3 ways to build old school strength

Here is a brief summary

1. Increase your deadlift weights by using a continuous progression. If grip strength is your weak point, start strengthening it by using 1 finger deadlifts.
2. Dramatically increase your bench press weights using heavy overloads. Use more weight than your maximum weight for partial repetitions and then work your way up to a full repetition with this weight.
3. Get stronger in all exercises by using progressive range of motion training. Use heavier weights and a smaller range of motion and then increase the range of motion to full range of motion.

How the greats built strength

Strength athletes from the beginning of the last century until the seventies were more imaginative. Perhaps this was because they were not influenced by many of the ideas that poison training ideology today. They achieved amazing results and for the most part could not rely on performance enhancing substances. These guys were thinkers. Strength training was a fringe sport and so they had to try out for themselves what worked for them and what didn't. They experimented to find more effective ways to get bigger and stronger. The result is a treasure trove of amazing resources - resources that most of today's strength athletes don't use. With the help of science, we now understand why certain methods work. The most effective training methods were developed decades ago. Sadly, in an era where everyone wants to achieve everything with as little effort as possible, these discoveries have been lost in the sea of easy, cosmetic pump training. But if you're truly interested in results and willing to put in the work, you should look at what the pioneers of strength and muscle building have done.

Here are three training strategies that will help you get results. They're unconventional, but if you're honest, you should ask yourself if conventional really works for you.

1 - Hermann Goerner: Deadlift ramp

Grip strength is always important - and especially if snatching, deadlifting and pulling are important to you. One method I really like for building grip strength quickly is Goerner's continuous ramp.

Who was he?

Hermann Goerner was a strongman from the early 20th century. Among other things, he could deadlift 330 kilos ... with one hand. He also deadlifted 270 kilos with a 2 finger grip. Can you imagine his grip strength?

What did he do?

To improve his grip strength, he used a continuous ramp that looked like this:

1. Start performing deadlifts with only the index finger of each hand. Perform sets of 3 repetitions, increasing the weight with each set. Work your way up to the maximum weight with which you can perform 3 repetitions using only one finger on each hand.
2. Continue to increase the weight but move to a two-finger grip per hand. Using this grip, work your way back up to your 3 RM weight.
3. When you reach your maximum weight for a two finger grip, move to a three finger grip per hand and work back up to your 3 RM weight.
4. Then move to a regular full grip: Double overhand grip (no mixed grip) and work your way up to your 3 RM weight. From there you can continue to increase the weight using a hook grip or a mixed grip.

This approach will significantly increase your grip strength in a very short period of time. You will experience dramatic results within 4 to 6 training sessions. Use this method twice a week for the fastest possible results.

2 - Chuck Sipes: Heavy Overloads

Who was he?

Sipes won the Mr. America title in 1959 and the Mr. Universe title in 1960. He also competed in the Mr. Olympia competition several times. He was one of the strongest powerlifters of his era - especially when it came to bench presses and curls. With a body weight of just under 100 kilos, he bench-pressed 260 kilos - without a press shirt. Chuck was a bodybuilder who trained hard.

What did he do?

One of his favorite ways to increase his bench press strength was through heavy overloads - he used much more weight than he could bench press for a full repetition and either performed partial reps (going either halfway up, or a little further up) or static holds with an even heavier barbell with his arms extended but elbows not hyperextended. I did my heaviest bench press using this technique. The overloads can strengthen the muscles (they still contract, even if it's not a full range of motion contraction). They can desensitize your guarding mechanism, allowing you to use more of your potential strength over time, prepare your nervous system for the next set, and will even make a max weight seem lighter in comparison.

How to use this method?

1. Gradually work your way up to your first heavy work set. This means performing 3 to 4 progressively heavier bench press warm-up sets until you are finally ready to perform your first heavy set.
2. Use 25 to 35 kilos more than your first heavy set. Prepare yourself, lift the weight from the rack and lower it about half a centimeter - just enough to prevent hyperextension of the elbows - and hold the weight in this position for 10 seconds. Do three of these sets. If the weight feels quite light after 10 seconds, use a little more weight on the last set or two.
3. Perform your heavy sets. Since this method is used to build strength, 1 to 3 reps is ideal. I like the 3/2/1 wave system, but a more linear progression like 2 x 3, 2 x 2, 2-3 x 1 also works well. Conclusion: Perform 3 sets of 2 to 3 repetitions in this way.
4. Increase the weight by 15 to 20 kilos compared to your heaviest set and perform partial repetitions where you move the weight over the lower third or both lower thirds of the range of motion. Go down as far as you can while maintaining control of the bar. Perform 3 sets of 2 to 3 repetitions in this way.

This is a lot of work. But that's the way Chuck Sipes did things - an accumulation of a lot of heavy volume. When he trained this way, he didn't use any support exercises for chest or triceps during that workout.

