Thread: John Little's Max Contraction

I think it may be productive to use maybe at the end of a set, or occasionally to help build strength/change your workout plan. I would not come close to recommending using it for a cycle or a regular routine.

Sounds like what you are talking about is somthing that has been around for a good long while.

Static contractions

Doggcrap (Dante) recommends these, and many powerlifters will use this and many more techniques to break through barriers. Mentzer also preached about static holds with big weights, not just at the end of a set with a little weight.

I use these occassionally for exercises to help build my power. I dont use little weights either, I use usually 2 times my max and hold for as long as possible. Works great to help push through a plateu, but what I meant was I wouldnt use them as a stand-alone routine.

Agreed. I'm a bit confused by his post but I think he means during the last set, not only one set - but again its a confusing post.

If it really means one set though, like HIT, its not something I ever bought into.

My brother actually bought 2 of his books because they were like 2 for 5 bucks at Barnes and Noble, and theyre decent reads on the john.

They have some pretty strange info. I remember reading that if you want to put on muscle, all you need to do is eat maintenence calories plus 17 extra cals, because thats all is needed to put on extra muscle.???

He also views things like 1 gram per pound for Protein requirements as wrong, and more than one max set as counter productive.

His foreward is actually by Mentzer. Very strange, but used sparingly, could be beneficial.. IMO.

17 calories for the whole body or what? I would venture hardly anyone fine tunes their diet within 17 calories per day unless they seriously eat the same things daily, and even then it is easy to mis-judge a cup by several dozen grains of rice and so on.

If he had Mentzer in there at least he didnt claim to invent any of this (neither did Mike).

I have been under sometimes under 1g per pound and I haven't lost a thing. I have been reading some of Duchaines stuff and he also thinks protein is overrated, however that people often eat poor quality sources of protein (he is not huge on it being 100% meat etc). Whey he was a huge backer of and thinks it should comprise 25% of your dietary protein intake.

Anyhow, what it comes down to for him is that calories primarily dictate bodyweight, quality of food to some degree dictate body makeup (GI index etc although he thinks it is not that uber important), and that as a whole protein intake is overrated for BBs and that those who should be eating more are endurance athletes like marathoners.

So it seems to be true for me, where in the past I went up to 520g of protein daily at one point, now I'm somewhere around bodyweight and sometimes even less.

There are other reasons to play with protein intake levels though, in short time periods people raise protein and play with glucose intake for pre-contest prep, lots of stuff there to play with.

His stuff was definitely strange. His books were very HIT oriented. Nothing wrong with HIT at all, but his close minded approach bothered me.

I just dont like people who believe there is only ONE way to train.

Actually I just found one of the books.. here is an exert...


"A pound of muscle tissue contains 600 calories. If you wanted to put on , say 10 lbs of muscle over a years time, that would require eating 6,000 calories... but not over a day, over a YEAR. That comes to about 16 extra calories per DAY over daily maintenence.


Ahh.. thats where I got the 16 cals from.

Static Conctraction ? Isn´t that what Charles Atlas used in some of his exercise?

Originally posted by Mudge
Agreed. I'm a bit confused by his post but I think he means during the last set, not only one set - but again its a confusing post.

If it really means one set though, like HIT, its not something I ever bought into.

Mudge, I've just looked at the book very briefly in a bookstore, and in that 1 glance I believe it is recommended to be just 1 set per exercise, not multiple sets and then holding the weight just at the last set. But I will have to read the book more thoroughly to be sure.

- Josh

Hmm, interesting. HIT is like that though, one working set.

Yes, Atlas was static contraction, pushing on walls/trees etc

The thing I do like about it, is the strength gains you see.

When Im on more of a strength training schedule, Ill do Static Contraction on the big 3 and it greatly improves my strength.

The good thing about it is you can use weight well over your normal max because static holds and static contractions use your muscles strongest range of motion. For instance, on a static hold, I can hold up near 400lbs on a bench press for maybe 10 seconds in a power rack.

Good change of pace in my workouts.

Originally posted by camarosuper6
The thing I do like about it, is the strength gains you see.

How about for hyperthrophy? Would max or static contraction effective for making muscles bigger?

- Josh

Statics are good for people who are stuck in a certain portion of the repetition. Powerlifters do 4/5 board presses often, because that is where they need to be strong in the bench. The lower part is covered by the shirt.

One thing though that may be of interest, a lot of people with powerlifting backgrounds - are often the biggest in the gym. Same with the pro bodybuilders, the bigger guys are those that often lift heavy.

Dont let Ronnie Colemans video fool you, he doesn't do high rep work all the time. When getting close to a contest a lot of guys who are dieting down, low on energy and trying not to get injured (lots of winstrol and so on) will lift lighter, but Ron still pushes the big numbers because he lifts hard and it shows. Ron will squat 840 for reps and deadlift it too.

Same for Dorian, Mike Francois, and Franco Columbo - all heavy lifters who were incredibly thick.