-: Now we're gonna look at the nuts and bolts
of an oxidative stress protocol.
So, here again we're gonna think about local stimulus.
But you're gonna see there's gonna be
some differences between when we're focusing on
oxidative stress versus the AMPK pathway
that we were focusing on previously.
So for here,
it's the duration of that metabolic work.
So duration of metabolic intensity.
Whereas with the AMPK it was
density of metabolic intensity.
So now it's not about how compact we can get it,
it's about how long we can maintain
a certain metabolic demand.
Now, that demand needs to consume energy
fast enough that it is faster
than what our mitochondria can supply ATP.
So if you think back to our energy metabolism
Oxidative stress occurs when the mitochondria
is having to work at a higher rate.
So, what we wanna do is we wanna be working
at a rate where we're taxing that mitochondria
but not so much that we are gonna fatigue early.
So when we're focusing on AMPK like we were previously,
our goal is deplete ATP as fast as possible
to get that AMP up as fast as possible.
Here, our goal is not necessarily
to deplete all the ATP instantaneously,
because what we're gonna need to do is
we're gonna need to stay in this particular
state of fatigue for an extended duration.
Because that's what's going to lead to more of those
free radicals being formed.
And more of that oxidative stress.
Which in this case, that's what we're going for.
Right?
So, oxidative stress is thought of as a bad thing
when we think of overall health.
But in terms of a training stimulus,
when it's appropriate when we're actually picking
when and where we're gonna apply this stuff,
there's a lot of good benefits to this.
So, we need to make that mitochondria work
as close to it's maximum capacity as possible
because that's where it's going to create
the most free radicals, the most antioxidants.
And we need to be able to do that
for an extended period of time.
So, the sets are going to be longer.
So you're not going to be able to do
as heavy loads, they'll be lighter loads,
longer reps, or longer sets.
So let's get into this little bit.
In terms of split and frequency,
kind of similar to what we were thinking for AMPK,
if we're focusing on body composition,
we want to focus on trying to get,
basically, an even distribution amongst my days
in terms of the amount of tissue that I'm working.
That way, I can be spreading the stimulus out fairly evenly.
If you are using this as a conditioning approach,
or when we get into hypertrophy in the next section,
you will actually see that this overlaps
into some of those hypertrophy mechanisms.
So, we're gonna focus on making a similar principle
program to the previous one,
so you can directly compare that.
So we're gonna be in that kind of body composition mind set.
But not complete, not total, or systemic.
Because when we're focusing on oxidative stress,
you're likely not gonna be able to do enough tissue
to get a systemic benefit without overtraining.
A total LEG day in itself,
will take a long time to recover.
Let alone trying to do your entire body.
So this type of training, remember,
takes longer to recover from.
Especially locally at the muscle tissue.
Because we are getting much more
of an inflammatory response.
So, what I did is I used a split very similar
to the last program that we did, the AMPK-based program.
In fact, it's exactly the same.
So, the same logic here, trying to divide the body up.
So I used the biggest muscle groups here,
and then I spread things out,
so they would kind of correlate, and overlap.
So, chest and triceps are together,
back and biceps are together,
because I'm trying to make sure that I'm not
metabolically taxing these tissues too often
if I'm trying to maximize recovery.
In this particular instance, it's actually more beneficial.
I'm gonna have a longer period of time
before I hit these muscle groups again.
So for instance, if I was doing the AMPK phase,
and I switched these biceps and triceps around,
it wouldn't make that big of deal
because my triceps are gonna be recovered from
any stimulus they had in that chest day very easily.
In this case, because you're creating that inflammation,
you might be really sore still, in some of the muscle groups
that are stabilizing, or needed to function as agonists
or synergists, if you will, in this next workout.
So you're gonna wanna make sure that everything
that you're using, or that needs to support
what you're using is as fully recovered as possible
when you're doing an oxidative stress protocol.
Again, remember our goal is to work
for a long time under fatigue,
and if you have other things that are sore,
that's gonna mess up your execution,
that's gonna mess with your ability to maintain
good work as you get tired.