This setup is brutal, but it leads to rapid gains in strength. If your goal is to quickly increase your bench press strength, then perform this workout twice a week. Don't start complaining now. When Sipes focused on his bench press, he trained his chest five times a week, even if some of those workouts were lighter.

3 - Paul Anderson: Training with a progressive range of motion

Who was he?

Paul Anderson was perhaps the strongest man who ever lived. He performed standing shoulder presses (from a rack) at 200 kilos, squats at 545 kilos and deadlifts at 370 kilos and deadlifts with hooks to hold the bar at 454 kilos. He bench pressed 310 kilos and performed push presses (shoulder press with leg swing) with 254 kilos. All of these performances were done raw (without supportive equipment) and without the use of performance-enhancing substances.

What did he do?

One of Anderson's methods that always had a strong influence on my training was his progressive range of motion method. He would start an exercise with a partial repetition. For example, he would start with deadlifts from a rack at mid-thigh level. Each week he would then move the pins of the rack further down to increase the range of motion until after 8 to 10 weeks he was able to perform the exercise with the appropriate weight over the full range of motion. He used the same weight on the bar for all training weeks. This weight was his target weight for full range of motion for that exercise at the end of the training circuit, and this weight was typically about 10% above his previous max weight (less advanced strength athletes may target 15%). Each week, Anderson performed as many repetitions as possible with this weight. During the first week, the reps may have been quite high - 15 to 20 - as the range of motion was really short. However, the reps decreased over time as the range of motion increased.

The science

This method helps you to reach a new maximum weight by desensitizing the Goilgi tendon organ. You perform so much work at a supramaximal weight that your protective mechanisms (which limit the amount of force you can produce) accept the new maximum weight as something manageable. Over time, your body will allow you to move this weight through the full range of motion. You will also achieve an increase in strength and a hypertrophy effect due to the high amount of work with maximum tension.

This method works great for some exercises, but not for others. When you perform exercises from a rack, you focus less on the eccentric phase. You don't lower the barbell with the same precision and control as you would with a full movement. For example, at one point I was doing all my bench presses from a rack. By starting the movement directly at chest height, I was able to do 193 kilos from the rack. When I decided to test my regular bench press strength, I failed at 165 kilos because I was unable to lower the weight correctly. There is such a thing as reversing force: the force required to go from an eccentric/lowering movement to a concentric/lifting movement. If you don't train this reversal of force, you won't get stronger in this area.

How do you use this method?

For deadlifts and standing shoulder presses, you can start from a rack, as you start the movement at a fixed position on the floor for regular deadlifts and at a fixed position at shoulder height for shoulder presses. If you are not using a rack, the problem is that you need to lower the barbell to the exact correct position to be able to use the system. How can you achieve this if you are not using a rack? The first option is to use a rack, but stop the downward movement about 1 centimeter above the rack and start the upward movement at that point. If you don't make it too easy for yourself by ending the movement too early, this will work. The second solution is to use a resistance band setup similar to that with a rack. You lower the bar until it touches the band and then start the upward movement. This allows you to be more precise.

How far should you increase the range of motion? On average, no more than 5 centimeters per week. If you are working with a power rack where the holes for the pins are 10 centimeters apart, this means increasing the range of motion every 2 weeks. This is another reason why it is a good idea to use bands as markers. You can easily increase the range of motion by 2.5 centimeters or even just one centimeter per week. Remember that the smoother the transition, the better the results will be.

Tips:

First find the height of the barbell at the start position of the lifting/concentric movement and then the height of the barbell at the end position (highest point). Calculate the distance. Use two thirds of this distance, as it makes no sense to use less than one third of the range of motion. Then think about how long you want to work on your weight increase. Take that number and divide it into eight or ten weeks (the number of weeks you want to use for your progress).

Let's say your range of motion for squats is 60 centimeters. Two thirds of that is 40 centimeters. If you want to use eight-week cycles, this gives a progression of 5 centimeters per week (which is the upper limit) and if you want to use a ten-week progression, this would be 4 centimeters per week. Ideally, this method should only be used for one or two exercises at a time. If you choose two exercises, it should be an upper body exercise and a lower body exercise. Then train each exercise twice a week (even if you only change the range of motion after 2 training sessions). Perform three to four sets of maximum repetitions with the chosen range of motion per training session, using 10 to 15% more weight than your current maximum weight.

For each exercise you train in this way, continue to perform at least one supporting exercise through the full range of motion (but not the actual exercise). This supporting exercise could be the incline bench press, for example, if you are using the progressive range of motion on the bench press.

Classic hard work

Charles Poliquin once said, "Christian, if you want to learn something new about training, read a book that's 100 years old." This sparked my passion for what the pioneers of weight training had done to get bigger and stronger. If you apply their ideas to your training, you'll make progress at a rate you never thought possible before.

by Christian Thibaudeau
Source: https://www.t-nation.com/training/3-ways-to-build-old-school-strength