Questions of Strength: December
by Charles Poliquin

Walk the Plank
Q: Many coaches put plank exercises for "core work" into almost every program they write. Is this a good exercise? A:
It's a good exercise if you're an eleven-year-old stamp collector and
you don't have a good work station. People in the know recommend this
position if you're having sex, and only then if you can exceed the
one-repetition mark. It's actually one of the core exercises on
www.bitethepillow.com. Seriously, the plank is something that
you do in first grade phys ed. Maybe the side plank is okay for someone
who's clinically obese and can't even get out of bed, but I never put
it in my programs. It certainly doesn't have value for the elite
training population. The plank is just too basic. It's like
power snatching with a broomstick. How long would you have to do that
before it made you strong? For "core work" I recommend what I always recommend: squats, deadlifts, and the Olympic lifts.

High Reps for Big Legs?
Q:
Back in the day, in the bodybuilding world at least, it was said that
you need higher reps for lower body training and lower reps for upper
body training. After a period of "go heavy or go home" it seems that
high reps (15 to 25) for leg exercises is back in vogue with some
bodybuilding gurus. Is this the best way to train the lower body? A: Well, when it comes to quadriceps, they respond to a much greater variation in reps. The
biggest quads I've ever seen on any member of the human species
belonged to a female speed skater on the US team. She made Tom Platz's
legs look like coach Mike Boyle's. (Well, not that skinny.) To build big quads you have to use protocols that produce a lot of lactate, and you have to use heavy-load protocols. So this girl trained using anywhere from singles to sets of 50 reps. So,
this statement about higher reps is true for quads, but certainly not
for hamstrings. It's also true for the erector spinae. If you want big
quads, vary your reps a lot. I think that sets consisting of two
minutes of continuous tension are actually very good for quad growth.
If you want big hamstrings however, you'll do best with less than eight
reps. That being said, you can't make the blanket statement
that "everyone trains legs too heavy." Much depends on your fiber
makeup. Elite weightlifters only do 2.2 reps on average per year and
they have huge quads. But if your legs aren't growing on sets
of eight and you came to me as a client, for sure I'd tell you to try
sets of 50. It all comes back to this: The training protocol is only as
good as the time it takes you to adapt to it. If you haven't grown in a
while, vary the method. If you're a bodybuilder who hasn't grown since Paris Hilton read a book (or, uh, colored one) then train like a powerlifter. And if a powerlifter hasn't grown, he can do timed sets like a speedskater. What
you have to do is look at evidence based on non-drugged athletes, then
look at the guys with the biggest quads. In sport, these are skiers and
speed skaters. What do they have in common? They train with a huge
variety of reps and training velocities. Lastly, let's keep one
thing in mind when it comes to these "bodybuilding gurus." Thirteen
guys out of the top twenty bodybuilders at the Olympia don't have the
myostatin gene that limits muscle growth. They could whack off and
grow!

The Safe 1RM
Q: Is there a safe and accurate way of estimating your one-rep max without actually doing one? A:
There have been quite a few studies done on this. The most simple way
to do it is to find your 3RM (three-rep max) and add 10%. This works
for 70% of the people out there — those with normal fiber type
distribution. There are people out there of course with
abnormal fiber type distribution. Let's say Johnny Fast-Twitch can
bench 300 for three reps. But he's so neurologically efficient that he
only does three reps at 80% of max. So his real one-rep max is 375, not
330. Now let's say his cousin can do 300 for three reps too,
but he has normal fiber type distribution. His one-rep max is 330 (300
pounds plus 10%.) There are people whose 3RM is 97% of their
max and people whose 3RM is 80% of their max. But for most people, the
3RM plus 10% formula is a good rule of thumb for estimating 1RM. And
let me add this: If you're not a competitive powerlifter, who gives a
rat's ass? Just find your best 3RM so you'll have a gauge of your
strength at that point in time. A set of three won't expose the average
guy to as high of an injury risk, although I do think the injury risk
is overrated when it comes to max lifts. It's all just a matter of
warming up properly. I typically like 6-8 sets in my warm-ups. A progression for the testing of primary lifts for the first attempt would look like this.
4 at estimated 40%, rest 10 seconds
4 at estimated 40%, rest 10 seconds
3 at estimated 60%, rest 30 seconds
2 at estimated 75%, rest 60 seconds
1 at estimated 80%, rest 120 seconds
1 at estimated 85%, rest 120 seconds
1 at estimated 90%, rest 180 seconds
1 at estimated 95%, rest 240 seconds
1 at estimated 100%, rest 240 seconds

