Getting bigger, faster and stronger typically means you can move more weight. So with that said, I aim to get people to move more weight. I have been tooling around with different clusters, super sets, drop sets, eccentrics and isometric contractions to see what is seemingly the best route. I have an answer...ALL OF THEM! Don't be confused. All of these methods are excellent and should be used in athletic and muscle development. What I have found to be the true foundation is tonnage. Tonnage can be described as the total amount of weight lifted within a set. Example: 10 reps of bench at 135lbs is 1350 total pounds lifted. Now the tempo of the lift and rest intervals (amongst other co-factors) will emphasize the strength quality, I am simply talking about total tonnage in a set and different ways of achieving maximum numbers. I chose an intra set rest/pause vs. a cluster to see which could provide more tonnage.
The exercise for we chose for the demo was a 2-3-4 board flat bench press. The cluster for this example was done with a 10 second rest with the weight racked with each board change (this does mimic a cluster). The rest/pause was used with the weight locked out for a few seconds while we changed boards. I am aware that by racking the weight for a short time does allow for the body to rebuild energy substrates (things the body breaks down to help performance) making it an obvious choice to improve tonnage. To a lesser degree the same could be said for holding a weight in the lockout position. The locked out position can be useful to help store elastic energy as well as rebuilding of substrates that can improve the amount of reps per set. Needless to say, as much as I new the cluster would be superior, I was not prepared for how much more. Take a look:
Set #1 (14) reps at 185 lbs. = 2590lbs
Set #2 (24) reps at 185lbs = 4440lbs WOW!! That is a lot more weight!
So I still say use many different variations in your lifting, but if your focus is tonnage than the cluster or cluster is far superior.
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