Six Training Tips

[tatteredxangelx]

June 7th 11:10pm

#1 Straps
Use chalk not wrist straps! If you are going to use wrist straps why not just have another guy hold the weight with you? Wrist straps inhibit forearm development and really make you look like a pussy. The only two instances where wrist straps should be worn are on the absolute heaviest sets of bent rows and shrugs. Other than that, keep the fabric at home.
#2 Partials.
Partials not only allow you to get the feel for heavier weight, but also work secondary muscles & tendons that are getting a half ass pump because the primary muscles are strong enough yet.. Why sacrifice your lower back development, because your hamstring are lagging on dead lift, or why sacrifice your triceps’ development because your sticking point is 2 inches above your chest? Do atleast two heavy, partial singles for bench, deadlift and squat (performed simply by doing a “half rep.�) after performing the full repetition.
#3 Momentum
Lose the perfect form bullshit. I’m not saying swing from the pull up bar like a monkey, but don’t hang there like a stiff either. Are you trying to feel the burn, or are you trying to get strong? Your muscles all work together like a machine, and they should be used as so. As long as “Muscle A� is fully contracting, it is being worked whether “Muscle B� is helping it or not.
#4 More Sets
Drop the number of exercises and increase the number of sets. Instead of doing 3 sets of dumbell presses followed by 3 sets of chest press just do 6 sets of one or the other. Three sets is only giving the muscle a tease. The goal is to get the muscle stronger, by getting it used to moving heavier weights. How is it supposed to do that with only one or two heavy sets? Example: Instead of going 40/70/100 on your dumbell presses, go 40, 70, 85, 85, 100, 100. By using 4 heavy sets, you are giving the muscle the work it needs while also preventing overtraining.
#5 Work!
I began to explain this one with number four. There is no reason to press the 25lb dumbells, if you are capable of moving the 125’s. Warm up once, and start you workout. For instance, we will use chest – I begin my workout with 2-3 sets of warmup, and follow it with 10-12 work sets. If you are ending your flat bench workout with a heavy double, following it up with 2 sets of light dumbell presses is only giving your chest a lengthy break and draining the pump. After your heavy double, take a minute, grab a moderately heavy pair of ‘bells and keep that pump going. Recovery can be done at home, you’re at the gym to work.
#6 Press & Pull
I may take some heat for this one, but I don’t care. Flies, cables, and v-ropes have no part in a strength training program. Yes, doing flies will separate and striate your pecs, and rope pushdowns will accentuate your horse shoe, but what the fuck does a pretty chest have to do with moving iron?! Drop these inhibitor exercises from your program and I guarantee you will see better results. Every time you do cable crossovers, you are wasting 4 valuable sets that can be used to chest press – there is a thin line between perfect training and overtraining and it should not be crossed because you are working too hard doing wide grip lat pull downs.

:)

[Kaiser]

The only thing I dont agree with is wrist straps Tat. I am large boned, and have strong just about every body part. But the point is, sometimes small body parts inhibit growth of large body parts. Take upright rows for instance. There is no way that with the angle I am going to hang on to the bar comfortably with al of that weight. It ends up being wrist thing instead of me feeling it in the shoulders, because the shoulders are a stronger body part. I know what you are saying, and I used to feel the same way, but in the end, certain body parts do not allow for growth in larger body parts. weekest link so to speak. I do love your down and dirty strategy and I hold it promising as I grew up old school lifting also. But I think it's the balance of old school-new school that really makes things work. Keep an open mind, and you'll advance faster than I did when I was your age. My father always said, the older you get, the more you realize how wrong you were. (not that you listen to my pop bro, but you know what I am saying :D )

[tatteredxangelx]

Kai, I funny you mentioned Upright rows and old/new schools training methods b/c the majority of my new school methods involves NOT doing upright rows .. I'm sure you know this, but upright rows are actually really bad for your wrists .. unless your are holding them shoulder width or further ... which in turn negates most of their benefit :p

I understand what you're saying, but most people do not know exactly how strong their grip is with their hand dipped in a bucket of cahlk. Other than UR, you got any other examples?

[Kaiser]

Kai, I funny you mentioned Upright rows and old/new schools training methods b/c the majority of my new school methods involves NOT doing upright rows .. I'm sure you know this, but upright rows are actually really bad for your wrists .. unless your are holding them shoulder width or further ... which in turn negates most of their benefit :p

I understand what you're saying, but most people do not know exactly how strong their grip is with their hand dipped in a bucket of cahlk. Other than UR, you got any other examples?

Yeah, as I said I mix old and new and take what is good from both. I do alot of anti-christ training like behind the neck militaries at 315 for 4 or 5 reps.

Absolutely, and most will not reach the point where wraps are necessary because of weight. But that is what makes us all different. Point is, on any given person, once they reach their inner body (torso) maximum "on gear" strength they are going to be way past their extremity strength like wrists, ankles and knees. You are very good in your posts and very advanced for your age. I see you going places if you want to in the future. But take this word for it: dont take my word (funny I contradict my first few words, but there is meaning here), or any other person's word solemnly, add them all up, mix them in with your own body's potential, and learn to decipher the positive from the negative as far as reactions on your lifting curve.

In the end, you are the quickest learner of the young crowd I have ever conversed with on a forum. Not to say you should be proud of that because I am nothing special. You have made an amazing turn around in the few months that I have been here moderating. Keep up the good work brother. Salute.

