Escalate Partial Training
by Don Alessi
http://www.alessifit.com
Partial Training: Fad or Fact?
Training, like so many other bodybuilding "fads" goes in and
out of fashion. It’s rare that any one of these fads ever captures
the attention of exercise scientists. Over the last 10 years
partial range of motion training referred to as "partials" has
been studied for its ability to produce strength gains. The irony
is that bodybuilders also swear that the same system produces size
/hypertrophy gains. The trouble is, proving that it forces size
gains above and beyond any other system, has to this point, eluded
exercise scientists. (That shouldn’t surprise you though, these
were the same dorks that took almost 50 years to prove anabolic
steroids enhanced athletic performance.) So will partial training
become an institution or will it follow the route of the thrust
press, the ab roller and Hot Skinz into bodybuilding extinction?
You be the judge.
Partial range of motion training nicknamed "partials" has
evolved into three distinct types;
1. The strength training type that uses heavier than maximal
weights (supra-maximal) exclusively in the strongest range of
motion. This type yields the greatest relative intensity or
training with the highest percentage of one’s maximum.
2. The strength, plateau busting type that uses sub-maximal,
maximal or supra-maximal loads in the trainee’s weakest range or
"sticking point". For example, setting the pins of a power rack 2"
above and 2" below the knee then training the dead lift within
that partial range.
3. The bodybuilding type that performs 6-10 full range reps to
failure and then forces 2-4 partials in the strongest range to
"burn" the trainee beyond failure. This type yields the greatest
training volume.
The questions now remain
- Why haven’t the studies been unable to measure greater
hypertrophy with partials? And
- Can there be a combination of styles that give an additive
or synergist effect?
The answer to the first question is simple, all the studies to
date have focused on the first type, the strength training type
and not the bodybuilding type. Style one forces greater overload,
torque and acceleration around the joint, but without sufficient
tension time or lactate output the end result is nervous system
overload without metabolic overload (strength without size).
The answer to the second question I believe is yes. For the
bodybuilder, transitioning the bodybuilding type into the strength
type would compliment one another. Plus it would follow the
natural overloading curve, accumulation then intensification.
Benefits of partial range training;
-Elimination of sticking point, thus giving the trainee a
biomechanical advantage to use super-maximal loads
-Increases the physical work performed in a given period of
time
(work=force*distance), greater work-volume equals hypertrophy
-Increases blood lactate levels, a precursor to anabolic
hormone release
-Demands maximal force production and greater torque (overload)
Benefits of full range of motion training:
- Stretching under load conditions the myotatic stretch reflex
(plyometric effect) that is involved in weight training thus
shutting off inhibiting mechanisms.
- Stretching under load increases muscle hypertrophy by
stretching the limiting "sheaths" that encapsulate the muscle
belly. In protective response to this unstable change, the
stretched muscle sheets trigger an increase in protein splitting,
muscle cell division and collagen breakdown and repair. The result
is hypertrophy (thickening) for cell survival.
-Requires less tension thus allowing a trainee to "unload" and
repair from the assault of higher intensity techniques like
"strength partials".
Supercharged recovery
To this day, my biggest critique of partial training is that it
works too well. What I mean is that unless recovery is enhanced,
too much muscle damage will quickly create an over-training
effect. More times than not the trainee gets weaker and
discouraged in the short term only to realize a strength
improvement a week or two after concluding the program. This
self-induced, shellacking can be avoided by planning "unloading"
into the program as you will see below. Additionally,
supplementing the bodies energy systems is a must. The following
recovery stacks are the most successful of those being used by
today’s muscle monsters. They enhance recovery and make very
impressive size and strength gains:
Next page |
Recovery Stacks
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