Olympic lifts and some squatting with baby weights in my bedroom, up to 1/3 of afternoon weights. Then afternoon heavier session in the gym.

For instance I have a minimum to do 140kg x3 reps in squat – this is when i feel like shit. If I feel average i would do 160kg x3 squats. as a refrence my  max power clean was 140- this is  how I estabilished those values…  If I feel normal i made myself a rule that I can go for no more than 5kg more than last time.
for example day by day it would looked like that:
140
145
150
155
160
165
160- means 140 felt OK, but 160 felt like shit
140
day off – unplanned
170 – notice +5kg from recent peak
175
160 means 140 felt OK, but 160 felt like shit
180
day off – unplanned
185

and so on  – 3 reps every day, of course there are warm ups, like on the last day
60×5
80×4
100×3
120×3
140×3
160×3
180×1-3
185×3

It is just one of the exercises of the day of course, but if you find Bulgarian or Sheiko systems too demanding, you can adapt my example, in relation to your power clean.

WORKS WELL FOR ME SO FAR.

Good Luck !

LOW REPS FOR FAT LOSS (and strength gains)

LOW REPS FOR FAT LOSS (and strength gains)

If your goal at the moment is fat loss, the training needs to be more metabolic. I would go for German Body Comp.
BUT if high reps are not your thing, and you want to keep reps low – then have literally no breaks between sets.

you can pick up exercises of high metabolic cost, and group them into a circuit.

Here’s what I am using between days of higher reps for bodycomp clients:

after warm-up sets use @7RM everywhere/ about 82,5% 1RM

Power Clean x5 reps
Push Press x5 reps (same weight as power clean)
Chin-up x5 reps
Squat x5 reps
Dip x5 reps
repeat with no breaks all over again until you are fucked up an cannot carry on.
At this point you will have 2-3 circuits done.
rest 2 minutes.

Resume your circuit doing 4 reps instead of 5. Start from the point you finished. i.e. if you gave up during chin-up – you need to resume from squat etc

repeat with no breaks all over again until you are fucked up an cannot carry on with 4 reps.
At this point you will have 2-4 circuits done.
rest 2 minutes.

Resume your circuit doing 3 reps instead of 4. Start from the point you finished. i.e. if you gave up during chin-up – you need to resume from squat etc

repeat with no breaks all over again until you are fucked up an cannot carry on with 3 reps.
At this point you will have 2-5 circuits done.
GO HOME…. .

of course you can substitute exercises. If for example dipping station is busy or is too far away in the gym, use dumbbell bench press instead and so on. there’s over 80 kinds of squat to choose from as well. Chins can be replaced by rows, push press by DB press, power clean by deadlift/trap bar deadlift and so on.
Mix and match – the World is Yours.

Powerlifting, STRONGMAN and bodybuilding ALL-in-ONE – my strongman debut -part 1

Some time ago I was invited and signed up for a STRONGMAN competition. Now I need to plan what do do about it.
There is just a few issues:
-I have got 3 weeks of training left
-Last weekend of training I ill have to do in London
-at the moment best days for me to train are Saturday, Sunday, and Wednesday
-I have never competed or used strongman gear myself, however for a short time I have been involved in training a national level strongman ( Rafał Kobylarz – 4th in prestigious Polish Cup), so I have some verification of my thinking.
-Because I have no access to the Strongman gear  ,  I am forced to mimic the feats using typical gym equipment.
– Long- term I hve no interest in Strongman competitions (which might change one day), therefore I am still trying to  remain VERSATILE : Mixed Martial Arts, Powerlifting, Weightlifting and even Bodybuilding are key components to my trainings. This one is not different.

