Between ER work and kids’ field trips things have been quite hectic.  As a result, I have no topic/theme for this week’s WOW.  I did manage to squeeze in this workout (chest/back emphasis).

Lumbar Extension on SS Pulldown (as pre-exhaust for…)

MedX Leg Press (trash compactor setup: trapped between a lower turnaround and end stop technique-ouch!)

MedX Chest Press (did 3 rest-pause reps after failure)

SuperSlow Pulldown

Nautilus Pullover with SS retrofits

MedX Row with SS fall-off cam

The only intensity extender I used was the rest-pause at the end of the chest press.  Basically I shut off immediately at failure.  I keep my hands on the movement arm and wait until I feel like I can barely complete a single rep.  I then repeat this process 2 more times for a total of 3 reps.  My rationale is as follows:  As you approach failure you have recruit maximal motor units but are now trying to push on by increasing the firing rate of the motor units in play.  At deep inroad you are too weak to produce movement and further fatigue is (IMO) produced by continued increasing of firing rate and summation of motor units until all motor units are firing simultaneously (summation).  Deterioration of the deep inroad occurs as acetylcholine is depleted from the nerve terminal.  My theory is that rest-pause at failure produces multiple rounds of maximal recruitment and increased firing rate without summation and depletion of the motor end plate.  I believe (but cannot prove) that rest-pause at failure increases exposure to maximal fiber recruitment at maximal tension while avoiding the chemical/neurological fatigue at the motor end plate.  In a nutshell “Mikey Likes It!”.  Give it a try sometime and let us know what you think.

Post your WOW’s and your thoughts.

I worked out Saturday morning at UE.  I did the shoulders/arms/leg press portion of my 2-way split.  It was a great workout.  Afterwards I performed on on-site consultation with a BBS follower from Denver.  My WOW was as follows:

4 Way Neck (SuperSlow Systems)

MedX Overhead Press

Thick Bar Biceps Curl

Triceps Pushdown (J reps halves)

Thick Bar Wrist Flexion/Extension

Leg Press

It was a great workout, followed by a fun consult.  The first part of the consult was spent discussing ways to eek out the most mass and ideal body composition.  As usual, I tried to get the focus on the organism and recovery aspect of the equation and not as much on the stimulus side.  Sleep, diet, supplementation, hormone optimizing strategies and hydration were emphasized.  Indeed, I made the point that if all of these components are not optimized, it is best to avoid pushing the stimulus side of the equation, as it is likely to produce negative results.  One of the major things I emphasized was hydration and its importance in hormone signaling.  Without adequate cell hydration, the cell wall and its receptors are not pushed outward where they interface with the circulation and outer environment.  Also, cytosolic fluid osmolality is important for proper intracellular signaling.  So before you add some new intensity variable, try drinking at least 3 liters of water per day.  See the following PubMed abstracts for more.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16734759

http//www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12696593

Post your WOW’s and your thoughts

I took 9 days off between workouts to allow extra recovery from a heavy load of ER shifts.  I did the following WOW on Sunday morning with the kids “supervising”.

MedX Chest Press (followed by manual neck flexion sitting in the chest press)

Neck Extension on SS Neck Machine, directly to Lumbar Extension on SS Pulldown

MedX Leg Press (with strict lower turnaround and end-stop technique)

Nautilus Pullover (with SS retrofits)

MedX Row (with SS fall-off cam)

This was a great workout, largely due to the recovery interval.  The days after have been good as well.  Last Night Wendy and I saw The 5 Year Engagement. It was a funny movie, but with serious undertones.  The female lead in the movie is a psychology grad student who has to move away to Michigan, dragging her fiance along with her.  There was a scene that really struck me with regard to the value of many studies.  In the scene, a professor and a group of grad students are brainstorming ideas for a study to secure NIH funding.  Some of the scenarios are made up in order to fake out our female lead, but in the process of the leg-pulling, she comes up with a study idea that ends up getting NIH funding and becomes her doctoral thesis.  At one point in the movie, she even uses her ridiculous thesis as a measure of her fiance’s suitability.   In reality, the premise of her study was probably no better than reading a fortune cookie (my interpretation, not the movie’s).  As John and I plowed through the numerous studies that would ultimately make up BBS (or be discarded), I kept thinking about the old joke about fortune cookies that says, whenever you read your fortune out of a fortune cookie you should always add the phrase “in bed” at the end.   As I read the conclusions of all of these studies, I had to keep reminding myself that these studies needed an ending like a fortune cookie.  However, instead of adding “in bed” I thought you should add “for the first 12 weeks”.