And ultimately, you know, pain is kind of a inhibitory
response in terms of our nervous system.
In terms of our ability to keep contracting.
So we want to basically set ourselves up for success.
Getting that stimulus, not set ourselves up for failure
by going in and having supporting musculature
being under recovered.
So what I'm gonna do,
this is not how I would typically write a program.
I tend to like to use the same methods
for the majority of the tissues
unless there's a specific reason.
Which sometimes there is.
Different tissues will respond
to different types of sets of rep schemes.
Either because of the loading pattern
or the muscle fiber type or whatever.
We'll get into that in the advanced courses,
but here, what I'm gonna do is
I'm gonna show you three different methods
of getting that oxidative stress stimulus.
So we're gonna do tri sets for chest,
we're gonna do super sets for triceps,
and delts we're gonna do a drop set.
So, three different ways
you're gonna see the sets is varying.
So, if I'm doing triceps, that's three exercises
back to back for chest.
Obviously, I'm not gonna need as many rounds of that
as I will if I'm just doing two exercises.
Especially when you look at the set
and rep variables that I have chosen.
And then, with drop sets it'll be dependent
on the number of drops,
and the rep range in which those drops are working
in terms of what's gonna kind of equate this volume.
So that you're getting about the same amount
of oxidative stress stimulus
for all three of these muscle groups.
So, if we move forward into just the chest exercises
we can look at the set up for this tricep.
So, we have three chest exercises
starting with something where
I can focus on that short position.
Again we're trying to burn fuel here,
not create a lot of mechanical damage.
So it's good to start with an exercise that
overloads that short position.
Because you're not gonna get as much mechanical damage.
And if I want to, as I've to chosen to here,
I've chosen a pause in that short position
so I can squeeze, and burn through more fuel
without necessarily spending more time on the eccentric.
So I'm taking advantage of tempo,
to bias this to more metabolic, and less mechanical.
Then, I progress down to my exercises.
My last exercise is the one where
there would be a little bit more load than length in here.
In this dumbbell press here,
I'm using a pause at the bottom.
Just a one second, but I will still have tension there.
So that's very important.
If you're gonna include pauses
especially in the lengthened position here,
it needs to be in a place where you're still
having to do contractial work.
If you pause at the bottom to rest well obviously
for our goal, to continue burning energy,
you're not gonna be accomplishing that goal.
You'll be better off doing less pausing,
more continuous movement per se,
unless you were integrating a specific
rest, pause system for a particular purpose.
Other things.
So in this I've chosen eight, eight, 15.
A really common set and rep scheme here.
This is generally looked at as say,
we'll say a sarcoplasmic hypertrophy protocol,
which we'll talk about a little bit more in the next course.
So with this, this is kind of on the lower end
of oxidative stress for a conditioned person,
but this might be very oxidative stress,
for somebody that is new.
So keep in mind, whether we use super sets or tri sets,
how many reps is all in context to where that individual is.
So if you take somebody that's only been doing three reps,
and you put them on this, this might be overkill.
Like a six, 12 super set might have been plenty for them.
Whereas somebody that's been doing a bunch
of hypertrophy work in the 12 rep range,
well obviously if we do a six, 12 that's not that much.
That's probably gonna be a little more alactic.
AMPK-based, but not quite oxidative.
They're gonna need some longer sets
so, extending out here would correlate better
in terms of getting them into the oxidative stress stimulus.
So let's look at this now in terms of the whole workout.
So you have now, my three chest exercises.
Here I have my super set that I'm doing for triceps.
So I did eight, eight, 15 there.
One thing I wanna say, and we'll get into this
a little bit in detail when we look at comparing
different programs at the very end of the course,
notice I'm ascending the number of reps.
So the number of reps I'm using is going up,
which means the intensity is going down.
Another thing to understand is that in this state,
so at the end of this tricep, at the end of this super set
I am not able to get the same amount of work per rep.
So these reps, don't count as much as those reps do.
