Progressive Movement Training
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| Alistair_Inglis |  | Progressive Movement Training | 21-02-2011 @ 00:04 |
 Member 1782, 153 posts SQ 355, BP 200, DL 300855.0 kgs @ 120kgs Eq | Hi i tryed to post this in the artice section but i cant for some reason so i will just post it here. Hopfully it is intresting for you all. This is an article i downloaded ages ago (website seems to be down now but i got a copy of it). I tryed a modifyed version of this a year or so ago and went from a 227kg raw squat to 250kg in 6 weeks i am currently doing this programme (modifyed) again and am trying to get from 270kg to 285-300kg in 6 weeks, anyway some of you might be intrested in the concept of this type of training so i will post this article followed by rules i follow while doing it. Article- An Excerpt from Beyond Bodybuilding Make a Quantum Strength Leap with ‘Progressive Movement Training’ Pavel There are two kinds of vodka: good and very good. A simple Russian lad named Misha was too preoccupied with his thoughts to notice which kind he had been consuming. He scratched his head: why do automatic weapons have to be so complex and unreliable? Unburdened by formal education and too stupid to know that a more straightforward design was impossible, Mikhail Kalashnikov put together a weapon that would become the choice of many armies and most terrorists for years to come: the AK-47. About the same time a poor boy, Paul from Georgia, came up with the Kalashnikov assault rifle equivalent in the iron game: Progressive Movement Training. Paul Anderson would do partial repetitions in the squat, with a weight he could not full squat. Over a period of time he gradually lengthened the movement until he worked his way down to parallel with a new record. The science behind Progressive Movement Training and the results this method delivered were decades ahead of their time. It took generations of Ph.D. bearing geeks to clue in how PMT produced Paul Anderson’s 1,200-pound squat sans powerlifting gear, a mark that will remain untouched way into this millennium. That might give you a hint why the hard to impress Russians called Paul ‘the Wonder of Nature’. Paul Anderson recommended to start squatting from a pin about four inches below the lockout, with a weight about one hundred pounds over your one rep max full squat. “I realize that this is a very light weight in comparison to what you can quarter squat with,” admits Big Paul, “but this is part of the plan.” Burning out on max singles is not. Two sets of twenty to twenty five reps are performed. “I would say the secret lies in taking a lighter weight that you can do many repetitions with and just working it down that way.” It is amusing that in his recommendation to do high reps in the Progressive Movement Training routine Paul again beat the science geeks to the punch. Much later Meyers (1967) discovered that the greater is the number of contractions, the higher is the transfer of strength to the untrained part of the exercise ROM. Ironically, in Paul’s day scientists did not believe that such carryover was possible at all. Strength gains were thought to be highly joint angle specific, that is limited to the exercise range at which you train (Williams & Stutzman, 1959; Gardner, 1963, etc.). Only a few years before Paul’s death the lab rats caught up with his instinctive knowledge. The new generation of scientists realized that while most gains indeed occur at the specific training angles, there is a transfer to the untrained angles as well. In fact, most carryover of strength takes place in the range of plus-minus twenty degrees from the exercised angle (Knapik, Mawdsley & Ramos, 1983). By the way, the scientific term for Paul Anderson’s method is neurological carryover training. It was coined by 900-pound squatter and Powerlifting World Record Holder Dr. Fred Clary. Every three workouts – once in three days for Paul, and once in three weeks for mere mortals – lower the power rack pins three inches and knock off three reps. You may want to experiment with smaller drops, one or two inches. Anderson recommended one-inch sheets of plywood for precise movement graduation. It is not the only way. Paul’s mentor and ‘world’s best deadlifter’ Bob Peoples would pull his deads standing in a hole he had dug in the ground and fill it up with dirt as his strength grew! Peoples’ deadlift was another remarkable success of neurological carryover training: 725 at 178 pounds of bodyweight in the days before steroids, speed, industrial strength powerlifting belts, and canvas