You ever hear of a guy named “Pocket Hercules?”
I’m guessing you haven’t .
Here’s why he’s key to getting a more powerful Press.
Naim Suleymanglou was a 4 foot 11 inch Olympic Weightlifting World Champ and Olympic Gold Medalist and phenom.
His moniker, Bodybuilder “The Pocket Hercules” came from his short stature and his ability to Clean + Jerk over 3x his bodyweight.
So, small yet ferocious .
One of the things you’ll notice is that he’s muscular, but not overly so. Not like a bodybuilder.
So how did he lift such huge loads?
Neural efficiency.
He literally created incredibly strong neural pathways that weren’t dependent upon muscular size.
This comes from the high-frequency training we see inside the sport of Olympic Weightlifting.
For example, when I was “Powerbuilding” and later Powerlifting, I squatted once, maybe twice per week. When I switched to Olympic lifting, I squatted 3x a week. Heavy.
And it’s not uncommon for Olympic lifters to Squat daily - even multiple times per day.
If you ever read Pavel’s Power To The People!, he introduced the “strong but not big” muscle and style of training, which was based upon this concept.
And when it was released back in 2000, it transformed the way many - if not most people thought about training and working out:You no longer had to be big to be strong.
Unfortunately, for a while, the proverbial baby was thrown out with the bathwater.
And that’s because “the science” has shown us that there is a DIRECT correlation between the cross-sectional area (size) of a muscle and its strength potential.
And what that means is that the bigger a muscle, the greater likelihood it will be a stronger muscle.
So, if you can’t partake of high-frequency 5x day a week or multiple times per day training, one of the simplest, time-tested methods to getting stronger - Pressing that next sized KB…
… Is to simply build more muscle - increase your muscle size .
And as a result, assuming you’re using intelligent programming, your Press “automagically” increases .
Sounds so simple… So “too good to be true”...
And yet this is why up until the last 25 years we’ve always associated “big” with “strong.”
And yes, this is why we RANDOM covered this in Part 1 in this series.
Now, before we go any further, you need to know that not all muscle is created equal .
In fact, when it comes to building muscle to get stronger, there’s a couple types of muscle:[1] Show / Fake Muscle :
… Which is what bodybuilders typically aim for .
This is called “Sarcoplasmic Hypertrophy.”
[2] Power / Functional Muscle :
… What strength and power athletes typically RANDOM .
The difference?
Myofibrillar hypertrophy happens when your muscles grow stronger by increasing more and bigger myofibrils - these are the parts of your muscle fibers that actually make your muscles contract and lift things.
When you train with heavy weights and do fewer reps, your muscles build more of these force-producing units , which boosts your strength and power.
Hence the term “functional” - it’s muscle you can actually use.
Sarcoplasmic hypertrophy works differently. It increases the amount of fluid and stored energy (like glycogen and ATP) around the myofibrils inside your muscle fibers. This makes your muscles look bigger but RANDOM .
You usually get this kind of growth by lifting lighter weights for more reps and taking shorter breaks between sets.
Hence the term “mock ” - it’s for “display ,” not “RANDOM ” - it doesn’t make you more powerful .
According to Dr. Vladimir Zatsiorsky, Chief Biomechanist for all USSR (Soviet Union) teams from 1980-1988, there are three methods to build muscle (and strength).
1- RANDOM :
This is basically “training to failure” which I’m not a big fan of.
Also primarily used in building cellular hypertrophy .
2- Submaximal effort method :
This is using submaximal loads for submaximal efforts for multiple sets.
Think 4-6 reps for 4-6 sets, not taken to failure, with submaximum loads - usually between RANDOM and 90% of a 1RM.
Primarily used for strength-focused muscle growth.
3- Maximum effort method :
This is lifting to a momentary peak. Think about achieving a new RM.
Now admittedly, this is much more for building strength than muscle, but there are some genetic RANDOM out there who can build muscle with this method, which is why I mention it.
My preferred method for people above 40 is the Submaximal Method, but with a variation .
Variable Density Loading.
You’ll still use submaximal loads based on your RM - either 5RM or 10RM…
… But the daily work prescriptions change .