Sessions 1 and 3: Motor Skill Acquisition
This first type of training is performed twice per week. Ideally, they'd
be scheduled for Monday and Thursday. The goal of this session is to
perform as many repetitions as possible with a load that's at or above
80% of your maximum. But, this is done without causing a significant
accumulation of fatigue so that each repetition will be specific to a
maximal lift.
We'll use what I call a "giant cluster." With this, you'll have a certain
time frame (20 minutes, in our case) during which your goal will be to
perform as many reps as possible. The number of repetitions per set will
vary depending on the load.
Week 1: You'll use 80% of your maximum and perform as many sets of three
reps as possible in 20 minutes. I've found that sets of three are ideal
with 80%. Any more than that and fatigue accumulates much faster, which
requires you to take longer rest periods between sets and thus lead to
less reps being performed. Less than three reps won't lead to a significant
reduction in fatigue, and generally doesn't lead to an increase in the
total number of lifts (maybe in the total number of sets, but not in
the total number of lifts).
Week 2: You'll increase the weight to 85% of your maximum and perform
as many sets of two reps as possible in 20 minutes. Because of the increase
in loading, reducing the reps to two per set is necessary to maintain
a high quality of work at a high output.
Week 3: You'll increase the weights to 90% of your maximum and perform
as many sets of one rep as possible in 20 minutes. Since this is a near
maximal effort, doing more than one repetition per set will lead to a
decrease in the quality of work, which is unacceptable when focusing
on motor learning.
Week 4: This is a deloading week. You keep the intensity high (90%),
but instead of going for the max number of sets as you can in 20 minutes,
you simply perform half the number of sets that you reached in week three.
For example, if in week three you were able to perform 12 sets, during
week four you perform 6 sets of one rep at 90%. You can also take longer
rest intervals.
Exactly how many sets should you do? It depends on your level of conditioning,
work capacity, and fiber make-up. But, anywhere from 8 to 12 sets per
20-minute period is the norm. Really efficient athletes will be able
to reach 12 to 15 sets. But the important thing is that each repetition
is perfect.
As I mentioned, you have two of these sessions per week. In each of
these sessions, you'll have three primary exercises, leading to a total
training time of 60 minutes. You have two possible choices: Either you
pick the same three exercises for both sessions or you use different
ones.
The first option (same exercises) is optimal if you're trying to maximize
strength in those three lifts. It's a bit like Bulgarian lifting — they
only train the snatch, clean and jerk, and squat. The fewer exercises
you have and the more practice you have on them, the more efficient you
become. It's like somebody who wants to become a tennis player. They'll
improve their game more if they focus only on tennis than if they play
tennis, racquetball, and squash.
The second option (different exercises) is more effective if you're
after a more general increase in strength. Most people will do better
on this second option, while powerlifters and Olympic lifters generally
do better with the first option.
Regardless of the option you choose, the exercises you select will be
the same for all four weeks of training.
When selecting the three exercises you must pick:

• One upper body pushing exercise

• One overall lower body exercise

• One upper body pulling exercise

A good example would be:

• Incline bench press

• Sumo deadlift

• Bent-over barbell rowing
Yes, I'm aware that the bent-over barbell row has gotten a bad rep as
an upper back builder. This is because the neural drive to the lats and
rhomboids is reduced because you also have to recruit the lower back
and lower body to maintain a proper lifting posture. This is a con for
a muscle-building phase, but it's actually a pro for a CNS-development
phase since it'll lead to a great total neural output.
Here's a list of more excellent movements to pick from:
Upper body pushing: bench press, incline bench press, decline bench
press, standing military press, push press, dumbbell bench press, dumbbell
incline press, dumbbell decline press

Note: Declines are a slightly inferior choice in this specific case
because there isn't as much total muscle mass being involved due to the
relative inactivity (compared to other presses) of the deltoid.
Overall lower body: sumo deadlift, snatch-grip deadlift, deadlift standing
on a podium, conventional deadlift, back squat, front squat, overhead
squat

