[quote]Strength and endurance are relative – if I can do sets of 15 pistols and someone else can only do 1. They would be working maximal strength while I would be working endurance. If some of the exercises are focused on too much on endurance, change them to suit your needs. For example, use one leg or jump on a platform or box. Explode up from a pistol onto a 24" box.
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nah… if someone can hardly do one it could be completely due to coordination (motor programming) or mobility issues…
i’ve never seen someone doing a pistol look as if they were grinding out a rep like it were a 1RM squat…
there’s weak ass people who can do pistols like they are nothing… then people 10x stronger than them that can’t do one at all… has nothing to do with maximal strength.
Pistols do take a lot of coordination and balance, what about 2 or 3 reps then? When I grind out reps on pistols when I hold dumbbells, KBs, or weight plates.
Maybe the people 10x stronger than the “weak ass” people should work on their balance and mobility. Just my $.02. But then again I guess it depends on their goals.
[quote]Yosh wrote:
You’re isometric info is interesting.
Pistols do take a lot of coordination and balance, what about 2 or 3 reps then? When I grind out reps on pistols when I hold dumbbells, KBs, or weight plates.
Maybe the people 10x stronger than the “weak ass” people should work on their balance and mobility. Just my $.02. But then again I guess it depends on their goals.
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ya the iso stuff is interesting… i did them for 2 weeks and my thighs did grow… i wanted to do them longer but i didn’t like how they were affecting my jumping… i did them as an experiment, i wanted it to last much longer.
well ya if you start adding resistance to the pistol, then you can achieve a somewhat true test of maximal strength in that movement… you have to have alot of experience with that movement though of course, it takes “more skill” then a double leg squat.
well, the “10x stronger people” might have incredible balance… they might be NFL athletes for instance… take NFL defensive backs & wide receivers for example… i’d be willing to bet that 50% (probably even lower though) of them could do a great pistol within a week, and the other 50% would still be struggling… these athletes have incredible balances & mobility… they may lack however the coordination, mobility, or leverages when performing this specific exercise.
adarqui, great post! I checked out the WGF forums, they stress on the importance of glute activation and that glutes should bear the brunt of the work while doing ISO lunge holds. I tried doing a lunge hold and my quads burn, i felt that my glutes didn’t get any work. Is that bad? What should i do to correct it?
[quote]tuick wrote:
adarqui, great post! I checked out the WGF forums, they stress on the importance of glute activation and that glutes should bear the brunt of the work while doing ISO lunge holds. I tried doing a lunge hold and my quads burn, i felt that my glutes didn’t get any work. Is that bad? What should i do to correct it?[/quote]
well im not an expert on the way they do isos, thats for sure…
but they “pull themselves into position”… not simply hold position…
i have gotten alot of glute/hamstring from the lunge/split squat isos… i go to the deepest rom possible… if i dont go to deepest ROM, then i do get more quad.
the only thing i do know is, doing a lunge/split squat iso in the deepest position WITH A LOAD you can ONLY HOLD for 10 seconds (even 20-30), absolutely kills the glutes… doing it single leg style kills them even more.
ez to get glutes activated with a heavy barbell in those positions…
i do not know what those people feel when doing the ~5 minute ldiso’s though… they are half mystery to the internet still… because they are a product of Jay.
[quote]tuick wrote:
Is it okay that i replace lunge hold with Bulgarian split squat hold? Cause i find that i get more glute activation while doing split squat hold.
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ya thats the one you’re supposed to do… they dont really do lunge holds… they do split squat holds.
Alright, ISO holds are harder than i thought. I did two sets of split squat holds per leg, the first set i got a timing of 2:10 min (i cheated by supporting my arm on my knee, not intentionally though), the second set i got 1:10min (didn’t cheat this time, backs are upright and arms stretched out). So in total, this adds up to about 3:20 min per leg. I got more quad activation even though i went to the deepest ROM, at the end of the hold, my quads felt more burn (contrary to the glutes getting more work). I don’t know if my posture is correct , but it’s a split squat with a leg resting on the bed behind me.
Read it from the WGF forum that you take 3 deep breath between each set, and get down immediately for the hold. Maybe it increase the difficulty of the set and the benefits evolved, i’ll implement it next workout (and no arm resting on the knee, cause it’s easier to increase the time).
[quote]tuick wrote:
Alright, ISO holds are harder than i thought. I did two sets of split squat holds per leg, the first set i got a timing of 2:10 min (i cheated by supporting my arm on my knee, not intentionally though), the second set i got 1:10min (didn’t cheat this time, backs are upright and arms stretched out). So in total, this adds up to about 3:20 min per leg. I got more quad activation even though i went to the deepest ROM, at the end of the hold, my quads felt more burn (contrary to the glutes getting more work). I don’t know if my posture is correct , but it’s a split squat with a leg resting on the bed behind me.
Read it from the WGF forum that you take 3 deep breath between each set, and get down immediately for the hold. Maybe it increase the difficulty of the set and the benefits evolved, i’ll implement it next workout (and no arm resting on the knee, cause it’s easier to increase the time). :)[/quote]
haha ya… dont rest your arm on your thighs
i get alot of glute when i do the split squat hold… my back leg is waaaaaaaay high though… like my back foot is on a ~35" elevation… but it’s not like my quads dont burn… basically the entire thigh burns + calf + glute.
try playing with different heights to elevate the back leg… and stay on mid-foot on the front foot… and play with how “long” the split squat is (how close your front foot is to your body).
you want to stay torsoe straight up, with abs tight…
I woke up this morning and i felt almost no soreness around my hip flexors, only my quads feel the most sore, i squeezed my glutes and i felt a little burn :). I’m not used to this, my hip flexor felt sore whenever i woke up the next morning prior completing a workout (pistols etc). The addition of ISO split squat hold seems to eliminate the soreness by my stretching my hip flexor in the deepest ROM during the workout? I don’t know if that’s a good or bad thing.
[quote]tuick wrote:
I woke up this morning and i felt almost no soreness around my hip flexors, only my quads feel the most sore, i squeezed my glutes and i felt a little burn :). I’m not used to this, my hip flexor felt sore whenever i woke up the next morning prior completing a workout (pistols etc). The addition of ISO split squat hold seems to eliminate the soreness by my stretching my hip flexor in the deepest ROM during the workout? I don’t know if that’s a good or bad thing.[/quote]
it’s a good thing… you’re getting a very nice loaded stretch for a long period of time… this is INSTANT flexibility gains, that over the long term become very permanent… but you can feel them immediately after your first session… i mean i felt so loose after doing those ldisos… thighs also grew 1" in 2 weeks so… the hypoxic environment is very anabolic.
split squat isos are probably the best way to loosen the hip flexors… all of the passive stretches etc dont come close to this long duration loaded stretch.
dont expect to get too sore from them once you start adapting… you will eventually build the capacity to hit near 5 mins and not feel sore at all the next day… and you should have some noticeable size gains, could be due to increase mitochondria density or actual hypertrophy, or both.
