The Medieval knight, a
formidable foe!
During medieval times nothing
struck fear into the heart of the enemy like a fully armored knight. During
their reign in the 12th and 13th century, these bands of
chain-mailed clad den knights galloped across the land and were masters of
warfare. They were truly awesome to
see, even more so with their great cylindrical helmets which protected their
head, and the heraldic creeds written in bold letters on their shields and linen
surcoats. Their skills with the lance and sword were legendary. Being in the
sights of an armored warrior almost certainly meant impending doom!
The Knights fall from
Glory…
The knight must have seemed
like an immortal foe with their heavy armor, incredible warfare tactics, and
mastery over the lance and sword.
But once again, ingenuity
conquers all!
The knights who once dominated
medieval warfare became increasingly vulnerable as weapons became more
sophisticated. The bowman found a deadly new weapon in the crossbow, which fired
arrows or short, steel-tipped bolts with enormous power, piercing the strongest
of armors. The halberd, a combined spear and battleaxe, could wrench a knight
form his saddle and then hack him to pieces as he lay on the ground. Infantrymen
embedded sharp wooden poles in the ground, to form a barrier to cavalry, and
foot soldiers learned to whirl war flails (a form of grass-threshing tool) with
deadly effect!
Homeostasis’ fall from
glory!
Just like these warriors fell from
glory, so too will homeostasis. No longer will you face plateaus in your
training, but instead will learn how to make your body submit to your bidding!
This issue is designed to give you the weapons of warfare that will enable you
to knock homeostasis off its high horse and force it to yield to your every
whim!
Instead of the deadly cross
bow, I will demonstrate how to use the descending set principle to pierce
through the toughest armor! And to replace the halberd, you will have
pre-exhaustion to render the knight’s armor useless. This article will also teach
you how to use a simple shock like rest-pause pyramiding, comparable to
barrier-like wooden poles, to knock the enemy flat on his face and induce super
growth! And lastly, drop-level static negatives will knock the immortal knight
off his horse and bring him down to your level! With that picture painted
let’s learn about the weapons of war!
Descending sets, the armor
piercers!
The descending set has to be
the most vicious of all shock techniques. In fact, I would go as far to say that
the descending set is equal to the super set in terms of growth and the overall
barbaric shock it provides to the body! I can think of no other technique that
will take you as far into the pain zone as these will. Needless to say,
hardcore sets that incorporate the descending principle can be down right
sadistic!
The concept behind the
drop set is straightforward yet lethal.
To
apply the
descending principle to a set, simply go to complete failure with any given
exercise. Now, upon completion of the set reduce the weight of the exercise as
quickly as possible and continue on with the set.
This
offers many benefits for a bodybuilder. In essence you are going beyond what
your muscles could have achieved by only going to initial failure. Descending
sets offer the same awesome results as forced reps do. In fact they are almost
the same thing except they are forced reps that are done without a spotter.
The other benefit is that the
more you descend the more you will be stimulating the deepest muscle fibers in
your body. The final reps of a hardcore drop will burn so deep, it will
feel as if someone is putting a blowtorch on your muscles!
As your reward for making it
through, you will be getting a blood pump that is out of this universe, along with
increased mitochondria in your muscles. In fact if you have never used the
principle in your life, you're going to be hurting in places you didn’t even know
there were muscles!
Most prefer the weight be
reduced within 30% to 50% of the original weight used. This is the most basic
definition.
The descending set can also be
referred to as either a drop set or a strip set.
For example, if I were doing
dumbbell curls, and wanted to apply the descending set principle, I would go to
failure with 50lb. dumbbells and literally drop the dumbbells and pick up a pair
of lighter ones to continue on with the set.
Another variation of this is
called “running the rack”. My favorite illustration of this is used for either
front raises or side laterals. Basically you select your first weight and keep
going down the dumbbell rack until you have completed your goal/set amount of
descents! Of course I usually do this when the gym is slow.
Additionally, strip sets are one form
of the descending set principle that delivers great results. Let’s take the
bench press to demonstrate this. I could go to failure with the original weight
and then strip off some of the weight to continue the set. Let’s say I was doing
225 lb. bench presses and wanted to up the intensity. I could go to failure,
then strip off a 45lb. plate from each side and go to failure again.
