Power to the People!: Russian Strength Training Secrets for Every American

Ellington Darden, Ph. D. made a good point that most people do not have what it takes to be successful at any endeavor, marriage, studies, or a diet, for more than six weeks.

the higher is the tension (weight) and the longer time the muscle spends under it (reps)–the better are your chances of making it big.

advice of the late karate great Masatoshi Nakayama: “For strength and stability, it is necessary to have the feeling that the line connecting the navel and the anus is short as possible.”

Do only things that help most. Concentrate your energies on doing few tasks well, rather than many tasks poorly.”

The logical way to meet the above requirements is to: 1) reduce the reps to 4-6 per set to allow for heavy weights; 2) perform many, 10-20 on average, sets; 3) terminate all the sets a couple of reps before failure to avoid premature fatigue which would force the reduction in weights or/and sets.

There is just one gap the deadlift leaves in your strength: your pressing prowess.

your spine, joints, and tendons must get accustomed to the pressure of ‘real’ resistance. When

this is what muscle tone is—residual tension in a relaxed muscle!

Increased muscle tone is not a physical transformation of your muscle. It is the result of the nervous system being more alert.