Two back exercises worthy of consideration and inclusion in the rotation
Written on 11 February 2008 by Marty GallagherIf you're new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!
I love the big sweeping compound multi-joint exercises that require groups of muscles to work together in synchronization in order to complete the muscular task at hand. When it comes to working the back muscles it is important to understand that the human back has a half dozen component parts: erectors, teres, upper and lower latisimus, trapaezius, rhomboids and rear deltoids. Big back exercises activate multiple muscles and more often then not the hips and upper thighs. The smaller back isolation exercises zero in on one or two back muscles to the purposeful exclusion of its neighbors. The important big movements include all the deadlift variations, high pulls, cleans, power cleans, power snatches, shrugs and row variations. Chins and pull-ups are great compound back exercises particularly when the trainee becomes strong enough to hang weight around the waist. Two lesser used back exercises, one for the spinal erectors and one for the lats, are wonderfully effective and are seldom used. Both have a specific technical protocol that amplify their effectiveness and make them worthy of inclusion in any trainees exercise rotation list.
On a related side note: we all have exercise preferences but need to be on guard against using the favored ones exclusively ad infinitum. Continually using the same exercises in the same fashion for the same set and rep protocol becomes an exercise in futility. The human body is the great neutralizer and when presented with the same menu of exercises done in the same way will accustom itself to the stress and negate any results.
The human body reconfigures itself in response to muscle stress and trauma and doing the same thing in the same way will not create the stress needed to flip the hypertrophy switch. Bottomline: periodically rotate out of the lineup those pet exercises that you love and do all the time. Alter those favored rep ranges and change the exercise menu on a regularly reoccurring basis otherwise you are falling asleep in a figurative snowbank, to use a Jack London To Build a Fire analogy. My approach is to structure a workout that hits two body parts. I start with a compound multi-joint exercise (CMJ) for a particular body part then finish off with an isolation exercise. For a change of pace I will use a CMJ variation of the classic; if I am deadlifting and burnt out I could roll with deadlifts done while standing on a 100-pound plate or perhaps some stiff-leg deadlifts, either off the floor or off a plate. Periodically I would drop all deadlifting totally and completely. I would rotate in some other CMJ back exercise and allow all deadlift muscle to heal, recover and FORGET (in a manner of speaking) how to deadlift. By eliminating a particular favored exercise and all its variations completely for 4-5 weeks, when I swing back to that exercise the muscles involved are shocked out of their ever-loving minds. You know how to do the exercise in a technical sense so, like riding a bike, you never forget and are able to swing back into the movement with a vengeance.
Prone hyperextensions require a device that holds the legs in place as the athlete faces downward. The upper body is allowed to drop downward until the head is near the floor. The upper body stretches downward with the legs pinioned. The hip joint is the fulcrum and the upper body stretches down to the bottom to start the exercise. The athlete lifts the torso upward as high as possible. Hold the top position for a beat before lowering. I have my trainees rise up and at the apogee look up at the ceiling. This is a fabulous spinal erector developer. Try to work up to a 20-rep set. Once you are able to perform 20-reps, try 10-reps holding a 10 or 25-pound plate in your arms as you rep. If you are doing this exercise correct youll feel a pump in erectors. (The two twin python muscles that flank the spine) I like to end a good back workout with 2-3 sets of prone hyperextensions: on the first set I likely use zero poundage for 15-20 reps and on the second set I rep out holding a 45-pound plate. The critical performance point is to hold the top position for a beat before lowering. I like to arch as high as I can, hold that position for a second - then try and rise up higher yet before lowering. In the bottom position I like to relax and allow my bodyweight and the plate to stretch my muscles and elongate the spine before commencing the rep. Purposeful Primitives rotate three specific ranges-of-motion: normal, exaggerated and shortened. Use the exaggerated ROM on this magnificent exercise.
