The Triple Threat Workout: Bench, Squats, and Deadlifts.

 Pussification (noun): the state in which a society becomes less and less tough. This noun's originator is from the famous comedian George Carlin. Carlin was in concert and he talked about "Pussification of Society" in which men were becoming soft and basically to put in bluntly, he thought men were became "pussies!"  Carlin laughs about when he was younger he actually swam in the Hudson River full of raw sewage and not once did he or any of his friends get sick because they were damn tough!   Much like Carlin's comedy, there is a growing trend in gyms that is downright scary, some gyms have started a "No Grunting" policy in the gym that prohibits grunting when lifting heavy weights.  This could be a new slogan, "The Pussification of Weight Rooms!"  What kind of society is this where you can't go to a gym and grunt?  In addition to men not being able to grunt, one trend that is growing that also could be placed in the "The Pussification of Weight Rooms!"  is the "all machine workout!"  Weightlifting was founded on free weights!  Look at the early strong men, they lifted huge kettle bells and did basic lifts like bench press, squats, and deadlifts.   There is an interesting training program called Dinosaur Training in which the author recommends just the basics for increases in strength and muscle mass: squats, deadlifts, and bench press. You almost have to be like Indiana Jones and go find a lost city to find workouts that include these three hardcore lifts to date.  To be honest, most gyms today don't even have a deadlift platform which is built for heavy deadlifts.  Everything is machine bench press, hammer strength, Nautilus, and pulley's, but we are forgetting the basics which gets you the raw power.  If you go into any college or professional weight room, you will see tons of free-weight squat racks and bench presses, there are some machines but a majority of the lifts are on free-weights. Why? That's because football players want to be big and strong and to be able to feel like a Mac Truck on the field....if you are looking for a easy cookie cutter workout, then you can just flip to another article because it takes guts and hard work to perform the Triple Threat Workout.  The triple threat workout is based around three movements: the bench press, squat, and deadlift.   So why do so many people like doing machines then..well...plain and simple..machines are easier! But if you want to jack up your testosterone, nothing is going to do it more than these 3 exercises!

Testosterone Increases with Large Muscle Mass Exercises (Bench, Squat, and Deadlifts).

Testosterone levels are also influenced by the amount of muscle mass activated in response to exercise.  Olympic lifts, jump squats, and deadlifts all produce large increases in testosterone^1,2.  As much as bench is consider a power movement, to get your testosterone levels skyrocketing...get under a squat bar.  Although most people would rather perform a bench press than jump under a squat bar, the bench press is not going to increase testosterone production like a squat.  The Squat truly is the "King of All Exercises!"  For example researchers investigated the effects of 5 sets of 10 repetitions of bench press versus 5 sets of 10 repetition jump squats, with 2 minutes rest between sets in 12 resistance trained men. Testosterone was raised higher following the jump squat (15 %) then the bench press (7%). This suggests that exercises which recruit the most substantial amounts of muscle tissue will cause the greatest increases in testosterone². It also reinforces the order of exercise principles. Generally exercises that recruit large muscle groups (squats, deadlifts, bench press) should be performed before isolation exercises (leg extensions, lat pull downs, pec flyes).

As testosterone is concerned, the larger exercise may raise testosterone levels and exert its effects on the smaller isolation type exercises.   It has been suggested that large muscle mass exercises be performed prior to small muscle-mass exercises. The performance of large muscle-mass exercises (i.e. squat,  deadlift, bench press) early in the workout produce elevations in testosterone, which  potentially may expose smaller muscles to a greater response than that resulting from performance of small muscle mass exercises only. For example, one study measured muscle strength changes in the bicep strength following 9 weeks of resistance training. However, one group performed a workout consisting of bicep curls only and a second group performed squats prior to bicep curls. Performing bicep curls exercises only failed to acutely elevate testosterone significantly. However, testosterone was significantly elevated when squats were performed first, and muscle strength increased to a greater extent as well when both lower- and upper-body exercises were performed. These data provide support for performing large muscle mass, multiple-joint exercises early in a workout and smaller muscle mass exercises later in the workout when training to enhance muscle strength.

