5 ways to stop being a pushover
Here's what you need to know...
- Beginners and advanced exercisers react differently to heavy training. Beginners do better with 4 to 6 repetitions, while experienced exercisers are better off with 1 to 3 repetitions.
- To really master an exercise, you need to train it two to three times a week.
- If you train "down to the nerve" too often, you risk stalling your strength gains.
- To get the most out of the maximum effort method, you should use it as a three-week maximum phase.
- Get used to handling heavy weights by using supramaximal weights. Use partial reps at 105 to 110% of your max weight or hold 110 to 115% of your max weight.
1 - More repetitions for beginners, fewer repetitions for advanced users
As a rule of thumb, the more advanced you are/the stronger you are, the fewer repetitions you can perform with a specific percentage of your maximum weight. This is because more experienced exercisers can recruit more muscle fibers during a repetition, making each repetition more challenging.
Beginners have a much lower level of motor unit recruitment and have a harder time engaging a large percentage of their fast-twitch muscle fibers in a movement. They can perform more repetitions at a certain percentage of their maximum weight and this also means that they need to perform more total repetitions than advanced exercisers to get stronger.
A beginner/some intermediate exerciser focusing on strength will build more total strength by performing multiple sets of 4 to 6 repetitions than by performing sets in a 1 to 3 repetition range.
Conversely, an advanced trainee will mainly achieve muscle growth - rather than strength gains - by performing sets of 4 to 6 repetitions. To really increase their maximum strength, they need to do more work in the range of 2 to 3 repetitions per set and sometimes heavy single repetitions.
2 - To technically master an exercise, you need to train it two or three times a week
Being strong in the big basic exercises is not just a question of muscular strength. You also need to be able to master the exercises technically.
This goes far beyond knowing how to perform an exercise. Even if two people appear to use exactly the same technique, it is likely that they will have different levels of mastery of the exercise.
It's one thing to have what looks like perfect technique from the outside - it's another thing to have the exact motor unit recruitment scheme that will lead to a breathtaking performance.
We are talking about maximum recruitment of motor units, synchronization of these motor units and relaxation of antagonistic muscles - all things that are not visible from the outside, but will make the difference between an average performance and an outstanding performance.
The only way to improve these factors is to perform an exercise frequently. This is the reason why Olympic weightlifters train snatch and clean and jerk every day. The big strength exercises (deadlifts, squats, bench presses, standing shoulder presses and pull-ups) obviously don't require the same level of coordination as the Olympic weightlifting exercises, so they don't need to be practiced daily if you want to make optimal progress.
Regardless, the best way to improve your mastery of these exercises is to train them two to three times a week. It doesn't have to be a training session with maximum weights every time. Anything over 80% of your maximum weight will benefit inter- and intra-muscular coordination.
3 - Don't train "to the nerve" too often
Max Perryman has an interesting concept called "everyday maximum". This refers to the heaviest weight you know you can move on any given day regardless of fatigue, lack of motivation, etc. without having to push yourself to the max.
This is the zone where you should be doing most of your work. Too many people who want to get stronger train "to the nerve" too often. By this I mean using weights that make you nervous and that you need to prepare for with specific mental efforts.
Every time you try such a weight, you put your nervous system under a lot of stress and this will have a much stronger impact than you think. I know a lot of competitive athletes who burn out before a competition because they've pushed themselves to their maximum too often.
If you train "to your nerve" too often, then you risk burning out. I believe in training hard and heavy, but only to the maximum you can achieve without stress. Every once in a while you can crank up the intensity a bit to see where you are at.
I once trained a young CrossFit athlete who, with a body weight of just over 80 kilos, reached a maximum weight of 130 kilos in the clean and jerk. In training he never went over 125 kilos and most of his work was done at around 110 to 115 kilos, only increasing the weight when it wasn't mentally stressful and we both knew he could handle it easily.
When we then decided to see where his max weight was in the clean and jerk, he performed a repetition at 143 kilos with ease - an increase of 13 kilos on his personal best with room to go up!
4 - Training with maximum weight is the fastest way to increase strength, but it's not the best way
Even though I believe in not training "to the nerve", I still recognize that the max effort method - moving weights in the 95 - 100%+ range - is the fastest way to increase strength.
Please note that I said "the fastest way" because I don't believe this is the best way.
In my experience, you will make rapid strength gains using the max effort method for 2 or 3 weeks (some may extend this to 4 weeks), but after that your strength gains will stall and your strength may even decrease again.
The best application for the max effort method is a three-week max phase while you do most of your training on strength without training "to the nerve" - you stay with the weights at 85 to 90% most of the time and only occasionally go up to 95%.
For 3 weeks you can then do workouts that consist of plenty of work in the max zone (I usually use 8 sets of 1 repetition with a weight between 90 and 100% of max). This is followed by 3 sets of 2 reps between 80 and 85%, where you focus on speed and technique, and then two final sets of one repetition each with a weight between 90 and 100%+.
After this 3 week phase, we go back to not training "to the nerve".
5 - Use supramaximal weights to get used to handling heavy weights
Two important reasons why we fail with a heavy weight are a psychological block and a neuroprotective block.
The first phenomenon could be simply defined as being intimidated by the feeling of the heavy weight. I've seen many people passively pick up a weight from the rack, remain "soft" in a certain way, and then fail to move the weight up that they could have handled because it felt too heavy and they subconsciously gave up.
The second phenomenon relates to the action of the Golgi tendon organ, whose role is to prevent excessive force production that could potentially damage the muscle.
When the Golgi tendon organ senses that the muscle is producing too much force, it puts the brakes on and limits the force we can produce. However, the Golgi tendon organ tends to be a bit overprotective and doesn't allow us to use a very high percentage of our maximum potential.
Both elements can hinder you when moving heavy weights. And you can work on both elements using supramaximal weights - weights that are heavier than your maximum weight for the exercise in question.
You can do this by performing partial repetitions (a squat or bench press repetition performed only through the top half of the range of motion) using 105 to 110% of your max weight, or holding a weight in the 110 to 115% of your max weight statically, taking it off the rack, lowering it slightly and then just holding it for a while. Negative repetitions can also be used for this.
These methods will get you used to handling heavy weights. If you are used to moving weights above your maximum weight - even if it is only for a short distance - your training weight will feel much lighter and you won't panic. You will also improve the stabilizing function of your muscles, which will make your key positions in the exercise more solid.
By regularly moving very heavy weight, you will also desensitize the Golgi tendon organ. This will then become less easily active over time and allow you to use more of your potential strength.
You don't need a lot of volume for supramaximal exercises. Two or three sets will suffice. Two good approaches are to perform supramaximal holds before you actually move the weight (this will make the weight feel lighter) or perform 2 to 3 sets of partial reps at the end of the workout for the main exercise after you have completed all your working sets.
By Christian Thibaudeau | 12/02/14
Source: https://www.t-nation.com/training/5-ways-to-stop-being-a-weakling
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