"Why You Do Like That?" Weights, Martials and 'The Healthy'

Fortune Cookie Say: "Strong Back Makes For Happy Marriage"

Tuesday 3rd September 2013

Normally I'd be at Silat today...But I really didn't want to chance it

I began today's gym odyssey with another pretty indepth warmup. Including Shoulder Stretch, Palm Down TurnAway stretch, Squat Stretches, Back Table, The Bow, Leg Flicky-Flacks etc.

Deadlift (Rack Pull to Hair-Splitters) (5 Pins Down)

Okay, 'Don't get carried away' was today's motto. Did I stick to that? Kinda.

I'm still lifting from 5 pins down (just below knee height). Still part of my 'cycle' (laughable probably by now). Drop down the rack as you cart a heftier load. I started this 'cycle' in April. At 3 pins down (mid-thigh height).

Ideally I'd be on the deck by now. But 'Man Plans, God Laughs' (A Jewish saying).

The point being that I go up to a certain weight and reps. And then I drop a pin (go lower) on the rack. Until I get onto blocks. And then the floor. I'll probably be at 6 pins down (mid-shin) by maybe late October?

Difficult to time it accurately. As so much depends on keep your mentality, vitality, physicality on track. To stay 'the healthy'...

And as I'm seemingly experiencing a different stomach problem each week at present...You see how these small problems can effect your lifting and martials...Hohum.

I definitely wanted to do lower reps today. Create some kind of equality in the middle range.

60 kgs x 8(double ohand)
100 kgs x 7 (ditto)
140 kgs x 6 (ditto)
180 kgs x 5 (mixed grip)
210 kgs x 5 (double ohand straps)
230 kgs x 4 (ditto)
240 kgs x 4 (ditto)
260 kgs x 4 (Plus 5 second Static at near Lockout)
285 kgs x 3 (ditto)

Felt really strong here. Still staying at 285 kgs though for the current max. Until I feel comfortable lifting it for at least 4 or 5 reasonably easy reps.

I'll then decide what my max lift at 5 pins down will be (play by feel). Before I go to 6 pins down (mid shin). And then blocks. Then plates. Then the floor.

Yes I could lift more here. Just that I want it to be fun and reasonably safe.

The Deads then, again were a pleasure. And fast. I did 8 sets in 40 minutes including warmups.

Standing Calf Raise

Again a bit more weight and sets. With these I want the effect. Calves can be notoriously difficult to develop. And they definitely help you in all your stability and support.

So remember one way of beasting them is to hit the muscles from different angles (in the same set). So change foot position a third of the way through. And then again. Do a deep stretch at the bottom of the last movement of each set.

Also you have to break down (loosen) the fascia holding your turkey breast style calf muscles in place. This is where some strong finger prodding and kneading comes in handy (after the fact).

120 kg x 33 (11 straight, 11 pigeon-toed, 11 Charlie Chaplin style) with a 10 second hold at the top and the bottom of the last rep (stretch)

140 kg x 33 (ditto)

160 kg x 23 (as above)

180 kg x 20 only straight with a 10 second stretch at the bottom of the last 2 reps.

Single Arm Dumbell Row

Felt the need to lift summat hefty one arm at a time.

130 lbs (each arm of course) x 8
150 lbs x 6
180 lbs x 4 (going back heftier with these now)

Still got my eye on those 250 lb'ers sat in the corner. Nobody much uses them. Shame to see them gathering dust.

Seated Row

Remember to keep your shoulders down (no shrugging). So your lats do most of the work. Your upper back (rhomboids etc) will get support work anyway.

Pull smoothly into the upper obliques at solar plexus height or below.

115 kgs x 10
135 kgs x 6
180 kgs x 4 (with a 5 second static and a resisted neg that almost did for me)

Neutral Box-Bar Pullups

x 10
x 9 (Plus 10 sec static at the top of the last rep)
x 8 (plus 5 second static at the top of the last rep and a resisted neg)

STILL can't be bothered to add weight again. As I'm concentrating on my form. As opposed to trying to 'muscle up' with weight.

