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Thatās probably why ren-ex site isnāt supported anymore. I know Ken doesnāt speak or write about ren-ex
Did he say what they were doing now, as an alternative?
When I look at the Inform Fitness web site, it appears to be one of Adam Zickermanās facilities, and they are still using/promoting 10/10 reps for their clients.
I suppose that they (Al & Josh) might consider themselves more advanced trainees, and thereby justify using a different (more advanced) approach for themselves. But if they still use SS with clients, they havenāt totally rejected the approach.
Regardless of rep speed the later two look like they are currently at least on TRT.
What is the perfect/best SuperSlow cadence/rep tempo?
Yes, the clients of InForm fitness are mainly older people, women. The message which I have been constantly delivering on this and old forum for a number of years that you need to train specifically for your goals: training old people, general fitness, powerlifters, bodybuilders with the same approach is a mistake. The approach to their training should be different. One size does not fit all. BTW, many people trained by Dr.D whose before and after pictures were included in his numerous books do not look like bodybuilders. And itās not the matter of body fat levels only. Training for bodybuilding purposes is different.
Albert uses 5/5 sec cadence or less, depending on the ROM of the exercise in question, if I remember correctly. He is interested in some IT tools aimed to control the speed of movement for its clients - he demonstrated it to me, but I am not into it. He definitely does more than one set and more than one exercise for slow twitch muscles.
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Iād say it depends on context and objectives. What kind of equipment are you training with? Are you trying to emphasize hypertrophy, strength, or power?
I think SS theorists start with an unnecessarily restrictive set of assumptions, such as: hypertrophy is the only objective, size=strength=power, extremely slow movements are the only safe movements, etc. The conclusions they reach are only as good as the assumptions they start with.
My opinion is that, for hypertrophy, at the end of the set, speed should be slow because you are struggling to move the weight. Before then you are just fatiguing muscle and as long as you are doing it safely, speed doesnāt matter. I think doing more concentric reps is a better way to fatigue muscle that slow reps.
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Seems silly now. All of the vitriol coming from REN EX, supported by Dr. McGuff, BBS, and all of the other supporters deceived by the marketing attempts of the above.
Just remember there was never any hard proof that SuperSlow would build up legitimate bodybuilders to a contest level winning conditioningā¦ josh never got there!
But who cares about bodybuilding? SuperSlow is a decent way to safely resistance train, and thatās about it. It does little for the hearts and lungs. There is now isolated usage of the CAROL bike in HiT studios, as the ostrich is slowly taking his head out of the sand.
What a colossal waste of time by everyone involved including myself, as none of this argument is not very important at all in the long term
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I noticed that an interview with Al Coleman has just appeared on the High Intensity Business site. Mr. Coleman has started working at a different training studio. He and his partner are promoting a new āpace controlledā method of training, one that involves the heavy use of a metronome (Google automated muscle). He has written a book on it, about to be published. I have yet to give it a listen, but I seems that his approach to training has evolved even further?
Interesting. Can you elaborate on this? What is new? Hasnāt Dr Darden advocated metronome training indirectly by his 30-10-30 or 30-30-30 routines?
As I said, I havenāt listened to the interview, and the book has not made it into print. I was mostly calling this to Boris Vās attention, since he has spoken with Coleman in the past, and appeared to know something about his then current training methods.
I did skim part of a promotional excerpt from the book, posted on Colemanās site. He fully admits that others before him have used metronomeās. I assume he feels that he has further refined the approach, to the point that a book on it is warranted. But you will have to read the book and listen to the interview and judge for yourself.
Thanks for this Al! I am intrigued by the concept of metronome training. Another way to spice up the training. Much because I am a drummer and already a friend of the metronome. Will look that up.
