Cheating: Muscle-Building Shortcut or Strategic Advantage?

By: Josh Bryant

Chuck Sipes

In the heart of Nashville, off Trinity Lane, there was a Waffle House (now permanently closed) where Wild Bill reigned as the chef.

But, his skills extend beyond the grill. Wild Bill’s a legend at the poker table, notorious for his cunning hand-muck techniques. He’d shuffle with a smile, then slyly slip cards up his sleeve, leaving pimps, pushers, and everyone in between penniless.

Cheating wasn’t just about cards; it was a way of life for Wild Bill, a hustle where he took everything without breaking a sweat.

In the case of Wild Bill, cheating was breaking the rules to gain unfair advantage in a competitive situation; “cheats” notoriously want something for nothing! 

In bodybuilding the opposite is true, assuming cheating is not just mindlessly using momentum to heave barbells; cheating requires more effort and makes an exercise much harder. “Master Blaster” Joe Weider felt so strongly about cheating he classified it as an illustrious “Weider Principle”. Weider advocated cheating to swing a weight past the sticking point at the end of a set in order to add stress to the muscle being worked.

Cheating Advantages

Properly-applied cheating can benefit the serious, muscle-building and aesthetic-oriented trainee by pushing a set past failure, ergo increasing muscle stress and providing a psychological boost of training by using a heavy weight for a few extra reps.

Video reference I made on “cheating” for bodybuilding.

Cheating Disadvantages

There are a couple potential pitfalls when it comes to cheating for physique-building purposes.  The crux of cheating is the elimination of stress from the targeted muscle and transfer of the load to other muscles. This is a major negative if you cheat too quickly in a set or cheat too hard and transfer too much work to the wrong muscle(s). The other obvious is the chance of injury increases even with proper application. 

Cheating for the Powerlifting

With the potential bodybuilding benefits of cheating, many will be surprised to learn, in rare instances, the powerlifter can benefit from occasional cheating.  I am going to answer the: who, what, when, where, and why when comes to cheating for the powerlifter.

Who

Only very advanced powerlifters with great lifting technique stand to derive any benefit from cheating.  If you question if this is you, it’s not!  If you are not 100 percent confident do not cheat.  For cheating to be an option, one must be injury free and have great kinesthetic awareness.

What and When

Strength is a skill.  Powerlifters strive to build a groove and perform the squat, bench press and deadlift over and over the same way.  Every rep performed properly builds the skill of strength in the competition lifts. The way to Carnegie Hall is practice, practice and more practice; the same holds true with powerlifting technique and making it to the highest level in the sport.  Cheating is not building a proper motor pattern, it is about further stressing a muscle; stressing muscle in competition lifts is secondary to technique.  Under no circumstances ever cheat on the competition lifts!  Avoid cheating on sort-of-heavy squats, presses or other movements that require a major stretch like flys or stiff-leg deadlifts. 

Where

Powerlifters should reserve cheating for one to two sets each training session.  Never cheat under any circumstances on deloads (deloads are to reduce stress, cheating is to increase it). Some assistance exercises advanced powerlifters potentially derive a benefit from cheating are:

• Various Deltoid Raises
• Dumbbell Rows
• Curls
• Triceps Pushdowns
• Lat Pulldowns

Why

If you are not sure why to cheat or on what exercises, don’t!  Cheating should be used to make an exercise harder, to work the targeted muscle harder.  Cheating is used to benefit the competition lifts by making supporting musculature bigger and stronger, not to break records in secondary movements while increasing joint stress. 

Final Thoughts

When it comes to training for strength, the right kind of cheaters prosper, the wrong kind quickly become acquainted with the local orthopedic surgeon!

If you have doubts about cheating, don’t do it because the risk will not justify the benefit.

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