Lift Fast, Get Big
by Chad Waterbury


Accelerated Strength and Size
The
three-year anniversary of my first T-article has come to pass. I look
back on my articles much like a proud father watching his son score a
third consecutive touchdown in a college football game. But I think a
few stones have been left unturned. Mainly, I don’t think readers have
caught on to the importance of fast training.
So, I’m here to clear up any issues relating to this subject because it’s too damn important to be left alone.


The Science of Fast Training
Muscle
physiologists have discovered an important law of motor unit
recruitment: the faster the tempo, the greater the recruitment of motor
units. This is important because the more motor units you recruit, the
greater the strength and muscle gains you’ll achieve.
Our
nervous system is designed with an inherent, orderly recruitment of
motor units. In other words, low-force tasks such as walking around
your living room do little to induce muscle growth. Why? Simple:
walking requires very little recruitment of motor units.
Jumping
and sprinting, on the other hand, induce huge amounts of motor unit
recruitment that leads to substantial muscle growth. What’s the primary
difference between walking and jumping? Speed of muscle action, of
course! The proof is clear when you observe the lower-body musculature
of a gold-medal 100 meter sprinter compared to a hair stylist (i.e.,
someone who’s merely standing and walking all day long).
The benefits of fast training are:

1. Improved High-Threshold Motor Unit Recruitment
Quicker
high-threshold motor unit recruitment occurs with super-fast tempos
since you improve the recruitment of the motor units that have the most
potential for growth. What I’m referring to are the fast-fatigable (FF)
fast-twitch motor units that possess Type IIB muscle fibers. These
motor units are capable of inducing huge amounts of strength and
hypertrophy increases.

2. Improved Rate Coding
Rate
coding is also enhanced with fast training. This relates to a change in
discharge frequency of motor units with faster tempos. In other words,
the firing rate increases with increases in speed (power) production.

3. Enhanced Synchronization of Motor Units
The
last scientific element improved with fast training is enhanced
synchronization of motor units. As you increase the frequency of fast
training sessions, motor units improve their synchronous activation
during maximal voluntary efforts. This leads to more strength and
enhanced neuromuscular efficiency.
The three aforementioned
variables (recruitment, rate coding and synchronization) all work in
concert to enhance intramuscular coordination. But I’m not finished
yet! A few more advantages of fast training are:

4. Improved Intermuscular Coordination
When
you apply maximal effort to a load (attempt to lift it as fast as
possible), you’re improving your body’s ability to maximally activate
many different muscle groups simultaneously. This coordinated effort
enhances intermuscular coordination which, in turn, improves your
strength levels.

5. Altered Muscle Fiber Characteristics
With
a consistent execution of fast training speeds, the skeletal muscle and
nervous system adapt by converting many slow-twitch (Type I) muscle
fibers to fast-twitch (Type IIA and IIB) characteristics. This is
another perfect example of the specific adaptations to imposed demand
(SAID) principle.


The Missing Link
I
can’t even begin to name all of the misleading advice that’s been
dished out by newsstand muscle magazines, but one of the biggest
misconceptions is slow training. I don’t know why in the hell trainees
think they should lift a load slowly, maybe because it’s easier to lift
slowly, or maybe because they can "feel" the muscles working. Either
way, it’s pure bullshit that leads to inferior results.
If you want strength and size, you better learn to start lifting fast. How fast? As fast as humanly possible without compromising form!


Stuff You Didn’t Expect
The
first characteristic of fast concentric training that you’ll probably
notice is a relative lack of fatigue. In other words, you should feel
supercharged at the end of your workouts, not fatigued. That’s a good
thing! As my friend and colleague, Charles Staley, has stated many
times, "Don’t seek fatigue!"
My clients extol the benefits of
fast training because they constantly feel motivated to train
throughout the week. In fact, I often have to "hold back" my clients
when training in this fashion because they often feel they can train
the same exercises the very next day. You’ll feel like your nervous
system is constantly revved up!


Beginner’s Mission
If
you’ve been in the iron game for less than a year, I’m going to make
this as simple as possible. I don’t care what program you’re on or what
parameters you’re following; all I want you to do is start performing
the concentric (i.e. lifting or shortening) phase as fast as you
possibly can.
In addition, I don’t want you to think about tempo, at all. Here's your new tempo recommendation for all lifts:
Eccentric (negative or lowering part of the exercise) = controlled
Concentric (lifting part) = fast!
In
other words, I want you to perform the lowering phase under control
(1-2 seconds) before exploding the weight up with lightning fast speed.
Merely adding this element into any training program will be enough to
accelerate muscle and strength gains.
The reasoning relates
to science: fast concentric tempos lead to the greatest recruitment of
high-threshold motor units that possess a huge potential for muscle
growth and strength increases. In addition, fast training improves the
factors that compose intramuscular coordination: rate coding and
enhanced synchronization of motor unit firing.


