Hank_Z
12-20-2008, 02:01 PM
My Current Exercise Regimen
About a month ago, I chose CIC isometrics as my core workout. Before that I had changed from one type of Transformetric exercise to another and had not achieved significant results. After sticking with CICs for a month, I've seen significant increases in muscle size and strength.I'm a happy guy!
Why I Selected This Regimen
John Peterson's intro to "Physiology of Stength" says this:
The Physiology of Strength represents the results of a decade and a half of isometric research that was conducted from 1946 to 1961 at the Max Planck Institute in Dortmund, Germany. Though this book is technical and totally lacking in literary personality, it does offer some great insights into the research that was conducted and the variables that were included in the experiments. I highly recommend it.
Here are nuggets of gold I found in this book. The third one sold me!
1. "For practical application…one training session per day with an isometric maximum muscle contraction of about one to two seconds is enough to achieve the maximum speed in strength increase obtainable during muscle training.” Experiments with up to 7 contractions per day of the same muscle found no increased results.
2. “When the contraction involves 2/3 of the maximum strength, it should be maintained for approximately four to six seconds.” Longer contractions achieve no additional results. [On the other hand, muscle contractions of less than one second have no effect.]
Since I don't have or want a dynanometer to measure the my contractions as a percentage of 100% maximum strength, I just use the muscular contraction pattern that John details in his book IPR. This assures me of getting the maximum results given my genetics.
3. (Here's the "biggie") “The increased strength gained during a training period can be maintained by giving training stimuli every fourteen days.” That's right...you can train for two or three months and then keep those results with only one repetition every two weeks! The researchers tracked results for up to one year and found there was absolutely no decrease in muscle strength or size when the participant did only one repetition of each contraction every two weeks. Their findings were so consistent that the researchers saw no reason to track the results of this maintenance program longer than one year after the training period stopped. The research findings convinced them that this maintenance program would be successful year-after-year.
My Specific CIC Regimen
Based on this research, I chose to perform each CIC in John's IPR book on a daily basis. I selected "Position B" for each of the CICs, because that lets me contract the same muscles each day. My results have been excellent. I carry a 3-foot-long pieced of webbing (actually a short leash for a big dog) with me almost everywhere I go. I use it to do CICs at all sorts of different angles. I also do some DVRs/VRTs and Isopower Flexes throughout the day, just because they feel really good.
My Plan - And I'm Open to Suggestions
1. After continuing the daily "Position B" CICs for two more months, I'll stop and only perform one repetition of each every two weeks. This should keep 100% of the muscle size and strength I'll have acheived. I plan to do this simple maintenance program forever.
2. Then I'll switch to a DVR/VRT-based regimen for about three months. If I can find a way to use the H-I-T approach and still work out six days a week, I'd love to do that for three months.
3. After that three month period, I'll evaluate what to do next. I can keep my DVR/VRT foundation, use push-ups as a foundation for several months, or return to CICs and do either Position A or C for three months. If I do the new CICs (position A or C) for three months, I'll do one rep of each of those every two weeks...forever.
John has told us how effective CICs are to build strength. If you're interested in working for two or three months and then maintaining the results with only one rep of each contraction every two weeks, you may want to check this out.
Hank
About a month ago, I chose CIC isometrics as my core workout. Before that I had changed from one type of Transformetric exercise to another and had not achieved significant results. After sticking with CICs for a month, I've seen significant increases in muscle size and strength.I'm a happy guy!
Why I Selected This Regimen
John Peterson's intro to "Physiology of Stength" says this:
The Physiology of Strength represents the results of a decade and a half of isometric research that was conducted from 1946 to 1961 at the Max Planck Institute in Dortmund, Germany. Though this book is technical and totally lacking in literary personality, it does offer some great insights into the research that was conducted and the variables that were included in the experiments. I highly recommend it.
Here are nuggets of gold I found in this book. The third one sold me!
1. "For practical application…one training session per day with an isometric maximum muscle contraction of about one to two seconds is enough to achieve the maximum speed in strength increase obtainable during muscle training.” Experiments with up to 7 contractions per day of the same muscle found no increased results.
2. “When the contraction involves 2/3 of the maximum strength, it should be maintained for approximately four to six seconds.” Longer contractions achieve no additional results. [On the other hand, muscle contractions of less than one second have no effect.]
Since I don't have or want a dynanometer to measure the my contractions as a percentage of 100% maximum strength, I just use the muscular contraction pattern that John details in his book IPR. This assures me of getting the maximum results given my genetics.
3. (Here's the "biggie") “The increased strength gained during a training period can be maintained by giving training stimuli every fourteen days.” That's right...you can train for two or three months and then keep those results with only one repetition every two weeks! The researchers tracked results for up to one year and found there was absolutely no decrease in muscle strength or size when the participant did only one repetition of each contraction every two weeks. Their findings were so consistent that the researchers saw no reason to track the results of this maintenance program longer than one year after the training period stopped. The research findings convinced them that this maintenance program would be successful year-after-year.
My Specific CIC Regimen
Based on this research, I chose to perform each CIC in John's IPR book on a daily basis. I selected "Position B" for each of the CICs, because that lets me contract the same muscles each day. My results have been excellent. I carry a 3-foot-long pieced of webbing (actually a short leash for a big dog) with me almost everywhere I go. I use it to do CICs at all sorts of different angles. I also do some DVRs/VRTs and Isopower Flexes throughout the day, just because they feel really good.
My Plan - And I'm Open to Suggestions
1. After continuing the daily "Position B" CICs for two more months, I'll stop and only perform one repetition of each every two weeks. This should keep 100% of the muscle size and strength I'll have acheived. I plan to do this simple maintenance program forever.
2. Then I'll switch to a DVR/VRT-based regimen for about three months. If I can find a way to use the H-I-T approach and still work out six days a week, I'd love to do that for three months.
3. After that three month period, I'll evaluate what to do next. I can keep my DVR/VRT foundation, use push-ups as a foundation for several months, or return to CICs and do either Position A or C for three months. If I do the new CICs (position A or C) for three months, I'll do one rep of each of those every two weeks...forever.
John has told us how effective CICs are to build strength. If you're interested in working for two or three months and then maintaining the results with only one rep of each contraction every two weeks, you may want to check this out.
Hank