Change It Up!
When Strength Training Meets ADD
by John Romaniello
"Variation is the key." How
many gurus have uttered those words? How many times have you heard
them? Or repeated them? I bet that next to "pass the ketchup," they're
the most repeated words in the English language. Well, maybe not, but
close. It
seems as though everyone is so hell bent on mixing things around that
no one ever makes any progress. Why? They never stay with anything long
enough to give it an honest shot! Not here, though. Not
you. You're a T-man. You've gotta know better than that… don't you?
But, don't get me wrong; I'm a huge proponent of allowing for
diversity, and it's really no surprise that most "gurus" are. The body
is, after all, a dreadfully adaptive organism. Knowing this, we try to
switch things up in an attempt to keep the gains coming by staying
ahead of the body's so-called learning curve. If you've
been at this whole weightlifting thing for a while, you likely learned
long ago that you make better progress when you add some variety to
your overall scheme. Chances are many of you regularly incorporate a
little of "the spice of life" into your program in some form or another. It
could be a strict periodization method you follow, allowing for cycles
focusing on either strength or hypertrophy. Or maybe you have a core
group of exercises you never change, only making the occasional slight
variations. Could be you'd rather manipulate the number of sets and
reps you perform in order to achieve a "different" stimulus. Perhaps
you switch programs completely every 6-8 weeks in order to "keep the
body guessing," as is the current trend. Maybe you've
become a virtual expert on variations and alternate exercises to "hit
the muscle from every possible angle" as the world's greatest
pseudo-scientists — gym rats — often advise. Hell, mess
around with iron long enough and you'll likely give all of these
options a shot. You possibly already have — and why not? They're all
effective methods, both tried and true. But there are others. Let me ask you this: Have you ever tried adding some of the spice
duringan exercise? Switching gears right in the middle of a movement? I bet
it sounds a little strange; that's probably because it is. However,
it's also a highly effective way to add a kick to your training, as
well as a few pounds of muscle to your body.
Compound-Isolation Movements No,
that's not a typo, you read it correctly. What exactly is a
compound-isolation movement, you ask? One part oxymoron, two parts
kick-ass training method, a CIM is an exercise that begins as a
compound, multi-joint movement and then — right smack dab in the middle
— switches to an iso to hit a desired body part. Depending on the
actual goal of the training, the movement could start out with the
isolation movement first, and then finishing off with the compound. In
either case, the transition occurs in the pause between the eccentric
and concentric portions of the whole movement. I recently
tried to show some of these movements to a guy at my gym. He responded
by looking utterly pissed off and asking, "
Why in the name of bloody hell would anyone DO that? Just do the exercise, kid. Do you have ADD or something?" That's
a direct quote. At first I was a little offended about the ADD thing
and the fact that people are always trying to pass me some Ritalin.
Anyway, I decided to explain my madness, hoping I could elucidate it
properly. It's not really all that complicated once you're thinking
about it. It all has to do with mechanics. The first factor
to consider is the number of muscles involved. Unless you have some
very bizarre strength imbalance, you'll be able to use much more weight
for a compound movement than you could for an isolation movement,
assuming that both lifts use the same primary move. Exactly
how much more weight will depend on exactly what muscles you're working, as well as the individual in question. Another
factor that we must take into account is eccentric or negative
strength. Poliquin has written that eccentric strength can be up 175%
greater than concentric strength; although for most trainees the
difference is much lower than that (depending on training age, etc).
It's been shown that, generally, eccentric strength is roughly 50-75%
greater than concentric strength in most non-elite trainees. Compound-isolations
come as a result of the two above factors. We know that you're stronger
in a compound movement than an isolation movement. We also know that
you're stronger negatively than you are positively. So, in order to put
this knowledge to some muscle-building use, we "change it up." That is,
you perform a compound movement
concentrically, and then switch in the middle and execute the
eccentricportion of an isolation exercise which relies on the same primary
mover. Because of the mechanical advantages inherent to each part of
the lift, you'll hopefully be able to use a weight that is
significantly challenging in both the positive and negative phases of
the exercise.
The Sweetest Things You're Not Doing (aside from that blonde at the gym)
Up, Up, and, um… Down —
The Modified Fly-Away The
Fly-Away is a Jerry Telle exercise that crosses a dumbbell press and
fly. You begin the movement by pressing the weight up, just as you
would during a normal dumbbell bench press. Once you reach the top,
pause for a second, and lower the weight with the eccentric motion of a
dumbbell flye. Remember to focus on flexing the pecs throughout the
entire movement, as it's very easy to allow the anterior deltoid to
take over. Using only a slight (no more than 10 degrees) angle may
help. If you don't cry uncontrollably after your second set, you're not
using enough weight.
My Big Fat Greek Deadlift? —
Another "RDL" When I was playing football, I had a coach who was Greek. As such, he insisted that anything worth
anythinghad originated in Greece; all evidence to the contrary was simply the
result of an idea having been stolen from the Greeks and passed off as
someone else's achievement. That includes just about everything that
had to do with strength training. I, of course,
maintained than many cultures — such as my own, the Romans — had
contributed much to the world. Although he staunchly refused to listen
to a damn word I said, my coach
did teach me a pretty kick-ass
lift, which he called a "Spartan Deadlift." I have no idea where it
originally came from, but I demand that if you decide to use it, you
must call it a Roman Deadlift —
specifically to piss him off. Anyway, here's the lift: As
you can imagine, it starts off much like a regular deadlift. Load up a
bar, drop down and do your deadlift thing. Here's where it gets
"tricky." Rather than just dropping the bar to the floor, lower it —
under strict form — using the eccentric motion of a stiff-legged
deadlift. Obviously the deadlift is the compound movement and the SLDL
is the isolation part of the lift, as it primarily targets the
hamstrings (although it's not an "isolation" movement in the strictest
sense of the word). My own personal addition is this: I also want you to use plates
no largerthan 25-pound Olympic plates. The smaller plates will force you to
squat lower to the ground, increasing the ROM and as well the
involvement of the quads.
Go in with Guns a'blazin' —
Enter the Zottman Curl I
have no funny story for this exercise. I stole it from Poliquin — sue
me. (I'm kidding, Charles. Don't sue me. No, seriously; please don't.)
For those of you who aren't familiar with it, here's a rundown of the
exercise. It begins as an offset dumbbell curl just as mundane as any
other; but suddenly — without warning — it changes! Scary, eh? At the
top of the movement, pronate the hand, and lower the weight using the
eccentric portion of a reverse curl. If you have a training partner, you have a variation of this movement available to you: the
barbellZottman curl. Simply curl the weight to the apex of the movement and
have your partner hold it while you quickly "spin" your hands. Then
take hold of the bar with your hands pronated and reverse curl it down.
When I've got a spotter, I much prefer this version because it allows
you to use a greater load.
Accueil 
Johnson BL, et al. "A comparison of concentric and eccentric muscle training." Med Sci Sports 1976 Spring;8(1):35-8.