Question of Strength 41

Walk the Plank

Q: Many coaches put plank exercises for "core work" into almost
every program they write. Is this a good exercise?

A: It's a good exercise if you're an eleven-year-old stamp
collector and you don't have a good work station. People in
the know recommend this position if you're having sex, and only
then if you can exceed the one-repetition mark. It's actually one
of the core exercises on www.bitethepillow.com.

Seriously, the plank is something that you do in first grade
phys ed. Maybe the side plank is okay for someone who's clinically
obese and can't even get out of bed, but I never put it in my
programs. It certainly doesn't have value for the elite training
population.

The plank is just too basic. It's like power snatching with a
broomstick. How long would you have to do that before it made you
strong?

For "core work" I recommend what I always recommend: squats,
deadlifts, and the Olympic lifts.

High Reps for Big Legs?

Q: Back in the day, in the bodybuilding world at least, it was
said that you need higher reps for lower body training and lower
reps for upper body training. After a period of "go heavy or go
home" it seems that high reps (15 to 25) for leg exercises is back
in vogue with some bodybuilding gurus. Is this the best way to
train the lower body?

A: Well, when it comes to quadriceps, they respond to a much
greater variation in reps.

The biggest quads I've ever seen on any member of the human
species belonged to a female speed skater on the US team. She made
Tom Platz's legs look like coach Mike Boyle's. (Well, not that skinny.)

To build big quads you have to use protocols that produce a lot
of lactate, and you have to use heavy-load protocols. So
this girl trained using anywhere from singles to sets of 50
reps.

So, this statement about higher reps is true for quads, but
certainly not for hamstrings. It's also true for the erector
spinae. If you want big quads, vary your reps a lot. I think that
sets consisting of two minutes of continuous tension are actually
very good for quad growth. If you want big hamstrings however,
you'll do best with less than eight reps.

That being said, you can't make the blanket statement that
"everyone trains legs too heavy." Much depends on your fiber
makeup. Elite weightlifters only do 2.2 reps on average per year
and they have huge quads.

But if your legs aren't growing on sets of eight and you came to
me as a client, for sure I'd tell you to try sets of 50. It all
comes back to this: The training protocol is only as good as the
time it takes you to adapt to it. If you haven't grown in a while,
vary the method.

If you're a bodybuilder who hasn't grown since Paris Hilton read
a book (or, uh, colored one) then train like a powerlifter.
And if a powerlifter hasn't grown, he can do timed sets like a
speedskater.

What you have to do is look at evidence based on non-drugged
athletes, then look at the guys with the biggest quads. In sport,
these are skiers and speed skaters. What do they have in common?
They train with a huge variety of reps and training
velocities.

Lastly, let's keep one thing in mind when it comes to these
"bodybuilding gurus." Thirteen guys out of the top twenty
bodybuilders at the Olympia don't have the myostatin gene that
limits muscle growth. They could whack off and grow!

The Safe 1RM

Q: Is there a safe and accurate way of estimating your one-rep
max without actually doing one?

A: There have been quite a few studies done on this. The most
simple way to do it is to find your 3RM (three-rep max) and add
10%. This works for 70% of the people out there – those with
normal fiber type distribution.

There are people out there of course with abnormal fiber type
distribution. Let's say Johnny Fast-Twitch can bench 300 for three
reps. But he's so neurologically efficient that he only does three
reps at 80% of max. So his real one-rep max is 375, not 330.

Now let's say his cousin can do 300 for three reps too, but he
has normal fiber type distribution. His one-rep max is 330 (300
pounds plus 10%.)

There are people whose 3RM is 97% of their max and people whose
3RM is 80% of their max. But for most people, the 3RM plus 10%
formula is a good rule of thumb for estimating 1RM.

