A question of strength Warming up for maximum attempts
Q: What is the best way to warm up for a max attempt on the bench press or squat? (for younger athletes)
A: Let me first address coaches who are testing max weight with their athletes. I'm not a big fan of testing this in a group setting. It's like begging for injuries and bad form. Put 60 young, competitive men in a room to compare their strength and the whole thing can become a recipe for disaster.
I prefer to test out the 3 to 5 RM weight. Try moving the heaviest weight you can do 3 to 5 reps with. And use the number of reps to set your max weight (1RM weight). This setting is much safer and just as accurate. Here are the percentages I use:
- 5 reps = 87%
- 4 reps = 90%
- 3 reps = 94%
If you can do 5 reps at 315 pounds, then estimate your 1RM weight as follows:
1RM = 315 x 100 / 87 1RM = 315 * 1.149 1RM = 362 pounds
But I digress. Since your 1RM weight is being tested, here's my recommendation....
The progression basically has three phases. It should be noted that you need to have a pretty good idea of what your 1RM weight is - within a 5 kilo range if possible.
If you have already done heavy single reps, then it should be quite easy for you to estimate this. If not, then you can use your sets of 3 to 5 reps. The percentage above will give you an idea of where your 1RM weight will be.
Normally you will have two or three attempts to find your maximum weight on a test like this. The first two phases of preparation will lead you to this first attempt.
Important: Your first attempt should always be a sure thing. There is nothing worse than failing on your first attempt. In a powerlifting competition, you must use the same weight or increase it. For tests, you can reduce the weight further. But failing the attempt will destroy your drive and confidence.
You need a solid attempt to start with. We usually aim for 94 to 95% of the estimated maximum weight on the first attempt. If you don't have experience with heavy single reps, then you're better off using 90% of your estimated max weight for your first attempt.
Here is the first phase of the warm-up:
- Set 1: Empty bar x 10 reps
- Set 2:4 reps using an estimated 40% of your 1RM weight, pause for 10 seconds
- Set 3:4 reps using an estimated 40% of your 1RM weight, pause for 30 seconds
- Set 4:3 repetitions using an estimated 60% of your 1RM weight, pause for 30 seconds
This is the low stress phase. During these 5 repetitions, your focus should be on exaggerated tension and acceleration. Focus on perfect technique. Don't perform these lighter sets half-heartedly - respect the bar and use these sets to get into the perfect groove. The goal is to get the feel for the heavier weights and prepare the nervous system, but it's also about assessing your performance capacity at that moment. For example, if 90% feels like a ton, then you may need to be more conservative in your attempts. If, on the other hand, that weight feels like nothing, then you might be able to perform your take-off attempt at 98% and then try 103% or even 105%. Then move on to... Sets 11 and 12 can be adjusted depending on your performance. A: I've given seminars where I've presented 37 different training methods - and that's not counting the load patterns. My favorite method? The one that gets you to your goals. The "best" training method will depend on what you want to achieve. Do you want to build strength? Do you want to build muscle mass? There are different methods for these goals. Your level of experience will also help determine which training method is good for you. However, if I had to choose two methods - one for strength and one for muscle building, then I would choose this one: Cluster training is my method of choice for rapidly increasing strength. It never fails. Clusters consist of rest intervals between each repetition of your set. A set becomes a series of single repetitions with very short rests in between. Although you can perform clusters with any type of load and rest intervals, traditional clusters require you to use about 90% of your 1RM weight (which is usually your 3RM weight) and perform four to six repetitions with that weight. You rest between 10 and 20 seconds between sets, depending on the exercise used. A set could look like this: There are several factors that influence strength gains: Clusters improve all of this! You achieve maximum recruitment of the fast-twitch muscle fibers when the weight on the bar is in the range of 80 to 82% of your maximum weight for that moment. Of course, you can also achieve this with lighter weights and use fatigue to increase the relative load on the bar. However, by using clusters with 88 to 90% of your maximum weight, you recruit these fibers from the start. As a result, you won't have a single repetition that simply robs you of energy. But it's not enough to simply recruit the fast-twitch fibers. The real strength gains will come from improving your capacity to use a high contraction rate. This is a motor skill. And motor skill development depends not only on the number of repetitions that emphasize this skill, but also on the ratio of "good" to "bad" repetitions. The closer you are to your maximum strength, the higher the contraction rate. The contraction rate increases the most when you need more strength and can no longer recruit more fibers. At 90% of your 1RM weight you have a high contraction rate from the start. If you perform 5 cluster repetitions with 90% of your 1RM weight, you will get 5 repetitions with a very high contraction rate and no repetitions with a low contraction rate. From a motor learning perspective, this is the gold standard. Compare that to 10 reps at 70% of your 1RM weight. Due to fatigue, you'll still end up with 5 to 6 reps where the fast-contracting fibers are maximally recruited and maybe 3 reps with a high contraction rate. But you also have 5 repetitions with a lower contraction rate. From a motor learning perspective, this is clearly inferior. It's like playing golf with 30 great shots, 20 sub-optimal shots and 50 bad shots. The likelihood is that you will not improve quickly. Clusters are also great for building muscle. Hypertrophy has a lot to do with the number of maximally effective repetitions. A maximally effective repetition is one repetition during which you recruit as many fast-contracting fibers as you can. Since these fibers have the greatest growth potential, it's all about stimulating them as much as possible. As we have just seen, if the load is 80% of your maximum weight at that moment, you will recruit the maximum number of fast-twitch muscle fibers you can. You can also achieve this with less weight, as each repetition will exhaust you. As you fatigue, your strength will decrease (2 to 4% per