Question:

I get a lot of questions about high intensity training from martial artists, but the things they ask most often are;

How can I do both high intensity training and study martial arts without overtraining?

What exercises should I do to improve my ability to strike, kick, throw, etc.?

Do I need to lift weights explosively to improve power?

Will strength training slow me down or reduce my flexibility?

Answer:

The volume and frequency of exercise necessary to avoid overtraining while also regularly practicing martial arts depends on how hard, how long, and how often you practice, as well as your body’s response to exercise. Unless you are doing a lot of very demanding drilling, sparring, or grappling practicing the martial arts for a few hours a few days a week is unlikely to negatively effect recovery between workouts. However, if you are doing hours of very demanding practice every week, you may have to reduce the frequency of either your workouts or practice to avoid overtraining.

First, you need to determine which is the higher priority. If you compete in bodybuilding or strength sports, or if you are relatively weak or in poor condition your workouts should be prioritized and your martial arts training should be structured around your workout schedule. If you are already relatively strong and in good condition and skill in the martial arts is important to you or essential to your work, your martial arts training should be prioritized and your workouts structured around your practice schedule.

If you have failed to make significant progress in your workouts for more than a few weeks, or if you are unable to perform well during martial arts practice due to fatigue, take a week off from workouts and hard martial arts training to completely recover (light drills, forms, sparring are fine) then reduce the frequency of either your workouts or your martial arts practice depending on which is currently the higher priority.

Like any sensible workout program, an exercise program for martial artists should cover all the major muscle groups, but special attention should be paid to training the muscles of the neck, grip, and forearms, and trunk. Stronger neck muscles can withstand more force and prevent your head from moving as rapidly when struck, allow you to better resist neck cranks, and allow you to head-butt more forcefully. Stronger grip and forearms help with wrist stability when striking, maintaining a secure grip on an opponent or weapon, and resisting manipulation of your hands and/or wrists. A stronger trunk improves transmission of power between your lower and upper body, and protects your internal organs better when struck. For examples see High Intensity Workouts.

It is neither necessary nor beneficial to perform exercises that mimic striking, kicking, throwing, or other martial arts skills, or to perform these skills while holding or wearing weights or elastic bands. Doing so does not improve power in the movement being mimicked any better than conventional exercises involving the same muscle groups, and can even negatively effect the skill. Basic, conventional exercises performed with barbells, bodyweight, or machines will improve strength and power more effectively and safely without negative transfer of skill.

It is not necessary to lift weights explosively to improve power. As long as you are getting stronger and the force your muscles are capable of producing is increasing your power will increase as well. You can get stronger training very fast, very slow, or with isometric protocols involving no movement at all, as long as you are working hard, progressively, and consistently, however moving more slowly during exercise is easier on your joints and reduces your risk of injury.

The only time you have to move explosively is when practicing the skills you want to improve explosiveness in, after having learned and practiced the correct body mechanics. Move slowly when exercising, quickly when practicing martial arts.

Strength training will not make you slower or reduce your flexibility. The stronger your muscles are, the more force they can produce, the faster you can accelerate when performing any movement. Strengthening a muscle does not reduce it’s flexibility, and can actually improve flexibility when done through a full range of motion or in conjunction with a regular stretching program. I have practiced various martial arts since I was eleven years old, and have strength trained regularly since I was thirteen years old, and until I stopped stretching on a regular basis I was able to easily perform full front and side splits and kick almost straight up.

While strength training alone will improve flexibility in someone who has poor flexibility, someone who already has above average flexibility would require supplemental stretching to improve it further. Stretching should be done gradually, and in a manner that stretches the muscles rather than the connective tissue or joints. The best approach, in my opinion, is to perform stretches in a position that does not put the muscles being stretched under load, if possible. For example, a seated hamstring or calf stretch is better than a standing one. This may not be possible for some movements like side splits, however. When you stretch only move until you begin to feel the stretch in the target muscles, then hold that position until they relax. Once the muscles relax, gradually move further until you begin to feel the stretch again, then hold that position until they relax or for around thirty seconds, whichever is longer. This can be done daily. If you want to combine your stretching with your workouts on workout days, perform it after rather than before your workouts.

I recently received a notification that a reader was unsubscribing from my newsletter, and the reason given was he felt he was “too old” for exercise. This was deeply upsetting, because the consequences of not exercising only get worse with age and I know what kind of difference proper exercise can make in the lives of older people. I am writing this in hopes of dispelling some fears, giving some basic guidelines for getting started, and motivating people to exercise properly, regardless of age. If you think you’re too old for exercise, please take a few minutes to read the rest of this article and the letters from readers that follow. If you know someone who thinks they’re too old for exercise, please share this link with them and offer to help them to start on an exercise program.

You are never too old for exercise. If you are capable of contracting your muscles at all you are capable of exercising safely and productively, regardless of your age or physical condition. By “exercise” I specifically mean strength training using very slow movement or no movement at all (isometrics) performed in accordance with muscle and joint function, addressing all the major muscle groups. Moving slowly or performing isometric contractions (working one muscle group against an immobile object or another muscle group without movement) makes it possible for you to safely train with a high enough intensity of effort to effectively stimulate improvements in muscular strength and size.

The older you are the more important exercise becomes because many of the problems associated with aging are caused by or related to sarcopenia, the loss of muscle we experience as we age if we do not exercise properly to combat it. Losing muscle mass reduces your strength and endurance, your metabolism, your insulin sensitivity, your body’s ability to regulate its temperature, and is associated with loss of bone mass, just for starters. If you let yourself go too far, eventually weakness, sickness, and frailty will rob you of your functional ability and independence. It is never too late to turn things around, but the earlier you start the easier it will be, and the sooner you will experience all the benefits of proper exercise.

The same general principles that apply to younger people apply to seniors, the only difference is that although everybody should always train as safely as possible seniors need to be especially cautious about which exercises they perform and how they perform them.  The following are a few general guidelines:

1. Start out with just a few basic, multi-joint exercises working the major muscle groups. Perform only one work set of each exercise per workout. Some find their joints tolerate certain exercises better after a light warm up set, although for most this is unnecessary if proper form is used.
2. Perform the exercises with only a light weight at first and focus on learning to move and reverse direction smoothly and breathe continuously.
3. Be very conservative with repetition speed; take at least four seconds to lift and four seconds to lower the weight, reversing direction as smoothly as possible without bouncing, yanking, or jerking the weight. Pause for a second or two in the fully-contracted position on compound pulling exercises and simple exercises. If you’re moving slowly enough six to ten repetitions should take you around sixty to ninety seconds to complete. If you have any joint problems or are concerned about the risk of injury you can move even more slowly, taking ten seconds to lift and ten seconds to lower the weight (SuperSlow), for a range of three to five repetitions.
4. When you are able to perform ten or more repetitions of an exercise in good form at a moderate speed, or five or more SuperSlow repetitions, the next time you perform the exercise add five pounds or five percent more weight, whichever is less. It is common to recommend higher repetition ranges for seniors both because of the perceived increase in safety and because of the conversion of type II to type I muscle fibers with age, however performing fewer repetitions is safe and effective when they are performed at a slow speed.
5. As the exercises become more challenging you’ll start to experience elevated heart rate and breathing. At first, allow a minute or two between exercises for heart rate and breathing to return to normal before performing the next exercise. Over time as your conditioning improves gradually reduce the rest between exercises to improve the cardiovascular and metabolic effect.
6. Train no more than three times a week the first few weeks while learning the exercises then cut back to training only twice a week. If your progress slows down reduce your frequency to once weekly. Some people may require even more recovery time/less frequent training than this. The amount of recovery time required between workouts increases with age and can vary considerably between individuals.
7. It is normal for your muscles to burn, and for your breathing and heart rate to increase but if something hurts or if you begin to feel dizzy, nauseous, or faint or think you maybe starting to get a headache stop the exercise  immediately and carefully exit the machine or set down the weight.