Bagwork, Speedball, Floor-To-Ceiling Ball

Bagwork - No wraps or mitts. Fast hands, jab-cross-jab combis and 5 punch combis fast. Alternate sides. Slipping the bag, Straight Rising Knee etc.

Standing roundhouses - as many as I can blam in without puking lol. Kuching Roundhouses from the floor.

Floor-to-ceiling ball. Rockin and Rollin...

Then helped a dood who's got a bit of arthritis happening in his upper spine. He's finding it hard to do Back Squats. We had a fruitful show n tell about flexibility exercises for the back squat.

And then about his other options to the Back Squat. I showed him Zerchers (my current crush), Barbell Hack Squats, Jefferson Squats (always great) and Sumo deadlifts as a starter.

He was most pleased. Not done any Jefferson's for at least a year. So cool. And pretty useful for fighters. That extra load on the front leg whilst doing a modified deadlift-squat really get's you connected with that 'ground-force reaction'.

We also discussed how the Carry Bend (Zercher Squat) has been used by bareknuckle boxers to keep a strong guard for years (so your guard can't be pulled or knocked down). And of course to work your all really hard.

Made me feel reasonably useful and it's always great to shoot the breeze about barbellism.

Chocolate Milk (still no magical healing properties but mighty tasty).

 

He Feels a Quick Update Is In Order...

Hello You
Thanks for dropping by. A quick update.

If you pay any attention to my prattering then you'll see I had myriad stomach-related health problems through the summer.

This was unusual. Normally I'm (thankfully) peak max healthy.

Gladly I seem now finally past my stomach-related doodads. Gluten-incident turned into lactose-rejection - Which meant I was puking daily when trying to consume some cow's milk.

I find milk useful as a ready protein source. And as I'm not consuming any Whey etc Protein (not for a year now) it's useful to get some protein plus style liquid in the diet.

So bloke at the gym recommended Goat's Milk. Good call. Not had any more Milk-pukery since then. So my Big Shake in the morning can continue. Thanks Goats!

After the lactose intolerance I got a - thankfully fairly-mild - case of food poisoning. Dodgy eggs.

This was surprisingly difficult to get shot of. And my breathing was screwed up for a couple of weeks. No breath power meant no weights power. As each time I tried to exert force my lungs sorta collapsed under the effort. Now I know what a 40 a day smoker feels like...

So I just didn't lift anything for a while. No biggie. Just a tad fractious at not 'doing' anything. As I like to occasionally shift some hefty stuff about.

Of course anything effecting the lungs -combined with a slightly acidic (acidic not hasidic) diet and bang! I then got some Broncitus (sp?) - Nice!

So I guzzled gallons of Martin's Pine Balsam cough medicine. Ironically this is the stuff my dad used to make me take when I was a dwt.

He used to grab my nose and spoon the stuff in when I had a bad chest. Nowadays I get to force him to take it and he complains...C'est La Guerre!

Anyway finally I seem to be getting back to some normality.

I managed a hefty gym sesh last Tuesday (24th Sept 2013). Which saw me destroy my ego with a combination of Zerchers Squats, Back Squats, High Pulls, Pullups etc.

I won't list that sesh. But come second week of October I'll start listing seshs again for anyone who's interested.

Also I'll start uploading clips and footage to that Youtube Strength-Orientated Channel come mid-October onwards.

My Martials of course are suffering. And at the mo I can't get to Silat due to work etc commitments early in my week. Damn you work I wanna eat cake and lounge by the pool!

Hope all is going well for you (yes you >)

 

Good to have you back, here's to peak max health! [raises glass of chocolate goats milk nesquik]

 

Nightmare. I think I've got a milk protein allergy or LI too. I'm not getting direct hits though when I experiment with food. I've heard it can start like that. I think 1 in 3 people here have LI, you can buy all lactose free products everywhere, but they don't seem to make a difference to me.

