Advanced Exercise Techniques and Exercise Intensifiers
When we have finally reached the peak of our strength efforts, various intensity techniques can be employed to perpetuate the growth cycle.
The best intensity techniques to encourage muscle and strength gains are rest/pause, drop sets, supersets, and negative rep training.
The objective with each of these is to compound the amount of stress a muscle encounters in the course of regular training by combining and intensifying common training methods to create muscular failure at its most extreme and effective.
The Rest-Pause is done after completing a set and reaching perceived muscular failure (the point at which the lifter feels another rep cannot be safely completed in good form), by resting for 15 seconds, then perform one more rep. This can be repeated 2-3 times, or more, depending on what you feel like doing. This allows you to basically add 2-3 more reps per set, pushing your muscles past its initial point of failure and increasing the stress and therefore adaptation response and therefore becomes larger and stronger.
Descending Sets or drop sets are another great intensity enhancing technique. To perform a drop set, immediately after completing your last rep on an exercise; reduce the weight enough to allow you to complete the same number of reps you just performed for your primary set, and rep out the lower weight. This can be done for one additional set, up to as many as you want or are able to complete, though two drop sets per main set is typical. You can also utilize this to focus on strength gains by dropping the weight only slightly (5-10 lbs or more, depending on the total weight your working with) so you can extend the set and complete 2-5 additional reps, instead of matching your original rep range.
Performing drop sets will fatigue your muscles quickly and should therefore be done on the last set, or last two sets on an exercise so that they don’t interfere with your ability to complete all of your primary sets and reps.
A further extension to this method is "down the rack" training using dumbbells, though the same principle can be used with plates for barbell exercise. Essentially, you perform drop sets until you have dropped the majority of the weight you were using up to and including until you are using nothing but the bar on a barbell exercise, or the 5’s for the dumbbells. Begin with the heaviest weight possible, complete a set of 12-to-15, then simply grab the next lightest pair of dumbbells and complete another.
Continue in this fashion until you have either gone one end of the rack to the other, or have woken up in intensive care.
This technique, when done correctly will absolutely fry whatever muscle you are targeting, so doing an extended drop set like that should be done only on the last set of the exercise.
One of my favorite variations of this is burnouts. This is a finishing technique to be used to max out the musculature you were focusing on for the day, be it chest, arms, legs etc. Pick an isolation exercise, ideally one that you can perform with cables or something that lets you change the weight with a pin. Decide on your target rep from 5 – 10, my personal favorite being 7. Start at the bottom of the stack and perform 7 reps, then move the pin up 1, and perform 7 more and repeat until you fail to hit your target rep, then go back down, performing 7 reps, then moving the pen down 1 until you reach the starting weight. All of this is performed as one set, while switching the weights and resuming your reps as quickly as possible.
If you are performing an exercise where you can use a considerable amount of weight, in order to get closer to your normal weight range for the exercise you can skip 1 place when moving up the weight scale. However once you reach failure, you need to hit every one on the way back down.
I assure you, if you haven’t done these before, the resulting pump and pain will be epic. You will probably also need 15-20 minutes before you can use the worked muscle for anything again.
Super Sets: Super Sets are one of oldest intensity techniques traditionally involves completing two consecutive sets to target both protagonist and antagonist muscle groups: biceps and triceps for example. For example: you would complete a set of 12 reps of standing biceps curls before immediately churning out another 12 of triceps pushdowns. Both sets make up one superset.
Negative Rep Training is a super intense technique that utilizes 120-140% of your 1rm. This is done by performing an exercise with a trusted spotter or on a machine which allows you to perform an exercise unilaterally (one side at a time) and assist with your other side on the lifting portion. If you are using a spotter we can use barbell bench press for an example. You would simply load the bar with a weight that is about 120-140% of your one rep maximum. From here, you would lift it off - be careful not to lock out your arms to hold it up. If you have chosen the appropriate weight, the bar should be too heavy for you to lift and should start working its way towards you.
Your job is to resist as hard as you can in an attempt to lift it. If you have chosen a weight that is heavy enough you should only be able to resist it for 3-5 seconds before the bar reaches the end range of the movement - in this case, your chest. If you cannot resist the weight for at least 3 seconds you have too much weight on the bar. This is the point where the spotter comes in - they will have to assist you in lifting the bar back to the starting position where you will repeat this process once or twice more, depending on how fatigued you are feeling after each rep.
