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Glad you enjoy watching the videos! I heard Kevin was updating the blog and some links got lost in the transition. I’m sure he knows what he’s doing and it will probably pop back up soon.
I don’t talk about how I come to meet people that I train or advise, even if it’s a one-time thing. That’s just to respect their privacy. However, you might try asking that question to Kevin, he seems to answer personal questions.
Yes, I have trained for size, and yes I would use static reps to do so. Last November I completed a 23 day distilled water only fast! I did this for overall health. I lost about 20 lbs. and a portion of that was muscle loss. I have been gaining weight since that fast, and I continue to gain now, at a rate of about 1/2 lb to 1 lb a week. I am starting to get thicker. Then again the kind of mass I want to put on or am capable of putting on is not like that of a world class bodybuilder.
You might look at statics this way. The reasoning behind working out with weights is to get as strong as we can. On that note we need to push the muscles as hard as we can. If we push the muscles as hard as possible then they are going to build stregth, and size increase has to accomodate that strength increase because there is a stregth increase. When I was working out and doing 3 sets per excercise two times a week it got to a point where that plateau was reached and it wasn’t doing it. So I started lifting harder 1 time a week with 3 sets per exercise. That was better, but after awhile reached a plateau again. So I started doing one set per excercise per week with greater intensity, this brought better results. At the time I knew I needed a complete full range of motion, proper form, for the best size and strength development I could achieve. I was working out as intensely as I could doing one set, it was the best method of working out that I found thus far, but once I plateaued again there was no where I could go, I was stuck, so I questioned how to continually get stronger!
The above mentioned methods will bring results, but when I say a working out with a greater intensity I mean just that. When I worked out then, and even moreso now I am thinking about nothing else other than that set or rep! An example would be I used to play music in my home gym when I worked out to get me psyched, after a whole CD I couldn’t tell you one song that played-honestly couldn’t tell you, I don’t even hear it, I see nothing else around me, only what I need to see for that workout! I hear nothing other than the thoughts in my head for that set, I hope that makes some sort of sense. Now I don’t play music anymore when I workout, because there is no point, after a few years of not hearing the music I just stopped playing the music!
So here I am at a familiar place-a plateau where I am not continuing to grow and I read about statics, I had heard about statics years before but was not willing to accept that it would actually work! I started doing statics, first few workouts made a common mistake of not lifting heavy enough, increased weight and broke through the plateau, experienced continued growth for about 3 years and accomplished strength and mass for my body type that I was impressed with! I stopped doing statics-which I mentioned in a previous post and why I stopped, you may ask if you can’t find that post…and returned to statics because of my strength and size loss-moer concerned with strength! I have continually grown since reapplying statics and truly understand this is the most intense way to push the muscles for growth!
I will also mention that there are other things that I do that contribute to my growth, when I ride the bicycle I have distance workouts, and sprint workouts, in which I am “weight lifting” on the bike-builds size in my legs! I do my finger pullups about 4 -5 times a week for forearm strength, it also builds somewhat my bi’s shoulders, and lats. During the winter I rock climb indoors (my home gym) to stay in shape and its just fun. I also walk with a weightvest-currently about 60 lbs. for a 1/2 hour 4 or 5 times a week, slowly increasing the weight of the vest.
Initially you might find that you lose weight from statics, or maybe size. It depends on what body type you have. What’s your body fat percent? Statics build muscle, but also will eat up miniscule amounts of fat interlaced with the muscle, combined with a proper diet of course!
Blood builds muscles for size and strength and the intensity of the workout is what brings the blood to do that, statics are the most intense form of getting that muscle to break down, you need to allow time for growth, and then build again!
Well my bodyfat is quite high even though I don’t look it. According to my electronic scale/fat % I’m over 20%, but if someone saw me they’d think maybe 8-10%. Fortunately/Unfortunately depending on how you look at it, most of my fat is in the hips/glutes. Sucks know I’m carrying that, but at the same time I can take my shirt off and have decent definition. Thats one of the things I’m working on. I’ve been hitting my marks up until this week (lose 1lb per week).
This week I’m changing things up. I plan on alternating between muscle groups that way I can elimitate rest between sets. I want to hit 20 min morning cardio and mix in some static reps at the end of my normal full rep sets. I’m thinking this will allow me to burn the calories and really finish off the muscle.
About 6 years ago I was into lifting big time, I’m talking double sessions and never missing a day. I got myself down to 175 with a shredded upper body, but the legs never really hit. This time around thats going to be the difference for me, I will bring the legs into the same level as the upper body, no matter what. Clean of course.
A proper static program with aerobic exercise is going to help everything get going. When you say legs never really hit, what do you mean? Were you incorporating leg excercises or was what you were doing just not working for you?
Exercise is key, but if you really want to burn fat the number one factor is change in diet. What kind of diet are you following, are you interested in changing your eating pattern? A couple tips if you are not doing them already, stop eating anything made from flour, bread is the worst, cookies, crackers, pastries, donuts, pasta, none of it has actual nutrition, and that’s what you want, nutrition to help your muscles grow, recooperate from exercise. Write down everything that you are eating, I mean everything, from a piece of chewing gum to a handful of m&m’s, whatever and decide what you eat that really has nutrition. On the flipside don’t make yourself nuts, cut things out that you are comfortable cutting out. Think of it as a long term plan that will stick, not a short term plan that you force yourself to do and then your back to square one or worse in 6 months. Changing any diet plan is often more accomplished through a slow process than a fast one. Focus on whole foods, that’s where your nutrition comes from, fruit, vegetables, red meat, chicken, turkey, fish, eggs, dairy-up to you, nuts, seeds, beans, rice…foods where you don’t have to read an ingredients list! If you do eat packaged products target health not fat loss, fat loss will come! Tell me moer about where you are at now, because I kinda feel like I am taking a stab in the dark with suggestions.
If you can one other thing, don’t eat anything late, if you go to sleep at 10 PM, nothing after 4 or 5 in the afternoon, if that is possible for you! Heavier meals in the morning or afternoon, a light meal (maybe a big vegetable salad later in the day).
Give me more details about what you’ve done or what you’re doing and in 2-6 months you’ll see changes like you never have before ever! Thanks for your comments!
I’d like to see you try an 8 week bulk like Kev did, basically copy what he did and eat big..i bet a lot of people would like to see your gains..why not! its only 8 weeks out of your whole life!
First of all I could never do an 8 week gain like Kevin did, I have never in my life had close to the size that Kevin has now, let alone what he has had! As far as doing what he is doing I would not benefit the way that you think I would. I have been doing what I do for almost 14 years. I started because my workouts were bad and my body was all clogged up with toxins. During the past 14 years I first detoxed my body, then started eating the more building foods to build my body. I even did another cleanse that finished last November, a 23 day water only fast! Sure I lost weight during the fast, but one reason to do it was to gain weight in the long term, right now I have surpassed my weight and my strength that I had prior to the fast! Slowly I am gaining weight, pure muscle weight. Please understand that my body digests and uses food differently than most people because of changes I have made over the past 14 years. My metabolism is different, breaking down of foods is different in my digestive tract. It’s like if you don’t eat the worst of fast food for 10 years, only eat healthy food, and then one day eat at your local Mc..a couple Big Mac’s, Fries, and an apple pie! That person would feel pretty sick! Even if I eat large quantities of what I eat now I would not feel great, it would take away from the energy I have for my workouts! I would not be able to push myself as hard as I do therefore would not be able to grow the way that I am now! Something else that I incorporate into my diet plan that I have not yet mentioned, but others have noticed about me is something called CR, calorie restriction, it has to do with eating less food, but still getting maximum nutrition possible. I have been doing this for quite a while and if I violate that I feel tired and sluggish.