I'm eating soya joghurt as I write. Tastes ok, but it's a weird grey colour and has a rather weird consistency. I'm trying not to look down. Where's the puke smiley?

 

Hi Boris
I should know better really. Couldn't digest lactose for most of my adult life anyway. So milk-drinking becomes 'russian roulette'.

The Goat's Milk is fine. Though I limit my consumption to 2/3 rds of a pint max per day. Seems to be much easier to digest. And no traumas so far.

Soya contains an eostregene-mimicking Amino called Genezien (spelling please...).

Supposedly too much Soya and you turn into a woman.

No bad thing IF you're already a woman. But IF you're a fella...Perhaps not the best lifestyle choice.

I don't consume Soy at all. It's not the healthfood miracle it's been marketed as. Be like the Chinese consume it in really small tranches...

Mind you Alpro do some tasty Soya yogurts that are A) At least NOT grey
B) Don't bring on the puke-smiley



Good Luck

 

Thanks butty

On schedule for my 250 kg Zercher Squat (first to hit a 160 kg, then 210kg, then the 250kg).

No more puking, breathing problems and the like for me (thanks).

Though I'm probably not gonna hit my 366 lb crushgrip goal on time. Rest and recouping taken into account.

Hohum.

Started shooting some pieces for the online channel. Will need to do it all myself. As those who were keen seem less keen now reality of doing something has taken hold...Tsk tsk :bang:

Back with some reportage next week - Training enjoyable fun and fairly hefty

Big Cwtches y' all

 

Hi,

Well, now I am not sure what it is! I've been dairy and grain free (don't eat much anyway) for a couple of weeks but still have bloating and cramps. I'm avoiding stuff that triggers IBS but that isn't making a difference either.

Yeah, I've heard that about soya. I'm just messing around with stuff as a dairy substitute (almond milk etc etc) for the mean time. Big dairy consumer myself...kinda weird not to drink milk.

The grey yoghurt was Alpro. But I tried some other stuff that was far better...heavily processed I am sure. Gonna try some goat's milk at a later date.

Getting some tests done, maybe something will come up.

This getting old thing isn't much fun...

 

This'll sound more alarming than it's actually meant to...But you could be under the sways of Candida - Just a mild possibility that you possess some kind of more than normal fungal growth in your intestines.

You probably eat pretty well. So it's only a borderline possibility. If you eat a lot of grains and other sugars the naturally-occurring candida in your gut can expand and start to make you crave more of what it needs to grow...Bit like The Quatermass Experiment...

Or it could be a virus or parasite of some description. Again no cause for alarm. It's easy to pick these up.

Try taking a heaped teaspoonful of raw powdered ginger at 2 hour intervals. For a week. Most stomach nasties cannot tolerate the presence of ginger. And will bail after a week or so.

See if that does any good. Also take some acidophilis (chewables are easy). So you boost your gut health etc. Whilst getting rid of the dross.

In fairness to Alpro their stuff is right-on organic gubbins. Or as close as poss. But grey soya yogurt has the appeal of horseturdgranola...

I sometimes get tempted to buy a pack in H+B. Hmmm Soy yogurt with cherries. Sounds great...Hmmm maybe not.

Good luck with that.

If the test results come back as 'Screwed: No Hope' don't take it personally it's just the health authority trying to cut costs...:Angel:

See it another way. As you get older you get more efficient. Your body says 'Nope I ain't eating that crud, get something better down you now'...Gut intelligence

 

Gripwork and Padwork - Tuesday 8th October 2013

So it's been a few weeks since I did any Gripwork. Stomach and related gubbins meant I wasn't confident doing the guts and **** portion of 'grip-guts-****'...

250 lb Gripper

All body effort. Hefty gripwork is like deadlifting - taxing, relaxing.

x 5 (per hand) Warmup from finger-popping to near full close
x 5 (warm up to near full close)
x 5 (full closes here with grim face and a static contraction on the last rep per hand)
x 5 (ditto)
x 5 (easier to close with a static on the last 2 reps per set)
x 5 (magical set)

On the last set the magic happened. What I'd been waiting for. For the first 4 reps (2 per side) I closed this so easily that it felt like a 50 lb gripper. I was indeed amazed 'woah!'.