The strip set principle can
also be used for cable exercises and cable machines. Simply pull the pin out
after failure and place it at a lighter weight and continue the set.
Both of these are still
descending sets, but are just different variations of the theme.
What are we in….WARFARE!
And that is literally the
mentality you are going to have to be in to apply these techniques that I am
going to describe in this article! Before using these techniques I highly
recommend re-reading Jacob’s “So you want to be Freaky” article before you go
on.
If you have never used the
drop set shock principle before I recommend only sticking to the basic
definition I gave above for your first year of training. In other words only 1
drop and a decrease between 30 and 50 percent of the original weight. For the
intermediates and advanced bodybuilders, implement the following tactics into
your routine as you see fit for your level of training. The techniques get a
little advanced as they go down the page.
Descending
set shock 1-
Double, Triple,
or Quadruple drop sets
This is the principle most are
familiar with. The idea behind it is you go to failure with any given exercise,
and then drop the weight. That’s one drop. Go to failure again, drop the weight
and continue on. That’s a double drop set. Go to failure again, drop the weight
and continue yet again. There you have a triple drop set. The process can go on
and on for as many as you like. This is the most simplistic way of doing strip
sets, yet its effectiveness has been proven time and time again!
Multiple Pins trick
-
I like to apply a little trick that I have found to be highly effective for
cable strip sets.
Go to your local sports store
and purchase some of the pins that are similar to the ones used in the machines
at your gym. The reason why is because you will need three or four and you don’t
want to hog all the ones at the gym. Now, for example let’s say you wanted to
apply the double drop set technique to a bench press cable machine. Normally,
you would do your set, pull the pin and select the next weight and put the pin
back in. However, this often takes too much time as you have to pull the pin,
think about the weight, and then reinsert it. To eliminate this problem set one
of the pins at your heaviest weight, one at your next drop, one at your next
drop and so on. Just pull the bottom one out when you are done with that part of
the drop and continue on. This decreases the turnover time between drops,
increasing the intensity of the exercise as you don't have to take the time to
put the pin back in.
Descending set shock 2-
“Total reps”
This is one of my favorite
ways of performing drop sets. Simply pick a number of reps you want to complete
and don’t stop doing drop sets until you get there! I especially like this
tactic for beating all of the different muscle fibers into submission!
For example, let’s say I want
increased size, vascularity, peak, and hardness in my quads. Instead of just
using the standard double or triple drop set principle, I focus on a number of
reps that will be completed and get my mind totally fixated on that number.
Let’s say for this set that number is 40 reps. I want the kind of mindset where
I totally forget about how many drops I’m going to do, and just focus on the
fact that I have to reach that number no matter what!
This may take 10 drops it
doesn’t matter, in fact I don’t pre-plan or count drops as I’m going. The number
of drops doesn’t matter, only the final reps completed by the end of the set. If
you feel like going heavy, start with a heavy weight where initial failure is 5
reps. That’s perfectly fine, just know you have 35 more reps to go, and you
won’t stop till you get there! I find it’s much easier to concentrate and focus
on blocking out the pain when you don’t have a million things going on in your
head. This technique expands on that and just gives you one number to think
about.
I really like to incorporate
this variation to coincide with the information Jacob wrote about in the Anatomy
section of the site.
Take from: Muscle Fibers
Part II, by Jacob Wilson
“2. They allow you to target all three
muscle fiber types to their full potential in one fail swoop. Think of it this
way, an 8 repetition set may not give you a complete stimulus in your fast
twitch fibers. By stripping the weight, you almost ensure complete stimulation
across the board. You may also manipulate sets in ways that would be impossible
any other way! For example, let’s say you wanted to go extremely heavy and
super high rep at the same time. Or if you wanted to combine the positive
aspects of low rep sets with those of high rep sets. You could easily lift a
weight that causes you to fail in the 5 repetition range, and then strip to
another weight you can only lift 5 reps on, and so on and so forth!
Furthermore, compound sets release hormones on a wider response, where as
isolation exercises release specific hormones for the particular muscle group
worked. By combining a heavy compound with an isolation you will get the best
of both worlds. I can go on and on, but it is for this reason that I write
entire articles on shocking methods. (You will also see that they are
exceptional at creating density in mitochondria).”
