Some random training thoughts as we barrel towards the holidays.
And by the way…
Here’s to safe and happy holiday season for all.
Training Thought
This is really a great way to get that final burst of blood to swell up your muscles and get that blissful pump. Arnold Schwarzenegger used to advocate this way back when…maybe he still does. I remember reading it for the first time in his chest training booklet that I got for 3 or 4 bucks (good money back then) around 1976.
He recommended pyramiding down 4 to 5 sets from 12 reps to 6/8 or thereabouts. Then, with no more than 30 seconds rest; cut the weight in half and bang out 15 reps. He was using bench press as an example.
So let’s say you do 135lb for 12…then, 185lb for 10…then, 205lb for 8…then, max out 215lb for 5 to 7 reps.
Immediately reduce the weight to 110 or 120lbs…sit back down…take a couple of breaths…and bang out 15 reps. Your pecs will be swollen.
Interesting, all these years later, Rusty is using a similar rep scheme in his program but he lays out all the science behind why it works. Whereas I think Arnold was just doing it empirically.
Give it try.
Training Video
I did chest today. For a ton of reasons – mostly around our family’s trip to Korea – I basically jumped off the fitness wagon from late Oct to early Nov. I’m back to working out. I’m using Rusty’s program as a template for my resistance program and using Tom’s program for nutritional and fat burning info (But there’s so much info in Tom’s 300+ page Ebook that I still haven’t digested all of it yet).
Anyways…
Working out at home and choosing to only use my Bodylastics resistance bands means I have to improvise. And this is a pretty good improvisation that works the chest muscles very hard. You don’t get a stretch – which is obvious from the video – but the contraction is really intense. It’s a lot like the cable crossover feeling. I call it my Bodylastics upside down chest fly.
If you use resistance bands give this a try. I think you could also do this with a dumbbell.
The key is to focus on the pecs and not your biceps. I suppose it could turn into a weird kind of dumbbell curl. But if you concentrate on moving your elbow and not your hand, the focus should stay on your pecs.
My chest routine is incline press…followed by this fly movement…followed by resistance band pushups. Gives me a great pump throughout the whole chest/upper torso area.
No Sissies Here…
Why it’s called sissy squats – I’ll never know or understand – cuz brah – ain’t sissy about it.
After my chest workout, I jogged for about 30 minutes for some cardio. After stretching the quads, I decided to do some sissy squats to – no reason, just to get some more blood to the quads.
Wow…
14 reps and my quads were smoked. And it really isolates the quads – no hips, no glutes – pure quad.
This is how I do it.
- I lower my knees, not my butt as in the traditional squat.
- I keep my body straight from knees to shoulder.
- This forces me to roll up on my toes as my knees move closer to the ground.
- When my butt hits my heels I reverse the movement.
- The descent and up is done slowly and under control.
- I hold a railing for balance only.
Give it a try. I’ll be shooting video of it – for shucks and grins eventually. That is when my official photographer is up to it. Maybe I can get her second to shoot it instead (that would be my 4 yr old sweetie).
Your thoughts?
