Tellekinetics - J.Tell

[GundamRX91]

NOTE: This is not for typical weight trainers!! The athlete MUST have an understanding of proper exercise technique, be aware of the dangers inherent in a new and higher intensity resistance exercise, and have an advanced state of adaptation. In over 10 years of development we have never had an injury. Do not exceed the limitations of this article!

You're more than likely familiar with the old saw, "You'd have to be a rocket scientist to understand that." Well, I come from a family of rocket scientists. My father was involved with the engineering of the Titan Rocket and Mars and Lunar projects. One of my brothers has a Ph.D. in Physics from Cornell and does laser research for the Star Wars project. Thus searching for a better way is a family thing. My dad's motto was, "There's a better way to do everything; nothing works as well as it could."

You'd think I would have followed in their footsteps. Well, I kinda' did, except I'm a weight trainer and therefore have a better sense of what's important! Regardless, searching for a "better way" is part of my heritage. I built my first alternative exercise machine in 1964 that works better than anything on the market today. Since then I've continued my search for a way to attain optimal training resistance during every repetition.

The Stone Age "Motto" for Training: Stability

Most weight training, at this point in time, is still based on the stability of strength and resistance. In other words, it's assumed that resistance and exercise form should be the same throughout the entire set whether it's done with one of those ridiculous cams or a free weight. The effect is identical. It's the same resistance, rep after rep after mindless rep.
I decided twenty-plus years ago to prove that cam machine design, as well as many free weight exercises are based on incorrect research, philosophy and old wives tales. No one really knew what the characteristics of strength, tension and fatigue really were, which are the very determinants of strength and size gains.
So I built a one-of-a-kind computerized research instruments to test and prove my suppositions (US Patents 5,344,374 and 4,863,161). This equipment proves to anyone who can read a graph that the concept of a universal or basic form of exercise is a joke!

Dramatic Results

My research showed there is no such thing as a typical or standard strength of force curve for any group or individual, and especially NOT you! An athlete's strength changes rep by rep in dramatic ways that cannot be addressed by any cam machine or free weight exercise performed in the same old traditional manner for every single rep. The resistance/load should change constantly during the course of a set -- rep to rep -- if you're going to optimally challenge the muscles.
If a machine were to be able to change from rep to rep during the course of a set, you'd need a differently shaped cam for each and every rep! What's more, the cams would be different for each individual, obviously an impossible situation. Here's the cruncher: the main reason free weights work better than cam machines is because free weights almost always provide a more efficient variable resistance than machines.

The Two Most Important Training Factors Associated with Strength and Growth

It doesn't take a lab full of rocket scientists, computers, and twitchy cadavers to see what happens during exercise. It's so simple it's easy! The two factors involved in determining exercise effectiveness are:

1. How much load (resistance) is used, and
2. How tired (fatigued) the athlete becomes.

Load (resistance) is directly related to muscle fiber tension. Just about everyone in the size and strength game agrees that light weights won't do the trick. The standard universal recommendations for maximal growth are rep ranges of 8 to 12 and rep ranges of 1 to 4 for developing strength.
If we agree that muscle fiber tension is essential, then we have to come up with a way to safely maximize fiber tension as the muscle fibers fatigue.

Increasing Fiber Tension

There are a lot of relatively unknown and unused methods to increase fiber tension - from Fred Hatfield's CAT™ (compensatory acceleration) to my SuperdropsTK and Mechanical AdjustmentTK methods.
Method 1 for Increasing Fiber Tension: SuperdropsTK
If you can bench press 300 pounds, you're creating greater fiber tension than you would if you bench pressed 200 pounds. Nothing too difficult there, but it might make you wonder whether maybe doing 8 to 12 reps with the same weight is really the best thing for size, and maybe doing 2 to 4 reps with the same weight is the best for strength.
For example, why not do one-rep drop sets, using a maximum weight for each rep of the set, with very little rest (5 to 15 seconds) between each rep?
In essence, you'd be starting with your max weight, performing one rep, dropping enough weight to allow just one more rep, and continuing on in that manner until you reached your fatigue goal. It's almost that simple. If you use a maximum resistance for every rep, as you fatigue you are developing as much tension as possible for the entire set, not just the last rep!