For more detailed guidelines and workouts read High Intensity Workouts.

If you aren’t able to go to a commercial gym or high intensity personal training studio, and if you don’t have any exercise equipment at home it is still possible to exercise safely and effectively using only your body weight for resistance or performing isometrics by working muscle groups against each other or against an immobile object. For more detailed guidelines on bodyweight exercises and workouts read Project Kratos.

Over the years I have trained a lot of older people, including a few in their mid to late eighties, and could share a lot of stories of lives transformed by proper exercise. One of them stands out in my memory more than any other, though, because he was in such incredibly bad condition when he started, yet through perseverance and hard work was able to get much stronger over the course of only a few months.

In the early fall of 1995 I started training a man in his late sixties who had recently been released from the hospital after months of being confined to a bed due to complications arising from surgery to remove his left lung and one of the lobes of his right lung. He was extremely atrophied and weak, had a lot of difficulty breathing and required an oxygen tank, and needed a walker to move.

At first he struggled with even very low resistance and had to frequently stop during an exercise due to having difficulty breathing rather than muscular fatigue. It often took several minutes before he felt he could breathe well enough to move on to the next machine, and when he did it often took a few more minutes, due both to his lack of strength and having to avoid entangling his oxygen tank tubes in the equipment.

He worked hard, though, and week after week he got stronger and his breathing improved and he was able to lift more weight for a longer time and move more quickly between exercises. By December he had ditched the walker and was even able to shovel the snow off of his driveway and carry an artificial Christmas tree upstairs from the basement unassisted. If you’ve ever shoveled snow off of a driveway in Wisconsin you can appreciate what it means to be able to do that after previously depending on a walker.

While this kind of transformation may seem amazing, it is actually what people should expect from proper exercise, and there are a lot of older people using high intensity training to achieve similar improvements in strength, mobility, and quality of life. In a recent newsletter I asked readers to share their stories and the stories of the people they have trained, and I hope you find them as motivating as I have.

Reader Feedback:

Hi Drew,

I have worked in the senior and rehab markets for 33 years- and we have installed Nautilus equipment in over 1000 senior living facilities and LTC providers- we have well over 2,000,000 patient/resident exercise sessions- with zero reported injuries and proven cost of care and FIM score improvements as a function. I think the average age of our participants is over 80…

Proper strength training will hypertrophy muscle- whether you are 25 or 85.

We have developed non pharmaceutical solutions programs for many of the maladies of aging- including sarcopenia, osteoporosis, proprioceptive and vestibular decline, circulation and hormonal decline, and cognition challenges.

– Dean Sbragia, Medical Fitness Solutions

I’m 60, not THAT old. I started out in fairly good shape a year and a half ago; I had ridden over 2 1/2 mountain passes in Colorado in one day (there is a crazy 120 mile ride called the Triple Bypass; a lightning storm stopped me just short of the top of Vail Pass.). My wife felt like she was becoming a bicycle widow; training rides were even longer than 18 holes of golf!

Since then have been doing the Body By Science/Superslow thing. I’m sort of a gadget junkie and started measuring Heart Rate Variability in the morning and notice that my resting heart rate in the morning is usually between 59 and 63. That’s with NO “cardio” at all, just one really intense half hour, once every week to two weeks. This Global Metabolic Conditioning that Doug McGuff talks about seems to be real.

My leg press (in Nautilus pounds, whatever that means) has gone from 3 minutes at 150 lbs to 2 minutes or so at 330 lbs. More than doubled my weights in 18 months; I’ll take it. The gym just got a couple of motorized machines which I have mixed feelings about but it certainly works me hard.

I was able to hike up and down some nasty hills this year on the annual testosterone-laden elk hunting trip with my 33 year old former Army Ranger son-in-law. Guess I’m not quite ready for the “Home.”

My 32 year old daughter has started and I can already see a difference in her posture, shoulders.

My 81 year old mother started a few months ago. Last month my father fainted in a very awkward place in their house, and she was able to help pull him out and call 911. Probably saved his life. Before starting SuperSlow she said she had a bit of trouble getting up from the floor and she feels a lot stronger.

Most important of all, my wife told me this morning that “she likes my butt!” You young guys take note.

My final challenge is my brother, who has a bum knee with arthritis, and my father. Dad has some heart issues and I’m sure the rehab folks and cardiologists would be scared to death to have him do HIT even though I suspect it might be the best thing for him. If they cleared him he’d be game; he describes himself as “a tough old bird.” Up until recently he has done fairly light circuits at a local gym on weight machines.

Drew, might not be a bad idea to anonymize me since I mention other people…

I enjoy your site, like the book, and appreciate what you do.

– Jim (last name withheld for anonymity) MD, PhD

Hi Drew,

I am a Cenegenics Age Management physician. I have a full line of completely refurbished late 70’s & early to mid 80’s Nautilus exercise machines in my office. A little over a year ago, I started my 73 year old mother and 72 year old step-father on HIT twice a week. They have made excellent progress in body composition, strength, balance and all around improved functionality. They had never weight trained before and have had zero injuries. My step-father told my mom I am “saving their lives”.

Sarcopenia is the number one cause of nursing home admissions. Older people get weak and have decreased mobility. They have trouble getting to the restroom in time and wind up with a catheter and needing nursing home care. Our “poster child”, Dr. Jeff Life, is 74 and looks fantastic. He says everything he does is focused on maintaining and even increasing his lean body mass. Lean body mass has been shown to correlate positively with health outcomes, including cancer survival. I share your passion on this topic.

– Patrick Sharp, D.O. The Sharp Clinic

Drew, I train 102 different clients/week. Only thirteen of those clients are younger than me and I’m age 55.

– Doug Holland, Intelligent Exercise

Hi Drew. Just read your e-mail on training seniors. Great article. I am 54 and I am in better shape then when I was in my 30’s. My mother trains at my gym. She is 75 and had osteoporosis. After 6 months of training with my wife and I she has been down graded to osteopenia. She trains twice a week on our Nautilus equipment and does no more than 5 exercises per workout. I would like to think the exercise had everything to do with her improved condition, but I know her medicine had a part as well. That being said, I’m sure the two combined together improved her condition. I enjoy your articles Drew and find them very informative and helpful. I should add she can open water bottles and jar lids now. Before strength training she could not.

– Chris Sanford

I met a senior lady 2 yrs ago. while working at the local Y. She was a member as I was. After a few days of getting to know each other she had said she had a stroke 2 yrs pror. Completely paralyzed on the right side. Moving ahead to where she met me, she was walking and had some ROM in the right arm I started researching this and started using some rotator exercises with arm weight only( just tom improve the rom). As time went by I started using 2 lb dumbbells as rom got better. She progressed to the Precor rear delt/pec fly machine. I set the right side handle to the number 2 setting to start. As time went by she was going farther back but was twisting. I set the left side handle to the 2 setting also. this way it stabilized the left side and kept her upper body stabilized. Now she has full ROM and went to 20 lbs. I only go back to the 3 setting with the weight at 20 lbs. This is where she wants to stay as far as rom at this weight. She doesn’t want to push it and is satisfied even though she can go back to the 5 setting. She said now she can get a pot from the oven for the first time.

