More than any other training protocol, technique or exercise, Elite Fitness Systems’ Dave Tate credits accommodating resistance with having “the greatest impact on our training at Westside Barbell in the past five years.”  Whether you, like Dave, squat 900+ or if you’re just shaking the drops off your ears, fresh off completing your Starting Strength progression, accommodating resistance is a great tool for intermediate and advanced trainees who want to get bigger, stronger and faster while adding some fun into your training.

Accommodating resistance is actually a loading protocol that uses several tools to accomplish great things.  It’s also a polysyllabic mouthful that basically means the weight/tension in the lift is adjusted to challenge your stronger ROM more than the weaker parts.  For example, we can load chains on the end of a barbell so that when lowered in a bench press or squat, weight that was supported at the top of the lift is now on the floor, making the bar effectively weigh less at the bottom.

The three main tools that provide accommodating resistance are chains, bands and weight releasers.  Weight releasers have been around for a long time and basically amount to hooks that hang from barbell collars and disengage at the bottom of a lift, stripping the bar of a percentage of its load.  This means that you can go down with, say 405 in the squat, and explode out of the hole with only 315 on your back.  I mention weight releasers first and in brief because they aren’t as common today, they cannot provide accommodating resistance for more than one rep and they do not stress the strongest part of your concentric ROM.

Next up came chains.  I’m not claiming that chains came after weight releasers, though, just that they are from the same era of accommodating resistance.  Chains can be used for nearly every exercise you can think of, just be sure that you keep a couple of things in mind:

1. Be sure to load the chains evenly, not only side to side, but front to back.  Loading them asymmetrically can be used strategically in the squat or deadlift to change the emphasis of the lift, but this must be applied carefully, so that the asymmetry is ‘symmetrical’.  Then again, it’s very hard to set this up and no real track record of it being all that much better than regular chain loading, so for our purposes, let’s just make sure the chains are even
2. Hang the chains sufficiently low.  If you just hook one end of a chain to a bar in a squat rack, so little of it will be resting on the ground that you’re not getting the full advantage of deloading at the bottom.  It’s better to use larger chains that are already partially resting on the floor, hooked to the bar by a thinner ‘feeder’ chain.  For example, the chains that EFS sells are 20lbs each, so you set the feeder such that the entire large chain is deloaded at the bottom of the lift.  This leaves several links of heavy chain on the floor at the top, but you can still record the entire weight of chain as a benchmark so long as you load it the same way every time.

You can also suspend heavy barbells from chains in a sturdy power rack.  Guys do this with good mornings and it's another way to accomplish the bottom position squat (though, why you'd trouble yourself with that, given that your rack has pins, is beyond me).  The thing about reversing chains is that you're not going to get nearly as much out of it as you can with reversing your band setup.

Bands are cool because they’re colourful and they inject a space aged element to our brutal training.  Bands pull the bar down faster on your eccentric and add tension as you lift the bar back through the concentric phase of the lift.  They feel different than chains and seem to be very hard on the joints.  We typically wouldn’t use accommodating resistance for more then 6-8 weeks in a row on any exercise and keep band work to half of that.  Squatting with bands 12 weeks in a row is a good way to learn how to hate having hips.

The last word on chains and bands is a short one: FUN.  It’s hard to grind against weights week after week, trying to beat records.  That’s part of why the Westside template works so well: you get a good amount of variety in the training, not to mention the speed work is actually *useful*.  The same can be said of accommodating resistance.  You can use bands and/or chains for all of your assistance work too.  A good example is the ‘haunted houses’ or lateral raises I used to do with 20lb chains.  My girlfriend remarked that I look like a cartoon ghost, which is awesome because an exercise that makes my shoulders bigger, stronger and more stable than using a simple dumbbell and also makes people watching me want to laugh . . . that’s a good exercise.  In all seriousness, those 20lbs work great for high rep shoulder raises.  I’ve also choked mini bands to a rack and done raises from there.  You can use these on everything from chins to curls to crunches.  Just make sure to cycle off of them pretty regularly to reap the best results.  I follow a Westside-based template with 3 week mini-cycles so I never use them for more than one cycle.

