a thorough interview with Dave Bolton (Tsurugi) - the author of the fantastic book "Lost Secret To A Great Body" - is now online at my blog. It discusses the light dumbbell training of Attila and Eugen Sandow. I hope you enjoy.
Thanks again to Dave for the informative interview.
Dave Bolton is the author of the marvellous book "The Lost Secret to A Great Body", which is an in-depth analysis of the training method of Prof. Attila and Eugen Sandow. He is also an accomplished Martial Artist, having fought in national and international kickboxing competitions, where he was part of the Great Britain WKA Team. Since 2001, Dave is practising the Internal Martial Art BaguaZhang in the line of Luo De Xiu and is the head instructor of the Manchester Bagua Club . As I am very fond of his book and the training methodology presented in it, I was very keen on interviewing him. Thankfully Dave accepted and I can now present you the interview:
Q: As you stated quite clearly, one should not confuse this kind of training with conventional weight lifting, as the light dumbbell is merely a tool for facilitating stronger contractions. For example, when the dumbbell is curled upwards the agonist muscles should be voluntary contracted at the end of the movement where the muscle is maximally shortened. How much should one contract the target muscle? Should the contraction be akin to an actual maximum voluntary contraction (as in 100%) or rather “as much as one can tense comfortably without much strain (especially in the tendons) in a short amount of time?” And should the contraction be increased steadily or more explosively?
Dave Bolton: First of all thanks for having this interview on your blog and giving me the opportunity and a platform to talk about my book – and the W.A.T.C.H. protocol. Your first question is the key one – and one that needs to be settled before one can get the best results from this method of training. Problems with a lack of sufficient response in terms of muscle development, difficulty in reaching “momentary muscular failure”, or - at the other end of the scale - sore tendons or experiencing excessive strain in the forearms or elbows ALL stem from not mastering the correct level of tension – or you could say the correct “type” of contraction – on each rep of each exercise.
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