Ronnie Coleman's poor form

[guldukat]

I've seen both of his training videos and in each of them he does most of his lifts with a very limited range of motion. Example: during shoulder shrugs he moves his shoulders up about 1/2". During millitary presses and side raises, he doesn't even come close to locking out at the top. Same with bench presses.

True.

However he gets real deep with his squats and other leg exercises. He obviosly has to be doing something right because he is the #1 guy. I thought maybe he was doing the partial reps, to force his muscles to grow. (Like an advanced technique so he could pass a plateu) Or maybe because he is so large he just doesn't have the full range of motion others do. Or maybe because he is jacked up on so much damn gear, it really doesn't matter how far his range of motion is.

I dunno what do you guys think?

He's awesome, but actually I think his leg stuff ain't deep. His 800 lbs. squats were well above parallel, and he was in a squat suit.

And those 2,000 lbs.+ leg presses? Like I said, he's pretty much God among all bodybuilders, but they were disappointing. The weight was maybe moved 8", if that.

I'd probably kill to duplicate his performance, no kidding But I honestly think his deadlifts are waaaaaay more impressive than his back squats or LPs.

 

[TheOak84]

i really dont think his form matters since hes as big as he wants to be (and keeps getting bigger) and keeps winning titles. personally, hes ugly as fuck. old school bbers are the shit. wasp waists and OAK sized chests. ya know

 

[Prime Rib2]

personally, hes ugly as fuck. old school bbers are the shit. wasp waists and OAK sized chests. ya know

Couldn't have said it better myself....

 

[SAGAT]

probably one of the best things you could have paid attention too. Now that you know how to do the exercise you can manipulate it to where it puts more stress on the muscle and get more growth from it. Now people that start out with crappy form just look goofy.

i guess you're right. i see people doing curls sometimes like they're doing the hokey-pokey or something. sometimes i'm just waiting for their backs to snap in half. but when i see pumping iron or ronnie lifting and see their form, i dunno...it gets me thinking

 

[wutangnomo]

I don't think Ronnie Coleman's form is "poor". Basically Ronnie has mastered how to hit HIS muscles spot on. You have to realize that when he benches, presses, etc he is using a shitload of weight. When using that high amount of weight it doesn't matter if his reps aren't "full". The body doesn't really recognize a couple inches difference in extension/contraction, it simply sees it as "trauma" and with that amount of weight any kind of decent rep (that recruits the targetted muscle fibers) will be effective. Do you honestly think that benching 500 HUNDRED pounds doing a half rep, 3/4 rep, or full rep (or however many inches more he should have went) is going to make a world of a difference?

Just like his squat, he's got 800 HUNDRED pounds on his shoulders. It ain't exactly going to make any difference if he doesn't go down all the way.

If you are blasting the muscle and don't get injured, then that's good form to me. However, what is a considered good/bad form is extremely subjective because we are all built a little differently.

 

[maccer]

Ronnies hams are so big that although from front on it looks like he has not hit parallel if you look from the side he definitely hit parallel

 

[NYBodyguard]

most pros in the 70's had poor form, the few guys I know in the gym that all they do is watch their form are tiny guys that if they put a wig on they could pass as a woman.

no way to life your max using strict form, im agaist total sloppy form that when you work your bi you dont feel anything in the bi because its so heavy but with strict form its hard, yes some have done it but its not common.

 

[BrokerOnce]

Ronnies hams are so big that although from front on it looks like he has not hit parallel if you look from the side he definitely hit parallel

that's an interesting point actually, he doesn't have much space there betweeen calves and hams because all the muscle takes it up hahaha

 

[JoNeS]

Was watching the cost of redemption and checking his form again. He was doing barbell bench press on the normal bench rack. The one with 2 supports on each side of the rack that can hold the bar.

Anyway he pops the bar off the top, goes down to about 2" above chest, then presses to about the height where the bar was initially resting. His total range of motion looks to be about 8". And this isn't just with heavy weight, it's the same ROM with the 135lbs set, to the 495lb set.

I initially stated "he doesn't even come close to locking out". Yea I know you shouldn't lock out, depending on the exercise, you should extend as far as you can while still keeping stress on the muscle. The farther you extend the more muscle fibers you recruit.

All I'm saying is in 75% of ronnie's lifts he greatly limits his potential range of motion during a lift.

I'm actually thinking about adopting his training method for a few months and see where it takes me. Can anyone tell me why he does this training method vs. to getting a fuller extension, recruiting more fibers, and still keeping stress on the muscle while not locking out?

 

[wutangnomo]

most pros in the 70's had poor form, the few guys I know in the gym that all they do is watch their form are tiny guys that if they put a wig on they could pass as a woman.

no way to life your max using strict form, im agaist total sloppy form that when you work your bi you dont feel anything in the bi because its so heavy but with strict form its hard, yes some have done it but its not common.

lol

I have to agree with this post. It all comes down to stress. Lift big, get big! All the body realizes is stress. You have to constantly increase the weight to grow (or be able to rep out a higher weight), but there is a point where one cannot use "strict" form. PROPER cheating is then required. I'm not talking use sloppy form that can injure oneself, but after a certain limit you have to use a bit of momentum to either increase the poundage or add a few more reps in.