OK, here we go:

———————————————————————————————————————————————-
SATURDAY

A-1.  Semi-narrow bench press x 3 reps , RAMPing  (there’s no counting of sets)
A-2. Towel Sternum Chin-upsx3 reps , bodyweight

HOW?
start the stopwatch and at every multitude of 2 minutes start exercise A-1, followed by A-2., THEN ADD WEIGHT, say 10kg
DO NOT  stoP the stopwatch, no mercy with timing

Weights used in A-1:
0:00 – 1st set – 60kg x 3  Reps
2:00 – 2nd set – 70kg x 3 Reps
4:00 – 3rd set – 80kg x 3 reps
6:00 – 4th set  – 90kg x 3 reps
…………………..
16:00 – 140kg – felt heavy enough to make me doubt in succeeding with 150kg after such a short break. Remember that last time I benched heavy was about 10 days before, and it was totally diferent sort of bench press back then …

18:00 – it was an OPTIONAL SET – 80% of max set = 112,5kg – I did 10 reps (if you want to preserve strength for overhead press – don’t do it, eventually 90% of highest weight )

WHAT’s NEXT WEEK?

Same thing but the grip will be slightly wider.
Today it was HALF of the Thumb away from inside smooth part of the bar, just little bit wider than shoulders.
Next Saturday it will be FULL Thumb away from smooth bar.
It will give bit better leverage, tire the triceps LESS (needed in LOG PRESS later) , so I am expecting 150-160kg x3 reps.
(in the past I was benching over 200kg RAW, so it’s not a surprising figure)

THIS IS HOW NARROW IT WAS:
my video from 2010, at 91kg bodyweight

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=btPDe150n1Y

WHY such exercise choices?

First of all – in the competition there will be a LOG CLEAN and PRESS.

let’s see what other tests will be there, I decided to compete in under 90kg  bodyweight category:

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“Log Clean and Press in 75s

Under 90kg – 70kg
Over 90kg – 80kg

Farmers Walk for distance (with a turn)

Under 90kg – 70kg
Over 90kg – 80kg

Deadlift- for max reps

Under 90kg – VW Polo + 80kg
Over 90kg – 80kg + 120kg

Truck Pull 30 metres for time

Under 90kg – Truck
Over 90kg – Truck

Surprise Event…You will love it 🙂

  Undisclosed Medley Event – This will test who is the fastest and strongest…. ”
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Log Press explained by organizer:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AEXuMpxiyg4

however to fully appreciate how important is the PRESSing phase, I guess you should watch this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TK8yVsdjtVs

Why narrow press is the main exercise here?

-As you see the most efficient way to press the log is to involve your triceps as much as possible.
-chest and triceps have more fast twitch muscle fibers than deltoids. As a rule of the thumb the fast twitch muscle fibers should be trained as first.
-heavy bench press PRIMES most motor units in all kinds of pressing. Therefore you could call it a warm-up  if not too many reps has been done. therefore it was 3 reps most of the time, besides the optional set.
-interestingly most muscle soreness I ever had in front Delts or triceps came from bench press, not overhead press (i.e. log press)
– that muscle soreness indicates that in the upright position there is something else that limits my pressing intensity.
-(clean and) jerk/press always felt lighter after bench pressing, even 2 days afterwards

-MOST IMPORTANTLY: I needed to put those somewhere in the plan LOL

Why did I put a Towel Sternum Chin – Ups  as the supersetting exercise?

First of all – how doeas it look like?

It’s a COMBINATION OF :
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xkV7cRpuas4

and
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1vBpy_Wv2jE

 

Ok, now why that choice:

This is how the TRUCK PULL will look like:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yeDewTnuRe0

-As you can see a sternum chin up is mimicking the work of arms bit more than classical pull-ups would do.
-The super-setting of  opposite muscle groups/movements has been shown many times to generate superior hormonal response and neurological stimulus. Another words – if you superset – expect more strength and more stimulation.
-Still pulling was NOT the main concern of SATURDAY training. Pulling exercises will be  concentrated in Sunday Training. Therefore those chin-ups were done without any additional weights. Usually after LIGHT exercise like that next day  pulling performance should increase.
– LIGHT exercise using bodyweight  is a relative concept. This particular one will be HARD for at least 90% of trainees.
– one more reason to  have this one as a A-2 choice is because the Hammer Grip Dumbbell clean and press will be mimicking the Log Clean and press.

