Power to the People

Power to the People by Pavel Tsatsouline is one of the classic books on strength training. Here are my notes.

Wired for power

• We already have more power in our muscles than we’re using (20-30%)
  • Part of training is getting more ‘neurological efficiency’
  • We won’t completely overcome this ‘strength deficit’ as otherwise you would tear your muscles
  • (as seen with bodybuilders who gain more strength than their tendons can hold)

Tension, what force is made of

• Tension = force, we want to increase tension

• High tension training has five key conditions
  1. Slow exercise performance
  2. Maximizing muscle tension (flexing) regardless of weight
  3. Heavy (85-95%) weights some of the time
     1. Lifting heavy is needed for spine, joints, tendons to get accustomed to pressure
  4. Minimizing fatigue
     1. “High values of fatigue and tension are mutually exclusive”
     2. So program should focus on having (and inducing) low fatigue
  5. Taking advantage of various neurological phenomena

Training to failure or to success?

• “[Y]ou must push your limits of weight/tension, and not reps/exhaustion if you want to get stronger.”
• Hebbian rule (Cells that wire together, fire together)
• “If you are training to failure, you are training to fail”

Don’t water down your strength with reps and fatigue

• How to minimize fatigue
  1. limit reps to five or fewer
  2. increase rest between sets to 3 to 5 min
  3. limit sets to 2
  4. pause and relax between reps
  5. don’t practice a lift more than 5x per week

(check back later how this contradicts with building muscle?)

Advice is to train almost every day, but breaks are ok, taking more than one day off reduces effectiveness by 50%

More low rep advantages

• Why it’s safe
  1. The stabilizing muscles are not fatigued yet
  2. You are (forced to) concentrate(d)
  3. Can develop strength without training to failure

The idea is that these types of workouts will give you energy (vs draining it after more reps)

Rigor mortis, or why high reps failed to tone you up

• You feel the ‘burn’ after high reps because you run out of ATP (as a dead body does too)
• Strength = tension = tone (i.e. get muscle tone by residual tension over active/energy exhaustion)

But I don’t want to bulk up

• Lifting heavy weights will not necessarily build big muscles

Machines are the wusses’ way out

• Learn with free weights, better to have stability before going to heavy (free) weights
• “The more fixed the object, the more likely you are to develop a pattern overload,” explains Paul Chek

Isolation exercises, Frankenstein’s choice

• Instead, do movements that involve more than one joint to form a ‘kinetic chain’

Irradiation: Getting strong and hard with only two exercises

• “It’s not daily increase, but daily decrease – hack away the unessential” – Bruce Lee
• E.g. tense your fist, now tense harder, more… then you feel other muscles up to chest contrasting
  • Law of Irradiation
• The deadlift & pside press (over bench) as the two exercises
  • Deadlift being the 80% important (Pareto)

Emphasize your problem areas without adding exercises

• Change up the variation of the big two exercises (to focus in on muscle that is lacking)
• But, probably also not necessary, as building up load on basic exercises will recruit the lazy muscles

How to become a bear: A Societ commando’s secret

• What if you did want to build ‘show’ muscles?
  • Longer time muscle under tension, so more reps
• The method
  1. reduce reps to 4-6 per set (so still relatively heavy weights)
  2. perform 10-20 sets
  3. stop a few reps before failure, so you can keep doing same reps/sets

• e.g. instead of 100×5 (and 90×5 for second set), do 80×5, 30-90sec rest, stop when you can’t do 80×5 anymore
• reducing rest time promotes HGH production(?)
  • and reduced rest time allows for the best training total time of 45min for testosterone release (?)
• do workouts less often but still 3x per week for each muscle group

Last three pieces of the big biceps puzzle

• Eat a lot of protein
• Note on health: no, having a lot of big muscles is also straining the body
• Book on diet: Anabolic Diet (Mauro Di Pasquale)
• REST
  • “Don’t run if you can walk, don’t walk if you can stand, don’t stand if you can sit, and if you sat, might as well lie down and take a nap.”
• Calm mind = big body (i.e. less stress is good for muscle building)

