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Question of Strength 18

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17 views

Question of Strength 18

Uploaded by

Dave John
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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QUESTION OF STRENGTH

18
by Charles Poliquin | March 5, 1999|Leave a Comment

BODYBUILDING, POWERLIFTING &


Tags

STRENGTH, QUESTION OF
STRENGTH, TRAINING

Q: I'm not having any luck training my triceps. I'm sure it's because
I've been doing the same old routine forever. Got a good tricep
routine that I can try out today?

A: There are two important variables that will lead to large increases
in triceps mass:
1. Choosing the right exercises
2. Using a variety of rep brackets

With those two points in mind, here's a great triceps mass building
routine:

 A. Parallel Dips
 Sets:5
 Reps:4-6
 Tempo:5110*
 Rest:180 seconds between sets

* For those newcomers among you who are still unfamiliar with the
concept of tempo, the designation 5110 means to take 5 seconds to
do the eccentric, or lowering, part of the movement; followed by a
one-second pause; followed by a one-second lifting, or concentric,
movement; and no pause before doing the next rep.

In my opinion, this is the king of triceps builders. Yet, like the ever
demanding squats and chins, it rarely makes the Men's Fitness
pulley artist-type of routines.

To start the exercise, hold the bars and boost yourself up until
you've stabilized yourself at arm's length over the handles. Then,
lower your body as far as possible in between the bars. In fact,
lower your body until your biceps make contact with your forearms–
your triceps must get fully stretched. Once you reach the bottom
position, press yourself back up by extending the elbows. Try to
stay as upright as possible throughout the range of motion. If you
lean too far forward, it will increase the recruitment of the pectoralis
muscle.
If you can't lower yourself under control until the biceps make
contact with the forearms, go back to collecting stamps, or perform
decline close-grip bench presses until your arm strength is
sufficient. Using an incomplete range in the triceps dips is a
complete waste of time. And please do not go for the El Geeko
version where you put your feet on a bench in front of you and your
hands behind you. This exercise, along with Smith machine
pressing exercises, is one of the major causes of shoulder
impingement syndromes in the bodybuilding community.

At first, your bodyweight will probably provide enough resistance. As


you get stronger, you can progressively increase the resistance by
holding a dumbbell between your legs or hooking a plate or
dumbbell to the specialized chin/dip belt. There are a lot of chin/dip
belts on the market, but I prefer the ones that are standard leather
lifting belts with hooks sewed into the belt.

If you have access to the better V-shaped dipping bar, use as


narrow a grip as possible without, of course, compromising shoulder
integrity. And please, do not cheat yourself by doing chopped reps
where you don't go all the way down and you only come up three
quarters of the way. By the same token, your elbows should only
come to 98% of lockout to maintain maximal tension on the triceps.

 B1. Incline Dumbbell Extensions


 Sets:3
 Reps:6-8
 Tempo:3210
 Rest:0 seconds (superset with B2)

Lie on an incline bench and hold two dumbbells at arm's length.


Lower the dumbbells while keeping the elbows themselves
stationary. Make sure that the triceps are fully stretched in the
bottom position (the forearms should be in contact with the biceps at
that point in the range of motion). Use a semi-supinated grip.

Don't get too anal about wanting the tips of the elbows as close as
possible as it creates a lot of strain on the supportive structures of
the elbow.

 B2. Lying Cable Triceps Extensions


 Sets:3
 Reps:2-15
 Tempo:2010
 Rest:120 seconds between supersets

Use a revolving-type handle attached to a low pulley. Place a flat


bench perpendicular to the cable station. Lie on the bench with your
head close to the machine. Grasp the bar and extend it overhead.
Bring the bar to the forehead on the eccentric descent and extend
the elbows until they are at 98% of lockout. Be sure to keep your
wrists in a neutral position to prevent any future elbow problems.

I've seen many individuals gain as much as a half-inch on their


triceps in 30 days using this workout every five days or so.

Q: I see women doing lunges all the time, but I rarely see men doing
them. What's your take on lunges? Are they strictly to develop the
ass, or do they work the quads and hamstrings too?

