A question of strength

Q: I would like to know more about this reverse hyperextension exercise for strength development and rehabilitation training for the lower back, gluteus and hamstrings. What is the difference between this exercise and Good Mornings?

A: By far the largest percentage of all readers are interested in building large amounts of muscle mass and functional strength. The best way to achieve this is by focusing most of the work on leg and back training. One machine that targets these muscles very effectively is the reverse hyperextension machine. I was able to try such a machine for the first time while I was training the Canadian bobsleigh team in Innsbruck. After training my athletes, I stayed in the weight room to do my own training session. As the weight room was quite full, I had to share the equipment with the local powerlifters who had won some national titles.

In one corner there was a machine for reverse hyperextensions. The Austrian powerlifters swore that it had helped them improve their deadlift and squat performances. Both athletes claimed that this machine had made a difference of between 35 and 50 kilos in their squats and deadlifts. Even though I had seen advertisements for this machine in the US, I had never really looked into it until I tried it here. So I got on the machine and started exercising. The movement felt right as the gluteus, hamstrings and spinal erectors were being worked hard by this machine. After this training session, I started to research the machine further.

This machine is an ingenious development by Westside Barbell Club owner and powerlifting coach Louie Simmons. This machine has helped make many world records in squats and deadlifts possible and is a staple in Louie's deadlift training. To learn more about the possibilities of this type of training, I traveled to Columbus, Ohio to meet Louie.

Louie is well known in the iron community for his powerlifting success both as an athlete and as a coach. He has also made a name for himself as a world-renowned strength coach. Louie Simmons first used this machine for rehabilitation training for back injuries that occurred during a lifetime of heavy training. Interestingly, the injury that spurred the development of the reverse hyperextension machine was caused by a loss of concentration during a set of Good Mornings with 5 repetitions and a weight of 200 kilos! While doctors suggested surgery on several occasions, Simmons turned his back on the scalpel and used reverse hyperextensions to repair the damage and relieve the pain.

"So far, two dozen people with a herniated disc have used my machine without pain. This machine reduces the compression of the discs as the weight moves to the position below the face," Simmons told me.

He is now also using this machine to generate new world-class deadlift standards.

I had professional bodybuilder Mios Sacrev try out the machine during a leg curl-only training session. After five sets on two different Atlantis leg curl machines, we moved on to the machine for reverse hyperextensions for three sets of 20 reps. Miro told me that he felt this machine in his lower back and gluteus, but not as directly as the leg curl machines in his hamstrings. However, the next day when he limped to the back workout, he had definitely changed his mind. He walked - or rather hobbled - as if his leg flexors had been beaten up by a horde of samurais with kendo sticks.

This machine is also excellent for improving posture and correcting abnormal pelvic tilt, which can create the illusion of a flattened abdominal wall. One of the consequences of weak spinal erectors is the development of a posture in which the upper back is rounded, causing the shoulders to slump forward and the chest to slump. To maintain the center of gravity in this incorrect posture, the pelvis begins to tilt forward, resulting in an overstretched lower abdomen. This incorrect posture is often referred to as kyphosis-lordosis posture.

The gluteus, the leg flexors and the spinal erectors together form what kinesiologists refer to as the posterior muscle chain. The posterior muscle chain is responsible for allowing you to run at high speed or jump forward and sideways. In a vertical jump, for example, the posterior muscle chain contributes to 80% of the power release. So you shouldn't waste your time developing your calves and quadriceps if you want to increase your vertical jump height.

The reverse hyperextension machine will allow you to train the posterior chain in a synchronized way. Back extensions would target the same muscle groups, but not with the same recruitment scheme. Another drawback of exercises such as back extensions is the dizziness that often accompanies their execution.

Olympic bobsleigh gold medalist Pierre Lueders bought his own machine for reverse hyperextensions and it enabled him to increase his squat weight by 25 kilos over the course of a summer.

Q: Which training philosophy is better? Arnold's or Mentzer's? Volume training six days a week with 2 hours of training per day or one hour of high-intensity training three times a week? All I want to do is build up as much muscle mass as possible. People tell me that I am very muscular, but I laugh at them because these compliments come from "ordinary" people. I am a somewhat advanced bodybuilder who is always looking for ways to achieve new muscle growth. However, I am confused by Arnold's and Mentzer's conflicting theories. I've done Arnold's training programs and when I've gone to muscle failure, I've always reached a state of overtraining within a month. What really works?

A: The fact is that scientific studies comparing multiple sets to single set per exercise programs have repeatedly found that multiple sets produce greater and faster strength gains over time. The large gains in strength seen in multiple-set protocols may be related, at least in part, to the fact that a higher total volume of work produces significantly higher levels of circulating anabolic hormones during recovery (Gotshalk et al. 1996). Other research indicates increased growth hormone levels with multiple sets vs. training with only one set per exercise, which may promote a more anabolic environment (Mulligan et al. 1996).

The important difference is that there is very little need to perform sets to muscle failure beyond regular concentric exhaustion (when you can no longer move the weight up under your own power). Forced repetitions should be used sparingly, if at all. Look at Olympic weightlifters. None of them use forced repetitions and yet these athletes have impressive levels of maximal strength and hypertrophy.

Q: What should I do if I rest too long between sets? For example, let's say I plan to rest two minutes between sets, but I end up talking to someone for 10 minutes? What can I do to compensate for this and will this affect the total training time, which should be under an hour?

A: How can you talk for 10 minutes and still expect to maintain your training quality?

An hour is an hour, but don't expect to be able to perform the optimal amount of sets if you are working on your social life between sets.