When we try to devise training strategies to use over a lifetime, and try to gain guidance from the literature, we must remember that most of these studies are carried out in untrained subjects and for a 12 week study period.  If you really want to know how to optimize things over a lifetime of training, look to the posters on this blog for guidance at least as much as you do PubMed.

It has been a very busy 2 weeks, so this WOW is a 2-for-1 deal.  On Saturday 4/14/12 the kids came with me down to UE for a workout.  They are old enough now to enjoy seeing Dad suffer.  However, I paid them back afterwards.  Seriously, I don’t push them in any way, but they actually do put out impressive effort.  Even at their ages, it shows.

Lumbar Extension (as pre-eshaust for)

MedX Leg Press (with end-stop technique)

MedX Chest Press

Nautilus Pullover (with SS retrofits)

MedX Row (with SS falloff cam)

SS Systems Pulldown (Terry Carter Ultimate Rep- Heavy single, hold static in contracted position until dragged through the negative…done!)

On Friday 4/20/12 I put Sherry and Ed through their workouts with an emphasis on perfect form (especially the lower turnarounds).  They loved it.  I paid for it with the following WOW.

MedX Overhead Press

Bent Fly (Jrep Halves)

Thick Bar Curl

EZ Bar Reverse Curls

Nautilus Plateload Triceps Extension (with SS cam)

Formulator Flexion/Extension

MedX Leg Press

I am posting about 2 hours after this last WOW.  I work in the ER tomorrow, so I will update you on the “day after”.

I have nothing to post that can even hold a candle to a recent post of BBS commenter Skyler Tanner, so I will provide a direct link to his brilliant post on diet, hypertrophy and training.  Enjoy.

http://skylertanner.com/2012/04/15/musings-on-diet-muscle-gain-and-longevity/

Post your WOW’s and your thoughts.

I did the following WOW on Saturday.  My daughter came with me and did her own calisthenics during my workout.  Afterwards, I put her through Leg Press, Chest Press and Pulldown.  At 8 years old she is now able to perform a “real” workout and is actually quite strong.  It is really cool seeing her grow up.  I remember doing workouts with her in her car seat or a Pac-n-Play…time flies.

MedX Overhead Press

Thick Bar Biceps Curl

Nautilus Plateload Triceps (with SS retrofits)

Thick Bar Wrist Curl/Extension

MedX Leg Press

This week I have been thinking about the “nocebo effect”.   See the Wiki illustration below:

My first encounter with the nocebo effect was when I first opened UE.  At the time I was fresh off my SuperSlow certification and was heavily into discussing the preliminary considerations with clients.  I did all the new client intros myself and was very diligent and was certain to discuss with the clients how they should be on the lookout for exercise-induced headache (EIH).  I dutifully warned every client to notify me at the first onset of even an imagined suggestion of headache.  Instead of successfully avoiding EIH in my well-educated clients, I was rewarded with a near epidemic of EIH.  After several months of frustration, I changed UE’s policy on discussing EIH.  Instead of a detailed discussion, I insisted on a brief mentioning of avoiding headaches.  Usually something like: “if you ever have a headache or begin to get a headache while working out, make sure and mention it to the instructor”….Done!  After this change in policy our incidence of EIH fell to almost nothing.

