Drew Baye’s High Intensity Training

21 Convention founder Anthony Johnson came over Saturday to go through a negative-only workout on the Hybrid machine and brought his video camera with him.

The workout consisted of negative-only squats, dips, low rows (first video), calf raises, presses and pulldowns (second video). When performing negative-0nly on the Hybrid machine, the rep starts with a brief static contraction during which effort is gradually increased to maximum, followed by a slow, full-range, maximum-effort negative. Due to the extremely high level of intensity, I only have people perform three of these repetitions.

You can read Anthony’s comments on the workout at his blog in the post The Most Brutal Workout Ever.

The machine can also be used for “hyper” reps, which involve both maximum positive and negative movement, and “double negative” reps, which consist of alternating between maximum negatives on opposing movements such as dip/low row or press/pulldown, however we figured negative-only would be the best place to start, since the double-negative and especially the hyper reps can be particularly brutal for someone not used to training in this fashion.

Drew Baye Training

Chris Highcock just posted an excellent interview with Luke Carlson on functional training at ConditioningResearch.com Luke does an excellent job of explaining the relationships between proper strength training, skill training and functional ability and dispells many popular misconceptions about training to improve athletic ability.

Drew Baye Miscellaneous

Drew Baye squatting in Vibram FiveFinger shoes

I hate wearing shoes, and if they weren’t required at work,  in restaurants, and in various other places I would go barefoot most of the time. I am almost always barefoot at home, and unless I absolutely have to wear regular shoes, I only wear sandals when I’m out.

I also prefer to lift barefoot, especially when squatting, deadlifting, or performing any kind of standing exercise, as it seems to improve balance and stability. Rather than being harmful to the feet, as some people believe, when lifting barefoot the feet would adapt to the stresses of exercise like any other part of the body.

A few weeks back I saw a video on Tim Ferriss’ web site in which he wore what appeared to be a pair of camouflage socks with toes. I thought they looked interesting, but didn’t give it much thought until I saw a post on The Dream Lounge called The Ultimate Shoe, which showed another video where the interviewer asked Tim about them. He was wearing a type of shoe by Vibram called FiveFingers, which are almost like a glove for the feet, with separate toe pockets and a thin Vibram rubber sole for grip and protection. After discussing them with Anthony from The Dream Lounge I decided to try a pair, and drove over to Travel Country Outdoors to check them out. They are the most comfortable shoe I have ever worn. Read more…

Drew Baye Equipment

I recently posted a link on Facebook to Arthur De Vany’s Top Ten Reasons Not to Run Marathons, to which a friend who runs replied,

Everyone has their opinion. I run because I like to. Not because I want to run 26.2 miles every day or even 13.1 miles every day. I think it’s a stress reliever and I truly enjoy it. I’m sure this study was done on people who run extreme distances all the time. I’m sure you think your way of training is the best and I’m also sure it’s great for a lot of people. Exercise of any sort is better than sitting on the couch eating potato chips =)

Contrary to popular but uninformed opinion, something is not always better than nothing where physical activity and exercise are concerned. In fact, many activities people perform for exercise or health reasons do more harm than good.

The goal of exercise is to stimulate improvements in fitness, and should not undermine health in the process, as Dr. Doug McGuff stresses in Body by Science. However, activities like jogging, aerobic dance, plyometrics, and others exposing the body to high peak and impact forces are often recommended as exercise despite carrying a significant risk of injury or damaging health in some other way.

In the case of running, doing nothing would definitely be better. Since jogging is a very slow, very inefficient, very poor way of improving cardiovascular conditioning and burns few calories for the time invested, very little benefit would be lost by quitting, compared to the benefit of preventing long term damage to the feet, ankles, knees, hips and spine and associated degenerative joint conditions, not to mention the likely pulls, strains and tears. Read more…

Drew Baye Training

I have a few more sections to finish, plus photos, illustrations, and layout. I’ve been writing when I have time between clients and on the weekends, and it’s coming along well, but I’m still not 100% happy with it.

The book started out too formulaic – general principles, applications, sample routines, etc. and it started to read like every other bodybuilding book out there. While some are better than others, most of them are pretty much the same, and I don’t want to write “just another high intensity training book”. I believe a big part of the problem is publishers – many require authors to conform to a formula, which may or may not be the best way or the authors preferred way to present the information.