Note: I generally prefer a deadlift to a squat because more muscle groups
are involved, especially in the upper body. In that case, the better
choices are the sumo, snatch-grip, and podium deadlifts because they
involve the lower body more than other types of deadlifts. That's not
to say that squats aren't a good choice. Far from it! You could perform
a deadlift on Monday and a squat on Thursday, for example.
Upper body pulling: bent-over barbell rowing, one-arm dumbbell rowing,
T-bar rowing, bent-over dumbbell rowing, chest-supported dumbbell rowing,
chest-supported T-bar rowing, weighted chin-ups or pull-ups

Note: Normally, you select a pulling exercise that directly antagonizes
the selected pushing exercise. If you select a horizontal pressing movement
(bench press) then you're better off with a horizontal pulling exercise
(bent-over row). Likewise, it's best to pair a vertical pressing movement
(military press) with a vertical pulling movement (chin-up or pull-up).
If you go with an incline pressing movement, both choices in pulling
movements are acceptable.


A Special Note on Frequency
Motor skill acquisition training isn't overly taxing because none of
the sets are that challenging. That's actually the goal! Because this
isn't a draining session, you can actually perform it twice in one day
if you take four to six hours between sessions.
Don't add days, however, because it'll screw up the design of the week.


Benefits of Isometric Exercises
Since our second type of workout involves the use of isometrics, we'll
first run through the nitty gritty science behind their effectiveness.
Here's an excerpt from my latest book, High Threshold Muscle Building:
1. Isometric strength, or the capacity to produce force during a static
muscle action, is higher than concentric (lifting) strength. In most
individuals, isometric strength is 10 to 15% higher than concentric strength
(Schmidtbleicher, 1995). This high force production can be used to spark
positive neural adaptations that can lead to a significant increase in
strength. Remember, the more force you produce, the more high-threshold
motor units you recruit.
2. In most individuals, more HTMU's are recruited during a maximal isometric
action than during a regular lifting movement. This is especially true
in beginners. In that regard, isometric exercises can be used to develop
the nervous system's capacity to recruit these HTMU's. As your CNS becomes
more efficient at recruiting HTMU's during isometric actions, its overall
capacity to tap into these powerful fibers will also increase. As a result,
you'll eventually become more efficient at recruiting HTMU's in regular
lifting movements. More HTMU's recruited equals more muscle growth and
greater strength gains.

3. Isometrics can be used as a potentiating method. Potentiation is
the act of making a movement more efficient by pairing it with a previous
activity. Potentiation can either be stimulated by explosive movements
or by maximal voluntary contractions. The later being called "post-tetanic
potentiation." The tetanus refers to a state of muscular activation that
occurs either during a long muscular contraction or a very intense contraction.
The tetanus can be explained as the summation of all the available motor
units.
It's been found that the force of the twitch of a muscle fiber is more
important after, rather than before, the brief tetanus. This effect is
present even five minutes after the tetanus
(O'Leary et al. 1997, Gullich and Schmidtbleicher 1995). In fact, during
a seven-second tetanus, the capacity to apply force decreases by 15%.
While this capacity is increased by 28% after one minute, 33% after two
minutes, and 25% after five minutes (O'Leary et al. 1997). So, it appears
that the capacity to produce force is greater two to three minutes after
the cessation of the tetanic effort.
This increase in the capacity to produce force after a certain stimulation
is called post-tetanic potentiation (PTP). The most effective way to
promote a large PTP is to place an intense stimulation on a muscle via
a maximal effort/maximal tension contraction for a length of 5 to 10
seconds (Brown and von Euler, 1938, Vandervoort et al. 1983).
PTP can increase contraction strength, especially in fast-twitch fibers
(Bowman et al. 1969, Standeart, 1964). PTP also improves the rate of
force development (Abbate et al, 2000). So, it can be used to potentiate
both heavy lifting and explosive movements (Gullich and Schmidtbleicher
1997).
PTP works by increasing the phosphorylation of the myosin light chains,
which makes the actin-myosin more sensitive to calcium in the subsequent
twitch (Grange et al. 1993, Palmer and Moore 1989, O'Leary et al. 1997).
This isn't chiefly important, but, if you wish, you can grab a physiology
textbook and review the sliding filament theory of muscular contraction
to see how this would increase the capacity to produce force.
To make a long story short, maximal isometrics would seem to be the
best way to take advantage of the PTP phenomenon for a couple of reasons:

A) The force production is higher during an isometric action. More force
produced equals greater potentiation.

