Need a new workout? Try PAP (Post Activation Potentiation) Training!

I know a lot of people out there want to change up their routine but really don’t know how.  You maybe looking to better your performance, better your physique, or you may be just god damn bored of the same thing all the time.  If you are experienced with, squats, deadlifts, bench press, plyometrics and have experience lifting towards max effort, then PAP might be a good change of pace and effective method for you.  PAP training can be one of the most intense workouts you can experience and also can improve athletic endeavours such as vertical leap.  Also it trains a lot of different adaptations all at once, so if you have many different workout goals but not a lot of time this might be perfect for you.

BASICS OF PAP

The basic premise of PAP is to use a exercise that increases the muscle function of another exercise.  Using exercises that enhance the CNS(central nervous system) is key to PAP training.  One example is to do a heavy back squat followed by squat jumps.  The heavy back squat increases CNS activity which increases the power and height of the squat jump.  This type of training is sometimes referred to as complex training.

SCIENCE OF PAP

If you do not give a F of why this method works on a scientific level then move on because you will feel like you wasted a minute of your life but if you want to geek out, then cool. There are 2 main theories to how PAP works:

Theory 1

When Maximal Voluntary Contractions(lifting a close to maximal or maximal lift) are performed then their is an increased phosphorylation of myosin regulatory light chains.  phosphorylation basically helps the process of ATP production.  ATP is a molecule that supplies energy for all human cells including muscle cells.. The binding of myosin and actin filaments inside muscle cells is what causes muscles to contract.  Myosin and actin filaments during maximal voluntary contractions become more responsive to calcium ions . Calcium ions are critical to muscle contraction because calcium ions bond to troponin. Troponin is a protein linked to actin which blocks myosin from forming crossbridges with actin filaments.  The calcium ions bonding to troponin causes troponin to get out of the way allowing crossbridges to form between the two filaments.  PAP helps create more cross bridges in theory.  Greater cross bridges lead to stronger contractions.  All these things combined improve motor unit recruitment, rate coding,  and tetanus of a motor unit, just to name a few. Which basically means quicker and stronger muscle contractions.

Theory 2

The second theory involves the Hoffmann Reflex (H-Reflex), named after the scientist (Paul Hoffmann) who first described it. The H-reflex is an excitation of a spinal reflex elicited by the Group Ia afferent muscle nerves (specialized nerves conducting impulses to muscle. It is theorized that the PAP intervention enhances the H-reflex, thus increasing the efficiency and rate of the nerve impulses to the muscle.

 Other Notes

Basically performing a certain exercise can enhance the subsequent exercise.  This happens because the first exercise enhances the CNS.  The CNS controls voluntary muscle contraction.  The more awake the CNS the better your performance will become.  This effect of using a exercise to potentiate another last anywhere from 5 to 30 min afterwards.  PAP training is mostly associated with performance but if used correctly it can enhance body composition.

PAP SAMPLE WORKOUT(VERY BASIC)

Day 1  quad dominant day

Heavy Squat for 3 to 5 reps  (it has to be heavy enough where if you did one more rep it would not be a clean rep) followed by 8-10  squat jumps. Do for 3-5 sets with 3-5 min break in between.  The more advance you get you can reduce rest intervals.

You can do supplemental quad exercises after this, such as short step lunges, leg presses, step ups, for 8 to 12 reps with 30 to 45 second breaks around 3 to 4 sets

Day 2 push dominant

Bench press 3-5 reps heavy followed by 8 medicine ball chest tosses or explosive push ups with hands against the bench. Same sets and rest interval set up as day 1.

Follow up with tricep and shoulder exercises.  same set, rep, and rest interval set ups as day 1

Day 3 hip dominant

Heavy Deadlift for 1-5 reps followed by 8 DB or KB swings.  Same amount of rest and sets as day 1

Supplemental exercises such as hamstring curls, long step lunges, and stability ball leg curls, same sets, reps, and rest as day 1

Day 4

5 pull up max(use weight belt and add weight if you have to.)  followed by 10 medicine ball slams.  Same rest and sets

Supplemental exercises, bentover rows, seated rows, bicep curls, and lat pulldowns. Same sets, reps, and rest as day 1

This is a super basic complex.  Complexes can be way more complex and in depth but this is a good place to start.  Also doing an explosive exercise before a heavy exercise can ramp the CNS and in theory cause more motor units to be recruited which cause better muscle activation leading to a more effective workout.  I chose those sets, reps, and rest in the supplemental exercise to give a good growth hormone response to your workout.

