Question of Strength

Question of Strength
The real Master Blaster reveals
the science behind building muscle
By Charles Poliquin Q:
I suffer from the common problem of raising my heels when I squat. This
is really hampering my progress in all squatting movements — back and
front, power cleans, even deadlifts. I don't think that tight calves
are the problem, as I have good natural calf flexibility and I stretch
regularly. If I really concentrate when squatting, I can keep my heels
down. But when I do, my upper body leans forward too much and I can't
squat efficiently. What could be the cause? What should I do to correct
the problem? I would really appreciate any suggestions.A: You
probably have tight psoas and rectus femoris muscles, which can be
helped by doing the following stretch, nicknamed the "three-step hip
flexor stretch" by Colorado Avalanche sniper Joe Sakic.Place your foot on a padded surface behind you and then perform the following steps:

Hold
the stretch for 15 seconds. Pause briefly and repeat. Do the stretch a
total of three times every day until the problem goes away. Q: This may sound a little obsessive, but in your Achieving Structural Balance
article, you mentioned doing a 14" close-grip bench press. Is that 14"
between the inside of the hand (second metacarpals), or the outside
(fifth metacarpals)? Thank you very much for taking the time to deal
with my question.A: It's a legitimate question. The 14 inches is
between the inside fingers, so it can be the thumbs if you use a false
grip or the index fingers if you use a normal grip.Q: I'd like
to know more about this reverse hyperextension exercise for developing
strength and rehabilitation of lower back, glutes, and hamstrings.
What's the difference between this exercise and good mornings, for
example?A: The vast majority of our readers are interested in
gaining large amounts of muscle mass and functional strength. This is
best accomplished by concentrating the bulk of the work on leg and back
training. One machine that can target those muscles very effectively is
the reverse hyper machine. I first got to try one out a few years ago
while coaching the Canadian Bobsleigh Team in Innsbr?ck, Austria. After
coaching my athletes, I stayed at the gym to do my workout. Since the
gym was so busy, I had to share the equipment with two of the local
powerlifters who held a few national titles. There, in the
corner, was a reverse hyper machine. The Austrian powerlifters swore
that it helped improve their deadlift and squat performances. Both
athletes claimed that it made a difference between 35 kg (77 pounds)
and 50 kg (110 pounds) on their respective squats and deadlifts. Even
though I had seen the machine advertised in back issues of Powerlifting
USA, I had never paid any attention to it until I tried the machine. I
jumped on it and pumped away. The movement felt quite right since the
glutes, hamstrings, and erector spinae were being trashed by the
machine. After my workout, I went to inquire about it. This
device is the brainchild of Westside Barbell Club owner and
powerlifting coach extraordinaire Louie Simmons. The machine has helped
make many world records in the deadlift and squat possible, and it's a
staple of Louie's deadlift training. To gain more insight on the
possibilities of this type of training, I made the trip to Columbus,
Ohio to meet with Louie.Louie is better known in the iron game
community for his powerlifting successes, both as a coach and an
athlete. Now he's achieved world-renowned status as a strength coach,
too. Louie Simmons first used the reverse hyper to rehabilitate back
injuries incurred over a lifetime of heavy lifting. Interestingly, the
injury that prompted the development of the reverse hyper machine was
caused by a loss of concentration during a five-rep set of good
mornings using 435 pounds! While physicians recommended surgery on
several occasions, Simmons turned his back on the knife and used the
reverse hyper to repair the damage and alleviate the pain. To quote
Louie:

He now uses it to create new world standards in the deadlift.I
had professional bodybuilder Milos Sarcev try the machine during a
hamstrings-only workout. After doing five sets each on two different
Atlantis leg curl machines, we hopped on the reverse hyper machine for
three sets of 20 reps. Milos told me that he could feel it in the lower
back and glutes, but not as directly in the hamstrings as the leg curl
machines made him feel. By the next day, while he was limping to do a
back workout, he had definitely changed his mind. He walked (limped)
like he'd been beaten up with Kendo sticks on the hamstrings by a horde
of Samurais.The reverse hyper machine is also excellent for
improving posture and correcting abnormal pelvic tilt, which can
immediately give the illusion of a flattened abdomen wall. One of the
consequences of having weak erector spinae muscles is the development
of a posture in which the upper back is rounded, causing the shoulders
to droop forward and the chest to appear sunken. In order to maintain
the center of gravity for this type of incorrect posture, the pelvis
begins to thrust forward, ultimately causing a distended lower abdomen.
This condition is often referred to as a kyphosis-lordosis posture.Together, the glutes, hamstrings, and erector spinae form what kinesiologists call the posterior chain.
The posterior chain is responsible for allowing you to run at high
speed, or to jump either forward or vertically. For example, in the
vertical jump, the posterior chain contributes to 80% of the power
output. So don't waste your time on quads and calves development if you
want rapid increases in your vertical jump.The reverse hyper
machine will allow one to work the posterior chain in a synchronized
manner. Back extensions would target the same muscle group, but not in
the same recruitment pattern. Another disadvantage of movements like
back extensions is the dizziness associated with their performance.Bobsleigh
Olympic gold medalist and Overall World Cup Winner Pierre Lueders
purchased a reverse hyper for himself, and it allowed him to increase
his squat by a full 50 pounds over the summer of 1996.If you're interested in getting more information about the reverse hyper, email mikep@reversehyper.com with your questions.Q:
Must... have... bigger... arms. Can't... make... biceps... grow.
Need... Poliquin... arm... training... book. Finish the damn book
already!A: Yes, yes, yes, the "Winning the Arms Race" books are
being edited right now by a PhD candidate in Boston. There's so much
text and so many routines that I've decided to publish three different
volumes:

