Ok, so CLEARLY I'm nuts...you know that. And I understand that and I embrace it.

Here's the pic...



Now, before you look at this exercise and say "I'll never do that", let me first explain WHY you'd possibly want to do an exercise like this. Even if you never do the exercise, you're going to learn a lot!

(And yes, if you try it, you will want to start a lot lighter than this! The exercise IS perfectly safe when done with loads appropriate to your strength and training experience and with proper bar placement on your back. More on that below.)

This exercise and overall style of partial range training is EXTREMELY valuable in a lot of ways.

It's time to take the red pill and see the truth... :)





1. Heavy Loads Strengthen the Connective Tissue

By doing heavy lockouts (whether like this or with a barbell), you target the connective tissue. Connective tissue strength can actually be a very "stealthy" limiting factor in your overall strength levels. In fact, many people don't even realize that it CAN be a limiting factor, which shows you just how "under the radar" it can be.

When you get to a certain point in your strength levels, your muscles will no longer be strong enough in a FULL range of motion to substantially increase connective tissue strength.

And if your connective tissue (i.e. tendons, ligaments, fascia, cartilage) isn't strong enough to stand up to the weight and move the load, your body will simply STOP your strength right where it is, in an attempt to prevent injury.

You will hit a plateau and you will NEVER get past it until your connective tissue gets stronger..and you strengthen it by using supra-maximal load partial-range training.



2. Supra-Maximal Loads Activate and Train High-Threshold Motor Units

Your nervous system is smart...it will only recruit enough motor units (the groups of nerves that activate muscle fibers) to do the job at hand. And this applies to both number of motor units and POWER of those motor units.

For example, lifting a pencil will activate a different set of motor units than lifting a 30 lb dumbbell will.

And this makes sense. If your body recruited the same motor units for every movement, that pencil would be stuck in the ceiling...or you'd brain yourself with your finger just wiping something out of your eye (I think you get the idea!).

Your body activates just what's necessary for the load/task at hand, nothing more.

In terms of strength training, though, this system can work AGAINST you if you only use "full" range of motion on your exercises.

Think about this...when you always train with "full" range of motion, you can only use as much weight as your body can handle at the WEAKEST point of the exercise. For example, with bench press, think of your sticking point...the point in the exercise with the WORST leverage. It's where you always get stuck, basically.

If you always work in a full range motion, you will NEVER use more weight than your body can move through that weak point. This will limit your nervous system activation and (as I mentioned above) your connective tissue strength.

But if you start ABOVE that sticking point, you can instantly use a LOT more weight.

This FORCES your body to activate and TRAIN the higher-threshold motor units...the ones that are capable of moving MASSIVE amounts of weight.

It essentially teaches your body how to be "strong like bull" when needed, so you can USE those previously dormant motor units during full-range movements and be almost immediately stronger in your big exercises.



3. Closed-Chain vs Open-Chain Exercises

Lockouts with the barbell bench press will give you all the benefits I described above. It's an exercise variation I've been using and recommending for years. Honestly, working the lockout bench press is what helped me get past a 300 lb bench press plateau a number of years ago (and max out at 350 lbs within a few months).

That being said, when it comes to motor unit activation (as I described above), CLOSED chain exercises (like the push-up) generally result in MORE activation than OPEN chain exercises (like the bench press).


[Kinesiology note: at it's simplest, a closed kinetic chain exercise is basically where the limbs (e.g. hands or feet) are "fixed" in place and the body (and potentially additional resistance) moves. An open kinetic chain exercise is where the body is "fixed" in place and the limbs (and additional resistance) moves.]


Bottom line, this means that a push-up should give you more muscle activation than a bench press with a comparable weight.

And as we talked about, one of the MAJOR benefits of using heavy, partial-range training is high-threshold motor unit activation. Therefore, using a loaded partial push-up instead of a bench press could potentially gives us even MORE activation of these motor units than a comparable-weight partial bench press.

On a side note, I also find I get greater muscle activation in the chest when I've got an open hand position (e.g. palm flat on the floor compared to palm gripping around a bar). Yet another benefit of this version.



One Caveat With Partial-Range Training

Let me be clear on one thing...for optimal MUSCLE development you DO need full range of motion.

