Doing better on chin-ups translates well into better performance.

Whether it is in all grappling sports, canoeing or kayaking,  all sports where upper body pulling increases force to that given motor pattern will benefit from an increase in chin-up performance

Inevitably you will encounter a plateau in the number of chins, or the load you use for them. It uses the concept of post-tetanic facilitation : if you do a maximal isometric contraction, it activates more motor units than regular dynamic work. Those newly activated fibers can be used in the full range movement that follows. In this manner the A-1 exercise facilitates the A-2 exercise.

Here is a great routine to smash through that plateau.

A-1 Supinated Isometric Hold for 8 seconds. Six singles at a 20X8 tempo, rest 10 seconds before proceeded to A-2

Pull yourself to the 90 degree of elbow flexion, and stay there for 8 seconds applying maximal force. You need to pick the load properly so that at the 8 second mark you are looking like you overdosed on caffeine and crystal meth because you are shaking so much.

To apply overload properly, the best is to have a partner put both index fingers in mid-air at the point where the contraction will be. Your goal, is to put your traps in contact with his fingers. It will give you a kinesthetic clue on how far you need to pull up. If your traps leave the fingers you have failed the rep
Do a single 8 seconds max isometric contraction. You will need to tie weight to you when it becomes to easy.

A-2 Narrow pronated pull-ups. Six sets of 4-6 at a 40X0 tempo, rest 3 minutes before proceeded to A-1

Use a pronated grip about 10-15 cm apart. Use the maximal activation state from the performance of A-1 to blast through loading plateaus.

Bonus Info

The best way to tie an additional load is tree climbing belt where you attach a loading pin. Now let’s talk about how to add additional load. Weighted vest can compress the nerves, so the best thing for the average gym member to use to add load is a dipping belt. But what I use in my facilities is a tree-climbing belt and a chain hooked to loading pin

Enjoy the gains in chin-up performance,

Coach Charles R. Poliquin

The post Increasing Chin-Up Performance with Post-tetanic Facilitation appeared first on STRENGTH SENSEI.

A few months ago, I had the privilege to present my views on strength and conditioning to the coaches of the three Olympic wresting teams of the USA and to the USOTC strength & conditioning staff.

A well-experienced crowd who had many former Olympic and World Championship medalists was in attendance.

Here is a summary of the points I presented.

1. Wrestling practice will always prime importance. No amount of S & C will ever replace technical and tactical development. Moreover, exposure to various opponents is critical. If you live in Austria, you can train/compete internationally on a weekly basis. Countries are a few hours drive away. The US is at a disadvantage in this case. Hence, I have decided to financially support the Women’s program. Fighting overseas more, or bringing teams in, is key. Which leads to point two.

2. Training cycles cannot be longer than 6 weeks. In wrestling you need “optimal strength”, not maximal strength like in powerlifting or weightlifting. Since wrestling is most important, I sincerely that max 12 weeks a year can be focused on strength training. And it is certainly not 12 weeks in a row. I would advance no more than 6.

Is it 4 x 3, 3 x 4, 2 x 6. ? Yearly competitive schedule is the ultimate point of reference.
How much is optimal? Look at point five.

When you concentrate on strength, do you drop wrestling practice. Hell no! You use that opportunity to learn and master new technical skills. Avoiding the mat is a huge mistake. Cutting back yes.

3. All Strength Qualities and Contraction Forms Exist in Wrestling. You need absolute & relative strength, explosive strength and strength-endurance. Since you are not always winning (concentric), eccentric and isometric loading occurs. Strong is only good in wrestling IF you can repeat it fast and often!

4. Advantage of training wrestlers: there is no need for specificity; disadvantage of training wrestlers: there is no need for specificity. You are not training for a specific motor pattern like discus throwing, hence plateau busting is not so much of an issue like it is in training for throws. However, you need to prepare to giving AND receiving force from all angles. Therefore, you must prepare for all eventualities.

5. There is a need for goal standardization based on needs analysis. Many sports have jumped in quality of performance by doing a thorough analysis of the physical qualities needed, and then establishing normative data. For example, in bobsleigh the average power clean performed by Olympians in 1988, would not get you a job at sweeping the track. By 1998, Olympic medalist Pierre Lueders could to 160 kg.

What is good for wrestling? I have zero clue at the moment of writing. More is not better. Wrestlers need optimal strength, not maximal strength. With the help and support of the enthusiastic staff, we are working on it. Luckily, I have the chance to interact with wrestlers like Les Glutches and Steve Fraser. who were at the top of the World in their weight class. Next week, I am in Cuba with all 3 teams, so I will get more ideas on how to train better for wrestlers.

In closing, I am looking forward to working with all the coaching staff to achieve our common humble goal: World domination.

