WORKING OUT -- A CONTROLLED EXPERIMENT

After observing others and also asking myself some TOUGH QUESTIONS regarding
my own WORKOUT HABITS, I long ago came to the conclusion that one of the
toughest questions any hard trainer can ask themselves is, "AM I TRULY
GETTING STRONGER AND MAKING LEGITIMATE GAINS FROM THIS
EXERCISE AND/OR THIS ROUTINE?" TRUTHFULLY? Because we all tend to
rationalize and even alter the performance of our exercises in order to avoid
that truth. We often FOOL OURSELVES. And we do it subconsciously.

Now I'm not talking about the novice trainee who during his first two years may
DOUBLE what he can bench, curl, etc. and is obviously bigger and stronger, even
if he has loosened up his form considerably. I'm talking about the person who
has trained for years and years and is now at the point where increasing his ten
rep MAX, for example, in his favorite lift by a paltry five or six percent during
a whole YEAR of hard work, would still consider his program a resounding SUCCESS.
Case in point:

A few years ago I desparately wanted to increase my CURLING STRENGTH.
My exercise of choice at the time was alternate dumbell curls, suppinating
from a "hammer" position at the bottom to a palms-up position at the top.
I worked HARD and progressed in a matter of months from using a pair of
55s all the way up to the 70s for ten reps each hand. But I finally had to
admit that my BICEPS did not show one whit of improvement, and finally my
son commented that each time I moved up in weight I dipped my curling
arm's shoulder even lower, to pass through the sticking point. My alternate
curls were fast becoming a series of FREAKY LOOKING one-arm cleans --
and I KNEW that, deep down inside ...
But I wouldn't fully acknowledge the TRUTH because I was hooked on the
ILLUSION of getting stronger; and when I retested myself in a slow, NO
MOMENTUM regular curl, I found I had gained little to nothing in REAL
biceps strength. TIME WASTED!

Because people who work out year after year after year so deparately want to
JUSTIFY all that work and commitment with results, they often slide into the
trap of FOOLING THEMSELVES by loosening up their form or even abandoning
an exercise too soon for a different one for the same bodypart, so that they
can't be PINNED DOWN (not even in their own minds) regarding the TRUTH
behind the question, "AM I really getting stronger? REALLY???

The answer is to CONTROL ALL VARIABLES within each exercise, so that everything
is EXACTLY THE SAME each time, except their increasing strength. Same bar (or machine);
same warm-up; same speed of movement (because momentum is the enemy of truly
challenging your muscles anyway -- COUNT THE SECONDS UP AND DOWN); same seat
and support settings if using a machine; same angle, if using a sitting OR supine bench;
same amount of rest between sets AND ANYTHING ELSE YOU CAN THINK OF that
would ensure that the only difference between workouts is an increase in weight and/or
reps WHEN YOU ARE ABLE. That's the way any scientist would handle it if asked to
do a study assessing the effectiveness of a particular mode of training. HOW ELSE
CAN ONE TRULY KNOW IF WHAT THEY'RE DOING IS ACTUALLY WORKING?
Because we all tend to rationalize rather than admit something is NOT working
and that we should move on.

Of course one must GIVE A PROGRAM SUFFICIENT TIME, at least a month,
to really assess any approach we take, but don't be one of those scores of
people in every gym who have been training forever and yet are basically no
stronger and no more "muscled" than they were a year ago. They are that way
mainly because they can't examine their results honestly and empirically,
so, instead, they "change the variables" (subconsciously) to support their
self-deception.

By the way, the picture this time doesn't really have any real tie-in to my
theme, although any powerlifter THAT impressive probably is meticulous in
all aspects of his workout, including self-assessment.

THAT REP THING - PART II

Both in keeping with my high-rep theme AND in recognition of the WINTER
GAMES, I thought a picture of Eric Heiden would be in order. The dominant
male in the world of SPEED SKATING during the late 70s and early 80s, Eric
trained his legs with grueling FIFTY-REP sets in the squat with relatively
heavy weights. It worked for him.

