Table Of ContentContents
Foreword by Richard A. Winett, Ph.D. xiii
Acknowledgments xv
1 What Are You Guys Trying to Prove? 1
Designing the SCRS 2
2 Why Static Contractions? 7
Muscle Growth: A Slow Process 9
The Role of Genetics 10
Skeletal Formation 11
Muscle Fiber Density 11
Muscle Belly Length 11
Metabolism 11
Physical Proportions 11
The Problem with Tradition 13
3 Progress and Overtraining 15
The Necessity of a Training Log 17
The Role of Intensity 19
Muscle Growth—Not an Easy Process 24
4 Muscle Building—a Look Inside 27
Contraction 28
The Big Picture 30
The Small Picture 34
The Root of Contraction 35
The Role of ATP 36
Early Research on Static Contraction 37
The Anaerobic Pathways 39
The Importance of Carbohydrates 39
Carbohydrates, ATP, and Muscle Contraction 40
Fiber Types 40
The Genetic Factor—Again 42
Static Contraction and Muscle Fiber Recruitment 42
5 Theoretical Principles of Static Contraction Training 47
The Theory 47
All or None 48
The Problem with Repetitions 48
Static Contraction Versus Isometrics 48
Why Static Contraction Is So Effective 51
6 The Results of the Static Contraction Research Study 53
The Subjects 53
Double Blind 53
Control Group 54
Analyzing the Data 55
Strength Gains 55
Aristotle Meets Galileo—Again 55
The Importance of Range of Motion 56
Size and Mass Gains 56
Frequency of Training 57
Results of the Study 58
The Second Study 60
Reduced Hold Times 61
Reduced Sets and Frequency 61
Results of the Second Study 61
Static Strength—Who Needs It? 63
More Research 65
7 The Static Contraction Workout 67
Static Contraction Defined 67
Range of Motion 68
Timekeeping and Reps 68
Sets 68
Write It Down 69
Important Safety Note 69
Exercise Descriptions 70
Alternate Exercises 81
Points to Keep in Mind 87
Frequency of Training 88
8 Optimal Nutrition for Static Contraction Training 91
The Various Nutrients 91
Eating More Isn’t the Answer 95
Eating to Build Pure Muscle 95
Determining Your Maintenance Need of Calories 97
9 Reality Versus Perception in Bodybuilding 101
Importance of Training—Reality 40%, Perception 10% 101
Importance of Rest—Reality 30%, Perception 5% 104
Importance of Diet—Reality 15%, Perception 30% 104
Importance of Supplementation—Reality 5%, Perception 50% 104
Importance of Equipment—Reality 10%, Perception 5% 107
Understanding Body Composition 107
Grade-Six Arithmetic 108
The Truth About Bodybuilding Supplements 110
Use of Psychological Manipulation 114
Truth in Packaging 116
Your Loss Is Their Gain 117
Who Can You Believe? 118
Supplements Are Just Food 118
Half-Truths Build an Industry 118
The Long-Term Effects 119
It’s Trademarked and Patented 120
Supplement du Jour 121
Let the Buyer Beware 121
The Real Challenge 121
Take This! It Works’ 122
Can’t You Say Anything Good About Supplements? 123
Drugs in Bodybuilding 123
10 Questions and Answers 127
Number-one mistake? 127
Number-two mistake? 128
Where is proper range of motion? 130
More often than conventional training? 130
“Super slow” reps? 132
Set to failure plus negatives plus static? 132
When static rep finished? 134
Law of specificity? 134
Is full range of motion necessary? 135
Is different angles necessary? 136
Static holds—with free weights or machines? 140
Did muscle need to confusion? 141
Nautilus machines unnecessary? 141
Exercise for mass, for shape, for definition? 141
High-reps for reduce waistline? 142
Is muscle damage necessary for growth? 142
Is muscle pump necessary for growth? 143
Can I train six time per week? 145
Can amino-acids enhance my recovery ability? 146
What about “instinctive training”? 149
Bigger muscles—slower muscles? 149
Can muscles turn to fat? 150
Is Static Contraction Training place inordinate stress on joints? 150
When I should return to full-range training? 151
Can I mixing cardio workouts with strength workouts? 152
Strength is grow—but size is not? 152
Where I can take your newest information? 153
Index 155
About the Authors
Peter Sisco is the coauthor of Power Factor Training (Contemporary Books) and
the innovator of the Power Factor and Power Index methods of measuring muscular
overload. His articles have appeared in every major bodybuilding publication in
America and in many foreign countries. He is also the coauthor of The Golfers Two-
Minute Workout (Contemporary Books), Power Factor Specialization: Chest and
Arms (Contemporary Books, Spring 1999), and the editor of Ironman’s Ultimate
Bodybuilding Encyclopedia (Contemporary Books, Summer 1999).