There's a fine difference between doing a grind-close and doing an easy one.

Thought I'd stop at 6 sets and a bit of a forearm pump.

That's why Effort comes before Reward in the dictionary!

Padwork - Self

No-one to play with? Don't despair. You too can do knee and elbow padwork with yourself and a pair of focus mitts. Yes it's true I tell you!

You can do a rising 45 degree knee - Just cross your arms, so your right mitt meets your left knee and so on...Did about 30 knees fast just for the grins.

And you can do approx 8 elbow strikes. Full power.

I only did Sok Tad (sok = elbow, tad = cut). A hooking elbow from the side. A few sets.

The others you can do are:

Sok Ti (Ti = Hit) a downwards 'front-crawl style' elbow

Sok Gnad or Hud - an upwards elbow strike. As If you're running your fingers through your hair

Sok Tong - (Tong = Smash) Like pulling an old-style bog chain. Make sure your elbow goes across your centreline. So you hit with the big bone and not the inside soft end of your ulna bone!

Suitcase pickup elbow (can't remember what it's called in Thai) Imagine picking up a hefty bag or case. Take somebody's head off with this one.

Short-crank Sok Tong (Smaller Sok Tong with a raking motion)

Sok Sab (Don't see this too much now in ring-rules Muay) A diagonal elbow strike from the guard. Total KO when done with a single-arm 'snake hand' clinch.

This is the one I used a lot when I was a bouncer. Great for when someone tries to headbutt you. They don't know why they're waking up on the street with kids peeing on them...

Sok Pung (Pung = Spear) 2 ways really. Point of elbow forward strike. Elbow horizontal and forward. Or elbow upright and forward (ala 'Tad Malaa' in Muay Chiaya)

A few others. I'll shoot a clip about this. Because it's frustrating when you got nobody to play with.

Takum Big Care xxooxo

 

A Little Bit of Isometrics, Baby

Friday 11th October 2013

This morn. Simple 1 minute isometrics for my hinky shoulder. Consisting of using the expander/ strand. Approximately 240 lbs of resistance.

My left shoulder sometimes feels like it's gonna pop out of it's joint. Due to all the daft damage done to it throughout the years. It clunks around a lot.

I do strand/ expander work to 'reset' my shoulder. Always works. For the first 2 you just stand on one end of the expander. And pull away with the other end. As the resistance is pretty high I can only get these 2/3rds of the way. So then I hold a static.

Single-Arm Front Shoulder Raise (10 secs each)
Single-Arm Side Shoulder Raise (ditto)
Double Arm Bent Over Shoulder Row (ditto)

Shoulder pump just from that small tranche of work.

Okay not exactly training for the Olympia. But! Isometrics are something you should seriously consider adding to your strength work. They build it fast. You only gotta do them once a month or similar. And they're repairing.

You see as soon as a muscle is subject to a load it contracts. Test this for yourself. Find a hefty structure you can't shift. Grab hold and try to lift it.

What happens? Your muscles contract even though there's no movement. Hence putting the lie to all that 'you need a full-range of movement' stuff. You can choose your range of motion etc depending on your purpose at that time.

Alexander Zass (the Mighty Samson) was one of the first to popularise Isometrics in the 1920's. And published a slew of books on the subject. Mostly he used chains to resist.

Isos were mad popular in the 1960's and 70's ('Bluce!') but fell out of fashion with the mass-market upcrease of 'bodybuilding'.

Bear in mind you possess 3 'Phases' of Strength:

Static (Holding, Bracing, Isometric)

Negative (Resisting a Drop)

Positive (The 'Expressive')

Your strongest phase of strength is your Static. You'll always be stronger bracing against something than you will in your other phases.