Using the same example, if you were training by yourself what you would want to do is move to the smith machine. The process remains the same, except you will be using only one arm at a time, then using both arms to assist with lifting the bar back up - so the overall weight you will need to use will be less than when you can train with a spotter.
This is done for your primary exercise for the day, be it for chest, legs, arms, back, whatever, and should be the first exercise in your routine (after your warm up).You should perform no more than 3 reps per set, and no more than 3 sets. Some suggest that when performing negative rep training, it should be your only weightlifting exercise for the day, however - personally I am conditioned to the point that no matter how hard I push during these exercises, if it is the only one I perform for the session I don't feel much fatigue afterwards, so I generally finish the day off with a few higher rep isolation exercises. I recommend that if it is your first time trying this method that you don't do much else until you see how your body responds.
This type of training is not for beginners and should only be done after you have perfected your lifting technique. Also, Negative rep training should be done no more than once a month to avoid injury or overtraining due to the extreme damage and stress it places on your body and musculature.
To make the most of these intensity techniques it is best that they be used to shock the muscles into growing in an almost random fashion so the muscles do not become accustomed to their inclusion.
When a particular body part receives a signal that all combined stress - including maximal training weights, intensity sets and overall workload - is no longer a challenge to its adaptation abilities - that it is both familiar and predictable - it will stop growing.
As you continue your training, you will eventually notice your progress begins to slow down, and eventually you will hit a plateau. Though depending on how long you have been training constantly, this will happen sooner than it will for others. At this point, further progress relies on periodization – which we will cover in detail later, including additional intensity increasing techniques in your workouts, and paying exceptional detail to your training and making progress any way you can.
When you reach this point, you have to be consciously aware of the amount of weight lifted from one workout to the next. Keeping a training diary in which workout weights, sets and reps are religiously noted is an important, and useful tool to help you methodically adjust your workouts to maintain progress. This method requires continually aiming to improve from workout to workout through rigorous notation where all relevant training details are fully documented. The focus being on finding a way to improve each of your lifts, even if by adding 2 ½ pounds to a lift or completing one extra rep or set, you can make sure you continue to make progress.
The best intensity techniques to encourage muscle and strength gains are rest/pause, drop sets, supersets, and negative rep training.
The objective with each of these is to compound the amount of stress a muscle encounters in the course of regular training by combining and intensifying common training methods to create muscular failure at its most extreme and effective.
The Rest-Pause is done after completing a set and reaching perceived muscular failure (the point at which the lifter feels another rep cannot be safely completed in good form), by resting for 15 seconds, then perform one more rep. This can be repeated 2-3 times, or more, depending on what you feel like doing. This allows you to basically add 2-3 more reps per set, pushing your muscles past its initial point of failure and increasing the stress and therefore adaptation response and therefore becomes larger and stronger.
Descending Sets or drop sets are another great intensity enhancing technique. To perform a drop set, immediately after completing your last rep on an exercise; reduce the weight enough to allow you to complete the same number of reps you just performed for your primary set, and rep out the lower weight. This can be done for one additional set, up to as many as you want or are able to complete, though two drop sets per main set is typical. You can also utilize this to focus on strength gains by dropping the weight only slightly (5-10 lbs or more, depending on the total weight your working with) so you can extend the set and complete 2-5 additional reps, instead of matching your original rep range.
Performing drop sets will fatigue your muscles quickly and should therefore be done on the last set, or last two sets on an exercise so that they don’t interfere with your ability to complete all of your primary sets and reps.
A further extension to this method is "down the rack" training using dumbbells, though the same principle can be used with plates for barbell exercise. Essentially, you perform drop sets until you have dropped the majority of the weight you were using up to and including until you are using nothing but the bar on a barbell exercise, or the 5’s for the dumbbells. Begin with the heaviest weight possible, complete a set of 12-to-15, then simply grab the next lightest pair of dumbbells and complete another.
Continue in this fashion until you have either gone one end of the rack to the other, or have woken up in intensive care.
This technique, when done correctly will absolutely fry whatever muscle you are targeting, so doing an extended drop set like that should be done only on the last set of the exercise.
