I’ve done a lot of outside the box things when it comes to lifting weights.
I found high rep jerks carried over to my 225lb bench for reps.
Overhead squats for high reps, as light as the empty bar, saw me grab rim from a standstill.
That was the best vertical jump of my life.
The high reps with the accordion action of the legs and forceful hip thrusts to lockout saw me get powerful under fatigue.
Holding weight at deadlift lockout flips a switch where I mentally freak out.
However long holds and supports are likely the fastest way to improve physiologically.
They’re technically yielding isometrics, and while they may wipe you out – they build you very well.
I like pushup position planks with people standing on my upper back.
5 sets of :45 with my 160lb training partner – I went somewhere.
Then looked leaner the next day while being ravenously hungry.
Humans as weight gets you gorilla strong, and is available in any prison setting outside of solitary confinement.
My favorite implement I’ve ever used?
That was the 185lb rogue yoke at the “hardcore?/powerlifting?” gym.
Seen here deadlifting…with the box…for simulated full range of motion.
Wherever the height was set, I’d pick it up to press it cold either immediately after I walked in, or immediately before I walked out.
Using anywhere from 185-200lbs I’d press it cold, generally for a few reps per set (getting near double digits with 185) as the desk girl looked at me like “he’s freakishly strong, yet refuses to powerlift like the others”.
I never did video tape pressing it.
I liked “rack pulls” on it too. It felt harder than the barbell movements, but also caused far higher muscular activation.
The weight closer to your center line made it easier than a barbell, but the 3″ thickness made it harder than a barbell with greater muscular activation.
I felt the two evened each other out.
The best upper body pump you’ll ever get is to be had flexing hard in simulation of what looks like nail bending.
It makes me wonder how I’d be at nail bending, as manual resistance four directional wrist work improved my sledgehammer levering.
The only levering video I have, during which as luck would have it my buddy flipping me off is out of frame.
And something I’ve learned about bulking :
Bulk comes easily after a period of going very hard.
Fighting a growth spurt during wrestling season junior year of high school, the moment the season was over I went from 195 to 215 in 10 days.
After 3 weeks going psycho on bent rows at the SoCal bodybuilding gym, I went from ~255 to ~270 in a week to ten days as I drove across the country eating poptarts, mcdonalds, continental breakfasts, and drinking half to a full gallon of milk a day, while doing minimal PT.
Do “too much” for a period, up to three months or so, then recover, and grow.
It’d be interesting to use this principle in a chaotic way over shorter time frames.
1500 reps daily, and some heavy work for 7-21 days on low to medium calories, then high calories and little training for a period about half as long. Spend a week or two going normal in food and stimulus, then repeat the process.
As long as you have leg strength, you can focus on the upper body.
Having big strong glutes eliminates back pain.
The wrestler’s bridge is an all encompassing exercise.
Neck, spine, leg/glute, and doing pullovers in this position causes extremely high lat activation.
Always expect athleticism from yourself.
How To Be Effectively Superhuman :
•Strong Wrists
•Strong Ankles
•Strong Neck
Stomping and dropping from height (I regularly jump instead of taking the last few steps) is very useful for leg strength and bone density.
20 rep front squats instead of back squats because legs.
Squatting daily, not only low reps, but with volume back off sets.
Axle cleans and snatches.
And when I’m not at a barbell gym I start pushing calisthenics.
At present I’m working on handstands firstly, and secondly on pushups with people standing on my upper back.
He’s now 5-10lbs heavier, and I get him for triples.
5-10 sets of weighted pushups when the opportunity is there.
Bands allow me to somewhat bypass needing a person for weighted pushups.
If you have the time, and want to experience an interesting body transformation – do 7+ hours a week of density dips, or 7+ hours of handstand practice.
They’ve both worked quite well for me.
-J