However, that is NOT what we're after here. We're training for connective tissue strength and nervous system activation...the benefits of which will CARRY OVER to your full-range training, to help you build more muscle in the future by being stronger and activating more muscle fibers.

THAT is what partial training is all about.

Don't let the "range-of-motion police" push you into dismissing the potentially TREMENDOUS benefits partial-range training can give you.

When partial training is done with a PURPOSE, it can be just what your body needs to shatter plateaus in strength AND size.



Now Let's Get to the Exercise...

This is the Lockout Loaded Push-Up. You'll be doing the top few inches of the range of motion of a push-up done with a loaded barbell on your back.

Very simple and very effective.

To do this one, you will need either a power rack (which is what I'm using) or a Smith machine (which is actually even BETTER for this exercise because it'll stabilize the load). I also highly recommend using a barbell pad for it to help distribute the load more widely on your back.

You'll need to experiment with the setup a bit, to get the right height for the bar for you. Use just an empty bar until you get it right. Ideally, you want your upper body to be HORIZONTAL when doing the exercise so that the bar doesn't roll forward or backward.

Set the rails about two feet off the ground and move the bar forward right up against the uprights of the rack. When you're using free weight, this will give you a bit more stability for the bar as it won't be able to roll forward. This won't be an issue with the Smith machine.

(side note, when using the Smith machine, don't engage the hooks..just use the bottom stops to set the starting height)

Next, get on your hands and knees and get your upper back under the bar, so that the bar is resting on your shoulder blades.

*** THIS IS A CRITICAL POINT***

You don't want the bar resting directly on your spine by having it too low on your back...you want it to be resting on the thick muscles of the upper back and supported across the scapulae. This also places the bar more in line with the arms, which are your base of support for the exercise.


Just fyi, we're not in a normal "straight body" push-up position because core strength would limit the amount of load we could then put on the upper body. And this exercise is NOT about putting limits on you!

"Solidify" your back underneath the bar. This means contracting your upper back muscles HARD and bracing your core. This is especially critical as you start getting into heavier loads. You need that solid back as a platform for the bar to rest and the core to support the weight.

Do your best to get yourself centered under the bar. Likely, you'll need to adjust your position a bit after the first rep. If one side tilts up, just set the bar back down and shift your body over a little bit to better center yourself. Ideally, we want the whole bar to come up evenly.



Now PUSH.



Push up and, if the bar is balanced well, hold for a second or two. If you feel it starting to tilt, just set it back down on the rails. This is where the Smith machine version is superior...no balance to worry about.

My first set here was with 365 lbs (a "relatively" moderate weight for me for partials). I used this as a "wake up" set for those high-threshold motor units. Once they've been activated (but not exhausted), they're primed to move heavier loads and you can go up from there. My second set was with 405 lbs. And my third set was with 500 lbs.





Do this for a set of 4 to 6 reps, and perform 3 to 4 sets of this exercise, with 90 seconds rest in between sets. I would recommend it be done once a week.

For most of the sets, stick with lower reps in order to use very heavy loads to better strengthen the connective tissue and activate the high-threshold motor units.

Once done with the "work" sets, you can also add in a lighter weight "back-off" set (with about 50% of the weight) for HIGH reps to force a lot of blood into the connective tissue. I used 245 lbs for that and did 30 reps (key point, reset the bar on the rails and on your back on every rep...no bouncing).



Conclusion:

So now that you know HOW it's done and WHY you should do it, the rest is up to you.

If you've hit a plateau in your strength, partial-range training is going to be KEY for pushing past your previous best numbers.

"Full range of motion" has it's time and place...partial-range training is another EXTREMELY valuable tool you need to have in your training toolbox.

To see the video of this exercise in action, check it out on my YouTube channel here.






And if you're interested in more "structural" training like this (and building more muscle because of it!), definitely check out my program "Mad Scientist Muscle"

In that book, I go into detail on how connective tissue training can skyrocket your growth potential in your ENTIRE body...this kind of training is incorporated directly into the program to help you set up maximum muscle growth.



Enjoy!

Nick Nilsson
The "Mad Scientist of Muscle"