Like I mentioned above, you can invert the bands and use them to pull the weight up out of the bottom.  It's as simple as choking bands to the top of a good power rack and then looping them over the collars of your barbell.  For bench pressing and squatting, the feeling is something like the boost you get from powerlifting gear.  It's really springy at the bottom and you should take care not to use bands too heavy so that the weight is nearly nothing on your chest.  With a deadlift, it helps you get a weight up that normally would be hard to break from the ground, effectively overloading the top part of the lift.

And that's the name of the game with accommodating resistance: make the lockout harder.  Any more questions about why this is going to help you get stronger?  (In all seriousness, though, feel free to ask any questions in a comment )

The best training method for new trainees is Mark Rippetoe’s Starting Strength. This simple template will pack on muscle and make new lifters stronger than any other program I’ve witnessed. I wasted plenty of time doing silly routines copied from bodybuilding magazines, only to learn the hard way that those bodypart split systems only work well for dudes with, ah, let’s just say they’re getting a little extra help from the needle. The amazing thing about SS is that even after all that silly training, I still gained size and strength from using its simplified outline.

Despite being an internet legend, or perhaps because of its wiki-fied viral spread, SS is widely misunderstood and misused. Some versions only use the five major barbell exercises Coach Rip devoted a couple hundred pages to describing in his signature witty style. Other ‘versions’ of SS float around the internet. A change here, a change there; soon enough, you’ve got guys doing ‘Ripetows’ that miss many of the key points from the irreproachable original. I’m going to discuss what I feel is the ideal program for new trainers. Those familiar with his work will understand why I’m giving much thanks and a lot of credit to Rip, but you can still learn a thing or two about how to properly utilize SS:

Here’s the basic outline:

Day 1

-------

Squat (5x3)

Bench Press (5x3)

Deadlift (5x1)

Heavy abs (5-15x3)

Day 2

-------

Squat (5x3)

Overhead Press (5x3)

Power Cleans (3x5)

Chinups/pullups (up to 15x3)

First of all, you squat every day. This is because squatting builds more muscle from head to toe than any other exercise (deadlifts being a close second). Unlike deadlifts, which tend to be a little hard on the lower back, beginners can squat three times a week without being overtrained. The low bar squat form works everything from your upper back, all the muscles of the toso, plus the glutes, hamstrings, quadriceps and calvesBy doing the hardest exercise first, your body and mind will adapt and learn to push to a new record each workout.

The second exercise is a pressing motion. This alternates between bench press and overhead press. It’s important to keep these two lifts relatively close to one another to keep the shoulders healthy and balance musculature and athletic performance. A good ratio to shoot for is somewhere between 3:2 and 4:3. In other words, your overhead press one rep max (1RM) should be between 66% and 75% of your best bench press. The combination thoroughly works your chest, shoulders, traps and triceps.

The third exercise is a pulling motion. Alternate between one set of deadlifts and five sets of three power cleans. These exercise differ in rep scheme from those above because a) As mentioned above, the deadlift can be hard on the lower back, especially for new lifters, and especially after squatting, and b) the power clean is an explosive movement, so we keep the reps lower to facilitate good form for beginners. Deadlifts build raw strength, while power cleans build the explosive power necessary for moving heavy weights. By training the body to explode, you’re more able to handle heavy loads in the other lifts. In other words, including the power clean makes the other lifts stronger by improving neuromuscular efficiency.

I have a heavy exercise for the abs on Day 1. This can include things like situps on a back extension ‘chair’, decline situps, hanging leg raises, etc. The key thing is to pick something that’s hard enough that you can’t do more than 15 reps for 3 sets. When that starts to feel easy, add weight, make the decline steeper, or do something else to make it harder. When I did SS, I liked to work in a ‘wave’ where I’d do 10x3 one day, 8x3 the next day and 5x5 after that. You can do abs every day, but I left it as an every-other day thing because we don’t want to over work the raw newbies.

