"The first type is concentric failure. It simply means you can’t lift the weight again. Then, there’s static failure: your muscles are so wiped out that you can’t even hold the weight statically at any point in the range of motion. And lastly, there’s eccentric failure. This is the point where you can’t control the weight as you lower it, regardless of what tempo you’re using.
“When you reach failure on all three types of contractions, you’ve reached “absolute failure.” Here’s how a typical set would progress: After warming up, you choose a weight that allows you to do between 6 and 8 reps before reaching concentric failure. At that point, a training partner gives you just enough assistance to complete the next rep, but you lower the weight in a controlled fashion without any assistance. After doing 2 or 3 of these assisted reps, your muscles should be so fatigued that you can’t even control the eccentric descent. This is absolute failure.”
I VERY RARELY encourage someone to go to failure, and if I do, it’s done more with respect to higher rep (traditional hypertrophy) work than training aimed at improving maximal strength. The difference between a 99% effort and a 101% (failure) effort is enormous in terms of one’s ability to recover and improve performance at the next session.
[quote]Zen warrior wrote:
Hey Eric, here is something I asked Coach Staley, but I’d like your opinion as well: what is exactly muscular failure (or are there diferent types?concentric, eccentric) and what do you think of it, useful or not, and when? I know it sounds basic an stupid, but I had an argument with a buddy of mine, and I want to get back at him, so I want to cover the most ground on the subject[/quote]
C’mon, D, we got Wakefield on the hill! Everything is under control. We’ll beat him like a rug.
Should be an interesting afternoon for Steinbrenner. He can’t very well cheer for Lieber; the better he does, the more the Yankees front office looks bad. I can’t see him cheering for the Sox, either.
He’ll probably just root for an earthquake to level all of Philadelphia!
[quote]DMA 227 wrote:
Eric,
What are your thoughts on the Red Sox playing against the Phillies tomorrow? I think Lieber is going to pitch a no-hitter… what are your thoughts? [/quote]
But since your PM system is off, I couldn;t do so.
So thank you very much![/quote]
You’re welcome!
[quote]I purchased the book by Komi and Zatsiorsky
I was wondering… is there any section in either book that you would warn me against from following (other than the one in Komi’s book on proprioception)?
Thanks again!
[/quote]
I wouldn’t ignore the proprioception chapter completely; Golhoffer offers some excellent information. The only thing to watch out for is that many of those European proprioception studies had poor study designs (as I’m learning through my own research). No control groups, untrained subjects, and no accounting for previous history of lower extremity injury.
What is your opinion on full squats? I have heard of people tearing muscles in their knees (it started with an “M” I believe). I know they are great for athletes and bodybuilders alike, so do you have any tips on form and the execution of them?
How cool is that! I was reading the very article from which you quoted that. My question stemmed from that very quote. But something is unclear to me yet: when I do an exercise to its (X)RM, that is failure, isn’t it? So doing 4 sets of 6 @ 6RM makes me go to failure 4 times at a high weight. How come? Or is it that 99% thing you say?
I think they’re a great addition to lower body training for both athletes and bodybuilders. From an athletic standpoint, the key is to vary squatting depths; you really need to expose athletes to a wide variety of positions to give the affferent systems a rich environment in which develop. From a bodybuilding standpoint, I don’t think there’s any question that full range of motion training will always be superior; squat as deep as your flexibility will safely allow.
[quote]lefty04 wrote:
Eric,
What is your opinion on full squats? I have heard of people tearing muscles in their knees (it started with an “M” I believe). I know they are great for athletes and bodybuilders alike, so do you have any tips on form and the execution of them?
That simply refers to the maximum number of reps you can complete with a given weight. It isn’t failure unless you attempt (and miss) the next rep. As a general rule of thumb, I just tell people to never attempt they won’t complete on their own.
[quote]Zen warrior wrote:
How cool is that! I was reading the very article from which you quoted that. My question stemmed from that very quote. But something is unclear to me yet: when I do an exercise to its (X)RM, that is failure, isn’t it? So doing 4 sets of 6 @ 6RM makes me go to failure 4 times at a high weight. How come? Or is it that 99% thing you say?[/quote]
Why is that during the catch portion of the olympic lifts the feet generally have to be turned out so far? O-lifters have some of the top flexability levels out there, so they aren’t compensating for tightness in the calves, are they? Is this a biomechanical issue? A friend asked me this earlier today and I couldn’t give him an appropriate answer.
hi there Eric how do you feel about combining different strength quanities in the same session. Such as power, explosive, or ballistic training in the same session along with training for strength. How might you construct such a design weither using a total body routine which i prefer or a split routine. also should you seperate say your heavy lower pull exercise from your hang clean or your power squat from your regular heavy squat. Also what kind of seperation do you feel is best as far as optimol recovery is concerned
I was thinking about picking three to four exercise 2 upper body 1-2 upper body and performing one of them explosively and the others for strength using a 5RM then coming back a day later and hitting a different exercise explosively. and example would be a row, bench, and hang clean in the first session doing the clean explosively then coming back two days latter and doing an upper body exercise explosively while the other 2-3 exercises on heavy
You know, that’s a great question, and I can’t say that I’ve ever heard it discussed. I would assume that it’s just because the catch position involves a very wide stance, which would put quite a strain on the ligaments of the ankle.
