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Beyond-Brawn-2nd-Edition

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A REAL-LIFE TRAINING CYCLE FOR YOU TO LEARN FROM<br />

B 69<br />

More on rep speed<br />

Several factors are involved in keeping training safe. Avoiding highrisk<br />

exercises, using excellent form (i.e., bar pathways), and having<br />

balanced musculature are all big factors. Highly skilled Olympic<br />

weightlifters are proof that it is possible to train explosively without<br />

getting injured. But I prefer to build a significant margin for<br />

error into training, hence why I do not promote explosive training<br />

or exercises that can only be done explosively. But I am not anti<br />

Olympic lifting. I am for Olympic lifting, but the proviso is that<br />

expert hands-on coaching is available, and the trainee concerned is<br />

suited to that type of lifting.<br />

Different exercises have different “stroke” lengths. Some can be<br />

performed in smooth control a tad faster that three seconds for the<br />

positive phase. But three or more seconds for the negative is still a<br />

good rule of thumb, other than in very short-stroke exercises. Let<br />

rep smoothness be your guide, rather than rep speed per se.<br />

Over the decades, with few exceptions, the safety aspect of weight<br />

training has been played down or almost ignored by the training<br />

world. Form has been given short shrift. Rep cadence and control<br />

have been given short shrift too. And “cheating” has even been<br />

encouraged by many people, in certain circumstances. It is no<br />

wonder that weight training has caused so many injuries, and produced<br />

so much dissatisfaction and disappointment. I am not going<br />

to be a party to this outrage, hence why I am so insistent on safety<br />

concerns and the prevention of injury.<br />

Some men with more training and coaching experience than I—<br />

Dick Conner, Ellington Darden and Arthur Jones—also promote<br />

non-explosive training, and have seen terrific results from it. It is<br />

not the only way to train, but I believe it is potentially the safest<br />

way for most people, and one that can be super productive, especially<br />

for hard gainers and anyone who trains alone without a truly<br />

competent and alert coach to supervise every rep.<br />

353

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