underwear! [IMG]http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51CYR3GBBBL._SL500_.jpg[... The heir to Paul Anderson, Bud Jeffries put the Progressive Movement Training back on the strength map. Photo courtesy www.Strongerman.com (not articles photo i couldnt paste it so i put another one in) Keep lengthening the movement and knocking off reps until you are down to two repetitions. Then take a few days off – Paul himself rested for two or three days – and try for a new personal best in the full squat. “I believe that you will find that you have gained quite a bit of strength during this drawn out Progressive Movement routine,” promised the ‘Wonder of Nature’. When you are down to two reps, most likely you are not going to be all the way in the hole. Don’t fret. Neither was Paul. Your max will still go up because you will have worked down to your sticking point. According to Dr. Fred Clary, the reason you are not likely to get all the way down, is a sharp transition from one muscle group to another, at some point of the lift. “I have found that whether I be pressing, bench pressing, squatting, etc., I seem to have to change gear as the bar travels,” admits Big Paul himself. “On the other hand, I have seen fellows who rammed a press to arms length or stood straight up with a dead lift in an almost sudden gesture, without any evidence of this “changing gears”. From my coaching experience I can tell you that the latter lifters are more likely to work a heavy partial into a full movement. Generally they squat with a wide stance. You will do yourself a favor if you get Bud Jeffries’ How I Squatted 900 Pounds video from Strongerman.com. Watch Bud squat and deadlift: a smooth display of one-gear power. I have observed that squatters with weak hip flexors have a hell of a time with graduated squats. This muscle group’s job is to ensure tightness when descending the last two inches into the hole. When a bodybuilder with weak hip flexors reaches this depth with a bar bending weight, he just collapses. If that is you, learn to ‘pull’ yourself down into the hole with your ‘situp muscles’, before embarking on the Paul Anderson program. Rock bottom front squats would also come in handy. Anderson and Peoples’ unique program will work even better on the deadlift. It is easier to perform a shorter movement without ‘changing gears’. To make neurological carryover training work on the bench, you must change your groove – so the bar travels in a straight line from your sternum slightly towards your feet, rather than arcs toward your face. That will ensure that the pecs do not suddenly surrender the weight to the shoulders and triceps, but dominate the whole movement with constant assistance from the latter. You should also sort of push the bar from your elbows rather than your hands. It is a subtle point, but it will make a huge difference in the quality of your pec workout and the amount of weight you are going to put up. These days there is an exercise far superior to the power rack bench press – the board press. Lifters used to press from the pins set in a cage at the sticking point level. The problem was, unlike the deadlift, the BP does not start from a dead spot. So, even if one got stronger in the power rack, he did not always get a carryover to his regular bench groove. A few years ago a so-called ‘board press’ has emerged from the powerlifting Westside Barbell Club in Columbus. Set a couple of boards, two, four, or six inches thick depending on your sticking point, on your chest. Lower the bar to the boards, pause while staying tight, and press back. The exercise has a feel very similar to the regular bench and thus has a great transfer of strength. Champion bencher J.M. Blakley warns not to bounce the bar off the boards. He mentions another innovative cheating technique to avoid: letting the bar and the boards sink into the chest, then heaving the works up with a chest push. Treat the board press they way you should the conventional BP – and you will do fine. A direct grove will also benefit your one rep max because changing the direction of the movement with a maximal weight tends to stall it and lead to a failed attempt (Rodionov, 1967). As Nietsche put it a century earlier, “formula for success, a straight line.” By no means should you limit the application of neurological carryover training to ‘big’ compound exercises like the powerlifts. Because the same muscles start and finish the movement, in isolation drills like the barbell curl, you would do yourself a favor by applying the Progressive Movement principles to one joint moves as well. Start the graduated standing barbell curl in a power rack with a one-inch movement and