The Four Horsemen You mentioned 2 of "The Four Horsemen;" what is your opinion of the other 2, namely Alan Aragon & Martin Berkhan?
They seem knowledgeable enough and I've had brief conversations with both of them some time back. As far as the book, I wouldn't hold my breath because collaborative books rarely pan out (too many egos involved, kind of like rock bands).
Is anyone able to email me the Max-Stim spreadsheet that automatically calculates your workloads please?
I have these on my hard drive, not sure if either one is what you are looking for. I zipped them into one file. View attachment max stim.zip
I do max-stimulation for deadlifts, but for most lifts I prefer myo-reps just because it saves time. I do believe max-stim is an awesome way to gain strength and size. I may even try to train more max-stim style, especially as I go for maximum strength, next time I bulk up. I trained max-stim a lot in the past, it is a good method.
I like to use 20 seconds M-time. This proves to be the ideal rest time for me, just enough to recover slightly, while the muscle is still somewhat stressed. I also use this time when I "pause" during myo-reps. Myo reps are basically take a set to near failure, then pause and take a few more reps, then pause, etc. similar to Doggcrapp, or "rest-pause", but I think Borge explains how it works better, and also implements the technique better. Incidentally, Borge Fagerli (blade), developed myo-reps heavily inspired by Dan Moore's writings, and his "Max-Stimulation" method. Anyway, max-stim is typically doing 20 reps with a ~10-30 second pause between reps. You rack the weight and take 10-15 deep breaths, then you do another rep, then rack it, then another. It's hardcore, and although Dan developed this method for hypertrophy, it happens to be one of the best strength training methods I have used. As far as progression, you can do it just like vanilla HST, or you can just go from something like 60% of your 1rm and progress each workout until you are using your 3rm. Though in my experience, once you get to the 5rm loads, total reps have to drop to 10-15 max-stim reps. It is amazing how many reps you can do with a heavy load using this method. Great for deadlifts, chin-ups, dips, bench, rows, Pulldowns, curls, anything where you can quickly rerack the weight. It is not recommended for squats, too awkward to rerack each rep. Give it a try.
It's definitely not as straightforward to do Max-stim squats but it is doable if you have good racking/unracking technique. If you can unrack the bar, take a single step back with each foot, squat and then rerack, you should be ok to do a set of Max-stim squats. Front squats work well too.