Virtual Masculinity

• (some critique of building muscles by pumping them full of blood)
  • Sarcoplasmic hypertrophy
• This is in contrast to ‘myofibrillar hypertrophy’ which is a result of heavy weight training
• Building with high reps does both, but leads to ’empty’ muscles

On variety, soreness, and keeping things in focus

• Your body reacts the same to exercise as to smell, not smelling something again unless intensity or taste is changed
• (notes on ‘plateau’ as just being the level where someone has started to get accustomed to an exercise)
• So, do the same exercises, but change the routine’s load (cycling)
• There is no correlation between your level of soreness and progress

Cycling: The Russian breakthrough for continuous improvement

• Don’t max out; you won’t get improved results over time
• Do periodization, build up weight over time, take breaks after intense periods (competition)
• Three types of periodization
  1. Linear Cycle
     • Start with 80% of 5RM, e.g. weight you can do 10x
     • At least 8 workouts in cycle
     • Stop if you can’t make the set
  2. Wave Cycle
     • Go back in weight during the cycle
  3. Step Cycle
     • Stay flat for a while, then go up a bigger step
     • Or a small step, so good program if doing lighter weight exercises

• If you have been ill or otherwise away from the gym for 7 days or more
  • Then go back 2 to 3 workouts and pick it back up again
  • Or even if you’re feeling shitty
• A cycle is about 8-16 workouts

Hyperirradiation: How to boost strength and safety

• Next few chapters about ‘neural programs’ and how to use them in training
• Hyperirradiation: tense all your muscles when doing the lifts, as to activate/recruit them and gain strength
  1. Squeeze the weight as if you are trying to crush it
  2. Squeeze your glutes as if pincing a coin
  3. Tighten your abs as if bracing for a punch

Hyperirradiation: “Cheering” not “Cheating”

• Brace yourself against the ground (for Olympic lifting)
• Slack muscles absorb the ‘recoil’ of the muscles that are at work
• Benefits
  1. Increased strength through additional neural stimulation of the target muscles by the impulses from working ‘extra’ muscles
  2. Increased strength through providing a solid and efficiently aligned foundation to lift from
  3. Improved workout safety through dramatically improved body stability

Hard abs + strong hands = Powerful body

• Training grip can help with deadlift
• When training with heavy weights, the core muscles take on a significant part of the load (abs included)

Power breathing: The Karate secret of superstrength

• Tensing the abdominal muscles helps with strength (so karate also employs this with screaming at the end of a punch)
  • This included contracting the rectal sphincter
• Alternative is to breathe out, but with tension in the stomach still
• A belt does something similar, though it should be avoided (as it creates a weak link in the midsection)
• A way to exercise this is to do concentrated/contracted breathing (8 reps, 8 sets?)
• More in Beyond Crunches: Hard Science. Hard Abs.
• Breathing tips
  1. Inhale 75-100% before loading muscles
  2. Hold your breath, breathe out at the end or right after
  3. Take a breath (if exercise allows) between reps
  4. Don’t expel all of your air, to not lose tension
  5. Can take more breaths between reps (e.g. with deadlifts)
  6. Keep your midsection rock hard but do not let your stomach bulge out
  7. Always use the anal lock (contract your rectal sphincter)

Slow and steady wins the race

• Lift heavy weights slowly
• Three to five seconds up & then three to five seconds down
• You will not be able to lift more weight if you go quick

Feed-forward tension

• “Because your strength generally does not exceed 30% of your tendon structural strength, the strength governor mechanism is set up way too conservatively”
• Feed-forward tension
  • Maximally contract your muscles with a submaximal weight
  • Or even without weight, done with dynamic tension
  • This (may) break(s) the feedback loop and allows for more tension also under heavy loads
• “Feed-forward tension is not the same thing as ‘feeling the muscle’ either. Feeling your entire body cease to be a carbon based life form and get compressed to the density of a black hole is more like it!“

Pre-tension for max power and safety

• Build tension first (before load is touched) to lift maximally

Successive induction

• Successive induction: if you tense one muscle group, the opposite one (e.g. triceps and biceps) will be disinhibited as they are expecting the other side to hold the tension
• E.g. doing bicep curls, but on the way down, push with the triceps