Straight arm pullovers are the second neglected back exercise. Lie on a flat bench and grasp a light dumbbell with two hands under one end. The hands circle the handle and grabs under one of the two ends of the bell. The other end of the dumbbell hangs down over your face. Lying with your head as near the end of the bench as possible, inhale and allow the bell to drop backwards over the end of the bench keeping your arms straight. Time the inhalation so that maximum expansion occurs as your lower the dumbbell towards the floor. Lower slowly, seeking maximum stretch in the lats. Try and touch the floor with the bell (likely you wont be able) when you can lower no further raise the poundage slowly; use only the lats to raise the weight. This is the key: the straight arms make leverage difficult. The stretch is incredible and must be done carefully; dont allow the bell to free-fall or you could tear or rip muscles. Since the poundage used is light you could explode the weight out of the bottom creating momentum and throw the weight back to the start position this is exactly what we dont want. Use a slowed lowering and slowed raising as this maximizes stress on the lats. Big inhale, big stretch, slow raise using lats and lats alone to raise the weight. Done properly the stretch is felt in the lats in real time. Shoot for ten reps using the continual tension, purposefully slow rep speed. Lats are super hard to isolate and this exercise allows me to zero in on the target muscle with a precision that need be experienced to appreciate.
Tags:bodybuilding Pure Strength Training Training and ExercisePopularity: 30% [?]
Trade secret #77 The stiff-leg deadlift
Written on 28 January 2008 by Marty GallagherKeith jogged my brain this past week by asking about tips the other day. I thought back and what percolated to the surface of my memory was the stiff-leg deadlift. Done as an assistance exercise for regular deadlifts, I was first introduced to them by the great Hugh Cassidy, the carefree Nietzsche of powerlifting. Hugh didnt cotton to too many exercises past squat, bench and deadlift, but the stiff-leg deadlift was one he insisted on. Religiously hed have us do two sets of stiffs after completing regular deadlifts. The technique was important. The bar stayed in contact with the leg the entire time, over the total length of the rep stroke. The hips were the hinge, the fulcrum, and this is where the real action took place. We all used a narrow-stance conventional deadlift style as per Hugh, with maybe six inches between the heelswe learned how to do the bow and arrow technique using a conventional pull stance.
The stiff leg was the number 1 assistance exercise. It worked the hell out of the hinge and thats what Cassidy wanted: to turn spinal erectors into industrial cranes. One Hugh truism which always stuck with me was, The best assistance exercises are the ones that most closely resemble the lift itself. That is profound if you ponder it.ergo, narrow and wide grip flat bench presses are superior assistance exercise to say the incline barbell or dumbbell press. Narrow stance high bar squats are a superior squat assistance exercise than leg presses. Stiff-leg deadlifts are therefore better than rows or cleans.
How to perform a stiff-leg deadlift properly:
Tags:bodybuilding Pure Strength Training Training and ExercisePopularity: 32% [?]
28-Day Beach Blitz Part 4: Calories and Getting Started
Written on 7 May 2007 by Marty GallagherEstablish a caloric starting point by multiplying your current body weight times 15. By way of example, a 200-pound individual would be allotted 3,000 calories to commence the process. Take into account the caloric expenditure associated with exercise and eat another small supplement meal to replace and replenish calories burned through lifting and cardio. Rush restorative nutrients to traumatized muscle tissue immediately after the workout. Dousing muscles with high quality protein and a slow-release carbohydrate mixture right after a workout takes advantage of a physiological window of opportunity during which nutrients are absorbed at three times the normal rate. Each successive week for four straight weeks the plan calls for lowering the overall caloric intake and subtly tinkering with the percentage ratios of protein, carbohydrate and fat. By reducing calories and manipulating nutrients we cause body fat to oxidize while simultaneously retaining muscle mass.
