A question of strength

Q: My knees collapse when I do squats. I've heard of a trick where the exerciser wraps a belt around their thighs and concentrates on pushing against it while doing squats. This is supposed to solve the problem. What is your opinion on this technique? And if the knees buckle inwards, is this a strength or flexibility issue?

A: The inventors and advocates of this idea have really messed it up. Their interpretation of the problem of knees buckling is that it's caused by weak hip abductors. And then they have you contract your hip abductors while performing an exercise that primarily recruits the hip extensors (hip extensors), which results in confusing messages being sent to the brain.

Eventually, you'll be forced to use a ridiculous weight that doesn't properly overload the hip extensor chain. You'll develop a brand new faulty recruitment scheme and you won't correct the real causes of the problem.

I think this approach is quite idiotic at best. It doesn't address the actual potential sources of the problem such as a weak vastus medialis and/or adhesions between the adductor magnus and the medial leg flexors. This type of symptom is common in field hockey players and figure skaters due to over recruitment of the vastus lateralis and overuse of the hip adductors and hip extensor chain.

But how do you correct this problem? Well, the answer to this question is beyond the scope of this column as it would take about 8 hours of a seminar to cover this.

Q: It is a widely accepted rule that training sessions with low repetitions should include more sets and vice versa. Is this always the case? Is there a general rule of thumb for the number of sets and reps that should be performed or should we just keep an eye on the clock and keep workouts in the one hour range? I know this is pretty vague - so let's say we're talking about a genetically average guy who wants to increase his relative strength to get better at a sport.

A: Yes, this is always the case. Use multi-joint exercises as often as possible in training sessions with maximum weights. This will increase the likelihood of neural transfer for movements in the sport the athlete is playing.

Realistically, only one to four exercises can be performed during a training session for relative strength. The higher number can only be achieved if agonists and antagonists are trained with exercise pairings. This means, for example, performing a set for the chest muscles, followed by a set for the back muscles, followed by another set for the chest muscles, and so on.

Alternating agonistic/antagonistic exercises can also increase the activation of motor units as long as there is sufficient rest between sets. I used to recommend 2 minutes between a set of low repetition bench presses and a set of low repetition pull-ups and another two minutes rest before the next set of bench presses, etc. However, by statistically analyzing my athletes' training diaries, I have found that 1:40 is the optimal length for rest intervals. This length of time allows for sufficient recovery without limiting the weight used. Finally, you should keep the training time (without warm-up) under 45 to 60 minutes. Longer workouts will only lower androgen levels, making it harder to build muscle and/or recover.

Q: I would like to test the natural athletic abilities of my child who is 12 years old. I have heard that there is a test where a ball is thrown backwards in an explosive manner that is frighteningly accurate. I think it has something to do with firing the nervous system. Do you know this technique and if so, could you describe it?

What you are referring to is the so-called caber toss. This toss has been used as the best predictor of general athletic ability in the sports systems of all Germanic countries. My own tests have confirmed this concept in a variety of sports ranging from luge to volleyball to sprinting to judo. I even know of a study where this test correlated strongly with the ability to learn the technique of windsurfing.

The test involves throwing balls with three different weights backwards and measuring the curve of the test results. Depending on the age and skill level of the athlete, the weight of the balls will vary, but the distance between the weights will always be equally distributed.

This could look like this, for example:

• 2 pounds, 4 pounds, 6 pounds
• 8 pounds, 12 pounds, 16 pounds

Theoretically, you would throw the 2 pound ball further than the 4 pound ball and the 4 pound ball further than the 6 pound ball.

A national team once hired me to help them tighten their budget. They wanted to know exactly which athletes had the most potential and which ones they should invest their money in.

The first test I used was the "Caber Test" described above. As it turned out, many of the female team members showed no clear differences at the different weights. These athletes could not improve their sprint start times even though they had dramatically increased their strength. If you do poorly in this test, then your athletic potential is quite limited. That's why we were able to help the government save a lot of money and allow them to invest their resources in younger athletes who could then win medals at the Junior World Championships.