WHO SHOULD DO PAP?

PAP training was orginally done to improve explosive performance for athletes.  Their is a lot of evidence saying it does work better on highly trained individuals and individuals who have a larger amount of fast twitch muscle fibers(my next post is going to be how to determine your muscle fiber type).   But I think it is great to use for anybody who has a fair amount of workout experience.  Because

• It could help your performance– who doesn’t want to perform better in anything
•  stimulates the CNS– it can lead to the recruitment of more and larger muscle fibers
• adds a athletic aspect to weight training–  after a while weight training can seem stale adding a athletic aspect can be a nice change of pace
• possiblity of increasing explosiveness-this has the potential to make you stronger and to possibly increase the overall muscle recruitment of your weight lifting in general
• Adding a fat burning element–  It adds a fat burning element if you decrease your rest intervals,  you will be gasping for air if you do PAP with short rests.
• good way to condense your workouts– since it targets metabolic stress, mechanical stress, explosivenes, heavy weights, cardio, it really is a great method if you can’t go to the gym a lot and work many different aspects of training.

I know a lot of people have heard of this before since it has been around for years but hope it was new for some of you.  That is it for now.  Until next time.

KO

reps,sets,load,frequency, and how to use them to break plateaus

I been talking a lot about hypertrophy(building muscle) so I’m going to post  variations on manipulating reps, sets, rest, load, and frequency.  I will go over the science and theory of why they work so you can get a better understanding of how the various changes in the workout variables cause physiological changes.  I think if you know the science behind your workout it sometimes mentally makes you feel more focused because it makes you feel like you are not just following something with blind faith and wondering why the hell you are doing a workout.  The first thing I’m going to start off with is workout schemes that use rep manipulation to induce muscle growth.

REP MANIPULATION WORKOUTS

• Slow Eccentric Forced reps–  Eccentric(a.k.a negative)portion of the lift is what usually causes the most trauma to muscle fibers which in turn leads to hypertrophy with the proper recovery.   The slow eccentric forced reps also increases growth hormone because regular forced reps alone increased growth hormone levels 3 times the amount after training than standard workouts in one research study.  You will need a spotter to perform this technique.  So you would take a exercise like bench press and perform it for a standard hypertrophy rep amount until failure(5 to 10 reps till failure usually) but when you reach that failure point you will not rack the bar.  Your spotter will help lift the bar up and then you will proceed to lower the bar slowly down approx. 3-5 sec without the help of your spotter but your spotter will help you on the way up so you can complete the rep. You will do the slow eccentric reps for 2-3 reps.  The reason you can do the eccentric with no spotter is because the eccentric portion of the lift can always bear more weight.  Use this for 3 weeks at the most because it is very damaging to the muscles.

• 100 reps– You are going to take 20 to 40% of your 10 rep max and perform it for 100 reps on an exercise for 1 set. Your basically trying to find a weight that you will be able to perform for 60 to 70 reps and then you proceed to take a rest for however many reps you have left.  So if you have 35 reps left then you will have 35 seconds rest, if you eek out 15 more reps then you have 20 left and you get to take a 20 second break.  Keep repeating the process until you reach a 100 reps.  You can do this for 1 set for every exercise in your workout for 2 weeks or you can sprinkle it in your normal workout routine and do one workout that is completely 100 reps training.  Doing this many reps increases capillary density of the muscle this will create a more anabolic environment to because it delivers hormones, nutrients, and oxygen to the muscle.  It also flushes out waste products which aids in recovery.  Last but not least it recruits and fatigues a wide array of muscle fibers because it first recruits slow twitch muscle fibers but when they begin to fatigue it recruits fast twitch muscle fibers to help aid in muscle contraction.

SET MANIPULATION

• Small Angle Training– Many muscle fibers when you perform a workout go untouched leaving the muscle unstimulated.   The muscle fiber has to be stimulated in order for it to grow.  Their are many reasons why muscle fibers do not get recruited but one of the main reasons is because the exercise selection you choose does not put your body into the most advantageous body position for certain muscle fibers to be stimulated.  How small angle training works is each set has barely any break in between sets and you basically change either the angle of the exercise or the grip width or position of each set so you have better chances of hitting more muscle fibers because you worked it from so many angles and grips.  Example set:

 Set 1- high incline fly-6-8 reps

Set 2-low incline fly 6-8 reps

Set 3-flat incline fly 6-8 reps

Set 4- slight decline fly 6-8 reps

Set 5-large decline fly 6-8 reps

try to do short as rest possible and minimal weight change as possible in between sets

progressively raise the volume for 3 weeks start off with 1 round of this ,2 rounds the next week, 3 rounds the next, and a deload week.