As far as the full range movement instead of statics I did that aspect of it for awhile, I stopped doing statics and returned to full range. I lost size, strength, and body weight in about a years time! I then returned to statics and gained what I had lost, actually now I am stronger in some exercises than before I stopped doing statics!
Every body is different, Kevin is an amazing bodybuilder with a lot of talent and has the ability to exhibit huge gains! Different athletes in different sports all have their own abilities and they integrate those skills to pursue their goals. I have found something amazing that works for me, I know it works, it gives me what I want, and I am always making measurable gains, so I stick with it. That is why I created this blog, to share what I have learned! If I really mirrored what Kevin does it would not just be 8 weeks of my life, it would take me a lot more than that to recover from what I did during those 8 weeks, and I am not in a position where I can do that. Sorry for the disappointment, stick around and I hope that you find something here that works for you!
I understand, and i guess eating raw food isnt as crazy as it sounds…if we go back thousands of years ago its not like man had ovens to cook with!, its natural. i liked the look of the shake you made Kevin…and what were all the nuts you gave him? i remember you giving him handfulls of seeds and nuts etc? i wouldnt mind buying some, you had them in water?
What I gave Kevin were mung sprouts. Soak dry mung seeds in water overnight and then put them in a jar with a screen on it. Tilt the jar at a 45 degree angle in a strainer and in a couple of days you will have sprouts. Hugely nutritious! Cheap, not only a raw food, but a living food, eating sprouts is like picking an apple off of a tree and eating it, they are still growing when eaten! Any kind of dry seed will sprout! I will post a vid on others, and show an example of how to do it! You can also soak nuts and seeds overnight in water and in the morning just eat them…they don’t sprout, some nuts don’t soak. The best are walnuts, pecans, hazelnuts, pumpkin, and suflower (which do sprout in a couple of days)! Eat nuts and seeds, in general seeds have more nutrition than nuts, variety is always best!
Good for you understanding the raw concept, years ago we were all raw! Today we are the only animal that cooks food, those animals in the wild die of old age, not the things that humans die of, or domesticated animals, who die of the same things humans die of, most of the time!
REALLY REALLY working on posting longer vids, this week I will, working out some of the technicalities and the time constraints with getting it done, but that’s the goal and soon it will happen!!!!!!!! Thanks for your post and stay tuned to more vids!
That shake I made Kev was raw cottage cheese, honey, bee pollen, and eggs (I think)…it was a good mix, and Kevin did really like it, the next day he said he felt great afterwards!
Have you ever had any sort of back problem from this sort of training and what have you done to solve it. Do you Believe in deep tissure massages and chiropractors?
The only sort of back problem that I had was that my lower back was what I call my weak link for my squatting. When I was squatting 300 or 400 lbs it was no problem, once I went into the 495, 500 + realm my legs were absolutely strong enough to lift the weight, but squats are a full body exercise….as is said for full range…that much more so for statics. I found I had to do more core training, stomach, and lower back training in order to strengthen the lower back so that I could stregthen that weakest link and move forward with my static squats. Listen to your body, if when you stay back problems you mean lower back problems you need to do more core training, a stronger stomach makes for a stronger lower back. I still need to post that video about doing good mornings, I am sorry I haven’t done that yet, I will do that asap.
If you are talking about spinal problems as far as back problems that’s a little different. All of the spinal muscles supporting the spine gradually stregthen over time with statics. Go slowly, allow these muscles to strengthen, the good mornings that I mentioned will stregthen these muscles as well as the lower back. DON’T DO ANYTHING WHERE YOU MIGHT GET HURT. Take it slow with this, we will work through it together, and you will surpass your goals.
Also take a look at your diet, what do you eat that is right? What do you eat that is wrong? Do you get a lot of salt in your diet? Are you eating a lot of bread and other dry concentrated carb foods? Many foods do not help the body to grow, or give the body energy, and do not promote healing in the body, whether that healing is from a really great workout or healing that has to happen in the way of repair to damaged tissues!
Sleep I have found is also key to growth for the body. Often times weightlifters say they sleep 10 hours to build. I don’t think it is the quantity that is the case, but more the quality. Sleep helps to repair damaged tissues, but it has to be good sleep. If I eat a big meal at 5 or 6 PM, then go to bed at 9 I sleep 8 hours, and wake up not feeling great, not rested! If I eat my last meal at 2 or 3 in the afternoon and go to bed at 9 I sleep 6 hours or less, wake up refreshed and completely rested, and have energy all day to do what I need to do! I am not saying you should stop eating at 2 or 3. What time do you go to sleep? Do you eat a snack after dinner an hour before you go to bed? You might try eating until 5 and not eating for the rest of the day, for example. I did this over time, over a number of years taught my body what to do, or it taught me!
Please tell me:
How much weight are you squatting?
How often are you doing your squats?
What kind of foods do you eat in general?
How many calories do you eat in a day, about?
How many meals a day?
How late do you eat in the day?
What time do you go to sleep?
Where exactly are these recurring back problems-you mentioned your spine-neck area and lower back before…is this what you are referring to when you say you have lower back problems?
You have these back problems that you mention, but please understand your body functions as a whole, if there is a problem in one part of your body, your back, then that could be a sign that there is a problem somewhere else!
One other thing, what kind of shoes do you wear during the day? Are they typical shoes, dress shoes, or gym shoes?
Thanks for your response and your questions. I will help you get to where you want to be!
Hey FM, I tried that raw beef, egg, and honey dish we were speaking about a while back. It took me longer than I thought to find raw honey, but I finally got it and decided to give it a try.
It was nothing short of incredible. The energy rush I got was outstanding…it was almost like I was high from the food! I felt extremely full, but not a nasty bloated overstuffed feeling…like I ate the perfect amount, and it stayed with me for hours! I’m loving the raw honey, and my eggs taste even better scrambled with it.
I’m getting leaner, faster, and stronger…I feel great now that I have an almost 100% raw diet. I eat less food, but my weight is staying exactly the same and I’m dropping bodyfat and waterweight like crazy, and I stay much more full throughout the day…
I don’t care what people say on the videos or on the comments, this is for real. Thanks a lot FM!!
I can’t even tell you had psyched that makes me that it worked for you in such a perfect way. Between the energy, strength, speed, fat burn, and water loss it sounds like you are getting exactly what you need out of this! And almost all raw. That’s so cool! Good that you kept looking until you found raw honey, because cooked honey fed back to bees killed them in an experiment! Raw honey has something like 200 minerals in trace amounts, benefits are numerous. In early times of war it was packed on the wounds of soldiers and their wounds healed! What name brand did you buy? You broke through a huge barrier though, eating raw meat for some people is difficult, but when one does it, then it becomes so natural, there is no other way! Years ago when I was mostly raw, and tried seared meat I would get sick! Little by little as you feel the need you can try varying your proteins, raw ground bison (buffalo), did you find grass fed beef??, I am too psyched about your post, I gotta go workout! Good for you Stellfox, keep us updated with posts! Stay tuned there are a lot of things I want to go over here, and I will start posting more videos, that are longer, give over more of the philosophy too!