GETTING STARTED:
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Fear & Loathing in Las Vegas Part III
Written on 14 February 2007 by Marty GallagherThe deadlift is an incredibly easy lift to understand: pull a loaded barbell from the floor to lockout in a smooth and uninterrupted motion. Pavel and Brett were competing in Vegas at the National AAU push/pull (bench press/deadlift) competition. Each man would need a few warm-up attempts before taking the first of three competition deadlifts. At around 3 on Saturday afternoon we finished up the last of Pavel’s super-nuclear coffee and wandered downstairs from his room to the competition meet site; the powerlifting competition was being held in one of the numerous casino rooms in the same hotel. We headed down to the meet site and found some good seats. Now we got down to the business of “hurry up and wait” that precedes every national level event. The pace of the competition was glacial: each lift that required a weight change took an eternity as the placid and seemingly medicated head judge took his sweet time telling disinterested boy plate-loaders what combination of plates were needed to assemble 100 kilos or 250 kilos, or whatever. What normally is quick and easy was – at least in this competition - a tremendous effort that apparently never got easier. It damn sure never got quicker; normally it takes 1-minute to segue from one lifter to the next, but at this competition it was taking 3-5 minutes per lift. From a coaches perspective the unexplainable and consistent delays threw timing off dramatically. Finally the competitive moment of truth was at hand. It was time for Pavel and Brett to turn pro. Some do and some don’t: some rise to the competitive occasion: most melt in the white hot spotlight of athletic competition. To say Pavel’s approach to deadlifting is unorthodox would be a massive understatement. He is a unique person and has naturally developed an off-beat approach, a signature technique, for his competitive lifts.
Classically when an athlete is deadlifting in competition and if they anticipate a 520-pound deadlift they begin the warm-up process (designed to raise the temperature of cold muscles and grease neurological nerve pathways) with say 135×12. The then at 5-minute intervals the lifter would take 225 for perhaps 3 to 5 reps, then 315 for 3, perhaps 405×1 and 455×1 before a 1st attempt with say 479. Pavel lay backstage flat on his back, quiet, oblivious to the surrounding cacophony, seemingly asleep. When the spirit moved him he leapt to his feet and pulled 430 for 1. No warm-up, no nothing. He immediately lay back down in total chill mode. About 10-minutes before the competition started he took another 430-pound attempt, this one more explosive than the 1st effort. Again he lay back down. With only five athletes before him, Pavel roused himself and began to focus. When two lifters were ahead of him, Pavel began a serious psyche-up. When a single lifter was ahead of him he donned a set of headphones and listened intently to the music for perhaps 30-seconds. No even long enough to hear a complete song. He handed me his headphones and charged the lifting platform in a state of pure psyche. He ripped 479-pounds to completion far more aggressively and with far greater authority than either of his 430-pound backstage warm-up efforts. Brett made an easy 501 opener after methodically working his way through a classical deadlift warm-up procedure. Pavel moved to 501 on his next attempt and that too was pulled with authority – this despite his psyche-up procedure being derailed be the inordinately long amount of time it took four tired kids and one lackadaisical head judge to successfully change a poundage from 463 (the previous lifter’s deadlift) to 501 for Pavel’s second attempt.
In my little garage gym, my 13-year old could have changed the bar weight from 465 to 500 inside 30-seconds without rushing. It took this crew a full five minutes and in those five minutes the patented Pavel Psyche, a huge component in his arsenal, deflated. Faulty timing caused his 501 lift to suffer: he pulled the poundage with pure muscle; his trademark explosiveness, hamstrung by mistimed psyche, was down 40%. Brett pulled 541 pounds with picture perfect technique on his second attempt. He took the lead in the 181 pound class. Pavel was first up for his final deadlift. He was determined to get his psyche right on this attempt but the slow-motion parade actually got slower. The judging and loading was devolving, it was an unmitigated disaster: the snail’s pace and miscommunication caused the now-volatile, psyched-up Russian to prematurely charge the platform. The weight loaders were leisurely leaving the lifting platform when Pavel bounded onto the platform in a psyche-trance so deep he saw and heard nothing - I know for a fact he heard nothing because he had himself so psychologically jacked-up that he stormed the platform still wearing his musical earphones….it was a lifting scene I shall never forget…the slow-motion weight changers slowly vacating the lifting platform…these were male teens who stop and talk or rib one another, totally detached from powerlifting or deadlifting…they are here because someone got them to commit their time. As the boys were lazily vacating the platform the obese head judge slumped in his chair with sleepy dreamy eyes half closed. Suddenly a crazed looking man with Charles Manson eyes charges from the wings - his manic animation cause all eyes to follow the darting figure as he bull-rushed the barbell.