-Please read about the dangers of Dumbbell Clean – this is something worth considering in the first place. In my case the weight of Dumbbells is rather small – 50‘s are the biggest in the gym. And the LOG itself will be only 70kg heavy. As I used to be strong enough to cheat-Dumbbell curl 50kg Dumbbells, I am not really scared of such weights , but if you have insufficient strength base, rather practice Hammer Curls and Radial Wrist Flexion.
http://www.charlespoliquin.com/ArticlesMultimedia/Articles/Article/422/Very_Dumb_Training_Recommendations_Part_4.aspx

In part Two I will describe the second part of SATURDAY training, , which consists all from mimicking feats through compound moves , more reps , regressions, isolations and giant sets.

PULL-UP starter PLAN for FEMALES(as well as formerly OBESE men, WEAK kids, etc )

This is another part of “essay” I was asked to do as part of Ultimate Performance internship application.
For more details read first few lines of my yesterday blog:
https://wodynology.wordpress.com/2012/06/18/intermittent-fasting-a-slippery-subject-critical-review/

The task was to write a single workout session, of OWN training method, but also mentioning  about the rest of the week.

15/10/5 method (seriously I need to give it another name LOL)
————————————————————————————————————————————-————
Here’s the original:
————————————————————————————————————————————-———
PULL-UP STARTER (suitable for a female client, who wants to enhance performance and general fitness versatility, also suitable for obese males who just dropped excess bodyweight, but finished up being too weak to do pull-ups.  Plan is designed preferably for people who previously trained arms and upper back , using exercises mimicking pull-ups)

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 10’s in the “PULL-UP STARTER” PLAN

 

Sets given in the plan are not the warm-up sets

Warm-up sets would be ramping up with doing 3 reps and relatively short breaks

SUPERSET : A-1 / A-2

A-1. Pull-Ups on the Chin-Assist machine TEMPO 31X1 ,  6-8 reps , Weights should be about 80-85% of bodyweight. If that is too easy, we can use few tweaks:

Rest 120sec

A-2. 45 degrees Incline bench press, biacromial width TEMPO 31X1 ,  6-8 reps , 

Rest 120sec

REPEAT THE SEQUENCE A-1/rest/A-2/rest  to a total of 4 rounds, which means you will do 4 sets of each exercises. You can decrease the weights as you get tired, but make sure the last set is not lighter than 90% of first working set.
If it happens, just move to the next exercise.

 

——————-

Sets given in the plan are not the warm-up sets

Instead of warm-up sets I would encourage 1-2 “feeling”  sets of 3 reps and relatively short breaks, with weight of about 80% of what we wish to use in the main sets

 

B-1. 30 degrees decline bench Dumbbell Press, hammer grip TEMPO 40X0,                                                      .        8-10 reps ,

Rest 60 sec

B-2. Single hand Dumbbell Row TEMPO 30X1,  10 reps ,                  

Rest 60 sec

REPEAT THE SEQUENCE B-1/rest/B-2/rest  to a total of 3 or 4 rounds(depending on how you feel or maybe on mysteriously spending the “deadline“ one hour training).                                You will do 3-4 sets of each exercises. You can decrease the weights as you get tired, but make sure the last set is not lighter than 90% of first working set.
If it happens, just take a post-workout shake and go home. 

 

———————————————————————————————————————————–

 

 

Why did I choose this split:

-because I was most successful with 5/10/5 method (READ BELOW)

-because in this method training every body part twice a week brings best results

-because upper body muscles (for me: elbow and higher) work synergistically. Stil I ensured the exercise selection emphasizing specific body parts despite compound movements.

-you could say that on Monday we did assisting exercises, on Thursday Torso(PLAN ABOVE), and on next Monday – Arms with emphasis on compound movements , Pull-ups included.

 

Athlete’s purpose:

To achieve better upper body stability through development of upper back, and few neighbouring muscle groups. Our athlete is a female sprinter. Development of upper back helps with squat stability. Unlocking higher potential in squats helps to generate more acceleration, strong upper back allows for better usage of arm momentum during sprinting.

 

 

 

EXPLANATION OF RATHER COMPLICATED METHOD:

One of the methods I had most success with was 15/10/5. It’s a form of undulating periodization.