Q: I just can't manage to do front squats. I find them uncomfortable and I have to be careful not to drop the damn bar after a few reps. I learned how to do them from Shawn Phillips' article from Muscle Media. He recommends crossing your arms and placing the bar on your closed fists near your knuckles. Is this correct?

A: In my opinion, the type of grip you describe is quite dangerous. I have twice observed a trainee reach the point of isometric muscle failure in the rhomboid muscles, which resulted in lowering the elbows during the set. Sweat, acting as a lubricant, caused the bar to roll down and fall onto the exerciser's quadriceps as he reached the lowest position. From there, the bar rebounded towards his abdomen and he had to perform a kind of explosive limbo maneuver to squeeze himself back under the bar.

Needless to say, the strain on his knees and spine was pretty damn high - and that's not even taking into account the bruising on his quadriceps and the trauma caused by overstretched abdominal muscles and hip flexors. I believe that the Olympic weightlifter's grip is the only correct way to perform front squats. Make sure you always have your elbows up and in. If you feel like you're being strangled in this position, you're doing it right! To achieve this position of self-strangulation, you have two options:

1. Improve your flexibility: you should focus on increasing the tissue length of the wrist flexors, external rotators and upper arm muscles through appropriate stretching exercises.
2. Use bandages: If your arms are too bulky or lack mobility, you can use bandages. If you are having problems, you can pull the bandages forward and down while moving your hips back and up. This will allow you to drop the bar to the floor in front of your body so that only the floor, but not your musculoskeletal system, will be damaged.

Q: I saw a heated discussion about the benefits of ZMA for athletes and bodybuilders on a forum yesterday. One there said that ZMA only works if you are already severely deficient in one of the ingredients and that it wouldn't do much for the average exerciser. Another mentioned that you were a big advocate for ZMA. I would be interested to know if I should spend money on ZMA to maximize my testosterone levels.

A: The whole thing is as follows. Depending on the study you look at, 54 to 75% of the American population is magnesium deficient. As far as zinc is concerned, the variance is slightly greater. As far as athletes are concerned, almost 100% of all athletes who come to our clinic for the first time are deficient in zinc and magnesium.

However, I should mention that these athletes do at least 18 training sessions per month and that there is a strong correlation between their training volume and the degree of their zinc and magnesium deficiency. In other words, a long-distance runner is more likely to be deficient than a sprinter. Triathletes are probably the athletes with the most pronounced deficiency.

When I have given ZMA to my athletes, almost all of them have reported improved sleep quality, which is an essential factor in recovery. About 70% reported an increase in libido. One of these athletes had previously had problems conceiving a child and his low sperm count normalized after six weeks of ZMA supplementation. The magnesium contained in ZMA is of much higher quality than the cheap magnesium oxide usually found in other products. I was able to reduce the amount of magnesium I needed to consume to avoid further cardiovascular problems by 60%.

In summary, there is a good chance that ZMA can improve your performance in the gym. After about 6 weeks of use, you can expect to see maximum results.

Q: A few people in my gym use "body blades". What do you think of these things?

A: You mean those overpriced plastic ones with a foam handle in the middle? Modern legend has it that the guy who patented these things stole the idea from a zoo owner who had actually developed them as "dynamic elephant clitoral stimulators".

These things are about as useful as those rolling wooden sticks that women used to sit on to lose fat, or those vibrating belts that were popular in the sixties as a cure for cellulite. In reality, body blades are nothing more than junk touted by some pseudo-expert.

Q: Could you settle an argument I'm having with my training partner about descending sets? I would love to kick my training partner's butt, but since I married her a few years ago, that probably wouldn't go over so well. I believe that if you use descending sets on Scott curls, you should do about four reps and then reduce the weight. My wife, on the other hand, says that you should do the usual 8 to 12 reps until muscle failure and then reduce the weight for another set. Which method is better if the main goal is to build muscle mass? Should I switch back and forth between the two?

A: The fact is that you are both right. Both methods will work. Even in the earliest scientific literature that looked at determining the best load parameters for strength development, descending sets were superior to regular sets in terms of increasing maximal strength. Exhaust the higher threshold muscle fibers first and then increase the time under tension for the trained muscle group by reducing the weight.

