kinkoshinkai’s BodyBlog

I belong to a gym which is just a couple blocks away.  Why have a home gym, then??  Because sometimes, due to life and schedules, I can’t get there when they’re open and having the versatility to work out WHEN I want is better than a gym full of equipment that’s locked up!!

So, Saturday was just such a day.  My dumbbells only go up to 80 pounds, but since it was arm day, and not chest day, I was fine with it, as anything over 60 for arms (one in each hand for overhead tricep extensions) is of no use for my arm day!  And while I don’t have a cambered curl bar (yet!), the standard Olympic bar was fine.

So, with my laptop playing my saved video clips of the 2007 and 2008 Ironman Pro Bodybuilding, and my now 16 year old son to spot my final sets on close grip bench, I got a GREAT arm pump with the following simple routine!

Barbell curls 105 lbs for sets of 12 (wide grip), 12 (close grip), 11 (wide grip), 10 (medium grip) and a final "rest pause" set (resting 15 seconds and continuing with the same 105 lbs after failure each time) of 10/6/4 and 3 reps.     This was supersetted with overhead Tricep extensions, 50 lb in each hand squeezing the dumbells together to keep my elbows close, 15 reps, 60 lbs ea. for 10, 60 for 9, 60 for 9 more, and a drop set of 50’s/12 reps, 40’s/10 reps, 30’s/10 reps, and 25’s/10 reps.  I was WAY full in the upper arms, massively pumped, at this point.  Time for exercise number 2.

Seated DB curls, 40 each, alternating to sets of 12, 11, 11, and a drop set of 40’s/10 reps, 30’s/7, 25’s/7 and 20’s/7 final reps.  (I could barely flex my arms at the elbow at that point, with only a measly 20 lb dumbbell!!!!)  Each set was spersetted with close grip bench.  185 lbs for sets of 10, 8, 8, and a forced rep/assisted set (Thanks to my son!!) of 8 full reps and three forced negatives.

That was it.  Done.  Fried.  9 sets for bi’s, 9 for tri’s, with a forced-beyond-fatigue last set on each exercise.  My arms were pumped almost 3/4 of an inch above my normal size, and an hour later were still 1/2 over normal (16.75 inches pumped to 17.5!!!)  And today, let’s just say, I’m pretty sure I worked them plenty hard for an old man!!

Always remember, too, that there are 4 types of resistance training, which from “easiest” to “hardest” are: endurance, hypertrophy, strength, and power. There are also 3 types of muscular strength - concentric, eccentric, and static. Your goals, needs, and activities determine your training style. Your genetics determine how much of which muscle fiber types in what percentages are present in every different muscle group of your body.

This was in answer to another member’s question on lateral raises.  Thought it might be post-worthy, plus I like having a record of what I’M learning personally.

OK, as some may know, I’m studying to certify with the NSCA by getting my Master’s degree in Sports Conditioning and Performance.  I see strange things all the time at the gym, but generally don’t butt in unless asked or if I see something just plain dangerous ocurring.  But there certainly are some horrid techniques being utilized.  Of course, there are a variety of ways to do MOST things (side laterals, elbows straight or bent, pinkies up or down, elbows/hands going above shoulder level or not, etc.).  And everyone has an opinion, and some even a REASON for doing it how they do it.  I do believe there are optimal ways to do most techniques, but that certainly doesn’t mean the other methods WON’T work, just that there might be a more effective way, based on the science of torque, leverage, lines of force relative to the resistance (usually gravity, but sometimes cables or machine lever arms, etc.). 

But all that being said, certain myths perpetuated by word of mouth or misinformation continue to bug.  So, today I was substitute teaching, and took my prep and lunch to use the High School weight room.  A class came in, and I offered some advice to a kid doing squats (the current "safe" method, is to use a bench and touch the butt to the bench)  The kids are NOT instructed on correct spotting technique.  And the coach is adhering to a much perpetuated myth that full squats are dangerous to the knee.  At the risk of offending a "teacher" and thus costing myself work as a sub, I had to really backtrack, justify, and appease my way out of telling him his old school myth was BS. 

So, here’s the truth.  The danger to the knee in squats comes from what is called "sheering" force, meaning that the femur runs the risk at a certain point of ’sliding’ either forward or to the side, overstretching ligaments and moving the bone perpendicular to the meniscus rather than directly down onto this cartiligenous cushion.  As a muscle contracts to flex a joint, ALL joints undergo certain sheer forces, which is why ligaments exist, to hold stuff together.  Sheering forces in and of themselves are not bad unless the exceed the ligaments’ ability to withstand them.  Now, in the squat, if you go all the way down, ATM (ass to mat), or in other words, hams to calves, there is NO SHEERING FORCE because the legs are essentially locked into place, fully supported, hams on calves.  The knees don’t, almost CAN’T go beyond the toes in the squat, unless you come off your heels.  They can be misalligned outwardly or inwardly, but the degree of joint flexion (ATM) doesn’t affect that.  So, we are basically at rest.  Observing mechanically, then, when ARE the sheer forces maximal??  With the knee bent at 90 DEGREES!!  That’s when the femur is stretching away from the patellar insertion the MOST!  So to descend to that poijnt and reverse direction into the concentric motion at that point is MUCH MORE stressfull to the joint than to squat full range and move THROUGH that danger point with the muscles in full contraction rather than beginning the concentric/upward motion with the ligament in its maximally stretched postition!!!!

Not that partial squats are bad, but the rap on full squat danger is total BS, given all the same sane safety measures of a good spotter or cage, and knees toward the toe line, and chest out/butt out good technique.  Can I say all that to an established teacher on whom some of my future employment may depend??  Nope.  So I vent here.