"Zone Training"...the concept was originated by Brian Johnston of IART and it’s VERY effective for completely overloading the entire range of motion of an exercise. It’s going to take regular glute exercises and help you squeeze every last DROP of glute growth out of them.
At it’s simplest, you’re going to break the range of motion of an exercise into two or three segments (i.e. zones) and work on those segments SEPARATELY, focusing on the first segment, then the second, then the third (if there is a third) in the order of how STRONG you are in those ranges of motion.
It’s a KILLER technique and, believe me, it will put TREMENDOUS overload on your glutes.
You see, the problem with regular reps over a full range of motion is that your leverage changes over the range of motion, i.e. you’re stronger at some parts in the range of motion than other parts because of how your bones and muscles are put together.
When you’re doing a full-range squat, you can only use as much as weight as you can get past the very WEAKEST point in the range of motion..usually a point just above the bottom of the movement.
So THAT is the only point in the exercise that’s getting fully loaded.
When you’re at the top, you could really use a LOT more weight because the leverage is much better. That’s what cam-based machines try and do - change the leverage of the exercise to match the strength curve of the exercise (the strength curve is a chart of that change in leverage, if you’re not familiar with the term).
It’s also what partial training accomplishes to some degree. By focusing only on a specific range of motion, you can target your weights to that specific range of motion. It’s how I can lift 1200 lbs on the top few inches of the barbell squat but have to use a whole lot less when doing full range reps.
Zone Training allows you to separate out those specific range of motion in the exercise but WITHOUT changing weights...you’ll use fatigue principles to change the resistance.
What THAT means in English is that you’ll do partial reps in the weakest range first (when you’re strongest) then in the middle range then, when you’re most fatigued, you’ll do partials reps in your STRONGEST range.
It may sound a bit confusing but once you see the sequence in an exercise, you’ll be able to get the meaning pretty quick. It’s a great concept and VERY effective.
You will be doing a total of 24 REPS of this Zone Training exercise - 8 reps in each segment of the range of motion for squats (3 segments) and 12 reps for lunge and one leg movements. Use a very moderate weight the first time you do this type of training. It’s tough stuff and you’ll burn out faster than you think.
So the first Zone that you start with is the WEAKEST segment of the range of motion of an exercise.
The main movement patterns in glute training are the squat and the lunge. With squatting movement (anything done with both legs at the same time), the weakest range is the bottom third of the range, from the bottom of the exercise to about 1/3 of the way up. With lunge and one-leg movements, it’s just below halfway up.
That’s the first zone and you’re going to begin by doing partial-range training in this weakest range of motion.
Here’s the key...you’re going to take ALL the momentum out of the exercise (there is a tendency to bounce with partial range training). You’re going to PAUSE for a FULL second at the top and bottom of the partial range of motion. This is going to make the movement look almost choppy and robotic...it’s purpose is to take the momentum OUT of the exercise and force tension onto the muscles and keep it there. Tension is what we’re after and bouncing works against it.
Do your 8 reps in this bottom range of motion, if you’re doing a squat. Do 12 reps if you’re doing a lunge or one-leg movement.
The second zone in a squatting movement is the middle 1/3 of it...just about where the sticking point is to about 2/3 of the way up.
In a lunge or one-leg movement, it’s the top half of the exercise.
Again, use the pauses in the movement on EVERY rep, top and bottom in the partial range of motion.
If you’re doing a lunge or one-legged movement, you’re done. If you’re doing a squat, finish up your last 8 reps in the top 1/3 of the movement...it’s the very strongest range of motion but by this point, you’ll be building up some serious fatigue and lactic acid and it won’t be easy!
By the time you’re done with all 24 reps, you will have maximally worked EVERY segment of the range of motion of the exercise. And believe me, your glutes will be TRASHED!
Zone Training sets you can insert this into any of the glute workouts from the main book. You’ll only need just one or two Zone Training sets for an exercise and you’ll only need one or two exercises to thoroughly work the glutes.
I would suggest starting with one set of one glute exercise to see how the exercise hits you. Then you can increase from there.
This is a technique you could use on the glutes once a week. I wouldn’t recommend using it more often than that because of how challenging it is on the recovery systems.