042 : 026 Functional Bodybuilding 3 (Copy)

Session #003

‘Mechanical’

Breathing ramp up

Warm-up

Then…

Over 6 sets work to heaviest possible weight for following mechanical dropset:

- 5 x standing dumbbell press

- 4-6 x high incline dumbbell bench press

- 3-6 x flat dumbbell bench press

- Max dips

Over 6 sets work to heaviest possible weight for following mechanical dropset:

- 5 x chest supported dumbbell row

- 4-6 x dumbbell row to below knee (torso parallel to ground)

- 3-6 x dumbbell row to knee (torso 45 degree to ground)

- Max empty Olympic barbell curl

Over 4 sets work to heaviest possible weight for following mechanical dropset:

- 6 x lying dumbbell tricep extension

- 8-10 x close grip dumbbell press

- Max close grip press-ups (hands on single dumbbell heads)

3 sets of:

- Max wide grip pull-ups

- Max medium grip pull-up

- Max chin-ups

- Rest 180 sec

Then (optional conditioning)….

Death by burpee pull-ups

Continue as death by burpees

Continue as death by down-ups

The Ramp Up

3 rounds of-

5 x Triangle breathing 7:7:7:0

20 x Power breathing 1:0:1:0

1 x Full inhale

1 x Max hold

1 x Full exhale

1 x Max hold

Inhale, focus on filling from the bottom up; use your nose an breathe deep into the bottom of

your trunk and lower back, before working your way up into your chest and then your upper back.

Your rib cage should expand in all directions. For power breathing execute a quick but full and

powerful inhale through your nose, then simply open your mouth wide and ‘dump’ the air out on

the exhale. Get into a quick rhythm. After 20 reps perform 1 final full inhale through the nose,

filling your trunk, and then hold. Pay attention to air hunger cues— little tremors, swallowing,

fidgeting. Before they get too strong, perform a long exhale under control through your nose, completely emptying the tank, then hold until you feel strong air hunger. Return to triangle

breathing and repeat for 3 rounds.

Mechanical Dropsets

This week we’re looking at ‘mechanical dropsets’. Amongst the several methods proposed for

muscle growth, at least two (muscular damage and local metabolic stress) require that the

muscles be trained are under tension for a fairly long duration. However, it’s obvious that this alone

cannot be relied on, and there is a law of diminishing returns on the ratio of length of TUT (time

under tension) to muscle growth stimulated. If there weren’t then we’d all be pumping away with

the lightest weight possible for hours on end and every endurance runner would have the legs of

Ronnie Coleman. This is a principal because hypertrophy also requires ‘muscle damage’ (or at

the very least that this is one of the most meaningful methods for eliciting growth, as it seems to

stimulate the muscle fibers more prone to grow), and muscle damage requires heavier loads and a

greater focus on the eccentric portion of a lift, this is something often missing in heavy

powerlifting and Olympic lifting where although the loads are great, the TUT and eccentrics is

much lesser. It stands to reason then, that a middle way can be struck where a high degree of

weight is utilized, but each set is drawn out to the sweet spot where resistance and time under

tension are optimised. One of the simplest ways to achieve this is to use mechanical drop sets.

Simply put a mechanical drop set involves pushing a movement to the edge of failure, before

slightly tweaking the range of motion, or angle of movement to give yourself a greater

mechanical advantage and reduce the difficulty of the movement so that you can continue

working the target muscle with the same load; working at the same threshold of resistance, whilst

lengthening the time under tension. Essentially ‘lowers the load’ on the muscles, without

actually switching weights.

There are four examples of mechanical dropsets in this workout, designed to workout your entire

upper body. Your goal is to use the heaviest weights possible to hit the prescribed reps for the

first set/movement, before immediately moving into the more mechanically favourable movements

and trying to match (or exceed) those reps. As an example, in the first part of the workout, you’re

trying to establish the heaviest pair of dumbbells you can hit 5 reps of a standing (strict) press

with, which you’ll then immediately take into an incline bench, and then a flat bench. This will enable

you to keep working your pressing muscles for an optimal amount of time for growth, whilst using

the heaviest weight you can overhead press.

The final movement in each set can be seen as a max effort ‘burnout’ to ramp up the metabolic

stress in the working area, increasing local growth factors.

Rest adequately between sets where rest is not listed, at least 3 minutes as the weights begin to

creep up.

The (Optional) Conditioning

Although not quite invoking the same principles as above, this piece serves as an example of how

lowering the difficulty of a movement can allow you to keep working, in the context of

conditioning. Essentially waging a war of attrition on your cardiovascular system to keep your rig

moving, even as local fatigue stops you from being able to muscle your way through the

movements.

Start a running clock and perform 1 burpee pull-up. Each minute adds an additional rep to the

count. When you can no longer perform the prescribed reps in 60 seconds, in the following round

continue from the rep count you were on, performing only the burpee portion (i.e. if you failed

at 8 burpee pull-ups, perform 9 burpees in the next round). Continue in this fashion until you can

no longer fit the prescribed burpees into the 60s, then switch to ‘down-ups’— do not drop your chest

to the floor and do not jump at the top of the rep— and continue the count until failure. If you’re

taking this piece seriously, attempt to find a comfortable breathing cadence where you can match

an inhale/exhale to each breath to avoid over-breathing, and in the balance of each minute

attempt to recover and lower your heart rate as quickly as possible by shifting down the breathing

gears and attempting to reach a long, comfortable, nasal exhale. Hold some water in your mouth, if you can, to help promote this shift to a state of recovery, but if this is going to create a state

of panic, don’t. Use the right tools for the right job.

Recovery/ Down-Regulation

Immediately after you fail on down-up take a large sip of water, hold it in your mouth, and come

into a laying or seated position with your hips raised above your knees if you can. If not, simply

move slowly and deliberately as you transition into whatever’s next in your day. Wrap your full

attention around your breath, observe where it’s at, and begin to slowly nudge it downwards with a

gentle but deliberate inhale, creating a little bit of space at the top of the breath, before slowly

letting it back out under full control. Aim to work towards a breathing cadence of 4-6-8-0 and

spend as long here as you can spare.