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White Lamborghini Contauch.

2 of ’em.

I need a slow motion video right nowwwwwwwww,

‘Cuz I’m lifting in SLOW MOTION….

– Ye (probably)

If you wish, you can grab the N.W.A. Newsletter Playlist on Spotify here, all of the songs that have been featured in the newsletter are on the playlist.

Happy Friday, Coach J here from Anyman Fitness – and welcome to the latest edition of The N.W.A. Newsletter.

Each week with the N.W.A. Newsletter, I give you the best Nutrition, Weightlifting, and/or Attitude advice for you to start to use in your life today.

Tens of thousands of people have used this exact newsletter to gain muscle, lose fat, and become a better version of themselves…

Without any further ado, let’s get started..

N.W.A. Tip Of The Week

I spend a fair amount of my time telling people they need to push harder and track their workouts in the gym.

And rightly so.

I train in a commercial gym (Lifetime), and the vast majority of the lifters don’t track their sets, reps, and weights.

They’re not really following the concept of progressive overload.

Because of this, they don’t gain much strength or muscle over time (if at all).

This is always the first performance-based goal I tell clients:

You need to push yourself to failure on most sets.

You should be doing as many reps as you can, until you cannot do one more rep with good form.

The only exceptions to this are exercises where pushing all the way to failure might result in injury (deadlifts, squats, perhaps barbell bench presses if you don’t have a spotter, etc).

There is a big caveat to this, though.

Never sacrifice your form just to lift 5 more pounds.

This is important for everyone, but it becomes even more important the older you get.

If you want to stay injury-free and in the game, you need to be smart with your training, not just intense.

One of the simplest ways to show better form is to drastically slow down the eccentric portion of your lift.

There are 3 ways a muscle is taxed:

Concentrically, meaning, when the muscle is “shortened”. This is usually considered the “lifting” part of the movement, such as when you push the weight away from you while bench pressing.

Eccentrically, meaning, when the muscle is “lengthened”. This is considered the “lowering” part of the movement, such as when the bar moves away from your body in a pull down.

Isometrically, meaning, when a muscle is “stabilized”. Think “your abs while doing a plank”.

Of these 3 options, the eccentric is over twice as strong as both the concentric and the isometric portions of your lifts.

You should be using this to your advantage.

You should be lowering the weight sloooooooowly and get a full stretch in the bottom portion of the lift.

I’ve known this for years, and I still have to occasionally check myself (before I wreck myself… after all, this is a rap themed newsletter…).

If I find the weights getting heavy, and I’m rushing through the eccentric, I’ll lower the weight and reset, counting to 3 as I lower the weight each rep.

One thousand one… One thousand two… One thousand three…

…by now, the weight is at it’s lowest point, and I’m feeling a FULL stretch, and I explode up with the concentric portion of the lift.

Your muscles do not know how much weight you’ve lifted.

Your goal is not to move a weight through space, unless you’re a powerlifter.

Your goal is to use the weight as a tool to produce a hypertrophic (muscle building) response.

Lowering the weight and slowing down your eccentric considerably will give you an excellent muscle building response, while keeping your joints happy, and your body injury free.

Get ready for a crazy burn and pump as well. 🙂

—-

Check out these results in just 6 weeks of our group coaching program (below).

This is what happens when you put in the work.

You can learn more and join about our most popular – and affordable coaching offer here.

May-9-2024

N.W.A. Tip Of The Week

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