That is not what I wanted to do, so over time I’ve written, revised and rewritten much of it several times over, while trying to simplify the information and make it as straightforwards and practical as possible without making it dry. As a result, the final version is a lot less formal, more conversational, and in my opinion a better presentation of the information and a more interesting read.

I realize this has taken a very long time, and I thank everybody who has expressed an interest in the book. Once the editing, photography and illustration is finished the only thing left to do will be layout, and I will put up a page for pre-orders then along with a release date.

Drew Baye Miscellaneous

I’ve received a large amount of comments and e-mail regarding the Hybrid machines developed by Randy Rindfleisch since posting about the prototype I am testing.  To save myself time answering individual e-mails I am going to answer the most frequently asked questions here.

What is your involvement with Hybrid machines?

I am currently testing and providing Randy with feedback on the design and use of a prototype of one of the Hybrid machines. I hope to be more involved with the company later on, and plan to eventually get production models to use in my own training and for research.

I first heard about Randy Rindfleisch’s machines through Charlie Haire, who I met in 2004. Randy had developed a line of plate-loaded equipment called Negative Attitude which were designed to make heavy negative-only training safer and more practical to perform. I met Randy at the high intensity training seminar in Indianapolis in 2006, where I was able to try his machines firsthand and was blown away by them. Those plate-loaded machines evolved into the current, motorized Hybrid machines.

What is the difference between Hybrid machines and regular machines?

Hybrid machines have motorized resistance instead of weight stacks, which provides perfectly balanced maximum resistance over the full range of motion and duration of an exercise, during positive, static, and negative work. The movement arms are driven by a motor at a selected speed over a user-controlled range of motion while the user attempts to push or pull against the machine in the appropriate direction for the muscles being worked. This can provide as much or as little resistance as necessary, accommodating users of all strength levels. Read more…

Drew Baye Equipment

Chris at ConditioningResearch.com just notified me he posted an interview with Doug McGuff, MD. Check it out at http://conditioningresearch.blogspot.com/2009/03/interview-with-doug-mcguff.html

You can also view several videos of Doug speaking at a book signing on his web site at www.bodybyscience.net

Drew Baye Miscellaneous

Drew,

The NSCA posted this article showing that studies have proven that multiple sets are superior to single set training programs at times and I’m curious what your thoughts are on this subject. Are there instances where more sets do elicit a greater response? Here is the link: http://www.nsca-lift.org/HotTopic/download/Single%20vs%20Multiple%20Sets.pdf

Austin

Austin,

I consider Rhea’s paper propaganda, not science. Richard Winett reported on this and several other recent meta-analyses in Meta-Analyses Do Not Support Performance of Multiple Sets or High Volume Resistance Training. Richard A. Winett JEPonline. 2004;7(5):10-20. and had the following to say about the Rhea paper,

“Rhea and colleagues (5) performed a meta-analysis that they claimed included all published and unpublished studies that were strength training interventions, though with different experimental designs, and where there was a pre- and post-training strength measurement. An examination of their extended reference list indicated that at least 26 studies meeting these criteria were not included in their analysis. These studies are cited in a recent critique of the ACSM’s Position Stand (19); 24 of these 26 excluded studies showed no significant difference between single and multiple sets per exercise (19; see p. 17 Table 4). The exclusion of specific studies can create a bias in the outcomes of the meta-analysis, particularly if the reported results are consistently at odds with the conclusions of the meta-analysis.”

In other words, Rhea only reported on studies which appeared to support his conclusions. An objective look at the majority of research will show no significant difference in single or multiple sets for the majority of people. After reading the Rhea paper, I suggest reading Winett’s paper, which disproves it’s claim of research proving the superiority of multiple sets or higher volume training.

For the majority of people (there are some exceptions) there is no benefit to performing more than one  set of an exercise, and in my experience people training with extremely high levels of intensity do worse with additional sets due to the greater recovery demands of the increased training volume. For more on training volume read The Minimum Amount Necessary.

Drew Baye Miscellaneous

I just received the following article from Ken Mannie, head strength and conditioning coach at Michigan State University, with permission to post it here.

Exercises, Equipment Modes and Rep Duration: The Question of Superiority

by Ken Mannie

The training landscape is in a state of continual flux, and the ongoing changes, updates, and emergence of proposed cutting-edge devices and techniques makes for interesting and thought-provoking debates among practitioners.