I bought some Carlisle Spring Blossom Honey from Massachusetts. It’s the lighter color variety of their honey, they also have a very dark amber honey. It’s delicious, I put it on almost everything now.
And I did find grass fed beef, it’s actually quite popular down here in Florida. A lot of Argentinians have immigrated here, and have brought their farming and livestock traditions with them, which includes proper raising of beef with no hormones or artificial feed.
I can’t wait to see some more videos! Keep up the good work!
Awesome, it sounds like you are getting some good foods. Good raw honey, grass fed and healthy meats are key! What kind of eggs are you using? Free range are better than others, and if you have access to fertile eggs they are the best, usually found at a health food store!
Thanks for the inspiration about the vids, I’ve been writing down topics to post vids about, and I am just getting the technical side together. There should be new posts this week, and then more regular thereafter! Keep it going, you are on the path to true power!
Pretty amazing technique. It has certainly helped me out a lot in my training routine. I am also an bodybuilder, if you wanna check it out my website, just click below on my link.
Interesting website, yo puede hablo Espanol, para no mucho!! I speak Spanish with the guys at work, and I can speak about anything at work in Spanish, but topics outside of work I still don’t have the vocabulary for, I am working at it! I saw a clip on your website about bike riding, that’s what I do. If I understood the clip correctly you were riding the line on the street. Is that right?
I am glad that the statics have helped your training! Please post any questions or comments that you have! Stay tuned!
I am so sorry, it’s not that I don’t have the time, but my camera guy is not always available so I want to do some vids from my webcam…and I have had some technical problems and my computer guy and I have been trying to set up a time to meet! We should be doing that very soon, so I can post longer vids, which will be more phylosophical and teaching. Then we’ll move to getting my camera guy to do the training vids. I hate when things don’t get completed right away, its lining up different schedules and making it happen. I am trying to make it happen as soon as possible!
I used to work in the health industry, used to teach people about machines, set up their workouts, and train people. Most of the training that I have done for others has been outside of my my day job though, personal training in either my gym or theirs.
Hi Fingerman. You have been getting a lot of bad comments on the videos with Levrone on youtube. As a person who bodybuilds, I am not sure of your size? I cant help but grow muscle. I workout, I eat and I sleep and my body gets bigger. Why doesnt yours? You are obviously lifting big weights so I dont understand why you arent bigger.
No disrespect at all! just trying to understand! Maybe you could also explain your overall fitness ethos, what your goals are etc. Sorry if this has already been answered before!
First my goals are not to get big. I actually don’t have any preconceived notions of what I will or should look like. My target is to be as strong as possible. I do this for sports that I am interested in. I want to be as strong as I can be!
I don’t eat the quantity of food that most people do, most of the time I undereat. It’s called CR, which has to do with calorie restriction by choice for optimal health. Before I started this whole thing I didn’t feel good at all, my workouts diminished to almost nothing, and I wasn’t a happy camper. I started changing my ways and felt a whole lot better, and knew it something I would do for the rest of my life, meaning a raw food diet. Over the years I kept learning new things, so my diet kept changing, but within a few years stayed within raw foods and I felt great so kept doing it.
The vids you have seen of me are also about 6 months after I did a 23 day water only fast. I drank water, only water, for 23 days. I did this to clean my body and build more strength. Sure I lost size and stregth initially, but I am more interested in the long term goals! The musle, and bodyweight I am putting on is extremely lean, not the kind of musle where I will gain huge amounts, or bulky musle. Years ago before the aches and pains and before my diet change I was pretty big, but I never had the looks of a Kevin Levrone. I don’t have the body type that could ever look like that, I just don’t. Now when people see me whether with a sleeveless shirt on or working out in a gym people have come up to me and say you look ripped, or cut, or they ask what do you do??? People are interested…so I hope that answers your question, yes my goals are different, my work out is different, and I am obtaining my goals and gaining what I want. Also I do this for overall health, once a year my doctor does a complete blood profile to check everything, and he says I have the blood of a healthy 18 year old. That is the same kind of energy that I have as well! If I were to eat a lot of food I would lose that edge, and I wouldn’t necessarily gain big musles. This is my body type, and fortunately my body type fits my lifestyle and personal goals! I hope that answers your questions!
Yea thanks a lot Fingerman. Now I can understand. Its easy to go along with others and ask how a guy your size can teach Kevin Levrone a thing or two but thats one good thing about fitness is that there are many opinions and theories and you never stop learning something new!
I wont be eating raw chicken but I will certainly be watching your videos!
ive been interested in gettin into a raw diet, can you post more videos where your talkin about the food and maybe preparing food, and maybe show how u prepare the meat to be eaten raw.
Mr finger man may i ask you a couple of questions?
First of all these short movements you’re making which you consider to be reps, only strain the lower back, tendons, and nervous system and don’t fully contract the muscles you are trying to train. Do you have an explanation why you believe that it works?
A short explanation of how the human body works.
If it is strength you are training for your method is absolutely not beneficial to overall power because of the short movement. You are not training the entire muscle.
Easily explained: In a real life situation this ”strength” would be utterly useless because your peak strength would only be at the beginning of the movement. In the middle and end of the contraction you will not notice anything, and the result will be a failure to fully use that range of motion with a certain amount of weight.
This strength training you are doing is only beneficial for you to show people you can do this EXACT exercise with an X amount of weight.
Because real life purpose it has not.
The nutrition.
Eating raw foods can be very dangerous if not cleaned or disinfected properly. Even if you did not contract food poisoning yet it is still to come. The risks of consuming foods that are contaminated with parasites and molds are significant. Maybe right now your body is a host to microscopic organisms or multi-cellular worms which invade the body through these o so healthy foods.
Thank you so much for your post! Your claim that the statics that I perform do not contract the muscles is correct. My muscles stay in one movement. I am glad that you understand the training and improvement in strength to the tendons and nervous system, and lower back! Now as far as strength do you speak of what you have read or what you have done in your life? Are you athletic? Do you weight lift or participate in sports yourself? I am also interested to know how long have you been a doctor?
The concept behind static contraction training is to develop the muscles, the entire muscle in any range to its strongest! There is countless research to support the fact that this works. Bruce Lee used something called isometric training, it had to do with holding a movement in its strongest range of motion against a nonmoving bar for a duration of time. For example having the arms at a 90 degree angle holding a bar for a biceps contraction. He showed much strength gain with these types of workouts. From isometrics developed static contractions. Although isometrics were found to be beneficial there was no method to develop progress, unless of course going back to a full range exercise and periodically performing that exercise to check one’s strength. Static contractions are easily measured because weight is being used. As seconds in a movement increase strength is increasing. When those seconds get to 15 it is time to increase weight, the seconds of holding the weight should not be lower than 5.
Personally I began working out with weights 26 years ago. I was relatively strong. It arrived to a point where I was not able to make gains, if you are interested I can write more about this later. I found that the 3 sets of 8-12 full range repetitions I was doing did not benefit me as much as did getting warmed up and doing one intense set of 8 full range reps with maximum weight. I later found focusing on 6 full range reps (more weight) brought me more gains. At a certain point I plateaued with this as well.
