…continued
As it has become apparent, Max-OT relies heavily on compound exercises. A compound exercise is a movement that involves more than one major muscle group. A compound exercise involves a “primary” muscle and one or more “secondary” muscles. Max-OT incorporates compound movements for the primary muscle involved. The overload benefits to the secondary muscles are a part of Max-OT, but only from a volume standpoint.
Here is a listing of Compound Exercises:
- Bench Press
- Incline Bench Press
- Shoulder Press
- Pull-ups
- Pull Downs
- Barbell Rows
- Cable Rows
- Squats
- Deadlifts
With compound exercises much more weight can be lifted. More weight – more overload. In fact, compound exercises allow far much greater weight to be used than non-compound or isolation exercises. This enhances efficiency. More weight, more overload, more muscle.
It’s important to take advantage of the increased power available with compound exercises
A major mistake I see many people make is trying to make an exercise more difficult. They do everything they can to work against the mechanics of their own body. They are under the false impression that the more difficult you make an exercise the more effective it is. Wrong!
Here are some examples of what people do to make an exercise more difficult:
- Bench pressing with their feet in the air
- Doing curls with their back against a wall
- Ultra slow reps
- Super strict form
The idea is not to make lifting the weight more difficult, the goal is to make lifting the weight more effective and more efficient at muscle fiber stimulation.
