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Intensity Techniques That Will
"Kill" You AND Make You Stronger
Forced reps are great but these
incredible techniques will open a whole new world of results for you!
By Nick Nilsson
Intensity techniques are among the greatest
weapons in your arsenal for building a truly astonishing physique. However they
are not for everybody. Beginning trainers should definitely NOT use techniques
such as these.
Intensity techniques allow you
to push beyond conventional failure in order to work your muscles harder,
providing an irresistible stimulus for the muscles to get larger and
stronger.
Try these techniques in your
next workouts. You can even try using several of these techniques in one set
if you really want to work yourself hard. Be careful not to overuse them,
however, as they can be extremely demanding and difficult for your body to
recover from.
1. Triple Drop and Rebound
Sets
This is a variation of the
Triple Drop Set. The Triple Drop Set is where you start with a heavy weight,
do a set to failure, reduce the weight, do another set to failure, reduce
the weight a third time and do a final set to failure.
Do the regular Triple Drop Set
then quickly go back and do your starting (heaviest) weight again for a more
few reps. Usually you will be able to get one or two reps with it. The
reason for this is that the last of the drops uses a lighter weight, which
recruits different muscle fibers than when you are using heavier weights.
2. Isolation/Compound
Rebound Sets
Do a Triple Drop Set of an
isolation exercise, e.g. flyes, then immediately go back and use your
starting (heaviest) weights for a set of a compound exercise for that muscle
group, e.g. dumbell bench press.
This is a type of advanced
Pre-Exhaust training. Pre-Exhaust training is when you do an isolation
exercise (an exercise that involves motion at only one joint, such as a
dumbell flye) immediately followed by a compound exercise (an exercise that
involves motion at two or more joints, such as a bench press).
The idea with the Pre-Exhaust
training is to basically exhaust your target muscle group (in this case the
chest), by first working directly with one exercise, then doing another
exercise that utilizes other muscles to assist it. This increases the
intensity of the work done by the chest as the assisting muscles will you
allow you to push the chest further.
By utilizing a triple-drop set
format for the isolation exercise, you dramatically increase the exhaustion
of the target muscle, allowing you to push it extremely hard.
3. Jump Sets
This is a way of doing a large
number of heavy sets for several muscle groups without losing as much
strength from set to set.
Jump sets are best used on
antagonistic bodyparts such as back and chest, biceps and triceps, or
hamstrings and quads.
For example, if you plan on
doing 5 sets of chin-ups and 5 sets of bench, start with 3 sets of chin-ups,
then 3 sets of bench, then go back and do your remaining 2 sets of chin-ups
and 2 sets of bench. The extra rest will allow you to be stronger on your
last 2 sets than you normally would.
Jumping between antagonistic
muscle groups also seems to benefit strength. This can also be done going
back and forth on every set instead of groups of sets. This is not a
superset - take your normal rest period between each set. This technique
enhances recuperation by providing more rest to the bodyparts but within the
same workout time. This allows you to do more weight for each
exercise.
4. 2 Up - 1 Down
Negatives
This is a variation of
negative training that is best done with machines. Use two arms or legs for
the positive phase of the movement then lower it the weight using only one
arm or leg.
This type of negative training
is useful if you do not have a partner to work with as it is done completely
solo.
A good example of this
technique is the machine bench press. Set the weight to about half of what
you would normally use for the exercise. Press the weight up with both arms
then remove one and lower the weight with one arm.
When using this technique, you
can alternate arms/legs or do the complete set of reps with the one arm/leg,
then the complete set of reps with the other arm/leg.
5. Combination Sets
With this technique, you will
use two different exercises alternated with each rep, e.g. lying tricep
extensions and close grip bench, dumbell flyes and dumbell press, rows and
deadlifts. You should use exercises that are easily switched from to the
other within a set.
To take the set even further,
when you fail on one exercise, continue with the one you are stronger in
until you fail on that one, too. For example, when combining rows and
deadlifts, continue with deadlifts after failing on rows. Your legs will
help push your back further. This whole technique is like an extended
pre-exhaust superset.
6. Rep Targeting
Set a target of a certain
amount of reps and get that target of reps no matter how many sets it takes
you to get there. For example, if you pick a target of 50 reps on chin-ups,
say you get 30 on the first set. Rest a little while, e.g. 10 to 30 seconds.
Do another set. Say you get 10 reps this time. Rest 10 to 30 seconds again.
Get 5 reps. Rest. Get 3 reps. Rest. Get 2 reps. Done.
A different version of this is
what I call Time Subtraction. The amount of time you rest between sets is
the amount of reps you have left to get to your target. For example, if your
target is 50 and you get 30 reps, your rest period is 20 seconds. Say on the
next set you get 10 more reps. This leaves you with 10 reps to go so rest 10
seconds then go again. If you get 4 more reps, and you have 6 left, rest 6
seconds.
7. Add Sets
These are the opposite of drop
sets. Start with a light weight for high reps and add weight on progressive
sets. This works the slow-twitch, higher rep fibers first, then the
fast-twitch, powerful fibers. This technique works very well for calves as
they recover very quickly. It also works very well with selectorized
machines. You can combine this technique with drops sets, doing add and drop
sets or drop and add sets like a pyramid.
8. Static Hold Weight
Pyramiding
This technique only works on
plate-loaded machines or on a barbell exercise with two spotters.
Start with a moderate weight
that you can do a static contraction with for a long period of time. Hold
that weight in the contracted position of the exercise you are working, e.g.
pec deck.
Have a partner add plates to
the machine while you continue to hold in that static position. Keep adding
plates (small ones such as 2½'s, 5's, 7½'s or 10's work best, depending on
the exercise and your strength levels) until the weight starts to drop. At
that point, pull off one plate. Hold until it starts to drop again. Pull off
one plate and hold. You may come to a point where your partner is pulling
off weights as fast as he can just to keep up with your lagging strength.
Make sure you have effective
communication such as a nod or a grunt when you want the next plate off or
on. Continue this process until you end up at your original weight (you can
continue to no weight if you want).
This is an incredibly intense
static hold and will fatigue pretty much every muscle fiber in the target
muscle group except for the explosive ones. To hit them as well, when you
are the top of the pyramid using the heaviest weight, do as many partial,
explosive reps as you can in the contracted position.
You may also wish to try this
technique with a barbell and two spotters. Make sure that they add and
remove weights simultaneously in order to allow you to keep the bar
balanced.
Nick Nilsson is
Vice-President of BetterU, Inc., an internet-based personal training
company. He has been training for more than 14 years and has been a personal
trainer for more than 8 years. He is the author of the training eBooks "The
Best Exercises You've Never Heard Of", "Gluteus to the Maximus" and
"Specialization Training". Go to
http://www.fitness-ebooks.com
for more information on these books.
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