Because here I'm fresh.
I'm able to contract more tissue,
I have more ATP just ready to go,
so I'm able to burn through more.
So these are gonna be more energy demanding
per rep than the later reps and the super sets
and these tri sets or even drop sets for that matter.
So what you'll see is, when we start adding stuff
on the end, it doesn't equal.
It's not like this is 20 reps, and then 16, and 15.
So we got 31 reps there.
This is 31 and this is 20,
that does not mean this is 50% more work than this one.
Because these later reps don't count the same.
So, it's very similar
in terms of the amount of stress demand
to have 20 reps here where it was 10 and 10
as it is eight, eight, 15
because I'm having more of the reps
in that kind of front area.
Where that first exercise, where the intensity
is gonna be a little bit higher,
I'm doing a little bit higher rep range here.
So it kind of balances itself out
making these very comparable in terms
of the amount of oxidative stress.
Now I've dug through and done some algorithms
to figure out how to compare these things.
But you shouldn't need to do all the math.
Eventually we will have that as a tool in our program
for all of you coaches.
But for right now, I just want you to understand
that when you're doing these sets,
not all of the reps in each of these sets is equal.
It all depends on what your output is going to be
at that particular phase.
And the tri set, the super set, the drop set
or whatever it may be.
So, I got my triceps here,
what I did is I just did a crossover
cable tricep extension here
starting with working the short position
and then working from the lengthened position.
Again, I want more metabolic work, less mechanical work.
So I started short with a pause there,
squeezing in that short position,
and then I went and I finished off
in the lengthened position where I have better leverage
and I can continue to work hard.
So that's a really convenient super set.
That's the other thing you have to consider,
when designing these types of programs
is look at the rest intervals.
10 seconds, 10 seconds.
Then I get a long rest.
10 seconds.
And really, when I put in 10 seconds,
or when I put in 15 seconds for the most part
that's as quick as possible.
It's just so that when I'm programming,
if I put a zero that literally never happens.
Like, maybe if you pick an exercise
where you don't even have to move.
You can transition like,
I could be doing supinating bicep curls
and go right into hammer curls with zero rest in between.
But, for the most part, if there's any change
in position where if there's gonna be some time,
so when you're calculating the total time of your program,
I usually will put 10 seconds in there, or maybe 15.
Depending on the adjustments that I'm having made.
But I'm really illustrating,
I put this in my notes for my clients,
like this doesn't mean stand there and count to 10.
That's basically just me allotting for the time
that it's gonna take you to do that.
So 10 seconds means move your butt
and get into the next thing as fast as possible.
If you can get there in eight seconds, even better.
So to keep that in mind when you're picking exercises,
is this has to be sustainable, right?
So, this thing right here,
this is a more complicated thing to do.
Because I'm going from cable, to dumbbells, to cable.
So that would work well if I had
all that stuff close together.
I could have a bench close to a cable machine
that was fairly easy for me to adjust,
or even better, I got a partner that can adjust
the cables as I'm transitioning through this,
and then I can do it for him.
So you have to look in the context of how you are
or what your gym environment is and what you have access to.
How busy it's gonna be, you don't want to be
that person that's making everybody angry in a gym.
Because then you're gonna end up
having a conversation with somebody.
And that's really gonna mess up your rest intervals.
Not to mention your mood during the training session.
So, moving on, we're going to the delts
where we're doing a drop set now.
I'm doing in the form as eight, eight, eight.
So now here, we're looking at about 24 reps total.
But again, not all of those are equal.
So this is very similar to that in terms of the first two.
And then the last one isn't as much.
So what I've done here to make up for the fact
that all right I'm just going eight, eight, eight
how do I get a little bit more output other than okay
there's just less load so that I can work a little bit more.
What I've done is I've adjusted the tempo
for each of those drops.
So I started with that medial delt lateral raise,
and I'm spending time at the top,
squeezing in that short position
for two seconds on the first round.
Okay, so I got eight reps
when I'm squeezing in the top for two.