Best,

Coach Charles R. Poliquin

The post Ground Considerations in Strength & Conditioning for Wrestling appeared first on STRENGTH SENSEI.

What Makes Effective and Result-Producing Hamstrings Training?

For me, there are 9 crucial training paradigms that are relevant to hamstrings training.

Hamstrings Training Paradigm # 1: Train The Hamstrings As Both Knee Flexors And Hip Extensors

By their kinesioligical nature, hamstrings have two major functions:

a) Knee flexion:bending the knee. This usually trained by all the forms of Leg Curls devices offered on the market: seated, prone, kneeling and standing. MRI will show in the case of the case of the Supine Leg Curls, the biceps femoris, semitendinosus, sartorius and gracilis are recruited.

b) Hip extension: kicking the leg back like in the sprinting motion. Exerices that train that function are from the following exercise families: semi-stiff leg Deadlift (i.e. Romanian Deadlifts), Good Morning (i.e. Seated Good Mornings), Back Extensions and Reverse Hypers. MRI studies will show that both the Semi-Stiff Leg Deadlift and the Good Morning involve the adductor magnus, adductor brevis, biceps femoris and semi tendinosus. Also all the Olympic lifts pulls, such as snatch pulls and clean pulls are a great tool to develop the hamstrings.

The information given above implies that your hamstring workouts should involve exercises for both the hip extension function and the knee flexor function. Recent anatomical research points out what track and field coaches have known for years: hamstrings are connected as a chain to the glutes and back extensors (i.e. erector spinae). This through the sacro-tuberal and dorso-sacral ligaments.

Hamstrings Training Paradigm # 2: In Knee Flexion Exercises, It Is Best to Train 1 Leg At A Time

When I lived in Calgary we tested elites athletes from 11 sports on the KinCom device, the results showed that many Olympic and professionnal athletes two strength disparities between the two legs. More often than enough, the dominant leg of some of these athletes will often be as much as 20% stronger than the non-dominant leg–these athletes definitely need single limb training to prevent injuries.

I was very fortunate early in the eighties to be taught by Dr. Dietmar Schmidtbleicher that one should know that the dominant leg is not necessarily on the same side as the dominant hand; in other words, it is not because you are right-handed that your right leg is dominant in the lower body. Furthermore , the neural drive will be greater to the hamstrings if only one leg at a time is trained.

Hamstrings Training Paradigm # 3: In Knee Flexion Exercises, Stretch the Hamstrings Both At The Hip And Knee Joints To Facilitate Recruitment

This means the knees must be extended and the hips flexed in the starting position of every leg curl exercise. Therefore in the Standing Leg Curl exercise, you would need to bend forward at the waist and start with the working leg straighten before lifting.

Image excerpted from the book Delavier’s Strength Training Anatomy. Used with permission of the author

Hamstrings Training Paradigm # 4: Stretch the Quadriceps Statically Between Sets Of Hamstring Work

Increasing the range of motion of your quadriceps prior to a leg curl exercise will increase the amount of motor units used in the hamstrings during the exercise and therefore the effectiveness of the chosen exercise. Since the quadriceps is the antagonist muscle to the hamstrings, and that stretching will allow it to relax, the force of the contraction in the hamstrings will be much greater in the subsequent contraction.

Hamstrings Training Paradigm # 5: In Leg Curls, Point The Feet Away

When your feet are in plantar flexion the gastrocnemius (calf muscle) is somewhat inhibited in its function as a knee flexor. The gastrocnemius is a bi-articular muscle. that is, it crosses two joints: the knee joint and the ankle. The muscles fibers are too short in the gastrocnemius to do both knee flexion and plantar flexion at the same time. Therefore it is more effective as a knee flexor when the foot is dorsi-flexed and more effective as a plantar flexor if the knee is locked in extension. This can be clearly illustrated when driving a car while sitting too close to the steering wheel.

When the knees are bent, the gastrocnemius becomes an effective knee flexor, and it is more difficult to apply the brakes. It is the same reason why seated calf raises are prescribed to recruit the soleus muscles at the expense of the gastrocnemius muscle.

Conversely, when you bend the knee with the feet in plantar flexion, the overload shifts from the gastrocnemius and goes onto the hamstrings, making it a more effective hamstrings exercise. The cramping you are experiencing comes from the gastrocnemius who is used to the old motor pattern trying to activate itself. This situation is only temporary. The way to circumvent the problem rapidly is to do the concentric contraction with the feet dorsiflexed and lower the resistance for the eccentric contraction with the feet plantar flexed. Since you are stronger eccentrically than concentrically, the hamstrings will start getting a greater overload during that eccentric lowering because the gastrocnemius will be inactive because of the plantar flexed position.It will be a way to ease into switching to the more effective form of leg curls.