On shoes, gloves, and mirrors

• Running shoes bad for lifting
• Shoes with least support/spring are best (deadlift shoes)
  • e.g. Chuck Taylors
• Also, no gloves (less feedback/pressure)
• No mirrors, means better internal feel for muscles
  • So lifting with eyes closed could help in some regard

Power Stretching

• “[A] muscle that can easily relax into an extreme stretch is a muscle that can do things”
• More in Beyond Stretching
• Do only light stretches before a workout
• Stretching may lead to muscle damage that leads to muscle splitting, hyperplasia
• Possibly this is the yin and yang of strength training, contracting and stretching (=better results)

The Drills

• The Deadlift
  • Keep weight on heels
  • Eyes forward/ceiling (don’t look at bar when picking it up)
  • Knees backwards (not over bar, as vertical as possible)
  • Push butt backward
  • Recommends alternating grip (mwah, hook grip ftw)
  • Flex triceps as this ensures arms are straight
  • Knees straight forward (cue may be to push them out)
  • Core tight
• The Side Press
  • Why it’s good
    1. Full body action, also for stability of core
    2. Also good for grip
    3. Easier to learn than miilitary press (hmm)
    4. Teaches good overhead lifting skills
    5. Shoulder in external rotation, better for safety
    6. Uses lats
    7. No spotters necessary (nor rack)
  • Brace core (etc)
  • Press working shoulder and elbow down
  • Push yourself away from the barbell (instead of barbell up)
  • When going down, actively pull the bar down (induction)

The Power to the People! Manifesto

• “Scientists who study non-linear dynamics know that complexity on one level implies simplicity on another. They even have a term, simplexity, which refers to the emergence of simple rules from underlying disorder and complexity. In Power to the People! I have attempted to deliver a ‘simplex’ approach to strength training, decades of scientific research and hundreds of years of lifting and martial arts experience distilled into a no frills power formula anyone, from a recent couch potato to a world class athlete, can use.“

Stretching Scientifically

Stretching Scientifically by Thomas Kurz is, according to some (including Jujimufu from Legendary Flexibility), the definitive book on stretching.

Also see this old school video for the book.

Here are my notes from the book:

Introduction

• The goal is strength and flexibility (together)
  • I like this approach versus something like yoga wherein much of it you only work on flexibility without strength
• The goal is also to be able to do a full stretch without warm-up (e.g. splits)

Chapter 1 – Flexibility in Sports

There are six kinds of flexibility

1. Dynamic active flexibility (only using muscles of the moving body part)
   • e.g. kicking high, moving arms around
2. Dynamic passive flexibility below pain threshold (with external assistance)
3. Dynamic passive flexibility over the main threshold (max limit with external assistance)
4. Static active flexibility (only using muscles of stretched body part to hold a stretched position)
   • e.g. raise one leg, stretch arms behind back
5. Static passive flexibility below pain threshold (with external assistance)
   • e.g. hold leg when raised, press arm against wall
6. Static passive flexibility over the main threshold (max limit with external assistance)

But in training you normally only practice the bold ones.

There is a difference between the passive (more) and active (less) flexibility, this is called the ‘flexibility reserve’.

You want to do stretches specific for your sports. So for me that is weightlifting (and somewhat powerlifting) in which I will mostly need dynamic active flexibility, e.g. having flexiblity and strength in a snatch or squat.

Too much flexibility (without strength) is detrimental to your sports performance. Luckily I won’t have this problem for some time, but good to keep in mind. Olympic weightlifting is mentioned on page 8, again not an issue I currently have (being too flexible).

There is no clear connection between flexibility and injury. This really differs between sports and athlete.

An imbalance in muscle strength is not good for injury risk. So also do stretches in the opposite/non-used direction to keep balance.

Do stretches after sports, besides some warm-up (before). Do stretches a few hours after sports if you went hard (you don’t want to compound the damage you’re doing to your muscles).

Chapter 2 – How to Stretch

The goal is to do stretches at full length without warming up, but don’t abuse that.

