Archives for general (page 8)

Jamie’s training partner Ryan has also started blogging his workouts.

This will probably not be of any real value to fanatic gripsters, but novices struggling with the Captains of Crush Trainer gripper (100 lbs/45 kg of resistance) and those in need of lighter tools for rehab will be pleased to hear that IronMind has just released two lighter versions of their famed gripper. The Guide clocks in at a mere 60 lbs/27 kg of resistance putting it at the level of most sporting goods store grippers, with the Sport providing 80 lbs/36 kg.

There is something in store for those struggling with heavier grippers as well with IronMind also launching Hand Gripper Helpers, which is basically a string that gives 22 lbs/10 kg of extra resistance when grasped together with any gripper thus helping to overcome the fixed weight mentality. As IronMind puts it, “who’d have thought of this: progressive overload for your grippers.” Hmmm… the venerable Ivanko Super Gripper does spring to mind.

The reader survey will close on Sunday. The number of respondents isn’t overwhelming, so there is actually a real chance for you to win some powerlifting stuff in the draw. Plus I would appreciate the feedback. And that’s all I’m going to say about that.

Training blogs seem to be sprouting left and right. Following in Marie’s footsteps, I browsed in at John McDonald’s Lift n’learn started November 30th. He describes himself as a “drug-free, genetically average newbie powerlifter”, who “has not yet competed” and has been focusing on powerlifting since March 2004. He is also a stout defender of unspiced sushi lifting going at it 100% raw and drug-free. Sounds like another blog to frequent… I need to start using those RSS feeds when available pretty soon or I’ll find myself swapping all over the net looking for updates… Not that I am complaining.

Speaking of journals, Mike moved his to the Joe Average board after starting to train with Joe Parrish at Nazareth Barbell. That should make him even stronger… FAST! Note that access to it requires registration.

Tom Tits Experiment science centre is famous not only for its vast array of experiments from the fields of physics and chemistry, but also for its pedagogical approach of letting children learn by literary diving into the experiments on display. This was the main reason why a group of teachers, yours truly included, made the journey to the centre situated just outside of Stockholm, Sweden. That being said, powerlifters will also find something of interest here besides lessons in leverage and friendly toilet facilities. That something is the IsoKai isokinetic machine standing in the human body exhibition (take a left after the brains).

Developed in the 1990s by Swede Kai Lindberg, the IsoKai features a wire suspended barbell connected to a hydraulic system that ensures that the barbell always travels at the same speed regardless of how hard it is moved - basically, the machine generates resistance that corresponds precisely with the amount of force applied to keep speed constant. The bar can easily be lifted with two fingers, but press with all your might and you will find yourself lifting as much as you can handle.

This kind of isokinetic resistance theoretically allows the lifter to maximally activate the muscles throughout the range of motion at a particular speed - on a deadlift you might find yourself with 150 kg of resistance off the floor and 200 kg at lockout. Naturally, a conventional barbell will force the muscles to work maximally only at the sticking point.

The history of isokinetic machines goes back to 1967 when the Cybex I dynamometer (pdf file) was launched in the USA, but it was in the mid 1980s that they became popular when they were hooked up to computers for real-time feedback. Incidentally, the birth of the isokinetic machines coincides with Arthur Jones’s attempt to match resistance with maximum force capacity with his shell-shaped Nautilus cam. If it is true that both isokinetic and Nautilus machines do a pretty good job at forcing the muscle to work maximally, why are we still hooked on barbells?

Well, it boils down to three main things (at least):

1. they are not functional, since there are few activities where we encounter this kind of resistance - for example, to hoist a heavy barbell we need to overcome gravity and learn to build enough speed to overcome the sticking point.
2. they don’t require as much stabilizing as a free weights, thus less muscle mass is triggered - this is why squatting in a Smith machine or IsoKai will never produce the same results as going at it with a barbell.
3. they (especially the isokinetic machines) don’t provide enough resistance when lowering the bar (eccentric muscle action) to promote optimum strength development.

This is not to say that they don’t have their place in powerlifting. On the Westside Barbell Squatting Secrets tape (1993), Simmons credits Fred “Dr. Squat” Hatfield with introducing him to isokinetic training and goes on to explain how the machine is used at Westside with Mark Borda demonstrating (left). The short of it is that a couple of months out of the contest the force meter is set at a slow speed, but as the contest draws nearer the speed is increased while the lifter attempts to keep the force constant - if a lifter can go from reaching 1000 lbs over three seconds to producing the same force in two seconds he has clearly become faster. Not sure if this machine is still used at Westside Barbell Club, but I for one would not object to find one at my gym; the IsoKai price tag of 69,000 SEK/8,000 euros, excluding the PC, makes sure I won’t (the price is likely higher now since the quote is from 1999).

As far as isokinetic machines go, the IsoKai is cool because it gives resistance in both directions - I could first military press a mean resistance of 65 kg/144 lbs followed by a standing pulldown of 80 kg/177 lbs. Of course, the bar could also be lowered more easily when not pulling down on it like a rabid grizzly. FWIW, got a mean force of 135 kg/298 lbs on the deadlift.

The IsoKai is currently widely used to test candidates for the Swedish police and armed forces, which usually means having to pull the bar from below the knees up to the upper chest (this movement shown at Tom Tits). According to this pdf article in Swedish, the IsoKai has replaced three muscle tests previously used in the military (it also claims IsoKai is great for diagnosing whiplash injuries by looking at the force curve plotted by the computer).

Anyone got any experience with isokinetic machines?

“Allt ska man se innan ögonen trillar av”, my beloved grandfather used to say. “Oh, the things my eyes have to see before they roll off” indeed comes to mind before this toilet sign. (Tom Tits Experiment science centre, Södertälje, Sweden).

Although I have come to know some of my readers through e-mail and comments, blogging still largely feels like writing small notes that are then sucked into the great unknown. After one-and-a-half years of writing for Under the Bar and just six posts short of 300, I now think it’s high time I torture you, Dear Reader, with a survey.

More than just a pseudo-scientific attempt at satisfying my own egocentric curiosity, this survey is also an excellent opportunity for you to tell me what could be done better and what should definitively not be abandoned with a few simple mouse clicks.

To show my appreciation, there is of course a lottery involved and you get to choose what you would like to win: A Captains of Crush gripper, a pair of minibands from Jumpstretch, the book The Training of the Weightlifter by Roman or a Westside T-shirt - all brand new of course. I would like to emphasize that the winner will be completely randomly drawn with no regard for how (s)he filled out the survey. So go on and fill it out honestly (no double entries permitted). The survey will be closed on December 12 at 21:00 EET (GMT +2) with results and the lottery winner announced within 10 days after that. If there are more than 30 respondents (fat chance, right?) I pledge to draw two winners.

TAKE ME TO THE SURVEY!

Back squatting without hands has become a concept in some powerlifting circles in Finland. Here’s a clip of zuuhis79 from the Finnish Westsidebar.net forum doing a 150 kg/332 lbs front squat hands free. Anyone?

Found a couple blogs of interest in the blogroll over at Barz-a-Bending. First up is Skinny Bastard Training Log, the blog of an Olympic lifter (began 1 August 2004). Definitively always a good idea to keep an eye open to what other strength athletes are doing - I for one still want to learn the Olympic lifts at some point.

To the date a year ago I discovered Chris McClinch’s training blog. Now he’s back with a new blog called The Thinking Lifter (started 15 November 2004).

The Elite FTS Exercise Index Squat-Deadlift DVD was released a few minutes ago. It “goes over every single aspect of the squat, deadlift and all accessory and supplemental lifts”. Need I say more?