FT Questions....

[Scott Stevenson]

Hey Dr S,

Last two weeks in the gym were great implemented your advice into a lot of my training and I really felt a difference the changes I've made are as follows:

1.Any and all pulling movements even upright rows for delts - brief pause in the contracted position before a controlled descent

2. Slow and controlled descent on delt and felt pushing movements - I have long arms so bringing the bar down all the way to my chest aggravates my right pec delt tie in - so I bring the bar down to where my forearms form a 90 degree position relative to my upper arm sometimes I'll bring them down a little lower but not by much

3. For pec movements I've adopted a slightly wider grip - my old grip width was more medium placed i.e. if I was to bring the bar down all the way to my body my thumb would almost be in my arm pits now in the same position my thumb is about 3 inches away from my pecs - again I have long arms so if I'm going to move serious poundages I need to find ways to work with my biomechanics - if you have any suggestions on this - I'm all ears!

First priority is training the target muscle, i.e., choosing the exercises that work for you to do so. Then, and only then, does it make sense to be progressive.

4. Pre exhausting pecs with a set of cable flye presses - got this idea from both you and john meadows in his the brutality of mountain dog training where he mentions using a movement to really feel out the pecs first before going into the heavy heavy pressing - while I really feel my pecs on pressing movements now my weights have dropped by about 30% to 40% - pecs are pre exhausted and the tighter non ballistic form makes things a lot harder - I'm a little concerned about this just because for so many years I've had it beaten into my head that nothing builds muscle like heavy slag iron - if you're pushing and pulling heavy everything will inevitably grow - in going to stick with this but any words of wisdom would help

If this is a warm-up, and not a pre-exhaust, where the goal is fatigue, then that's fine by me. If you're doing a non-standardized set before the sets you want to be progressive on, then you're reducing the validity of your log book as an indicator of progress.

5. I have almost every pair of elite fts bench bands and was thinking of adding them into my pec pushing movements so that the resistance on top is as challenging as it is at the bottom of the movement - do you have any pros or cons of doing this?

That would depend on how the movement feels to you, how you use the bands, which exercise, which band, etc. You're asking me to write an entire article on the pro's and con's of bands here. (I think this is in The Brutality... book already, eh?...)

6. On all rotational movements - I'm holding the contracted position for a count of 1-2 seconds or rather on all movements that have resistance in the completed position - is this ok to do?

Rotational movements?...

That isometric hold is going to create variability in exercise execution for Loading rounds and MR's but is a nice technique for Pump sets. Doing so will make your rep count less valid as an indicator of progress.

(You seem to be flip flopping here - changing a whole bunch of things at once and going to extremes. E.g., why not just include an "instantaneous pause" at the end of the ROM - where the weight is motionless for a split second. This is very easy to standardize vs. 1-2 seconds. One vs. Two seconds is quite a difference. For a MR, we're talking ~20 vs. 40s of isometric holding.)

7. I saw a couple of videos of Jordan peters doing muscle rounds and realized I was taking far too much rest between sets - so now it's a quick mental count to 10 and then back at it for the next cluster - again this has forced weights down but makes the MR feel like. 100 meter sprint a running away from brain eating zombies and as a former smoker believe me when I say I think my lungs are gonna come out of this thanking me for it - any thoughts on this?

So, as I've said before here (take note, I'm about to get a little bitchy), my least favorite question in many contexts is "any thoughts on this."

Yes, I can generate thoughts for hours on end on the above. That's what PhDs are trained to do - Pile it Higher and Deeper.

A Muscle Round is a Cluster sets. Each series of 4 reps is a set in the Cluster set.

A FT MR put a break of 10s or 5 breaths (which should be roughly equaled and if not so, then one would use 10 seconds) between each set of the MR.

If you want to count to 10 internally or use some other means of knowing how to determine the inter-set rest interval, that's fine, but that's not what I intended for MR's.

It's pretty simple - or it's supposed to be - and laid out in the book.

8. Finally on pump sets I take a widowmaker approach and if I fail at let's say 19 or 20 reps I'll keep doing drop sets until I hit 35 or 40 total reps - I also like 5s in the hole and 1/3 reps etc but I find that I keep failing before hitting a respectable number of reps on those.

Pump sets are NOT to be done like widow makers, which are discontinuous sets, with breaks between reps so that one can eek out as many reps. (This happens b/c there is some return of blood flow and reduced metabolism stress during the pause between reps.)

Pump sets are continuous, so you're NOT going to be doing DROP sets where you have to stop and adjust the weight.

If you can't get a respectable # of reps using the 5's into the hole, just lower the weight.

Anyway I'm off to Atlanta for two weeks of work so it'll be a nice break from training - further it'll allow me to digest your feedback and see how I want to go about my next last.

You're not going to train at all?... Your call of course, but you might look at the FAQ in the book (p. 125).

BTW I started implementing more auto regulation during my non loading days and it's a little uncomfortable going into the gym with a blank log book and trying to feel what would work best for MRs or Pump sets but it's gotten me doing movements I've never done before so it's keeping the whole program fresh.

If you're uncomfortable with using an entirely new set of exercises, then this is NOT auto-regulating. There may be exercises that you feel are great and should be staples for MR's in which can you would keep those in except for days when you felt like something else would be a better choice.

Joshua,I really think you should take another look at the book. Much of what your'e asking about is in there.

Also, when you're not sure about something, formulating a specific question - or at least attempting to - will often lead to an answer or at least narrow your area of confusion, and clarify what you DO know. Just asking "your thoughts" is a "lazy" way of getting me to give you a brain candy dump. I do that in many cases, but try to avoid it when it deny's the receiver of an opportunity to think for him / herself.

-S