It should be easy to do (stretch, gain flexibilty), but common mistakes are:

• wrong warm-up: static stretching doesn’t warm you up enough!
• wrong training load: don’t overdo it!
• wrong sequence of efforts: (explained in other book…)
• wrong methods: again overtraining

Methods of stretching:

• Dynamic stretching: moving parts of your body and gradually increasing reach, speed of movement, or both
  • E.g. leg raises, arm swings
  • Sets of 8-12 reps
  • If tired after few sets, stop! (fatigue is bad – decrease in the amplitude of your movements)
  • Do only number of reps that you can do without diminishing range of motion
  • If you reach the maximum range you have, do only a few more reps (so stop before the range becomes smaller again)
  • Don’t stop at end of range (that is static active stretches), move in&out
  • Goal/outcome: increase dynamic active flexibility
  • Ballistic stretching, with momentum (and weight) is counterproductive
  • Control the movement, even when going fast
• Static active stretching: moving your body into a stretch and holding it there through the tension of the muscle-agonist (the muscles under stretch) in this movement.
  • 15 second is good
• Relaxed stretching for static passive flexibility: best for increasing static passive range
  • Can be good against cramped muscles, but should be used sparingly (will damage them further)
• Isometric stretching for static passive flexibility: same as above, plus strong tensions of stretched muscles (cause postcontractive relaxations)
  • tense the antagonist (muscle oppose to it)
  • Contract-relax (like videos from BodyweightWarrior)
  • Isometric stretching is best for increasing passive range of motion
  • Don’t overdo the training, don’t be very sore afterward (loss of strength and range of motion)

Do isometric stretching on day of strength workout (e.g. few hours after, or end of workout), static relaxed stretches on other days. Total days 3-5!

To develop passive mobility up to 90% of what is anatomically possible, for ankle and knee joints it usually takes up to 30 days, spine 60, hip 60-120. Wow! that is quick!

• Passive stretches increase passive range, and also active range (but at same percentage, e.g. 80%)
• Strength exercises close this gap
• Doing both is best of course

How to do strength exercises for flexibility:

• Weight that stretches, but isn’t too heavy
• Start at stretched position, stop there for 3-5 seconds
• Range of motion should be higher each rep

Early morning stretching

• Make it part of your routine if you need flexibility (so do it)
• Before breakfast
• Few sets of dynamic movements
• But first do non-maximum-stretch warm-up (e.g. jumping jacks/squats – or others for other bodyparts)
• No isometric stretches in morning if you do strength later on
• 30 minutes max for beginners, few minutes if already flexible
• You shouldn’t get tired (no fatigue)
• Goal: reset nervous regulation of the length of your muscles for the rest of the day

Stretching in your workout

• Dynamic stretches at beginning of workout (as part of warm-up routine)
• Static stretches in cooldown (isometric I would guess is best)
• 10 minutes dynamic stretching in warm-up
• Resemble the movement you will do in the workout
• Start with warm-up of limbs (joint rotations – start in fingers, then hand, then arm)
  • End at toes (or other way around)
• Then 5 minutes of jogging (in place) with some twists, leans, arm swings, skips, etc
• Then dynamic stretches
  • leg raises (10-12 reps) to the front, sides and back
  • Arm swings (5-8 reps)
  • As many sets as to reach maximum range (30+ reps at least, or less if really trained)
• Don’t do static stretches in warm-up!
• Then do very specific stretches (e.g. pass-through, barbell on knee stretch, overhead squats)
  • Warm up for each exercise that needs stretching
• After exercises, do the isometric or relaxed stretching
  • Caution: pick only one isometric stretch per muscle group and repeat 2-5 times, go to max of mobility
  • Then relaxed stretching
• Then walk for a few minutes to help the neural regulation of your muscles to return to normal

Much less work is required to maintain flexibility, than to get it.

Don’t use partners in stretching, this is dangerous!

(parts about kids and elderly)

Note: one of each type of stretch for a given group of muscles is usually enough. So, in a workout you would do one dynamic, one isometric, and one relaxed stretch for e.g. hamstring.

