Drop Sets and Isometrics

Bigger Stronger Leaner Christian Thibaudeau Coaching
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[quote]maximus89 wrote:
So you do not recommend longer duration (about 20-40 seconds) isometrics for hypertrophy anymore? What about gymnasts, they seem to use isometric training and are quite muscular. [/quote]

Every basketball player seems to be very tall… so if I play basketball I should grow taller, right?

By the same token most olympic lifters are on the short side… so olympic lifting should make me shorter, right?

Listen, you can’t look at an elite athlete and assume that what he does will necessarily give you the same body as he has.

Those who reach the elite level in gymnastics are genetically built for it; they naturally have a greater motor control (which also means that they are more efficient than most at activating their muscles), they are built on a light frame yet have the predisposition to be able to build a lot of muscle.

And don’t forget that ELITE GYMNASTS HAVE BEEN DOING PULL-UPS, CHIN-UPS, DIPS, JUMPS AND VARIOUS HOLDS FOR AT LEAST 5 HOURS PER DAY FOR SOMETHING LIKE 10 YEARS!!! Of course that will eventually build some muscle.

But doing around 30 minutes worth of their type of training, while they are doing 30 hours A WEEK on them, will not build the same body!

Not to say that what they do wont help you reach your goals, but you gotta keep everything in perspective.

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i don’t know if this is a stupid question but why should one avoid blast isometrics on squats?

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compression and or potential shear force of the spine.

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[quote]Guyah413 wrote:
i don’t know if this is a stupid question but why should one avoid blast isometrics on squats?[/quote]

The bar is directly in contact with the spine. Blast isos with squats would have pretty much the same effect as receiving a pile driver!

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[quote]Christian Thibaudeau wrote:
maximus89 wrote:
I’m wondering is it okay to do drop sets and isometrics both in the same training block or is it too much for the CNS? I train 3 days a week and have an exercise with 3 drop sets and then one isometric exercise (2 positions/3 sets per position) each training day + some less demanding regular exercises after that.I’m planning to do that for 3 weeks, then take a deload week with only low volume/high intensity concentric action and then start a new training block.My goal for this block is mass.

if you truly want my opinion drop sets should be avoided in most cases. They actually don’t contribute to more hypertrophy compared to straight-sets and use up too much of a burden on the nervous and metabolic systems.I THINK ISOMETRICS SHOULD ONLY BE 10% OF YOUR TRAINING.ADD ON YOUR DYNAMIC DAYS.ALSO GOOD FOR BOXERS .EXPLOSIVE ISOMETRIC TRAINING.NOT SO IMPORTANT FOR ADDING SIZE BUT GOOD FOR ADDING RFD.

People think that they work because it hurts and make them feel pumped up (which is only fluid, lactate and hydrogen ions accumulated in the muscle).

Isometrics are probably the most misapplied method of all. And even I am responsible for some of those bad uses from some of my earlier writings on the subject.

Regular isometrics where you almost bust an ee of its socket by pushing or pulling against an immovable resistance actually has little real life benefits and are HELL on the nervous system.

The best way to do isometrics is a method that Tim Patterson and I ‘discovered’ by accident in one of our conversation and subsequent experimentations in the gym.

We call them blast isometrics.

It is a form of functional isometrics (bar starting on a first set of safety pins and pulled/pushed onto a second set of pins a few inches higher).

You perform a functional isometric put the goal is not to just reach the pins and then push/pull. You actually are trying to DESTROY that second set of pins… try to hit it as hard as possible with the bar. After the contact hold for a micro-second, just to ‘show that you are in control’ and repeat for the number of reps required.

This will GREATLY activate the CNS’ capacity to recruit fast-twitch fibers, first because of the explosive action but also because of the reflexive contraction of the fibers upon hitting the pins.

It also has much less negative neural effects than regular isometrics… it is that grind that actually puts negative stress on the nervous system.

You only need to do one position for functional isometrics and sets of 3 reps are the average.[/quote]