I was using the sports I am interested in to guage how strong I was and when I felt stonger and from what. My favorite sport is off road bike riding, on a mountain bike. As an example there is one particular hill at one of the trails I ride that used to be very difficult for me. I wasn’t strong enough to climb the long intense hill without putting down a foot in one of the challenging spots on the path up the hill. Gradually I became I became strong enough, now it is more the speed at which I climb that same hill. I also have routes that I ride and the time it takes to ride those rides guages my improvement in strength. Another sport I enjoy is indoor rock climbing, I have routes that I climb and the stronger I become the more able I am to succeed at climbing those routes. I also do finger pullups, with weight added to me on a fingerboard. The numger of reps I can perform, taking into account the weight I have strapped to a belt shows the growth of my strength. These are some very simple examples of how I am able to gauge my strength gains and why static contractions work.
After performing s.c. for about 3 years I stopped doing them because I was at a busy time in my life and was not able to exercise aerobically. I was lifting a considerable amount of weight statically and was scared that it might not be good for my heart lifting that much weight in a short period of time if I was not excercising my heart as well. I stopped doing statics and went back to full range excercises. For the next year or so both my physical strength and my body weight dropped significantly. My body fat percent was about the same so I lost desirable muscle weight. During this time when I did have time to ride or to climb I was not able to perform near the level I was before. The many “tests” or ways that I gauged performance were all below my own expectations for myself.
I was forced to reorganize my life and return to the excercise I know is best, the integration of statics, other training, and bike riding that I need. My strength returned within a few months, in some static excersises I surpassed where I was! My bike riding and rock climbing became even better than what I had been used to, with more of an understanding of why statics really work, proper static lifting and proper rest between workouts!
Here would be other examples for you as to why statics work. If a bike rider, who does no weight lifting of any kind for his upper body rides his bike for 4 months will his triceps not develop and get stronger, he is riding using a static movement for triceps on his bike! Will a hockey player, who does not weighlift, develop a strong lower back from constantly being in a slightly bent over position skating around chasing after the puck! How about a water skier who is constantly in a static stance? A downhill skier also is in a static movement. I am asking you about athletes who are not professionals, who do not want to invest the time of weightlifting for their sport. They just want to participate in their sport for enjoyment and health, as they do their own static movements do they get stronger as the season progresses, and they haven’t done any weightlifting, only their sports?
I don’t think statics work, I know that they work. I am sure. I know this because of my own experience with training and the many workouts I have tried over a lifetime of weightlifting and working out. I have trained people personally and see their gains in strength over a period of time (2-6 months) which awards them with more strength than they had with their previous form of training of typical full range movements. I haven’t even discussed the benefit to the joints because of not doing hundreds or thousands of repetitions over months or years!
The strength is real, and when going back to a full range exercise the strength is again real, and the body is stronger because of the static contraction training. There are pitfalls and knowing how to steer around these pitfalls is part of the reason for creating this site!
As far as muscle strength building, and preservation of the ligaments and joints there is nothing as beneficial as static contraction training. How old are you? What type of weightlifting are you performing now? What type of excercise program do you use? Are you interested in performing an experiment on yourself that could benefit your long term strength and health? Where do you live? I could guide you in an experiment and you could learn some interesting things!
As far as the “facts” about the raw foods you presented, I believe them to be opionions, and yes there are many who believe those same things, but even if a million people or 10 million people believe something that still does not qualify the belief as a fact, it is still an opionion. I have heard of this, I also know how sick I was prior to beginning my raw food adventure. I began eating raw vegan food and aches and pains I had diminished to nothing! I continued on this mostly raw mostly vegan path for about a year or so, but it came to a point where I was just really hungry. I learned of raw animal foods, and started eating eggs, red meat (cow and bison), some fish, amd raw dairy. Later included chicken and turkey! The hunger that I had from a raw vegan diet went away and after a few years I began eating more normal amounts of the foods. I go to my AMA doctor once a year. He does a full blood profile and checks everything. He tells me my blood is that of a healthy 18 year old! My cholesterol is excellent, as are other specifics. I could pull out the paperwork and give you specifics if you would like! The whole parasite thing, I don’t believe it, I trust myself, and my doctors reports, I feel great, lots of energy, and I possess the health I had been pursuing for years! I know all of the problems I had all disappeared and I became truly healthy, when doctors didn’t know what to tell me or what to do! I do periodically water fast, 1 or 2 days, 3 days, I did a 23 day fast earlier this year to cleanse my body. I feel the way I want to feel, but it is very difficult in our society to learn to truly trust ourselves and our feelings we have about our own health. Many cultures eat raw animal foods, on the other hand our culture unfortunately is very opposed to it! Learning to do something different than the rest is difficult for some, unless pushed by ill health like I was!
I hope I have answered all of your questions. Please feel free to comment, and please do answer the questions I asked you! Thanks again!
I am very impressed with the strength you have for your thin but ripped bodyframe. Is static training beneficial for putting on size? Could you possibly give me some tips as to how often to incorporate these lifts into my regular lifting routine? (Should I focus on one muscle a week, or do all the muscles for one week a month). Thanks in advance. Your an inspiration..
Thanks for the compliment, I am achieving what I am going for. I do believe that static training will put on size, although I don’t have the body type and genetics for that. As others have mentioned on this site I don’t eat the calories needed to gain that kind of mass. You could begin by doing statics one muscle group a week. The idea is that as you become stronger from your statics you will have to lengthen the time between your static workouts! The recovery time becomes greater because you are lifting more weight, when you notice that you are not increasing the weight you are lifting similar to when you first begin it is time to add 3 days between workouts.
It is also important to understand your bodies ability to recover and reach new heights from your workouts, some people take a week, some may take 3 days. Generally the healthier your diet and lifestyle the quicker you can recover from your workouts!
As you get stronger you eventually will lift one muscle group per month, for example when you are shrugging 5-600 lbs, you will probably do this about once a month!
Thanks for your questions, please return with more!
July 31, 2009 at 8:16 am
Why did Kevin Levrone decide to remove your fingerman blog link off his main page? That wasn’t very nice. You should tell him to put it back up.
I really enjoy watching all your videos and the information that you provide.
How did Kevin get to come across you. Whats the story about how you two met?
August 1, 2009 at 9:07 am
Glad you enjoy watching the videos! I heard Kevin was updating the blog and some links got lost in the transition. I’m sure he knows what he’s doing and it will probably pop back up soon.
I don’t talk about how I come to meet people that I train or advise, even if it’s a one-time thing. That’s just to respect their privacy. However, you might try asking that question to Kevin, he seems to answer personal questions.
August 1, 2009 at 2:33 am
Puttin up some big weight FM, keep it up!
August 1, 2009 at 9:14 am
Thanks Stellfox! In three weeks is my next leg workout, should get some vids there too, that’s the really big weight for me!
August 2, 2009 at 2:07 am
Have you ever trained for size? If so would you use static reps for that?