Granted! Someone else might have invented it before me,
I developed 15/10/5 over the 10 years time to the size of a book, and tried it on almost anyone I trained, having lots of logs confirming it. So if someone else used it before me randomly operating numbers 15/10/5 – unlikely  they had so much experience and evolution of a method. Besides, the real numbers of reps are usually different.

I know I was supposed to loosely draw the rest of the concept, but undulating per iodisation is not just a simple one-week-split-and-repeat.

15 reps days:

High reps are purely to prevent using too much weight. Alternatively very slow TEMPO , i.e. 4040 but 8 reps instead. At the time I conceived the method in 2002, I did not pay so much attention to tempo prescriptions, However I always encouraged controlled eccentric phase, pause on the bottom and top. Therefore the default tempo was usually between 21X1 and 31X1 . I often encouraged pauses in the middle of motion as well as on top and bottom, which was producing tempo 1111.

Practically during “15’s” the eccentric phase was faster than it should be, therefore often we would get too much weight anyway . Over the time I made the rule that the 15’s weight should be up to 55% of estimated 1RM, or 60% of what we lift on the day called “5’s”. This rule encouraged bit more moderate tempo. It  was set when I observed relationship between plateaus and relatively high weights in “15’s”

Summarizing: 15’s are made for avoiding CNS overload, thus less weight or slower concentric phase  in compound moves. Also if strength is the goal, 15’s can be sacrificed to perform some isolation exercises , emphasising the weak spots in muscles or technique, i.e. Poliquin step-ups, Reverse Hypers, decline bench  flyes, pullovers, scap-ups, hammer grip preacher curls, forearm work, any learning of new exercises should be put here as well, i.e. scapula retraction which is often area of negligence and s a motion trainees are not even aware of.

 

 

10 reps days  is really 8-10 or even 6-8 repetitions in more advanced stages. I will explain later, but the base is 10 repetitions. Purpose is to induce hypertrophy or functional hypertrophy, as desired.
Exercises should be resembling the ones that are going to be performed on “5‘s“.

For example if we plan to peak in a deadlift on 5’s , we need to prime it with “10’s”.

Let’s say the athlete has problems with the bottom part of the deadlift. We could do deadlift from the podium or Snatch grip deadlift in the day of “10’s”

In the same athlete we noticed bit too much of a tendency to round the very lower back , in this case in the day of “15’s” we can use reverse hypers to target this particular area of erector spinae.

 

 

 

 

 

Weekly split:

 

Week one

Monday: 15’s: Upper body strategic deload of nervous system , Long TUT, slower concentrics or isolation.

Tuesday: 15’s for Lower body, strategic deload of nervous system , Long TUT, slower concentrics or isolation.

 

Thursday: 10’s upper body. Hypertrophy/functional hypertrophy

Friday: 10’s lower body . Hypertrophy/functional hypertrophy

 

Week two

Monday: 5’s: Upper body, Strength

Tuesday: 5’s for Lower body Strength

Repeat of the cycles

Thursday: 15’s upper body.

Friday: 15’s lower body

 

 

ADVANCED 15/10/5:

15’s stay the same, no increase in weights is encouraged

10’s : Every cycle (one and half week) 10’s become 9’s, then 8’s, then 7’s in the 6^th week

5’s: Every cycle (one and half week) 5’s become 4’s, then 3’s, then 2’s in the 6^th week

So the undulating sequence goes like this:

15-10-5 week 1/2

15-9-4 week 2/3

15-8-3 week 4/5

15-7-2 week 5/6

 

 

IN CASE OF THE “PULL-UP STARTER” PLAN:

 

15’s: supplementary work on weak spots

-ARMS if it’s woman or anybody with long arms, there will be arm curl exercise. I.e. Spider curls in case the top of a chin-up is weakest, or preacher curls if the botom range is the weakest

-LATS: depending which chin-up phase is weakest it may be pullovers, straight-arm pulldowns, rows

-TRAPS: most likely scap-ups 3 sets of 15 reps 1111 tempo , sometimes Rows with extra scapula work

-Forearms : using thick grip implement in at least one exercise(preferably rows), direct forearm work is usually done on the lower body day.

-other muscles trained on this day: DELTS , as they are likely to be slow twitch dominant, which responds

 

 

5’s: Innervation, strength.

