Sprint 2 the Table

Appetites and Adventures

Work It Out Beyond Fulls

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Sometimes being beyond full is a good thing.

I’m not talking about that oh-so-good chocolate cake on cheat day.  But it was good.

Thank you all for the great feedback on last’s week’s inaugural Work It Out.

This series is focusing on how to change-up what you’re doing in the gym to make sure you keep progressing.  Rather than always change the exercise, we’re looking at how you can simply change how you perform the exercise.  Over the next few weeks I’ll be doing a series on some ways to vary how you perform reps.   sprint2table-workitout

Again with the Disclaimer: I am not a certified anything.  I just work out a lot.  Don’t sue me if you hurt yourself or don’t look like Gillian Michaels after performing these moves.

Fulls and Partials

These are really great for moving past “sticking” points where the weight feels heaviest.  You can move past the sticky point because that part of the muscle group is exhausted, but that doesn’t mean all areas of that muscle group are exhausted.  Partials allow you to essentially work beyond failure by working in smaller ranges of motion.

Perform 10 full reps of a movement, followed by 10 half reps.  Do 1st and 3rd sets on the bottom half, and the 2nd and 4th on the top half.

How do you use this technique?

Standing Leg Curls

The standing leg curl is a great exercise for strengthening the hamstring muscles at the back of the thigh.  Start with a lighter weight, as this machine can put some strain on the knees.  Adjust the pads so that they are in a comfortable position around the ankle – you don’t want the pads too high up the calf.

Grasp the support handles, then lift the pad upward as far as it will go toward the butt.  Lift and lower the leg in a controlled manner to complete one full rep.

Note: You can perform this exercise on a lying leg curl machine too.

Decline Dumbbell Curls

These are one of my favorites because lying on a decline challenges your brachialis more.  The brachialis lies underneath your biceps and attaches the lower portion of the humerus bone in your upper arm to your ulna, a bone in your forearm.

To start, grab a dumbbell in each hand.  Lie on an incline bench set to about 60 degrees.  Your shoulders should be near the top of the incline, and your legs can be straddled to either side.  Fully extend your arms, allowing them to hang in front of you so that they are perpendicular to the floor.  Face your palms forward with your elbows in by your side. Raise the dumbbells, contracting your biceps until your arms are fully flexed.  Take care that only your forearms move. The upper arms should remain stationary at all times.  To complete a full rep, lower the dumbbells until your arms are fully extended.

Note: You can perform using an e-z bar or a barbell too.

Caution: It is easy to “overtrain” with these modifications.  You are pushing your body extremely hard to bust through a plateau.  These moves are not recommended as a long-term regimen.  Avoid doing more than 2-3 of these per muscle group on any given workout.

Check out last week’s 24s, and then get more fitness ideas, tips, and tricks on my Fitness page!  As always, be sure to get your 20g of protein to help the muscles recover.

***

Know what’s really fun?  Doing fulls and partials on hack squats.  *dripping sarcasm*

Did anyone try last week’s 24s?  What did you think?

Have you ever done fulls and partials?  What exercises do you apply them to?

Comments

  4. You know, I never knew about decline bicep curls until I did the LiveFit program (even though after THREE tries, I never made it past the first day of Phase 2! Lol) But ok, I have a [possibly] stupid question…what is the difference (as far as how the muscle is worked) between these and preacher curls? And when you’re doing a preacher curl, do you twist your wrist at the top or keep it straight like in a hammer curl? Whenever I twist my wrist at the top, it seems to put strain on the medial part of my elbow so I tried doing it like a hammer curl yesterday and a guy came up to me (in a nice way) and said that he thinks you get a better “peak” if you twist at the top. What do you think?

    • They are similar – both targeting the brachialis. The decline curl is going to give you a wider range of motion, and force you to use the surrounding muscles a bit more since you don’t have the pad stabilizing the arm. Some people find it easier on the elbows, too.

      You CAN do the twist – it’s just another technique to incorporate occasionally to shake things up. I’d prefer doing that on a regular bicep curl since a preacher curl is already so targeted. I also use the ez-curl bar for preachers; it’s easier on the wrists and elbows.

  6. Awesome post and tips! I’ve only done fulls and partials with squats and leg curls, but now I totally wanna try it with decline curls. Don’t you just love the burn those give ya?! Drag curls and spider curls always get my biceps fired up too, gotta love da pump haha 😀

    • I’ve done them on squats too – I do love that burn! Drag curls were last night… that may be my 2nd least favorite exercise. 😉

  14. We do these in body works too!!! Mostly with bicep curls and triceps. We also sometimes do them with squats. Is that you in the standing leg curls pic? You’re so ripped!! I’m so proud of you!

  20. Decline bicep curls is a good idea, I haven’t thought of doing that but I can see how it can take it to the next level. I’ve been lifting 12.5 lbs for curls now and it makes me HAPPYYYYYYY 🙂

  21. Ooo, love the idea of a decline bicep curl–I’ve done inclines before, and yup, huge difference from regular. After last week’s special I threw in some 24s (before new training sched) on cable bicep curls, and it huuuuurt.

  24. Great tips again! Especially since I don’t have too much knowledge in the lifting world. I’m always looking to learn new things!

  28. Thank you for these tips my friend 😀
    Can I ask you one thing though – I drink a bucketload of water and my stomach seems really loose – is it bad to bloat so much?

    Cheers
    Choc Chip Uru

    • How much is a “bucketload” of water? And by “loose,” what do you mean? I drink 120 oz a day and it doesn’t bother me. It did take a week or so for my body to adjust though. Drinking more actually makes you go through it more, if ya know what I mean.

Trackbacks

  1. […] « Work It Out Beyond Fulls […]

  2. […] theory behind this is similar to Fulls & Partials, allowing you to build up the smaller muscles in a group.  This is no as excuse to have bad form […]

  3. […] Fulls and Partials –>  her instructions from blog […]

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