By Harry C.(Certified Sport Nutritionist, Fitness Trainer)
During the 10 years of my weight training and the total 18 years of my
fitness training I've come across various training methods.
During my university Years I've Discovered the compensatory
accelerationtraining method (CAT). The master and practically the
Discoverer of this training method is Mr. Fred C. Hatfield, Ph.D.
which in my opinion is one of the true experts in weight and athletic
training AND bodybuilding. The CAT theory was not yet fully developed
but I tried it anyway and the results in size and strength were phenomenal.
So I decided to take it one step further and chose it as a project for my
bachelor's degree in sports sciences.
In theory and real life this method has proven THE best training
or -should I say repetitions- method I've used over the years. It worked
perfectly on my personal training clients as well. Let me give you an idea
of what this method is about.
Imagine that you are in an elevator that comes down with 5m/h suddenly
the elevator rope broke and the elevator falls with 30m/h and at the moment
you say your prayer and ask God for forgiveness imagine that the elevator
suddenly and without stopping launches in the opposite direction (up) with
150m/h. What about you? You thought right! you would make a hole in the
elevator's floor because of the sudden vertical direction and opposite speed
change. This is the way CAT works.
Let's take for instance the bench press. With CAT you want to go
slow on the way down, then 5-8 cm before the bar touches your pecs
you will let the bar go down with more speed and the moment the bar
almost touch your pecs you explode the bar back up as fast as you
possibly can using strict form. The catch here is to go with 65 to
75% of your 1RM in order for this to work as compensatory acceleration
not speed. This helps the muscle to contract almost 1000 times harder
and recruit maximum muscle fibers in order to adapt in the
sudden weight and speed
I strongly recommend to apply this repetition technique in
compound (multi-joint) exercises like: Bench Press, The Squat,
Pull - Ups, Shoulder Presses etc. You can do it in single joint
movements too but it can put big stress on the joints.
Try this technique out for a couple of months and email me
with your opinion.