Chapter 3 – Dynamic Stretching

Dynamic flexibility, is best made through dynamic stretching. It depends on the ability to combine relaxing the extended muscles with contracting the moving muscles.

Don’t do dynamic stretching when muscles are tired.

It’s most effective if you do it daily, two or more times a day! (30 reps).

You can reach your potential in 8-10 weeks, after that change is slow (not muscles but ligaments/bones).

Dynamic stretching is done in sets, increasing in range, 5-15 reps per set.

The bigger the muscle, the more reps/sets are needed. But stop at fatigue.

Do it in the morning and before sports (i.e. that way I can do it two times most days).

Start slow, then increase range. Lead/lift the limbs instead of throwing them. Control throughout the full range.

Breathe as you stretch (in and out timed to back/forth). Breathe out when flexing your spine/compressing rib cage.

Examples of dynamics stretches (bold what could be useful):

• Neck: nothing special besides warm-up (joint rotations)
• Arms:
  • Arm rotations (circles)
  • from hug-self to arms in back, face palms up for extra stretch
  • min 10 reps per set, 30-40 reps total
• Legs: many sets needed in beginning, eventually only one
  • Kick them up high
  • Or to the side
  • Or kick back, body leaning forward and supported (e.g. hands on chair)
  • support can also be used for first two
  • min 15 reps per set, 30-40 reps total
• Trunk: best sitting down, rotate trunk
  • Rotate sideways
  • Side-bends
  • Forward bends (back rounded)
  • Bends on the back (lay on stomach, hands ground)
  • min 30 reps (total?), 40-70 recommended

Chapter 4 – Static Active Stretching

Static active stretching refers to stretches where you are actively supporting the body part with that muscle/body part itself but trying to go to the maximum stretch possible, you can move back and forth a bit.

Think of it like the last chapter, but try and hold at the extended position.

I think this applies somewhat to holding the positions of weightlifting, but maybe also that these can be best done during weightlifting itself.

Not sure really if I need this.

Chapter 5 – Isometric Stretching

Static stretching (this chapter and the next) are concerned with lengthening the maximum flexibility (and the active ones to make the gap smaller).

Static stretching may increase when your muscles are somewhat fatigued. This is why you should do static stretching at the end of a workout.

Isometric stretching is the fastest method of developing static passive flexibility. It also improves active flexibility as well as strength in concentric, isometric, and eccentric actions. There are indications that it causes longitudinal growth of muscle fibers.

It’s not for kids. And not if muscles are weak. And not if doing it with too much force/weight.

Pick one isometric stretch per muscle group and repeat it 3-5 times. Using as many tensions per repetition as it takes to reach the limit of mobility that you now have.

• 4x per week
• 10-15 minutes per day
• tensions of 5-6 seconds (x3-5 reps)
• increase tension per second (max at 3-4 seconds to end)
• longer tension if progressing
• if plateau, then focus on strength, flexibility will follow again
• if overstretched, do only relaxed stretching (next chapter)
• don’t do if you feel sore

Weekly training tips. Do speed/technical session day before strength/endurance (heavy) day.

There are three methods of doing isometric stretches:

1. Stretch the muscle, wait for the body to adjust, x3, do short strong tensions, and quick relaxations, x3-5, then hold last tension 30 sec
2. Stretch as far as you can, hold tension until muscle spasms, decrease stretch, repeat and hold up till 5 min (wtf XD)
3. (this one is recommended) Stretch but not to maximum, tense for 3-5 sec, then within 1-5 sec, stretch again, tense again, repeat until can’t stretch further
   • (works better because tension can be higher when not maximally stretched)
   • For the greatest effect during a stretch tense the muscles opposing the stretched ones
   • Increase time of last tension to 30 seconds (over time)
   • Rest at least 1 minute, repeat set (3-5 sets total)

Breathing

• Breathe normally, abdominal
• Inhale prior to tension
• Exhale or hold when tensing
• Exhale during the last (long) tension

Selecting stretches depends on which muscle you feel first when trying to do a movement. E.g. when trying to hold a barbell/stick overhead in a squat (narrow grip), what is holding you back first/most? (ankles)

