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!
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.