August 2, 2009 at 10:43 am
Yes, I have trained for size, and yes I would use static reps to do so. Last November I completed a 23 day distilled water only fast! I did this for overall health. I lost about 20 lbs. and a portion of that was muscle loss. I have been gaining weight since that fast, and I continue to gain now, at a rate of about 1/2 lb to 1 lb a week. I am starting to get thicker. Then again the kind of mass I want to put on or am capable of putting on is not like that of a world class bodybuilder.
You might look at statics this way. The reasoning behind working out with weights is to get as strong as we can. On that note we need to push the muscles as hard as we can. If we push the muscles as hard as possible then they are going to build stregth, and size increase has to accomodate that strength increase because there is a stregth increase. When I was working out and doing 3 sets per excercise two times a week it got to a point where that plateau was reached and it wasn’t doing it. So I started lifting harder 1 time a week with 3 sets per exercise. That was better, but after awhile reached a plateau again. So I started doing one set per excercise per week with greater intensity, this brought better results. At the time I knew I needed a complete full range of motion, proper form, for the best size and strength development I could achieve. I was working out as intensely as I could doing one set, it was the best method of working out that I found thus far, but once I plateaued again there was no where I could go, I was stuck, so I questioned how to continually get stronger!
The above mentioned methods will bring results, but when I say a working out with a greater intensity I mean just that. When I worked out then, and even moreso now I am thinking about nothing else other than that set or rep! An example would be I used to play music in my home gym when I worked out to get me psyched, after a whole CD I couldn’t tell you one song that played-honestly couldn’t tell you, I don’t even hear it, I see nothing else around me, only what I need to see for that workout! I hear nothing other than the thoughts in my head for that set, I hope that makes some sort of sense. Now I don’t play music anymore when I workout, because there is no point, after a few years of not hearing the music I just stopped playing the music!
So here I am at a familiar place-a plateau where I am not continuing to grow and I read about statics, I had heard about statics years before but was not willing to accept that it would actually work! I started doing statics, first few workouts made a common mistake of not lifting heavy enough, increased weight and broke through the plateau, experienced continued growth for about 3 years and accomplished strength and mass for my body type that I was impressed with! I stopped doing statics-which I mentioned in a previous post and why I stopped, you may ask if you can’t find that post…and returned to statics because of my strength and size loss-moer concerned with strength! I have continually grown since reapplying statics and truly understand this is the most intense way to push the muscles for growth!
I will also mention that there are other things that I do that contribute to my growth, when I ride the bicycle I have distance workouts, and sprint workouts, in which I am “weight lifting” on the bike-builds size in my legs! I do my finger pullups about 4 -5 times a week for forearm strength, it also builds somewhat my bi’s shoulders, and lats. During the winter I rock climb indoors (my home gym) to stay in shape and its just fun. I also walk with a weightvest-currently about 60 lbs. for a 1/2 hour 4 or 5 times a week, slowly increasing the weight of the vest.
Initially you might find that you lose weight from statics, or maybe size. It depends on what body type you have. What’s your body fat percent? Statics build muscle, but also will eat up miniscule amounts of fat interlaced with the muscle, combined with a proper diet of course!
Blood builds muscles for size and strength and the intensity of the workout is what brings the blood to do that, statics are the most intense form of getting that muscle to break down, you need to allow time for growth, and then build again!
August 2, 2009 at 10:13 pm
Thanks.
Well my bodyfat is quite high even though I don’t look it. According to my electronic scale/fat % I’m over 20%, but if someone saw me they’d think maybe 8-10%. Fortunately/Unfortunately depending on how you look at it, most of my fat is in the hips/glutes. Sucks know I’m carrying that, but at the same time I can take my shirt off and have decent definition. Thats one of the things I’m working on. I’ve been hitting my marks up until this week (lose 1lb per week).
This week I’m changing things up. I plan on alternating between muscle groups that way I can elimitate rest between sets. I want to hit 20 min morning cardio and mix in some static reps at the end of my normal full rep sets. I’m thinking this will allow me to burn the calories and really finish off the muscle.
About 6 years ago I was into lifting big time, I’m talking double sessions and never missing a day. I got myself down to 175 with a shredded upper body, but the legs never really hit. This time around thats going to be the difference for me, I will bring the legs into the same level as the upper body, no matter what. Clean of course.
What do you think? Any fat burning tips?
Later
August 3, 2009 at 9:58 am
A proper static program with aerobic exercise is going to help everything get going. When you say legs never really hit, what do you mean? Were you incorporating leg excercises or was what you were doing just not working for you?
Exercise is key, but if you really want to burn fat the number one factor is change in diet. What kind of diet are you following, are you interested in changing your eating pattern? A couple tips if you are not doing them already, stop eating anything made from flour, bread is the worst, cookies, crackers, pastries, donuts, pasta, none of it has actual nutrition, and that’s what you want, nutrition to help your muscles grow, recooperate from exercise. Write down everything that you are eating, I mean everything, from a piece of chewing gum to a handful of m&m’s, whatever and decide what you eat that really has nutrition. On the flipside don’t make yourself nuts, cut things out that you are comfortable cutting out. Think of it as a long term plan that will stick, not a short term plan that you force yourself to do and then your back to square one or worse in 6 months. Changing any diet plan is often more accomplished through a slow process than a fast one. Focus on whole foods, that’s where your nutrition comes from, fruit, vegetables, red meat, chicken, turkey, fish, eggs, dairy-up to you, nuts, seeds, beans, rice…foods where you don’t have to read an ingredients list! If you do eat packaged products target health not fat loss, fat loss will come! Tell me moer about where you are at now, because I kinda feel like I am taking a stab in the dark with suggestions.
If you can one other thing, don’t eat anything late, if you go to sleep at 10 PM, nothing after 4 or 5 in the afternoon, if that is possible for you! Heavier meals in the morning or afternoon, a light meal (maybe a big vegetable salad later in the day).
Give me more details about what you’ve done or what you’re doing and in 2-6 months you’ll see changes like you never have before ever! Thanks for your comments!
August 4, 2009 at 11:21 pm
I’d like to see you try an 8 week bulk like Kev did, basically copy what he did and eat big..i bet a lot of people would like to see your gains..why not! its only 8 weeks out of your whole life!
August 5, 2009 at 10:43 am
Hello Jordan-
First of all I could never do an 8 week gain like Kevin did, I have never in my life had close to the size that Kevin has now, let alone what he has had! As far as doing what he is doing I would not benefit the way that you think I would. I have been doing what I do for almost 14 years. I started because my workouts were bad and my body was all clogged up with toxins. During the past 14 years I first detoxed my body, then started eating the more building foods to build my body. I even did another cleanse that finished last November, a 23 day water only fast! Sure I lost weight during the fast, but one reason to do it was to gain weight in the long term, right now I have surpassed my weight and my strength that I had prior to the fast! Slowly I am gaining weight, pure muscle weight. Please understand that my body digests and uses food differently than most people because of changes I have made over the past 14 years. My metabolism is different, breaking down of foods is different in my digestive tract. It’s like if you don’t eat the worst of fast food for 10 years, only eat healthy food, and then one day eat at your local Mc..a couple Big Mac’s, Fries, and an apple pie! That person would feel pretty sick! Even if I eat large quantities of what I eat now I would not feel great, it would take away from the energy I have for my workouts! I would not be able to push myself as hard as I do therefore would not be able to grow the way that I am now! Something else that I incorporate into my diet plan that I have not yet mentioned, but others have noticed about me is something called CR, calorie restriction, it has to do with eating less food, but still getting maximum nutrition possible. I have been doing this for quite a while and if I violate that I feel tired and sluggish.