This is her complete workout (All Nautilus Nitro and Precor):

1. Leg press
2. compound row
3. lat pull down
4. chest press
5. lat raise
6. lower back

She is very satisfied and works out three days week some weeks and less as she is very busy and a prominent lady in our county.

Drew all this was done with your help from your articles and website. I personally can’t say how much I appreciate your knowledge and article’s to pass on to people.

As I told you before I have had leukemia twice and prostrate cancer. I know how important health is and this is the reason I do what I do. I hope this story will be used as a testimonial for you. You are truly a blessing to many people.

Thank you,

– Scott Weathersby

Drew,

I was so pleased to see this. I shall be eighty next year and have not stopped training since my youth.I am one of three of us the same age still benching squatting and the rest of it. Richard Winett is a good role model, too. The population is ageing and exercise should be important but there is a shortage of specific information out there which, I am happy to realize, you are going to put right.

– Leo T.

I met you many years ago when Madeline took over Ken. I actually was hired for the position of National Marketing Director for SSZ. You were just getting started with the transition in franchising. We met briefly. We might have crossed paths also when I got certified with Ken in May 2002.

I’ve been training clients in the Northern suburbs since. In fact, I helped jump start a client a few years back who went nuts over the protocol and ended up traveling around the country meeting and picking the brains of the “pros” and you were on his list. Remember Jim Keen?

Anyway, I’m going to be 66 years young next month. I have over 50 active clients, many which are of senior age. I’ve experienced the good feeling in helping my older clients live stronger and longer. They have less aches and pains, and take little or no medications.

– Marshall Okun

Hey Drew,

I’ll be 70-years-old this month (December 2014). Attached is a picture of me that my wife took when I was preparing to hit my speed bag. The picture was taken about 14-months ago (about two months before my 69th birthday).

Due to a chronic (seven-month+) sinus infection (which literally just about killed me), I’ve lost a lot of the muscle mass that you see in the picture. But it will not take me long to recover the mass.

I do all “bodyweight” exercises, except for once a week…I do an Olympic “dead-lift” for one set of three reps. I do this to simply lift something “heavy” once a week. It doesn’t contribute to my physique at all.

I agree. You are NEVER too old to train. And at my advanced age, I train hard…but smart.

– Mike Joplin

P.S. Also attached are two photos of me that were taken 50-years ago when I was a Corpsman (Medic) in the U.S. Navy, stationed in Puerto Rico. I joined the navy at 6′-1″ and I weighed about 145 pounds. I gained about 10-pounds in boot-camp, and then another 45 pounds in about 12 months. I built my physique with bodyweight exercises only (overhand, wide-grip, pull-ups, push-ups, inverted rows, hanging leg lifts, hill sprints, etc…). In one picture, I weigh 185 pounds, and in the other I weigh 200 pounds. I eventually got up to 222 pounds, but I felt and looked best at 185.

P.P.S. I purchased your “Project: Kratos Program Handbook” a few months ago. I love it! Your program is very similar to what I did to build my physique back in the 1960’s. I did a LOT of static holds, full rom’s and partials, 1-1/2’s, unilateral exercises (mostly eccentric), etc… Although I usually do quite a few push-ups, I hardly ever do more than 6 – 8 pull-ups per set.

Hi Drew,

You hardly need to tell me about the importance of exercise for people my age (71). I am what I refer to as an “ONG” (Original Nautilus Guy), having started HIT in the seventies. I have kept up with your (and others’) writings over the years and still love working out with a high level of intensity. As I’ve gotten older I find I need more variety in my training and enjoy experimenting with various rep speeds, etc.. Certain age related conditions have forced me to make adjustments to my workouts, but I find doing so a challenge. So far I have avoided any joint replacement surgery (although my wife wants me to look into a brain transplant). Currently, my goal is to qualify for the next Mr. Olympia contest.

Thank you for continuing to share your expertise. Looking forward to your next article.

– Vaughn

Hey Drew,

I LOVE this email you wrote!!

I don’t have a mind-blowing weakling-to-superhero story to tell you. But I am living proof that everything you say is the absolute truth.

I am 54 and still playing all the sports I did in my twenties — tennis, full-court basketball, surfing, yoga, among others. Most people I know my age are starting to complain of aches and pains or simply have given up on enjoying the physical things they used to do.

They don’t have to if they follow the principles you teach! There is no doubt in my mind that I would not be doing all these things if I hadn’t been incorporating what you teach for many years.

Your books are fantastic and, no, I don’t have an amazing story to tell you, sorry. Truth be told, I’ve never NOT worked out and remained active, but I also know for a fact that the body reacts QUICKLY to the proper stimulus.

Anyway, I just had to tell you this because I discovered your material at a good time. Bodyweight exercises are workouts you can do for LIFE. I’ve slowly gotten away from barbells and weights and have been thrilled to find out just what is possible with your own body weight. It feels so much safer than throwing all that iron around and I feel fantastic. I’m stronger, remain flat-bellied and I don’t groan getting out of a chair.

I honestly don’t feel much different physically from how I felt thirty years ago. Sure, there are accommodations everyone has to make as they get older and certainly nagging little injuries take longer to heal, but there is no reason to sit on the sideline, no matter what your age.

Keep bringin’ it!

– Billy Mueller

Just turned 67 when pic was taken. About a month before I had done 2 strict reps with 160 in the curl. Minus the mustache now and minus 5 lbs off the gut. 5’9″ 213 lbs. When I was younger nobody had a stronger lower back. Three easy sets of 10 in the stiff-legged deadlift with 405. While still a teenager I was the first person in Michigan outside the heavyweight class to officially deadlift 600 lbs (at 192 lbs bodyweight.) Only do super-slow, relatively light DLs now, for safety, but in strict rows, pulls, etc. I’m stronger than when in my 20s and 30s. Not true for pressing movements — unless for high reps. I’m just not that excited about presses of any kind anymore, although I still do them. My boys were awesome high school wrestlers back in the day and it made me realize pulling-in strength was where it was really at. That and rotational strength . . .

Only thing I had going for me from a genetic standpoint, I believe, was perhaps a slightly diminished expression of the myostatin gene. This after having trained thousands of people throughout my lifetime and witnessing the diverse responses. Truly honest self-assessment and critical, scientific thinking were my only “drug.” Never took steroids. Too prideful to chance anything else being given the credit (lol). It will be interesting to see how curmudgeonly I get in the next 67 years!

– John Stchur

Thanks I needed this info. I’m 59 and I am stronger than at any time my life. I lift one day per week for about 20 minutes. What you say works. Thanks.

– Chip Westfall

Hi Drew,

Hope all is well with you. Regarding your email regarding seniors:

My father has been a client of mine for approximately 3 years, now. He started at 79 years of age. He trains once every 7-14 days, performing 5-7 exercises on an A/B split routine. The reason for his interest in hit style lifting is so that he can keep playing hockey, which he continues to do 2x weekly plus tournaments in an old timers league here in Montreal.

His training has helped alleviate low back pain, as well as knee pain that has bothered him since his mid 60’s. I’ve been given the age excuse by potential clients in the past, and always tell them that resistance training becomes the most important thing they can do for themselves once they’ve entered their twilight years.