As mentioned in PART I, I've always seemed to be able to move up indefinitely
when using reps in the 20 - 40 range, and I've often wondered how high that
form of training could take me. But alas, I don't seem to have the IRON WILL
to stick with it for months at a time. My mind starts playing tricks on me
and planting little seeds of doubt, even while I'm STILL PROGRESSING JUST
FINE. But I do know two thing: First, I'm never forced to abandon this form
of training due to injuries, because there are none. And second, almost ALL
OF MY STRENGTH GAINS realized after the age of 50, even low-rep-heavy-
weight gains (remember, I never do max singles) have been due to higher
rep training. I'm the first to admit, however, that this may be because the
real heavy stuff is always cut short by some sort of strain or inflamation
in one of the involved joints. I actually PROGRESS BETTER with the low rep,
heavy stuff; it's just that it's always aborted prematurely.

One approach to higher rep training that has always worked especially well
for me is the "20-20-18-16" method. This involves picking a weight you are
capable of handling for 28-30 reps and doing, instead, an easy, FAST first
set of twenty. Rest exactly one minute then do a second, KINDA HARD set of
twenty. Rest another minute and do a HARD-FOUGHT set of eighten. Rest one
more minute and do a final, SHAKEY-HARD set of sixteen. There seems to be
slightly MORE CARRY-OVER to commensurate gains with heavier weights
using this method; but for me it's hard to face for very many workouts in a row.

Nevertheless, it does work well -- just remember to ADJUST IT DOWN for
exercises with a longer range of travel such as curls, where the bar traces
an arc and thus travels farther than a straight-line, up-and-down motion,
like a row or a bench press. 16-16-14-12 works better there.

Good luck and keep doing SOMETHING!

THAT REP THING - PART I

It is generally believed that using a weight that allows more than 30
reps does VERY LITTLE towards building REAL STRENGTH - in ANY
exercise! Judging from my own experience, I'm not so sure that's true.
While there is definitely NOT a one-to-one CORRELATION between
a 30 rep increase in strength and a ONE REPETITION MAX increase in
strength, there is SOME. For the older trainee who may not be willing
to spend the time on the extensive warm-ups necessary for LOW-REP,
HEAVY WEIGHT TRAINING, this is good news. The following are some
observations regarding the heavy-or-light dilemma garnered over my own
FIFTY YEARS of weight training. This is the way things WORKED FOR
ME, so all statements should be regarded as "FOOD FOR THOUGHT"
rather than as universal truths:

1) I definitely make better strength gains in deadlifts, quadriceps
strength and ANY PULLING EXERCISE INVOLVING THE LATS
when I keep the reps above 20. The strength gained in those bodyparts
involved DOES seem to CORRELATE ONE HUNDRED PERCENT
with gains in strength with heavy weights and low reps. In other words,
if I increase 25 lbs. in my 20 rep max in, say, the deadlift, I can be
sure I'll be up 25 lbs. in my 5 rep max as well. I don't know how
these higher reps might affect my ONE REP MAX simply because
I never do maximum singles.

2) For all pressing motions the correlation only seems about half
that close. In other words, an increase in what I can seated press
for 20 reps might only give me a 5 lb. -- OR LESS -- increase in
my five-rep or three-rep max. But the thing is . . . it's STILL AN
INCREASE; and I'm able to obtain it without all the shoulder and
elbow DISCOMFORT AND STRAIN that the heavier, lower rep
training VIRTUALLY GUARANTEES.

3) No matter what exercise or bodypart I apply higher rep training
to, I can continue to move the weight up for many, many workouts
in a row, while heavy, low rep training stalls out and "STALES
OUT" after only five or six workouts - ALWAYS. This may be a
psychological thing, but I also think it has to do with the constant
strain on 62 year-old joints and tendons. The above illustration,
by the way, is a very accurate and NOT EXAGERATED depiction of
Gustav Fristensky (1901??), who did an above-average amount of
high rep training as well as the heavy stuff.

More on this in PART II.

ELBOWS FRONT PRESSES - PART II

In PART I, I discussed reasons for -- and advantages of -- keeping one's elbows pointing forward throughout the overhead press. It is
less DAMAGING on both the shoulder joint
itself and on all other components thereof:
including tendons, ligaments and DELTOID MUSCLE. Two more reasons and/or advantages come to mind:
One is the fact that there seems (judging by PUMP, SORENESS & RESULTS) to be
more of an involvement of the upper or CLAVICULAR pecs in this elbows-front position.