LOAD MANIPULATION

• Oxford Method-This method is great for producing anabolic hormones like IGF-1 and growth hormone because it thoroughly recruits and fatigues muscle fibers.  The way to do the oxford method is too first do some warm up sets and then do your first working set at a absolute 100% 10 rep max(10 rep failure).  Your second set is another 10 rep max but make a small weight reduction so you can actually reach a 10 rep max.  The third set is once again a 10 rep absolute balls to the wall max with a small weight reduction from the second set.
• Heavy and Light Method-This method incorporates using a heavy exercise done with low reps to recruit high threshold motor units so you can train fast twitch muscle fibers, followed by the same exercise done with lighter weights and higher repetitions to recruit slow twitch muscle fibers and to increase capillary density which I already mentioned the benefits previously in this post.  An example of this would be to do shoulder press heavy for 4 sets 4 reps and then do shoulder press again for 2 sets 20 reps.

FREQUENCY MANIPULATION

• Feeder Workouts-In this method you would work a body part hard and heavy one day like 5- 10 reps and work the same exact body part the next day with less sets, lighter weight, and more reps.  The theory is that the first day is your typical induce muscle damage-high mechanical tension day but the second day is  what separates this from your normal training routine.  The second day shuttles amino acids, anabolic hormones and oxygen to the muscles worked the day before. Muscles are also flushed of waste product to help recovery.  Since the workout is lighter with higher reps it hydrates the muscles cells which cause them to stretch which can cause hypertrophy.  Also a study has shown that on the second workout day cortisol levels were lower and testosterone was higher, creating  an overall better anabolic environment.  Example:

Day 1

Bench press 5 sets, 5 reps heavy

Incline bench 5 sets 5 reps heavy

Incline flys 3 sets 10 reps heavy

Next Day

Flat DB press 2 sets 20 reps

Incline DB press 2 sets 20 reps

Cable flys 2 sets 20 reps

SIDE NOTES

As you can see just simple tweaks can really change a workout. Remember that you should really not use any training modality more then 3-4 weeks because that is usually how long it takes for your body to adapt to a stimulus and start plateauing off, especially the more advanced you are at lifting.  Also try to make sure you pick a program that is different from the last one.  If you were doing a program that was a lot of lighter weight higher reps for the last month then incorporate a program that focuses on heavier weight.  If your really advanced you can start incorporating methods on a weekly or even a daily basis sometimes but that is for a later post.  Alright I’m tired of typing! Thanks for reading!

KO

Training for women- what you might be missing

Women’s training should not differ to much from men on a whole but there are slight differences that need to be taken into account.  I will explore some of theses differences and how they relate to your workout.  I will give you a couple of tips to help you design your workout programs such as exercises, sets and reps, so you can manipulate them to your advantage. I tried to include things that are missing the most in a woman’s workout routine.

DON’T BE AFRAID TO LIFT HEAVY! YOU WILL NOT LOOK LIKE A MAN!

90% of women I train are afraid to lift heavier weights and are afraid they will get huge man muscles.  Don’t worry its not that easy. Hormones is one of the major factors that dictate why women cannot get as large as men.  Women’s androgen(hormones that maintain and develop male characteristics) levels are lower  than men.  Testosterone is the main androgen that controls the size of muscles, shoulder girth, and strength.  Testosterone is 10 to 20 times lower in women, so on a hormonal level it is almost impossible, unless with the intervention of steroids, for women to gain muscle mass of a man.  Also women have smaller muscle fibers than men which is another physiological difference that will not let women get larger muscles.   Lets go over some benefits of strength training with heavier weights.

• In order to acheive muscle tone you need to activate high threshold motor units so it can recruit various type 2 muscle fibers(fast twitch muscle fibers).  Type 2 muscle fibers are the muscle fibers that will be more visible and women are less efficient in recruiting type 2 muscle fibers.  Heavier weights will stimulate faster growth of type 2 muscle fibers.
• The weight of heavier weights increases bone density and reduces calcium loss which will reduce the risk of osteoporosis
• Increasing muscle mass will increase resting metabolic rate which will make it easier for a woman to keep a overall lower level of body fat
• Using heavier weights increase the intensity of a workout which in turn leads to a overall larger calorie burn.
• Heavier weight will cause important neural adaptations which is important because women are less neural efficient than men.
• Building a wider shoulder base will give a appearance of a smaller waist.  Remember appearance is an illusion.

