Experiment with Sticking Point Smashers

Mike,
I wrote to you about a year ago after purchasing your “sticking point smashers” (one of the greatest training aids ever invented in my opinion). I have a question and was wondering if you had or any of your clients had tried to do this.
Have you thought about adding a little bit of “weight” every day to your sticking point smashers and doing “presses” every day for a few reps? If you have tried this, was it successful or did one quickly burn out? I am tempted to take full advantage of this type training but unsure how well it might work in the real world? What would you suggest I add everyday if you think this is a worthwhile endeavor?
Love your blog and health tips. Keep up the great work.
--Sincerely, Patrick

Patrick,
I suspect you might be on to something. Back in 1915 Henry Higgins taught his trainees a “ten minutes a day program” and almost all of them could “put up” 200 pounds overhead with one hand (though I suspect it was a bent press). You can read more about him and other old-time training methods in my book, Diagnostic Bodybuilding.
My suggestion would be to add one .44 caliber lead pellet to each of the sticking point smashers every day, do several sets, add cleans, vary your hand spacing, and restrict your workouts to ten minutes a day (or less). Then report back to me. I’m as curious as you are.--Mike

Letter from a Fan

Every once in a while, I get an appreciative letter from someone who benefited from one of my books or equipment. I just had to share this one I received recently.--Mike

15 Feb 09

Dear Mr. Brown:

I just wanted to write you a few lines to relate to you how much I have enjoyed your books and equipment. Diagnostic Bodybuilding is the most informative book on this subject that I have ever read.

I am 74 years old and still train three to four times per week. In 1952 I started training and went to California. I trained at Babe Stansbury's Gym with Bob Shealy, Kim Fox, Bud Counts and none of us ever saw a steroid.

I also trained at Bill Pearl's and went to Gironda's Gym on two occasions. In that time and since then I have read countless books on training and nutrition. I still have a collection of the old Iron Man magazines. They were in my opinion the best of the bodybuilding books.

However your books cut through the crap and get right to the real issues. Since I have read your books, I have quit eating pork and have changed my diet.

At the present time I am working on grip strength and really like your wrist roller. It is like no other I have seen. I also have two of your cable handles, which I ordered from you when you were in Kentucky (ad in Iron Man magazine). I still do some cable pulling along with the weights.

I have a picture from May 1992, when they had the Gathering of the Great Bodybuilders in San Diego, Mits Kawashima is in that picture along with my friend Babe Stansbury.

In closing Mr. Brown, let me thank you again for helping me with your book and equipment. They are the very best.

Very truly yours,
BB

Tapered Wrist Roller Q&A

Hello, I was interested in this wrist roller. I currently use a small 1.5" wooden dowel wrist roller. How does this wrist roller differ in terms of forearm size compared to a normal wrist roller? I mean will I see more size with this one? I usually stand on something and hang my arms down and do the wrist roller because I have read that it takes the shoulders out of the movement. What is the difference between doing it with the arms out at shoulder length and the way I do it? Thanks, Joe

The rule of thumb is, the thicker the handle of an exercise device for use with the hands—whether it be a wrist roller or a thick-handled dumbbell—the more grip strength it requires to use it. The corollary is that the more grip strength that is required, the more forearm development you will achieve.

Hanging your arms down is not really a good idea. You simply will not achieve the same level and intensity that you will with your arms held straight out, parallel to the floor. Your hands and forearms will exhaust long before your shoulders.

For more information on why you should use a tapered, rather than straight, wrist roller, see the website linked in the title.

Warning on One-Arm Chin Training

Doing one-arm chins by holding the wrist of the hand doing the chinning can create a problem if you’re not careful.

The wrist and elbow of the arm doing the chinning (the “primary arm”) have to be exactly perpendicular to the floor. If, for example, you are dong one-arm chins with the right arm and your elbow is sticking out to the right, the tendons and/or ligaments in the right elbow may have a tendency to “jump the track” and leave you with a very sore elbow that only a chiropractor can fix.

Norman Cantwell, formerly a nationally ranked powerlifting champion and an expert on removing circulation blockages, is of the opinion that one-arm chins are a bad idea and can lead to other problems (Norman is featured in Diagnostic Bodybuilding and in the Self-Defense with Norman Cantwell video)

Norman worked on me and thought that the problems he detected were from the one-arm chins. As my training partner pointed out, the “jammed elbow” I has was just as likely (if not more than likely) caused by the fact that I had been doing partial military presses rapidly with 225 pounds. Any time you do any partial movement with a heavy weight, do it slowly.

If you decide to do one-arm chins, do it slowly and carefully, using plenty of counterweight to ease the potential strain on the elbow.

A Different Angle For Back Development

Very few of the “mirror athletes” (if you can’t see it, what good is it?) who clutter up today’s commercial gyms spend much (if any) effort on back development. For those who do, their stable of exercises is really limited. Bent over rows, one-dumbbell rows, lat machine pull downs, power cleans, and perhaps dead lifts and hyperextensions.

Take a close look at most of the people doing those exercises. They have a “valley” between their shoulder blades (no muscle) and little or no (i.e., they’re flat) on the outside of their shoulder blades. How you cure the first is in Diagnostic Bodybuilding. How you cure the second is with one-arm chins.