The second resides in the same general family as a "back-handed compliment."
It DOES NOT involve the lateral portion of the deltoid any LESS THAN
allowing the elbows to flare during the press. Sadly, presses are not
a very EFFICIENT way of working the SIDE DELT. Those who point to the
excellent overall SHOULDER DEVELOPMENT of Olympic-style weightlifters
prior to the elimination of the press forget that their pulling style
was SIDE DELT INTENSIVE back then, as opposed to the double-knee bend,
bounce-off-their-thighs manner of pulling in both the snatch and the clean
that is allowed today.

Three methods of ENSURING proper allignment in elbows-front pressing are:
CURL GRIP pressing, BELTED dumbell presses, and PLATE PRESSES. The
latter two are pictured. In the belted presses, the belt is looped
around both dumbell handles BEHIND the little-finger side of the hand.
It will be closer to your legs and body on the clean and far from you
during the press. Use a belt that allows a 14 - 16 inch spacing between
the two handles. On the plate presses, more than two 45's together
carry too much potential for sliding on each other, so use a two-inch
dowel and collars to add aditional weight (sorry that the pictures do
not show the protruding dowel, ten pound plate and collar on either
side of the two 45's very well; the dowel is approx. 8 inches) REMEMBER
TO TILT THE PLATES on the press so you don't HIT YOUR NOSE or TEETH.
Although PLATE PRESSES call upon the UPPER PECS the most of the three
methods discussed, they are also the MOST DANGEROUS. Go light until
you get the feel of this rather awkward movement.

Regarding the CURL GRIP presses, all I can say is they are the choice where
the LEAST CAN GO WRONG and have the highest POUNDAGE POTENTIAL
of the three methods. I can actually get more reps this way than in regular overhead
presses with the same weight on the bar -- but my THUMBS HURT afterwards,
as they seem to put more stress on the thumb/index finger "valley" than a
regular grip. You need to take a fairly narrow hand-spacing in these, probably
no more than 14 or 15 inches between little fingers.

Good luck and BE CAREFUL, especially if you opt for the plate presses!

ELBOWS FRONT PRESSES - PART I

As stated in previous posts I'm a big fan of overhead pressing (I know
the pic is not of a press; more on that later). This fondness was solidified
during my years as FIELD EVENTS COACH for Troy (MI) High School's track
team. I must have read every scientific study published concerning the
relative merits of various weight exercises for IMPROVED ATHLETIC
PERFORMANCE. Believe me, overhead pressing is wayyy up there! Not as
high as NUMBER ONE, the power clean, but definitely one of the best
upper body moves you can do to transfer any kind of ARM-STRAIGHTENING
power to your chosen sport. I, of course, was most interested in
improvement in my athletes'shot-putting prowess, but I also learned
that it is the best form of pressing for INCREASED PUNCHING POWER --
exponentially better than the bench press (but even that exercise takes
on a whole new dimension of TRANSFERABLE STRENGTH if one adheres
to the following simple recommendation, which is . . .

KEEP YOUR ELBOWS TO THE FRONT.

The ADVANTAGES of this strategy?
Most importantly, the avoidance of many nagging shoulder irritations,
inflamatory conditions & injuries. The shoulder joint is more "closed"
in this position and less vulnerable. That is why our upper arm and
elbow are INSTINCTIVELY kept along our side when we initiate a sudden
and violent "push" in everyday life, such as getting a stalled car
rolling, initially, or in throwing a punch (although in the latter
the elbow does flare up and wider during the finish). The anterior
deltoid is not given a chance to ABRADE back and forth over the bony
projection of the underlying bones -- snap, SNAP, snap, SNAP -- thus
becoming sore and inflamed, as has been the case with regular presses
in my own experience and ditto with numerous other older trainees
I've worked with and/or spoken to. There is also less chance of
pinching and irritating the SUPRASPINATUS tendon which, when inflamed,
is the SINGLE MOST COMMON shoulder problem men have according to my
son, an orthopedic surgeon whose specialty is the shoulder joint.