The stretches (ones that are somewhat applicable)

• Hands: hold back or forth, tense against the other hand holding it
• Arms, shoulders, chest: hold stick overhead, tense all stretched muscles, make grip more narrow, repeat (hold 30 sec)
• Arms, shoulders, chest: hold stick behind back, one arm up, one arm down, do on both sides, without stick eventually
• Inner thigh: sumo squat (for side splits), toes forward, chest up, buttocks at same level as knees, tense inside of tighs (relax, go wider, repeat)
  • Other version: with chair/surface on one side, raise higher
  • Or do a full side split: tense side of thighs again.
• Outer thigh: to balance the last one, outer thigh and hip stretches – lay on back, stretch one leg across, tense and stretch further (use yellow band to stretch)
• Front/back thigh: for front-splits, see page 76 (sit on knee and bend forwards, or grab leg behind you standing or same sitting position)
• Calf: grab foot, pull towards you, resist with foot, relax (pull toes closer), repeat, last tension 30 sec
• Calf: can also do deep squats and lunges for this!
• Hamstrings: legs and chest closer to each other either standing (one leg raised on chair/platform), sitting (bend upper body forward), or laying down (pull leg towards you)
  • Keep back straight
  • Again, tense, relax, deeper, repeat
  • Tip: do good mornings for hamstring flexibility and strength
• Trunk: side bends (standing or sitting), move only to the side (not forward/backward/twist)
• Lower back/hamstrings: sit or stand and grab back of legs, tense against them (standing one leg, or both, or sitting both)
• Abdomen stretch: lay face down, push up with arms, tense abdomen and relax, repeat
  • Make more intense by grabbing feet (counter spasms in back with counter-stretch)

You need enough rest between isometric stretches, and supplement them with the dynamic stretches.

Chapter 6 – Relaxed Stretching

Relaxed stretches are less effective than isometric stretches. But, they can be done when you’re tired. Alas you don’t develop strength with relaxed stretches, and take a long time to develop flexibility.

Do relaxed stretches at the end of the workout (after isometric, before walking a few minutes). You can also do them whenever without warm-up.

Relaxed stretches decrease strength for 5 minutes and contractile force up to 60 minutes.

Instead of tension on the muscles (isometric stretches), find positions where you can fully relax them (e.g. in splits, support your body weight).

If you’ve found the fully stretched position, staying in it for 30 seconds is optimal. Can repeat after 60 seconds.

See page 87 (pdf, 77 of book) for the relaxed stretches.

Chapter 7 – Sample Workout Plans

The order of stretches is: dynamic, static active, isometric, relaxed. You don’t always need to do all of them (e.g. static active probably not so much).

The rest of the chapter is examples of one workout (the stretches before and after) for different sports.

Chapter 8 – All the Whys of Stretching

The chapter lists more reasons why you should want flexibility (e.g. longer range of movement is stronger movement, lower injury risk).

Warm-up needs to be specific for the muscles you will use (e.g. jogging is good for ankles, not for trunk).

“Flexibility improves from day to day, strength from week to week, speed from month to month, endurance from year to year”

Flexibility is not inborn, but requires (and works by) training.

Static stretching (isometric, relaxed) stretching after a workout helps because it allows more blood flow and relieves muscle cramps.

Muscles can typically stretch between 70-130% of resting length. By stretching you increase the amount of sarcomeres (thus lengthening the muscles).

The chapter also includes two tests to see if your ligaments can support front- and side splits.

Your muscles are probably already long enough, it’s just the mind-body connection that you need to work on (and that is why dynamic stretches are good at working on closing that gap).

Chapter 9 – Q&A on Stretching

Some Q&A.

One note: do relaxed stretching after endurance (burpees?) workout, not isometric.

No rest needed between dynamic exercises (i.e. go back and forth between legs).

After doing 3-5 sets per muscle(group) of isometric stretches (after workout), do about 1-2 minutes of relaxed stretching.

Preferably only do static stretches at the end of a workout (with warm muscles).

Again note on training schedule (more in other book), first technical/speed, then strength, then endurance.

Stretches (really hard) are not good in between sets of strength exercises.