-NECK: before each set of heavy lifts little bit of neuro-trickery like 8 sec of isometric neck extension in order to open cervical spine spaces for the nerves controlling arms

– TRICEPS, CHEST any kind of Narrow bench press – going heavy in pressing disinhibits  pulling strength.

-BICEPS, UPPER BACK negatives in pull-ups: hammer grip->reverse grip->Pronated grip TEMPO from 5.0.0.0 up to  30.0.0.0

We want to get to total of 100 seconds of negatives

We want to  increase the resistance in every set of negatives OR use more difficult grip option

We want to increase the resistance slightly from week to week/cycle to cycle

-at the end shoulder stability exercises, rotations, face pulls, trap-3, Cuban press – as those muscles are high threshold, this day is perhaps the most suitable for

——————————————————————————————————————————–

AFTER THIS LONG INTRODUCTION AND DRAWING THE “SURROUNDINGS” OF THE PLAN, THIS IS THE SINGLE DAY ROUTINE OF:

——————————————————————————————————————————–

 10’s in the “PULL-UP STARTER” PLAN

 

Sets given in the plan are not the warm-up sets

Warm-up sets would be ramping up with doing 3 reps and relatively short breaks

Last warm-up set could be just 1 repetition, with the weight 5% bigger than we are planning to use in the heaviest set.

MAIN SETS: From set to set we can slightly reduce the weight , but no more than 10% which is a critical drop-off point for this intensity bracket.

 

A-1. Pull-Ups on the Chin-Assist machine TEMPO 31X1 , 4 sets, 8 reps , rest 120sec

Main purpose of exercise A-1 would be building a base of hypertrophy and initiating establishment of new nervous connections that will be used in the real chin-ups. Thus the moves need to be very similar.

Weights should be about 80-85% of bodyweight. If that is too easy, we can use few tweaks:

Tweaks I might use alternatively

-”one and halves” = full concentric, top half eccentric, top half concentric, full eccentric. Especially useful to improve top of range of motion

-thick grip implement or towel pull-up

-sit-fit ball under the feet – only if  the trainee has strong grip. In the same way bosu ball inhibits neural drive in legs, the same way sit-fit redirects neural drive to the uper limbs, as lower limbs “can’t be trusted” – think of it as rock climbing simulation

-isometric pauses

 

A-2. 45 degrees Incline bench press, biacromial width TEMPO 31X1 , 4 sets, 8 reps ,  rest 120sec

Weights should be matching the tempo and rep prescription, roughly 80% of 1 RM

Main purpose of exercise A-2 is to disinhibit the pulling strength, not necessarily to break records.

in case of bad exercise response I would use alternatively or in combiation:

-chains

-bands (but not twice in a row)

-reverse bands

-thick grip implement

-slightly different angle

-slightly different grip width

——————-

 

Sets given in the plan are not the warm-up sets

In exercises B-1 and B-2 the warm-up is not necessary because all those muscles are already warm and even tired. 

Instead of warm-up sets I would encourage 1-2 “feeling”  sets of 3 reps and relatively short breaks, with weight of about 80% of what we wish to use in the main sets

 

B-1. 30 degrees decline bench Dumbbell Press, hammer grip TEMPO 40X0 , 3-4 sets , 10 reps , rest 60 sec

Weights should be matching the tempo and rep prescription, roughly 80% of 1 RM

Main purpose of this exercise is to further stimulate lower parts of pectorals. That plays an important role in supporting chin-ups , it might be treated as a progression to dips, especially on the Gymnastic Rings .

In case of bad exercise response I could use:

-different tempo

-different angle, could be flat bench

-press with pronation

-change to DB flyes

 

 

B-2. Single hand Dumbbell Row TEMPO 30X1, 3-4 sets , 10 reps , rest 60 sec

Weights should be matching the tempo and rep prescription, roughly 80% of 1 RM

Most important thing here is to retract the scapula. This could be up to ¾ of full range of motion.

In case of bad exercise response:

-change grip thickness/implement

-change body position

-use lower pulley instead

-do scapula retractions only

-change the wrist position.