B) Isometric movements are less tiring than concentric/regular exercises.
As a result, potentiation (which improves performance) is increased while
fatigue (which decreases performance) isn't significantly elevated. The
end result being a greater improvement in force production potential.
To take advantage of this method, you should perform a five to ten second
maximal isometric action (of an overcoming nature) two to three minutes
prior to a heavy (or explosive) set of a regular exercise. This potentiating
effect can be used to further increase strength, power, and size gains.
4. Isometric exercises can be used to strengthen a weak point in a lift.
The strength gained from isometric exercise is "angle specific," meaning
that you increase strength mostly at the angle being trained (there is
a 15 degrees carryover). This can be seen as both a limitation and benefit.
A limitation in that to strengthen the whole range of motion, you must
train at least three joint angles per movement. But, the benefit is that
isometrics can be used to strengthen a specific point in a movement's
range of motion (sticking point).
For example, if your bench press sticking point is at the mid-range
of the concentric portion, you can utilize isometric work at that specific
position to strengthen that weak point without significantly increasing
fatigue or increasing the required post-workout recovery time.
5. Isometric strength is important for several athletic actions. For
example, every movement that requires the athlete to hold a pre-determined
body position (e.g. alpine skiing's bent knees position) requires great
isometric strength. Actions where there is a rapid switch from eccentric
to concentric (running, changes of direction, etc.) also need isometric
strength since before the switch can occur, the resistance must be stopped
and that requires both eccentric and isometric strength.


6. Maximum intramuscular tension is attained for only a brief period

in dynamic exercises. This is mostly due to the fact that the resistance

has velocity and acceleration components. On the other hand, with isometric

exercises you can sustain that maximal tension for a longer period of

time.

For example, instead of maintaining maximum intramuscular tension for

0.25 to 0.5 seconds in the concentric portion of a dynamic movement,

you may sustain it for around three to six seconds during an isometric

exercise. Strength is greatly influenced by the total time under maximal

tension. If you can add ten to twenty seconds of maximal intramuscular

tension per session, then you increase your potential for strength and

especially size gains.











Session 2: Isometric/Explosive Contrast

So, to get back to our training program, using isometric exercises can

boost your motor unit recruitment and your strength in subsequent exercises.

This isometric/explosive contrast session is performed either the day

after the first workout day (Tuesday) or two days after (Wednesday).

In the later case, you have one rest day between both sessions. I recommend

training the day after if you only performed one workout the day before,

but waiting until Wednesday if you did two workouts on the first day.

The weekly schedule can thus look like this:



Monday: Motor skill acquisition (one workout)

Tuesday: Isometric/explosive

contrast

Wednesday: Off

Thursday: Motor skill acquisition

Friday: Off

Saturday: Overload

Sunday: Off

Or like this:



Monday: Motor skill acquisition (two workouts)

Tuesday: Off

Wednesday: Isometric/explosive contrast

Thursday: Motor skill acquisition

Friday: Off

Saturday: Overload

Sunday: Off

Note that the isometric/explosive contrast sessions don't cause muscle

damage so it can be performed the day before or the day after another

workout.

Here we'll use a combination of two exercises — one isometric

and one explosive for each movement pattern. The first one (isometric)

will be used to increase motor unit recruitment and improve the performance

in the following explosive movement. The explosive drill will be used

to develop power and neural efficiency.

Ideally, you'd include the following patterns in your workout:



• Upper body pushing



• Overall lower body



• Upper body pulling

However, in the latter, it's pretty hard to perform a correct explosive

movement and an isometric one can be awkward. So, in reality I recommend:



• Whole body



• Overall lower body



• Upper body push

The whole body selection requires you to be able to perform the Olympic

lift variations at least somewhat efficiently. If you can't, you might

want to use dumbbell swings.

Some of my favorite exercises pairings are:



• Conventional deadlift isometric hold and power clean from the

hang











• Back squat isometric hold and jump squat with 20 to 30% of your

max squat











• Bench press isometric hold and speed bench press with 45 to 55%

of your max bench





Or, if you prefer to go with a vertical pressing movement, you can do:



• Military press isometric hold and push press with 65 to 75% of

your max military press







The isometric exercise is performed for sets of six to nine seconds,
obviously pushing as hard as humanly possible. Don't go above ten seconds
because ATP-CP stores are pretty much depleted after ten to twelve seconds,
which leads to a drop in maximal force production. This is bad for a
neural development phase. However, longer isometric holds can be used
during hypertrophy phases.