Thanks for bringing this to my attention. That āpace controlledā method is what I actually referred to when I mentioned IT tools aimed to control the speed of movement. Noted that there is another interview of BDJ posted on Jan 19, 2022 on High Intensity Business podcast. On the use of metronome: nothing you to me, BDJ recommended it long time ago in his Prescribed Exercise and HIT books written some 15-20 years or so. I am a musician myself, but I never liked using metronome for training. I canāt keep focus on both things at once and prefer to think about the tension/muscle fatigue/pump/inroad (whatever you call it). Being a follower of Vince Girondaās methods as well, I canāt stand any noises or music in the gym altogether.
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I had guessed that this meant equipping a machine with a position sensor so that velocity could be calculated and displayed to the user. I believe that Renex had previously equipped some machines with force transducers in order to give the user feedback on how much variation in force was being experienced. By comparison, a metronome seems like a lower tech option (even if digital).
How foolish is this when Josh and Gus did the Toronto experiment with static machines.
Food for thought, no one knows how statics fully compare to full range of motion exercise. Shameful! Pete Sisco has studied this better than anyone, and not parotting anyone like Drew Baye does. When is the last time he published a study? He will be biased in his current attempt to denigrate consolidated training.
Foolish? Iām not sure what your objection isā¦
One of the features of their protocol is to slowly ramp up force as you initiate the first rep. Force feedback would help novice trainees visualize this. And, at times in the past, they were in favor of using a squeeze technique at the end of a rep (push against a hard stop near the end of the ROM). Force feedback would let them monitor how much extra force was being developed.
The rest of the time, I suspect the traces were pretty uninteresting for dynamic exercise: except for demonstrating that momentum effects are small at slow movement speeds, and revealing how much friction is present in the machine, I donāt think the user would gain much useful information. And you donāt need constant monitoring of every exercise session to reach conclusions about friction and momentum. Youād just need to do some testing on a few prototypes.
They could also pin the movement arms and perform TSCās with feedback to the user. That probably lead them to the development of the iMachines. At the time, that seemed somewhat innovative. But 10 years on, TSC and monitored TSC donāt seem to be widely used, even at facilities that still employ Hutchins style exercise protocols. Even Hutchins has backed away from seeing value in monitored isometrics. So it makes me wonder; if TSC was really superior, why didnāt in take off more among his followers?
Good post
I spoke about pulse reps on Dr Darden and was mocked. I am sure Drew will take credit any day now for pulse reps.
Should 30/30/30 be a 30 sec neg, followed by 30 pulse reps?
No!
There is nothing special about eccentrics. The protein molecule Titin accounts for eccentric strength properties. Only competing athletes need train the elastic recoil properties of muscles. Actin and myosin filaments should be of paramount concern for non competitive athletes - most of us! Training regimens emphasizing eccentrics seem illogical.
Even if TSC IS superior, I find them boring af. Whether 30-30-60 or 45-45-45, trying to maintain 50%,75%, or 100% effort against straps or Ren-x imachines, or whatever is difficult at best, impossible at worst, and very boring either way. After a couple weeks of this I saw no results at all and decided to cut my losses and move on to something that showed more promise.
The only statics that worked for me were the Chuck Sipes statics of 3-4 sets of 5-20 seconds at the end of the chest workout. They improved my bench numbers dramatically and my shoulders and arms felt stronger as well.
Be that as it may, statics have nothing to do with 30-30-30, so I hope we can stay on the rails.
I still recall being told by some on the old forum back thenā¦youāre not doing exercise unless itās Renex!
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Smarter than I was with certain methods ā¦ Iād continue them despite shit results or even hating what I was doing just because who said it was the ābest wayā .
Wow , thereās a name I havenāt heard in a long time ! One of the first guys I saw in the magazines when I started ā¦ the first āofficialā strong man that I heard of. He was in the mags the same time as Harold Poole , Rick Wayne , Bill Pearl and a young Frank Zane , who at the time was still a school teacher. Remember Frank Zane ā¦ the guy who never reached his potential because he didnāt know how to eat and prepare for a contest ?? 
