the ways of doing an exercise.

[stan]

Hi there.

I'm a relatively new at this whole BBing thing, been at it now for a year and a half, and I'm just finishing my first HST cycle.

I've had good gains, and hope in the future to look better.

Now, here's what I wanted to ask. In the threads where Vicious and DKM are talking about the 5s and negatives, they often refer to "drop sets", "activating myotatic reflex", "loaded stretches", "clustering" and of course "negatives" when considering the exercises themselves..

These are the things I know and understand:

Negatives, in a nutshell: When you use a weight which is around your 2RM, and focus on lowering the weight slowly, often you need a spotter to help you with the concentric part of the exercise.
- When you use it: After the 5s, you use it to increase the strain on the muscle, you won't get tired from these kinds of exercises, although they're tough.
- Why you would use it: Focusing on negatives mean focusing on increasing the signal the muscle gets to make itself bigger, it's one of the 2 ways to increase muscle size.
- How to do it: Just use a weight around your 2RM, and focus on lowering it slowly, you should use a weight which you can't completely stop, so you're always battling against the weight, trying to slow down the descent.

Clustering in a nutshell: When you use less reps per set than 5 to finish the total amount of reps needed (instead of 3x5=15 reps, you use more sets to finish the 15 total reps).
- When you use it: mainly at 5s or extended 5s, but anytime when you feel you need it to finish the set amount of reps.
- why you would use it: To ward off central-nervous-system fatigue
- How to use it: when you're one or two reps away from completely tiring yourself out, stop the set even though it's not the total 5 reps (or 10 reps if you're in 10s).

If someone could describe "Drop sets", "activating the myotatic reflex" and "loaded stretches" in a similar way, I'd be very happy, as I've no idea how to explain it, and I've never used it, so as much detail as you can please

If there are other ways of focusing an exercise in some way, please share it.

S.

 

[BIZ]

Quote[/b] ]If someone could describe "Drop sets", "activating the myotatic reflex" and "loaded stretches"

Drop sets are done to extend a regular set. For instance, you are on your last set of bench presses and do five reps, then immediately lower the weight by about 25% and do a few more reps, then lower the weight again by ~25% and do a few more reps, the last two sets would be referred to as your drop sets. They are done on the last set of an exercise.

Myotatic reflex takes advantage of a mechanism controlled by muscle spindles. When the muscle is being stretched, the muscle spindles work to reverse the stretch by elliciting a contraction of the same muscle. The quicker the stretch, the greater the myotatic reflex. This is used in what is referred to as explosive lifting, lowering the weight quicker (especially at the greatest range of motion) and quickly reversing direction to get a more powerful contraction.

Loaded stretches are just what they sound like. A good example would be in the chest fly, in which a person would hold a weight in the stretch position for about 30 sec. Time may vary, but 30 sec. seems to be as much as I can muster when I am using sufficient weight (~5RM). I am not a regular practitioner of loaded stretches, so may not be the best source of info. Loaded stretches are meant to load the muscle in the ROM where the most microtrauma can occur and is partially based on bird wing experiments. That's another story, but you might be able to find it in the archives.

 

[stan]

Biz, thanks for replying, wondering if you'd answer maybe a few Q's to describe it a little bit better?

Drop sets, basically you drop the weight and start again as fast as you can, right? what if you're on your own and doing a barbell, is the time you take in taking off the weight too much? When do you use drop sets? 10s? 5s? negs? Or are there other conditions when you should decide to use them?
What is the effect of dropsets?

Myotatic reflex, when should you consider using it? 5s? negs? What weight do you use to instigate it (perhaps what starting testing weight should you try)? I think I understand how it could be activated with a bicep curl in a preacher bench, but can it be done as well with squats, chins or incline benchpress, or are there only the exercises which stretch your muscle to maximum ROM which work?

Loaded stretches, when should you consider using it? 5s? negs?

S.

 

[imported_dkm1987]

Quote[/b] (stan @ Mar. 15 2005,5:00)]Biz, thanks for replying, wondering if you'd answer maybe a few Q's to describe it a little bit better?
Drop sets, basically you drop the weight and start again as fast as you can, right?  what if you're on your own and doing a barbell, is the time you take in taking off the weight too much?  When do you use drop sets?  10s? 5s? negs?  Or are there other conditions when you should decide to use them?
What is the effect of dropsets?
Myotatic reflex, when should you consider using it? 5s? negs? What weight do you use to instigate it (perhaps what starting testing weight should you try)?  I think I understand how it could be activated with a bicep curl in a preacher bench, but can it be done as well with squats, chins or incline benchpress, or are there only the exercises which stretch your muscle to maximum ROM which work?
Loaded stretches, when should you consider using it? 5s? negs?
S.

I'm not his Biz-ness but,

Drops sets would be used when the weight is heavier and therefore you aren't eliciting that great of a metabolic input. During the 5's and Negs mostly. Dropsets just like the 15's are a way of inducing ERK signalling through the metabolic demands involved. ERK 1/2 are one of the Mitogen Activated Protein Kinases that elicits hypertrophy, but mostly they elicit changes that increase the functional capacity or quality of the tissue.

Myotatic reflex, when lifting in a controlled fashion it is rarely used. Although it can be used effectively, for someone just starting out or with only a few years with weight lifting they are more apt to hurt themselves trying to descend the weight that fast. It is not necessary for most to grow, which is why it is in Vicious' advanced topics, IMHO I wouldn't worry about the myotatic reflex for a while.