For the explosive exercise, the objective is to produce a very high
level of acceleration on each repetition. This is why you should limit
your reps to no more than:








• 3 to 5 for the Olympic lifting variations
and speed version of the traditional strength exercises (bench, squat,
etc.)








• 6 to 8 for weighted jumping exercises (jump
squats, jump lunges)








• 8 to 10 for regular jumping exercises, medicine
ball throws, and plyo push-ups







Each exercise pairing is called a "complex" and is performed with 90
to 120 seconds of rest between the first and second exercise. For example:








A1) Isometric bench press hold







Max force for 6 to 9 seconds







90 to 120 seconds of rest








A2) Speed bench press







3 to 5 max acceleration reps







90 to 120 seconds rest







Each complex is performed 6 to 8 times.









Session 4: Overload and Tendon Strengthening







The third type of workout in the week is also the most demanding. This
is why it's to be performed after a day of complete rest and also why
you take a day of rest afterwards. This way the workout is nestled nicely
between two off days.







The objective of this session is to use a heavier weight than you can
normally use in the basic movement patterns being trained. This is accomplished
by doing partial movements and accentuated eccentrics.














Another method that'll be used on this day is super high-rep sets. Tendons
can be strengthened via supramaximal loading, but they require very high
reps to optimally adapt to training. This is because there's very little
blood supply to the tendons. Eastern European athletes have been using
super rep sets (100 to 200 reps) to improve tendon structural integrity
and recovery for decades.







All and all, this session will desensitize your inhibitory reflexes,
allowing you to use a greater percentage of your strength. It'll also
improve the structural integrity of your tendons, as well as the efficiency
of your nervous system.

The first part of the workout includes the overload training itself.
Just like with the practice training/motor skill acquisition, you'll
train these basic movement patterns:








• Upper body pushing








• Overall lower body








• Upper body pulling







But this time you'll use two exercises per movement pattern. The two
exercises are to be of the same movement pattern (e.g. horizontal pressing:
bench press), but the first one is a partial movement while the second
one is an accentuated eccentric movement. Both exercises are performed
alternatively (e.g. one set of A1, two minutes of rest, one set of A2,
two minutes of rest, one set of A1, etc.).







Good pairings include:







Upper body pushing: partial bench press in the power rack (bar starts
above the sticking point) plus manual eccentric bench press







In the manual eccentric technique, you use a bar weight of 70 to 80%.
Your partner applies pressure on the bar during the eccentric/lowering
portion of the movement. The goal is to lower the bar in five seconds.
As long as you can lower it in five seconds, he can apply more pressure.
If the bar drops down faster, he should reduce the amount of pressure
applied.







At the end of the eccentric phase, the partner releases the bar and
lets you lift it back up to the starting position. When doing manual
eccentrics, sets of three to five reps are performed. The partner adjusts
the resistance depending on your fatigue level.







Overall lower body: partial sumo deadlift in the power rack (the bar
can start anywhere from mid-shins to just above the knees) plus eccentric-only
deadlift







The eccentric-only deadlift used to be a favorite of Olympic lifting
coach Pierre Roy. Use anywhere from 90 to 110% of your max deadlift.
Going heavier than that's dangerous and isn't more productive.







You pick up the bar from a pair of blocks (so that you barely have to
lift it up to get to the starting position), then take two steps back
to clear the blocks. You then proceed to lower the bar to the floor as
slowly as humanly possible.







Shoot for at least a five-second lowering phase, but seven to ten seconds
is better. One thing that's very important is that you should lower the
bar using a perfect body position and technique
— arched lower back, chest out, hips back and down. You can use
either a sumo or conventional stance. During this type of exercise, only
one repetition is performed.







Upper body pulling: partial pull-ups and negative pull-ups







In the partial pull-ups, you start from the bottom position and pull
yourself up as high as you can. Select a load (if you add weight) that'll
only allow you to pull yourself halfway up to the finish position.