Method 2 for Increasing Fiber Tension: Mechanical Changes

Mechanical changes involve changing mechanical (leverage) factors to vary the tension on the fibers.
Try this: After warming up, pick up a pair of dumbbells you might ordinarily use for flat bench flys. You're going to do three reps and each rep will actually be a different exercise. For Rep One, bench press the dumbbells in a conventional manner as shown in Starting Position. Your hands are angled as per your preference. This is the conventional form of the exercise. The pecs are under a certain level of tension, right?

[img]http://*****************/ggessa/image001.jpg[/img]

Starting Position

Now, using the same dumbbells, do a second rep and perform a conventional 90-degree elbow chest fly, as shown in Ending Position.

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Ending Position

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For the last rep, do a wide (135-degree elbow angle) fly motion, as shown in Figure 3. If you can't feel a drastic difference in pec tension with each successive rep, you're a danger to us all.

[img]http://*****************/ggessa/image004.jpg[/img]

The wider the dumbbells are in at any position, the more tension is placed on the pecs. Thus why not start a set with heavy flys and, as you fatigue, gradually move the dumbbells closer to your body? That way, you'll get maximum tension in every rep. More on this later.
Accordingly, if you want to practice eccentric overload, where you create greater resistance on the negative (or weight lowering) portion of the movement than the positive (or weight raising) portion, try this:
Starting at the top in the conventional way, lower the dumbbells in the wide (135-degree elbow angle) fly motion to the bottom (shown in blue in Figure 4), and raise them in the narrow (90-degree elbow angle) fly motion to the top (shown in red in Figure 4). More on this later also.

Graphic Figure 4: NegativeFlyawayOverloads

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Don't worry about being confused. You have been taught all your life to perform each exercise with very little, if any, variation from the negative to the positive rep, or from the first rep to the last. This will change.
Now you know more about increasing exercise intensity than most PhDs!

Increasing the Level of Fatigue

As mentioned earlier, the other most important training factor (the first being fiber tension) is fatigue.
Fatigue is simply the loss of strength due to exercise. Unfortunately, providing high-fiber tension isn't enough to cause muscle growth; you need to combine it with fatigue, too. Conversely, fatigue with very little fiber tension won't help you, either. After all, how many marathoners have 30-inch thighs?
Fatigue levels are measured by a percentage of strength loss. If your max curl is 100 pounds and you do drop sets until you can only curl 50 pounds, then you've fatigued the muscle 50 percent, while maintaining very high fiber tension. Along these same lines, if you do drop sets until you can only curl 25 pounds, you've fatigued the muscle 75 percent.
You could do the entire set with the same weight until you reach the same levels of fatigue, but you will not have created an optimal fiber tension to elicit maximal growth.
Unfortunately, no one really seems to be interested in researching how much fatigue is needed to spur growth, much less figuring out the necessary loading conditions! My personal experience is that the muscle must be fatigued 50 to 75 percent or more for maximal gain under maximal safe tension, not some absurd 1,000-rep set into oblivion.

Summary

To summarize things, the effectiveness of exercise is determined by the relationship between two key factors:

1. Fiber tension, and
2. Level of fatigue.

The optimal training condition requires fatiguing the fibers to a great extent -- as high of a training tension as possible for every rep of the set.

An Abbreviated Sample Chest Routine

The following is a sample of TellekineticsTK training. I've included a preparatory routine due to the severe nature of the Advanced Fly-AwayTK routine. Don't try to do the advanced routine without at least 4 to 6 "preparatory" workouts.
AGAIN: The athlete must understand proper exercise technique, be aware of the dangers inherent in max intensity exercise, and have an advanced state of adaptation. THIS IS NOT FOR THE TYPICAL WEIGHT TRAINER!!
The Routine (For the sake of simplicity, use the same amount of weight for all three exercises.)

