isometric or something else ??

[morbicid]

i've been doing a new lifting technique that a friend showed me... but i was wondering what type of training it IS

i factored it into my "one day a week" weight training and have been making steady gains

on bench (for example) -

i do three slow reps then hold the bar at the half way point. i hold for about 15 seconds then have a spotter start pushing DOWN on the bar slowly until i cannot resist anymore and the bar almost touches my chest. ( at that point i need help getting it off me). i do this twice

i incorporated this technique into other excercises and have noticed that i am more sore than normal for several days. also have noticed more muscle twitching in between workouts - like while laying bed (which is cool). does anyone think this workout is good / bad / dangerous ???

[Vash]

I'm still not clear on the cause of muscle twitches which result from something other than impeded neural stimulation, so I'm not going to comment on that.

It sounds like you're just doing something akin to negatives. However, I'd highly recommend AGAINST HAVING THE SPOTTER PUSH DOWN ON YOU WHILST ATTEMPTING BENCH PRESS. He does that hard enough, you're gonna lose control of the bar, then you get some nice smooshed ribs/collerbone/fugged up shoulders/possible fugged throat outta the deal.

Also, if you're staying painfully sore, then you might wanna rethink your training techniques/methods. Short term gains don't mean $hit when weighed against long-term damage of the body.

[Toby]

IMO training once a week will increase your propensity for soreness anyway. But yeah, why not do heavy negatives? You've got a spotter there with you, so load up the bar, get him to help you unrack it and lower it slowly. I recall reading that you are able to lift 130-140% of your concentric phase on the eccentric, so you should really be able to get some heavy weights on there. Obviously don't just load it straight up with 140%, experiment first to find out a safe weight :D.

As to isometric lifting, where's Iron? He'll give you a lecture on ROM and why isometric lifting isn't so good. Ford will too IIRC although sadly he hasn't been coming around much anymore :(. That's married life, I guess.