AboutDavid Dickeson, A.S. Expertise I am a 55-year-old man who has been 'strength training' for 22 years. I have been giving free advice on weightlifting in AllExperts; since July, 2005. I am also in AllExperts under "How To Get What You Want in Life" and under "Aging."
Experience I let people who have written to me "show you my experience." Read their questions, my answers, and especially their comments! You will learn a LOT!
Expert: David Dickeson, A.S. Date: 5/15/2008 Subject: Holds for Rows and Pulldowns
Question Sir: How do you do the 60 second hold for rows and/or pulldowns? Do you
pull the weight all the way into your body (all the way up to your stomach in
a row, all the way down to your chest in a pulldown) and hold it there? Or do
you just bend our arms slightly and hold it there. And can you do the hold
technique on presses? If so, would you hold at the bottom or near the top of
the movement? Thanks in advance.
Answer Hello Adam
When I am doing the 60 second hold, on any exercise, I stop movement when my joints are slightly bent. By bending your joints, your MUSCLES are holding the weight, not your bones. For the spine, just bend over a bit.
When you do any 60 second hold; the instant you are holding a weight, your LARGE muscles are holding the weight. Around 30 seconds later, your large muscles become fatiqued, so your SMALL muscles join-in to help hold the weight. Around 45 seconds later, BOTH your LARGE muscles and your SMALL muscles are literally "worn-out." Different muscles 'shut-down' at different times to "take a break" from holding the weight. You FEEL this because the part of your body that is holding the weight; begins to shake!
As the seconds tick off; 46-47, 50, etc, etc. the shaking gets WORSE and spreads to other parts of the body. There is NO isolation exercise here; eventually all of the body is working to hold the weight.
Reason; the bones, which normally hold MOST of the weight, are not given a chance to do this. So the muscles really are working, and working long and hard, to "keep the weight up."
After 1 minute, you release the weight and your body feels absolutely EXHAUSTED! You have worked 100% of the muscles that was holding the weight, and various percentages of the rest of the muscles in your body.
So what happens next? Now the body goes in to "recovery" mode. Muscle cells split so there is MORE cells to handle FUTURE lifting and holding. You grow stronger, and more massive.
To HELP regrowth of the muscle cells, it is a GREAT idea to AFTER LIFTING, do some stretching, then aerobics. This increases blood flow to various parts of the body, which increases OXYGEN to various parts of the body. Muscle cells grow MORE and STRONGER when they have a good supply of oxygen-rich blood flowing around them.
Important to note; do this exercise ONCE a week. It is that intense!
For good growth and mass building, you need a full week to completely recover.