To solve this problem, you could wear a T-shirt that says "Fuck off, I'm working out". Or, if someone approaches you, you could say that you suffer from schizophrenia and that they could call you Bob now but shouldn't be surprised if you only respond to the name Mary tomorrow. Alternatively, you can of course wear headphones during training and not react to other people.

Q: In one of your structural balance programs, you talked about performing two additional exercises for the external rotators. How should I best integrate these into my training program?

A: I would recommend doing the two external rotator exercises on either chest or back day. Since the pectorals and latissimus are both internal rotators of the humerus, it doesn't make much difference which of these two days you train the external rotators.

I recommend using an A1/A2 system here. This means that you perform a set for the external rotators after each set of chest or back training. On chest day, for example, this could look like this:

1. A1) Dumbbell bench press, 5x6-8 reps, 5010 tempo o 2 minute rest
2. A2) 30-degree external rotations on the cable pulley, 5x10-12 reps, 2020 tempo o 90 seconds rest
3. B1) Incline bench press, 3x10-12 reps, 4020 tempo o 90 seconds rest
4. B2) External rotations with a dumbbell with the elbow forward, 3x10-12 reps, 2020 tempo o 75 seconds rest

Q: There's an epidemic at my gym. Everyone seems to be doing all their exercises on a Swiss Ball. I know you use it occasionally, but what do you think of people who do most of their workouts on a Swiss Ball?

A: Well, that's a question of what goal you want to achieve. I personally like to use a Swiss Ball for the following purposes:

1) For core training

Having a strong core (muscles that move the spine in different directions) translates positively to almost any sport.

2) As a kickstart for different training cycles

For example, if someone has reached a plateau on the bench press, I might have them start with dumbbell presses on a Swiss ball. This will teach that person to use their stabilizers and stabilize them at the same time.

3) To create a load at different points of the strength curve

This could be done during a Jerry Telle style hypertrophy workout. The following exercise is an example of this:

Eccentric lean-away dumbbell curls

The set-up

Sit with your back and triceps leaning against the side of a 65 cm Swiss ball. Reach down and take a set of dumbbells in your hands.

The exercise

1. Perform the concentric portion of a seated dumbbell curl. Make sure you initiate the movement from the elbows and perform it smoothly with the wrists bent down and back - this isolates and overloads the elbow flexors.
2. As soon as you have moved the dumbbells upwards, lift your hips so that your thighs are parallel to the floor. Your upper body should be resting on top of the ball.
3. Lower the dumbbells down and away from your body. At this point, the brachialis anticus and the short muscle head of the biceps brachii are activated to the maximum. Remember to keep your wrists bent backwards as you lower the weight.
4. Lower the hips.
5. Repeat steps 1 to 4 until you have completed the prescribed number of repetitions or until you have reached concentric muscle failure.

As useful as a Swiss Ball can be, relying on it too often is problematic. People who train exclusively with a Swiss Ball - I repeat "exclusively" - have the following in common:

1. They are so weak in the upper extremities that most couldn't drive a hot samurai sword through a pound of butter.
2. Their ability to perform explosive training is poor. In other words, they achieve the vertical jump height of a snail on Valium. Since most Swiss Ball exercises require controlled slow movements for obvious safety reasons, athletes who rely on a Swiss Ball too often will lose their ability to perform ballistic contractions.

Another problem that recently caught my attention involved a businessman who was suffering from shoulder pain. However, his personal trainer had him performing countless exercises on a Swiss Ball. It was a classic case of overuse, as the man on the Swiss Ball was able to move more weight in an incline bench position on the Swiss Ball than on a real incline bench. How could that be? Well, when he performed incline bench presses on the ball, he unconsciously shifted his hips and knees slightly across the range of motion, which allowed him to find a path of movement that didn't hurt.

The Swiss Ball is a great tool, but it's not the only tool. At the end of the day, you can't build a house with just a hammer.

Q: I read your article about achieving structural balance. I would now be interested to know what percentage of work you should use for your muscle groups. For example, should leg training consist of 50% training for the quadriceps and 50% training for the hamstrings or do these muscles need different amounts of work? Should biceps and triceps be trained with the same amount of sets? And what about back and chest?

A: The percentages of the amount of work should be determined by one of the following factors:

1) Your training goal

For example, if you want to compete in a 500 meter kayak race at the Olympics, then you should probably reduce your training with squats and deadlifts. And if you want to compete in a high jump championship, then a 50 centimeter upper arm will be pretty useless.

2) Structural balance

Bench presses are probably the exercise that gets the most attention in the gym. Therefore, most people could extend their training career and increase their performance if they reduced the volume of their pressing training and performed more training for the rhomboid muscle and external rotators. A general training concept is that the more well-rounded your program is, the better your strength performance will be in the long run.

Q: My shoulders always hurt when I train them directly. I've thought about not training them at all and focusing on all the other muscle groups instead. What do you think - will my shoulders shrink away then?

A: I think that's a good idea. I don't have most of my clients do direct shoulder training and yet they develop impressive shoulder muscles. Current anatomical research suggests that there are seven different activation patterns for the shoulder muscles - not just three (anterior, lateral and posterior) as was previously believed. The shoulders will actually grow best if they are left alone. The anterior activation schemes get plenty of stimulation from chest training and the posterior activation schemes get plenty of stimulation from back training. So most training for the torso involves activating some of these activation patterns.

However, you should do some shoulder abduction training (e.g. cable side raises) every 10 days or so.

Source: https://www.t-nation.com/training/question-of-strength-22, https://www.t-nation.com/training/question-of-strength-23

From Charles Poliquin