What is Under-loading?
Under-loading is where you take an exercise and specifically make it harder, which reduces the weight on the bar. There are many examples of under-loading that can be used effectively and there are different degree's of under-loading. As a general rule under-loading needs to be at least 10% from the regular amount you lift on a particular exercise.
Examples of Under-loading
Under-loading Squat: On a squat under-loading could be going from your competition low bar squat to a high bar squat, this will in most cases reduce the amount liftable, we can go steps further on under-loading, we could change the bar to a safety squat bar, we could keep going by adding in a 2 second pause.
Under-loading Deadlift: On a deadlift under-loading could be adding in a 2inch deficit increasing the range of motion and making it more leg dominant. Taking this a step further would be to do it beltless, and another step could be to add a 2 second pause at just below your knee.
Under-loading Bench: Bench Press tend's to be harder to under-load but one example of this is the "Larson Bench" This is a bench press where you put your feet straight out, which means you have no leg drive and are less stable while bench pressing. We could take this further by adding in a controlled negative and further by bringing your grip in closer.
The more under-loaded you make an exercise the more it tends to be less specific to the original lift due to variations and things that increase difficulty. This will effect specificity which we will go into later.
There are many ways on every exercise to under load you maybe thinking why under-load?
Why use Under-loading?
There can be many reasons to under-load. Here are a few of the reasons/upsides to utilizing this method of training.
Injury/Injury Prevention- You may have an injury which makes you unable to perform the movement as normal, for example a knee injury could prevent you from doing normal deadlifts but less stress on the knee from a RDL or stiff leg deadlift might be fine and allow you to keep training or you could be using it as injury prevention because continuing progress on a particular lift or trying to push it too far depending on where you are in a training cycle could lead to injury.
Recovery- It maybe that going really heavy on an exercise week in week out is effecting your joints,ligaments and tendons, so under-loading will allow you to give these a break or a different angle or range of motion while still challenging the muscles.
Adaption- You may have found that your training is not producing the results that you had hoped and you need a new stimulus to cause adaptions. Your body will only change and adapt to what it needs too, and it doesnt take long for your body to adapt to any given stimulus. Using under-loading could be a form of shocking a new stage of adaption. This will allow continued progression and is one of the methods used by Westside Barbell.
Weakness Targeting/Muscle Targeting- You may find that when under-loading you struggle more than you should on a particular variation this could be due to a muscle weakness, or you may need to improve a muscle in order to improve your main competition lift an example of this could be stiff leg deficit deadlifts in order to improve hamstring and lower back strength/tightness for your normal deadlift.
Fun- People always look for the best program the most optimal program, but one thing people forget is you need to enjoy training. It needs to be fun, a perfect program will be good scientifically but if you are not motivated and don't enjoy training the program will not work for you. You will tend to get the best results out of training when you are enjoying training and as humans we like variety. With under-loading you suddenly have many more lift's you are able to do and focus on to break the monotony of doing the same old lifts every training session
The Downsides to Under-loading.
Specificity- Because under-loading tends to be somewhat a variation , no matter how close to the original competition lift it's a variation or it has substantial differences to the competition lift. If you are coming up to a competition under-loading would not be recommended because it is not as specific as the lift trying to you're improve itself.
Movement Patterns- If you spend too long doing a form of under-loading that changes the movement pattern/technique of a lift you may find that it can effect your normal lift. An example is spending too long doing stiff leg deadlifts may make your muscle memory change slightly to favour using less legs in the deadlift.
Ignoring Muscles- You may find that doing a form of under-loading can neglect certain muscles in the chain. Spending too long on a particular under-loading may also lead to de-training of muscles in the movement that aren't being worked as much as on the normal competition lift. An example would be again a stiff leg deadlift could end up de-training your quad's which could effect your floor speed on the deadlift if done for long enough.
Strengthening Dominant Muscles- If you have a muscle that tends to take over in any movement pattern, you want to make sure you aren't targeting your strength's because this will just make it even more likely for that muscle to take over.
Rules over Under-loading
- Never under-load for too long.
- Under-loading must be at least 10% or greater.
- The further you under load the less specific you make the movement.
- Don't make the movement unnecessarily dangerous.
- Never fail- Leave some in the tank will keep you motivated.
- Repetitions work better than lower rep's.
- Keep the technique correct.
- Do not be afraid to do things you suck at.
