Deadlift Technique

The Deadlift is one of the most productive exercises, one which involves most of the posterior chain muscles. Like the Squat, the Deadlift can evoke a huge anabolic response when performed correctly and with the right loading and tempo. It's also great for developing the core, again if performed correctly and at an appropriate load. I once even used Deadlifts, with lighter weights, to rehabilitate a lower back problem.

It's worth starting your Deadlift practice using the split grip -one hand over and one under. This prevents the bar from rolling at heavier weights.

The start position involves placing your feet under the bar shoulder-width or wider for stability. The bar should be touching your shins and should remain close to, or touching, your legs throughout the range of motion.

Grip the bar, one hand under, one hand over, keep the arms locked out, shrug and try to retract the shoulder blades. Hold your abdomen tight. Ensure that your lumber spine is arched, and that it remains arched when lifting and lowering. The arch involves maintaining, or even slightly exagerrating, the natural curvature of the spine.

Start the lift with the legs by extending the knees (starting to stand up). The arms do not move - think of them as hooks simply holding the bar. As the bar reaches the knees begin to straighten the lower back. Reverse the move to lower.

It's fine to set the bar down in between reps and to take a second to re-set physically and mentally.

A good tempo (if using 6-8 reps, which I think is optimum once you've mastered the technique, but depending on your goals of course) is 3 seconds to lower the weight, 1-2 seconds to lift, with about a second to re-set.

At very heavy weights you will need to create a block - this involves breathing in to fill the lungs and holding the breath during lifting and lowering, making sure you breath at the top and bottom positions. This will increase intra-tohracic pressure and help prevent forward roll and damage to the lower back.

I generally use Deadlifts at the start of my back routine (usually 3 sets of 6-8) as this means I get to hit the quadriceps and hams twice during the week. My legs and back workouts are therefore spaced as far apart as possible each week.

Chutz & Del's Training Log

My left knee has been playing up since moving on to heavy squats. As a result we've dropped deadlifts for the week and will be moving on to higher reps with squats whilst dropping the weight by 20kg.

Today's chest workout, however, was one of the best yet. We both hit personal bests in terms of time under tension at optimal loading. The felxibility of the current training split allowed us the option of focusing solely on bench press today - at varying inclines- and we ended up with 8 excellent sets.

The arms are responding well to the "Winning the Arms Race Programme" - I'm up to 14" biceps (from 13) and Chutz is up to 15-8.

The 6-8 rep protocol seems to be still reaping benefits for upper body but legs may have to return to 8-12 reps whilst the knee recovers.

F.I.S.H. Goes Limited

F.I.S.H. has now started the process of becoming a limited company - Fitness Instruction for Strength & Health Limited. Presently we are operating as sole traders, Priority Principle and Inspire Fitness. Once the limited company is operating we will be approaching other Personal Trainers about using the studio.

The cable crossover is now assembled and the studio is now fully functioning. We have ordered a preacher curl bench and dip bars and are awaiting the delivery of safety pins for the power rack.

Training in the studio is proving to be sheer luxury. It's nice to be able to perform supersets, tri-sets and even giant sets without losing the equipment mid-way. Derek and Chutney have been meticulously recording loading, tempo and time under tension and thus progressing at each and every workout. We have two more weeks of mixed strength and hypertrophy to go before moving on to Poliquin's German Body Comp Program for six weeks prior to a maximum strength phase.

Melody has started a three day split and is already starting to rediscover the definition she had before Christmas. Nutrition is improving all the time and the new trade account with Tropicana is proving very popular - particularly as there is no minimum order (Maximuscle insisted on at least £300 per order). The combination of EFA capsules and CLA is proving effective and we have both started on Hydroxycut Hardcore, the new version of the fat stripper we both employed whilst in Australia a few years ago.

Best achievement so far must go to Jon Martin who is now doing parallel squats with a three second eccentric and explosive concentric phase. We have been working on form for a few weeks and it is now close to perfect. He's currently up to 47.5kg but will rapidly increase the load now that the range of motion and technique have developed.

