« A Power to the People!/ladder hybrid to jumpstart your bench press | Main | 'Interval circuit training' for power on a tight time budget »
June 27, 2005
Wave the weights for power
Question: My training partner took your seminar and told me that you recommend waving the weight up and down from set to set. Why?
First of all, you will get stronger faster. Eastern Europeans' weightlifting sessions are variable. When Russians hit heavy doubles or triples, they often alternate them with singles or doubles with a weight reduced by 5-10%. Another set and rep scheme popular in the former Soviet Union, by Robert Roman, calls for three sets of three reps with a 70% weight and 3x3 @ 75% 1RM. The weights are alternated from set to set.
Your strength depends on your skill to contract your muscles hard – even more than on their size. Since World War II, motor learning, the fine discipline about shortcuts to skill mastery, has made many breakthroughs that are waiting to be recruited in your quest for strength. One such breakthrough is variable practice, the powerful alternative to conventional constant practice.
Constant practice refers to doing the same thing in every consecutive trial. Multiple sets with the same weight, 455x5x5 or 200x10x3, are examples of constant practice. This method works but it can be improved on. Variable practice, or waving the load up and down every set, is a superior alternative. Many motor learning studies (e.g., Kerr & Booth, 1978) show that subjects practicing under variable conditions perform at least as well as the constant practice group – and frequently do better!
For more information on this topic order Pavel’s Beyond Bodybuilding today.
Posted by james at June 27, 2005 5:53 AM