High Intensity Training

[9inarow]

I'm curious what everyone's thoughts were on Pre-exhausting muscles. Mike Mentzer advocated it, but many BB'rs don't.

Interesting article ...

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Just lifting more is not enough to be psycho. You need to go for the BIG HURT . This can be achieved by upping the intensity of each exercise. There are two recommended ways for reaching psycho-intensity levels: Pre-exhaustion and Breaking-Down:


Pre-exhaustion :
Good for use on complex exercises like bench press and military press. Let's look at the bench press. Warm up. Get dumbbells that you would normally use for flat-bench dumbbell flys for me, that's about 40. Load the bench press with slightly more than warm up weight, for me about 150lbs. Do a set of dumbbell flys until you fail, and fail hard (At least 12 reps). IMMEDIATELY drop the weights and start bench pressing the weight. NOTE: This will hurt and suck, this is good. This is a great for developing the chest, especially when the shoulders and arms are already tired from the weeks previous workouts. Pre-exhaustion uses an isolation exercise (flys) to fatigue the chest to failure, then use the relatively fresh shoulders and arms to force even more stress on the chest during the bench press. Fun fun fun.
(My only concern about this approach, as sited in the example, is when we're ready to do the Bench Press, we're no longer at our strongest ... thus we can't Bench Press to our fullest.

Break-Downs :
Break downs are a great way to increase the intensity and can be used on almost any exercise. They are generally best to use in conjunction with your normal work out. Take again the faithful example of the bench press. Warm up. After a few sets of your normal routine load about 90% of your max onto the bench, or about what you can do for 2 unassisted reps. Bench press the weight for 4 reps, getting help as you need it from your sadistic spotter (NOTE TO SPOTTER: Remember that the lifter should be just about purple by the time the weight gets back on the rack.) IMMEDIATELY after putting the weight on the rack, strip off about 60% of it and keep benching, getting at least 8 reps. You need to strip off a good chunk of weight to make this principle work. If you are benching 150 lbs. fail hard, and then pull off 20 lbs, the weight isn't going to feel any lighter, and you won't be able to get the reps that you need. In the last stage of a breakdown, you should be able to bench at least 6 reps unassisted to make it work. Psycho trainers are very important in the last stage of the break down lift. The weight is light, but the lifter is tired. Motivate him using the psycho principles to focus his effort on lifting and get his mind off of the awesome hurt he's feeling (If doing it right). Two break down sets per exercise are usually enough.
(I've always advocated this approach ... VERY effective!!!)

"Still not enough ?"
No problem. Combining principles of pre-exhaustion with the Break-Downs is enough for even the most seasoned lifter. An example ? Still no problem. Let's go back to the bench press. Take those 40's that you were doing flys with and also grab a pair of 25's. Load the bench with weight that you could normally do 12 reps with (For me about 205). Do flys with the 40's until you fail HARD. Drop the 40's, grab the 25's and get at least 8 good reps. Drop them, grab the barbell with 205 on it (MAKE SURE THE SPOTTER IS READY). Force out at least 4 reps, (Enough you say ?? not hardly). Strip off half of the weight and lift 100 lbs until you fail completely. This usually happens at about the 5 rep mark. One or two sets like this is usually plenty per body part. Inspire your partners to new levels with your training intensity. Lead by psycho-example.


"How Often ?"
Three psycho days per week of weights is enough. More will get you less. I've learned this the hard way. Lifting seven days a week like a psycho is too much stress for your body to handle. You will work yourself into a bad cycle of over-training where you actually see negative results. Harder, not longer, is the goal of these workouts. Doing a bazillion sets of an exercise may make you better at that exercise, but not improve the body part as much as doing fewer and harder sets. Psycho training should be used in conjunction with sensible planning. Train psycho for a week, and use your normal training routine for a week, or alternated psycho and normal workouts. As always, let your body be the guide. Rest is key. The body can't heal the massive amounts of stress you've placed upon it in a single day (Sometimes it will take 2 or 3 days to fully recover). Below is a sample workout and ways to divide your body up to maximize the psycho principles. These are general workouts and can be modified to suit your tastes. Remember, superior effort brings superior results. Get PSYCHO and have fun.