 REPS-AND EXERCISE TYPES

• Women use a few more reps than men. Men typically use 1-5 rep max for strength and women should use 3-6 reps for strength, men use 5-10 rep max for hypertrophy but women should use 7 to 12.  Women do not recruit the muscles as well as men so more reps need to be used to get the same training effect.
• Use multi joint exercises such as squat, deadlift, bench, etc because it causes more stress on the skeletal system and it will cause greater calcium storage inside the bone. Isolated exercises should still be used but just not the main focus of a workout
• Studies have shown that in untrained males and females, that leg strength is equal but upper body strength is much greater in men. So females should work their upper body to a greater degree.  Also females lose upper body muscle fiber gains quicker because females type 1(slow twitch muscle fibers) dominate which creates a more rapid detraining in females.
• Females that have been training for a while and have good exercise techniques should incorporate plyometrics, cleans, push presses, and other explosive and ballistic exercises to increase neural efficacy.

WOMEN MORE PRONE TO KNEE PROBLEMS, PREVENTATIVE MEASURES

Women have a larger Q-Angle because structurally women have wider hips. When the Q- angle is larger it cause knee instability and knee valgus which cause PFP and makes you at greater risk for the things like acl tears.  Some good ways to combat knee instability is to work your vastus medialis and your glute medius.

The vastus medialis is crucial to stabilizing the knee.  The vastus mediais is most  worked at the last part of leg extension, like the top of a squat. So some good exercises to activate the vastus medialis are walking lunges, leg ext and throwing in double  partial reps at the top, side step ups, lunges with the front foot elevated on a box and  lunges or squats where you go down quarter way twice and then go down full way which would be one rep. Incorporate some of these exercises in your routine to save your knee and also to develop some nice wheels.

The glute medius is another muscle that will help women stabilize the knee because it helps stop knee valgus by externally rotating the femur.  Glute medius is one of the stabilizers in lunges but it is activated more when the leg abducts(movers away from the body).  One of the best exercise for the glute medius is tube walking.  You wrap the tube around the bottom of both feet and hold the handles of the tube with the tubes criss crossing and take 12 to 20 steps laterally going both directions for 2-3 sets. Another good exercise to target the glute medius is the leg abduction machine(the machine where you sit down and the resistance is when you spread your legs open) but instead of doing this sitting up straight bend foward with your chest and face looking foward, this will target the glutes much more effectively.

glute medius

MENSTRUAL CYCLE AND TRAINING

Certain studies have showed that women who exercise have less problems with premenstrual symptoms but if overtraining occurs, extreme caloric deficit, or the combination of both can cause menstrual abnormalitie such as amenorrhea(the absence of menstrual bleeding).  Some studies have indicated that female athletes perform the best between the immediate postmenstrual period and 15th day of the menstrual cycle.   Day 1-5 of the menstrual cycle can include symptons of greater fatigue, joint laxity which could lead to more risk of injury, and increased low back pain. Right at the premenstrual period reaction time is reduced along with agility, may feel like workouts are more exerting, and more joint laxity.  I also wanted to note that athletic records have been broken during every part of the menstrual cycle so the way someone performs during certain parts of the menstrual cycle is individualistic.  Sometimes you might feel like your workouts are lagging and you might be questioning why, so don’t forget to keep in mind that it might be your menstrual cycle.

OTHER FACTS AND TIPS FOR WOMEN

• Increase glute activation-if your doing squats do it with a wider stance and go lower to stretch the glutes which causes more muscle recruitment, leg press go deeper without compensating your back position and have your legs wide and heels at the top of the leg press, lunges do them deeper to stretch the glute.
• Make sure to work your upper back- most women have protracted shoulders which usually is caused by upper back weakness so do face pulls, reverse flys, 45 degree wide grip lat pulldowns. Improving you posture will instantly improve your sex appeal.
• Why do I hold more fat on my butt and hips?- It might all be in the hormones because women who have high levels of estrogen carry more fat in the butt and hips.  Some people take supplements to reduce estrogen to combat this problem.
• Why do I have the pooch?-Hormones can again be the answer because low levels of estrogen and high levels of the stress hormone cortisol cause abdominal fat, so relax and don’t be a stress case.

Alright that’s a wrap.  Thanks for reading. Get that ass into shape.