– Craig Hubert

I started working out in 1948 when John Grimek won in London and started us training with weights in Belfast N.I.I trained in Buster McShanes gym(world record bench 500 @ 150)Presently I work with the weights 3xweekly,cardio 2xweekly hit 150 golf balls 2xweekly .I work 40 hrs per week,drive 65 mile one way to work (4 days) I was 83 last June and I take no medication. The weights have sustained me for these 66 years I am absolutely addicted.

– Desmond Atkinson

5 years ago, when I was nearly 60 I herniated my L1 and L2. I’ve been active my entire life. Between sports, the gym, took up playing squash at 30, I’ve never been sidelined, until then. Of course it was the MRI, the chiropractor, shots, and the physical therapist. After the 4 week recovery I felt pretty good and had a heart to heart with my doctor. I had felt, the life I had known prior, was gone. I’d be a frumpy old man. He looked at me and wrote a prescription. It wasn’t for meds. He told me to find a physical therapist/trainer who would strengthen my core. He also told me if I was going to err, err on the side of doing too much. He said the risk was not doing enough and it would only get worse. I was fortunate and found a trainer, close to my age no less, who taught me all about body mechanics. It was for me, a transformation. Here I was, closing in on 60, thinking I’m done only to find out I was totally wrong. Brother Muhammed changed my thinking on just about everything. I did discover one very important fact, the value of a qualified trainer who believes in you as a client. I’m going to be 66, still in the gym, and still loving my life.

Thanks for allowing me to share this story and thanks for the great emails on being in the gym and aging.

– Kerry Andrews

I am 57 with various orthopedic ailments accumulated over 40 + years of playing sports and exercising.I chose Drew as a trainer for his scientific, meticulous approach to training coupled with his years of expertise as both a coach and competitive bodybuilder.

I performed a twice weekly bodyweight only routine for 12 weeks based upon the HIT principles that Drew outlined. No extra “cardio” or weights were included. The only other form of exercise were long walks.

At the conclusion of this program I decided to test myself with a few challenges. I was able to achieve the following despite not having practiced any of these in several months; some such as the one armed pull-ups not in a few years:

a) one armed pushups with good,slow form

b) clutch flags on pole

c) 88# kettlebell-100 swings in under 5 minutes

d) sand bag (80% of bodyweight) carry x 50 yards alternated w/ heavy sledgehammer swings(20)–5 rounds in 10 minutes

e) 150* “iron cross” hold between cars

f) elbow levers on ground

g) rope climbing and playground pole climbing-hands only

I wont win any Olympic medals or may not impress others,but who cares.These are activities are enjoy. The carryover from HIT to these seemingly unrelated movements shows the profound strength and conditioning effect this program produces.

The most important part of it all was I was not injured.I cant say that from the many other routines I have tried HIT works big time –and in less time than you would believe.Drew is a true fitness maven with a great foundation of knowledge who knows how to apply his talents to make you the best you can be. Don’t hesitate to work with him if you can–it will be money well spent.”

– Steve Fink, MD

If you are an older trainee or work with older trainees please share your stories below, and share this with anyone who tells you they are “too old” for exercise.

Other articles by Drew Baye on high intensity training for seniors:

Exercise is an Absolute Requirement for Life

Q&A: High Intensity Training for Seniors

Resistance Exercise Reverses Aging in Human Skeletal Muscle

Strong Enough?

High Intensity Does Not Equal High Risk Of Injury

How To Train Intensely Without Wrecking Yourself In The Process

Safety Considerations For Exercise

Question:

Because I often recommend isometric protocols like timed static contractions and static holds as an alternate to dynamic exercise when it is not possible or practical I get a lot of questions about their effectiveness compared to dynamic exercise and whether strength gained from isometrics is specific to the positions trained or transfers to the full range of motion. Isometric training has been proven to be an effective way to improve muscular strength and size, however studies on specificity of strength gains to the position trained have had mixed results; some show strength improvements only within about fifteen to twenty degrees of the joint position trained while others show full-range strength increases, and some, like the studies conducted by MedX at the University of Florida in the 90’s, showed different people responded differently, with most having position specific strength increases and a few improving strength over a full range of motion.

Answer:

I suspect a large part of the specificity in test results is due to both some exercises involving significant variation in the relative contribution of the muscles involved over the range of motion and lack of skill in dynamic exercise performance in subjects only training with isometrics.

For example, if a muscle is significantly involved in only one part of the range of motion of an exercise if that exercise is performed isometrically in a position where that muscle has little or no involvement the strength in the part of the range of motion where it is involved will not increase proportionally. This assumes no other exercises are being performed which involves the muscle in question, which is usually the case in studies where subjects only perform and are tested on one or two exercises. If the whole body is being trained isometrically using exercises for all major muscle groups, these relative weak spots in the range of motion of dynamic exercises would be eliminated.

This is more of an issue with compound exercises than simple ones, since more muscles are involved and the actions of many of the muscles which move the shoulders and hips are position dependent. For example, when your shoulders are flexed (elbows in front of body) the lats extend your shoulders, and when your shoulders are extended (elbows behind the body) the lats flex the shoulders. This means the lats are significantly involved at the beginning of both a compound row and a parallel bar dip, but have little or no involvement once the elbows pass the body (depending on body position the lats can extend, flex, depress, retract, adduct, or internally rotate the shoulders, and assist in trunk flexion, lateral flexion, rotation, and extension).

Regardless of the joint position or portion of the range of motion trained, if a muscle is contracting with a high intensity of effort all of the motor units in that muscle will be involved and stimulated to increase in strength and size. If the strength of that muscle increases, it will be able to produce more force at any length, from a full stretch to full contraction. So, if isometrics result in position specific strength increases in some exercises because of significant variation in the contribution of the different muscles involved over the range of motion, the solution is simply to perform enough variety of exercise for all the major muscle groups to be worked effectively.

Also, since skill is highly specific and has a strong influence on test performance, subjects who have only trained isometrically will be at a disadvantage in dynamic tests compared to subjects who have trained dynamically.

In my own experience using timed static contractions and static holds in my workouts and with clients, there has been no indication that strength gains are limited to the position trained. While working with Ken Hutchins a few years ago we had many clients performing ninety second timed static contractions on equipment specially designed for the purpose, which measured and displayed force input on a monitor which could be positioned in front of the user. This was most frequently done with compound row, pullover, close underhand-grip pulldown, lateral raise, leg extension, leg curl, hip adduction, hip abduction, neck extension, and neck flexion. Occasionally, clients who normally performed these exercises isometrically would perform them dynamically (if they were capable – some only performed timed static contraction due to physical limitations). When they did, there was no indication their strength did not improve over the entire range of motion of the exercise. If strength gains were specific to the position trained they would have consistently failed in portions of the range of motion where strength did not increase proportionally, but this did not happen. When using equipment with relatively well-balanced resistance curves, or when performing free weight exercises in a manner resulting in well-balanced resistance curves, momentary muscular failure should occur at random points over the range of motion, and this was the case with everyone.

So, in addition to being effective for improving muscular strength and size in general isometric protocols like timed static contractions and static holds will improve full range strength as long as you aren’t neglecting to work any muscle groups.

Since some people still get these two mixed up I’m going to finish by explaining the difference between timed static contractions and static holds.

Timed static contractions are isometric contractions performed against an immovable object for a predetermined duration. These can be performed using machines with handles, pads, or pedals that can be locked or pinned into position using more weight than you can lift, using a barbell too heavy for you to lift in a power rack, or using a variety of straps, pads, and other objects which can be contracted against without moving. With most equipment these should be performed at the mid-range position, halfway between the start and end of the range of motion.