You can also encounter the nocebo effect in your own training if you troll the webpages and discussion boards too much.  Whenever an exciting new protocol or cutting edge line of equipment pops up, the suggested improvements from this new protocol/equipment can also suggest the inadequacy of your protocol and equipment.  In an attempt to market and argue for a new approach, they might suggest that optimal progress cannot be obtained otherwise.  You must always keep in mind that some component of the excitement over new things may be attributable to the placebo effect, and that if you do not have access to their wares, you may experience the nocebo effect.  Please do not get me wrong.  I strongly support advances such as RenEx, X-force, ARX, Infimetrics and other protocols.  I just think it is important to remember that human skeletal muscle has enormous plasticity and adaptability, which can be tapped with even the most primitive of equipment and techniques.  Because so many approaches can work, lots of success stories are out there.  The placebo effect amplifies any perceived success, and given the intense personalities associated with HIT, a given approach can be argued for in a very intense fashion which may undermine your confidence and trigger a nocebo response to your own training.  I shudder to think that many of my pronouncements along the way may have set back as many trainees as it helped.  In the end, you should select a rational approach with what you have at hand and get on with your training with the confidence that you can succeed.  You already have the key ingredient: the most plastic and adaptable tissue ever to come out of millions of years of evolution.  If you look over the weekly WOW’s posted in the comments, you can see a fantastic variety of successful approaches.

Post your WOW’s and your thoughts.

Continuing with the 3-ways split for one more round than expected.  My schedule is decompressing somewhat, so I may go back to an A/B rotation.   My shoulder/arm emphasis was done at Fike gym at Clemson University as UE was booked up.

Barbell Overhead Press

Dumbbell Lateral Raise (Jrep halves)

Dumbell Rear Delts (Jrep halves)

Barbell Biceps Curl

Close grip Bench Press in Smith Machine

Dumbell Shrugs dovetailed with MAE grip exercise

I was able to do my chest/back emphasis at UE.  I included Leg Press because I may have a full week for recovery.

SuperSlow Neck Extension directly into Lumbar Extension on the SuperSlow Pulldown (as pre-exhaust for)

MedX Leg Press (set up for end-stop technique)

MedX Chest Press

Neck Flexion

Nautilus Pullover with SuperSlow retrofits

MedX Row with SuperSlow Cam (you know…with the “pinky finger” falloff).

These were both very good workouts.  My recovery for each was very good, even with the UE workout being more severe.

I think I have caught up all of the directory updates.  This week I have been getting lots of emails and feeds from the various HIT blogs.  As many of you know things have been getting quite heated amongst the different factions that should be making up the HIT family.  Instead, things are degenerating into HIT tribalism.  This will be a week of rest and recovery for me.  With these recent events in mind, I offer the following blog post from one of my partners, Dr. Edwin Leap, who is a renowned author and medical blogger.  Hopefully, we can all use our involvement in HIT/BBS to elevate our lives and create memories that we will want to….well…remember.

http://edwinleap.com/blog/?p=2106

I did the arms/shoulders portion of my 3 way split on March the 16th.

Dumbbell Overhead Press

Dumbbell lateral raise (jrep halves)

Dumbbell rear delt (jrep halves)

Barbell Curl

Cable Triceps Press (jrep halves)

Dumbbell Power Grip Forearm work (Bill DeSimone style)

I did Back and Chest on 3/21/12.  Once again my ER schedule has kept me out of UE which is pretty much booked solid (good work Ed and Sherry).

Weighted Chin Up

Hammer Incline Chest Press

Seated Cable Row

Infimetric Chest Fly

Lumbar Extension

Both workouts were good.  I had decent soreness and feel, but the 3-way split spared me from any excess fatigue.  This has served me well during this very busy period at the ER.  This is a good illustration of how you can slice and dice things to achieve a productive workout when things become hectic and recovery is limited.  I must say that I am looking forward to getting back to some bigger, more basic workouts as I am missing the metabolic whollup and the “carpet time”.

Recently I have received several emails from folks wanting to get on the directory or make amendments to their directory listing.  Things have been so busy that I have let these slip through the cracks (apologies to all).  I would like to use this blog post as an open invitation for anyone who wants to be added to the directory or make amendments to leave these requests as comments to this post.  This way I can have all the requests in one place where I can hopefully cut and paste them easily.  Once these additions have been made I will not make further updates until the end of Summer when I will again ask for updates.

Post your WOW’s, directory additions, and any comments.

Once again, I continued with a 3 way split done about every 5th day.  Recovery was easier after these body part splits, especially the day after, which helped during a very long string of shifts in the ER.  Modulating recovery based on my ER work is even more important than the type of workout I perform or the intensity extenders that I may use.  This is true because of the stress of the work and the circadian disruption involved.  This 3-way split has really been doing the trick.