When I do my drop, okay?
So I don't have to drop so far
so that I can keep the intensity, the quality,
the load a little bit higher,
what I'm gonna do, is I'm gonna decrease the amount of pause
because it's really hard to pause in that short position.
And we'd be pretty fatigued there,
after doing eight reps, holding it there for two seconds.
Spent 16 seconds at the top of that position.
Now I'm dropping it to a one second.
And then in the third drop, I eliminate that altogether
and I'm basically just trying to have constant movements.
So what I've done is I've provided almost a change
in the momentum that I'm creating, and the amount of time
I have to spend in that short position
to accommodate for me to not have to drop the load as far.
To the point where it would become insignificant.
Because what would happen
since I'm doing the same exercise here.
These other options, I got to change the exercise,
so I gained something in terms of,
I got maybe a mechanical advantage now
in my second or third exercise.
Or, I got a new motor pattern to work with.
So it's easier for me to keep working hard.
When you're doing a drop set,
it's the same motor pattern, the same exercise.
Not getting any more mechanical advantage,
so it becomes harder to push into that fatigue.
You have to be more neurologically efficient,
and you just have to be more disciplined
to be able to get the same amount fatigue
built up in that drop set.
Because otherwise, what'll happen is a few fibers
will get really fatigued,
and the rest'll kinda poop out,
and not have to do much because you'll lose the competency
and the lift before you actually
get to that oxidative stress
throughout the entire muscle group.
So what I've done, is I've adjusted those tempos
to almost mimic, I'm kind of changing the exercise.
I'm changing the recruitment.
Changing the demand a little bit.
So I'm starting off with an exercise
that's quote, unquote harder into short position
and then I'm getting less and less
hard in the short position.
So my tempo for these, or my intent I should say,
on the concentric.
So the lifting of this would be nice and slow.
Squeeze for two.
Nice and slow, squeeze for two.
Eight reps, then I would drop my weight.
Now I would go a little bit more aggressive,
squeeze for one, a little bit more aggressive.
Squeeze for one.
Now I drop again.
Lighter weight.
And on the last one,
I'm gonna be going hard from the get go.
But I should be so fatigued,
that I really can't create momentum.
The other thing that's really nice about this tempo
is it works so well, if you change the pause
and you change your intent at the beginning.
This is course one stuff.
Do we want to biomechanics of execution.
Utilizing momentum and tempo to change the exercise.
But if you do that, you may not need
to drop the weight at all in some instances.
You might be able to use the exact same pair of dumbbells
for all three of these, and the drop is just the tempo
and intent which then, really makes it easy
for you not to have to take any rest in between.
And obviously this 60 seconds here occurs
at the very end there.
One thing you'll note on here is my rest intervals
is proportionate to the size of the muscle being trained
and the duration of those sets.
So looking at how these are gonna be coordinated
with tempo and everything,
these are gonna be fairly close.
Even though this is about four more reps
because of the change in tempo,
they end up being the same amount of time.
Usually this actually ends up being a little less
because you don't have to move.
Anyway, those are three different examples
of how I would maybe chip away, and try and get some
oxidative stress within the workout.
Again, like I said, normally I would not use
a bunch of different methods for each body part.
I wouldn't over complicate it.
What I would do, if I was gonna do tri-sets,
I would likely do tri-sets for every muscle group
that was applicable that day.
And there may be muscle groups that it isn't applicable to
or is from a gym perspective, from a logistical perspective
there may be certain body parts
where I can't do to the tri-set
simply because setting up that station
to do that tricep would not work
with the rest intervals that I have.
Or the pieces I need are spread across the gym.
Or whatever they may be.
It just doesn't happen to work that way.
So sometimes for something like hamstrings
you know, I'll have a leg curl here
and then anything else.
Maybe I could do dumbbell RDLs
or something over by the leg curl station.
But I'm not gonna drag a barbell
and stuff and set that up over there.
So you have to look at what are your
geographical obstacles as well.
In order to make sure that you optimize
this type of a program.