There are other advantages but this post is getting rather lengthy.
I will discuss those in PART II -- along with HOW TO APPLY this
elbows-front technique most effectively, comfortably and without
compromising your PRESS POUNDAGES. Right now I feel it is
important to remind readers that my NUMBER ONE REASON for starting
this blog is to present ideas that will allow a person to keep STRONG
OVER A LIFETIME, and an important tenet there is the AVOIDANCE OF THAT
WHICH SLOWLY BUT SURELY ACCUMULATES HARM. By the way, the picture
is of Bill March, still considered by authorities to be one of the strongest pressers
of all time (390 in perfect, military style), even though in this
picture he is doing a curl hold.

OBLIQUES - THE "TORQUE MUSCLE" AND YOUR LOWER BACK'S FRIEND

The ONLY time I ever experience LOWER BACK DISCOMFORT is when I neglect
to work my obliques at least once every five or six days. Makes sense;
the obliques (both external and internal) are one of the MOST IMPORTANT
muscle groups in the entire abdominal area, much more important than the
practically-WORSHIPPED rectus abdominus muscles, the"SIX PACK." They
are, in fact, CRUCIAL to just about ANY ATHLETIC ENDEAVOR.

If one is able to THROW HARD, PUNCH with KNOCK-OUT FORCE, or lever an
opponent where one wants him to go in ANY GRAPPLING, WRESTLING SITUATION
with ease, they can primarily thank the STRENGTH in their OBLIQUES.
This is the muscle group that forcefully TWISTS us to either side, bends
us sideways-and-down or just plain sideways. It is the BATTING muscle,
the torque-from-the-body THROWING muscle and the muscle that prevents
forward force fom either hand being DISSIPATED by UNWANTED twist (it
contracts statically to accomplish this). It is also the GREAT STABILIZER
of our torso, girding and reinforcing our sides with SLABS MUSCLE - which
PROTECTS the lower back.

Bobby Pandour, the turn-of-the-century strongman pictured here had great
obliqes because no weight-trainer back then worth their salt ever did side
bends with less than 150-200 lbs. held in the hand opposite the side he
was trying to work. Some used a great deal more (pardon the censoring;
Bobby was an artist's model for the famous sculptor August Rodin and a
"free spirit" who was partial to fig leaves).

Besides side bends, one needs to work the twisting function of this muscle.
The exercise that works best for me for LOTS OF TWSTING POWER in the torso,
and the one that makes my lower back feel 19 years old... is leg side-to-
sides. Lie on the floor (or better yet, on a queen-sized bed). With arms
straight out to the side in what's called the crucifix position, raise both
straight legs, keeping them together, until the soles of your feet point
towards the ceiling. Now, keeping the legs straight and together, allow
them to drop to the left until your feet or ankles touch your left hand.
Lever them back up again, then drop them to the right, touching your right
hand. Continue, to-the-left, to-the-right, until reaching your target reps
(a minimum of 30 and a maximum of 60). Good Luck!

TRICEPS - WHY "EXTEND" YOURSELF?

You DON"T NEED "extension" type movements to fully develop the triceps.
By extension movements I mean those triceps exercises where the upper
arm remains stationary while only the forearm and hand LEVER UP AND DOWN
(skull cushers, triceps pressdowns on the lat machine, etc.) Those
types of motions are very hard on the elbow joint, and most older body-
builders I've talked to suffer from constantly sore elbows and regret
having done them.

Strict, "MUSCLED UP" seated presses with a hand-pacing slightly NARROWER
than shoulder width, done in the higher rep range (12-20), will hit your
triceps every bit as hard as isolated work without the elbow trauma.
Better yet, do your presses with an EZ CURL BAR. When I do these, it
seems as if I am "LEADING WITH THE LITTLE FINGER" side of the hand, thus
throwing more of the workload on the triceps. One-arm presses with a
kettle-bell have the same effect.

Unfortunately, bench presses -- EVEN CLOSE GRIP BENCHES -- never worked
for me as far as triceps development, not like overheads. There just
didn't seem to be the same kind of STRETCH at the bottom, which reminds
me: on the EZ BAR presses you must lower the bar all the way to your
clavicles each rep.