This backs up what I just said. By using
this variation of the drop set you will see dramatic changes in the muscle group
you apply it too! I suggest picking an exercise that you want to apply it too,
and then pick a total number of reps you want to complete. Set your goal number
of reps to be completed before you start the set, and stop at nothing to
complete them. No matter how many drops it takes!
Next, start heavy so that initial failure
comes between 4 and 6 reps, then continue to drop until you reach a high number
of reps. I generally like to take my beginning number of reps and add 20 to 30
reps to it for my target amount of reps for the set.
So if I picked a weight on say cable
concentration curls, where I wanted initial failure to be 5 reps, I would then
add say 30 reps to that so that by the end of the set I would have completed 35
total reps! It’s insane, and advanced but works like a charm!
You can also go backwards with this concept,
and pick initial failure to occur at a high number of reps, say 15, and then
continue to add weight, so that as you approach your target amount of reps, you
are actually getting fewer reps as you drop down. This is a great way to flush
the muscles you are working.
Descending set shock 3-
“Don’t stop ‘till you drop!”
This variation of the
descending set will test your pain margins to the limit! In fact pain is all
that will guide you with this one. Don’t think about reps or how many drops you
are going to do. Just go until you can’t take it anymore. The further you go
into hell the more gains you will get.
This is ultra effective for
the calves and forearms. In fact, I’ve gone weeks without even counting reps for
these two groups. I just go by how much pain I felt the previous workout and
know that I will go further in my current one! This type of training gives you a
certain mindset that will build you a great physique! I like it because it
allows you to focus completely on the pain zone, and not distracting your mind
with counting any reps, sets, drops, just more intensity than you’ve ever had
before.
Descending set shock 4-
“30-60 seconds rule”
The “Count to 60 seconds and
grow, man, grow” article Jacob wrote in a previous issue has to be one of the
best ever in terms of inducing muscle growth! If you haven’t read it yet it is
in December’s issue. In summary of that article, muscles grow best when they are
subjected to sets that make them come to failure within a range of 30-70
seconds. Once again I love this cause it gets you out of the “rep” state of
mind. This “rep” state of mind can actually trick your mind into thinking you
are fatigued when you’re really not! It gets you out of the rep mentality and
into the pain reality! And the pain reality is what separates the advanced
hardcore bodybuilder from rest!
Just set your stop watch and
step into the pain dimension! The results were so amazing, I
started applying it to the drop set principle and got some serious results!
To do this select a weight
that you will fail in before the allotted time. Let’s say I wanted to do a 60
second standing leg curls. I would select a weight that I would fail at around
20-25 seconds. I usually try to select a weight that will give me failure at
about 1/3 of the total time. Once I reached that time, I would continue the set
using drops until I got to 60 seconds! It’s insanely ruthless, but I’ve been
using it regularly and I love the results! This is a 5 star tactic!
All of these different
variations should be used from time to time. To keep the variety up, I’ll
usually focus on one variation for a week, and then switch to another variation
of the descending set theme. This will teach you to build up your intensity and
mental stamina, along with helping to spice up your workouts.
Here are some of my favorite
exercises for utilizing the descending set principle:
Squat-
All I can say about this is that only the strong survive!
Wide-grip upright rows-
If you want cannon ball shaped delts try these on for size! If you plan on
using these as part of your normal routine, don’t buy any shirts for awhile,
because they won’t fit for long!
Bench press-
All the different angles works great. If a certain area of your chest is in a
slump, these will catch it up in a big way! I noticed these really help carve
that line in the upper chest when utilizing the incline barbell or dumbbell
press!
Barbell curl and extensions-
Take your arms to new dimensions of mass!
Calf raises and forearm
curls and extensions-
Try applying the “Don’t stop till you drop” variation of drop sets for these!
They add thickness and size to the calves and forearms in a big time way!
Rest-Pause pyramiding –
Stabbing failure in the face!
Incorporating rest-pause
training into your sets is like telling your muscles “You bastards are gonna
grow whether you like it or not!” You are literally spitting in the face of
failure, and pushing the envelope to the max!