[CountVascular]

TatteredxAngelx AKA HardCoreIronDude

Very interesting read...thanks for the inspiration :)

[opusx]

I definitely agree with #2 #4 , and as far as anything I don't fully agree with I think it also has some to do with different goals. I don't agree with totally throwing perfect form out the window. Part of having perfect form is to prevent injury and part is to isolate muscle groups. I understand what your saying that as long as it's being worked then something is happening. When you get to the point of perfecting that one muscle group though, I think form is quite necessary. As far as the doing 2 heavy ass sets, that is stupid. Again thats just a way to injure yourself, so I couldn't agree more with what you said in #4. Good post man

[Kaiser]

I definitely agree with #2 #4 , and as far as anything I don't fully agree with I think it also has some to do with different goals. I don't agree with totally throwing perfect form out the window. Part of having perfect form is to prevent injury and part is to isolate muscle groups. I understand what your saying that as long as it's being worked then something is happening. When you get to the point of perfecting that one muscle group though, I think form is quite necessary. As far as the doing 2 heavy ass sets, that is stupid. Again thats just a way to injure yourself, so I couldn't agree more with what you said in #4. Good post man

Somehow I missed that part about form. I agree, if you want longevity and you dont just want to come in push alot of weight, hurt yourself and get out, then form is important. I NEVER cheat when pushing weight. When you get up to the heavies, if you do, you have s good chance of hurting something. I personally witnessed someone crack their sternum from bouncing. He couldn't breath for over a minute and turned blue. All of this from bouncing on bench.

[ironfreak83]

i only use straps on heavy shrugs and bent over rows, just because if you don't, most people cant hold enough weight without straps to hit the traps and lats on these exercises hard enough. if you deadlift regularly your grip strength and forearm development should be there, as long as you don't use straps on em.

[tatteredxangelx]

bump my man iron freak ...


lol and kai, i never said to drop the weight when u bench ... why not just put a spring on yer chest and not work the muscles?

[Alin]

I like good training ideas. Nice to see.

[Alin]

i only use straps on heavy shrugs and bent over rows, just because if you don't, most people cant hold enough weight without straps to hit the traps and lats on these exercises hard enough. if you deadlift regularly your grip strength and forearm development should be there, as long as you don't use straps on em.


Very nice avatar.. Great slogan.

[Rhandhular]

i only use straps on heavy shrugs and bent over rows, just because if you don't, most people cant hold enough weight without straps to hit the traps and lats on these exercises hard enough. if you deadlift regularly your grip strength and forearm development should be there, as long as you don't use straps on em.
If you dont need straps when you deadlift why would you need them for bent rows?

[ironfreak83]

i deadlift usin the one hand over, one hand under technique(the alternate grip). i like usin both my hands the same on shrugs and bent overs(usually i go both overhand) and it's a lot harder to hold heavy weight that way. plus for some reason, i dont know why, but it seems to strain my grip more for shrugs and bent over rows than deads. maybe i'm just strange :cool: hope that makes at least some sense

[tatteredxangelx]

i deadlift over under and do rows over/over ...

[J-Birdo]

The only thing I dont agree with is wrist straps Tat. I am large boned, and have strong just about every body part. But the point is, sometimes small body parts inhibit growth of large body parts. Take upright rows for instance. There is no way that with the angle I am going to hang on to the bar comfortably with al of that weight. It ends up being wrist thing instead of me feeling it in the shoulders, because the shoulders are a stronger body part. I know what you are saying, and I used to feel the same way, but in the end, certain body parts do not allow for growth in larger body parts. weekest link so to speak. I do love your down and dirty strategy and I hold it promising as I grew up old school lifting also. But I think it's the balance of old school-new school that really makes things work. Keep an open mind, and you'll advance faster than I did when I was your age. My father always said, the older you get, the more you realize how wrong you were. (not that you listen to my pop bro, but you know what I am saying :D )


I agree with you on this one, Kaiser. And I've gotten great results from doing upright rows for my delts! Just like Tat said about partial reps, I think holds true for this as well. (What? Your back or legs shouldn't advance because you can't hold on to the bar with the small muscles in your hands? Is that what you're trying to tell us, Tat? No offense, but it sounds a little too macho! Like, if you have to use knee wraps, you shouldn't be lifting it! Is that the type of thinking we are talking about?) On the other hand, I've never actually trained using that system. Who knows? Maybe I'm totally wrong.

Either way...Save the chalk for rolling the fat chicks in!! hehehe :eek:

[tatteredxangelx]

jbird ... your grip would be able to hold the weight if you weren't using wrist straps to begin with .. (not u in particular, just open statement) people really have no idea how strong their grip is.

[Kaiser]

jbird ... your grip would be able to hold the weight if you weren't using wrist straps to begin with .. (not u in particular, just open statement) people really have no idea how strong their grip is.

The more yoou sueeze, the more energy you use. I would rather focus my energy on the lift itself.

[Nacho]

I agree with Kaiser on that one. I do shrugs last and I can not do near as much weight without straps. My grip is just gone by the time I get to certain things. I also find some things that the way I have to hold hurts my wrists like hell, and use straps for these also to relieve some pain.

[J-Birdo]

jbird ... your grip would be able to hold the weight if you weren't using wrist straps to begin with .. (not u in particular, just open statement) people really have no idea how strong their grip is.


I understand what you are saying. Last Oct., I weighed in at 184 lbs. and could dead lift 405 x 5, using the over/under grip. ( I know, I know...but it's a lot of weight for me! I have big upper body and skinny lower, trying to play catch-up!) Anyway, I just think that wraps and straps have a purpose, just like weight belts! Some people swear by them and others never use them! I used a belt for awhile and now I feel more comfortable without it. I do like to use gloves, Nobody else in my gym uses them so I feel a little weird with them, but oh well!!

[ironfreak83]

Very nice avatar.. Great slogan.

forgot to say thanks Alin :)