Static holds are isometric contractions performed against a movable object, which you hold motionless for as long as you can. These can be performed with any equipment dynamic exercises can be performed with. With most equipment static holds should also be performed in the mid-range position, however when performing some compound pulling exercises or when using properly designed machines to perform simple exercises static holds should be performed at the end point. The duration of the hold should be recorded using a stopwatch or the second hand on a clock, starting when the weight is lifted or handed to you at the hold position, and ending when you are unable to prevent the weight from moving downward. When it is no longer possible to prevent downward movement of the weight attempt to lower it as slowly as possible.

The advantage of timed static contractions is that it can be performed with a greater variety of equipment and common objects, and they are very safe since there is no risk of dropping a weight and if you experience any pain or joint discomfort you can unload immediately without having to worry about setting down or re-racking a weight. The disadvantage is performance can not be measured objectively without equipment with force-measuring devices, most of which is prohibitively expensive. An inexpensive workaround for this is to use a high capacity digital spring scale, which can be attached to a chain with a bar, handles, or belt at one end and the other securely attached to an immobile object.

The advantage of static holds is performance can be more easily measured, using weight and time under load. The disadvantage is some exercises are difficult to perform on some types of equipment unless you have one or more strong partners to help you lift the weight to the hold position. Extreme caution should be used when performing static holds on exercises which start in a stretched position so that you do not drop into the stretch when you are no longer able to hold the weight.

The following is an example of a basic full-body workout using timed static contractions (TSC) or static holds (SH):

1. Squat (TSC using hip-squat belt or SH in mid-range position) or Wall Sit
2. Chin Up (SH in mid-range position)
3. Dip (SH in mid-range position) or Chest Press (TSC or SH in mid-range position inside a power rack)
4. Row (SH in mid-range position)
5. Shoulder Press (TSC or SH in mid-range position inside a power rack)
6. Stiff Leg Deadlift (TSC or SH in mid-range position inside a power rack)
7. Crunch (TSC or SH bar crunch at end point inside a power rack)
8. Heel Raise (TSC using hip-squat belt or SH in mid-range position)
9. Neck Extension (TSC in neutral position using head pad or other cushioned surface on floor or bench)
10. Neck Flexion (TSC in neutral position using head pad or other cushioned surface on floor or bench)

Still have questions about timed static contractions or static holds? Post them in the comments below.

I have designed a resistance chart for the Ivanko Super Gripper which shows the approximate force to close at all of the possible spring settings as well as the spring settings to approximate the resistance of each of the Captains of Crush grippers. Print and tape it to your workout chart clipboard or hang it on the wall at your home gym. To download, click the image or link below.

Ivanko Super Gripper Resistance Chart

This chart requires the free Adobe Acrobat reader to view. Click here to download the free Acrobat reader.

Grip and Forearm Finisher Sequence

Looking to strengthen your grip and beef up your forearms? The following is my favorite grip and forearm sequence to perform at the end of workouts. If you don’t have a thick bar, pick up a pair of Fat Gripz to convert any normal bar to a thick bar. These can be done effectively with a variety of repetition ranges and cadences, but I like to do three to five repetitions at a negative-emphasized 4/8 cadence (about 40 to 60 seconds):

1. Thick bar reverse/overhand-grip arm curls
2. Thick bar wrist curls
3. Gripping

Have a question about grip and forearm training or a favorite sequence to share? Post them in the comments.

It seems a lot of people are still confused about the force-velocity curve, the basic physics of lifting and lowering a weight, and their implications for training, so I’m going to provide a few more examples in hopes of getting these points across.

When the net sum of all forces acting on an object are zero its velocity (its speed and direction) is constant and the object is said to be in a state of equilibrium. This is true regardless of the speed of the object, including if it’s speed is zero.

To hold a barbell motionless, at a constant velocity of zero, the upwards force you apply to the bar must equal the downwards force of gravity on the bar. To lift or lower a barbell at a constant velocity the upwards force you apply to the bar must equal the downwards force of gravity on the bar. However, unless you are performing a purely isometric exercise, your velocity will not be constant. Your speed must change as you lift or lower the weight, starting and ending at zero and increasing in between, and your direction must change between lifting and lowering.

A change the velocity of an object, either of speed, direction, or both, is acceleration. For an object to accelerate, either increasing or decreasing it’s speed, changing it’s direction, or both, the force coming from one direction must be greater than the net forces opposing it. To start lifting a barbell or to bring it to a stop when lowering it you must apply more force than the force of gravity on it to accelerate it. To bring a barbell to a stop when lifting it or to start lowering it you must apply less force than the force of gravity to allow gravity to accelerate it. Once acceleration stops and you are moving at a constant velocity the barbell is once again in equilibrium, and the net forces acting upon it will be zero. If not, it will continue to accelerate.

The rate of acceleration, whether a change in speed, direction, or both, depends on the force applied. The greater the the force the greater the change in speed or direction. When lifting a barbell the more force you apply the faster it will accelerate from the start and the less force you apply the faster gravity accelerates it to a stop. When lowering a bar the opposite occurs. The less force you apply the faster the barbell accelerates downward and the more force you apply the faster you will slow it to a stop.

When an object is accelerating it’s momentum changes, as does its kinetic energy. When people talk about using momentum to lift a weight what they’re really talking about is kinetic energy. When you lift a barbell, as you accelerate it upwards from the start you impart kinetic energy to it. The greater the acceleration, the greater the kinetic energy you give the barbell. The barbell’s kinetic energy then reduces the amount of force you have to apply to continue lifting it after accelerating, by an amount proportional to the force applied during acceleration, so that the average force applied balances out. Because of this, the average force  you have to apply when lifting a barbell is the same regardless of whether you accelerate rapidly or slowly. The only difference is in how much the force varies.

To lift a barbell very quickly you must apply a force significantly greater than the force of gravity during positive acceleration. The barbell’s kinetic energy will then reduce the force you must apply to an equal amount less than the force of gravity. Relative to the force of gravity on the barbell the force you apply will be very high at first, then very low over some portion of the range of motion when lifting at fast speeds.

To lift a barbell very slowly you must apply a force only slightly greater than the force of gravity during positive acceleration. The barbell’s kinetic energy will only reduce the force you must apply after acceleration by an equally slight amount. Relative to the the force of gravity on the barbell the force you apply will be only slightly higher at first, and only slightly lower over some portion of the range of motion when lifting at slow speeds.

The graphs below, from a force-gauge experiment performed by Brian Johnston in 2005, demonstrate the difference in the variation in force between an “explosive” repetition (with a positive duration of less than one second and a slower negative) and a repetition performed at a slower speed (a five second positive and five second negative duration).

Where the positive movement begins the force increases rapidly, then drops off rapidly for the remainder of the movement. The relatively flat portions of the graph represent the slower negative movement.

The repetition performed at a 5/5 cadence resulted in very little variation in force. The negative (first half of the graph) required slightly lower force than the positive due to friction in the machine used (friction works against you when lifting, increasing the force you must apply, and with you when lowering, decreasing the force you must apply).

Although it takes more force to accelerate a weight rapidly, the force your muscles are capable of producing decreases as concentric contraction speed increases. On page 83 of the second edition of Skeletal Muscle Structure, Function, and Plasticity: The Physiological Basis of Rehabilitation Richard Lieber explains,

It has been experimentally determined from biochemical studies that the cross-bridge connections between actin and myosin attach at a certain rate and detach at a certain rate. These rates are referred to as rate constants. At any point, the force generated by a muscle depends on the total number of cross-bridges attached. Obviously, this number represents the net balance between the number of cross-bridges attached versus detached. Because it takes a finite amount of time for cross-bridges to attach (based on the rate constant of attachment), as filaments slide past one another faster and faster (i.e., as the muscle shortens with increasing velocity), force decreases because of the lower number of cross-bridges attached. Conversely, as the relative filament velocity decreases (i.e., as muscle velocity decreases), more cross-bridges have time to attach and to generate force, and thus force increases.