In the negative pull-ups, use around 10% more weight than for the partials.
Use a bench to get into the proper position (the finished position of
a pull-up) and lower yourself down as slowly as humanly possible. Since
this exercise is technically easier than the eccentric deadlift, you
should aim to lower yourself in at least ten seconds, with fifteen seconds
being better. If you can lower yourself down under control in fifteen
seconds, add more weight. Again, only one repetition is performed.














For the partial movements, you shoot for sets of three to five reps
with as much weight as you can handle. You then take 90 to 120 seconds
of rest before moving on to the eccentric exercise.







Each pairing (or complex) is performed for four to five sets.







The second portion of the workout is much simpler. You simply pick one
exercise for the movement patterns above and perform 100 to 200 total
reps. That's it.







Note that these reps don't have to be performed straight through. You
can take short pauses of five to ten seconds during the set. Also, pick
a very light load. The goal here isn't to hit muscle failure; this isn't
a muscle-building movement. The objective is simply to increase blood
flow and tendon integrity.







So, you could select:








Upper body pushing: bench press, decline press, dumbbell press, dumbbell
incline press, machine chest press (only pick one)








Lower body: bodyweight squats, leg press, hack squats, wide-stance bodyweight
squats (only pick one)








Upper body pulling: Cable seated row, machine seated row, chest-supported
T-bar row, chest-supported dumbbell row, lat pull-down (only pick one)









What About Isolation Work?







It's pretty easy to see how this first phase of training will build
a lot of strength. It's also fairly obvious to most that this increase
in strength will also lead to gains in overall muscle thickness and density.
But what about the guns, man? Sure, there's no isolation work
for the biceps (or any other muscle group, for that matter), but don't
worry. Isolation exercises will make a comeback in Phase II, and especially
Phase III.







In the mean time, you won't lose any arm size on this program. Heck,
you'll be pulling and pushing heavy weights four times a week! Is that
enough to make your arms grow? In some people, yes. In others, no. But
one thing's for certain, it's enough to maintain arm size for the duration
of this phase.














But, if you're the kind of person who goes crazy if he doesn't have
his curls, then feel free to add ten to fifteen minutes of
"beach work" at the end of the second skill acquisition session.







So, the plan becomes:








Monday: Motor skill acquisition (one workout)
Tuesday: Isometric/explosive
contrast
Wednesday: Off
Thursday: Motor skill acquisition plus 10 to 15 minutes of
beach work
Friday: Off
Saturday: Overload
Sunday: Off







Or...








Monday: Motor skill acquisition (two workouts)
Tuesday: Off
Wednesday: Isometric/explosive contrast
Thursday: Motor skill acquisition
plus 10 to 15 minutes of beach work
Friday: Off
Saturday: Overload
Sunday: Off







During that time, you're free to perform any exercise or training technique
that fits the bill. But, under no circumstances are you to exceed that
time frame (yes, use a timer). Overdoing isolation work during this first
phase will compromise the efficacy of it.







Supplements to Enhance This Phase of Training







This phase relies heavily on the nervous system, and the heavy lifting
puts a lot of strain on your joints. For those reasons, the three best
supplements to use for this training phase are:








• Spike pre-workout to get you in the zone and rev-up your nervous system








• Power
Drive post-workout to enhance neural recovery








• Flameout to help reduce inflammation







Personally, I wouldn't do this program without these three. Can it be
done without them? Sure. But for optimal results, you must use an optimal
strategy, and that includes the right supplements.







Obviously, this goes on top of the basics of proper post-workout nutrition
(Surge)
and
creatine .
The creatine will be especially effective on the motor skill acquisition
days to increase the rate of ATP-CP regeneration, which will allow you
to perform more quality sets.









It Has to Be Said







I know that someone, somewhere will eventually ask if this is a good
program to follow while "cutting." My answer to that is, "Do you think
you can outrun the shotgun that I'm about to shoot at your arse?"














This would probably be one of the dumbest things you could do. This
whole three-month program is designed with the purpose of turning you
into a walking brick wall. To do so, you'll need to lift mountains of
iron and give your body enough nutrients to grow. Simply put, this can't
be done while trying to cut.









Until Next Time







As you'll see in Part II of this series, each phase is in fact a stepping
stone to the next. And this first phase is actually the foundation of
the whole program; your end results will be proportional to how well
this first phase went.









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LLC. All Rights Reserved.