As far as the full range movement instead of statics I did that aspect of it for awhile, I stopped doing statics and returned to full range. I lost size, strength, and body weight in about a years time! I then returned to statics and gained what I had lost, actually now I am stronger in some exercises than before I stopped doing statics!
Every body is different, Kevin is an amazing bodybuilder with a lot of talent and has the ability to exhibit huge gains! Different athletes in different sports all have their own abilities and they integrate those skills to pursue their goals. I have found something amazing that works for me, I know it works, it gives me what I want, and I am always making measurable gains, so I stick with it. That is why I created this blog, to share what I have learned! If I really mirrored what Kevin does it would not just be 8 weeks of my life, it would take me a lot more than that to recover from what I did during those 8 weeks, and I am not in a position where I can do that. Sorry for the disappointment, stick around and I hope that you find something here that works for you!
August 7, 2009 at 4:02 pm
I understand, and i guess eating raw food isnt as crazy as it sounds…if we go back thousands of years ago its not like man had ovens to cook with!, its natural. i liked the look of the shake you made Kevin…and what were all the nuts you gave him? i remember you giving him handfulls of seeds and nuts etc? i wouldnt mind buying some, you had them in water?
also the recipe for the shake would be nice,
Thanks
and let’s see some longer videos!
August 11, 2009 at 9:24 am
Hey Jordan-
What I gave Kevin were mung sprouts. Soak dry mung seeds in water overnight and then put them in a jar with a screen on it. Tilt the jar at a 45 degree angle in a strainer and in a couple of days you will have sprouts. Hugely nutritious! Cheap, not only a raw food, but a living food, eating sprouts is like picking an apple off of a tree and eating it, they are still growing when eaten! Any kind of dry seed will sprout! I will post a vid on others, and show an example of how to do it! You can also soak nuts and seeds overnight in water and in the morning just eat them…they don’t sprout, some nuts don’t soak. The best are walnuts, pecans, hazelnuts, pumpkin, and suflower (which do sprout in a couple of days)! Eat nuts and seeds, in general seeds have more nutrition than nuts, variety is always best!
Good for you understanding the raw concept, years ago we were all raw! Today we are the only animal that cooks food, those animals in the wild die of old age, not the things that humans die of, or domesticated animals, who die of the same things humans die of, most of the time!
REALLY REALLY working on posting longer vids, this week I will, working out some of the technicalities and the time constraints with getting it done, but that’s the goal and soon it will happen!!!!!!!! Thanks for your post and stay tuned to more vids!
That shake I made Kev was raw cottage cheese, honey, bee pollen, and eggs (I think)…it was a good mix, and Kevin did really like it, the next day he said he felt great afterwards!
August 7, 2009 at 8:12 pm
Have you ever had any sort of back problem from this sort of training and what have you done to solve it. Do you Believe in deep tissure massages and chiropractors?
August 10, 2009 at 7:55 am
The only sort of back problem that I had was that my lower back was what I call my weak link for my squatting. When I was squatting 300 or 400 lbs it was no problem, once I went into the 495, 500 + realm my legs were absolutely strong enough to lift the weight, but squats are a full body exercise….as is said for full range…that much more so for statics. I found I had to do more core training, stomach, and lower back training in order to strengthen the lower back so that I could stregthen that weakest link and move forward with my static squats. Listen to your body, if when you stay back problems you mean lower back problems you need to do more core training, a stronger stomach makes for a stronger lower back. I still need to post that video about doing good mornings, I am sorry I haven’t done that yet, I will do that asap.
If you are talking about spinal problems as far as back problems that’s a little different. All of the spinal muscles supporting the spine gradually stregthen over time with statics. Go slowly, allow these muscles to strengthen, the good mornings that I mentioned will stregthen these muscles as well as the lower back. DON’T DO ANYTHING WHERE YOU MIGHT GET HURT. Take it slow with this, we will work through it together, and you will surpass your goals.
Also take a look at your diet, what do you eat that is right? What do you eat that is wrong? Do you get a lot of salt in your diet? Are you eating a lot of bread and other dry concentrated carb foods? Many foods do not help the body to grow, or give the body energy, and do not promote healing in the body, whether that healing is from a really great workout or healing that has to happen in the way of repair to damaged tissues!
Sleep I have found is also key to growth for the body. Often times weightlifters say they sleep 10 hours to build. I don’t think it is the quantity that is the case, but more the quality. Sleep helps to repair damaged tissues, but it has to be good sleep. If I eat a big meal at 5 or 6 PM, then go to bed at 9 I sleep 8 hours, and wake up not feeling great, not rested! If I eat my last meal at 2 or 3 in the afternoon and go to bed at 9 I sleep 6 hours or less, wake up refreshed and completely rested, and have energy all day to do what I need to do! I am not saying you should stop eating at 2 or 3. What time do you go to sleep? Do you eat a snack after dinner an hour before you go to bed? You might try eating until 5 and not eating for the rest of the day, for example. I did this over time, over a number of years taught my body what to do, or it taught me!
Please tell me:
How much weight are you squatting?
How often are you doing your squats?
What kind of foods do you eat in general?
How many calories do you eat in a day, about?
How many meals a day?
How late do you eat in the day?
What time do you go to sleep?
Where exactly are these recurring back problems-you mentioned your spine-neck area and lower back before…is this what you are referring to when you say you have lower back problems?
You have these back problems that you mention, but please understand your body functions as a whole, if there is a problem in one part of your body, your back, then that could be a sign that there is a problem somewhere else!
One other thing, what kind of shoes do you wear during the day? Are they typical shoes, dress shoes, or gym shoes?
Thanks for your response and your questions. I will help you get to where you want to be!
August 10, 2009 at 7:07 pm
Hey FM, I tried that raw beef, egg, and honey dish we were speaking about a while back. It took me longer than I thought to find raw honey, but I finally got it and decided to give it a try.
It was nothing short of incredible. The energy rush I got was outstanding…it was almost like I was high from the food! I felt extremely full, but not a nasty bloated overstuffed feeling…like I ate the perfect amount, and it stayed with me for hours! I’m loving the raw honey, and my eggs taste even better scrambled with it.
I’m getting leaner, faster, and stronger…I feel great now that I have an almost 100% raw diet. I eat less food, but my weight is staying exactly the same and I’m dropping bodyfat and waterweight like crazy, and I stay much more full throughout the day…
I don’t care what people say on the videos or on the comments, this is for real. Thanks a lot FM!!
August 11, 2009 at 9:11 am
Hey Stellfox-
I can’t even tell you had psyched that makes me that it worked for you in such a perfect way. Between the energy, strength, speed, fat burn, and water loss it sounds like you are getting exactly what you need out of this! And almost all raw. That’s so cool! Good that you kept looking until you found raw honey, because cooked honey fed back to bees killed them in an experiment! Raw honey has something like 200 minerals in trace amounts, benefits are numerous. In early times of war it was packed on the wounds of soldiers and their wounds healed! What name brand did you buy? You broke through a huge barrier though, eating raw meat for some people is difficult, but when one does it, then it becomes so natural, there is no other way! Years ago when I was mostly raw, and tried seared meat I would get sick! Little by little as you feel the need you can try varying your proteins, raw ground bison (buffalo), did you find grass fed beef??, I am too psyched about your post, I gotta go workout! Good for you Stellfox, keep us updated with posts! Stay tuned there are a lot of things I want to go over here, and I will start posting more videos, that are longer, give over more of the philosophy too!