To use rest-pause, simply
perform your set to failure, rest or pause briefly then continue again. The
typical time to pause is around 5 to 10 seconds. This will take some experience
to feel, but as your mind to muscle links increase you will begin to “feel” when
your muscles have slightly recovered and can be subjected to a few extra reps.
For an example of this, let’s
take seated military presses. You are going to complete 10 reps with 225 lbs. at
all costs, even though your previous weeks max was only 225lbs at 7 reps. You
begin your set and just like last week, come to failure at 7 reps. Now,
utilizing rest-pause, you set the bar back down, wait 10 seconds then un-rack
the bar and manage to eek out 2 more reps. Tired you re-rack the bar wait 10
seconds, and go again. This time you manage to barely get that last rep. There
you have it you completed your 10 reps, and have totally exhausted your
deltoids! The beauty of this method is that it can be applied to any exercise to
expose your muscles to more reps than it has previously been used to, and
literally force it to adapt to them.
Now that you have the basics
of rest-pause down I’m going to introduce you to rest-pause pyramiding! This
technique is going to make you hate me. In fact you will be cursing my name
through the whole set! That’s fine though, I understand, I tend to curse myself
the next day for doing it, yet the results make me continue to come back for
more!
The idea behind it is similar
to the pyramid system you use in regular weights. However instead of reps we
will use seconds. Each set will consist of 3-5 mini-sets (you can lower how many
rests you do based on your level of training). The basics behind it is go to
failure, wait 10 seconds then go again. Rest 15 seconds and go again. Rest 20
seconds and go again. Continue in this manner, counting by 5’s until you reach a
final rest period of 30 seconds.
Rest-pause pyramiding is one
of my favs, especially for mass exercises! It will allow you to take a set way
beyond failure and expose the deepest muscle fibers to hardcore balls to the
wall training! Let’s take the Leg press and apply this principle.
WARNING:
This is no joke. If you aren’t a little insane don’t even try this. If you can
make it through however, you will understand what it takes to build Bohemian
legs!
Begin by selecting a weight
that will make you go to failure at around 10-12 reps. Lets say this week you
are going to focus your leg training around your quadriceps. This can better be
achieved by placing your feet low and close together on the leg press’ foot
plate. Now, press off and go for good form and squeeze your quads hard at the
top. Don’t just bounce the bar off the bottom, and lift it 2 inches. I see so
many guys load up the leg press with 12 plates on both sides and do the
sloppiest reps I’ve ever seen.
Trust me unless you’re an
Olympic power lifter or a 250 lb. bodybuilder, no one is paying attention to
your weight. It’s more important to get a good contraction and to focus on
making your legs go to total exhaustion. This can be accomplished by getting a
good range of motion and going slow on the descent. The only cheating that is
safe for the leg press is called knee pushing. In other words, after failure you
can literally push your legs up and force it through the lifting part of the
lift. Then of course emphasize the negative. To accomplish this form of a cheat
rep I push right on the bottom of my quadriceps and squeeze the sides of my knee
caps for stabilization. Other than that, strict form will get the best results
on the leg press.
Once you reach failure of the
initial weight, re-rack the load and count to 10(This should be roughly 10
seconds-so a medium paced 10 count). As soon as you reach a 10 count lift off
again, and go to failure once more. Don’t count reps anymore. You need to
totally focus on breaking the pain barrier. Go to failure, re-rack the weight,
and rest again. This time count to 15 and then un-rack the weight right away and
proceed to go to failure again. This is when the pain will really start setting
in. Only a true warrior will be able to go further! Re-rack and repeat in this
manner until you reach the final mini-set in which you rest 30 seconds, then
proceed to go to failure a final time. It’s a simple concept, but if you put all
your intensity in it, you will be moaning in pain, and will have tears coming
out of your eyes and sweat running out of every pore in your body!
In summary, rest-pause
pyramiding utilizes the same concept as rest-pausing, except instead of just the
normal 5-10 seconds you are pyramiding the rest time up. The rest scheme looks
like this: 10-15-20-25-30. In which you will take each mini-set to utter and
total failure! Or, as the case when you start reaching the 20 second ranges, the
pain is too much to bear!
