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128 of 131 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
This training method doesn't work!, January 22, 2004
This review is from: Static Contraction Training (Paperback)
Save yourself time, money and energy and forget about Static Contraction Training (SCT). I followed this method for 8 solid months. Every workout I attempted to lift heavier weights and I did succeed- I did "hold" heavier weights. Here's a few examples- Seat shoulder press I started with 225lb. and built up to a 370lb. hold. Bench I started at 365lbs. and built up to 465lbs. Close bench 290, up to 385. I was using more than 2200lbs. on the leg press, the machine couldn't hold anymore weight. I was amazed at the weights I was "holding", and was pleased that I was able to increase almost every workout. I also made sure to get enough rest- I increased my recovery time between workouts up to 1 month, meaning that I had 30 days to recover before doing the same exercises again. The books states that you need to increase recovery times in order to grow stronger. Then last week I decided to "test" myself. See what I could do using full range dynamic exercise. I thought that for sure I would be able to add 20lbs. to my bench press- I thought that would be very easy to do. WRONG! I was able to bench my normal weight- 200lbs., but it felt a bit heavy. When I tried 220 the bar got half way up and that was it- no way was it going any further. I was stunned! I'm holding 465 and yet I couldn't get 220 up. After a few days rest I tried a few more full range exercises. I did seated dumbbell presses- I struggled to get 4 reps with 50lb. DB's. I dropped down to 30lb. DB's and 8 reps felt quite challenging (remember that I was statically holding 370lbs.). 80lbs. on the leg extension was heavy for 6 reps (I'm statically holding 380lbs. on that exercise). On dumbbell concentration curls I would use 75lbs. and get 6 reps (prior to SCT), now doing 65lbs. for 6 reps was a challenge. Before SCT I could do over 100 non-stop pushups and do chinups for 3 sets of 10 with 30lbs. tied to my waist. After 8 months of SCT I struggle to get 40 pushups and can barely do 10 chinups with just my bodyweight. Forget all the hype about this program, it just doesn't work. I believed very strongly in this method and based on my static holds I thought it was working wonderfully. But attempting a few full range movements as proved to me that static holds do not transfer over to full range movements. Now don't think for a moment that I wasn't pushing myself during SCT. I kept looking to increase hold times and/or amount of weight being used. I busted my butt trying to hold more weight. So lack of effort was not the problem. The method sounds great in theory but falls well short in reality. If you want to "hold" more weight then use SCT. If you want to use your muscles in "motion" then look for some other training method.
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53 of 56 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Nice baby... but with a big tub of bathwater, November 20, 2000
This review is from: Static Contraction Training (Paperback)
The authors argue that a workout consisting of static contractions, wherein you select a weight for a particular exercise that represents the most you can hold in a static position for 10-20 seconds before the weight starts to drop, is the most effective way to build strength, and they offer results of some medical research, and results of their own studies, in favor of their assertion. The arguments and information presented are interesting, but not without fault. I've tried the static contraction method myself, and have gotten better results with it than anything else I've tried, but since reading this book, I've modified my choice of exercises from what the authors recommend, based on my own experiences and outside readings. One of the assertions the authors make is that muscle fiber recruitment during contraction, and therefore contraction force, is highest when a muscle is maximally shortened. That is absolutely false. The authors confuse force exerted during a movement with force of muscular contraction. Force exerted is a product of contractile force and mechanical advantage. It is the mechanical advantage which varies throughout the range of an exercise. Therefore, the authors' recommendation that you hold the weight in the strongest position of a particular movement is equivalent to recommending that you hold the weight in the position of greatest mechanical advantage. When stated in this manner, their recommendation sounds silly, and it is. That it is nonsense is obvious from the fact that in pressing movements (squat, bench, etc) the mechanical advantage of your muscles at the lockout position is infinite. At (or near) the lockout position, the limit of your "strength" is set not by your muscles, but by the ultimate yielding strength of your bones, joints and tendons. I don't know about you, but I do NOT venture into the gym hoping to discover the yielding point of my bones, joints, and tendons... if you follow the authors' recommendations as far as exercise selection to the letter, you will sooner or later experience severe joint and tendon pains, and possibly severe injury. The authors also assume in their discussions that all else is equal (with the exception of force exerted) throughout the range of a movement, and therefore, nothing is to be gained by working a muscle statically in any position other than the fully contracted position. In a simple minded model of the body, where a single muscle acts to cause rotation about a single joint or axis, that might be true, but the kinesiology of movement is not that simple. In the real world, with real body movements, various muscles contribute varying percentages to the total muscular effort at different stages of the movement. Thus, when you're performing a bench press, the muscles which you are using when you're at the bottom of the lift pressing the bar off your chest are different and/or are used to a different degree than when you are at the top of the lift. Thus, while it is completely true that increases in static strength correlate very well with increases in dynamic strength for a -particular- muscle in a particular range of the overall movement, this is not necessarily true at all when one considers a full range movement where different muscles are used at different stages of the movement. I think this explains why some people who experiment with this program have subsequently discovered that their full range lifting strength has gone -down- even while all indications from their static hold weights were that they were gaining strength much faster than they ever had before. In summary, I would read this book for the information it contains on static contractions and their effect on strength, the information on workout frequency and training volume, and the nutritional information, but I would ignore the authors' mostly nonsense notions on exercise selection, and their recommendations on which range of a particular movement should be selected when doing a static contraction "rep". The key is to select those exercises which place maximum stress on the -muscle- you want to work (and minimum stress on joints), regardless of how much weight you happen to be able to hold in that position relative to other positions. Keep the baby, throw out the bathwater.
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64 of 70 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Worth trying out if you have the right stuff, January 2, 2001
This review is from: Static Contraction Training (Paperback)
This is a workout system involving holding very heavy weights in a stationary position for a few seconds. The system works, but their are a few drawbacks you should consider before purchasing this book. The first is that the book tries to get a little too scientific, and spends a little too much time on things like nutrition etc. I wish they would have jus focused on the workout. The second drawback is that you must have access to a good power rack. If you don't, then it could be dangerous. The last and biggest drawback is that for this system to really work you need to have a strong partner. That is the only way to actually get the heavy weights into postiion, and the only way to get an accurate time. If you don't have a partner or a good power rack then you would be better off skipping this system. One other thing I should mention is that the authors state that gaining strenghth in a static hold would transfer to a full range movement but I found that for myself it did not happen. Overall if you have the necesarry things then you may want to try this and see how it works for you. My own personal opinion however is that you would be better off buying BEYOND BRAWN by Stuart McRobert (the best book on weightlifting.)
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