Throughout the bodybuilding ages, passionate participants and aroused onlookers have been witness to various reinforced gadgets, straps, supports and assists that will eliminate exaggerated effort and thus the meandering corners that destine our path to physical success.
If you run your finger through one of the many "Health and Fitness" classified sections in your local newspaper often you will observe there are as many second hand abdominal machines as there are call-girl numbers a couple of pages further back.
"Nearly new" or "only used once" are normally accompanying these ads indicating that they were either bought with intention instead of commitment or they simply didn't work; besides these pieces of equipment aren't designed for the home. Your place of dwelling is a place to relax and decompress with an array of distractions such as the T.V., telephones, visitors, children... the list goes on.
The gym has also had its fair share of "introduced relatives" to the good old fashioned free weights and weight machine to help support and protect the body whilst maneuvering it closer to our evolving summit.
Weight belts, knee wraps, arm blasters, training gloves, wrist straps, chalk, lifting hooks, are all commodities that gym goers - men and women have taken advantage of to get a 'leg up' on the rest.
Some forgotten, others found their place in an old wooden box sitting in a gym corner whilst others are used to this day to help forge champions and fulfill their dreams that were once thought unimaginable or at the very least unattainable.
Charles Glass
One man who has unintentionally become the number one authority to muscle manifestation I can best liken to what the boxing trainer Mick was to his protégé Rocky. I admit he doesn't make his students drink thunder in order to s*#t grease lightning, but its close.
Charles Glass has helped create the champion caliber of a list of great bodybuilder's whose names are as known and remembered as much as Monika Lewinski and Bill Clinton. Chris Cormier, Paul Dillet, Flex Wheeler and Gunter Schlierkamp are just a handful of his classroom attendees who flew from the amateur nest to win various Pro shows along the way.
| THE FIT SHOW |
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Charles Glass Trains Gunter.
Date: 9/28/2006
Superstar trainer Charles Glass trains chest with Gunter Schlierkamp as he prepares for the 2006 Olympia Weekend in Las Vegas, Nevada. Watch as Bob Cicherillo interviews the team as he works out.
Video Show 41 |
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Glass was never one to rely on fads or new machines and their support of the latest gimmicks but more so the knowledge he learnt of the body's anatomy and kinesiology to create new unfounded exercises to target muscles that were once thought unreachable.
His ability to adjust the body's position or the plane of movement is a result of the foresight he posses to strategically place muscle where needed while minimizing the use of others to transform into the perfect masterpiece, much the same as Michelangelo sculpting his David.
Click Image To Enlarge.
Michelangelo's David, 1504.
Flexsolate Straps
Being a bodybuilding writer who trains mostly in Gold's, Venice, I am often witness to many of Charles Glass's invention of technique and mastery but several months ago I noticed that he had many of his clientele use straps that I hadn't seen before. After several occasions of watching more and more of his students use these straps I finally walked over and questioned their use and ability.
After completing a back workout on a July afternoon I walked over to Gunter and probed him about the weird looking straps that were hanging off the Lateral pulldown bar he was using. "They are called Flexsolate straps and they allow you to isolate the targeted muscle 100%. Let me show you," smiled the 325 lb German.
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The straps were synch looped on the bar with a larger padded loop in which I placed my hands through. My initial thought was "how are these any different to the conventional wrist straps I use?" This was very simply and quickly answered. "You don't grip the bar or the straps" instructed Gunter, "In fact you just let your hands relax."
As I pulled down on the straps my first thought wasn't about how strange it felt having a free range of motion in my wrists but at how weak I was. Basically these simple free hanging straps isolate the muscle to such a degree that all other stronger assisting muscles are shunted to the wayside.
Another technique that Charles had instigated into Gunter's simple pulldown movement was too have him supinate his hands on the concentric (positive) part of the exercise whilst pushing his elbows down and forward to ignite the upper lats even more.
After going through several other exercises with Gunter I looked at these simple straps and said "I can't believe someone hadn't thought of these before." A laughing Charles and Gunter shared with me that they spoke the exact words when they had came across them at a bodybuilding show months prior.
Click Image To Enlarge.
Gunter Schlierkamp Endorses Flexsolate Muscle Isolation Straps.
Building My Back & Delts
I myself am a competitive bodybuilder and only the month prior to my introduction of these straps I had finished second in the FAME Natural World Bodybuilding Championships. When I questioned the judge's decision they kindly informed me that I needed more back thickness, width, and more caps to my deltoids.
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No matter what training principle I adhered to I could never feel a clear mind muscle connection within these two areas of importance. With this in mind I made contact with the manufacturer of the Flexsolate straps After I contacted them via their website (www.flexsolate.com), they kindly sent me the straps and an instructional DVD.
Click Image To Enlarge.
I Needed More Back Thickness,
Width & More Caps To My Deltoids.
I was amazed that there were over 50 exercises that I could muster with these things, although my main concern was the Judiciaries objection of my back and delts.
After watching the DVD and getting some advice from Charles I was amazed at how centralized I was feeling my back soreness. The weights I was using were embarrassingly more on par to what I used when I had just started out but as Charles would say,
"Your Muscles Have No Idea What Poundage Is Written
On The Weights Stack So Don't Let It Bother Your Ego."
My shoulders had a field day massacre when it came to torturing the side, front and rear deltoid muscle. Attaching the straps to a low pulley I placed my hand all the way through the loop allowing my hand to fall limp.
Workouts Utilizing The Flexsolate Lifting Straps:
A small correction of relaxing the hand like this has an unbelievable effect on the muscle when performing side, front and rear cable raises. The isolation is so pronounced that you cannot feel any crossover onto any other part of the shoulder whatsoever.
Following seven years of bodybuilding, the new lease of life my muscles were receiving was as satisfying as a cheat meal on a contest diet. Not wanting to saturate my good fortune - after four weeks of using the straps to isolate my biceps, triceps, shoulders and back I decided that I would solely use them on my visibly weaker muscle groups (back and shoulders) on a one week on and one week off training split.
Initially I found it very hard to lighten up on my resistance as I am a true advocate of heavy duty training principles but the shock, localized soreness, the isolation I could feel within my muscles and the results Charles Glass was experiencing with his clients, were enough to sway my decision to stick it out on the lighter end of the weights rack.
| THE FIT SHOW |
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Charles Glass Trains Hollywood
Date: 11/09/2006
Superstar trainer Charles Glass trains Jerome 'Hollywood' Ferguson just days before the 2006 Nationals. Gunter Schlierkamp makes a special appearance during the show.
Video Show 44 |
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The Results
Every four weeks I made an appointment with myself to stand under the unrelenting lights of the posing room within Gold's gym. On the first visit I wasn't sure if I had made any improvements in this area and was more or less a convinced skeptic if there was any such improvement.
However on the second visit I was convinced that I was heading on the right track. More noticeable than anything was the size of my waist. I was sure that my midsection had drastically reduced and my v-taper was enhanced from my new found lat width and shoulder girdle.
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To my amazement my waistline measurement was exactly the same as months prior but due to my added width and X-frame enhancement the illusion my physique was starting to transpire was one that was well received.
If you have trained consistently for many years, such an improvement in a small time frame is very rare indeed and can do huge things for your passion and confidence within the weights room.
Conclusion
Two months on I am continuing to improve and am well on the road to debunk the judging panel's assertions of weakness. I predict that Flexsolate straps are here to stay and will continue to grow in popularity, especially with the rapidly increasing population of professional, amateur and recreational athletes in the USA. Don't just take my word for it, try these straps yourself.
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