Negs are your second strongest (about 90 - 80% of your static strength)

Positives are your weakest type of strength (approx 65%). You'll always be weakest on the upwards push of a squat. And weakest coming out of the hole (in your weakest range of motion).

There are 4 types of Isometric

Against your own body

Useful but difficult to measure the amount of force you're applying

Against 'Immovable' Objects

Houses, Walls, Missile launchers - Again useful but difficult to measure the force expressed accurately. You don't know how much of said Missile Launcher you're potentially lifting.

Also because you're expressing the force against it you'll need to hold the isometric for slighter longer. More like 12 seconds or so. Of which the first 5 may be a gradual increase in your amount of scuuush. Until you reach all out effort for the last 5 seconds or less.

Against Specialist Isometric Equipment

Like the Green Giant etc made by that German fella. You exert force up to a measurable level. Or you set the machine to resist at a set rate and try to reach that. Useful. And a great strength builder.

Against Weights As a Static Contraction

These are quicker. True definition of strength. "Maximal Production of Force Over a Peak Moment".

Reason being is the weight is automatically on you. Particularly with a Static Contraction Leg Press or Deadlift.

You either hold it for up to 5 seconds (anything more and it's too light). Or collapse...

Hence why you're always training in your strongest range of motion with Statics. And there are always 'safeties' in place. After all you don't want a 1200 kg Leg Press dropping on you right?

At present I'm lifting weights once a week.

I'm not taking any supplements like Creatine, Beta-Alanine, D-Ribose etc. Although I am considering D-Ribose again. Specially when I start back at Silat and other Martials later this month.

My recouping is slower without supps.

I do a short simple 2 minute stretching routine daily. Drink lots of water. Try to sleep 8 hours plus a night (easier said than done for most).

I do a bit of foam rollering - Although I'm lazy with this. I usually just grab the rolling pin and squidge away. And 'eat clean' (well, reasonably so).

My sessions currently look like this (I usually train on a Saturday):

Session A (week 1)

Back Squats (6 sets)
Jump Squats (3 Sets)
Reverse Grip Standing Overhead Press (6 sets)
High Pulls (4 sets)
One other Optional Lift from the entree cart

Session B (week 2)

Deadlifts (7 or 8 sets)
Zercher Squats (4 sets)
Leg Press (4 or 5 sets)
Standing or Donkey Calf Raise (4 sets)
Pullups (3 sets)

Simple and Basic.

Ideally I'd like to be training like this:

Mon > Sat > Thurs > Mon > Sat > Thurs (once 4 to 5 days).

This is more so I can get all the 'work' done. But also so I can enjoy the process more. As I don't just lift to get stronger. I do it because I enjoy the process and the work (if you don't then just do isometrics - You can do a full workout in 5 minutes!).

Remember the Heavier you lift the more time between sessions you need off - Even if you're taking magic pixie dust.

The only 'ah but!' for non-enhanced lifters is if you lift like ye oldetime strongmen = Hackenschmidt, Saxon, Inch, Goerner, Maxik, Zass, Louis Cyr etc.

They generally lifted 4 to 5 times a week. But short sessions. 35 mins including warmup per. Maybe 1 main lift and 1 accessory each day.

Takes discipline to stick to that. Most folk will want to 'just do a little bit more'...And pretty soon you're training like me (don't do it!)

Anyway I am so looking forward to training at the gym tomorrow. Major Tonnage!

It'll be great to get back to some sort of normality. After a coupla months of ruckus.

Cheers and Good Eating

 

Probably explains why pause squats and presses make people awesome?

Thanks for the concise and informative write up.

 

I like all of this ^ and will be adding static contractions to my expander work (and with bars if I can work out how to do it without a partner)

Woah, 'easy' full closes with a 250lb gripper? Damn man that's a metricFartlekTon of squeeze!
I'm 6ft 2 and 177lb/12st9/80.2kg (same weight I was at the start of my training log in July, although I am definitely stronger), so I think I have a bit of eating and squeezing to do before I get close to the 250. If I can do the 200 by the New Year I'll be pretty happy :Angel:

Shame there's no one to do pads with you dude, there's no local k1/(ring) MT/kickboxing club you could steal someone from is there? Even if it's the person running it...