Veteran’s Mission
For
those of you who’ve been inside the iron haven for an appreciable
amount of time, my advice is a little different. I want you to keep in
mind three primary methods to accelerate strength and size gains
through fast concentric tempos. They are:
1.
Stretch-Shortening Cycle (SSC) Training: Utilize a 20X tempo for all
lifts. In other words, lower the load for a full count of two seconds
before immediately pressing up the load as quickly as possible. This
method takes advantage of the stretch-shortening cycle that leads to
greater force and power production. (1)
As P.V. Komi stated in the phenomenal text, Strength and Power in Sport,
"The purpose of SSC is to make the final action (concentric phase) more
powerful than that resulting from the concentric action alone." (2) In
other words, training your SSC improves your ability to develop
incredible strength.
2. Dissipation of SSC Effect: This
type of training is the antithesis to SSC training. Just like it’s
necessary to train in different rep ranges, it’s also sometimes
necessary to offset the SSC effect.
In order to offset the
SSC, you should hold the load in the stretch position for four seconds.
This will dissipate any stretch-reflex that’s commonly known as the elastic potential of muscle.
In other words, your muscles can store energy, much like a rubber band,
and sometimes it’s beneficial to negate this effect to improve strength
and size.
The hypothesis behind holding the muscle before
performing the concentric phase is to minimize any energy that’s stored
within the series elastic component (SEC). Dissipation of this energy
source could potentially force the muscles to work harder to perform
the lifting phase (i.e., more motor units are recruited since elastic
potentials are no longer available).
3. Resting the Load:
The last example relates to the advantages of unloading a weight before
performing the concentric phase. When a weight is unloaded between the
eccentric and concentric phases, the elastic potential of a muscle
dissipates. Therefore, it forces you to build starting and accelerating
strengths.
Explosive strength consists of three important
components: starting strength, accelerating strength and maximal
strength. By unloading the weight between reps, you’ll improve two of
three vastly important strength qualities that build explosive
strength.
In order to obtain optimal strength and
hypertrophy training results, all three methods should be periodized
throughout your mesocycles.


Faster = Bigger and Stronger
For
those of you who want to totally revamp your program, I’ve got the
ticket. The following program is based upon scientific research, along
with my own successes with clients in all walks of life. It works, and
it works incredibly well for strength and size. Here’s what you should
do for six weeks:

Day 1
Sets: 6
Reps: 3
Load: 6RM (rep max)
Rest: 50 seconds between sets
Exercises: Dips, Front Squats, Chin-ups, Leg Curls and Seated Calf Raises*


Day 2
Off: Perform 10 minutes of medium-intensity aerobics, if desired. Rope jumping and jogging are excellent choices.


Day 3
Sets: 5
Reps: 5
Load: 8RM
Rest: 60 seconds between sets
Exercises: Flat Bench Presses, Deadlifts, Bent-Over Rows, Skull Crushers, Donkey Calf Raises and Barbell Curls.


Day 4
Same as Day 2


Day 5
Sets: 4
Reps: 6
Load: 9RM
Rest: 70 seconds between each set
Exercises: Incline Dumbbell Bench Presses, Back Squats, Upright Rows,
Close-Grip Bench Presses, Standing Calf Raises and Preacher Curls


Day 6 and 7
Off (Perform aerobics on one of the two days if desired.)
* These exercises are excellent choices, but feel free to substitute with a similar movement.


Explanation
For
the greatest benefit, all three of the aforementioned speed-training
methods should be used. The following periodization works extremely
well:

Weeks 1-2: Stretch-Shortening Cycle (SSC)
training method. Tempo: 10X (That's a one second negative with no
pause. "X" means to explode, to lift as fast as possible.)

Weeks 3-4: Dissipation of SSC method. Tempo: 14X

Weeks 5-6: Resting the Load method. Tempo: 21X
Increase
the load 2.5% whenever possible. The workouts in this program shouldn't
induce large amounts of fatigue. If you feel like you could perform
half of the workout again, you’re on the right track. Leave the gym
fresh and motivated — that’s the key to long-term success with weight
training!


Conclusion
Hopefully
I’ve done a good job at elucidating the benefits of fast training. If
you learn to train fast without inducing failure and excessive fatigue,
you’ll accelerate your hypertrophy and explosive strength gains. Let
science be your new training partner.
Try it! I bet you’ll like the results!


References

1. Zatsiorsky V.M. Science and Practice of Strength Training. Pg. 45, Human Kinetics, 1995.

2. Komi P.V. Strength and Power in Sport. Pg. 169, Blackwell Science, 1992.

© 1998 — 2004 Testosterone, LLC. All Rights Reserved.