The boy loaders were still standing next to the just loaded bar on the platform. The crazed man (“He looks like an assassin!” The guy next to me says) with the wild eyes was at the barbell and dropping down, obviously getting ready to pull the barbell upward - this despite the fact the sleepy referee hasn’t issued the requisite “Bar Ready!” command signifying to the next lifter that it is his turn. Suddenly the spotters yell in unison. They are the first to collectively grock that this dude was going to pull this barbell RIGHT NOW! WHOA! STOP THE MUSIC! They yell in unison and the sleepy, droopy head judge suddenly springs erect, bolt upright - a crisis has erupted! A real emergency is taking place during his slothful, placid, peaceful reign! Now all his training and expertise would be needed to avert a procedural disaster. He actually stood up out of the chair for the first time in the eight hours I’d been watching him. This amazing feat, akin to the 98-pound woman lifting a car off a toddler, was made more all the more dramatic by an amazing discovery: The Pavelizer, having launched his fail-safe psyche-up frenzy a tad prematurely, had forgotten to remove his headphones playing his psyche-up music. He was attempting to deadlift over 500-pounds while wearing headphones - and no ordinary headphones - these had blinking glow lights that shot down the side of headpiece that connected one ear piece to the other: bolts of light shot around Pavel’s head in a tight arc as he prepared to pull the poundage…it was surreal and hypnotic.
STOP HIM! The head referee screamed; his flaccid face flush and crimson. He waved his arms and looked ready to keel over from a coronary thrombosis - the spotters yelled picked up on the crisis and yelled, “SOMEONE STOP HIM!” This was odd because they were within arms length and the logical people to “stop him” – yet none of the boys wanted to touch the Mad Russian Septemberist – he might assassinate them or beat the piss out of them…I guess they were right to be afraid of this crazed Russian Commando Psycho wearing the glittering headband trying to lift almost 250 kilos. They shrank back in collective fear. The four officials sitting at a table adjacent to the platform were the craftiest of the lot and the first to see what was happening…”HE’S WEARING HEADPHONES - HE CAN’T HEAR YOU!” The referees shouted as they stood and pointed. The PA announcer picked up on it and announced to the audience – “He’s wearing headphones! He can’t hear us!” Pavel pulled the weight oblivious to all the terrorist hubbub he’d unleashed. The weight was too much and he dropped the bar and turned to walk off. Only then did I remove the headphones from his head. Being a great coach and noting that the 1-minute time period had not elapsed I yelled, “He’s still got time on the clock - can he have another attempt?!” NO! Came the immediate response twinged with much anger. “Wearing headphones and making a valid attempt at poundage DOES NOT entitle the lifter to a second chance!” Collectively the officials were pissed: they suspected Pavel’s glittering headphone was some counterculture statement or protest: somehow this “event” challenged the sanctity and piousness of the power competition. In actuality he was just a guy that had gotten so fired up he forgot – but the men in the blue jackets sensed some deep ploy was afoot – perhaps some weird protest akin to the 1968 Mexico City Olympic Games Black Power salute given on the victory podium by John Carlos and Tommy Smith…
After the hubbub died down, Brett missed 552. Brett the 181-pound class champion. Pavel took silver. A good day for the boys. Afterwards we decided to grab a steak at highly recommended local joint off the beaten casino path. I’d had enough excitement for one day. I shall never forget the sight of the crazed Russian with the electric headpiece charging that platform and the riot that ensued.
Tags:kettlebells las vegas Pavel Tsatsouline Pure Strength Purposefully Primitive People Training and ExercisePopularity: 12% [?]