repetition), so the weight on the bar will become heavier relative to what you are actually moving. Here is an example: Weight on the bar Degree of fatigue Relative weight 1 70% 0% 70% 2 70% 3% 73% 3 70% 6% 76% 4 70% 9% 79% 5 70% 12% 82% 6 70% 15% 85% 7 70% 18% 88% 8 70% 21% 91% 9 70% 24% 94% 10 70% 27% 97% As you can see, you have maximum effective repetitions from repetition 5 onwards. That gives you 6 of these in this set. Now let's look at cluster sets. Because of the rest intervals, you will get some recovery, so fatigue will set in a little slower. Weight on the bar Degree of exhaustion Relative weight 1 90% 0% 90% 2 90% 1.5% 91.5% 3 90% 3% 93% 4 90% 4.5% 94.5% 5 90% 6% 96% 6 90% 7.5% 97.5% Clusters allow you to get as many growth-producing reps as you would normally get with a higher repetition set, without having to waste energy performing reps that don't contribute to growth. And because all reps in a cluster are performed at more than 85% of what you can move at that moment (it will range from 90 to 100% at the start of the repetition) this means that not only are you recruiting all your recruitable fast-twitch muscle fibers from the start, but also that each repetition has a high contraction rate. The better you are at making your muscle fibers contract quickly, the higher the contraction rate. This means that you will be able to produce more strength. Developing the capacity to contract your muscle fibers at a high contraction rate is a motor skill. It is not only the number of repetitions with a high contraction rate that counts, but also the ratio of repetitions with a high contraction rate to repetitions with a normal contraction rate. In a cluster with 6 repetitions, all 6 repetitions have a high contraction rate. This is excellent for motor learning. In our 70% set above, you only have 3 repetitions with a contraction rate comparable to that during a cluster set. With 5 repetitions you have a low contraction rate and with two you have a moderate contraction rate. From a motor learning perspective, this is clearly inferior to clustering due to the lower rate. In a regular set of 5 repetitions you also have no wasted repetitions and you complete all repetitions at a fairly high contraction rate. This is true and sets of 5 reps are great for building strength and mass. But cluster sets are even better. This is partly due to the higher average load. In a cluster you use about 90% of your maximum weight, whereas in regular sets of 5 reps you use between 80 and 85% of your maximum weight. Even though fatigue at the end of the set will equalize the relative load, the heavier weight means a higher mechanical load than the lighter weight, which will result in more muscle damage. And with a 90% cluster, you will do 3 more reps with a very high contraction rate (the closer you are to a 100% effort, the higher the contraction rate) compared to a 5-rep set at 82% of your max weight. At 82%, you need 2 to 3 repetitions to reach a relative load of 90%, as you have with the cluster. Finally, during a cluster set, maximal strength, speed and speed are better maintained from repetition to repetition, resulting in more quality repetitions and better motor learning (1). For these reasons, clusters are my favorite training method for building strength. They build as much muscle mass as regular sets of 8 to 12 repetitions due to the number of maximally effective repetitions. They train the nervous system at least as well as the max effort method - and perhaps even better due to the higher number of repetitions. When performing cluster sets, I recommend two working sets, as each set has the same neurological effect as performing three sets of 3 repetitions at 90%. Here is an example of an exercise in a cluster training session. The percentages are for illustration purposes only: Reduce the weight to 88% on the last set if you only managed 4 repetitions in your cluster or if you found the last repetition very difficult. Go up to 92% if you managed 6 clean repetitions in the previous cluster. This is one of the simplest intensity techniques. You perform a certain number of repetitions to muscle failure (or close to muscle failure), pause briefly (10 to 20 seconds) and then continue the set with the same weight, trying to do as many extra repetitions as possible. This is the simple form of rest/pause. There are many other variations. These variations have their uses, but they are extreme variations that cannot be used often or over a long period of time. Regular rest/pause, on the other hand, can be used every week as long as you don't overdo it with the volume. My recommendation for intensity is to start with a weight that you can perform 6 to 8 repetitions with. Pause for 10 to 20 seconds and then perform as many repetitions as you can. I recommend finishing the first part of the set one repetition before reaching muscle failure and for the second part of the set either go to muscle failure (machine exercises or isolation exercises) or stop one repetition before reaching muscle failure (the three heavy multi-joint exercises). This should give you 6 to 8 initial repetitions and 3 to 5 extra repetitions. "Maximal effective repetitions" is a term for repetitions where you recruit and stimulate all the fast contracting muscle fibers you can recruit. Since these fibers have the greatest growth potential, these repetitions will make your muscles grow. If you use a number of 6 to 8 initial repetitions, where the weight is likely to be between 75 and 80% of your maximum weight, then most of your initial repetitions will be maximally effective repetitions. One to two repetitions may be preparatory repetitions, which is good as these will increase CNS activation and prepare the groove for the key repetitions. All the repetitions during the second part of the set will be maximum effective repetitions. In a rest/pause set, you will perform mostly maximal effective reps and maybe two lower impact reps. Two rest/pause sets will have the same impact on muscle growth as 6 regular sets - without the disadvantages that can limit the growth you can achieve through your training session. Just like with cluster sets, you should perform two rest/pause sets - maybe even just one. It could look like this: https://www.t-nation.com/training/question-of-strength-60 Source: https://www.t-nation.com/training/question-of-strength-59, By Christian Thibaudeau
My favorite training methods: a list
Q: What are your favorite training methods by far?
1. favorite method for building strength: clusters
Why is this so effective?
But what if we compare a set with 5 cluster repetitions to a regular set with 5 repetitions?
2. favorite training method for muscle building: rest/pause
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