Dynamic power schemes, often employed to maximize explosive power have also produced significant androgen responses. Dynamic power schemes, often employed to maximize explosive power and functional performance, have also produced significant androgen responses. For example, total (18%) and free TST (30%) increased in response to half-squat lifts performed with a load of 50% 1RM⁴. If you are looking to put on size and strength walk right past that leg extension to the squat rack.  Testosterone levels did not increase from pre to post exercise for younger and older men to upper and lower body isolation-type (leg extension) resistance exercise on a Nautilus machine consisting of 3 sets of 10-repetitions⁵.   Contrary to these finding, significant increases in testosterone responses of older and younger men in response to a high intensity large muscle mass squat (large muscle mass) protocol⁶.

Now that you understand that getting bigger and stronger is all about activating more muscle fibers during a workout, and nothing is going to get those muscle fibers screaming like bench press, squats, and deadlifts.   I am going to also include the latest research on how to get the most out of these lifts as well.

• Get Psyched: Many time I see guys getting ready to get under a bench and they look like they are getting ready to fall asleep!  Other are talking on the cell phone or reading the newspaper..WTF?  You have to get under the bar realizing, I have a 315 pounds getting ready to crush me if I don't drive this weight up!  Powerlifters go to the extreme and smack themselves in the face or even sniff smelling salts (i.e often used when a boxer gets knocked out).   Getting psyched up before a lift is clinically validated to increase raw bench press power.  One study took resistance trained men, and specifically told men to get "psyched up" while another group was distracted from focusing.   After psyching-up, participants produced greater force in the bench press than when they had engaged in the distraction or the placebo conditions. In this study, they found that psyching-up led to an 11.8% increase in bench press compared to the distraction condition and  an 8.1% increase over the placebo condition⁷.  Based on the results from 7 studies, Tod, Iredale, and Gill  estimated that psyching-up leads to a 12% increase in strength compared with control conditions⁸.   If you want to get a bigger bench, get psyched up and if you want to be a good workout partner, get your partner motivated and push him!

• Push Past the Failure Zone: Many times in the gym, people like to stop their bench press right  when the pain begins. Researchers had men train on the bench press and were divided into 2 groups: those who trained to absolute muscular failure and those that trained to just short or failure for six weeks.   The major findings of the study were that the group training to failure experienced  substantially larger gains in raw bench press power than the group who did not train to failure. The findings clarify the role of training leading to repetition failure in strength training⁸.

• Get Hooked on Bench Press: It is well established that eccentric overload can result in increased strength.  A revolutionary lifting accessory called a detaching lifting hook with allows a person to hang a weights on a bench press and when the device hits the floor it releases allowing the weight to lighten so the lifter can explode.  For example, you load 225 on the bench and then with the Power Hooks (Power Recruit Inc., Hautzdale, PA), you can load an additional 25 pounds on the device.  As you lower the weight, you are lowering 245, and then as the device hits the floor and releases, you lift 225 up.  So how much can you expect to increase your bench with these Power Hooks?  One study reported that using the hooks, all subjects who completed the study increased their 1RMs by 5 to 15 pounds¹⁰ .

• Chains for Better Bench Press: A new trend for increasing bench press strength is hanging chains off the bar.  The science behind hanging chains on the bench press is learning to explode from the chest position.  Enhanced strength with chain-loaded resistance has been speculated to occur from an improved rate of force development because of lifting lighter loads near the bottom of the bench press, resulting in greater bar acceleration¹¹.  In one study, one group of men was assigned to chain resisted bench press while the other group was assigned to standard barbell bench presses.  At the end of the study, both groups demonstrated similar gains on the plate-loaded test, but the chains resistance group increased 24 lb above the improvement demonstrated by the plate loaded group. Additionally, the chains placed less shoulder stress on the benchers, so if you have bad shoulders, using chains may be the way to go.

Squats:

Squats are often called the "King of Exercises" because of the large amounts of muscle groups it activates.  Michael Jocson, P.T., M.S., O.C.S., C.S.C.S., owner of Jocson Strength & Conditioning, in Howard Beach, N.Y. commented that, "The squat is perhaps the most effective weight-training exercise for total-body development. The legs may be moving the body, but it takes a stable trunk and strong upper body to provide a foundation in which the legs can produce force. This is especially true when you start adding weights to your squats. Whether it be a back squat, front squat, split squat or overhead squat, many muscles of your whole body work in concert in order to lower and raise your center of gravity." Most people will choose leg press or leg extensions as they are no doubt easier to perform, but if you are not squatting, you may be missing out on some serious gains in strength and size.