 

Cheers Steve

As you know Pause Squats are great. Not doing them so much at the mo. In fact I'll start a totally new squat routine next month. That'll be much greater volume.

Problem I 'spose with Pause's is they're in your weakest range of motion. And between your 2nd and then your weakest phase of strength (positive).

Doing Negative Squats (drop an stop on the bars) is an option. Depending of course on where you pause.

Pin Squats (aka Andersons) at varying heights help you build big scuush strength. Better when you're training with a partner methinks. As oftentime you just wanna get on with it and not faff about setting the right heights etc.

You could of course dig a pit like Anderson did. And gradually fill it in.

 

Cheers mate. You can do the 7 main Static Contraction Lifts easy enough. It's just a pain in the **** to load some of the machines, bars etc with THAT much weight when you need it. You can do pretty much all of them without a partner.

It's why I started doing single leg static contraction Leg presses. Mostly cause it is a pain to load the thing with 1000 kgs plus. Takes an eon. And then you gotta unload it. Seems like a right faff for 1 or 2 sets of 5 second presses.

I think the 7 Static Contraction Lifts are:

Leg Press (on a Hefty Leg Press), Shrug (Safeties on Rack), Deadlift (Ditto), Bench Press (Smith Machine or Partner), Lat Pulldown (Usually need help getting the stack down), Shoulder Press (Smith Machine or Stops in the Rack) and Bicep Curl (Use a platform at 50% of Curl - Simple pick up and hold).

You can do the short-range Deads and Shrugs on the safeties of a Squat Rack.

The starting point for the Dead is about 133% of your full range of motion 1rm. But only from mid thigh height. These are strength-only lifts. The range of motion doesn't matter so much. Rather the weight matters more.

The lat pulldown can be done by putting the pin in at a weight you cannot do for a full range of motion. Then you just pull the bars slightly by dropping your shoulder blades down and together. With only a 10% bend in your arms (this keeps your biceps out of it).

The biggest battle most people face with any kind of Static Contraction is persuading themself it'll work. After all didn't we all swallow the full-range of motion only stuff for years?

And yet for strength...Any bodybuilder etc worth their salt will tell you you'll get stronger and scuuush through your plateaus by doing partials.

It's what I was waiting for. The difference between being able to close it - But it's a considerable effort - And being able to close like squidging a pat of butter. I really thought I'd broken the spring!

I sent my 350 lb gripper back. And told them that it can't be calibrated correctly. As when I close it it only feels about 275 lbs. And whilst I can heft a bit. No way could I close a 350 lb gripper THAT easy! I would expect it to be much harder.

That'll be a great result for you. I don't know if it's purposeful on your behalf to retain the same weight. But that's the skill of Sarcomere (myofibrillar muscle density). You get stronger but without the huge growth associated with Sarcoplasmic training.

I'm imagining how much stronger I'm really gonna need to be in order to close a COC 4 (366 lbs of resistance). I don't know how many lightweights like me closed it in the past. Usually it's those Strongmen fattys.

Let's face it IF you weigh 350 lbs you better be able to deadlift 1000 plus. And you'd better be able to close a 366 lb gripper. Else you're just a blob.

We'll see. Next step is to get a few more grippers. And see where I can go with it. Judging by my gripwork ratio (once each 10 days at the mo)...I'll not hit my coc 4 goal for March 2014. But I might be closing a 300 lber by then. Who knows?

I did get a coupla large fellas at the gym the other day to hold pads for me. They didn't like it much. I managed to blam in a few low roundhouses against the dense kickshields. But the fella said his leg felt like it was gonna break. No go no way with the thai pads (boo!).

We'll see about the Martials come next month. I might be able to go back to Silat by then.

Shot a few strength etc clips for the online channel. But as mentioned a few posts back all those who got excited about it, bailed.