And let me add this: If you're not a competitive powerlifter,
who gives a rat's ass? Just find your best 3RM so you'll have
a gauge of your strength at that point in time. A set of three
won't expose the average guy to as high of an injury risk, although
I do think the injury risk is overrated when it comes to max lifts.
It's all just a matter of warming up properly. I typically like 6-8
sets in my warm-ups.

A progression for the testing of primary lifts for the first
attempt would look like this.

4 at estimated 40%, rest 10 seconds

4 at estimated 40%, rest 10 seconds

3 at estimated 60%, rest 30 seconds

2 at estimated 75%, rest 60 seconds

1 at estimated 80%, rest 120 seconds

1 at estimated 85%, rest 120 seconds

1 at estimated 90%, rest 180 seconds

1 at estimated 95%, rest 240 seconds

1 at estimated 100%, rest 240 seconds

Rep Counting and Self-Talk

Q: I read somewhere that you have your athletes count reps
backward instead of upward. Is that true?

A: That's correct. This allows you to stay focused on the goal
while also being focused on the process.

Let's say I want you to get your best ever 5 reps on a lift. A
lot of guys will do one rep and think,
"Expletive-of-choice-that-rhymes-with-fire-truck, will I ever make
it to five?" By three reps they're thinking how heavy it is and
they start doing all this negative self-talk. But if they start at
5 and count down, then the set is going to be over – five, four,
three, two, one – and they stay focused.

By the way, you'll find that champions have very positive
self-talk. Ronnie Coleman talks to himself the whole time he
trains, and it's very positive. I've heard one of my clients even
talk to imaginary audiences. He says, "You guys think I can't do
it, then watch this" and he goes and does a raw double with 550 in
the bench. Same guy easily curls weights that would impress people
in presses. He says he imagines strippers waving at him and
cheering him on. Hey, whatever works for you.

The most important things said to us are said to us by
ourselves. So, only about 10% of the population responds positively
to being called names by their training partners. They have the
"I'll prove you wrong" mentality. This has actually been studied.

Most people however aren't motivated by this at all. If you
really want to motivate your training partner, stick to "You can do
it. Let's go!" not horrific negative putdowns such as "You lift
like a Greenpeace card-carrying vegetarian!" or "I've seen bigger
arms on a chair, you Ellington Darden fan!"

Bad-Ass Beta Alanine

Q: There's a lot of hoopla out there concerning the new
supplement Beta Alanine. Is this stuff worth it?

A: I think Beta Alanine is great. It allows you to do more reps.
I think it's most beneficial when you work in the 4-5RM range. If
you're the type of guy who does ten sets of three (10 x 3), then
it'll allow you to get that up to tens sets of four or five (10 x
4-5).

I've used it a lot in the last six months and my athletes are
making much faster progress, especially at high doses. Up the dose
until you get tingly, then back down a little. I think people
should take 10 grams of it a day. Taking 3 grams a day is just far
too small of a dose. That dose is like trying to fart against a
hurricane.

60 Minute Workouts: Still Ideal?

Q: With all the new info and supplements we have now for
peri-workout nutrition, does the old rule about "never train over
60 minutes" still apply?

A: Yes, it does. I was using peri-workout nutrition before most
post-workout drink experts got their first G.I. Joe. Peri-workout
nutrition allows you to make faster progress, but mentally,
if you can train longer than an hour then you're really not putting
any effort into it.

You have to be able to bust your ass, and most people
don't. They have their iPods on, they're reading the paper
between sets, or they're chatting up the girl with the biggest
saline-enhanced front porch.

When I worked with the national bobsleigh team, there were some
team members who didn't think they could get a good workout in
under an hour. So I took them downstairs to train at the Olympic
Training Center. Fifty-two minutes later they couldn't walk up the
stairs. They wanted elevators installed! I'd changed their minds
completely.

I'll challenge anyone to train with me for an hour. I'll put
them in a wheelchair. And I'm not just talking about lactate
training; I'll do it with maximal weights, too.