I did chest and back on 3/7 at the Fike Recreation Center.  I called Ed to see if he could fit me in at UE, but we were booked solid….a good problem to have!

Weighted Chin-up (palms up supinated grip on the Hammer chin/dip tower)

Dumbbell Incline Press

T-Bar Row

Infimetric Chest Fly (used a parallel grip pulldown bar while laying on a slight incline bench)

I did Lumbar/Legs/Neck at UE on 3/12/12 under the watchful eye of Ed Garbe

Neck Extension on SuperSlow Neck with Alligator Cam (as pre-exhaust for)

Lumbar Extension on SuperSlow Systems Pulldown (as pre-exhaust for)

MedX Leg Press- set up for end-stop technique

Neck Flexion

Calf Exercise

The neck extension as pre-exhaust for lumbar extension was recommended to me by Greg Anderson who in turn gave original credit to Robert Francis.  Wow!  This really lit me up from the base of my skull all the way to my sacrum.  Heading directly into leg press really lit up the old butt-cheeks.  Give this sequence a try sometime for the ultimate posterior chain throw-down.

The infimetric chest fly really made me sore, especially in the clavicular portion of the pectoralis.  One of the hardest things to avoid when doing infimetrics is the urge to replicate the imposed-load experience.  It takes a lot of thought and mind-muscle connection to actually make the movement as hard as possible at every conceivable point.  It is particularly hard not to let up your effort in the portion of the ROM where it is easiest in an imposed load exercise.  Also, it has hard to remember to truncate the ROM in order to maintain maximal tension.  WRT the recovery issue, it is hard to say for certain.  Infimetrics does produce very deep inroad, but seems to do so with a relatively small mechanical workload and (when done correctly) almost no “outroading”.  I still await the input of others, especially Chuck Spencer, on this question.

I was thinking recently about how devastated certain populations have been by the neolithic diet and way of life.  The Pima Indians and Inuit come to mind.  I think their proximity to their ancestral way of life and diet has not given them much opportunity to make genetic and epigenetic adjustments.  This got me thinking that perhaps those that are most devastated by our neolithic diet and lifestyles may actually be a segment of the population that has the most intact neolithic gene expression.  Perhaps, those that seem the most damaged are in fact the ones with the greatest potential if they invoke their ancestral diet and lifeway.  I am not stating this as a fact…I’m just wondering.

Post your WOW’s and your thoughts.

I did the following workout on Sunday morning at 6am before work:

Lumbar Extension on SuperSlow Systems Pulldown (as pre-exhaust for)

MedX Leg Press-done RenEx style with end-stop technique

SuperSlow Systems Neck Flexion/Extension

Calf Exercise on the MedX Leg Press

In the days following this workout, I was impressed by 2 things.  First, the split workout left me feeling much better in terms of systemic recovery and seemed to positively affect the non-worked body parts in terms of appearance.  Second, the lumbar extension seemed to have a better effect on my entire back than the portion of the split that is actually devoted to the back.  I feel that the ability of the muscles that run from the sacrum to the base of the skull to fully contract seems to be a pre-condition for aggressive recruitment of the back muscles that are smaller or do not cross multiple joints or body segments.  If anyone else has had similar experience, I would appreciate your input.

Friday March 2nd’s workout was as follows:

Infimetric lateral raise- used a nylon strap about 30 inches long with handles on either end.

Infimetric bent raise (rear delts)- used same strap.

Infimetric biceps curl- done using a parallel grip pulldown bar that was about 34″ wide.  Arms overhead and used the rigid bar to transmit force from one side to the other.

Infimetric triceps extension- same bar and position as biceps, except flipped grip so palms faced out.