Hamstrings Training Paradigm # 6: As Knee Flexors, The Hamstrings React Best To Multiple Sets Of Low Reps

Hamstrings are made up of a high percentage of fast-twitch fibers. Therefore, they have very little strength-endurance, that is the ability to do repetitive work at a given percentage of maximum. When you use more than 8 reps during hamstring exercises you are training below 70% of your 1RM (one-repetition maximum), which is the lower intensity threshold to promote hypertrophy and/or strength response.

Numerous studies on the relationship between maximal strength tests and the number of repetitions performed (at a given maximum) have shown repeatedly that the hamstrings are not gifted for reps. Although you may be able to perform 10-12 reps at 70% of your maximum on the Bench Press, you will probably only be able to complete 7 or 8 reps with the same percentage on the Leg Curl. If you use 15-20 reps per set on hamstring exercises–a repetition range often promoted by the Nautilus disciples–your training intensity would be approximately 50-55% of your maximum. Such a low intensity level would not provide enough tension for these high fast-twitch muscles to grow.

Hamstrings Training Paradigm # 7: As Knee Flexors, The Hamstrings React Well To Eccentric Training

Once again, because of their high fast-twitch fiber make-up hamstrings respond well to eccentric work. Eccentric (negative) training refers to the lowering heavier than normal loads for a given exercise. Triple jumpers and long jumpers are known for their superb hamstring development. Outside the sprinting they do, they do have to absorb high-impact landings, which elicits high levels of eccentric tension from the hamstrings.

Glute-Hamstrocs-Raises are also superb when used eccentrically to maximize hamstrings growth in size and strength.

Hamstrings Training Paradigm # 8: Strive For Balance Between The Medial And Lateral Heads Of The Hamstrings

When there is a muscular imbalance, the body never lies. To test simply if there is a head of hamstrings that needs remedial specialization, select a weight you can do for 6RM in the Leg Curl with your feet in the neutral position. As you reach muscular failure, your feet will rotate in one direction if there is a lack of balance between the two heads of the hamstrings. If they turn towards the midline of the body (medial rotation) your semi-tendinosus and your semi membranosus are too strong for your biceps femoris. If they turn away from the midline of the body (lateral rotation), your biceps femoris is too strong for your semitendinosus and semimembranosus. When you turn your feet inward during leg curls, you also facilitate the recruitment of the gracilis.

Hamstrings Training Paradigm # 9: If You Have Balanced Hamstring Development, Vary Your Lifting Position Frequently

Variety is an essential requirement for maximal hamstring development because each exercise offers a unique pattern of overload. You probably have more hamstring exercises at your disposal than you think. Let’s say that your gym has the four major types of leg curl units: seated, lying, standing and bent-over kneeling. This will give you an arsenal of 12 hamstrings curl exercises: 4 machines x 3 foot positions (neutral, inward, outward) = 12 permutations.

Incorporate these nine training paradygms into your routine and you’ll immediately begin to see and feel the results. Keep in mind that optimal hamstring development requires more than just a few sets of Leg Curls at the end of your workout. To take your training to the next level of development, make hamstring training a priority in your training and work them as hard as you would your quads.

Enjoy,

Coach Charles R. Poliquin

I would like to thank Frédéric Delavier for the permission to use his illustrations. To buy his book Strength Training Anatomy, please go on Amazon.com

The post My Best Secrets to Train the Hamstrings Muscles – Part 2 appeared first on STRENGTH SENSEI.

Tom Crudgington is the man to learn from if you want to improve your punching power. To contact him please email karen@bodydevelopment.co.uk

The fact that you train with an heavy bag for cardio is in no way a guarantee that you can throw a punch properly.

Whenever I visit New York I see plenty of Manhattan high rollers trained by « overnight boxing expert personal trainers ».

Of course they make sure to have the O.B.E.P.T. acronym on their business card. The fact is, no matter long these people train with Mr. or Ms. OBEPT , their punching power, as they say in Hungarian has the impulse force of a butterfly’s fart.

High levels of maximal strength on certain lifts do not guarantee a powerful punch. In fact you need to have good OVERALL strength. So for example, you could incline press 400 lbs and can only chin your bodyweight, your poor levels of antagonistic strength will inhibit the power output of the agonist muscles.

You have to understand that punching power requires the precise timing and involvement of a large amount of muscle mass. Again, you may have a very strong upper body and be a squatting machine, if you have poor levels of strength in the obliques you will not be able to effectively transfer the strength of your legs to your upper body.

High levels of punching power are more likely to come if your technique is sound. I would suggest you first learn how to deliver a punch by someone experienced at it. The best guy in the industry in Tom Crudgington from Body Development in Bath, U.K.