Kid Hercules & The Big Fish Incident
Written on 29 March 2005 by Marty GallagherKID HERCULES: I saw a sick story on the History Channel called The Strongest Kid in the World. It was a demented tale of Ukrainian parents who relocated to California and trained their baby, Richard Sandrak, to be a bodybuilder. His mother would forcibly stretch the boy from the time he was six-months old and the father was Hitler on wheels. They had the child lifting super big weights using a lot of forced reps and bodybuilding training and diet tactics early on. From the time the body was five, he was trained three to four hours a day, splitting his time between high intensity weight training, cardio, martial arts and dance oh yeah like a circus family in the old country the whole deal was about cashing in on the kid.
Pop never took a job, he was the coach. Mom never took a job; she prepared the perfect bodybuilding meals. They enlisted the services of a manager a fringe character in the fitness world who formed a little fitness troupe that featured a bunch of male and female bodybuilders who would go through tight little choreographed dance routines at The Arnold Classic, The Mr. Olympia and other assorted trade shows. The kid was the star of the show and Little Hercules would lead the bodybuilders through their Ziegfield Follies-like Vaudeville routine. They hit the big time and eventually took the act to Vegas. Little Herc would strut and preen, pose and dance like a little trained monkey. Hed incorporate martial arts moves and his incredible flexibility was on display the main attraction was his freaky little physique. It was all packaged and rolled up into one sick little revue.
He obtained a five-figure supplement deals and the troupe was on the road all the time. Everybody was starting to make dough on the 8-year old. Then the dad got a little too big for his britches and the entourage began to turn on one another. Rumors started to float that the kid was being fed steroids; the manager quit, pop took to beating the wife and kids and eventually he was arrested and given a three year suspended sentence after breaking moms wrist and nose. They divorced and pop was served with a restraining order. The whole kid herc universe came crashing down. But wait! Another manager appeared and got some relative of John Travolta to make a short film pitching the idea of the now 12-year old could star in a feature length movie called Little Tarzan. The gravy train is being resurrected as we speak. Oddly the 12-year old doesnt seem to be able to recapture the shredded and ripped look hed achieved when under Dads training and special nutritional regimen.
The kid obviously is as exploited as some third-world child labor worker in a shoe factory. Handling heavy poundage before puberty is a terrific way to stunt height forever and though both the dad and mom are average height, Id be damned surprised if this kid grows to more than 5 foot. The world of bodybuilding is full of strange individuals and this is one of the most outrageous and pathetic example Ive seen in recent years.
ON A LIGHTER NOTE: ONLY THE NAMES HAVE BEEN CHANGED TO PROTECT THE GUILTYEPISODE #207, THE BIG FISH INCIDENT
I trained with a certain nameless powerlifting champion for many years and this gargantuan guy would earnestly instruct his young and impressionable power students that beer was good for recovery. He sincerely believed this, Its based on science! Its an irrefutable fr*#king fact! He used to scream when challenged on this. Often, after a savage training session, he and I and a few other bruisers would head over to Chinatown for ‘Big Fish’ (whole crispy fish in sweet hot sauce) and while a whole fish was meant for a party of six, each lifter would order one exclusively for their own consumption.
We used to like to drink high octane booze drinks while decompressing from our savage training and waiting for the big fish armada to be bought out. These drinks were made with vodka, kaluha, coconut milk and 150-proof rum and they’d serve them in coconut shells and for dramatic effect would set the drink on fire and serve it flaming. My pal, who I loved like a brother, was a gigantic clumsy oaf and one afternoon after two power bombs in row he accidentally knocked over his third flaming drink.
The blue-flamed liquid rolls to the edge of the table and the flaming waterfall falls on him and he stands up like hes been shot from a cannon. His gym clothes are on fire and he is waving his flaming arms around wildly. The blue flames looked pretty waving in the darkened restaurant but I am afraid that he will start running through the restaurant like a rhino through a pygmy village, sending Chinese waiters flying and knocking civilians over right and left, all the while screaming at the top of his lungs….’FIRE BAD!!! FIRE BAD!!!’ Everyone else is stunned but thinking fast, I grab a giant pitcher off the table and douse him with ice-cold water…he was fine, we laughed our asses off and had another round. Just another minor incident in powerville….
Tags:Blog History Channel Kid Hercules Misc Pure Strength Strongest Kid In The WorldPopularity: 5% [?]
