Haven't posted on here for ages - very busy with some personal stuff at the minute with my mum in hospital so can't spare much time to post but -
Ken - thanks sincerely for the plug re the book
Patrick -
Dave´s book was made with love, but I feel the information is dubious or wrong. But he is very honest about it.
Thanks for recognising the love and care that went into the book and it's honesty - but all it states is that (empirically):
1. Attilla taught a series of exercises to Sandow and others utilising small dumbbells and that they all felt these exercises were important for both body and strength development
2. The exercises work and induce a surprising amount of hypertrophy considering their briefness and lack of heavy external resistance
3. Attila taught the exercises to Boxer (Gentleman) Jim Corbett and they were also used by the legendary Jack Johnson and for a while were ubiquitous in boxing
4. They are similar in aim, design and performance to some yi jin jing versions
5. One can use them for as little as 20 or 30 mins a day to produce a decent aesthetically pleasing physique.
None of this information is "dubious or wrong" - indeed it is all historically accurate and demonstrably true.
I attempted to explain
HOW these exercises worked based on my own experience with them and with recourse to several peer reviewed papers concerning the McMasters university study and various studies into Japanes Kaatsu (occlusion) training. I cannot be certain that that this fully explains their efficacy but I feel the muscle hypertrophy mechanisms discussed in these studies are similar enough to offer a strong correlation - perhaps this is the bit you take issue with?
or do you just feel it is impossible to build muscle (induce hypertrophy) without the use heavy weights? the McMasters University study definitively proves this is not the case and it's conclusion has since been reproduced in follow up studies.
Also in the Limp Taiji thread this morning I saw a clip John Wang put up of Taiji strength training with bricks in the hands - all the exercises in it are analogous to exercises in my book and are done with similar weights so I guess they are dubious and wrong too?
anyway not intending to derail the thread but unfortunately can't ignore what could be an (unintentional but still) significant blow to my livelyhood without a reasoned response.
back on topic with the subject of GRIP AND TENSION -
a story about the legendary Norbert Schemansky:
Following the 1954 World Championships in Vienna the U.S. team (including Norbert Schemansky, Tommy Kono and Pete George) made their way to Lille, France while on a barnstorming tour across Europe. Bob Hoffman decided to have them drop in at Robert Cayeaux's Paris gym for a workout. While making arrangements to use the gym with his old friend, Hoffman inquired about the famous Apollon barbell.
The Apollon bell was a ponderous 360-pound weight made of two giant boxcar wheels with a thick axle thrust them. The improvised barbell had originally belonged to a 6-foot, 300-pound French giant named Apollon, who had actually never lifted it overhead but had instead used it in various stunts. While a generation of strongmen had deadlifted the weight, only two men had ever been able to lift the train wheels overhead. The first was the French professional strongman Charles Rigoulot, who did it in 1930 -- but only after practicing for weeks beforehand. In 1950 John Davis gave it a go, and his small hands and the chunky circumference of the bar caused him much grief on his hold. After several attempts Davis finally cleaned the bar by flipping it up to his shoulders, and then reversing his grip in mid-air in order to catch the bar at his shoulders. After this he was able to jerk the train wheels overhead. During one of Davis' unsuccessful tries the weights had crashed down heavily to the ground, badly bending one end of the bar and making it that much harder to grasp for anyone who might want to replicate the feat in the future.
It turned out the Apollon bell was no longer at Cayeaux's gym, but was being stored in the basement of another local gym. When Hoffman suggested the sensation of the recent World Championships might be interested attempting to lift the "unliftable" Apollon bell, volunteers were quickly mustered to move it via truck to its former home. "It as a very impromptu arrangement," Norb recalled. "I had no idea I would be asked to try it. But what the heck, I was game."
Word spread rapidly. The Americans changed tense to add tension . . .
Word spreads rapidly. The Yanks arrive at Cayeaux's gym where a large crowd has already gathered, including a number of reporters and photographers. Hoffman wishes out loud that the event was taking place in a large hall and witnessed by thousands of people. He forecasts the greatest display of strength which has ever taken place, a feat of strength unsurpassed and which will give Norb Schemansky just claim to the mythical title "World's Strongest Man."
The American lifters warm up with snatches, presses and jerks with a standard plate-loading Olympic barbell before taking turns attacking a 358-pound weight with a thick non-revolving handle. At this point the Apollon wheels were rolled out, more like dragged out as the Apollon bell's handle does not revolve.
Photographers ready their cameras . . . Norb takes the wheels . . . then, devoid of any personal drama . . . lifts them on his first attempt . . . and jerks the weight overhead . . . not once . . . not twice . . . but THREE TIMES --- before gently setting the bar back down on the ground at his feet.
He had literally handled the famous weight like a toy. It was over so quickly -- wham, bam, thank you Stan -- and then a moment of stunned silence filled the gym.
"My God, it was terrific!" said Hoffman.
Recalled Clyde Emrich: "Norb just walked up and stood over it, did a slow dive, whipped it to his shoulders, jerked it three quick times and then set it back down easily. It was tremendously impressive."
A half-century later, Pete George had basically the same memory of the event: "Norb just walked up to it and whipped it up like nothing. He completely awed everyone in that gym."
Norb felt he could have done six or seven reps with the Apollon bell. The most difficult part was the bend in the bar. "The bend made it hard to hold because it slips in your hands and the weight turns and shifts around," he explained.
Typical of Schemansky, when asked countless times over the years how he did it, his answer is short, sweet and always the same:
"I squeezed like hell and pulled."