August 11, 2009 at 6:40 pm
I bought some Carlisle Spring Blossom Honey from Massachusetts. It’s the lighter color variety of their honey, they also have a very dark amber honey. It’s delicious, I put it on almost everything now.
And I did find grass fed beef, it’s actually quite popular down here in Florida. A lot of Argentinians have immigrated here, and have brought their farming and livestock traditions with them, which includes proper raising of beef with no hormones or artificial feed.
I can’t wait to see some more videos! Keep up the good work!
August 11, 2009 at 7:19 pm
Awesome, it sounds like you are getting some good foods. Good raw honey, grass fed and healthy meats are key! What kind of eggs are you using? Free range are better than others, and if you have access to fertile eggs they are the best, usually found at a health food store!
Thanks for the inspiration about the vids, I’ve been writing down topics to post vids about, and I am just getting the technical side together. There should be new posts this week, and then more regular thereafter! Keep it going, you are on the path to true power!
August 14, 2009 at 4:52 pm
Pretty amazing technique. It has certainly helped me out a lot in my training routine. I am also an bodybuilder, if you wanna check it out my website, just click below on my link.
bodybuilding
Thanks,
Mastodi.
August 15, 2009 at 7:29 am
Hey Mastodi-
Interesting website, yo puede hablo Espanol, para no mucho!! I speak Spanish with the guys at work, and I can speak about anything at work in Spanish, but topics outside of work I still don’t have the vocabulary for, I am working at it! I saw a clip on your website about bike riding, that’s what I do. If I understood the clip correctly you were riding the line on the street. Is that right?
I am glad that the statics have helped your training! Please post any questions or comments that you have! Stay tuned!
August 18, 2009 at 10:57 pm
When are you going to post more videos? I’ve been waiting for 2 weeks now! lol
We all have to respect that your a busy person. Do you work as a personal trainer at a gym or work in the health industry?
August 24, 2009 at 9:40 am
I am so sorry, it’s not that I don’t have the time, but my camera guy is not always available so I want to do some vids from my webcam…and I have had some technical problems and my computer guy and I have been trying to set up a time to meet! We should be doing that very soon, so I can post longer vids, which will be more phylosophical and teaching. Then we’ll move to getting my camera guy to do the training vids. I hate when things don’t get completed right away, its lining up different schedules and making it happen. I am trying to make it happen as soon as possible!
I used to work in the health industry, used to teach people about machines, set up their workouts, and train people. Most of the training that I have done for others has been outside of my my day job though, personal training in either my gym or theirs.
August 23, 2009 at 8:37 pm
Hi Fingerman. You have been getting a lot of bad comments on the videos with Levrone on youtube. As a person who bodybuilds, I am not sure of your size? I cant help but grow muscle. I workout, I eat and I sleep and my body gets bigger. Why doesnt yours? You are obviously lifting big weights so I dont understand why you arent bigger.
No disrespect at all! just trying to understand! Maybe you could also explain your overall fitness ethos, what your goals are etc. Sorry if this has already been answered before!
Thanks
August 24, 2009 at 9:55 am
First my goals are not to get big. I actually don’t have any preconceived notions of what I will or should look like. My target is to be as strong as possible. I do this for sports that I am interested in. I want to be as strong as I can be!
I don’t eat the quantity of food that most people do, most of the time I undereat. It’s called CR, which has to do with calorie restriction by choice for optimal health. Before I started this whole thing I didn’t feel good at all, my workouts diminished to almost nothing, and I wasn’t a happy camper. I started changing my ways and felt a whole lot better, and knew it something I would do for the rest of my life, meaning a raw food diet. Over the years I kept learning new things, so my diet kept changing, but within a few years stayed within raw foods and I felt great so kept doing it.
The vids you have seen of me are also about 6 months after I did a 23 day water only fast. I drank water, only water, for 23 days. I did this to clean my body and build more strength. Sure I lost size and stregth initially, but I am more interested in the long term goals! The musle, and bodyweight I am putting on is extremely lean, not the kind of musle where I will gain huge amounts, or bulky musle. Years ago before the aches and pains and before my diet change I was pretty big, but I never had the looks of a Kevin Levrone. I don’t have the body type that could ever look like that, I just don’t. Now when people see me whether with a sleeveless shirt on or working out in a gym people have come up to me and say you look ripped, or cut, or they ask what do you do??? People are interested…so I hope that answers your question, yes my goals are different, my work out is different, and I am obtaining my goals and gaining what I want. Also I do this for overall health, once a year my doctor does a complete blood profile to check everything, and he says I have the blood of a healthy 18 year old. That is the same kind of energy that I have as well! If I were to eat a lot of food I would lose that edge, and I wouldn’t necessarily gain big musles. This is my body type, and fortunately my body type fits my lifestyle and personal goals! I hope that answers your questions!
August 24, 2009 at 4:14 pm
Yea thanks a lot Fingerman. Now I can understand. Its easy to go along with others and ask how a guy your size can teach Kevin Levrone a thing or two but thats one good thing about fitness is that there are many opinions and theories and you never stop learning something new!
I wont be eating raw chicken but I will certainly be watching your videos!
Thanks
August 26, 2009 at 6:39 am
ive been interested in gettin into a raw diet, can you post more videos where your talkin about the food and maybe preparing food, and maybe show how u prepare the meat to be eaten raw.
thank you
August 30, 2009 at 10:18 pm
Mr finger man may i ask you a couple of questions?
First of all these short movements you’re making which you consider to be reps, only strain the lower back, tendons, and nervous system and don’t fully contract the muscles you are trying to train. Do you have an explanation why you believe that it works?
A short explanation of how the human body works.
If it is strength you are training for your method is absolutely not beneficial to overall power because of the short movement. You are not training the entire muscle.
Easily explained: In a real life situation this ”strength” would be utterly useless because your peak strength would only be at the beginning of the movement. In the middle and end of the contraction you will not notice anything, and the result will be a failure to fully use that range of motion with a certain amount of weight.
This strength training you are doing is only beneficial for you to show people you can do this EXACT exercise with an X amount of weight.
Because real life purpose it has not.
The nutrition.
Eating raw foods can be very dangerous if not cleaned or disinfected properly. Even if you did not contract food poisoning yet it is still to come. The risks of consuming foods that are contaminated with parasites and molds are significant. Maybe right now your body is a host to microscopic organisms or multi-cellular worms which invade the body through these o so healthy foods.
What is your perception to these facts?
August 31, 2009 at 8:37 am
Hello Dr. Rorsk-
Thank you so much for your post! Your claim that the statics that I perform do not contract the muscles is correct. My muscles stay in one movement. I am glad that you understand the training and improvement in strength to the tendons and nervous system, and lower back! Now as far as strength do you speak of what you have read or what you have done in your life? Are you athletic? Do you weight lift or participate in sports yourself? I am also interested to know how long have you been a doctor?