Once they saw they'd need to do a bit of work (prep it, do a schematic, set up camera, shoot the thing, edit and upload etc)...No answer from any of them (boo!)...They just wanted to star in it see...Pah!

Anyways onwards and upwards :Angel:

 

Hi Sokklab!
Would you mind to explain this in a little more detail?

My understanding of the pause squat is that when you are "in the hole" you don't have any bouncing to make your work easier.
At this moment, when you have to lift all this weight and overcome gravity in order to bring yourself up isn't that the static phase of strength? The one you said is the strongest phase of strength? Isn't this the most demanding phase of the whole exersice, therefore the moment you have to exert the most strength?

What am I missing?

 

Static Contractions compared to The Static Contraction System

NO! ...Sure Just wire me the money first

Certainly you are using Static (holding, bracing, isometric) Strength at that point yes. Then you exert into a positive (your weakest phase).

This makes nociception harder to tap (as you're body wants to protect itself from max exertion in case you rip something)...

You can of course tap a static hold -contraction during any portion of a lift (could be midway if you want).

It's just that you possess a weakest and strongest range of motion.

So you'll be able to do a much stronger static contraction (stronger anything) in your strongest range of motion than you will in your weakest.

Because you can exert more force near the top of a press etc than you can at the bottom.

Hence why most bench press injuries occur at the bottom.

Not much use for full squats though. Cos naturally we want to do full atg squats. Well I do anyway.

I played around with resisted negs in the Squat a few years ago. And Pin Squats (Posi's from different heights).

With a Neg Squat the weight would be 1 rm max plus say 10%. You just resist the drop in a slow descent under the watchful eye of a sensible partner. You pause (static) anywhere in the descent.

The bar comes down to the pins. I would then pause and get a spot back up. Which meant I was doing a neg with 110% of 1 rm and a pos with approx 70%. And then repeat. Bit of a faff setting it all up though.

These are as good if not better than paused squats. You must be careful of your joints (especially your back) though.

Best you can Leg press at least 4 times your bodyweight and be able to row at least 1 and 1/4 times your bodyweight before you try neg squats.

And you need top be able to trust your training partner. As shearing force can be hefty. And your back must be strong to support your 1rm plus a percentile.

Yes you're exerting the most amount of strength in the static. Unfortunately in a pause squat you're at a dead stop in your weakest range of motion (you're always weakest on a press at the 'bottom').

You're not missing it. It's just there's a difference between a static hold -contraction at any position...On the pos or neg...

And the static contraction system as created by Peter Sisco and Rod Little.

In their system you do all-out brief maximal plus effort in your strongest range of motion (only) with static contractions. 5 second 1 rep only.

Whereas your normal static holds (isometrics) can be done in your strongest, middling or weakest range of motion.

A lot of folk can't get their head around it I know. And then don't think it'll work. :Angel:

As with all. Experimentation is da key.

I don't do pause squats at present. Nor the neg squats. I just concentrate on scuuushing out of the hole as quick as I can. Trying to do a jump squat with a coupla hundred kilos plus...

 

I've never videoed any of my paused squats but it would appear you do get a little bit of bounce from an initial dead stop. I could be doing similar, it's hard to tell but most people have flexibility issues just pushing up from this bottom position. I've been using it to try and get a better more upright posture, even though I am using more of a low bar position. I dunno if I could hold a paused squat with 100kg let alone get a set of five!

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-k2NCaGVJ2Y"]Elisabeth Akinwale - YouTube[/ame]

 

SoKKlab, thanks for the detailed response!
It helped me understood your previous posts on the subject a lot.

Princess Haru, in the videos I have seen i've never seen a bounce like the one the lady in the video does after the pause. Maybe it's something she does in order to lift the weight?

 

You is welcome.

As soon as I work out how to shoot clips more efficiently (and quicker shoot and edit) I'll punt some online about 1001 subjects - Statics and Isometrics included.

There's a fella at our gym does them like that. The bounce just grants them a bit of momentum...A cheat basically (Boo!).