One other addition I wanted to
make to rest-pause training is that you can combine it with the descending set
principle for insane intensity!
Let’s take variation 2- “Total
reps” as an example. Again let’s use the cable concentration curl as our
example, with 35 reps being my final repetition goal. Let’s say that I achieve
my initial number of reps that I set for myself, which were 5. Now, I continue
to use drop sets, until I get to the point where I am at 29 reps, and can do no
more for the life of me. The problem is though that I’ve come down to the least
amount of weight the stack offers me so I can’t drop any further. However, I
haven’t reached my target goal of 35 reps. This can happen when you have high
intensity. I would use the rest-pause shock to continue my set. Resting just
long enough between reps (again approximately 5-10 seconds), so that I can
muster up enough strength to squeeze out a few extra reps. I would continue to
use rest-pause until I achieved my goal reps.
Pre and Post exhaustion-
Wielding the Halberd!
If you are looking to build
your body into a suit of armor, then these are the two shocks for you! Pre and
post exhaust will literally let you take a mass exercise and let you use it to
create both size and symmetry! Like a talked a little about in last months
issue, nothing adds size like compound exercises. Sometimes, however, it can be
added in the wrong places.
Pre-exhaustion-
I think the most classic case
of this has to be the flat bench press. This exercise can easily overstress the
front deltoids and make them come to failure way before the pecs actually do.
Pre-exhaustion allows you to directly target the spot you want the mass exercise
to blast.
By performing an isolation
exercise before a mass exercise (see last months issue to get a clearer
understanding of what a mass and isolation exercise is) you can shift the focus
of the compound exercise to the area just trained. The isolation lift
pre-stresses a specific muscle of a mass exercise.
Again, let’s take the bench
press. If I was to perform 3 or 4 sets of strict dumbbell or cable flys, then
follow that up with the bench press, I would focus the stress of the bench press
onto my pecs and not my delts or tris! The reason this works is that flys will
pre-stress the pecs, so that they fail before the delts or tris do. In essence
you would have narrowed the focus of the bench press or compound exercises!
Pre-exhaust can also be used
to target certain areas of a muscle, for example, upper lats, middle chest, or
inner thighs. Let’s say I wanted more height on my bicep peaks, but barbell
curls seem to make my lower bis fail first and I don’t feel like my peaks are
getting enough emphasis placed on them with this exercise.
One of my favorite combos of
all time for accomplishing this task is three sets of barbell concentration
curls followed by barbell curls! The concentration curls will blast the peaks,
and the barbell curls will assure that the peaks come to failure first in the
exercise, as opposed to the lower biceps.
This is the most common form
of pre-exhaust. Go right into the gym when your intensity is highest, perform a
few sets of an isolation exercise for your lagging area and follow it up with a
mass exercise. This works incredibly, but there are other variations to keep
your body guessing! And that is the whole point behind a shock; it needs to keep
your body guessing to keep it growing!
Enter supersets. I could make
this method even more hardcore by starting my pre-exhaustion routine with a
super set of an isolation exercise with an isolation exercise. Then follow that
up with my 3 or 4 sets of a mass exercise!
I personally feel that this
variation of the pre-exhaust principle is most lethal at destroying lagging
muscle group’s stubbornness. Let’s say my rear delts have been lagging the last
few months. Try this out. Bring some dumbbells over to the peck deck station.
Begin by doing bent-over dumbbell laterals, and superset that with reverse peck
decks for three sets. Now, do some barbell rows, dead lifts, and seated cable
rows! All of these utilize the rear delts so much that they will be forced to
work extra hard to keep up. You will get some serious growth in this region.
This technique can also be
applied to upper pecs. This is another hard to hit area. Try starting out with
some incline flys supersetted with incline peck deck.
For the incline flys I like
to vary the angle on the bench with each set so that I stimulate the upper pec
region’s muscles a little bit different for each set. For example do set one at
30 degrees, set two at 35 degrees, and set three at 40 degrees.
To make the peck deck hit the
upper chest region more, lower the seat or grab the handle bars up high. You can
use either way just make sure that your pinky finger is aligned with the top of
your chest when your hands cross over. Do three sets in that fashion.