Squats Increase Total Body Strength

Research does support that acute increases in anabolic hormones (GH & Testosterone) can enhance strength gains.  Protocols using moderate to heavy resistance, but multiple sets of 10–12 repetition maximum, and shorter rest periods (1–2 min of rest between sets and exercise) have been shown to produce higher concentrations of both anabolic hormones than during heavier resistance (1–5 RM), longer rest periods (±3 min), and fewer sets (1–3). Furthermore, it has been demonstrated that the increases in anabolic hormone response is proportional to the size of the muscle being exercised (i.e. Squats will always result in greater acute anabolic hormone responses than leg extensions)^13,14.   Researchers from Denmark questioned whether the acute anabolic hormone response had any effect on increasing muscle strength.  They had young males perform a rather unusual training routine.

• One group trained only performing bicep curls.  They performed 4 sets of seated biceps curl at 60% of 1 RM were followed by 4 sets of standing biceps curl at 60% of 1-RM.  A total of 8–12 repetitions were performed in each set with a minute and a half rest between sets.
• The other group trained both arms and legs. They performed the exact same arm protocol but they included legs at the end of their routine.  Four sets of seated leg press at a 10 repetition maximum were followed at the end of the routine.

The subjects performed the routine for nine weeks and had isometric arm strength testing performed at the end of the study. Resting hormone levels remained unchanged for both groups at the end of nine weeks. Plasma testosterone as well as plasma cortisol increased significantly in the group training arms and legs but not in group who just trained arms. Plasma GH rose in all exercise tests, however plasma GH increased significantly more in the legs and arms group. The main finding of the study is that there is a larger relative increase in isometric strength when anabolic hormonal responses (GH and testosterone) are enhanced by training a larger muscle group additional to strength training of the arms¹⁵. This indicates a link between the magnitude of hormonal responses and strength improvement, occurring within hormonal levels that can be activated physiologically.

Be a Man: Ditch the Smith Machine

Free weights squats are generally preferred over machines by body builders and strength-trained athletes because they are thought to provide a more unstable exercise, requiring a greater recruitment of trunk musculature. Go into any college or hardcore gym and you will find loads of squat racks and very few Smith Machines.  Machines, however, are easier to use by beginners and require spotters less often than free weight exercise.  You may think you are getting a good leg workout on a smith machine but scientists will disagree with you.  Researchers from Canada hooked of sensors all over men's legs and had them perform free weight squats or smith machine squats.  They found a 43% higher muscle activation during the free weight squat compared to the Smith machine squat. Activation of the knee extensors and hamstrings were higher during free weight squat, whereas activation of the trunk stabilizers was similar across the 2 exercises. This indicates that the free weight squat may be superior to the Smith machine squat for training the major muscle groups of the legs and possibly would result in greater strength development and hypertrophy of these muscle groups with long-term training¹⁶.

Become Plastic Man for Better Squats!

I am referring to the use of plastic bands of course for better squat strength.  Another reason linear variable resistance, as provided by elastic resistance, is beneficial is due to what is known as the strength curve of muscles. The linear variable resistance provided by elastic tubing better mimics the strength curves of most muscles.  A strength curve refers to the way a muscle’s or muscle group’s strength changes over a range of motion. Because of their anatomy, most muscles increase in strength over the range of motion until a certain point. Again using the squats as an example, as squat from the seated position, the muscle gets stronger up until about the halfway point of the range of motion. Thus, the leg muscle's is weakest at the start of the exercise and strongest at the halfway point of the exercise. When doing a squat with a free weight, the individual is limited to how much resistance he can use by how strong the squats are at the beginning of the exercise (its weakest point). That means that during the squats, the muscle is not receiving adequate resistance when the muscle is in its strongest point in the range of motion. When performing a squats with elastic tubing, however, the resistance increases as the range of motion increases. This means the muscle is receiving greater resistance at its strongest point in the range of motion and therefore is receiving more adequate resistance to better stimulate strength adaptations. One study reported in the Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research, that when athletes used elastic band training in addition to free-weight training they had significantly more leg power than when they only utilized free-weight training¹⁷. A recent study also reported in the Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research reported that bands kick ass for increasing strength!  Athletes were randomly assigned to 1 of 3 training groups: heavy resistance/slow movement, lighter resistance and fast movements, or fast movements with accommodated resistance which consisted of incorporating bands. Three weeks of accustomization (12 training sessions) were included prior to testing, during which time exercise technique was taught and basic fitness trained. The results of this study demonstrate a definitive advantage to training with faster movement speeds with the inclusion of bands for the development of lower-body power among collegiate athletes. These results support the notion that squats can be improved through the use of variable resistance training with elastic bands. It appears, based on the fact that those athletes training with bands increased both strength and power¹⁸.

