I have been within 11-12% body fat levels at 70kg/155lbs of weight since 2007; before that, in 2002-2003 I temporarily increased my weight to 82kg/180lbs, but body fat was more like 17-20%. During the last 8 years my body fat levels were always in single digits around 9 per cent, but I also have had a lot of digestion issues during the same period. Now I have some of my health problems under control, and that led to reduction of the fat levels to 7-7.5%. Going back to zone and high density training allowed me to keep the same weight 70kg/155lbs, but with a lower body fat. I will see whether this is a temporary effect or not, but I feel more fullness in back/chest/shoulder area and my waist is 29 inches at the 5ā8.5ā height. Honestly, I donāt see a need to go to a standard HIT training as I donāt feel itās right for me. Sometimes I do a standard HIT set as a finishing set after I have milked the muscle with either zones or high-density methods, but the value of such HIT set is questionable. It affects my recovery without giving any extra value
I will be concluding week 6 of Zone Training tomorrow. I will be taking off next week and be on vacation.
Iāve been doing halves, thirds, fractals, and statics. Iāve added a few 1 1/4 and 1 1/2 reps as well as times. I mix and match what I do freestyling every workout to get the effect I strive for (the pump and āworkedā feel). I find halves seem to create a better pumps but thirds give more āinroadā and are more fatiguing. Iām doing about 6-10 mini-sets on average per muscle.
I agree about HIT. Slower, full reps to failure feels more systematically draining forcing me to use little volume and frequency causing me to look flat and untrained - the opposite approach I get with my current style of training. I can eek out a few pounds or an extra rep every session (because itās mostly neurological and body mechanics vs real muscle gain) with HIT yet look worse over time.
Last week I did end up trying higher reps on the hip belt squat using thirds. I started with the bottom third range of motion reaching around 22-23 reps. I rested about the same amount of time to move into the middle zone where I fatigued faster and kind of clustered it reaching the same number until I got the top range (but not locking out the knees). Legs were really pumped and worked afterward!
Although I do like the 12-15 rep range betterā¦did that for two sets of lunges this morning using halvesā¦legs felt like rocks afterward. Added halves for the leg extension and 1 1/2 for the leg curlā¦was hard to walk up the stairs. lol Very full look all day long.
All this talk on zone training has got me keen to reread the jreps books and kick off another zone reps cycle. Have always had pretty good results in the past.
The last time I did them was in 2012 and had a good result. Prior to that, I had actually been using a Bowflex Ultimate where zone training is basically a requirement with that machine. The full range strength curves are pretty poor on the Bowflex. For whatever reason, I never returned them again until recently. I do recall where I started feeling like full reps again and it just kind of went from there. The thing is, when you stop doing full reps for a while and come back to them, they feel so strange and uniqueā¦and then fresh again.
In the third zone training book, there are a number of emg experiments listed with full vs zone reps.
This is with the Nautilus 12 degree fly machine. As described the tension is notably more constant with zones.
Im planning to purchase the volume 3 jreps book. Should be an interesting read.
Drewās usual response is to join his HIT List for any answerā¦
If this blog is reflective of interest in HiT, then his blog must be a lonely place at 20$/month, especially with zero knowledge on cardiovascular conditioning and resultant heart health.
Would you discuss this further?
Please!
As regards fracturals, Zone reps, or whatever you wanna call them, I like high reps for bottom stage reps , followed by high rep supinated grip pulldowns, followed by high rep Nautilus decline press. Stop movements when speed slows appreciably.
- bottom stage rep side laterals
- supinated grip pulldowns
- Nautilus decline press
Terrific pump on the shoulders (slow twitch dominate)
Precede this with DeSimone warmup protocol which eliminates the need for a slow eccentric rep to begin a set.
There is activity on Drewās HIT List forums. Many individuals who are new to HIT. However, Drew can be headstrong in his opinions. Itās worse on Jay Vincentās forum. So many new people and Jay never responded to them the last time I was on.
I need find a cardiovascular modality besides running. Hate running with a passion unless itās for sports.
I believe pulling/pushing a weighted sled is superior to running, biking, rowing, etc. for cardiovascular benefit. Done at a walking pace, not running, for 10-15 minutes, alternating between pushing and pulling, arms almost straight and the upper body upright.
There was a great T-Nation article a couple of months back about good olā Jumping Jacks for cardio and conditioning. And there were several variations, to keep it interesting,
Sure,
Activation- If we start with a minimal neural input, and slowly raise it (minimal effort, steady increases in effort), at first a few motor unit start to fire, as neural input increases, the ones firing increase their speed of twitching and more also start to fire, as effort increases, this pattern continues, the ones already firing increase firing rate as new larger motor units begin to fire. This continues until all fibers are firing, then as effort increases after that, the ones that arenāt yet at max firing rates, keep increasing their firing rates until neural input/effort is at maximum.
Various muscles have a point where all fibers are firing even though they can still increase their firing rate (rate coding). They have tests this point in many muscles, small muscles, like in the hand reach full recruitment at about 50% of max effort, force increases with effort levels from 51-100% are achieved via rate coding increases in all the fibers. Larger muscles reach full recruitment a bit later, most are in the 60-80% of full effort. A few muscles reach full recruitment a bit higher, like in the quads and I think one of the calf muscles.
āThe relative contribution of motor unit recruitment to muscle force varies between muscles. In some hand muscles for example, all motor units are recruited at around 50% of maximum. In other muscles, such as the bicep brachii, deltoid, and tiblias anterior, motor unit recuitment continues upto 85% of the maximum force (Deluca, LeFever, McCue & Xenakis, 1982a; Kukulka & Clamann, 1981; Van Cutsem et al,. 1997)ā
From p290, Neuromechanics of Human Movement 3rd Edition. Roger M. Enoka
Also, more info. on this.
FDI having the lowest at 67% MVC,
the TA at 90% MVC,
and the VL at 95% MVC.
http://delsys.com/decomp/018.pdf
Deltoid
In general, firing rates of f.d.i. motor units increased steadily with increasing force (up to 80%m.v.o.)
https://physoc.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1113/jphysiol.2009.175695
soleus motor units are recruited progressively from rest to contraction
strengths close to 95% of MVC
Thanks
Dr. Kenneth Jay, and his book āCardio Codeā is easily the best cardiovascular conditioning resource available. He has several suggestions in his writings.
I occasionally use a modified kettlebell consisting of a ball-bearing revolving handle hooked to a carbinger with a loading pin holding a secured weight of various loads. This allows a fulcrum of momentum in kettlebell swings to incorporate a rapid rhythmical relaxation/contraction phase so necessary as for any proper cardiovascular conditioning training modality.
As far as I remember, Steve Reeves did kettlebell swings as a warmup
I prefer to do 3 sets of 8-12 reps with a metronome. Rep tempos are 3 seconds for concentric and eccentric. I get a nice pump whereas fast reps feel like Iām cheating.
Quote:
āI prefer to do 3 sets of 8-12 reps with a metronome. ā
I would prefer eating grass to using a metronome. Metronomes donāt even work well for musicians.
10 sets of 3 work well.