The same is true of chinups/pullups. These can be done every day because there are no other exercises in the template that directly work the lats and biceps as much as these vertical pulling motions. I’d recommend working up to being able to do 8-10 chinups for 3 sets. This should translate to about 5 pullups for 3 sets. Continue to work from there, and you can alternate between the two variations if you like. Once you get to 15 reps for 3 sets, add some weight.

Those are the basic DOs, so what kinds of things should we definitely avoid?

NEVER leave out power cleans! Plenty of internet ‘SS’ templates substitute rows for power cleans. This is downright stupid. Not only do they not work the same muscles, but rows don’t offer the explosive advantage conferred by power cleans.

NEVER use machines. This template is for barbells only. You really shouldn’t even use dumbbells here. Barbells are easier to balance, and allow you to move heavier weights, which means more muscle. Dumbbell movements are great exercises, but it’s best to start out with barbells to learn the basic movements first. This will help you to avoid injuries while you’re ‘greasing the groove’. As for machines, they’re mostly useless. With few exceptions, machines lock you into an unnatural range of motion that prevents your stabilizers from working. Sure, you can grow some muscle by using your fancy pec deck, but you won’t necessarily get stronger, and you might increase your chances of injury by neglecting the all important stabilizers.

NEVER forget to squat. Squats are the cornerstone of this program. It’s ok to switch out for front squats in the middle of your three day week once you get up to weights approaching intermediate trainee-levels, but for the most part, let’s stick to low bar back squats. This style of squatting uses the most muscle fibers and therefore allows the most growth and strength development.

NEVER add reps. If you can do your weights for 3 sets of 5 reps (or the other prescribed rep schemes for power cleans, pullups, etc.), then add some weight. It’s always better to keep moving up gradually than to overtax yourself with extra reps or too much weight. It’s a good feeling to know you smoked all three sets of squats, since you’ll be confident about the next time when you add 5-15 lbs to the bar. On the other hand, adding reps takes you out of the strength and muscle building zone we want to be in, and might make you overtrained.

NEVER add isolation exercises. This program is all about compound movements. The body doesn’t use muscles in isolation, and you shouldn’t. While it can be useful to do barbell curls (*in moderation) later in your training career, new trainers will get more out of doing chinups and pullups. It’s common sense to understand that if you’re moving more muscles, you’re going to grow more. Think of how large powerlifters’ legs are, then compare them to their biceps. Even the hugest men have biceps no larger than a softball (the triceps comprise most of the arm’s mass), but their massive legs can easily make up half of their weight. In short: the more muscle you move, the more you’ll grow.

There you go: the DOs and DON’Ts of the best beginner training program in existence. Read this over, review the form articles, and feel free to leave comments if you have questions. It’s all about getting stronger and bigger, so let’s be smarter too.

