76: REWIND / Doug Brignole Part 2

Welcome to the InForm Fitness Podcast series REWIND, a listen back to the classic interviews we’ve had with the high intensity gurus & master trainers… names like Martin Gibala, Bill DeSimone, Simon Shawcross, Jay Vincent, Ryan Hall & Doug McGuff.

This is the 2nd of 3 parts with veteran competitive bodybuilder, “biomechanics” expert, author and public speaker Doug Brignole. On his website Doug describes himself as “Bodybuilder on the outside & science nerd on the inside.”

In part 2, Doug & Adam talk about Static vs dynamic exercise, along with speed movement and sports training. They start off the discussion with the old saying… “less is more!”

For more info about Doug Brignole:

www.dougbrignole.com/

www.greatestphysiques.com/doug-brignole/

For Doug Brignole’s books, visit Amazon: 

www.amazon.com/Books-Doug-Brignole/s?rh=n%3A283155%2Cp_27%3ADoug+Brignole

As always, your feedback and suggestions are always welcome.

Adam Zickerman – Power of 10: The Once-A-Week Slow Motion Fitness Revolution:

http://bit.ly/ThePowerofTen

We would love to hear from you with your questions, comments & show ideas…

Our email address is podcast@informfitness.com

76: REWIND / Doug Brignole Part 2 Transcript

Arlene  0:01  
The Inform fitness podcast with Adam Zickerman is a presentation of inform fitness studios specializing in safe, efficient, personal high intensity strength training, in each episode Adam discusses the latest findings in the areas of exercise nutrition and recovery, the three pillars of his New York Times best selling book, The Power of 10. He aims to debunk the popular misconceptions and urban myths that are so prevalent in the fields of health and fitness. And with the opinions of leading experts and scientists, you'll hear scientific based up to the minute information on a variety of subjects. We cover the exercise protocols and techniques of Adoms 20 minute once a week workout, as well as sleep recovery, nutrition, the role of genetics in the response to exercise, and much more.

Adam  0:56  
Hi welcome back Adam here. Welcome to the inform fitness podcast rewind. Once again, it's our listen back to classic interviews with high intensity gurus and master trainers, doctors and researchers. This is part two of three with veteran competitive bodybuilder, biomechanics expert and author Doug Brignole. Doug and I are going to talk about static versus dynamic exercise. Along with the proper speeds of movement and sports training. You start the discussion of the old saying less is more. I read something that you wrote that reminded me of something that we also always talk about, you know, we say there's a big difference between what we say Ken Hutchins came up with this, you know, are you familiar with Ken Hutchins, his work is super slow technique, right? All right. So So Ken Hutchins came up with what I consider one of the seminal articles and exercise history, which is the exercise versus recreation. And I know you agree with this, because I, you know, I'm gonna, I'm gonna quote something you wrote, actually, if you don't mind, it is important to understand the difference between the goal of muscular development bodybuilding in general fitness, and the goals, which also involve the use of weights but are not intended for the purpose of muscular development of general fitness, for example, powerlifting and Olympic lifting are sports that incorporate the use of weights but are fundamentally different from the goals of getting stronger. The goal of a power lifter is to lift maximum amount of weight in specific lifts. The goal of the bodybuilder or the person that's generally trying to get into good shape and get really strong is to develop the physique to gain a reasonable amount of useful strength to improve one's health and remain injury free. So you're right there. So it's kind of reminds me of all the things that the brands CrossFit is doing and trying to make those sport and recreational activities into some kind of fitness program.

Doug Brignole  2:41  
Well, and then what I tell people is, it is very naive to assume that the heavier weight you're moving, the more you're loading a muscle,

Adam  2:49  
right

Doug Brignole  2:50  
you can actually load a muscle more with less weight based on the kind of physics you're using. So if you're using a longer lever, you're Magnum, magnifying the weight that you're using much more, if you have better align, you're magnifying the weight much more,

Adam  3:05  
which means you don't have to use as much weight if you're if you're taking those things into account. 

Doug Brignole  3:08  
And, in fact, in fact, let's go one step further, I'll go so far to say that if you are able to use a lot of weight, it means that you're using an efficient mechanics, it means basically, you're lifting something up with a crowbar. Right? The heavier the weight feels, the more efficient the mechanics is, if you can load your site deltoid maximally with 30 or 40 pounds, and you think it might be better to overhead press 150 pounds, then you're just missing the point. The point is, it's overload the muscle, a lot of weight

Adam  3:40  
again, now you're involving rotator cuff muscles, they just can't handle that kind of strain, we add all that extra weight. All right, good. Another question for you. static versus dynamic, dynamic exercises. Some people add static contractions into the routine to increase strength and break plateaus. That's the thought process. Do you see static exercise as a viable technique? Or is this is its application limited stat? 

Doug Brignole  3:41  
I think it's extremely limited. Look, there have been a number of studies that have shown that isometric exercise is far less productive, both from the perspective of developing a muscle enlarging the muscle. And from the perspective of gaining strength through a muscles entire range of motion, it gains strength, right where you're holding it. It does it gains a little strength and the other parts of the range of motion, but not nearly as much. So if you want strength, you want what let's use the word functional strength, strength through a muscles entire range of motion, you're better off using range of motion. Right? So is there a place for isometric? Sure, if you have an injured joint rehab, then you use as part of your rehabilitation. But this idea that we're going to do planks, as the best exercise for the ABS would be like saying, well, let's just do static everything then. Let's just do static wall squat where you just hold the squat position. Let's just do A static barbell hold that just aesthetic pectoral hold. I mean, if it's good for one, it's good for all if it's not good for one, it's not good for all people liked the idea of doing planks because they think that, you know, if you're a, if you're a boxer, and you're trying to improve the rigidity of your spine against an opposing boxer hitting you in the gut, okay, fine. That's a very specific application. But dynamic tension, the abdominal muscle is going to be more productive for the same reason...