A: You rarely see men do these exercises because of the standard


bodybuilding bullshit that lunges are designed to "tone your butt."
This falls into the same category of bullshit as the belief that leg
extensions will cut up your legs.
Nothing can be further from the truth, though. I have seen many
sprinters, jumpers, and bobsledders add inches to their already
muscular legs by supplementing their squatting programs with
lunges or split squats. By the way, the difference between a split
squat and a lunge is that during the concentric portion of a lunge,
you explode back to an upright position. With the split squat, you
use a stationary stance where you go up and down on the forward
leg.

Here is how to perform split squats properly:

STARTING POSITION SETUP

 Stand facing away from a barbell placed on a squat rack.


 Using your index fingers, set up a reference point on the bar
(use the knurling to determine the width of the grip).
 The index fingers should be as close as possible to the outside
of the shoulders.
 Duck under the bar and place the bar on the thick area of the
trapezius muscle.
 The chin should be be slightly up.
 Focus your eyes at a point on the opposing wall that's slightly
higher than the eye in order to maintain proper neck alignment.
 Feet should be shoulder-width apart.
 Take a big step directly forward with your non-dominant leg to
reach the initial starting position.

DESCENT

 The front knee moves directly forward maximally before the


hips are lowered.
 The hips are then lowered keeping the back as erect as
possible and the chest up.
 The body is lowered under control until the hamstrings come in
contact with the calves.
 There should be a conscious effort to keep the elbows under
the bar throughout the movement. This will ensure that the
load is kept as close as possible over the center of gravity.
 The knee should be traveling forward and over your toes
throughout the descent.
 The athlete should inhale through the mouth throughout the
descent.

ASCENT

 The athlete should first raise the hips.


 The torso should remain as perpendicular to the floor as
possible, particularly at the sticking point.
 The athlete should exhale throughout the ascent.

WATCH FORS

 Trunk should be as erect as possible throughout the


movement.

SAFETY CONCERNS

 Keep the eccentric lowering under control.


 Do not lean forward.

VARIATIONS

 To change the resistance curve on this movement, you can


hold dumbbells; position the barbell on the traps; keep the
barbell on the clavicles using a front squat grip; or hold a
single handle hooked to a low pulley using the contralateral
hand (opposite).
 Not only do these exercises develop the glutes, they also
provide plenty of growth stimulus for the quadriceps,
adductors, and hamstrings. They also provide plenty of leg
growth stimulus on days where you may want to overload the
spine by squatting or deadlifting.
Q: Wide-grip pull-ups are one of my favorite back exercises, but I've
sort of stalled on them. I know you say trainees should be able to do
at least 12 reps using bodyweight, but I haven't been able to get
beyond eight. Any suggestions?

A: Here are three tips that will help you break through your wide-grip
pull-up plateau:

1. On the last rep of every set, pause on the way down


(eccentrically) at three different positions for eight seconds
each time. In other words, pause for eight seconds when
you're one-fourth of the way down, halfway down, and three-
fourths of the way down. This will prolong the time under
tension of the exercise, thus favoring protein synthesis. Don't
be surprised if on your last isometric stop you look like you
have an extreme case of Parkinson's Disease.
2. On the last rep of every set, have a partner put a dumbbell
between your ankles to augment the eccentric overload and try
to lower yourself (and the dumbbell) over a span of ten
seconds.
3. Supplement your arm training day with direct brachialis
work. Make sure to always perform one form of reverse curls
on arm days and, while doing them, pause for a count of two
seconds when your elbows reach 30 degrees of flexion on
every eccentric lowering (this will increase the recruitment of
the brachialis muscle).

Q: I have read some of your articles where you talk about "time
under tension" and recommend sometimes doing sets where you
take one or two seconds to raise the weight while taking anywhere
from three to eight seconds to lower it. Is there any point in
doing extreme time-under-tension reps? For example, I tried doing
some sets of dips where it took me 15 seconds to raise my body
and another 15 seconds to lower it. It hurt like hell. Did I discover
something interesting, or am I just doing a slow-motion jerk-off?

A: Don't rush to the patent office just yet. On the other hand, don't
put yourself down. My colleague Ellington Darden suggested many
moons ago to do chins or dips using a 30-second count for both the
concentric and the eccentric portions of those lifts.

Likewise, former Soviet weightlifting coach Medvedev


recommended very slow (8-10 seconds) pulls (more like deadlifts)
for developing maximal strength in weightlifters.

You can use extreme time-under-tension training as long as the


total time under tension does not exceed 60 seconds–otherwise, the
load would be too low to elicit strength and muscle mass gains.

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