John R. Little’s articles have been published in every martial arts and health and
fitness magazine in America. He is the author of The Warrior Within and Bruce Lee:
Words from a Master (Contemporary Books), the coauthor of Power Factor
Training, The Golfer’s Two-Minute Workout (Contemporary Books), and Power
Factor Specialization: Chest and Arms (Contemporary Books, Spring 1999), and the
innovator of the static contraction method of strength training. In addition, Little is
the editor of the twelve-volume Bruce Lee Library Series (Charles E. Tuttle
Publishing) and the five-volume Inside Kung Fu Library Series. Little spent his
formative years in Agincourt and Muskoka and received his B.A. from McMaster
University in Hamilton, Ontario. He is happily married and the proud father of three
children.
Gain Up to 25 Pounds of Pure
Muscle Mass in 10 Weeks!
Peter Sisco and John R. Little
CONTEMPORARY BOOKS
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Sisco, Peter.
Static contraction training: gain up to 25 pounds of pure muscle mass in 10 weeks / Peter Sisco and John Little.
p. cm.
ISBN 0-8092-2907-2
1. Bodybuilding—Physiological aspects. 2. Muscle tone.
3. Muscle strength. 4. Muscle contraction. I. Little, John R.,
1960- II. Title.
RC1235.S57 1998
646.7'5—dc21 98-7262
CIP
Cover design by Todd Petersen
Cover and interior photographs copyright © Mitsuru Okabe Company.
Interior design by Hespenheide Design
Published by Contemporary Books
A division of NTC/Contemporary Publishing Group, Inc.
4255 West Touhy Avenue, Lincolnwood (Chicago), Illinois 60646-1975 U.S.A.
Copyright © 1999 by Peter Sisco and John R. Little
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by
any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of
NTC/Contemporary Publishing Group, Inc.
Printed in the United States of America
International Standard Book Number: 0-8092-2907-2
99 00 01 02 03VL654321
This book is dedicated to every person who is willing to apply reason, logic, and the
scientific method to discover truth. From Empedocles to Galileo to, perhaps, the person
holding this book, these are the people who insist on evidence, eschew dogma, help
discover new knowledge, and thereby improve the lives of all.
PETER SISCO
To a very boring logic professor from northern Ontario, whose bromidic lectures
caused me to daydream. For it was during one such reverie that Static Contraction
Training was born, thus proving the value—however serendipitous—of a formal
education.
JOHN R. LITTLE
Foreword
More than 30 years ago, as a teenager in search of more muscle, I decided to make a
greater commitment to my training and give it everything I had. I abandoned the program I
was doing two to three times per week that revolved around squats, pullovers, overhead
presses, chins, and dips and embarked on a much more ambitious program. Following the
conventional wisdom of the time and emulating some well-known physique stars, I began a
program involving 15 to 20 sets per body part and six training sessions per week. Overall, I
was doing about 300 sets per week and training almost 15 hours.
This foray into “advanced” training didn’t last very long. I recall being constantly sick
and dreading most of the monotonous workouts. I eventually returned to my more “modest”
workouts and made some outstanding gains.
At that time I just wasn’t smart enough to grasp, let alone fully understand, what my
experience should have told me about the principles of effective training. My mind was still
fixated on the notion that the more sets I could do and the more pumped up I could get—if
somehow I could stay pumped up all the time—the bigger and stronger I would get. Graduate
school, a professional career, and other interests always precluded returning to that ultimate
“advanced” routine.
Time constraints and some real sense that I just couldn’t do very high-volume training
generally kept me following what today would be considered a fairly basic high-intensity
training program consisting of 15 to 20 sets performed three to four times per week. This
training was always accompanied by running several days per week and then later by various
other types of cardiovascular training. I modestly improved on this type of schedule, but I
was constantly tired and sore.
Scientific principles, the writings of others, and my own experience suggested that there
must be logical next steps that could make my training even more efficient and effective.
For example, it’s likely that focusing my training on a handful of basic movements and
reducing the frequency of my cardiovascular training could increase my strength and
cardiovascular fitness—quite a turnaround from my weeks of performing 300 sets!
xiii