work your way down. Make a point of keeping your abs tight and don’t lean back. It helps to think of pulling yourself towards the barbell rather than the other way around. Just like I said before, don’t accept ‘the full range of motion’ as dogma. Try Paul Anderson’s quantum alternative and you might leapfrog from a 500 squat to 550 without even bothering with anything in between! ________________________________________ Anyway some rules i follow while doing a modifyed version of this- 1. Do heavy full squats aswell while doing this (do some sets of full squats after the PMT sets) and squat at least 2 times a week, one day being PMT squats with full squats and another day with just full squats. 2. Dont lower the height more than once a week (you can do PMT squats more than once a week but do not lower the height more than once a week. Very strong guys may have to lower the height every few weeks. 3. Try to do as many sets as possible (up to 4/6 dont worry if you only get 1 it dosnt matter, happened to me alot last time) 4. Try to do as many reps as possible 5. Week 1 aim for 25 reps a set week 2 aim for 18/20 reps a set week 3 aim for 12/15 reps a set week 4 aim for 6/8 reps a set week 5 aim for 2/3 reps a set week 6 aim for a new max (dont worry if you dont hit the ammount of reps you could just be bad at reps, i didnt hit these numbers every time last time i did this programme just aim for them) 6. For the first week put stupid amounts of weight on the bar (way more than 10%) and reduce the weight every week untill you are at +10% on the final week (just pick a good weight (heaviest you can get it dont worry if you fail alot i failed loads of reps last time just try again) 7. Aim to gain 10% on to your max by the end of the 6 weeks but go in knowing you might have to drop your end weight to +5% or +3% as +10% might not happen 8. If you are stupid strong aim for a weight to lift at the end of the programme not a %age 9. If you fail the +10% on say week 4-5 (and still cant doit after a few sets of attempts) put it down to +5% for that week, then try +10 again next week (still fail stick at +5%, same thing with the +5% just reduce to 3% or so. 10. You can do PMT and only lower the height when you feel ready rather than aiming to lower every week/ every 2/3 weeks. 11. dont do this equipped only unequipped 12. only do this programme once every 6 months 13. dont doit too close to a comp (before or after) 14. only add a belt on say week 3-4 15. dont bounce the weight of the pins but dont pause it ither (getting string may be better then you can use that as a height indicator rather than pins) 16. you will have to lift off the pins on week 1 and maby 2 depending on what your squat cage is like, as soon as you can walk it out (usally around week 3) start doing it (your bar holder thing prob wont fit on with the pins at that height at the same time) 17. To get your rack heights for the weeks you do the following- Stand with the bar on your back standing up and lower the bar by 3-5 inches this how far you will be lifting on week 1, next go down to full depth and look whare the bar is on the pins (this is week 6) then get 4 even increments inbetween week 1 and 6 so you have 6 heights. (on week 6 dont go down to the pins just squat normally) 18. work the glutes/ hamstrings loads with pull-throughs pause squats etc throughout the 6 weeks(helping the bottem of the movement) There r prob more rules i follow but i cant think of them now i will post them l8r if i remember. Anyway hopfully this was intresting for some of you and not boring, any questions / comments are welcome  | ||
| nick | | ... | 21-02-2011 @ 00:07 |
finally got a tagline Member 1190, 2812 posts SQ 300, BP 200, DL 350850.0 kgs @ 105kgs UnEq | did u write that | ||
| mongpull | | ... | 21-02-2011 @ 00:11 |
doesn't even lift !!! Member 2085, 244 posts SQ 200, BP 167.5, DL 280647.5 kgs @ 83kgs UnEq | whair you find this ali? | ||
| Alistair_Inglis | | ... | 21-02-2011 @ 09:23 |
Member 1782, 153 posts SQ 355, BP 200, DL 300855.0 kgs @ 120kgs Eq | nick said:did u write that The article no the suggestions yes. mongpull said:whair you find this ali? When i was reserching PMT i found this article and saved it as i thought it was good the website it was on seems to be down now but the article was part of a book or somthing. | ||
| moz | | ... | 21-02-2011 @ 09:59 |
 Feasting on humble pie. Member 51, 1692 posts SQ 227.5, BP 185, DL 272.5685.0 kgs @ 90.4kgs UnEq | Wow didnt know this was an actually way of training! I've been doing something very similar with floor presses for my Benchpress inspired by Tom Martins deadlift. I remember Tom pulling heavy from 18 inch and getting progressively lower? That right Tom? Thought I'd give it a bash on floor press, to early to say the results but well know in another 4 weeks or so | ||