Can’t do a one-arm chin? Not to worry, a lot of the 275-pound steroid-induced monsters can’t do a single chin with both hands. It isn’t whether you can do one-arm chins—it’s how you train for them.

First, find one of those dip/chin combos in the gym with an offsetting weight stack. That is, if you weight 200 pounds, start with a 100-pound counter-weight on the weight stack.

Second, if you start with left-hand one-arm chins, grab your left wrist with your right hand in order to also engage the back muscles on the right. Then do the chins. The back muscles on the left side will do the majority of the work but from a different angle than what you have experienced before. 2-4 sets of 3-5 reps will do. You may find it hard to hold on after 4 or 5.

In a few weeks you will feel the back muscles you develop from this exercise pressing against your triceps.

Question on Thymus Powder

Dear Mike,

I thought I’d write a quick note and tell you how much I love the book “Diagnostic Bodybuilding” and the powdered liver.

I try to hike up the mountain above my town 3 times a week. It takes about 25 minutes at a slow, steady pace and gains about 1,000 feet in elevation in something like one half to three quarters of a mile. I feel as though the liver “kicks in” on the last rocky stretch of the trail—even though I’m breathing deep, I have no need of stopping to rest despite the prolonged exertion. I feel the same way when doing my Hindu push-ups, etc. (the three exercises at the beginning of “Combat Conditioning” by Matt Furey) as though the liver sustains prolonged strain..

Additionally, I DON’T GET SICK. . . We endure a lot of cold weather around here (the elevation is over 7,500 feet) and when everybody else has snotty noses and flu symptoms, I’m thriving.

“Diagnostic Bodybuilding” and “The Strength of Samson” comprise my nutrition and fitness Bible. Nutrition and fitness/strength according to God’s WORD . . I’m quite enthusiastic about this.

Will adding the thymus powder to my diet, help with a hypo-thyroid condition?

Respectfully,
Dan

PS—my pulse rate at the top of that climb is 140-150.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
January 14, 2009

Dear Dan,

Thanks for your letter about your results and your satisfaction with my book, Diagnostic Bodybuilding, and the liver powder.

As far as adding thymus powder to your diet, it certainly can’t hurt it. Both the thyroid and the thymus are part of the endocrine gland system, which consists of: (1) pineal gland, (2) pituitary gland, (3) thyroid gland, (4) thymus, (5) adrenal gland, (6) pancreas, and (7) testes.

I suspect that the entire system is meant to work together, meaning a problem with one gland could create problems with all of them. However, I’m neither a medical doctor nor an anatomy expert, so further research on your part is in order.

Of course, you could order some thymus powder and see if it helps, which in turn would give you what is known as “empirical evidence” (the best kind).

Also, yoga seems to help people with thyroid problems (from doing inversions—positions with the head closer to the ground than the heart). The poses known to help the thyroid are handstand, headstand, shoulder stand, bridge (full back bend, supported back bend, or just hips off the floor), and waterfall (full—hips on cushion, legs up wall, or modified—hips on cushion, legs on seat of chair with backs of knees supported by the seat).

For me, the thymus seems to enhance the benefits of the liver powder.

Best wishes,
Mike

Utilizing Unused Muscle Fibers

One of the things I rail about in my book, Diagnostic Bodybuilding, is the use of “tracked machines,” as they restrict your plane of movement and cause the unused muscle fibers to atrophy.

Then it hit me. Why not increase the plane of movement, engage more muscle fibers, and thereby enhance growth? My reasoning went like this: let’s start with an adjustable incline bench. No bench currently on the market can be adjusted in less than 12-degree increments.

Twelve degrees may not seem like much. Try this simple experiment. Do a set of dumbbell bench presses with the bench completely flat. Use a weight you can do comfortably for 4-6 reps. Now raise the bench 12 degrees, to the first notch. Can’t budge the same weight, can you? Weak as a kitten, aren’t you? Why is this?

It’s the same principle that I used to develop the Sticking Point Smashers. You increase weight in small increments, you increase the angle you lift the weight in small increments. At 12-degree increases in angle, you are engaging muscle tissue that, to some extent, has been “dormant.”

The bench I am in the process of developing doesn’t increase in 12-degree increments; it increases in 3-degree increments.

For example, let’s say you’re doing flat bench dumbbell presses with 120 pounds in each hand. Let’s say you work up to a decent number of reps, say 6-8. You increase the incline or angle of the bench by a mere 3 degrees. Your reps will drop, but you will still be able to lift the weight. When you are back up to 6-8 reps, increase the incline by another 3 degrees.

If my theory is correct, you will eventually be sitting straight up with 120 pounds in each hand, doing 6-8 reps in the dumbbell press.

There is, of course, another way to use such a bench. Vary the angle in each set, in each workout. For example, let’s say you do 5 to 10 sets in a workout, increasing the angle 3 degrees for each set. Then, the next workout, increase another 3 degrees for each set. If you do 10 sets a workout in 3 workouts, you will have exercised the arm, shoulder, and chest muscles from thirty different angles.

What would this do for you? According to Dr. Tom Trimble, chiropractor, when I explained my theory to him, his opinion was that the result would be extremely accelerated muscle growth in that area. More angles equal more muscle fibers reached.

By building the underlying pectoral muscles to a large degree, this may also turn out to be something of a bust developer.