Rep Counting and Self-Talk
Q: I read somewhere that you have your athletes count reps backward instead of upward. Is that true? A: That's correct. This allows you to stay focused on the goal while also being focused on the process. Let's
say I want you to get your best ever 5 reps on a lift. A lot of guys
will do one rep and think,
"Expletive-of-choice-that-rhymes-with-fire-truck, will I ever make it
to five?" By three reps they're thinking how heavy it is and they start
doing all this negative self-talk. But if they start at 5 and count
down, then the set is going to be over — five, four, three, two, one —
and they stay focused. By
the way, you'll find that champions have very positive self-talk.
Ronnie Coleman talks to himself the whole time he trains, and it's very
positive. I've heard one of my clients even talk to imaginary
audiences. He says, "You guys think I can't do it, then watch this" and
he goes and does a raw double with 550 in the bench. Same guy easily
curls weights that would impress people in presses. He says he imagines
strippers waving at him and cheering him on. Hey, whatever works for
you. The most important things said to us are said to us by
ourselves. So, only about 10% of the population responds positively to
being called names by their training partners. They have the "I'll
prove you wrong" mentality. This has actually been studied. Most
people however aren't motivated by this at all. If you really want to
motivate your training partner, stick to "You can do it. Let's go!" not
horrific negative putdowns such as "You lift like a Greenpeace
card-carrying vegetarian!" or "I've seen bigger arms on a chair, you
Ellington Darden fan!"

Bad-Ass Beta Alanine
Q: There's a lot of hoopla out there concerning the new supplement Beta Alanine. Is this stuff worth it? A:
I think Beta Alanine is great. It allows you to do more reps. I think
it's most beneficial when you work in the 4-5RM range. If you're the
type of guy who does ten sets of three (10 x 3), then it'll allow you
to get that up to tens sets of four or five (10 x 4-5). I've
used it a lot in the last six months and my athletes are making much
faster progress, especially at high doses. Up the dose until you get
tingly, then back down a little. I think people should take 10 grams of
it a day. Taking 3 grams a day is just far too small of a dose. That
dose is like trying to fart against a hurricane.

60 Minute Workouts: Still Ideal?
Q:
With all the new info and supplements we have now for peri-workout
nutrition, does the old rule about "never train over 60 minutes" still
apply? A: Yes, it does. I was
using peri-workout nutrition before most post-workout drink experts got
their first G.I. Joe. Peri-workout nutrition allows you to make faster
progress, but mentally, if you can train longer than an hour then you're really not putting any effort into it. You
have to be able to bust your ass, and most people don't. They have
their iPods on, they're reading the paper between sets, or they're
chatting up the girl with the biggest saline-enhanced front porch. When
I worked with the national bobsleigh team, there were some team members
who didn't think they could get a good workout in under an hour. So I
took them downstairs to train at the Olympic Training Center. Fifty-two
minutes later they couldn't walk up the stairs. They wanted elevators
installed! I'd changed their minds completely. I'll challenge
anyone to train with me for an hour. I'll put them in a wheelchair. And
I'm not just talking about lactate training; I'll do it with maximal
weights, too. Look at guys who are really, really strong
using full range. That means no six-inch bench presses where the bar
bounces off a trans-fat laden gut. The strongest of the bunch, the good
Olympic lifters, still train under an hour. Now, they may train several
times per day, but they'll never exceed an hour. Remember,
T-cells drop after 50 minutes. The immune system is taking a beating.
Use peri-workout nutrition, but still keep the workout at an hour or
under. Get in, get it done, get out.