The Angular Muscle Growth Principle
by Scott Sonnon, Master of Sport and Mike Locke, Master of Exercise Science
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I fought in my first World Games 17 years ago, and I lost the gold to my Russian counter-part. Silver may seem like precious metal to some, but I was defeated so effortlessly I didnât even deserve to be on the mat with my opponent â though Iâd been putting in 6-8 hours of training per day!
I refused to quit, because submitting would have meant losing more team points for the USA. In the Russian national fighting competition of SAMBO, if you donât tap, you get snapped â and so I fought the rest of the match with a broken arm.
I lost, but I learned a great lesson: youâve gotta step outside the box of conventional training if you want an edge.
Everyone knows that sport was a political platform during the Cold War, and the Russians spent a lot of money to be the best. The âfringe sciencesâ of the former Soviet Union did dabble in the Big Pharma of performance enhancing substances, but their dedicated research also uncovered some real gems and developed superhuman athletes.
Through years of petitioning, I became the first American to formally intern in the Soviet Union âthink tankâ of special forces trainers, Olympic coaches and Cosmonaut medical researchers. And I brought back radical new concepts for my teams in the West, and of course, for my own vindication.
The 2010 World Martial Art Games will be held in Las Vegas in September, and at 40 years old, I will represent the USA one final time. Iâm exploiting all the training technologies that defeated me almost 20 years ago, but this time against fighters half my age.
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Iâve used these approaches to win international championships in Russian Sambo submission fighting and in Chinese Sanshou kickboxing, but in Vegas Iâm fighting under a totally new set of rules: Sport Jiujitsu.
With Vinceâs support, and very much in line with the superb principles he presents in his outstanding Maximize Your Muscle program, Iâd like to share with you how I intend to take gold for my country and vindicate myself of that decades-old loss.
We all have gaping holes in our strength. Weâre like a sieve training to hold water. We leak force and hemorrhage power everywhere, because weâre weak in the angles we donât train.
Letâs take a moment to question some conventional training wisdom, and then Iâll present you with an exciting alternative.
Traditional training concepts focus on trying to isolate specific muscle groups to achieve strength increases, gain muscle mass, or build muscular endurance. This isnât the most effective way, because it doesnât reflect how the body hangs together.
If you look at the science behind how the human body actually functions, youâll immediately see that itâs impossible for the bodyâs musculoskeletal system to work in isolation. Thereâs no such thing as isolation, because movement is systemic throughout the entire body. Muscles, tendons, ligaments, fascia, and bone work together to create movement through multiple degrees.
Want to slap muscle on your bones in the fastest way possible, and without harmful drugs? The best way to do that is by creating a natural âanabolic environmentâ to promote muscle growth.
This happens naturally when we put translational movements â stepping front/back, stepping left/right, pressing up/down â together with rotational movements â tilting forward/backward, bending right/left, twisting right/left.
You can use this principle to stress the entire system by exercising different angles of movement. Youâll gain strength through each angle of course, but youâll also stimulate massive growth as well.
Program Design
Weâve put decades of research into this approach, and weâve used it to prepare thousands of troops for the field. Those years of experience gave us the ability to crunch the formula very quickly. But you can still approximate some of the science if you take the time to examine how the body moves and then create exercises that hit multiple angles and degrees of motion.
No matter what conventional strength training tells you, weâre not one-dimensional and we were never meant to move in straight lines. Weâre three-dimensional beings that operate through multiple angles, and our training must reflect that.
It isnât as simple as that of course, and program design can get complicated. Movements can be stressed individually or can be coupled with their compensatory opposite: i.e. each push angle complemented with the same pull angle. On top of that, we also manipulate load, duration, volume, angle, grip, and modality to obtain the desired result.
Too much information? Donât sweat it!
You donât have to spend years studying the biomechanics behind this principle. Weâre giving you a sample approach using movements you already know, so you can get your swole on right now.
Progressions
One more point about program design: itâs critical to incorporate angle-, modality-, and difficulty-appropriate progressions. It isnât enough to stimulate the system. You must also create an environment of achievable success.
Balanced programming mixes the appropriate level of work with the appropriate level of physical and technical ability to produce the desired effects. You donât just want to end your session with that happy tired glow of hard work. You also want to finish it challeged and itching to start again.
Each program design must be challenging, safe, and effective. Thatâs why we begin with simple, general, gross movements that over time become complex, specific and refined.
The sample program at the end of this article is very basic. You want to start with skills you already know, so you can drop it in tomorrow and immediately hit high intensity. But it isnât enough to just repeat the same workout week after week, pushing deeper into boredom and burnout. As you get better at the skills, youâll increase the complexity of the movements and keep the challenge factor high.
Technique
The load must be appropriate for an exercise to be effective and, more importantly, the technique must be sound.
Load and technique work in harmony. Solid technique will give you the greatest benefit. As your exercise technique improves and you develop that motor pattern, youâre able to achieve even greater muscle growth from the same exercise. Itâs because youâre capable of working deeper into that exercise, making it even more effective.
The formula is elegant. Itâs simple but not easy. Itâs locked and loaded with research and experience so my team and I donât have to think about what to do next. We just follow the formula and get the results.
Youâll see incredible gains from the sample program below. And youâll crave more.
With greater understanding comes greater benefit. Follow along with the formula we lay out in the complete TACFIT Mass Assault program, and youâll gain more muscle with each step you take along the four phases of progress.
Program and Exercise Examples
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