Arnold Schwarzenegger

Arnold Schwarzenegger has taken on something akin to mythical status in the world of bodybuilding. Despite the decades since his departure from the competitive stage Arnold is often the first name to spring to mind when bodybuilding is mentioned. He has his critics, of course (Lee Haney described himself as having "a more complete" physique than Arnold in the '80s, and current Mr Olympia, Jay Cutler, reputedly told Arnold he knew next to nothing about modern bodybuilding).

However, Arnold still bears comparison with the current crop of bodybuilding "freaks" whose proportions have become ludicrously inflated so that they resemble bloated Cardassians more than human beings. Arnold won the "Best Built Man" title early in his career: the modern heavy weights would no doubt be excluded from such a competition on the grounds of species.

There have been internet polls comparing Arnold to Ronnie Coleman, the previous Mr Olympia. Coleman may well have been awesomely huge, but Arnold came out on top in the polls due to his superior aesthetic. At his best, Arnold retained something of the classical physique, and in some ways his "weaknesses" (his legs were nowhere near as huge as the those of modern bodybuilders) may well have been his strengths.

Another recent poll, this time in a bodybuilding magazine, compared the chests of top bodybuilders from the past to the present. Arnold came first with Lou Ferrigno close behind.

Training philosophy has certainly changed since Arnold's day. He used to advocate gruelling two hour workouts often twice per day but research has shown that working out beyond the 45-60 minute mark produces high levels of the catabolic hormone cortisol. Obviously Arnold was able to achieve great results with his prolonged training sessions (due to genetics and anabolic steroids) but he may have achieved even more had he trained a little less. That said, Arnold's "Basic Training Program" in his "Encyclopedia of Modern Bodybuilding" is excellent. The more advanced programmes are probably a bit over-the-top in terms of volume (as Mike Mentzer's prescriptions are woefully inadequate in terms of complete motor unit recruitment).

Arnold has a shoulder exercise named after him, the "Arnold Press", which is a sort of combined lateral raise and shoulder press. He also has "The Arnold Classic", one of the most prestigious bodybuilding competitions (which also hosts an array of other sports).

Whatever one may think of Arnold, he remains an inspiration for many and probably the greatest icon of bodybuilding - so much so that we felt obliged to put a poster of Arnold up in the F.I.S.H. studio behind the power rack (perhaps one last rep of squats could be squeezed out by appealing to this demi-god of training).

Leg Training

There has been a trend amongst modern body builders for training legs with high reps, thus increasing the time under tension. This protocol may be quite helpful in increasing the muscle substrate systems and may also promote a hormonal growth response through occlusion and/or the increased time under tension. However, I think that to train legs optimally you need to account for their muscle fibre composition: hamstrings and quadriceps are predominantly composed of fast-twitch fibres which contract quickly and respond to heavy loads (low reps).

Think of the leg development of sprinters, for example. Sprinters need to generate phenomenal power and speed over short bursts. The same principle applies to leg training where the goal is hypertrophy, strength, or power.

Bearing this in mind it may be prudent to work in the 6-8 rep range with squats, dead lifts and leg press for a period (I like to change workout protocols roughly every six workouts in order to force the muscles to keep adapting). Rest periods should be 3-5 minutes (larger muscles, and heavier loads, require more rest, particularly as we are interested in challenging the contractile strength of the fibres more than the energy systems).

Experiment with different foot positions and spacing (perhaps every six workouts again) and vary the exercises (back squats, front squats, dead lifts, parallel grip dead lifts, lunges, leg press etc).

Squats, performed correctly, will help to stabilise the knee joint. The squat and the dead lift are unparalleled for the amount of muscles the involve and the anabolic response they elicit.

If you squat to a position where the thighs are parallel to the floor you will involve the hamstrings and glutes to a greater degree. Lunges are also great for working these muscles but you may benefit from additional hamstring work using leg curls and stiff leg dead lifts.

To start with, I would suggest using these big compound moves for about six workouts before reviewing your leg routine. Leg extensions and curls can be added later for specialisation if you need it.

My current leg routine involves five sets of squats (6-8 reps and 3 minutes rest); five sets of dead lifts (6-8 reps and 3 minutes rest); 3 sets of leg press (6-8 reps and 3 minutes rest).

I plan to add lunges at a future date but will probably move to a strength routine of squats and dead lifts for 2-4 reps, five minutes rest, and high numbers of sets after the current phase.