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Perform reps with Maximum Intensity

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Beginners don’t necessarily need to increase their Training Intensity because at this level even engaging in physical activities is enough to see progress.
But as you gain experience, the body adapts to the stimulus that because inefficient at stimulating the muscle to spark growth (so basically progress is halted). This is known as a “plateau”. Increasing the intensity of your training helps break the plateau and continue to see progress.
There are 2 ways to increase intensity:
1. Increase the amount of weight you use.
In this case you may have to recalculate your 1 Rep Max (Rule 7). If your 1 Rep Max hasn’t changed you should use the help of a spotter to “cheat” sets (use an amount of weight that you can’t handle on your own) until you are able to use the weight on your own or you pass the plateau.
2. Tweak the way you perform sets and reps.
The variables we will be working with are: repetition speed, tempo, tension on the muscle, rest periods, the superset technique.

I. Repetition speed.
Any given exercise has 2 parts – a concentric contraction when the muscle develops tension due to a shortening in length (example: upward movement of a dumbbell in a biceps curl) and a eccentric contraction when the muscle develops tension due to a lengthening of it (example: downward movement of a dumbbell in a biceps curl).
Most people use a 1sec up/ 1 sec down speed, not knowing that an increase in time spent on the eccentric part of the movement will improve the effectiveness of the exercise by 100%.
So remember to slow the speed down on the downward part of any exercise to:
• Keep the muscle under tension for a longer period of time
• Work the muscle on the downward part of the movement rather then letting gravity take over.

II. The Tempo.
A lifting tempo is a-b-c-d, where:
• a – time spent on the eccentric (downward) part of the movement
• b – time spent at the bottom of the movement
• c – time spent on the concentric (upward) part of the movement
• d – time spent at the top of the movement

An example of the tempo for the flat bench press: 5-0-3-2. This translates into a slow and controlled movement with 5 sec down movement, 0 sec pause at the bottom, 3 sec lifting time and a nice 2 sec squeeze of the chest at the top.
Varying the tempo can make exercising with the same weight more or less intense. Experiment with different tempos to see what works better for you. (Don’t forget the tip on Repetition speed when choosing a tempo)

III. The tension on the muscle.
By shortening the range of the exercise performed you can apply continuous tension to the muscle thereby increasing intensity.
Example: the flat bench press.
At the very bottom and top of the movement tension is totally of the chest muscle. But by shortening the range and using a 5-0-3-2 rep tempo, you will increase the intensity of the exercise by continually applying tension to the muscle.

IV. Super Sets.
While training “classically” any muscle group you do 3 sets of exercise 1, with adequate rest periods between them and then move on to doing 3 sets of exercise 2.
Super Set-ing, as a training method has you do 1 set of exercise 1 and then do one set of exercise2 with no rest in between the sets, then rest and continue doing the next sets in this manner.
Super Sets increase the intensity of the workout by shortening the rest time between sets the muscle receives.

v. Rest Periods.
Generally you should take 60-120 sec rest time between sets. The closer you get to 60 sec the more intense the workout. When choosing a rest time between sets make sure it allows the muscle to recover enough to complete the rep range set for the next set.

Details

Creator: trifm
Category: Strength Training
Posted: 1/30/2008

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