I’ll give you $20 bucks if you can name an exercise that is as widely misunderstood and commonly executed as poorly as the power clean.  It’s a staple of high school football weight training routines, yet for some reason, many coaches never bother to teach their kids correct form.  It’s just like the quarter squats these seemingly well-meaning ‘mentors’ espouse: poor form to boost the numbers.  If you’ve been reading our other articles, you notice that we preach the gospel of good form because it both puts you in the strongest position and helps you avoid injury.  We’re going to dramatically simplify the power clean here today so that you can learn how to do it, possibly in one session:
1.    Review your deadlifting form.  Until you can deadlift perfectly, you need to focus on that.  Power cleans start with a deadlift, so it’s critical that you understand how to do those before attempting cleans.
2.    Start the progression by performing Power Shrugs.  This is a deadlift where you shrug hard at the top while jumping.  Start with about 50% of your deadlift 1RM and try sets of 3.  You want to pull the weight smoothly from the floor and explode as you pull it up.  NEVER FLEX YOUR ARMS.  It’s ok if they fly up a little, especially with lighter weights, but you must never flex your biceps to pull the weight up.  When the bar is halfway up the thighs, jump and perform a powerful shrug.  If the weight is too light, you might actually leave the ground, so keep adding a little more until it’s challenging.
3.    Once you get up to a weight where the power shrug is difficult, start in the other direction by dropping the bar down from the rack position.  At first, simply walk up to the bar at chest-height with your arms stretched out in front of you like a mummy, zombie, or whatever monsters don’t have good elbow mobility these days.  Get under the bar and see what it feels like to have it rest on the front of your shoulders.  Once you remember how that feels, step back, put your hands on the bar at the same width as your deadlift, and then bend the elbows under so you can step to the position we were in before where the bar is on your shoulders.  If you do that whilst keeping your hands on the bar, you’ll notice that you probably have to let go of your grip and let the bar roll back onto you fingers.  This is fine, and probably preferred.  Once you can hold the bar on your shoulders with your fingers on it and keep your elbows parallel to the ground, take it out of the rack and practice dropping it down from that position.  If you want, you can simply curl the bar back up to the hooks, get in the rack position again and drop it.
4.    Now that you know the rack position, we’re going to try a hang clean.  Deadlift the bar up to just above your knees, then stop.  Your butt will be back, knees bent, and you must keep your shoulders over the bar.  From there, jump up and shrug powerfully.  If you do this correctly, the bar will fly up, and your elbows will almost automatically whip underneath the bar.  As mentioned above, NEVER EVER FLEX YOUR BICEPS WHILST CLEANING!  Doing so is one of the easiest ways to spend some time in the hospital, some more time in physical therapy, and even more time paying off your surgery bills.  Think of your arms as ropes.  They simply connect your powerfully shrugging shoulders to the bar below.  When you shrug, the ropes will have some slack in them, but the end will find its way to your shoulders.
5.    Now that you can do a hang clean, put it all together and perform a full power clean.  Do a power shrug, but this time, explode and whip your elbows beneath the bar so you catch it on your shoulders.

And that’s the power clean.  There are plenty of schools of thought on teaching it: top down, top up, hybrid, hell, some Olympic coaches require that their lifters practice various other exercises for months before trying the clean.  In my experience, this is the easiest way to get it done.  I had been trying to learn it for a while, but it never made sense to me.  Then one day, a strength coach from my alma mater Virginia Tech was training a young wrestling recruit at the off-campus gym where I trained.  He showed me the method I described to you above and I learned how to clean with good form in about 25 minutes.

Chances are, you know someone with chronic back pain.  Americans spent a staggering $86 billion (eighty-six billion dollars!) on spinal treatments in 2005.  The interesting thing is that this increase in spending seems to have had no positive impact, and researchers concluded that spinal problems actually *increased* during the decade that witnessed a 65% hike in back remedy spending.  Having worked with plenty of friends and clients and discussed the topic with peers, it seems clear that this Madoff of a wasted investment could have been solved by one simple word: deadlift.

The deadlift strengthens the posteriour chain, stabilizes the spine, and when you learn the proper technique, it prevents hernias, ruptured discs and other debilitating injuries.  The key in that last sentence is 'when you learn the proper technique.'  And that time is now.

Deadlifting is as simple as pulling a loaded barbell from a dead stop on the ground, but there are a few keys you MUST know before trying this essential movement:

1.    The bar needs to be at mid-shin height.  This is accomplished quite naturally when using the standard 45lb/20kg plate, but plenty of newbies will find a bar loaded with one of these on each side a bit too challenging for their first attempts.  Other than using bumper plates or other specially designed plates of the same size, the best way to get the bar to the right height is by propping it up evenly on both sides.  You can simply stack a few plates on either side or use something else like plyboard, mats, etc.
2.    Stand with feet shoulder-width apart and ever so slightly pointing outward, so that the bar lines up with the midfoot.  We’ll go into much greater detail in the future about why this midfoot position is critical, but for now, just stand so that half of the laces on your flat-soled shoes (weightlifting shoes, Converse Chuck Taylor All Stars, etc. . . . something with no cushioning) are visible on either side of the bar when you look down.  This will put the bar somewhere between 2” to 4” away from your shins whilst standing upright.
3.    Bend over to grasp the bar by pushing your butt back first, then bending the knees.  You must keep your back neutral or ‘straight’, which is to say that the back should keep the same natural curve you have whilst standing.  The tilt forward will all come from the bend in the hips.
4.    Grasp the bar with both hands just outside your knees.  For heavier sets, use an alternating grip of one hand facing toward you and the other away.  You can also use this alternate grip in conjunction with the hook grip, which is performed by looping the thumb around the bar and under the middle finger.  When lifting, the pressure of the weight pushes the thumb into the middle finger, creating a tighter grip than if you simply grasped around the bar.  You MUST keep your arms straight, because deadlifting by jerking the bar or flexing your biceps during the movement can and will result in torn biceps at heavier weights.
5.    Squeeze your chest up and align your body so that your shoulder blades are over the bar.  From the side, this will look like the shoulders are in front of the bar, but this is because the shoulder blades appear further back than the front of the shoulder when in the correct position.  Your shins should now be in contact with the bar.
6.    With your weight on your heels, flex your hips to bring the weight up, keeping your back flat.  As the weight travels up, use your lats to press the straight arms back toward your legs so that the bar is in contact with your legs the entire way up.  Your knees will naturally start to straighten at the appropriate time when you initiate from the hips.
7.    End by standing up straight with the knees and hips locked.  Do not shrug the bar, roll your shoulders back or hyperextend the lower back.  Once you stand up ‘at attention’, you’re done.

Now that you’re armed with these tips on correct deadlifting form, you can apply them and begin to notice amazing gains in strength and lean mass.

Hey, brah, how much do ya bench? Good luck overestimating how many times this question and its variants have been posed over the last century.  Just as bulging biceps have come to symbolize strength and power, the bench press has somewhat erroneously become the default measure for raw strength.  Those in the know (like you, now that you’re here understand the value of a balanced strength training program and realize that deadlifts and squats are better for total-body strength, but that takes nothing away from the bench press as one of the most efficient builders of upper body strength.  To ensure that you don’t become just another washed up meathead benching 225 week after week with no progress and plenty of nagging shoulder injuries, we’re going to emphasize proper form as the key to maximum gains and pain free progress:

1.    Lie on the bench with your shoulders retracted so they create a solid, flat platform to press from (imagine trying to hold a pencil between the shoulder blades).  Your eyes should be just ‘above’ the bar when you look straight up at the ceiling.  Place your feet slightly wider than shoulder-width, with the toes pointing slightly outward.
2.    Grab the bar with a medium-width grip, somewhere between 22” and 28”.  Press your palms up into the bar so that the weight is resting in the pad of your hand rather than up near the fingers.
3.    Arch your back so as to push up the chest, but make sure your butt is still on the bench (lifting your butt is a popular way to cheat, but will get you disqualified in a contest and constitutes a missed rep in our system).
4.    Unrack the bar and bring it over your chest to where the arms are perpendicular to the floor, keeping the elbows locked the whole time.  Make sure to keep your wrists locked throughout the entire set.
5.    Take a deep breath and hold it in as you lower the bar straight down, tucking the elbows in to allow the bar to touch in the middle of the sternum.
6.    Drive the bar up, exhaling about half way up (feel free to grunt if this helps).

We’ll discuss some more about this weight room staple in the future, including ways to improve your back arch, how to work different muscles and ranges of motion, advanced techniques like the use of bands and/or chains and plenty of advice on troubleshooting.  For now, remember the 6 tips above and check your ego at the door.  When your form is good, you’ll be in the correct position to continue making progress and proudly answer the timeless gymrat inquiry.