This is why you can not lift a heavier barbell as fast as you can lift a lighter one; the faster you want to lift a weight the more force is required, but the faster your muscles contract concentrically the less force they are capable of producing. As lifting speed increases the amount of weight you are able to use decreases. Or, to look at it another way, the heavier the weight used the slower you will be able to lift it.

Proponents of fast repetition speeds claim the increased force during acceleration compensates for this, however this increase only occurs briefly during positive acceleration when lifting, and is followed by a proportional reduction in force. The average force is still the same as it would be if you were holding the weight motionless or lifting it slowly, it just varies more, and since the faster the repetition speed the less weight you can lift, the lower this average force will be.

In addition to this, the acceleration at the beginning of the lifting movement occurs when the muscles under load are at a greater length, which also negatively effects their ability to produce force. This is also the position where the muscle is most susceptible to injury, which is a good enough reason to avoid fast repetitions.

Why then, if your muscles are capable of producing less force at faster concentric contraction velocities can you lift more weight for ten repetitions at a fast speed than ten repetitions at a slower speed? Simple. Because the slower your speed of movement the longer the time under load when the same number of repetitions is performed. You can lift a lot heavier weight for fifteen to twenty seconds than you can for over a minute.

However, if you perform an exercise for an equal amount of time rather than an equal number of repetitions you can lift a heavier weight moving more slowly. For example, while you can lift more weight performing ten repetitions at a 1/1 cadence than you can performing ten repetitions at a 10/10 cadence, you can lift more weight performing repetitions at 10/10 for sixty seconds than you can performing repetitions at 1/1 for sixty seconds.

Although the mechanical work performed would be greatly reduced, this is not a problem, as it is possible to stimulate significant improvements in muscular strength and size and most if not all other general factors of functional ability with isometric exercise protocols which involve zero mechanical work. Tension and duration are more important than mechanical work, and slower reps allow for more tension over an equal duration or for the same tension over a longer duration.

Another important consideration regarding tension is the effect of lifting speed on the ratio of positive to negative strength. The amount of force a muscle can produce contracting eccentrically is greater than what it can produce contracting concentrically even at very slow contraction speeds, so even when lifting slowly the relative intensity of effort will be lower during the negative. The faster the repetition speed, the lighter the weight that can be lifted, and the lower the relative intensity of effort required to lower it.

While tension and duration are important and influence results, intensity of effort is by far the most important factor in stimulating muscular strength and size increases. This primarily means continuing an exercise to momentary muscular failure, the point of maximum intensity of effort, but the average intensity of effort over the duration of the exercise is also a factor, and because slower lifting speeds reduce the difference between positive and negative strength and the reduction in relative intensity of effort during the negative they increase the average intensity of effort.

While it is unknown whether there is an ideal speed of movement during exercise or an ideal ratio of positive to negative speed, the force-velocity curve makes it clear repetitions should be performed slowly, rather than quickly if your goal is to improve muscular strength and size. Quoting Richard Lieber, again, from page 60 of Skeletal Muscle Structure, Function, and Plasticity: The Physiological Basis of Rehabilitation,

Muscles are strengthened based on the force placed across them during exercise. The force-velocity relationship of muscle indicates that high velocity movements correspond to low muscle force, and that low velocity movements correspond to high muscle force. Since strengthening requires high force-producing exercises, the velocities must, necessarily be relatively low. High velocity movements may have other beneficial effects (e.g. improve muscle activation by the nervous system), but not at the muscle tissue level. The take home message – keep velocity low for strengthening.

A few final words on the subject from Nautilus inventor Arthur Jones…

Perhaps the most important consideration: a proper style of performance requires a relatively slow speed of movement. Too slow provides all of the benefits and produces none of the potential problems, while too fast avoids some benefits and does produce problems, generally problems resulting from high levels of impact force.

and…

The next time somebody suggests that you move suddenly during any form of either exercise or testing, smile and walk away, because you are talking to a fool.

I recently received a barrage of messages from someone questioning statements I made in my article on the force-velocity curve. He claims I do not understand basic physical principles because he confuses the force-velocity curve with Newton’s second law of motion, which are completely different things. He then builds on his confusion of this in an attempt to make a case for fast repetition speeds. While I think most readers understand the difference I’m going to explain it any way, since some people are obviously confused by it, and explain why both of these are reasons to move slowly during exercise, not fast.

The force-velocity curve depicts the variation in the force of muscular contraction at different concentric (lifting, positive) and eccentric (lowering, negative) contraction velocities. It shows the higher the velocity of concentric contraction the lower the force a muscle can produce. This is because the faster the actin and myosin filaments in your muscles slide past each other the fewer cross-bridges they are able to form (read the original force-velocity curve article for a more detailed explanation of this). Because of differences in how the cross-bridges function during eccentric contraction there is little variation in eccentric force production at different velocities.

Newton’s second law of motion states the acceleration of an object, the rate of change in its velocity, depends on its mass and the forces acting upon it. For a given mass, the more force you apply the greater the acceleration. This means your muscles must contract with more force when lifting a barbell or machine weight stack to accelerate it more quickly.

The force-velocity curve shows how much force a muscle can produce at different contraction velocities. The faster your muscles contract concentrically the less force they are capable of producing.

Newton’s second law describes how much force your muscles must produce to accelerate a given load at some rate. The faster you want to accelerate the more force you have to produce.

These are the reasons you can not lift a heavy weight as fast as you can lift a lighter weight. The heavier the weight being lifted the more force required to accelerate it, and with a given weight you have to apply more force to accelerate it faster, but the faster your muscles contract concentrically the less force they can produce. So, the faster you want to lift during an exercise the less weight you can use (lowering is another thing altogether, there is no limit to how heavy a weight you can drop, however in most exercises you are limited to using a weight you can also lift).

Some proponents of fast repetition speeds claim the greater force required to accelerate more quickly when lifting a weight is beneficial because of the increased muscle tension, however this ignores that the tension is only higher relative to the weight used, and only during the initial acceleration. During the initial acceleration you impart kinetic energy to the mass being moved, energy which reduces the force you must apply to keep the weight moving proportionally for a brief period after (when throwing something it is this kinetic energy that keeps it moving after you’ve let go). If when lifting a weight you apply fifty more percent force than the force of gravity on it during the initial acceleration you will have to apply fifty percent less force after this due to kinetic energy. The average force still ends up being the same as the force of gravity on the weight, it just varies more, higher and lower, with greater acceleration. If you lift more slowly you will be capable of producing more force and using a heavier weight, allowing for a greater average tension, but while keeping the force within known, safe levels.

Also, while you must use a challenging level of resistance to effectively stimulate improvements in muscular strength and size and other factors of functional ability, it is not necessary for you to produce as much force as you are capable of during every repetition of an exercise, and for the sake of safety you wouldn’t want to. Research shows a high intensity of effort, specifically training to the point of momentary muscular failure, is more important than the load used.

