I am an old school weight lifter that loves multiple sets, and full range of motion. Range of motion was always deemed important and part of having good form. What if it's not that important. First how muscle fibers work...
Every muscle basically consists of millions of individual muscle fibers. When it receives an electrical signal from the brain a fiber contracts and becomes smaller. To visualize, picture a one inch long fiber suddenly contacting to ¼ inch.
OK, here is the important characteristic we need to know about. When a muscle fiber is activated it contracts completely, not by degrees. So it either contracts fully or it does not contract at all.
This fact determines how you should stimulate your muscles to get bigger and stronger. For example, when your biceps muscle tries to curl a dumbbell that is 30% of the maximum you could lift it does not activate 100% of the muscle fibers to contract with 30% of their power. They can’t do that. They can only contract fully and completely. What happens is 30% of the fibers contract fully, lifting the dumbbell, and 70% of the muscle fibers do nothing and therefore – this is important – 70% of the fibers receive no stimulation to grow bigger or strengthen.
That’s the way muscles work. It’s been known for nearly a century and it’s simple to understand. Your body only uses the muscle fibers it needs to use and no more. This is the law of muscle fiber activation and it’s why we need to lift heavy weights if we want to stimulate as much of a target muscle as possible.
So, range of motion, where is the weak link? Bench for example if you can get that weight above 50% you got it. Thats why you see the hot shots bouncing weight off their chests. To help get the weight past that weak point. I know I used to do it.
So static contraction, we want 100% of our muscle fibers working 100% to grow. So we take the stongest point of our range of motion and 150%-200% of our normal weight and try to hold it in that peak point (not lock out) for five seconds. (If you can hold it longer it's too light.) Then....... well your done, that's it that's your exercise for that muscle group. There are five exercises per workout 10 total then take 3-5 days off. Each return add 10% more weight. AND as you get stronger you take more days off.
Part of that makes a whole lotta sense.
Eccentric training emphasizes the negative or lowering phase of a rep. With this the same overloading principle takes place. Here we start at 130% and add 10% more weight each of the three weeks. Keep in mind these are done one arm or leg at a time so divide by 2.
Example bench on Smith machine: Max bench 300 X 130% = 390 / 2 = 195 (Remember Smith Machine bars weigh less) Start by unracking the bar with both hands and push up. Transfer weight to one arm and try to resist the bar as it decends to your chest. Press the bar back up to full extension with both arms and repeat the negative with the other arm. You do only 2-3 reps per side per exercise. This particular program adds in "Feeder Sets." These light weight high rep sets stimulate blood flow for maximum nutrient delivery and recovery. ie after eccentric bench press you will do 3 sets of 15 bilateral pec-deck flyes.
They recommend working in the 80% range (concentric) for a few weeks before starting this program. Three days a week, three weeks, then one week off.
How does this work in the Bluprint? I don't know....... Rob?
With permission I can post link and/or provide more info. This was getting kinda long and I don't know if it's relavant to the Bluprint.
