Day 101: Why You Must Fine-Tune The Art Of Stripping!

G'day,

Today I will talk about 'stripping', don't worry I haven't changed the theme of this site! It is still G Rated. The stripping I am talking about relates specifically to weight-training. In a nutshell stripping allows you to maintain momentum in a fast-paced workout so you can maximize your physique transformation goals.

Stripping really comes into play when doing supersets, i.e. two exercises back-to-back with no rest between each set. To utilize the benefits of stripping you must prepare your 'workspace' in advance. This means you set-up your specific weight plates on barbells (or dumbells) in smaller increments so you can easily strip weights off the bar after each superset round.

For example, if you are doing 3 rounds of bench press and dumbell fyes as supersets you will more than likely fatigue your chest muscles by the 3rd round. If you do 40 kg's for bench press set up your weight plates in increments of 10, 5 & 5kg 's on each side of the bar. Having the 5 kg weight plates intead one 20 kg plate allows you to strip off the 5 kg weights easily in your rest period.

Likewise if you are doing dumbell flyes (targetting the inner chest) as the superset have multiple weight denominations set up next to your bench. For example, if you do 14 kg's on the first set prepare 2 more sets of dumbells at 12 kg's and 10 kg's to allow for a quick transfer.

This 'stripping' technique is especially important when you are on a fat loss mission (like I am) because you don't want to lose momentum during your workout. Every second of every minute in a weight training workout is critical. This way you can also use your rest period more productively, namely stretching and priming your muscles for the next superset.

Here are Day 101: M2 Day 11 pics for February 17, 2007