To quote Tom “Effective punching in fact comes from understanding and correctly applying simple gait principles and the relationship of the eye, head and feet are key to delivery. Also being able to fire the nervous system in a nano second, repeatedly – like firing a 50 cal machine gun – is vital. “

No to discourage you, but punching power also has a lot to do with genetics, the best punchers in the World are approaching peak power in the upper extremety only 30 milliseconds after they have initiated the punch.

Have fun,

Coach Charles R. Poliquin

The post Some Thoughts on Increasing Punching Power appeared first on STRENGTH SENSEI.

How many reps for how many sets? is probably one of the most frequently asked questions a strength coach gets.

There are literally hundreds of great set/rep schemes.

However, one of my favourite was taught to me by a former Mr. Universe by the name of André Maillé. Not only was he ultra muscular, he was also brutally strong. As in curling with his back against a post 225 lbs (102.5 kg) for 12 reps…Press behind neck with 315 lbs for reps

The system goes like this:

1. Pick a weight you can do 5 sets of 6 comfortably with.

2. Your goal is to achieve 5 sets of 9 before you increase the weight.

3. Every second workout do 2 forced reps on the last set to increase time under tension.

That is it. Simple? Yes! Effective? Yes!!! It is a patient approach to get bigger stronger. So in real life, it could look like this:

Workout 1

8,7,6,6,6

Workout 2

9,8,6,6,6 + 2 forced reps

Workout 3

9,9,8,7,6

Workout 4

9,9, 8,7,6 + 2 forced reps

Workout 5

9,9,9,9,7

Workout 6

9,9, 9,9,8 + 2 forced reps

Workout 7

9,9, 9,9,9*

* time to increase the weight till you are back down to 5 x 6. For small muscle groups, 5 kg is the norm. Ten kg for large muscle groups.

So this system works, it is for patient people interested in gaining solid mass and long lasting maximal strength. It matches Paul Carter’s concept of base building. Usually 2 exercises per bodypart are used with this system.

Enjoy the gains,

Charles R Poliquin

The post A Great Set/Rep Scheme Combination for Size and Strength appeared first on STRENGTH SENSEI.

Guest Blog by Mat Boulé, Faculty Member at Posturepro.net and Osteopath and Posturologist at Clinique Médicale de Santé Globale Brouillard

Is there a single exercise that is more controversial than the crunch?

I am not too sure. What I do know is that the crunch is, to this day, a very hot topic.

In this era of functional training, some say the crunch does not have its place…

Others speak of its risks for clients that suffer from low back pain…

Let’s break it down, shall we?

Anatomy and biomechanics 101

All of the abdominal muscles targeted by the crunch have common insertion points. They attach to the ribs, the spine and the pelvis.

To strengthen a muscle, it has to contract. In that regard, you have 3 options:

– Concentric contraction;
– Eccentric contraction;
– Isometric contraction.

In all of these cases, the common denominator is tension. Yet, tension is expressed differently in all of these scenarios.

Sport Specificity

It’s not false to say that isometric contractions can be the safest. In essence, the muscles are under tension, yet they do not shorten or lengthen. It’s also fair to say that, in this scenario, the spine is kept in this so-called neutral position, where there is no significant increase in disc pressure.

That being said, some sports require more than a strong abdominal wall in a static setting. This is where we assess the risk/benefit ratio to performing exercises that take joints through a full range of motion so that the muscles can express strength under all circumstances.

Think of rotational strength, essential for sports such as ice hockey. The abdominal wall will take you into negative and positive torsion so that you can powerfully slapshot!

Think of golf. My coach always says: don’t hit the ball with your arms… use your torso! Here, again, abdominals need to be strong in extremes of range of motion.

Application

Let’s face it: the crunch is an effective exercise to strengthen the abdominal wall since it takes the abdominal musculature through a full range of motion.

So why can the crunch be a risky exercise?

It is a well known fact that lumbar flexion increases intra-discal pressure. This is even more so the case when you add rotation to flexion. That can lead to disc protrusion and potentially disc hernias.

What is rarely spoken of is this: was the pelvis imbalanced BEFORE doing the crunch?

A pelvic tilt to the right will open up the intra-discal space on that side and further increase the risk for injury.

As you will see in this video, the idea is to:

1) Calibrate posture and the pelvis.
2) Crunch with a full range of motion.
3) Try to develop abdominals that look almost as good as Maud Dessureault, UFE pro.

Mat Boulé would like to thank Maud Dessureault UFE pro for her collaboration as well as her coach, Francine Savard, Posturologist and founder of ProActif Fitness.

The post Crunch, Crunch… Cap’tain! appeared first on STRENGTH SENSEI.