Training frequency

[Eman]

Kipping pull ups

Don't be ridiculous - people don't actually do these.... Right.. ?

Soreness is still what I measure the success of my last workout on most of the time. For better or for worse...

 

[Perrin Aybara]

Don't be ridiculous - people don't actually do these.... Right.. ?

Soreness is still what I measure the success of my last workout on most of the time. For better or for worse...

I know, right? Crazy world we live.

To each their own, brother. There's many ways to go about doing what we do. Personal preference and enjoying what you do are very important factors in their own right.

 

[tenpoundsleft]

Soreness can be induced easily, especially if you exaggerate the eccentric portion of a movement.

Thanks for the reply - feels like someone should compile your posts and make a book.

About the eccentric work, do you mean overload and just do eccentric, or simply go slow on the way down and quicker up? The latter is what I try to do, nice and slow down, feel the tension, and then push up. Not really pausing at the bottom, but definitely faster up than down. Pointless or counterproductive? I noticed that many I see on YouTube go really fast down and up - can't argue against monsters like Ronnie Coleman - but is that the most effective approach at my far more modest weight levels?

Here's someone who thinks eccentric work is great:
6 Powerful Benefits of Eccentric Training

 

[weighted chinup]

Thanks for the reply - feels like someone should compile your posts and make a book.

About the eccentric work, do you mean overload and just do eccentric, or simply go slow on the way down and quicker up? The latter is what I try to do, nice and slow down, feel the tension, and then push up. Not really pausing at the bottom, but definitely faster up than down. Pointless or counterproductive? I noticed that many I see on YouTube go really fast down and up - can't argue against monsters like Ronnie Coleman - but is that the most effective approach at my far more modest weight levels?

Here's someone who thinks eccentric work is great:
6 Powerful Benefits of Eccentric Training

I wouldn't try and purposefully slow it down, I would perform the eccentric portion of any movement at a natural tempo (not slowed down). The concentric portion should be lifted as explosively as possible.

A normally performed eccentric (without purposeful slowing) can even make a concentric more explosive:

If you do a really slow eccentric or even pause in the hole you are not going to get as strong of a stretch reflex. The stretch / myotatic reflex is incredibly useful because it will give you more power during the concentric which in itself has advantages for how much muscle contraction you get on each repetition.

Think of it like a rubber band, the faster the eccentric is performed the more elastic energy the relevant muscle groups are going to 'store'. The deep extension of the eccentric will spool up the myotatic/stretch reflex and all the elastic energy that was stored in those muscle tissues will allow you to shoot up really fast with a powerful concentric. (This is pretty much the explanation Verkhoshansky gave in Supertraining so credit where credit is due).

It's been my experience that if I purposefully try and slow down a rep or even pause that I will blunt a lot of the stretch reflex I could have otherwise used. I believe this is the case for most.

I always lift everything as explosively as possible, and I train for hypertrophy / bodybuilding. The performance benefits to lifting explosively are even greater. I am noticeably less explosive If I purposefully slow down the eccentric portion due to a blunted stretch reflex. Just my opinion on the subject.