You may have noticed my addition of Pete Sisco under our Training Courses Category. He sells an eBook called “Train Smart : The Worlds Fastest Workout” (click the link on our site and we are blessed with a commission – same price anywhere; you might as well give us the benefit). I only promote things that work for me, so I bought the book and tried it out. I have to say, The results have been rewarding from the standpoint of seeing progressive gains in strength and, although I’m not using a tape to measure the results, certainly in body shape.
The routine consists of two workouts on different days separated by a increasing number of days to allow complete recovery for what is a major hammering of your total physiology; muscles, bones, nerves, tendons, joints and endocrine system – designed to stimulate rapid growth in the strength, size and output of all these components. Each workout consists of 5 exercises, and between the two workouts, every fiber in the body is hit. The suggested starting point between workouts was 4 days, so that’s where I started. That puts the next workout with the same move 8 days apart. So the first thought is that you will lose whatever gains are made in that long span – that proves not to be the case. In fact, Pete’s primary principle is that overtraining is the cause of any plateau in progress, and if you can’t lift more at the next workout, you didn’t wait long enough to fully recover.
Each of the 5 exercises in a workout is performed as a one rep, partial range move, done in the strongest part of the normal range for the specific exercise. So for instance on the bench press, you rack the bar on the top pegs, place your hands in the proper position on the bar, push the weight off the pegs by less than an inch and hold for 5 seconds. If you could hold for 20 seconds, add more weight and do another rep, until you can just barely get out the 5 second count before you lose it.
Since I am an old guy, I take a fairly cautious approach. I warm up for each move with maybe 20-25 reps with an insignificant weight, followed by 2-3 increasing weight moves to test my solidarity, and then the weight used for the last workout. Then, if that went up easy, I add what I think I might be able to do and give it my best shot. Progress? Well, my fifth workout for close-grip bench press, starting with a calibration day lift of 195 lb, was 255. The progression was 195 – 205 – 225 – 245 – 255, and I am now at about 5 days between workouts. That last 255 was a barely-made-it effort, so I think it’s time to stretch it out another day or so.
Personally, I think we need to expect some realistic limits on how long one can continue to push successively higher weights before a ligament tears or a bone snaps, and there is a fear factor that comes along when your brain looks at all those plates on the leg press machine and wonders if this is the time you will hear a loud snap and be done for a long spell. I now weight about 162 pounds (down from 175 two months ago because of adopting “The Leptin Diet” – another topic for another day), and on my last leg press of Workout B, the fourth such workout starting from the first calibration workout, I pushed 860 lb and held it for 5 seconds rather easily. The first calibration day lift was 630, so I’ve seen some serious progress. Lots of strange looks from observers, but those 9 plates plus a 25 on each side are rather impressive looking, and bordering on scary. If all goes well, I could be pushing 12 plates per side in a couple of months – is that nuts or what? Maybe I will call it a limit before that.
Anyway, I am stunned by my own progress, and loving my new leaner but more muscular look gained in under 2 months. Perhaps you should cough up the funds, buy the book and give it a try: Click Here!
Good Living – Frank
Frank Wilhelmi – Retired/consultant electronic engineer researches and reports practical strategies for optimizing health and fitness into advanced age. “I have a passion for living life to the fullest, and helping others to do the same.” A rapidly growing body of knowledge now enables us to extend our health and fitness decades beyond popular expectations.