Hey Chad:
I was wondering if you ever had the chance to read Charles Staley’s article on “Body Type and Training Strategy”,and if you had any personal opinions on how Brachiomorphic Body Type’s (long limbs) and Dolicomorphic Body Type’s (short limbs) should differ in some of their training choices? I know you have a vast array of clients and you yourself are rather tall and any opinions/key tips would be appreciated.
I haven’t read the article yet. Let me check it out and get back to you.
But I will say this; Charles Staley is one of my mentors in this industry. I owe a lot to him. Virtually anything Charles says is worth remembering. Therefore, I’m sure I would agree with his recommendations in the article.
I await your opinion’s/response. I will add that Staley has such a centered approach to his writings and tries to educate us all in the higher principles of life and training without pretense or ego,which is amazing considering his obvious knowledge and experience in your field. I also will add that you’ve helped me several times directly and i appreciate your Logic when it comes to providing T-Nation with Realistic/No-Bull training Solutions that work.
P.S Any news on your Book?
ChenZen, great post. I’m 6’4" and developing my arms has been an absolute motherf*cker. Waterbury’s programs/ideas are the foundation for everything I do in the gym, and I too eagerly await your response.
ChenZen,
First off, thanks for introducing me to Staley’s article. I somehow missed that article in the archives.
Second, I think it’s a very good article. If you’re at a sticking point with your strength performance, you’d do well to incorporate his recommendations.
But be sure to keep in mind what he said in the last paragraph. Don’t put all of your emphasis on the principles in the article. The article consists of interesting techniques that were gained from numerous observations. But keep in mind that the laws of strength and conditioning don’t change. In other words, if you’re lacking maximal strength, then you need to train for maximal strength. If you’re lacking explosive strength, then you need to train with explosive strength parameters, regardless of your limb length.
Bottom line: if you possess long limbs, focus a greater percentage of your macrocycle on explosive strength parameters. If you possess short limbs, you would probably do well to reduce your explosive training parameters in favor of more traditional maximal strength parameters.
Here are some generic guidelines I would use if I were you:
Long-Limbed - perform explosive strength training at the beginning of every workout, followed by maximal strength parameters.
Short-Limbed - perform explosive strength training at the beginning of one lower body, and one upper body workout each week. Or, merely perform explosive strength parameters every other week at the beginning of one upper and one lower body workout. But don’t reduce explosive strength training to anything less than every other week.
All in all, my man Charles gave us another enlightening observation to think about and incorporate into our own routines. Try it and see if it works for you.
Thanks for the input Chad.