jtbrown,
I believe you should wait until the 30-10-30 eBook is available.
That is what I will do. Thank you!
I am the opposite, I love 30-10-30 and I tried going back to traditional (4-4) and don’t like it…strange isn’t it
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Maybe. My cadence now is 3-3 and keeping it as smooth as possible. I think some of my weights weren’t quite right when doing 30-10-30. For instance, overhead press with a barbell was one that I couldn’t make any progress on and some workouts were worse. The last 30 second negative was an absolute killer for me.
I use the nautilus nitro machines, and I am progressing each week…have not stalled yet, nautilus nitro shoulder press…
The barbell overhead press has been a problem for me with the slow negatives.
I would suggest reducing the time of the negative reps to 20 seconds and see what happens.
Mark
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Dr Darden
thank you for such a detailed answer and explanation.
You will now have me going through my Arthur Jones collection to find the aforementioned writings about fatigue and negative strength (i do remember reading about it) .
I’m very much looking forward to the “Back loading” book
Mark
Speaking of friction, joint motion of certain speeds can ameliorate friction. Synovial joint fluid is forced into the cartilage tissue by hydrodynamic pressure by such joint speeds. Since the least amount of body movement can occur around a single joint, the greatest friction is most likely in the joint itself. Warming up a joint can greatly reduce friction, just as light exercise can reduce general body stiffness.
Speaking on eccentric backloading, contra-lateral eccentric accentuated seems and feels like a winner. I like a single sided contra lateral slow eccentric followed by 8-20 reps with both sides, done at a rhythmic pace of 1/1. The fresh side drives the contra lateral side to a deep inroad. Works well with Nautilus leverage shrug/row, Nautilus leg extension/curl, Nautilus OME calf raise.
Wish I had something to say on the lower back!
Perhaps isometrics are best! I just do not know.
So what I’ve been doing after the last 30 second negative, assuming I or my clients still are able to, is to do one more positive rep, and a third 30 second negative rep. I was doing this on the assumption that I’d picked too low a weight and needed to ensure failure. If I’m grasping above , it would be better to simply increase the weight the following workout? Please and Thanks! 
Your time and help are greatly appreciated!
Speaking for myself, if it is someone new to negative training , then it would probably be best to stop after the second negative.
For the more experienced athlete, I would carry on with regular repetitions to failure if the weight is too light and choose a more appropriate/challenging weight next time.
A thing to remember is that the regular repetitions in the middle (how many you can perform) will give you a good idea in regards the weight.
Mark
Thanks Mark! Really appreciate all your input on this forum. I’d previously asked Dr. Darden this question… Being a slow rep guy, the 1 second up, down cadence in the middle goes against my grain… what do you think of maybe 4 5-5 reps in middle? currently the fastest any of my clients go is maybe 2-2… 1-1 just seems dangerous… I’m assuming that the idea may be that the intial 30 second negative serves as a warm up to lubricate joints, as well as weakening the musculature enough to prevent utilizing too much force in the middle? or, yet again, if the idea is to have more contractions, how about jreps in the middle? either thirds at 4-4-4 or halves at 5 each ?
You’re welcome.
I cannot see a problem with 2/2 if you feel more comfortable with that.
You could reduce the rep range slightly then to 8-10 to keep it in the same TUL range.
You raise an interesting point about the middle part (between the two slow negatives) , as I think in the future , that part of the 30-10-30 leaves plenty of scope for experimentation and variety.
I was only yesterday thinking about the possibility of trying out mid range reps, zone training, static holds, and stutter reps as alternatives to the regular 10 reps.
But that is a thing for the future as mastering the original protocol and adapting it to myself would come first before I would look into that in any detail.
Mark
Thanks again; incidentally Dr. Darden’s previous answer (I paraphrase and stand to be corrected/clarified) as I asked about using 4 SS reps in the middle, was to try it out and report back to him… I use such a variety of things that I never stuck to anything long enough to properly evaluate… part of me thinks, as long as we train hard and in good form and stick to it long term, that we will get most if not all the benefits, perhaps the rest is minutiae… but on never ending quest to improve, excited to hear that Dr. Darden who has seen just about everything around the sun, feels that this method is enough of a significant step forward to warrant an e-book. I do note as well that Dr. Darden encourages doing 301030 for a while going on to other modalities and then switching back for variety
Hi Ricky,
As the load/weight being used increases, you will experience a forced slower cadence in the mid-reps of 30-10-30. My experience is that this is just a stage in order to establish proper 1-2 form. For example I often only manage a load increase about 5-6 reps in proper cadence, then it gets slower (more like 2-2) as fatique sets in. But, continued sessions end up in the weight sooner or later becoming proper 1-2 cadence. Just my experience.
The point is, as long as you end up exhausted in rep 8 to 12, this should be fine (to demolish yourself on the final 30 sec neg)! Dr Darden has truly accomplished something amazing with this regime.
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Totally agree
i second positive is not dangerous if its under control…no explosiveness
Perhaps my motor control is not good enough. If I move down 12-18 inches in one second and have to stop and reverse directions , that fits my cautious definition of explosive. Not so bad with upper turnaround as gravity works for me but opposite comes into play for lower turnaround.
I have heard of this but ignored it because I don’t like negatives. But since your using “only” 70-80% 10 rep max for the 10 reps,sounds interesting now.
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Hey markh501, did you end up experimenting with zone training for your 10 reps?