Power grip position finger flexion/extension for forearms (hat tip to Bill De Simone)

My approach to infimetrics was to just try to do whatever seemed to produce the greatest tension and effort at any given moment in the set.  This was truly educational.  In general, the pattern for me seemed to be as follows:  On the first rep of each side a 10-12 second cadence with full range of motion seemed best.  On the next excursion I felt the need to increase cadence slightly and felt the tension fall off at the outer limits of the ROM.  Next I began to speed up more as I truncated the ROM.  Next the ROM was restricted to the middle 1/3rd with a quick cadence that deteriorated back to slow movement.  Lastly there was minimal quick movement at the midpoint of the ROM that quickly degenerated to a pulsed static, then a couple of seconds of pure static.  Set duration seemed quite short, perhaps 1:00 to 1:20.

I did some experimenting during the workout and had some observations.  First, inroad was incredibly deep.  After lateral raises, I could not abduct my arms further than about 15 degrees.  Any further and the lever effect of my own arm produced too much force for my delts to handle.  At the conclusion of my workout, I could not get more than a couple of repetitions of lateral raise with 5 pound dumbells.  Second, as fatigue accumulates during the set, everything changes.  Cam effects seem to change.  Range of motion to produce optimal tension changes.  Requirements for cadence that produces optimal tension changes.  The implement you are using can become an impediment as fatigue accumulates.  As an example, the pulldown bar was too heavy to hold overhead for biceps….I had to sit on the floor and rest the backs of my arms on a bench behind me in order to take the load off the deltoids.  Inroad is so aggressive, I can see a need for your force transmitting implement to be as light as possible.

After my workout I played around with some of the free weights and machines at the Fike Recreation Center.  As I did so, I came to realize that infimetrics are a great teaching tool.  It points out in bold relief the limitations of any equipment or protocol and what is needed to milk the most from what you have at hand.  I must admit that I always felt a little baffled when advocates of different protocols used descriptions of how to best access their protocol.  When the RenEx guys said “find your low gear”, or when Brian Johnston or Andrew Short talked of “adjusting zones on the fly” or when John Little described how Max Pyramid could produce inroad throughout numerous muscle groups without movment, I only felt like I “kind of” understood what they meant.  After you do infimetrics, you can find your low gear on the proper movements/equipment, you can adjust zones on the fly with less than optimal movements or equipment, and you can learn how to recruit deeply when you are not even moving.  I think some of us are just better at feeling that muscular loading is an “intrinsic” process.  Even if infimetrics do not turn out to be THE protocol, they at least can teach the less gifted among us the skill of tapping into the intrinsic nature of the stimulus.  With this final thought in mind, I offer up the following article from PubMed:

Human exercise-mediated skeletal muscle hypertrophy is an intrinsic process.

I just returned from a mini-vacation to Myrtle Beach and am now back in the thick of life.  While we were in Myrtle Beach they were having their yearly Marathon.  The runners passed right by the front of our hotel.  I happened to notice this at a point where the mid-pack runners and stragglers were passing by.  It was quite possibly one of the worst looking collections of human specimens you could imagine…it looked like you emptied out a Wal-Mart and told them all to take off running.  Lots of limping and knee-wraps going on.

Because of my work schedule and UE being booked solid, I had to work out at Clemson University’s Fike Gym.  Because of how my shifts are staggered, I have decided to perform a 3-way split that will occur about every 5th day over the next few workouts.  Yesterday’s workout was aimed at chest, back and abs.

Weighted Chin-Up

Dumbell Bench Press on 15 degree incline

Dumbell Row

Infimetric Chest Fly using a parallel grip pulldown bar

Hammer Abdominal Crunch (similar to the old Nautilus Clam-shell abdominal machine.

This was a fun workout.  I am quite sore in my chest today, and I presume this is from the infimetric chest fly.  I found that to get maximal inroad, I had to alter range of motion and cadence as the set progressed.  Ultimately the inroad was so deep that I could no longer hold the bar that I was using to transfer the infemtric force.  This was definitely an “intrinsic” experience.

The podcast at bulletproofexecutive.com should be up in the near future.  Dave Asprey and Armi Legge are great interviewers, so it should be worth a listen.  Today I also did a podcast with a Dr. Duke in Europe and I will provide that link when available.

Doug Holland sent me an email with a youtube attachment of him performing a 20 rep squat with 247 pounds.  This has got to be the best squat form I have ever seen.  Enjoy!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kV5BAevh7q4

Post your WOW’s and your thoughts.