Another problem with relying on rapid acceleration to increase resistance force and tension during exercise is that it is not precise. Unless you are using equipment with force-measuring capability you don’t know how much the force actually varies from the force of gravity on the weight, and the greater your acceleration when lifting the more the force will vary over the range of motion. At slower repetition speeds which make it possible to change direction with much lower acceleration the force required for acceleration and the reduction in force caused by kinetic energy may only vary from the force of gravity on the weight by a few percent, so the force encountered is more consistent over the full range of motion of the exercise (not including variation from changing musculoskeletal leverage, stored energy, and other factors).

Some proponents of fast repetition speeds claim moving faster during exercise allows you to use a heavier weight despite the reduction in muscle force production at faster concentric contraction velocities because the reps are shorter, but this is only true when performing the same number of reps since the faster reps would result in a shorter time under load. Obviously, you can lift a heavier weight for thirty seconds than you can for sixty. If, however, the sets are matched for time instead of repetitions, you will be able to lift a heavier weight at a slower speed, because your muscles are stronger at slower concentric contraction velocities. You can use a lot more weight when performing three twenty-second repetitions than twenty three-second repetitions. Since time under tension and relative effort are more important for stimulating muscular strength and size increases than the amount of mechanical work performed, moving more slowly makes more sense.

Another claim made by some proponents of fast repetition speeds is that even with a lighter weight, performing more repetitions in the same time frame results in a higher density of work, however this ignores that there is no direct relationship between the mechanical work performed and the more important metabolic work. Although fatigue is faster with a higher rate of mechanical work when the same weight is used, since you can lift a heavier weight when performing fewer, slower repetitions in the same amount of time the average tension and the metabolic work performed would be higher.

Those who know Ken Hutchins definition of intensity as the degree of inroad divided by time might conclude that lifting a heavier weight more slowly would result in a lower inroad/time than lifting a lighter weight more quickly if momentary muscular failure is achieved within the same amount of time, however, this assumes your starting strength is the same in both cases. Considering the force-velocity curve this is not the case. You can use a heavier weight for the same amount of time with slower reps in large part because your starting strength is higher at a slower concentric contraction velocity.

Slower reps are also safer, since even though moving more slowly allows you to lift more weight over the same amount of time the variation in force encountered is very low, unlike fast reps which can result in large, potentially harmful increases in force at the start of positive and end of negative movement. Slower reps also result in lower repetitive motion stress, reducing joint wear over time.

I think Nautilus inventor Arthur Jones summarized this best when he wrote,

…fast or sudden movement during exercise does not produce fast muscles, or stronger muscles, or bigger muscles, it produces only one thing, a thing you should be trying to avoid, it produces injuries. The next time somebody tells you to move fast during exercise, smile and walk away because you are talking to a fool; if in doubt about the best speed of movement during exercise, try doing it slower rather than faster; faster is never better, is usually worse, and is frequently dangerous.

References:

1. James Fisher, James Steele, Stewart Bruce-Low, Dave Smith. Evidence-Based Resistance Training Recommendations. Med Sport 15 (3): 147-162, 2011 DOI: 10.2478/v10036-011-0025-x

2. N.A. Burd, C.J. Mitchell, T.A. Churward-Venne, and S.M. Phillips. Bigger weights may not beget bigger muscles: evidence from acute muscle protein synthetic responses after resistance exercise. Appl. Physiol. Nutr. Metab. 37(3): 551-554, 2012.

3. Jürgen Giessing, , James Fisher, James Steele, Frank Rothe, Kristin Raubold, Björn Eichmann. The effects of low volume resistance training with and without advanced techniques in trained participants. Pre-print (this reference will be updated after this study goes into print)

4. 4. Hutchins, Ken. SuperSlow: The Ultimate Exercise Protocol, 2nd Edition. 1992

Question: Should I do both squats and deadlifts in the same workout, or should I alternate between them?

Answer: Whether you should perform both squats and deadlifts in the same workout depends on how intensely you are doing them, how many other exercises you are performing, and how much volume you can effectively recover from.

After performing the first of these, are you able to consistently perform the second exercise in the same workout with a high intensity of effort?

Are you making steady progress on both exercises?

Do your legs feel like they are recovering sufficiently in the days following your workout?

If the answer to any of these is no, you should only perform one or the other, but not both in the same workout.

Most beginners will have no trouble performing both squats and deadlifts in the same full-body workout because they have not yet learned to push themselves hard enough for this to be excessive, however as you learn to train more intensely you may find you have difficulty maintaining a high level of effort for more than one compound leg exercise, or in some cases more than a few compound exercises total. Also, as you get bigger and stronger and are working more muscle mass, more intensely, the demands on recovery increase.

If you find you are able to perform the first of these in your workout with a high intensity of effort and make steady progress, but have difficulty getting through the second or make little or no progress on it, you may need to cut one of them, alternate between them, or cut other exercises to avoid overtraining. This applies to other exercises, too. Minimally, you need to perform enough exercise in your program (but not every workout) to effectively work all of the major muscle groups, but you should not perform so many exercises in each workout that you can not perform each of them with a high level of intensity.

I usually have new clients perform both in the same workout when starting out, then as they get stronger and learn to train more intensely and need a reduction in volume I either split the exercises up into two shorter full-body workouts or into an upper body workout and a lower body workout. Because there is a lot of overlap between squats and deadlifts I usually have clients perform stiff-legged deadlifts instead of regular deadlifts if they are performed in the same workout. As an alternative, you could perform regular deadlifts and sissy squats. For specific examples of this read High Intensity Workouts.

It helps to think of squats and deadlifts as points on a continuum of compound leg exercises, with sissy squats on the left with little or no hip extension and a lot of knee extension, and stiff-legged deadlifts on the right with little or no knee extension and a lot of hip extension. Both squats and deadlifts are pretty close to the middle of this continuum, with squats a little closer to the left and deadlifts a little closer to the right. Pairing one of these exercises in the middle of the continuum with one far down the opposite end minimizes overlap.

Another option is to substitute a less systemically demanding simple exercise for one of the compound exercises, alternating between workouts. For example, instead of squats and deadlifts, you could perform squats and leg curls or hip extensions on one workout, and deadlifts and leg extensions on the other.

While writing the article on the force-velocity curve and it’s implications for training  it occurred to me that it contradicted the claims of Nautilus inventor Arthur Jones of a specific ratio of positive to negative strength. I considered mentioning it in that post, then decided it I ought to save it for a separate article, then forgot about it since I did not add it to my “to write” list. Thankfully, Ryan Hall reminded me of this recently. In reference to the force-velocity curve graph below he wrote,

…as long as the eccentric component is relatively slow, ie. not dropping the weight, eccentric strength is more along the lines of 180% greater than static strength. What would have more of an impact would be the speed of the concentric component, as force drops off precipitously with even small increases in velocity. This looks like another Jones guess shown to be incorrect.

Take a look at the right side of the graph above showing the drop in muscle contraction force as contraction velocity increases. It is obvious the ratio of positive to negative strength is dependent on concentric contraction velocity. The slower the positive phase of a repetition is performed, the smaller the difference between positive and negative strength, the faster, the larger.

If you graph the ratio of eccentric to concentric strength at different muscle contraction velocities, you’ll see the difference between the two increases rapidly as speed increases. It is important to keep in mind that even relatively fast speeds during strength training are slow compared to how fast you can move when you are not working against significant external resistance. Most repetition speeds occur at contraction velocities towards the left of the graph. It is also important to keep in mind this ratio can vary between muscles based on fiber type, can vary with body temperature, and that the same contraction velocity can result in different joint angular velocity or exercise movement speed depending on muscle length, fiber arrangement, and musculoskeletal geometry. Realize the graph below is a rough estimate based on averages and was designed to show how much the ratio of eccentric to concentric strength varies with concentric contraction velocity, rather than an attempt to provide exact ratios.