Deadlifts

Dead Man Walking- World renowned Russian strength coach Pavel Tsatsouline wrote in his book, that if he had to choose one exercise to perform it would not be the squat, but the barbell deadlift.  The deadlift recruits not only the legs, but the arms, abs, and lower back as well.    It has been reported that significant increases in testosterone occur after deadlights in college age men; however, maximal and submaximal efforts in the bench press resulted in smaller increases in testosterone³ you can still perform isolation exercises such as bicep concentration curls, just perform these exercise after the larger exercise.  For example, if an athlete performs squats before biceps curls, the biceps may be exposed to higher levels of circulating testosterone. The deadlifts is just about the hardest exercise you can perform because it recruits so many different muscle groups.  The deadlift is a compound movement that works grip strength, and the primary muscles used in the deadlift are the erector spinae, the gluteus maximus, adductor magnus, hamstrings, quadriceps, and the soleus. The remaining muscles are involved in stability control. It is, in a sense, the purest single event test of strength because it is one of the few lifts of dead weight (weight lying on the ground). In most other lifts there is an eccentric (lowering the weight) phase followed by the concentric (lifting the weight) phase, the deadlift is just a concentric movement.

Sumo or conventional: There are two different lifting styles: conventional deadlifts and sumo style deadlifts.  Sumo style is used with a wider stance in which the lifter grips the bar with the arms placed on the inside of the legs. Conventional style deadlifting involves foot placement at approximately shoulder width apart and gripping the bar on the outside of the legs¹⁹.  Conventional style deadlifts tend to place more stress on the lower back, whereas sumo style deadlifts  with a more erect and upright back alignment that allows for greater recruitment of the hip muscles to perform the lift²⁰.  The sumo lift is probably the safer of the two styles as it is more biomechanically safer.  Another advantage is that the bar has to try a shorter distance as the legs are spread apart and its less distance for the bar to travel.  One study found that sumo style deadlifting can reduce bar travel by nineteen percent compared to conventional deadlifts¹⁹. One important tip to always remember when doing deadlifts is to keep the bar as close to the body as possible (bar should be as close to the chins as possible) which will increasing force production as the result of a greater mechanical advantage²¹.

Deadlift Variations:

• Deadlifts off of blocks- Deadlifting while standing on a block, several rubber mats, or plates is employed to increase the range of motion you need to go through in order to complete the lift. Typically, the height ranges between one and four inches.  A benefit for lifting on blocks is that if your sticking point is coming off    the ground, deadlifting off a block will increase your strength when you return to pulling off the ground.

• Rack Deadlifts- Performed in a squat cage, rack deadlifts are performed by starting in the squat cage and you bend down and perform a partial deadlift.  The rationale for this is that since many lifters experience a sticking point high in the deadlift, by loading up the bar and pulling from this raised position, you’ll increase your strength at the sticking point.

• Deadlifts with bands and chains- You can also experiment with the use of bands and chains for increasing deadlift pulling strength and speed. 
  
  

You should be incorporating one variation of each of these movements in every workout.  Adding bands and chains keeps workouts from getting stale and adds variation.  The major benefit that comes from doing these exercises is, they are great mass and strength builders. All these exercises are compound movements that work much of your body. Incorporating these movements into your routine will definitely be worth the effort.

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