The concept behind static contraction training is to develop the muscles, the entire muscle in any range to its strongest! There is countless research to support the fact that this works. Bruce Lee used something called isometric training, it had to do with holding a movement in its strongest range of motion against a nonmoving bar for a duration of time. For example having the arms at a 90 degree angle holding a bar for a biceps contraction. He showed much strength gain with these types of workouts. From isometrics developed static contractions. Although isometrics were found to be beneficial there was no method to develop progress, unless of course going back to a full range exercise and periodically performing that exercise to check one’s strength. Static contractions are easily measured because weight is being used. As seconds in a movement increase strength is increasing. When those seconds get to 15 it is time to increase weight, the seconds of holding the weight should not be lower than 5.
Personally I began working out with weights 26 years ago. I was relatively strong. It arrived to a point where I was not able to make gains, if you are interested I can write more about this later. I found that the 3 sets of 8-12 full range repetitions I was doing did not benefit me as much as did getting warmed up and doing one intense set of 8 full range reps with maximum weight. I later found focusing on 6 full range reps (more weight) brought me more gains. At a certain point I plateaued with this as well.
I was using the sports I am interested in to guage how strong I was and when I felt stonger and from what. My favorite sport is off road bike riding, on a mountain bike. As an example there is one particular hill at one of the trails I ride that used to be very difficult for me. I wasn’t strong enough to climb the long intense hill without putting down a foot in one of the challenging spots on the path up the hill. Gradually I became I became strong enough, now it is more the speed at which I climb that same hill. I also have routes that I ride and the time it takes to ride those rides guages my improvement in strength. Another sport I enjoy is indoor rock climbing, I have routes that I climb and the stronger I become the more able I am to succeed at climbing those routes. I also do finger pullups, with weight added to me on a fingerboard. The numger of reps I can perform, taking into account the weight I have strapped to a belt shows the growth of my strength. These are some very simple examples of how I am able to gauge my strength gains and why static contractions work.
After performing s.c. for about 3 years I stopped doing them because I was at a busy time in my life and was not able to exercise aerobically. I was lifting a considerable amount of weight statically and was scared that it might not be good for my heart lifting that much weight in a short period of time if I was not excercising my heart as well. I stopped doing statics and went back to full range excercises. For the next year or so both my physical strength and my body weight dropped significantly. My body fat percent was about the same so I lost desirable muscle weight. During this time when I did have time to ride or to climb I was not able to perform near the level I was before. The many “tests” or ways that I gauged performance were all below my own expectations for myself.
I was forced to reorganize my life and return to the excercise I know is best, the integration of statics, other training, and bike riding that I need. My strength returned within a few months, in some static excersises I surpassed where I was! My bike riding and rock climbing became even better than what I had been used to, with more of an understanding of why statics really work, proper static lifting and proper rest between workouts!
Here would be other examples for you as to why statics work. If a bike rider, who does no weight lifting of any kind for his upper body rides his bike for 4 months will his triceps not develop and get stronger, he is riding using a static movement for triceps on his bike! Will a hockey player, who does not weighlift, develop a strong lower back from constantly being in a slightly bent over position skating around chasing after the puck! How about a water skier who is constantly in a static stance? A downhill skier also is in a static movement. I am asking you about athletes who are not professionals, who do not want to invest the time of weightlifting for their sport. They just want to participate in their sport for enjoyment and health, as they do their own static movements do they get stronger as the season progresses, and they haven’t done any weightlifting, only their sports?
I don’t think statics work, I know that they work. I am sure. I know this because of my own experience with training and the many workouts I have tried over a lifetime of weightlifting and working out. I have trained people personally and see their gains in strength over a period of time (2-6 months) which awards them with more strength than they had with their previous form of training of typical full range movements. I haven’t even discussed the benefit to the joints because of not doing hundreds or thousands of repetitions over months or years!
The strength is real, and when going back to a full range exercise the strength is again real, and the body is stronger because of the static contraction training. There are pitfalls and knowing how to steer around these pitfalls is part of the reason for creating this site!
As far as muscle strength building, and preservation of the ligaments and joints there is nothing as beneficial as static contraction training. How old are you? What type of weightlifting are you performing now? What type of excercise program do you use? Are you interested in performing an experiment on yourself that could benefit your long term strength and health? Where do you live? I could guide you in an experiment and you could learn some interesting things!
As far as the “facts” about the raw foods you presented, I believe them to be opionions, and yes there are many who believe those same things, but even if a million people or 10 million people believe something that still does not qualify the belief as a fact, it is still an opionion. I have heard of this, I also know how sick I was prior to beginning my raw food adventure. I began eating raw vegan food and aches and pains I had diminished to nothing! I continued on this mostly raw mostly vegan path for about a year or so, but it came to a point where I was just really hungry. I learned of raw animal foods, and started eating eggs, red meat (cow and bison), some fish, amd raw dairy. Later included chicken and turkey! The hunger that I had from a raw vegan diet went away and after a few years I began eating more normal amounts of the foods. I go to my AMA doctor once a year. He does a full blood profile and checks everything. He tells me my blood is that of a healthy 18 year old! My cholesterol is excellent, as are other specifics. I could pull out the paperwork and give you specifics if you would like! The whole parasite thing, I don’t believe it, I trust myself, and my doctors reports, I feel great, lots of energy, and I possess the health I had been pursuing for years! I know all of the problems I had all disappeared and I became truly healthy, when doctors didn’t know what to tell me or what to do! I do periodically water fast, 1 or 2 days, 3 days, I did a 23 day fast earlier this year to cleanse my body. I feel the way I want to feel, but it is very difficult in our society to learn to truly trust ourselves and our feelings we have about our own health. Many cultures eat raw animal foods, on the other hand our culture unfortunately is very opposed to it! Learning to do something different than the rest is difficult for some, unless pushed by ill health like I was!
I hope I have answered all of your questions. Please feel free to comment, and please do answer the questions I asked you! Thanks again!
September 10, 2009 at 12:25 am
Hey Fingerman,
I am very impressed with the strength you have for your thin but ripped bodyframe. Is static training beneficial for putting on size? Could you possibly give me some tips as to how often to incorporate these lifts into my regular lifting routine? (Should I focus on one muscle a week, or do all the muscles for one week a month). Thanks in advance. Your an inspiration..
September 11, 2009 at 9:05 am
Thanks for the compliment, I am achieving what I am going for. I do believe that static training will put on size, although I don’t have the body type and genetics for that. As others have mentioned on this site I don’t eat the calories needed to gain that kind of mass. You could begin by doing statics one muscle group a week. The idea is that as you become stronger from your statics you will have to lengthen the time between your static workouts! The recovery time becomes greater because you are lifting more weight, when you notice that you are not increasing the weight you are lifting similar to when you first begin it is time to add 3 days between workouts.
It is also important to understand your bodies ability to recover and reach new heights from your workouts, some people take a week, some may take 3 days. Generally the healthier your diet and lifestyle the quicker you can recover from your workouts!
As you get stronger you eventually will lift one muscle group per month, for example when you are shrugging 5-600 lbs, you will probably do this about once a month!
Thanks for your questions, please return with more!