Someone asked earlier a question about how to combine my new negative technique, 30-10-30, into a normal HIT routine.
On page 265 of The New Bodybuilding for Old-School Results, there’s a chapter that describes a pre-exhaustion shoulder cycle. The three exercises involved are the
- Overhead press with a barbell, very strict style, immediately followed by
- Lateral raise with dumbbells, immediately followed by
- Overhead with barbell, done in a looser style
Try to do 8-12 reps in each exercise and move quickly between them.
Okay, doing that routine will give a deep, stimulating burn throughout your shoulders.
Here’s how I might improve the routine by adding 30-10-30 to one of the exercises.
The first exercise is my target for 30-10-30. Drop your normal resistance on the overhead press by 10-15%. Get the barbell over your head quickly. Lower the barbell slowly. Be halfway down in 15 seconds and all the way down to your collarbones at 30 seconds.
Then, without resting, perform the overhead press for 10 reps.
Hold the last rep at the top, and try to another 30-second negative.
Place the barbell on the floor and immediately do the lateral raise and the overhead press, looser style, as noted previously.
Done properly, you should feel a deeper inroad being made in the involved muscles. And that’s what I’m talking about with 30-10-30 and the other negative techniques that I’ll be exploring in my eBook on Backloading: New Discoveries in Negative Training.
The new shoulder routine would look like the following:
- Overhead press with barbell, 30-10-30
- Lateral raise with dumbbells
- Overhead press with barbell, looser style
It will take a while for the Backloading eBook to get published. In the meantime, we did get The New Bodybuilding for Old-School Results in an eBook format. It’s now available through T-Nation.
In Chapter 29, there’s an upfront story that will get your attention. I heard it from the man who worked for Vic Tanny at Tanny’s original Dungeon gym in Santa Monica during the later 1940s. The guy in the story had shoulders that were 25 inches across and broader that those of Steve Reeves.
You’ll get a front-row seat at that year’s Mr. USA contest. Don’t miss the action.