If the ratio of eccentric to concentric strength increases with concentric contraction velocity, the greater your speed of positive movement the less resistance you can use and the more your muscles will be underloaded during the negative. Conversely, the slower your positive speed the less your muscles will be underloaded during the negative. However, because the positive is more metabolically costly than the negative, the longer the duration of the positive movement the more fatigued you will be between negatives. The optimum positive movement speed is probably somewhere in between; slow enough to minimize the difference in positive and negative strength without being of such long duration that the fatigue occurring during the positives significantly reduces the resistance that can be used.

Since most studies comparing the effects of eccentric and concentric contractions on muscular strength and size show the negative to be more effective, and of the few studies comparing positive-emphasized to negative-emphasized repetitions most show better results with negative-emphasized, I suspect the optimum positive movement speed is somewhat less slow than the negative, however more and better research is needed. I would be interested to conduct a study done somewhat along the lines of what I suggested in my recent post on Ellington Darden’s 30/30/30 protocol, comparing time and work matched protocols using varying ratios of positive to negative duration. I have discussed the possibility of this with James Steele and hope we are able to put something together eventually. I suspect either negative-emphasized or SuperSlow reps (equally slow positive and negative) may end up being the best way to train, however Ryan Hall recently mentioned a study in which positive-emphasized reps were more effective than negative-emphasized.

Another consequence of this is that for machines like the X-Force which hyperload the negative how well they balance the difficulty between the positive and negative depends on the cadence used. I think if the goal is to match the difficulty of positive and negative work, however, the only way to do this is with the accommodating resistance provided by motorized machines like those designed by Randy Rindfleisch.

Although it probably only applies to a very, very small number of readers, if anyone out there is still doing infimetric training (working contralateral muscles against each other instead of using external resistance) this would also suggest you should move as slowly as you can without segmentation.

Last week I wrote about Ellington Darden’s 30/30/30 negative-emphasized protocol and my initial impressions of it. Since then, I’ve done one other workout using the protocol, which was equally intense, but highlighted some of the problems with both very slow repetitions and starting with the negative on some exercises.

Ellington came up with the 30/30/30 protocol as a way for trainees following his Body Fat Breakthrough program who didn’t have regular access to the X-Force machines to emphasize the negative. Unlike the X-Force machines which provided forty percent more resistance during the negative, a 30/30/30 repetition increases the time spent performing the negative relative to the time spent performing the positive. Both the X-Force machines and 30/30/30 protocol are effective, however I have concerns about the safety of X-Force due to the abrupt resistance changes and other problems we found when testing them out in Gainesville, and there are a few problems with very slow repetitions and starting with the negative that must be considered.

The first problem with moving very slowly is that when a person moves too slowly the movement is no longer smooth but segmented into a series of very short starts and stops. While the increase in force due to acceleration during the multiple stops and starts during segmentation is unlikely to be high enough to cause injury, it should still be avoided. How slowly you have to move before this occurs depends on your motor control. Some people can move very slowly without segmentation, some people have difficulty moving smoothly even at a moderate speed, and most of us are somewhere in between. For most people, segmentation becomes a problem with cadences slower than fifteen seconds over typical exercise range of motion, only half the speed of 30/30/30 reps.

The second problem with moving very slowly is the tendency to spend a disproportionate amount of time in portions of the range of motion where the resistance is lower to make the exercise easier. For example, when instructing someone in the performance of a slow leg press or squat, unless you remind them not to and correct them every time they do it most people tend to slow down more in the easier upper portion of the range of motion, and speed up in the harder lower portion. Instead you should do the opposite, avoiding or moving through easier portions of the range of motion only slowly enough to be able to reverse direction smoothly, and moving more slowly through the harder portions of the range of motion.

While starting with the negative may be advantageous for improving muscular strength and size when using very slow repetitions since it allows for additional negative work, it is not practical with many exercises. While some exercises like the barbell squat and barbell bench press normally start at the end point, and exercises like chin-ups and dips can be started at the end point by using the legs to assist, for many exercises you would need one or more strong assistants to lift the weight for you (start point and end point refer to the start and end of the positive movement, not where the exercise begins). This can be worked around on some barbell exercises like standing presses and bent-over rows the same way it is done with squats and bench presses, by starting with the bar on hooks set at the top of the range of motion, but not on most dumbbell or machine exercises.

I have no doubt such an approach can be highly effective, and the workouts I have tried it out on have been brutally intense, but I am also not convinced it provides any advantage over regular negative emphasized repetitions, and will probably be very difficult for many people to do with good form. One advantage, however, if you are capable of performing such slow movement without segmentation and have a metronome or other device for keeping time for you, is without having to count reps or record TUL you can focus entirely on performing the exercise instead of measuring performance.

Negative-emphasized repetitions – with a negative twice the duration of the positive or longer – done at moderate speeds are easier for people to perform correctly, don’t require assistants or specialized equipment, and are safer than negative-only and negative-hyperloaded training. I have been using a 3/10 cadence (three second positive, ten second negative) again for the past few months with a repetition range of three to five (about 45 to 75 seconds TUL) for the upper body and four to six (about 60 to 90 seconds TUL) for the lower body, trunk and neck, with good results. The three-second positive is slow enough to be able to perform smooth turnarounds and maintain proper positioning over the full range of motion, and the ten-second negative is not so slow it can not be done smoothly.

If I reach momentary muscular failure anywhere in the middle of the range of motion I continue to attempt to move positively for a few seconds, then perform the final negative as slowly as I can. On every rep I pause and attempt to hold the weight motionless at the end point (or around ten to fifteen degrees short of full extension on pushing exercises) for a few seconds. If I can not hold motionless for a second or two I attempt to perform what I assume will be the final negative as slowly as possible. I still attempt another repetition afterwards, but am rarely able to complete another positive if I am unable to hold the end point on the previous rep.

Contrary to my initial expectations, most clients have found performing negative-emphasized reps in this fashion to be more fatiguing than normal repetitions (using a three to four second positive and negative duration) despite the much lower rate of mechanical work and the greater metabolic efficiency of negative work. This may be because it allows for the use of a slightly heavier weight due to the greater negative strength, or because when moving much more slowly people tend to use better form, or both. When switching from normal to negative-emphasized repetitions you may need to increase your rest between exercises slightly at first.

Ryan Hall recently shared his thoughts on normal and very slow negative-emphasized reps;

There are very few studies examining time courses for concentric versus eccentric excursion times. Most studies, which are not many to begin with, show longer eccentric times resulting in more progress. However, I have reviewed one study recently showing the opposite. I haven’t had time to dive into the full text and digest the details, methods, etc. I started to write a review paper on this topic, but got busy with many other more important tasks.

Regarding Ell’s 30/30/30 protocol, in my opinion, it is needlessly complicated. First of all, few subjects have the motor ability or motor control to perform a 30 second concentric or eccentric with appropriate form. Secondly, you have to find a way to start with the eccentric component. I’m not convinced this is the safest route.

I’ll be interviewing Ryan soon, and discussing this topic and the studies he mentioned in more detail. In the meanwhile, if you are following The Body Fat Breakthrough program but having difficulty doing 30/30/30 reps smoothly or are unable to start with the negative with the equipment you’re using, give regular negative-emphasized reps a try, and share your results here.