Here's an interesting strength gain question

[SW]

I was talking to a 31 year old friend of mine, and he said that after strength training with weights for a while that doing a good routine of "moving your body through space" i.e. pushups, good stretching, chinups, jumping jacks... will get you better gains once you go back to regular weights. Any thoughts? I may try it here in a couple months.

[Shad]

go for it.

i really doubt it will give you better gains.

It will help maintain and increase flexibility and depending on how many reps/sets muscle endurance.

go for it man no harm in trying.

id say a better routine after youve finished routine is a break

[onehugemofo]

I was talking to a 31 year old friend of mine, and he said that after strength training with weights for a while that doing a good routine of "moving your body through space" i.e. pushups, good stretching, chinups, jumping jacks... will get you better gains once you go back to regular weights. Any thoughts? I may try it here in a couple months.

You're getting advice from someone who doesnt know jack ****.

[MixmasterNash]

You're getting advice from someone who doesnt know jack ****.

Either that, or they read training literature and know about the difference between closed and open chain exercises, one of the most fundamental categorizations of exercise. So, before you start making fun, you might want to do some book learnin' yourself.

I'm a big closed chain fan myself. Squats, dips, pullups are the core of my workouts.

[firas]

Okay, how's this, try doing a plyometric movement before doing your working set(s) on an exercise. The shock will help you.

eg.
-for legs try jump squats
-for chest try clap-pushups or power presses on a smith machine.

the latter is done by selecting a lighter weight than usual (say 50% of ur working weight to start with) set it up on a smith machine, then push the weight up fast from chest height (if you can't do it fast then it's too heavy) and release at the top of the lift, [DON'T LOCK YOUR ELBOWS] catch the weight on the way down and repeat for about 6 reps.

this works quite well but your muscles get used to it eventually and the benefits start to decline. so you should maybe do it on a month-on, month-off basis.

tell us how it works for you if you try it

[Kiaran]

I just got done reading an article on tendon/ligament strengthening...said that plyometrics were best for this. Any thoughts?

[fixationdarknes]

Okay, how's this, try doing a plyometric movement before doing your working set(s) on an exercise. The shock will help you.

eg.
-for legs try jump squats
-for chest try clap-pushups or power presses on a smith machine.

the latter is done by selecting a lighter weight than usual (say 50% of ur working weight to start with) set it up on a smith machine, then push the weight up fast from chest height (if you can't do it fast then it's too heavy) and release at the top of the lift, [DON'T LOCK YOUR ELBOWS] catch the weight on the way down and repeat for about 6 reps.

this works quite well but your muscles get used to it eventually and the benefits start to decline. so you should maybe do it on a month-on, month-off basis.

tell us how it works for you if you try it

So, you're literally throwing the handles into the air?

[firas]

So, you're literally throwing the handles into the air?

I know it sounds absolutely absurd, but if you do it with a light weight and on a Smith Machine and not be stupid, there's not much danger, the bar should only be moving freely for 3"-4". And the negative needs to be controlled, to "stretch" out the muscle fibres. You look a clown when doing it, but it does work.

"don't knock it, until you try it"

REMEMBER DON'T LOCK YOUR ELBOWS

[Mic Soloist]

so do you do your heavy sets afterwards?

And how will the results be noticed? In your future workouts or will the strength gain be quick?

[firas]

your gains will be noticeable in the first set u do after the plyometrics, say you bench for reps with 100kg for your working/heavy set(s)

after you've done a warmup set try and do the above mentioned with 50-60kg for about 5 reps. now load up the bar to 110 and u should notice it's easier to push the weight because uv stimulated the muscle beforehand, it's similar to those electric stimulus things u can buy.

u can do it for just about any muscle group. if you're a bit worried about the smith machine movement you can try clap-pushups but if you don't bench press around 1.5+ times ur body weight then u'll prob tire urself out.

see how it goes.

[fixationdarknes]

I know it sounds absolutely absurd, but if you do it with a light weight and on a Smith Machine and not be stupid, there's not much danger, the bar should only be moving freely for 3"-4". And the negative needs to be controlled, to "stretch" out the muscle fibres. You look a clown when doing it, but it does work.

"don't knock it, until you try it"

REMEMBER DON'T LOCK YOUR ELBOWS

So, does this plyometric movement serve as your warmup? Or should you do a warmup before this plyometric movement?