If you want to be a heavier lifter, it’s time for you to become more aggressive with the iron and showcase your dominance by engaging in more aggressive tendencies.
The other day, I had posted a video of a client of mine performing a deadlift to zercher of 405lbs. I received much feedback about his performance, feedback such as “woah, hell of a lift!” to “oh my, he is going to destroy his back”…well whether you’re amazed at his efforts or ready to crucify his unique technique, I want to focus in one on aspect of this lift…
Brotha, he lifted that weight with A TON OF ANGER!
It’s not enough to just prescribe specific movements in your program, you have to dig below the surface level of training to develop these athletes. CHAPTER FOUR: MUSCLE SPINDLE ENGAGEMENT
Okay, so first thing...I am NOT a scientist. So for any alpha-dominant frat daddy who wants to chime in and critique my perspective, chances are you aren’t a scientist either. When working with explosive athletes, I want to employ movements that required reactive strength to close the gap between the eccentric stretch and the concentric reaction. What we are technically talking about here is manipulating the three phases of the “stretch shortening cycle”. Phase one is the “stretch” of the eccentric contraction, followed by the third phase (the “shortening” phase) created through a tightened concentric contraction. What occurs between phase one and phase three is the second phase, the “amortization” phase that is known as the transitional period between the stretch and shortening motions. That transitional period is …
There are some great movements that can be promoted to elicit deadly gains in speed, so why not use them? CHAPTER THREE: SPECIFICITY
All I have to say is this,
Science rocks. Use your brain, not your ego, to develop appropriate programming, whether it’s to increase speed for catching insubordinate scum or bench pressing more than the bozo next to you. Knowledge conquers all.
We must break down these three phases of the stretch-shortening cycle and work towards increasing speed by becoming more efficient and explosive with our movement-CHAPTER TWO: CONQUERING AMORTIZATION
At the beginning, we went through a three week progression of movements that I felt were prerequisites towards acquiring skills for speed training. Some of the things I wanted to accomplish were having a progressive warm up, lifting exercises to revive and strengthen hip mobility and ability, and one of the more important things…reactive strength. The more appropriate way to define this reactive strength, though, is by identifying it as the “stretch-shortening cycle”. The pre-stretch, or ‘countermovement’ action is known as the stretch-shortening cycle (SSC) and is comprised of three phases: eccentric, amortization, and concentric (Walker, 2016).
Harvesting SPEED! Taking all that strength and applying some dynamic explosiveness to chase down your prey
For the next few weeks, I will be showcasing some of the programming I have developed with a client of mine, working on his mechanics of speed and ability throughout a 12-week program. What we will breakdown is the mechanics of sprinting, running, and being able to apply dynamic explosiveness to take down any insubordinate scum that linger the streets at the long hours of night. Its time to take that strength and apply some dynamic explosiveness to chase down your prey and be the alpha dog, brethren! Stay tuned for more literature to come…
Even if you’re that geezer who has trained the same way for a decade, take a note out of the Dallas Cowboy notebook: it is time to move on [A Lesson on Exercise Order]
I was at the gym the other morning, and a trainer ran a client through a workout. They started with barbell curls, followed by dumbbell curls, followed by machine curls, and ending right at about cable curls. Here’s how it goes: you hit the preworkout, get an immediate jolt of energy and once all the frat boys have congregated we hit the weights and chase the PUMP! That’s what it’s all about to harvest size and strength, right? This is the WRONG way to do it! You can’t expect to grow in size, especially in strength, if you keep up this ordinary lifestyle with a mediocre mindset of training.
Whether it’s the squat, bench, or deadlift...at some point the program needs to consist of dynamic and explosive movement to help the lifter learn to viciously execute their movement for success.
Last weekend, I had a few lifters compete at the annual Metroflex “Open Door Ministry-Christmas Classic” push and pull meet. This event is an incredible opportunity for lifters to get together, lift for a cause and take a majority of proceeds to help support those who might not have the funds during the holiday season. During this event, the ORIGINAL Metroflex hosted some of the strongest lifters not just in the area, but the nation…and to make this event even better, it consisted of raw lifter.
Together, harvesting the manifestation of these psychological factors can help any lifter achieve their very best, regardless of the load on the bar. -Formal Review #2
When it comes to weight lifting, many people abide to the simple theories that are presented through popular magazines, forums, and word of mouth. “If you want to be stronger, lift with less reps and more weight” is the typical mantra. Programming is not that simple, and should be considered a sophisticated art that not many are well educated about. One of the biggest benefits to programming that could bridge the gap for any lifter would be the psychological factors of weight lifting.
“Autonomic Nervous System Activity during Actual and Mentally Simulated Preparation for Movement”-Formal Review #1
The autonomic nervous system (ANS) is accountable for different types of responses for the human body. The ANS can affect different factors such as heart rate, digestion, respiration rate and many more. Bolliet, Collet, and Dittmar begin by discussing how variables from the peripheral ANS are thought to reflect two different types of preparation: energetic and directional. Energetic preparation pertains to the level of physiological activation, while directional preparation relates to information processing. These expressions of literature lead these authors to discuss previous research regarding the ANS response between actual and mental preparation for movement. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to compare ANS activity during the preparation period for a complex motor skill (weightlifting) in both real and imagined attempts.
What better way to exert your alpha dominance amongst your frat brothers than to load 45’s on the bar and press those bodacious pecs towards glory.
I’ve heard many...but I am sure we can all agree that one of the most dominant lifts amongst society would be the bench press. What better way to exert your alpha dominance amongst your frat brothers than to load 45’s on the bar and press those bodacious pecs towards glory. I mean, you go to the gym and the busiest location is the bench press, am I right? I am sure there are many that would argue this point, but like I said…it’s hard to ignore the impact the bench press has had on the world of strength. But besides the admiration we have towards this movement, we also admire those who have had an impact on the history of bench press by conquering this lift with tremendous gains. We see many 300lbs bench pressers