| moz | | ... | 21-02-2011 @ 09:59 |
Feasting on humble pie. Member 51, 1692 posts SQ 227.5, BP 185, DL 272.5685.0 kgs @ 90.4kgs UnEq | Post Edited: 21.02.2011 @ 10:01 AM by moz Edit: double postBtw I do floor presses because I train on my own and don't get a spot on bench, not good  | ||
| Alistair_Inglis | | ... | 21-02-2011 @ 10:09 |
Member 1782, 153 posts SQ 355, BP 200, DL 300855.0 kgs @ 120kgs Eq | Post Edited: 21.02.2011 @ 10:10 AM by Alistair_Inglis moz said:Wow didnt know this was an actually way of training! I've been doing something very similar with floor presses for my Benchpress inspired by Tom Martins deadlift. I remember Tom pulling heavy from 18 inch and getting progressively lower? That right Tom? Thought I'd give it a bash on floor press, to early to say the results but well know in another 4 weeks or so I would recommend trying it, it worked for me the first time and i did it wrong lol, i am currently doing it again (correctly this time) and it seems to be going very well (just started week 2), Yes i would agree that tom seems to do a modifyed deadlift PMT programme, i cant doit for deadlift as my lockout is not high enough in weight (trying to work them so i can doit). But PMT seems completly diffrent on deadlifts than it is on bench and squats so you will have to follow diffrent rules for example on squats and bench you will have to do full ROM versions every week aswell or you will get weaker this does not seem to be the case with deadlift, i would say tom is 100% the man to ask about deadlift PMT as he will know alot more than me. | ||
| Alistair_Inglis | | ... | 21-02-2011 @ 10:16 |
Member 1782, 153 posts SQ 355, BP 200, DL 300855.0 kgs @ 120kgs Eq | *also it seems you can do deadlift PMT equiped, this is not the case with squats and bench, but i would think for some eq lifters you could do the squat (maby bench) PMT programme raw up till week 5 then go for a new record eq on week 6, i wouldnt do this but i can see no reason why it wouldnt work. | ||
| CM | | ... | 21-02-2011 @ 12:24 |
Member 2154, 42 posts | moz said:Edit: double post Btw I do floor presses because I train on my own and don't get a spot on bench, not good How do you achieve altering the height of the lift with floor press? or are you just increasing the weight at this height and hoping it translates to a greater lockout on a full bench press? | ||
| Simon_T | | ... | 21-02-2011 @ 20:57 |
 wales Member 1058, 5361 posts SQ 220, BP 140, DL 294654.0 kgs @ 106kgs UnEq | This looks like a good way of training, it makes sense, i'll definitley be trying this soon. | ||
| LukeC | | ... | 21-02-2011 @ 21:06 |
 The one in the guns and roses teeshirt. Member 171, 2462 posts SQ 272.5, BP 140, DL 245657.5 kgs @ 80.2kgs Eq | Its an old school method but one that has pedigree. Bob Peoples used to pull some massive weights before just about anyone else in the world deadlifted. My training partner had started this on deadlift and it was going well before he got ill, think he will try it again once he is back fit. | ||
| nick | | ... | 21-02-2011 @ 23:21 |
finally got a tagline Member 1190, 2812 posts SQ 300, BP 200, DL 350850.0 kgs @ 105kgs UnEq | currently doing this... its tough | ||
| Wiegieboard | | ... | 22-02-2011 @ 02:54 |
 as crimson as my last victims underclothing..... Member 899, 11368 posts SQ 180, BP 132.5, DL 190502.5 kgs @ 118kgs UnEq | Post Edited: 22.02.2011 @ 02:55 AM by Wiegieboard I used this in the weeks running up to my PB squat with walkouts etc. It works though I do it my own way. | ||
| Alistair_Inglis | | ... | 22-02-2011 @ 10:43 |
Member 1782, 153 posts SQ 355, BP 200, DL 300855.0 kgs @ 120kgs Eq | Wiegieboard said:I used this in the weeks running up to my PB squat with walkouts etc. It works though I do it my own way. How do you doit?, i would be intrested in knowing how other people do this type of programme (as there are diffrent ways of doing it) also if any1 trys/ has done this type of programme please post your results on here and in what timeframe as this would be intresting information. | ||
| IainKendrick | | ... | 22-02-2011 @ 12:43 |
 some nice relaxing jazz. Member 77, 12599 posts SQ 265, BP 165, DL 280710.0 kgs @ 93kgs UnEq | Bit of science thrown in to make it sound good.. nice. Partials are good to do, as are increased ROM lifts. However transfer from a particular joint angle is limited. A good idea would be to do some normal ROM movements then run the above alongside. | ||