The human body is an exceptionally designed “machine.”
Nothing man has produced to date can match it.
Yet, so many of us - men especially - give up after 50.
They think “it’s over” and that they can’t get muscular, and it’s all “downhill” after 50.
(Sometimes it’s after 40 - although that trend seems to be declining.)
That’s why I really valued this email I got yesterday from Rob. And why I want to publicly share his wins. (Congrats, Rob!)
In it, he stated that he’s literally TWICE AS STRONG at age 70 than he was at 52. Look -
18 years ago he was doing single KB Clean + Presses with a 24kg.
Now, he’s using A PAIR of 24kg (48kg) for his Clean + Presses for nearly the same total workload - 75 reps in 30 minutes.
Obviously you can see he’s using ‘THE GIANT.’
What makes ‘THE GIANT’ so efficient at “recomping” (Recomposition = building muscle, getting stronger, and burning fat at the same time)? 3 Things:1- Autoregulation:
Simply stated, autoregulation is a performance method that adjusts to the individual using it.
You’re not limited by rest periods and you use intra-workout and intra-set performance guidelines to determine when it’s time to perform your next set.
As a result, you:
[1] Don’t overstress your nervous system, causing your body to release too many stress hormones - which can promote fat storage and cannibalize your muscle tissue.
[2] Don’t compromise your technique because you’re “racing the clock” and open the door to injury.
And most importantly, using autoregulation,
[3] You will recover faster than if you didn’t, because when you follow the guidelines, you’ll always be able to produce maximum force and minimize fatigue.
2- Load Variability:
Around that period in the 90s, my weightlifting coach and mentor, Alfonso Duran, showed me his favorite loading parameters from Prof. A. Vorobyev’s work. Vorobyev, a 2x Olympic Champ, and 5x World Champ, discovered In the 1970s that sharp, nearly random, contrasting loads resulted in a 61% greater increase in strength than traditional “progressive overload.”
(Progressive Overload = add a little more weight to the bar each training session.)
‘THE GIANT’ applies load variability.
You’ll notice the same pattern in a 4 week cycle, but, thanks to life’s stressors (jobs, kids, spouse, lack of sleep, illness, etc.), you will most likely find some unpredictability in your performance from week-to-week…
So some sessions will be harder , and some lighter .
3- The RM (Repetition Max):
As a competitive lifter, I have always trained for a RM - usually a 1RM - the most / greatest amount of weight I can lift one time.
But a 1RM isn’t really conducive for most guys.
It takes too much “psyche” to perform, leaving you tired for days after.
And it’s too easy to get hurt using it.
That’s why I’ve been using primarily the 4RM, 5RM, and 10RM (and others) since my early days as a strength coach.
They’re:
[1] Manageable because they don’t require the “psyching up” a 1RM does
[2] Gentler on your nervous system, so you’re not tired for days after
[3] Harder to get injured on
And my favorite:
I can roughly translate them to percentages of a 1RM, and then use them to train for targeted results.
‘THE GIANT’ uses a 5RM to build your Max Strength and a 10RM to build Muscle and Strength.
And thanks to the RM + Load Variability + Autoregulation…
‘THE GIANT’ offers pretty spectacular recomposition for men of all ages - even 70 year old like Rob.
So, if you want to build muscle, get stronger, improve your conditioning levels, and burn off a little bit of that “chubba-lubba” around your middle…
‘THE GIANT’ will make it happen - autoregulation especially if you use a pair of KBs like Rob has.
Stay Resilient,
Geoff Neupert.