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Introduction
Maintaining
a healthy body is an investment. Your
life
insurance policy is like exercise
- you need it and you need to choose
wisely. Be sure to select the right
exercise that you can maintain and benefit
from. Intensity techniques are not for
everybody. Beginners definitely do not
need them.
- They
allow the trainer to go beyond conventional
failure in order to work the muscle
harder, providing a stimulus to get
larger and stronger.
- You
can try using several techniques in
one set if you really want to work
yourself.
- These
should not be done every workout.
The following
is a list of intensity techniques and
how to use them.
When you've
had a look through these techniques,
be sure to check out the article "Intensity
Techniques That Will "Kill"
You AND Make You Stronger"
in Issue
12 of BetterU News that details 8 incredible
completely-new or rarely-used intensity
techniques. (There will be another link
to this article at the end of this section.)
Forced
Reps
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This
is the most popular and consequently
the most abused intensity technique.
A spotter is used to provide enough
assistance for the trainer to
be able to complete the rep.
- The
abuse comes when the trainer
relies on the spotter for assistance
during most of the set.
- The
most obvious example is the
bench press.
- Forced
reps should not be done every
set like some trainers do. Properly
executed forced reps are very
demanding and can severely tax
your recovery systems.
- Spotters
should also provide only just
enough help to keep the weight
moving. They should not take
the weight away from the trainer.
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Partial
Training
This
is simply moving the weight through
a partial range of motion (usually,
but not necessarily, the strongest range
of motion of the exercise, e.g. the
top 6 inches of the bench press). This
allows much more weight to be used.
Partials
can also be done at the end of a set
to extend it. Continue with the same
weight but do partial reps, shortening
the range of motion more as you tire
until you are just doing lockouts.
- Pure
partials are often done in the
power rack with the pins set
at appropriate levels. Partial
squats are done with the pins
in the rack set near the top
of the range of motion. Moving
the bar only a few inches with
a huge amount of weight on your
back, is a great way to build
power, density, and confidence.
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- Partials
can be done anywhere in an exercise's
range of motion. They can help you
get through sticking points if you
do partials at and through the sticking
point. The heavy weight is very useful
for building tendon and ligament strength.
Sometimes when you hit a plateau,
it is not due to muscle strength but
connective tissue strength. Partials
can help overcome this.
- Partials
can be done in a continuous without
taking tension off the muscles, or
in brief reps, allowing the weight
to be supported on the racks for a
few moments before doing the next
rep. The continuous style provides
more muscle tension but reduces the
amount of weight that can be used.
Don’t bounce the bar off the pins.
Develop tension in the muscles gradually
so you don’t jerk anything out of
the sockets.
- If
you use a lot of partial movements,
it is very important to stretch after
each set. It is also a good idea to
finish with a set that takes the muscle
through a full range of motion. A
static hold and a negative is a good
way to do this as it keep a lot of
tension on the muscle all the way
through the entire range of motion.
Hold in the stretch position for as
long as possible at the bottom of
the movement.
Pre-Exhaust
Training
Do
a set of an isolation exercise for a
muscle group, then, with no rest, do
a compound movement for it, e.g. dumbell
flyes then barbell bench press. This
fatigues the target muscle then allows
the fresher secondary movers push the
target muscle harder.
A variation
of this is the pre-exhaust
giant set. A good example
is triceps, shoulders and chest. This
variation will push the triceps to the
limit, and work the shoulders hard.
- Start
with a triceps isolation exercise
such as pushdowns.
- Go
to shoulder
press, which works triceps
and shoulders.
- Next,
do bench
press, which works the
triceps, shoulders and chest.
Each progressive
set will allow another muscle group
to continue assisting. For lower body,
try it with hamstrings. Start with legs
curls which isolate the hams then move
to stiff-legged deadlifts, which work
the hams and glutes, then move to lunges
which work the hams, glutes and quads.
The
pre-exhaust concept can be extended
to an entire workout. If you wish to
push your triceps harder, try doing
them first, followed by chest. You may
limit your chest workout but your triceps
will be pushed a lot harder by doing
chest first. This can be applied to
biceps and back, shoulders and chest,
or calves and thighs.
Cheat
Reps
At
the end of a set, when you can't do
any more reps with good form, use a
bit of body swing or momentum to help
get the weight past the sticking point,
e.g. swinging the weight up a little
at the start of a barbell curl.
- Do
not cheat excessively or you may cause
injury.
- Cheat
only to work the muscle harder, not
to make the exercise easier.
Go
to Intensity Techniques Page 2
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