The advantage of this method is that even if you want to perform the concentric contractions as fast as possible, the high tension will not allow you to use a high speed of movement, which means that both the load and the time under tension will be high. Depending on your muscle fiber type, your descending set will look different. Here are some examples:

Mode A: Descending sets for a person with more rapidly contracting muscle fibers

1. Perform a maximum of 4 repetitions
2. Reduce the weight by 10 to 15% and perform as many repetitions as possible (probably one or two)
3. Reduce the weight by a further 10 to 15% and perform as many repetitions as possible (probably one or two)
4. Rest and then perform 2 or 3 more descending sets

Mode B: Descending sets for a person with more rapidly contracting muscle fibers

1. Perform a set with your 2RM weight
2. Reduce the weight by 5 to 7% and perform as many repetitions as possible (probably one)
3. Reduce the weight by another 5 to 7% and perform as many repetitions as possible (probably one)
4. Reduce the weight by a further 5 to 7% and perform as many repetitions as possible (probably one)
5. Pause and then perform 3 or 4 more descending sets

Mode C: Descending sets for a person with normal muscle fiber distribution

1. Perform 8 repetitions with your 8RM weight
2. Reduce the weight by 5 to 10% and perform as many repetitions as possible (probably three or four)
3. Reduce the weight by another 5 to 10% and perform as many reps as possible (probably three or four)
4. Pause and then perform 2 or 3 more descending sets

Mode D: Descending sets for a person with normal muscle fiber distribution

1. Perform 6 repetitions with your 6RM weight
2. Reduce the weight by 20% and perform as many repetitions as possible (probably 12)
3. Reduce the weight by 20 to 25% and perform as many repetitions as possible (probably 25)
4. Pause and then perform 1 or 2 more descending sets.

Keep in mind that machines lend themselves to descending sets as they allow you to reduce the weight with minimal rest between sets.

Q: You once said during a seminar that you train with low repetitions of 3 repetitions per set on average, if I remember correctly. How is it then that you are so damn muscular? Is it possible to achieve hypertrophy with only low reps? Does this have something to do with your muscle fiber composition? Are you a mutant?

A: Basically, my muscles only grew after I started doing multiple sets with very low reps. The key here is the multiple sets. I am blessed with a higher than average percentage of fast contracting muscle fibers, so training with high reps is a waste of time for me.

In my experience, there is an optimal number of sets per muscle group for each person. Those who are blessed with a higher number of rapidly contracting motor units will always perform fewer repetitions at a given percentage of maximum weight. While the average exerciser will perform seven repetitions at 80% of their maximum weight, an individual with a high percentage of rapidly contracting muscle fibers may only perform three repetitions at the same percentage of maximum weight. Conversely, individuals with primarily slow-contracting muscle fibers who train aerobically may perform 12 to 37 repetitions at 95% of their maximum weight, while the average person will only perform 2 or 3 repetitions.

Since there is ample empirical evidence and scientific research to suggest that the development of maximal strength is best achieved by using weights in the range of 79 to 100% of maximum weight, it seems essential to determine the exact number of repetitions that should be performed in this range. For most people with primarily fast-contracting muscle fibers, the range for maximal strength gains is one to six repetitions, while most people will achieve gains in a range of 1 to 12 repetitions. In addition, individuals with primarily fast-contracting muscle fibers will typically use more sets and short rest intervals between each repetition (one to three seconds).

A friend of mine had Paul Gagné (one of the best trainers in North America) create training programs for him, but he made little progress with them. It quickly became clear that he was doing too many repetitions.

Today, he never performs more than 6 repetitions and his average number of repetitions over the whole year is 3.5. With this repetition range, he was able to increase from 93 kilos at 11% body fat to 103 kilos at 6% body fat. He can perform close bench presses at twice his body weight and his curl strength increased by 50% during this period.

Source: https://www.t-nation.com/training/question-of-strength-30, https://www.t-nation.com/training/question-of-strength-31

By Charles Poliquin