Monday, June 28, 2010

Partial lifts to increase your strength

Some really strong people use partial lifts to get even stronger.
Some of the best power & strength coaches use partials with their athletes.
Read books by credible people like Louie Simmons or Greg Everett and you'll find out for yourself.
So, what about you? Are you using this excellent training strategy?
Maybe it's time to think about starting to (if you haven't already).
Here's a simple test for you:
Use a power rack with the pins/safety bars set at the bottom position of your squat height.
Then get under the bar with a load you can normally do a set of 3 to 5 with and see how much more difficult it is starting at the bottom.

If that's not challenging enough, try your 1RM (carefully!) from the bottom.
Partial lifts challenge your body differently than full R-O-M movements. By dissecting "classical" lifts like the deadlift, squat, bench press, snatch, clean & jerk, shoulder press and working on a portion of that lift with more weight than is normally possible will improve the complete lifts.

Bud Jeffries, who I have known for about 5 years, uses partial lifts to help develop his incredible strength. He knows the science behind this type of training and his results will attest to the effectiveness of partial lifting.

So here are a few partial lifts you can add in to your training:
1) Floor presses with heavy kettlebells, dumbbells, or a barbell
(Note: I first learned this from another super strong guy, Mike Mahler)
Great for improving your bench press

2) Rack pulls, from varying heights, can boost your deadlift

3) Good Mornings will improve squat & deadlift

Add these in to your training for 30 days and see what happens.
Don't be afraid to load these heavy, just be safe when you lift.
These are very demanding lifts,so plan accordingly.

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