One of my favorite variations of this is burnouts. This is a finishing technique to be used to max out the musculature you were focusing on for the day, be it chest, arms, legs etc. Pick an isolation exercise, ideally one that you can perform with cables or something that lets you change the weight with a pin. Decide on your target rep from 5 – 10, my personal favorite being 7. Start at the bottom of the stack and perform 7 reps, then move the pin up 1, and perform 7 more and repeat until you fail to hit your target rep, then go back down, performing 7 reps, then moving the pen down 1 until you reach the starting weight. All of this is performed as one set, while switching the weights and resuming your reps as quickly as possible.
If you are performing an exercise where you can use a considerable amount of weight, in order to get closer to your normal weight range for the exercise you can skip 1 place when moving up the weight scale. However once you reach failure, you need to hit every one on the way back down.
I assure you, if you haven’t done these before, the resulting pump and pain will be epic. You will probably also need 15-20 minutes before you can use the worked muscle for anything again.
Super Sets: Super Sets are one of oldest intensity techniques traditionally involves completing two consecutive sets to target both protagonist and antagonist muscle groups: biceps and triceps for example. For example: you would complete a set of 12 reps of standing biceps curls before immediately churning out another 12 of triceps pushdowns. Both sets make up one superset.
Negative Rep Training is a super intense technique that utilizes 120-140% of your 1rm. This is done by performing an exercise with a trusted spotter or on a machine which allows you to perform an exercise unilaterally (one side at a time) and assist with your other side on the lifting portion. If you are using a spotter we can use barbell bench press for an example. You would simply load the bar with a weight that is about 120-140% of your one rep maximum. From here, you would lift it off - be careful not to lock out your arms to hold it up. If you have chosen the appropriate weight, the bar should be too heavy for you to lift and should start working its way towards you.
Your job is to resist as hard as you can in an attempt to lift it. If you have chosen a weight that is heavy enough you should only be able to resist it for 3-5 seconds before the bar reaches the end range of the movement - in this case, your chest. If you cannot resist the weight for at least 3 seconds you have too much weight on the bar. This is the point where the spotter comes in - they will have to assist you in lifting the bar back to the starting position where you will repeat this process once or twice more, depending on how fatigued you are feeling after each rep.
Using the same example, if you were training by yourself what you would want to do is move to the smith machine. The process remains the same, except you will be using only one arm at a time, then using both arms to assist with lifting the bar back up - so the overall weight you will need to use will be less than when you can train with a spotter.
This is done for your primary exercise for the day, be it for chest, legs, arms, back, whatever, and should be the first exercise in your routine (after your warm up).You should perform no more than 3 reps per set, and no more than 3 sets. Some suggest that when performing negative rep training, it should be your only weightlifting exercise for the day, however - personally I am conditioned to the point that no matter how hard I push during these exercises, if it is the only one I perform for the session I don't feel much fatigue afterwards, so I generally finish the day off with a few higher rep isolation exercises. I recommend that if it is your first time trying this method that you don't do much else until you see how your body responds.
This type of training is not for beginners and should only be done after you have perfected your lifting technique. Also, Negative rep training should be done no more than once a month to avoid injury or overtraining due to the extreme damage and stress it places on your body and musculature.
To make the most of these intensity techniques it is best that they be used to shock the muscles into growing in an almost random fashion so the muscles do not become accustomed to their inclusion.
When a particular body part receives a signal that all combined stress - including maximal training weights, intensity sets and overall workload - is no longer a challenge to its adaptation abilities - that it is both familiar and predictable - it will stop growing.
As you continue your training, you will eventually notice your progress begins to slow down, and eventually you will hit a plateau. Though depending on how long you have been training constantly, this will happen sooner than it will for others. At this point, further progress relies on periodization – which we will cover in detail later, including additional intensity increasing techniques in your workouts, and paying exceptional detail to your training and making progress any way you can.
When you reach this point, you have to be consciously aware of the amount of weight lifted from one workout to the next. Keeping a training diary in which workout weights, sets and reps are religiously noted is an important, and useful tool to help you methodically adjust your workouts to maintain progress. This method requires continually aiming to improve from workout to workout through rigorous notation where all relevant training details are fully documented. The focus being on finding a way to improve each of your lifts, even if by adding 2 ½ pounds to a lift or completing one extra rep or set, you can make sure you continue to make progress.