Since TC has encouraged all of you to bust my
chops with daily emails, I've decided to hire an editor and a personal
assistant to edit and publish all of the material that I've been
working on over the last 18 months. That should speed things up
considerably. I've scheduled a photo shoot for the exercises in early
July. The beginning of September is the target date for the release of
the three different volumes.Q: A cry for help! Which is it,
Arnold or Mentzer? Six days a week, two hours a day volume training, or
three times a week using one hour of high-intensity training? All I
care about is gaining some freaking mass! I'm 5'11", 185 pounds, low
fat. People tell me I'm already big, but I laugh in their faces, as
these "compliments" are coming from ordinary people. I'm an
intermediate bodybuilder looking for ways to shock myself into new
growth. But I'm confused between Arnold's and Mentzer's contradictory
theories. I've done Arnold's routines, and when taken to failure, I end
up overtraining every month! What works? I'm tired of all these
commercial, money-grabbing magazines, fake-ass chocolate, fat-in-a-can
supplements, and fake information!A: The truth of the matter is
that the research comparing multiple sets to single-set protocols prove
over and over again that, where long-term gains are concerned, multiple
sets induce larger and more rapid strength gains. The larger increases
in strength seen with multiple sets protocol may, in part, be
associated to the fact that higher volumes of total work produce
significantly greater increases in circulating anabolic hormones during
recovery (Gotshalk et al. 1996). Recent research has pointed to
elevated levels of growth hormone in multiple sets training versus
single set training, which may promote a more anabolic environment
(Mulligan et al. 1996).The important distinction is that there's
very little need to take sets to failure outside of your standard
concentric fatigue (when you can't raise the weight on your own).
Forced reps should be used sparingly, if at all. Just look at Olympic
lifters. None of them use forced reps, yet they still achieve
impressive levels of maximal strength and hypertrophy.Q: What
should I do if I rest too long between a set? Say, for instance, that I
plan to rest for two minutes between sets, but someone talks to me for
about ten minutes. What can be done to rectify this, and does this
affect total workout time, under one hour?A: How can you talk to someone for ten minutes and still expect to keep up your workout quality?An
hour is an hour, but don't expect to do the optimal amount of sets in
the given hour if you work on your social life between sets.To
rectify this situation, you could wear a T-shirt that says, "Please
fuck off, I'm training right now." Or if someone talks to you, say that
you suffer from multiple personality disorder and that they can call
you Bob for now, but don't be surprised if you only answer to Mary tomorrow.
As a last resort, you could walk around with those barf bags that they
issue on flights. Make sure that it's filled with oatmeal and one of
those floor-cleaning products (to provide a nice swishing sound and an
appropriate smell). No one will dare talk to you.Q: I think that
your structural balance plan is a great idea and should work. When you
said that you added rotator exercises on a five-day cycle, did you mean
to do two rotator exercises every single day? What would your training
split be? Should I still work the chest? What about the back? I really
want to do this program, so could you please give a detailed outline? I
only have twelve weeks left until football season starts. Thanks,
you're the best.A: I suggest doing two exercises for the
external rotators, either on chest day or back day. Since the pectorals
and the lats are both internal rotators of the humerus, it doesn't
matter which body part you pair with your external rotator work.I
suggest using an A1/A2 system. That is, for every set of, let's say,
chest work, do one set of external rotator work. For example, for
rotator cuff work done on a chest day, you might try the following:

Q:
In one of your MM audio tapes, you mentioned something about using a
balance board to build up knee stability. I guess that it's a board
with half a ball stuck to the underside? I have been searching for one
on the Internet, but it dawned on me that you would know the best brand
to use. What do you recommend?A: You can phone Fitter at Question of Strength Cb_transparent_l

1-800-FITTER1 Question of Strength Cb_transparent_r

to get a wobble board. This is the brand I use at my gym.

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