As many of you know, the primary function of the long or "INNER HEAD" of
the triceps is actually shoulder extension (pulling the upper arm down
and back). Think of the long head as the back half of the "HORSESHOE."
Rowing and pulldowns with a relatively close grip are good for this head,
as are STRAIGHT-ARM PULLDOWNS on the lat machine. Take a good look at
ERNEST CADINE'S TRI'S. He was primarly an Olympic-style lifter, active
between 1910 and 1930, which meant lots of overhead pressing. He was
NOT A BODYBUILDER, and when questioned about his exceptional arms always
claimed he didn't have time for isolated arm work, like extesions.
Probably didn't, as it must have taken lots of work on his presses,
snatches and clean & jerks to be the best heavyweight in the world at
only 5'8 and 200 pounds!

Watching the Monkeys

Gorillas never bend their arms past halfway under load. Nor do the other apes.
Same goes for monkeys. By "under load" I mean during the act of climbing, swinging
or launching themselves from one branch to the next. That fact got me thinking,
because afer thirty years of teaching elementary phys. ed. I can recall scores of
times when students complained of pains in the elbows when tested on pull-ups and/or
chin-ups. Not sore muscles but PAIN IN THE ELBOW JOINT, especially the girls, who
were for so many years subjected to the FLEXED ARM HANG as their method of testing
upper body strength (the finished or top position of a pull-up, where they keep their chin
over the bar for time).

WHY IS THIS?

Because ALL MUSCLE CONTRACTION, whether pushing or pulling, results in
compression of the joints involved. Or should. We don't want our joints
all loosey-goosey when our muscles are exering force.

SOMETHING WILL SHEAR, SOMETHING WILL ABRADE. And because a
FULL CHIN-UP is an UNNATURAL MOTION, where the arm flexors cut out at
the halfway mark and can no longer hold that elbow joint tightly together,
they eventually give one SORE and ABUSED elbows.

You'll never see a GORILLA or a CHIMP doing chin-ups -- although I did see
a 475 pound SILVRBACK jump ten feet out into space and CATCH HIMSELF
WITH ONE HALWAY BENT ARM on a bar that was around seven feet high. It was
effortess, and he remained that way, with his single supporting arm bent
at 90 degrees, for severl seconds before swinging to another bar five feet
away and of a smilar height. IMAGINE THE FORCES INVOLVED . . !

Bench Presses have never felt quite "right" with regard to my shoulders,
and being I began weight-training when benches were just regarded as
"another exercise" and not the end-all/be-all measure of machismo they
are today, I never worked very hard on them. In the early 60s it was
"How much can you press?" not "How-much-ya-bench?" They DO, however,
provide a fairly direct means of working the pecs; but as I entered my
sixth decade I found they were increasingly hard
on my shoulders.

So what's a guy to do?

In my case I found that working very hard on close grip half-pulldowns (pulling
from arms length to just a little past halfway) always had my PECS SORE the
next day. Upon reviewing my biomechanics textbooks it turns out that the pecs
are VERY strongly involved in INITIATING that downward pull, more strongly than
even the lats. What it doesn't hit is the clavicular portion of that muscle, but
those are worked more vigorously than most people appreciate in overhead presses
as long as one avoids too wide a grip. I competed in Olympic style lifting back
when the standing press was one of the lifts, and my incline benching strength
was always STRONGER than my flat bench -- which is clavicular pecs.

Anyway, the short of it is that I haven't benched in two years now but HAVE
worked hard on the presses and half-pulldowns, and my pecs are much BETTER
DEVELOPED THAN WHEN I WAS BENCHING -- without the shoulder pain.
An added bonus was not having to do so much biceps work. Ever notice how
the biceps and brachialis cut out at the halfway mark of a chin or pulldown?
They're just along for the ride during that second, or bottom, half. The
continuous tension of "top-half-only" pulldowns really works those arm
flexors! By the way, the b&W pic is of Herman Goerner, one of the three
strongest people in the world pre-World War II. Goerner never bench pressed
in his life; the lift didn't exist back then (1920s). He did, however, do
all kinds of overhead lifts AND DEADLIFT 727 POUNDS WITH ONE HAND, A record
NEVER BROKEN! More on this later -- and how watching GORILLAS on TV got
me thinking.