Now do dips, incline bench,
and flat dumbbells! BAM! The upper chest is toast! This concept can be applied
to any lagging part to force it to work harder than it has previously been
exposed to! This will most deficiently yield new gains in muscle!
In this instance let’s take
forearms! Hammer curls are without a doubt one of the most effective forearm
builders, yet often times the biceps can fail before the forearms and grip
actually do! Before doing the hammer curls I could do three supersets of over a
bench reverse wrist curls with over a bench regular wrist curls. This alone
would pump the forearms up to the max! Now try doing standing hammer curls!
OUCH! You’ll soon see the effectiveness of this shock!
Another one of my favorites is
the adductor machine supersetted with the abductor machine for three sets,
topped off with 3 or 4 sets of lunges! No pain, no gain!
Also for 3-D delts try
dumbbell L-laterals supersetted with dumbbell side laterals to pre-exhaust the
side delts, then seated dumbbell presses!
Since we are talking about
supersets, I’ll go ahead and tell you about instant pre-exhaustion! To apply
these just perform an isolation exercise supersetted with a mass exercise! One
of the all time classics has to be leg extensions supersetted with squats! Its
down-right sadistic! But the return for the investment is thunder thighs of
steel! Another favorite of mine is barbell front raises (or use an ez curl bar
if it’s too much weight) supersetted with the seated military press! See my
article last month for more crazy combos in this category!
One other form of
pre-exhaustion I like is rep schemes. By varying the reps you can utilize this
principle in a unique way!
Try following a high rep set
of isolation exercises with a low rep set of mass exercises targeting the same
area! Let’s take the hamstrings for this one!
Try doing 20 reps on the leg
curl machine, and follow that up with 6 reps on the leg press machine! You can
more effectively target this tough to hit region with this shock. If you place
your feet high on the foot plate of the leg press, you will isolate the hammies
even further.
You can even do this in an
opposite manner for a rare shock. Try doing 8 reps on the leg extension machine,
then perform a set of squats where you don’t reach failure for 15 reps! Or for
traps try 6 reps of seated shrugs followed by 15 reps of close-grip upright
rows! You’ll love that one! (But hate me for suggesting it!)
Post-exhaustion-
Post-exhaustion works in the
same manner as pre-exhaustion except that you perform the mass exercise first
followed by the isolation exercise.
This allows you to literally
carve in the details of your armor. The mass exercises will make the mold, and
then the isolation exercises give you the chisels to carve in the details. In
other words instead of just having a large plate on the front, you can use
post-exhaustion to carve out the pecs, and make the mass of metal into a
battle-ready chest plate!
For instance let’s take the
pecs again. I could simply reverse the order of the previous workout and do
dips, incline bench, and flat dumbbell presses, then top that off with three
sets of incline flys supersetted with incline peck decks.
Or I could leave the super set
aspect out of it, and do say Squats, Leg press, Lunges and lying leg curls, to
make sure my hamstrings were totally taxed at the end of my leg workout.
I especially like the
following concept for cutting. I will superset a mass exercise with a mass
exercise, then follow that up with 3 or 4 isolation exercises to literally etch
in the striations!
I love this for the shoulders!
Try super setting three sets of standing dumbbell upright rows with seated
dumbbell presses. Now follow that up with side laterals, cable front raises, and
one-arm bent over dumbbell laterals! This will put extreme separation in all of
the three heads of the deltoid region!
Post-exhaustion is a rare form
of a shock, but I guarantee you will see major changes when you begin
implementing it! And you power lifting freaks will really dig it! Just remember
post-exhaustion is pretty much the opposite of pre-exhaustion in that you are
hammering a muscle in isolation at the end of a workout instead of the
beginning. They are opposites but the concept is the same; a super shock to the
body!
One of the hardest things in
bodybuilding is learning how to direct the stress of a mass exercise to a
particular muscle. Pre and post exhaustion allow you to do this in a unique way,
so that you will reap the rewards of mass gains from movements like the squat,
bench, and dead lift without the unevenness the tend to create! Like I said in
the previous article, size is a lot, but it isn’t everything in bodybuilding.