[quote]the MaxX wrote:
Hey again,
Quick question:
Why is that during the catch portion of the olympic lifts the feet generally have to be turned out so far? O-lifters have some of the top flexability levels out there, so they aren’t compensating for tightness in the calves, are they? Is this a biomechanical issue? A friend asked me this earlier today and I couldn’t give him an appropriate answer.
[quote]brotzfrog10 wrote:
hi there Eric how do you feel about combining different strength quanities in the same session. Such as power, explosive, or ballistic training in the same session along with training for strength.[/quote]
It’s a great idea; I do it in all my programming.
It would depend on the weaknesses of the lifter and the time of the year (if applicable to an athlete).
Typically, yes. It’s tough to say without having an overall framework for what you’re getting at, though.
Well, I wouldn’t train similar qualities for similar movements on consecutive days. It’s important to concentrate your CNS-intensive stuff - be it speed or max strength work - on a few days per week to allow for optimal recovery.
Is there a place I can get an excellent pair of compression shorts? I got some from under-armor from the team awhile ago thinking these shorts would help but they did very little. Not cool. They helped like the 3rd day and after that it went all to hell. I don’t really care that much if they are restrictive for 3 a days because of the soreness that occurs. I am pretty achy and slow as is when I get run down. It won’t matter much and I’ll probably be moving faster because I’m not as sore if these shorts work. So far I have not seen anything very impressive and especially from someone like under-armor. Booo Although the shirts and stuff are nice.
I will check out that foam roller article because I remember reading it briefly. I didn’t think it would help with this kind of soreness…
Also, if you can specifically suggest dynamic and static stretching to decrease the lock-up of my hip flexors and groin it would be greatly appreciated. I cut so hard sometimes my right groin immediately gets all stretched out again.
Lycra from dupont I heard was decent but I’m not sure. www.dupont.com
I guarantee that you’re just having problems with anterior weight-bearing; this is a big problem with people who squat with the heels-elevated for extended periods of time. The Smith machine certainly didn’t help, either.
Tightness of the quadriceps is a big time risk factor for patellofemoral pain. Stretch your quads and hip flexors like crazy, lay off quad-dominant squatting for a while, and train your posterior chain extensively. Also, get a foam roller and go to town on your quads, calves, hamstrings, ITB/TFL, and hip flexors. You should be good to go in 6-8 weeks, probably sooner.
Dan E wrote:
Hi Eric,
Recently i have been getting pain in my knees when squatting (it is worse in my warm-up than work sets and worse on back squats than front squats). Also I have noticed that when I am sat down for long periods with my knees bent, eg.car journey, I get a feeling of intense heat in the knees - more in the upper knee - and have to straighten my legs to ease this.
I squat with my heels elevated on plates or a board and have done for years without any problems at all. I had a spell in the last year where for around 6 months I performed squats on a smith machine exclusively. The pain I am now experiencing started when I returned to normal squatting.
Do you think using the smith machine has caused this or do you think it would have happened anyway? Have you any ideas as to what the problem is and what I can do to stop it?
Many thanks Eric,
Dan
[/quote]
Thanks for the reply Eric. Would you be able to explain this part please, I’m not familiar with what you are refering to?
Also, get a foam roller and go to town on your quads, calves, hamstrings, ITB/TFL, and hip flexors.
Is there a place I can get an excellent pair of compression shorts? I got some from under-armor from the team awhile ago thinking these shorts would help but they did very little. Not cool. They helped like the 3rd day and after that it went all to hell. I don’t really care that much if they are restrictive for 3 a days because of the soreness that occurs. I am pretty achy and slow as is when I get run down. It won’t matter much and I’ll probably be moving faster because I’m not as sore if these shorts work. So far I have not seen anything very impressive and especially from someone like under-armor. Booo Although the shirts and stuff are nice.[/quote]
Honestly, I can’t say that I’ve seen one pair of legit compression shorts that I favor over another. However, it doesn’t surprise me that you didn’t get much out of UA; they might as well be boxer briefs. Just make sure that it’s a bit thicker. A recent NSCA study found that Coreshorts (Abbotsford, Canada) were pretty good.
If you’ve got adhesion build-up, it’ll definitely make a difference.
Mike’s “Hardcore Stretching: Part II” is a good start for the static stuff. Dynamic flexibility stuff is much more difficult to describe here on the forum; I’d much rather use videos, as I use a wide variety of stuff with those with whome I work. Mike and I wrote an article with some examples; hopefully, it’ll be up soon.