The inquiries I receive the most deal with lifting movements, equipment modes, and rep duration. Two recent questions are symbolic of the ones I receive on a regular basis:

What strength training movements and equipment modes would you classify as being the best, or most important, for athletics?

This has been a topic of much discussion over the years, with as many different answers as those giving them. Those with an affinity for the Olympic style lifts and/or their close relatives will adamantly profess their virtues.

Power lifting enthusiasts will expound their firm convictions on the “Big 3”: the bench press, squat, and dead lift.

Others will lean more toward the newer wave of “functional” training activities as being more specific to athletic movements.

And, of course, there is the seemingly endless diatribe regarding the superiority of either free weights or machines.

Coaches eventually develop their own unique training approaches and make personal determinations on lifting priorities. If they have covered all of the bases and constructed a strong rationale for what has been implemented, it is difficult for anyone to disagree with them.

However, it must be stated loud and clear that not only is the jury still out on some of these issues, they are all scratching their heads and rubbing their eyes trying to separate fact from fiction.

With all due respect given to the current multitude of training methodologies, here are some suggestions and perspectives from our corner. Read more…

Drew Baye Training

Hi Drew,

After reading some of your articles on HIT and after having started training in HIT form, I then found reference to John Little’s Max Contraction Training book and bought it. After reading it, I have to admit that I am fascinated by the book and am curious to know if you ever trained in the Max Contraction protocol – specifically holding the maximum weight you can hold for a given exercise when the muscle is in its fully contracted position – thereby recruiting all muscle fibers because the muscle is strongest in the fully contracted position.

I am curious to know based on your personal experience if his method is even more effective than the one you follow currently – 1 set of reps to failure doing 6 – 8 reps. Perhaps you do your workout because you are at a sufficiently big size that you are interested in gaining 30lbs of muscle in one year like one of his students. I am just curious to know why you don’t follow his method, considering that it “seems” to be more efficient than yours.

The bottom line is that I am just trying to find the most effective/safe way to gain strength and size in the shortest possible time and I willing to do whatever it takes to do that cleanly.

I tried his method yesterday and I was expecting to be very sore today (Shoulders, Chest and Triceps) considering I was holding the heaviest weight I could for 1 – 6 seconds for 4 reps and I did only four exercises as he recommended. However I have absolutely no soreness at all today and as a matter of fact I did not feel light headed or nausea after performing those exercises giving them my best effort. I am wondering if I really put in my best effort or perhaps those muscles are not big enough to deplete my body’s glycogen store sufficiently enough to cause lightheadedness.

Regards,
Hameed

Max Contraction training is highly effective, and I have gotten good results from it in my own training and with clients. However it requires at least one and ideally two strong training partners to lift the resistance into the fully-contracted position for the trainee to hold, and unfortunately my schedule makes it difficult to train regularly with  a single partner, much less coordinate workouts with two other people.

While it would be ideal to perform Max Contraction on a properly designed machine with strong helpers to lift the weight into the fully contracted position for you, it is possible to perform Max Contraction on some upper body barbell exercises such as arm curls using a power rack and assistance from your legs to get the resistance in the finished position. This is one case where it is not only acceptable but necessary to curl inside a squat rack or power rack. To perform Max Contraction barbell curls, set the safety pins to a point a few inches below the height of the barbell when held in the fully contracted position. While holding the barbell, squat down while bending your elbows until you are in the finished position of the curl, then contract your biceps and hold the bar in that position while standing up, lifting the bar off the safety pins. Contract your biceps as hard as you can, attempting to hold that position for as long as possible. When you can no longer hold the bar in the fully contracted position, slowly lower it to the bar and repeat for a few more reps. The Omega Set described in Advanced Max Contraction Training can be performed the same way, with a lower safety pin setting to allow for a partial negative after static failure.

You can’t gauge the effectiveness of a workout by the soreness it does or doesn’t cause. Keep accurate records of your workouts and measurements and let those be your guide. If you’re getting stronger and bigger, you’re doing things correctly. If not, you need to reexamine your training, diet, and other factors supporting recovery and growth and make improvements in areas which may be holding you back.

Drew Baye Miscellaneous