Exercise No. 1: 135-Degree Wide-Angle Fly (Figure 3).

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o Grasp a pair of dumbbells and lie on your back on a flat bench. Use a weight you can fly 5 to 6 times.
o Starting with the arms straight over your chest, slowly lower the bells in flying motion to the side. As you lower the weights, the elbows should bend to about 135 degrees. Keep your palms facing somewhat up. Reverse the motion and raise the dumbbells back up and continue to failure. Make sure your elbow position at the bottom is 135 degrees each time.
o Use a 3-1-1 tempo (three seconds to lower the weight, a one-second pause, followed by a one-second contraction to raise the weight).
o As you reach failure, sit up and rest the weights on your thighs for 10 seconds. Then, lie down and begin the second exercise.

Exercise No. 2: 90-Degree Fly

[img]http://*****************/ggessa/image002.jpg[/img][img]http://*****************/ggessa/image001.jpg[/img][img]http://*****************/ggessa/image007.jpg[/img]

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o This is the same exercise as Exercise 1, except that the elbows are bent to 90 degrees at the bottom position.
o Use a 3-1-2 tempo (three seconds to lower the weight, a one-second pause, followed by a two-second contraction to raise the weight).
o Sit up and rest the weights on your thighs for 10 seconds. Then lie down and begin the third exercise.

Exercise No. 3: Dumbbell Bench Press

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" Starting with your arms straight over your chest, slowly lower the dumbbells in a reverse pressing motion (a conventional dumbbell bench press), and raise.
" Use a 3-0-3 tempo (three seconds to lower the weight, pausing no longer that absolutely necessary to change direction, followed by a three-second contraction to raise the weight) and continue to failure.
" Put the weights down and rest for 3 to 4 minutes.
" Repeat the three-exercise sequence one or two more times. The recuperation time between workouts is five to seven days. Do this routine three to four times. After that, take at least two weeks off and do some normal straight set style training. Then you'll be recuperated enough to try Advanced Fly-AwaysTK.

CAUTION: If you are overtrained, these will bury you. Be sure you are completely rested!!!

Advanced Fly-AwaysTK

This two-set exercise series incorporates the same movements as described above, except in slightly different combinations. In other words, after the above break-in period, you're going to change the routine slightly.
[Editor's Note: Read the instructions carefully, then practice with the article in front of you and without weight until you become familiar with the sequence before going to the gym. You should know exactly what you want to do when you get there.]

Set No. 1: 90-Degree Fly-AwaysTK

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Starting with your arms straight over your chest, lower them in the 135-degree fly-away motion. Now raise the bells in the 90-degree fly angle (Figure 5, red), and continue to one rep short of failure, which should occur at about eight reps. This constitutes only a small change in the angle of the elbow, but it makes a huge difference in muscle fiber tension. Tempo should be 3-1-1.

Rest 10 to 15 seconds, then perform the second set with the same weight.

Set No. 2: Dumbbell Press Fly-AwaysTK (See Figure 5 above)

Starting with your arms straight over your chest, lower them in the 90-degree fly-away motion. Press them back up, also in the 90-degree angle (which is different than the conventional angle) and continue to failure. Again, this very small change in elbow angle makes a huge difference in fiber tension. Tempo should be 3-1-2.
Put the weights down completely. Rest three to four minutes, then repeat the sequence one of two more times.
Only perform the Advanced FlyAwaysTK routine for two to four workouts before switching to conventional training for another two to four workouts.
Standard recuperation time for Advanced Fly-AwaysTK is three to eight days, depending on individual intensity and recovery times. Be sure to listen to your body! A future article will detail Super-Advanced Fly-AwaysTK, which will double the intensity level.
Although you may be content to stick with your current style of exercising, if you want to experience a training effect like nothing you've ever experienced before, I suggest you give TellekineticsTK a try. You've got nothing to lose and everything to gain.

[GundamRX91]

Post originale di Tino77 (se non ricordo male).