Not only do I know how to safely increase my strength and lean mass, but I’ve been noticing more and more benefits in my entire life that seem to have sprung directly from my dealings with the iron.  If you need a few more reasons why you should get into the gym three or more times a week, I compiled a list of nine:

1. Weight training improves your quality of life.  As I mentioned above, there are tons of reasons why you need to get in the weight room regularly, but in general, you’re going to notice that your life is just *better*.  From your improved physique to the ease of your daily activities, the added strength and muscle will do wonders for every aspect of your life.
2. Weight training builds muscle.  Whether you want to look good, be better at sports, avoid injuries or just get stronger for the hell of it, lifting will help it all.  Consider a boxer, sprinter or Olympic lifter.  These athletes have among the most beautiful and functional bodies imaginable.  Since we’ve evolved to select our partners for traits that indicate health and potential for successful breeding, there’s no coincidence that healthier = sexier.  Then again, maybe you’re a monk.  Even so, there’s no better way to concentrate than locking out the last reps of a limit-weight set of squats.
3. Weight training strengthens bones and joints.  You didn’t think that it was all about big round muscle bellies, did you?  Lifting with good form loads the bones and joints in a way that makes the bones denser and protects the joints by strengthening bones, tendons, and the muscles around them.  I know plenty of people who work desk jobs that had nagging discomfort . . . *had*, because once they got into the satisfying habit of training with good form, their imbalances and injuries disappeared.
4. Weight training burns fat and makes you leaner and more attractive.  This one’s simple: muscle burns fat.  Your body stores fat for energy because a long time ago, we didn’t always have regular meals.  Now that we can eat whenever and whatever we want, this adaptation has helped some people put themselves at risk for a ton of different disorders.  The key to losing excess body fat is to build muscle.  Muscle uses fat for energy, and the more you have, the more fat you burn, even while resting!  Add to this that exercising burns calories and weight training will make you a fat melting machine!
5. Weight training builds confidence.  Not only are you going to be leaner and more attractive than ever before, but once you start to succeed by meeting and surpassing your goals, you start to feel more confident than ever before.  The mental aspects of training are often overlooked, but there’s little doubt that someone who can get through a 20-rep set of squats will be able to deal with life’s stressors a little more easily.
6. Weight training builds a pattern of success.  Once you commit to training regularly and eating to fuel your workouts, you’ll find that it’s easier to get stuff done in your daily life.  The things that used to seem so hard will now be easier, because you have a mindset to get stuff done.
7. Weight training builds cardiovascular fitness.  If you thought lifting weights was only good for brute strength, think again.  Lifting increases your total work capacity, which makes it easier to perform endurance exercises.  Consider this: if your one rep max squat is 315lbs., it’s far easier for you to do a set of 10 with 135 than if your 1RM is 155.  As with the increased reps, something like running is just a series of sub-maximal efforts.  Now, it’s not accurate to say that squatting in the 1-3 rep range will make you a marathon champion, and I’m not trying to say that.  Anyone who says that ONLY lifting weights is sufficient to train for the IronMan is lying to you.  However, it’s absolutely true that the body is better prepared for enduring long bouts of exertion when strength levels are improved.
8. Weight training improves flexibility and mobility.  When you use the full range of motion of barbell and dumbbell exercises (plus kettlebells and tons of other implements, but don’t even get me started on machines – MACHINES SUCK!) – when you use the full range of motion, you’re building strength and mobility.  Not only will you be strong through that entire range of motion, but you’ll be able to bend into positions that carry over into sports and all kinds of daily activities.
9. Weight training is extremely versatile.  Depending on how you tailor your nutritional intake, you can use your lifting regimen to build muscle, burn fat, get stronger, get leaner, or a combination of these.  Stay tuned to HOPEisSTRENGTH and we’ll show you how to meet these goals!

It should be clear to you now that weight training can help you achieve a wide variety of goals, plus equip you with the confidence to make them into reality.