Increasing Strength

[MikeM]

That was very interesting to me. I tend to be sort of explosive, until all of a sudden I'm not.

I need that rep range at my weak point, which isn't really a "height", but more like a strength point. The point where I just get "weak". The heavier it is, the lower the "point", the higher it is, the more I get "tired".

I'm positive there's a balance between strength and explosiveness and hitting that bell curve from both sides as often as possible is the way to go. I just haven't quite found the right way to do that yet. If I hammer away at a specific thing, I get beat up and revert. If I sneak attack it from all sides, it seems like forever to advance.

Just thinking out loud. Hope it was useful.

[Fazc]

Interesting read, I've long thought that ability to grind should be a part of my training. I lift slowly and always have, so it helps me on max attempts. I saw a lifter the other week fail what would have been a PR because he just didn't know what to expect when he had to grind. Most of his training prior to that was 80% work.

However here's something which I've found interesting over the years. The ability to grind is easier when you emphasise some muscles. It's almost as if some muscles have the propensity to be able to grind and prefer that, others have that ability to explode.

For me quads in the squat make the lift explosive. A quad dominant squat, where you hit depth, take a little rebound and shoot up even at max weights is possible. A fast hip/ham dominant squat at max weight? I've never seen it. Hip/Ham squatters just seem to grind forever, in Meets their 1st, 2nd and 3rd attempts look pretty much the same, slow. You just don't get slow, quad dominant squatters do you?

On the other hand it's chest for bench. I have always benched very, very slowly and up until recently I've always benched with dominant triceps. Even if I take a wide grip I tuck enough to make it a tricep/lat dominant exercise. Other benchers I know, Al being one of them, benches fast and is far more chest dominant. Unless it's submax, you rarely see a fast, tucked bench. Conversely explosive off the chest is quite common.

It's the same on Deads, Sumo pulls just grind. They always do. Conventional pulls though, fast off the floor.

I really am starting to think certain muscles are just wired for explosiveness, and others are wired for slower more grindy movements. This will effect how to train them, and might also effect what you form you drill on certain exercises.

[Fazc]

Another thought, I got this from looking at Tom's training over on Sugden and also having had some success with high reps myself.

For a raw (or single ply guy) what about instead of rotating exercises, rotate rep ranges but on the same lift. I don't really like traditional periodisation, it's too restrictive and because of that I think it can be boring and dangerous. But this way you're always varying the weight and that makes the lift feel very different. It also fits very well into the frequent low volume approach, as you would basically just hit it and quit it once you've done your one top set.

So you'd establish some rep maxes, let's take the Squat:

1RM
5RM
8RM
1RM beltless

And that would be your variation. Let's say top set there is 700lbs for example. 650lbs beltless. 550lbs for a 5 and 450lbs for a set of 8 (just for example). Each weight represents quite a different feel on your body. I think rotating reps would be specific enough to be useful, perhaps moreso than a GM or FS, but different enough that you could get in and take a lower weight for a confidence boosting, growth producing PR. Low volume enough that you'd be ready to smash within 1-2 days of rest.

I'm not planning on changing my exercises as I'm very focused on getting those raw numbers higher right now, but I may cut away at some of the fluff and replace that with rep records on the lifts that matter.

[LtL]

I really wish Tom would stop d**king around and just powerlift.

[Fazc]

Just a quick observation, when I hit a large weight with crisp form I feel absolutely fine right after and the day after too.

[Fazc]

As my poundages shift back up, 200+ in the Squat seems to be the point where the quads are showing through as a definite weakness.

I wonder whether I should drill some Front Squats for a few weeks and build that right the way up to 140-160 rock bottom with the idea being that will carry over to regular squats and make them stronger and look better.

OR

The result of instability might just be me being rusty, having come off a summer of equipped lifting. So perhaps drilling higher reps in the deep squat is a better idea.

Any thoughts would be appreciated. I suppose the easy answer is 'do both' but I wonder what might offer more bang for the buck.

[LtL]

I've noticed you've been doing a mixture of high and low bar squats. How does bar position affect this?

[Fazc]

Hmmm my high bar is strong. I did 180 a few days ago with the lads. That was deep and upright.

So what does that mean?

[5kgLifter]

Originally Posted by Fazc

Hmmm my high bar is strong. I did 180 a few days ago with the lads. That was deep and upright.

So what does that mean?

Could mean that your body prefers the high bar set-up.

[Fazc]

Originally Posted by 5kgLifter

Could mean that your body prefers the high bar set-up.

That is also a possibility.

The 180 was beltless as well. Same as my low bar beltless.