You
may or may not be familiar with a very cool training concept
called "Zone Training". The concept was originated
by Brian Johnston of IART and it's VERY effective for completely
overloading the entire range of motion of an exercise.
At it's
simplest, you basically break the range of motion of an
exercise into two or three segments (i.e. zones) and work
on those segments SEPARATELY, focusing on the first segment,
then the second, then the third.
Brian
has a book that describes Zone Training (also called
JReps) in much greater detail. You can read more about Zone
Training by clicking
here.
I HIGHLY
recommend grabbing this book if you're interested in the
technique. Brian explains the hell out of it and it's excellent
stuff :)
And
since I'll be demonstrating this technique with bench press,
we'll use bench press for the example!
It's
a KILLER technique and, believe me, it will put TREMENDOUS
overload on your muscles.
Basically,
the problem with regular reps over a full range of motion
is that your leverage changes of the range of motion. When
doing a full-range bench press, you can only use as much
as weight as you can get past the very WEAKEST point in
the range of motion.
So THAT
is the only point of the exercise that's getting fully loaded.
When you're at the top, you could really use a LOT more
weight because the leverage is better. That's what cam-based
machines try and do - change the leverage of the exercise
match the strength curve of the exercise (the strength curve
is a chart of that change in leverage, if you're not familiar
with the term).
It's
also what partial training accomplishes. By focusing only
on a specific range of motion, you can target your weights
to that specific range of motion. It's how I can do 600
lbs on the top few inches of the bench press but have to
use a whole lot less when doing full range reps.
What
Brian has done with Zone
Training is allow you to focus on those specific range
of motion in the exercise but WITHOUT changing weights.
He uses fatigue principles to change the resistance.
What
THAT means in English is that you'll do partial reps in
the weakest range first then in the middle range then, when
you're most fatigued, you'll do partials reps in your STRONGEST
range.
It may
sound a bit confusing but once you see it in picture and
video, you'll be able to get the meaning pretty quick. It's
a great concept and VERY effective.
So the
first Zone that you start with is the WEAKEST segment of
the range of motion of an exercise. With the bench press,
that's the bottom third of the range, from the chest to
just a few inches above.
Use
a moderate weight the first time you do this type of training.
It's tough stuff and you'll burn out faster than you think.
You
will be doing a total of 24 REPS of this Zone
Training exercise - 8 reps in each segment of the range
of motion.
So get
the dumbells into position like you were doing a normal
bench press. I prefer to do dumbell bench on the Swiss ball
- it allows you to wrap your back around the ball and drop
your hips to help open up the rib cage.
(Never
mind the weight vest I'm wearing - that was just something
I was experimenting with at the time I shot this)
ANYWAY,
get into the bottom position of the dumbell press then press
the dumbells up to JUST BELOW the sticking point.
Move your mouse on and off the picture to see the range.
Then bring them back down to the bottom again. Use a controlled
movement - no bouncing. It's deliberate but short press
with a hold of a second at the top and the bottom to help
take any momentum out and keep tension on the target muscles.
Do your
8 reps in this bottom range of motion.
In NORMAL
Zone Training, you actually move immediately to the next
Zone (the middle) with no rest.
In
the video, you'll see that I actually set the weight down
and rest 20 seconds THEN go to the middle section. This
is another way to perform Zone Training - this brief rest
allows you to use somewhat heavier weights because you're
able to clear out some of the waste products (Lactic Acid,
etc.) that accumlate during the set.
So here's
the middle section - start with the dumbell just above the
sticking point then press them a few inches up, then lower
back down. Do your 8 reps in this middle range of motion.
Move your mouse on and off the picture to see the range.
Again, with NORMAL Zone Training, you then go right into
the TOP range of motion. In the video, I take another 20
second rest before going into that top range of motion.
Do your
8 reps in the top range of motion.
Move your mouse on and off the picture to see the range.
By the time you're done with all 24 reps, you will have
maximally worked EVERY segmenet of the range of motion of
the exercise. And believe me, your chest will be TRASHED!
Again,
if you're interested in checking out
Zone Training, you can read more by clicking
here.
You
can apply this technique to pretty much any exercise (it's
BRUTAL with squats and deadlifts, let me tell ya!).
WIth
some exercises, like curls, you're actually better off doing
2 segments instead of three - basically doing the range
below the sticking then the range above the sticking point
for 12 reps each, to get that magic 24 reps.
I'll
be adding some more Zone Training exercises to the site
in the near future so you'll be able to see more of these
in action soon.