Look at guys who are really, really strong using full range.
That means no six-inch bench presses where the bar bounces off a
trans-fat laden gut. The strongest of the bunch, the good Olympic
lifters, still train under an hour. Now, they may train several
times per day, but they'll never exceed an hour.

Remember, T-cells drop after 50 minutes. The immune system is
taking a beating. Use peri-workout nutrition, but still keep the
workout at an hour or under. Get in, get it done, get out.

"I Wanna Look All Swole"

Q: I look pretty muscular in the gym, but once the pump is gone
I shrink like crazy. Why is that? What's my problem?

A: The problem is you're a skinny dweeb. Go home and hide behind
your mom's skirt.

Look, if you have a 19 inch arm when it's cold and flexed, your
relaxed arm is 17.5 inches. It looks way better than the guy with
the eleven-teen inch arm that goes up to 12.5 when he's pumped.

But don't worry, I made the same observation when I was a kid. I
believed (falsely) that I looked good when I lifted, but ten
minutes later I looked like Woody Allen. Why? Because I was built
like Woody Allen! During those days, I abstained from drinking V8
because I'd often be mistaken for a thermometer. When I got up
to a body weight of 214, that wasn't a problem.

Big Arms, Big Physique

Q: Is it true you have to gain a bunch of muscular body weight
overall in order to get big arms?

A: Typically, you have to gain 15 pounds of overall body weight
to add an inch to your upper arm measurements. Now, if you want to
go from 21 to 22-inch arms, which is enormous, it'll be more like a
25 pound gain.

Weider writers claimed that Arnold used to have a 22 inch arm
COLD. Arthur Jones said they were full of shit. Arthur Jones was
right: The Weider camp was full of shit. For Arnold to have a
legitimate 22 inch arm, he would've had to weigh 308.

If you're going from a 14 inch arm to 16, then 30 pounds will do
it. But going from 18 to 20 inches will require more like a 50
pound gain.

Editor's Note: For more on this topic, see Charles's article,
The Truth About Bodybuilding Arm Measurements.

Now, let's say that starting tomorrow all you did was arms.
There's something – and I think it has to do with acupuncture
meridians – that would cause your arms to stop growing until you
restore balance. So in other words, if you don't put four to five
inches on your thighs, then your arms will stop growing.

Bodybuilder Troy Alves has huge arms. We were talking about this
one day and he said he couldn't get his arms to grow anymore until
he started training his legs.

And remember, you have far more anabolic output from training
legs than training arms. So, all these people who don't like split
routines are retarded. If I train arms on Monday then Tuesday I
train legs, my leg workout will actually make my arms grow. The
next session I do my chest and back, which will help my legs and my
arms grow. The point is that the anabolic response you get is
systemic.

If your arms haven't grown since Hilary Clinton smiled, then
don't train them for four months. Concentrate instead on chest and
back work. You may lose half an inch on your arms, but once you go
back to arm training your arms will grow right away and surpassyour previous arm size.

In my years of putting size on, I found that the best way to
grow arms was to NOT train arms directly for four months out of the
year. I still did chins and dips of course, but no direct arm
exercises.

Poliquin's Power Foods

Q: TC wrote a great article about what he considers Power Foods.
What are
yours?

A: I like buffalo. It's rich in omega-3. All wild meats are good
actually.

Go to www.eatwild.com and put in your zip code to find local
sources. I recommend a diet high in meats, but you must be strict
about the quality.

I really like macadamia nuts, as they help build up
acetylcholine levels. Blueberries are one of the best foods for the
brain and they're rich in anti-oxidants. I recommend all
thin-skinned berries actually. Pomegranate juice also ranks high on
the list because of its heart-healthy benefits.

I like greens-type drinks because they alkalize the body. Figs
are a great post-workout food; they're full of minerals, especially
if you're Italian. Sweet potatoes are great, too.

Finally, I'll recommend a book I really like on the topic: The 150 Healthiest Foods on Earth by Jonny Bowden. Check it
out.