My pause squats are always rock solid from a stop (...Well most of the time ...).

In honour of this I did some last Friday during my leg-shredding

 

"New System Like Old System But New"

So I'm playing around with higher rep, more settage - Bodybuilding as such.

But only for my Back Squat.

As it's feeling sorry for itself at the mo. Since I twanged my back ('let's be careful out there')...I feel a certain reluctance to push it a bit. Back up to where I was with der squat.

That 260 kgs looks like another country at present. Whilst all else increases my tolerance to the maxial loads (basically from the top down) remains a tad snippy.

And so I'm not big on following systems. But I read an old manual recently. And I'm adapting it to my needs.

As I'm a Partial Artist with a job, obligations, a really demanding budgie etc I'm not able to train weights the 4 days a week that particular system demands...

And there's absolutely no need to train with the weights anywhere near that much anyway. Unless you absolutely want to. Certainly not for strength work.

I tell you doing more 'bodybuilding' almost killed me. Gotten used to the low rep, low settage game see.

What's this system like then you may ask...

Well, okay I'll tell you:

It's based on the Gradual 1 rep gain that I came to naturally in my own training. No biggie. But it's the total phases that make it a big leggy waddler.

And it looks like this:

Warm Up Phase:

4 sets of 8 reps - Going up through the gears. Starting at 25% of my current 1 rep max, then 35%, 45%, 55%

This was much harder than it would first appear. Especially IF you're used to 'Going Up Through The Gears' and Doing Pyramids.

You'd be well advised to lower the percentages by 5 to 10% on each warmup set.

Power Phase:

8 Sets at a weight you can only just manage to do the following with (I chose about 75% of my 1 rm and regretted it - Again lower by 10%):

-1 set x 3
-7 sets x 2

Mass Phase:

6 Sets at a Back Off Weight you can do for the following reppage.

I chose 65% of my current 1rm and again regretted it. Lower it by 10% unless you want to nearly feint by this point.

1 set x 6
2 sets x 5
2 sets x 4
1 set x 3

Pump Phase

I chose (and again regretted it) 55% of my 1rm.

Although by this point I was almost 'out of it'. A started to think I would collapse. No drama intended or brooked.

1 set x 10

You must be quick through your sets. Your warmups should be done 'quickstyle'. No more than 1.30 mins between them.

Ideally you'd only do Squats that training sesh. 19 sets in total. At the % I was using will take about 1 hour. If you lower your percentages (create a lower starting point) then you'll do the sesh in about 45 minutes.

That was last Friday 18th October. And my legs are still knacking now. And yes I'm drinking loads of water. getting top-quality sleep (mostly) and foam rollering, stretching etc.

Metabolites - Don't you just love 'em?

It's enough to make me consider getting some Beta-Alanine or D-Ribose...

So what's so special then? Well it's the 1 rep gain in the Power Phase.

So next time you'd aim to do exactly the same in the Warmup phase (and the later Mass and Pump Phases).

But in the Power Phase of 8 sets - You'd do 3, 3, then 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2

For a 1 rep gain on the second set. And rinse and repeat until you could do 8 sets of 3 at the same weight.

Then you increase the weight on your Power Phase by 5 lbs. And start again at 8 sets = 1 x 3 then 7 x 2.

All I can say is I was exhausted after this.

No idea at present whether I'll stick exactly to that amount of reppage. Or whether I'll 'adapt it in principle' to a lower amount of sets.

I'll be lifting tomorrow (and really looking forward to it) - Which'll be a Deadlift-orientated sesh (Deads, Zerchers, Leg Press and 'Back' - Barbell Row (aka Pendlays), DB row, Pull Ups etc. But I'll not use anywhere near that amount of reps/ sets.

I'll start listing workouts again from early next month onwards.

And I shot a coupla clips for my online channel. And now need to get soe more back up drives to store all the footage. As vids take up a lot of raw memory.

Been invited to a Silat-Muay Thai Seminar (wahhayyy) for later next month.

Good Eatings