You have to have freaky size, freaky symmetry, and freaky detail to be the total
package. These two shocks will take you one step close to achieving that kind of
physique!
Drop-Level Static
Negatives: Advanced Shock of the month!
When you say you are hardcore,
do you really mean it? Or is it just something you say? This will tell you if
you are worthy of the hardcore title.
This shock is so intense that
you will not only knock the knight off his mighty horse, but will also make him
say, “Uncle” as he lays at your feet! If you have been struggling with a
particular area of your physique then drop-level static negatives are going to
be your salvation!
Drop-level static negatives
incorporate the beauty of negatives and the intensity of static reps. When using
this shock you will be over-emphasizing the negative, which as you know, educes
serious muscle growth. And simultaneously applying the static rep theory in a
unique way.
To explain the concept behind
this let’s use the infamous barbell curl. No one can dispute the exercises’
ability to add heaps of muscle to the bicep region.
You would begin your reps just
like normal for the concentric, or positive, portion of the lift. The negative
portion is what we are interested in.
As you go through the range of
motion for the negative you will statically hold the barbell at different levels
as you lower the bar.
Remember for static holds you
have to squeeze the muscle hard and really emphasize holding it in its place. I
like to think of my muscles as cornerstones to a bridge! Unmovable!
So, on the negative portion of
the lift I would go down ¼ of the way down, hold the barbell statically and
proceed with the negative again, go another ¼ of the way through the range of
motion and hold the barbell in a static state. Again I would go through another
¼ of the way through the motion and hold the barbell statically. Finally, I
would hold the barbell just short of lock out and hold the barbell in a static
manner until failure.
I tend to hold each level drop
for 2-5 seconds, and then slowly descend until I get to the next drop level.
You can divide up how many
levels you want to statically hold depending on the intensity you want to give
the exercise or if there is a specific area you want to develop. I would say to
go for a minimum of two levels and a maximum of six.
Try these exercise out
utilizing the drop-level static negative super shock!
Dumbbell curls-
OUCH! ‘nuff said!
Incline dumbbell press-
if you are having a hard time felling your upper pecs, try this variation. You
will definitely feel the upper pecs being strained to the max!
Old School extensions with
a barbell- If you are
hardcore enough, massive tris await you with this one!
Standing Calf Raises-
Shred up your calves through their whole range of motion.
Leg curls and Extensions-
Bring out all the details in these regions by squeezing hard at every drop!
Shoulder presses and
Upright rows- Give
your delts a new twist in their plane of motion by incorporating these exercises
with drop-level static negs!
Lat pull downs and Chins-
Thought your back was big? These will humble you in a hurry!
I hear some of you asking,
“Hey Old School, how can I up the intensity on these?”
OK, so you maybe you are
hardcore! Upping the intensity of this shock is not only possible, but will test
your manhood.
One of my personal favorite
ways to increase the insanity of drop-level static negatives is by taking a set
to failure, then cheating the weight up and just focusing on the negative
portion. You will notice however that you will have to decrease the amount of
levels you can complete as you cheat more and more reps out.
So if you were doing barbell
curls and were doing six drop-levels with your regular sets, you will probably
have to drop down to only two levels by the time you cheat out your second rep.
That’s fine. It’s a way of doing a pyramid scheme with this technique, and will
condition your muscles in a way only this shock can! See last months issue for
more details on cheating.
Finally, try applying this
concept to double negatives!
OH MAN! You’re going to want
to drive to Ohio, hunt me down, and beat me with a damn barbell after you try
this!
As you focus on the negative,
apply different static-levels for an intensity that only a mad-man can endure!
What? Your left arm is lagging behind your right one? Not for much longer! Try
this little trick for this common problem.
Wrapping it all up!
This issue we covered
descending sets, pyramid rest-pausing, pre and post exhaustion, along with
drop-level static negatives. I hope this article helped add
to your arsenal of weaponry in your on-going battle against homeostasis! Remember, the knight of yore,
was a formidable foe, but not immortal! He could be defeated and so can your
lagging body parts! Plateaus don’t exist. Only pain threshold plateaus. Break
the pain barrier and enter the growth zone!
Keep the hardcore scene alive!
Old School.