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[9inarow]

Workout plan 1:
Monday: Chest & Back:

Bench Press: 3 sets 4-8 reps, 60-80% of max. 2 of the previous sets should combined pre-exhaustion and Break Down. (As specified above).

Incline Bench Press: 3 sets incline bench press, 4-12 reps, 50-100% of max.

Lat Pull downs. 3 sets of 4-12 reps, 50-80% of max. 2 sets break downs.

Cable Rows: 3 sets of 4-12 reps, 50-80% of max. 2 sets of break downs, from 90% to 60% of max. 1 set double break downs (Fail, drop 60%, fail drop 60%).


Wednesday: Shoulders & legs.

Hack Squats: 3 sets of 15-6 reps, 50-80% of max. 1 set of 30+ with warm-up weight.

Leg Curls: 3 sets of 12-8 reps, 50-80% of max.

Leg extensions: 3 sets of 12-8 reps, 50-80% of max.

Military Press: 5 sets of 12-8 reps, 50-80% of max. 3 sets pre-exhaustion using lateral dumbbell raises first.

Shoulder Shrugs : 2 sets 50-90% of max. 2 sets double-break-downs.

Calf Raises : 3 sets 20-10 reps, 50-90% of max break downs on all sets.


Friday: Arms

Preacher Bench curls : 3 sets 15-8 reps 80-50% of max.

Straight bar curls: 3 sets all break downs.

Concentration curls: 2 sets of double-break-downs.

Lying French presses: (Skullcrushers) 1 set normal 8-15 reps. 50-70% of max. 2 sets of break downs.

Triceps pushdowns: 2 sets normal 15-6 reps 50-80% of max.

Triceps kickbacks: 3 sets 10-12 reps WITH GOOD FORM.

Workout plan 2:
Monday: Chest & Back:

Bench Press: 3 sets with pre-exhaustion and Break Down. (As specified above).

Incline Bench Press: 3 sets incline bench press and Break Down 4-12 reps, 50-100% of max.

Lat Pull downs: 2 sets of 4-12 reps and a break down., 50-80% of max

Dead Lifts: 2 sets 15-10 slow reps (2-4 seconds up and 2-4 seconds down)


Wednesday: Shoulders & legs.

Squats: 3 sets of 15-30 reps, 50-80% of max.

Leg Curls: 2 sets of 12-8 reps, 50-80% of max.

Leg extensions: 2 sets of 12-8 reps, 50-80% of max.

Military Press: 3 sets of 12-8 reps, 50-80% of max. 2 sets pre-exhaustion using lateral dumbbell raises first.

Shoulder Shrugs : 2 sets 50-90% of max. 2 sets double-break-downs.

Calf Raises : 3 sets 20-10 reps, 50-90% of max. Toes in + out on at least two of the sets.


Friday: Arms

1 60 second chin up (30 sec up 30 sec down) followed by straight bar curls (8-12 reps) do this cycle twice

Concentration curls: 2 sets of double-break-downs.

1 60 second dip (30 sec up 30 sec down) followed by Lying French presses (Skullcrushers) do this cycle twice

Triceps pushdowns: 2 sets normal 15-6 reps 50-80% of max.

Triceps kickbacks: 1 set 10-12 reps WITH GOOD FORM.

[ebon00]

Too much intensity. Traning to failure (and doing it repeatedly in the same set) is overly taxing for the CNS in my opinion. Couple that with that fact that most people don't really work to failure and I think it's a poor idea. Straight sets should be the main part of any hypertrophy program. Post-exhaustion has more merit than pre-exhaustion to my mind.

[Merrida]

Holy petula!

If someone didn't fall over or pass out I'd be afraid they'd burst a vessel trying to incorporate that type of intensity in that manner...

Yowza

[9inarow]

I think you guys are right. I've always tried to work to failure, but what really is FAILURE??? I push, and I push, and I push ... but how much is utter muscular failure?

Sometimes I wonder if it's really muscular failure or a failure of the mind. The mind's telling the body to stop, but is there still gas in the tank?

I don't know.

[Ch0r]

I believe it is a mental thing for most people.

[ebon00]

Originally posted by 9inarow
I think you guys are right. I've always tried to work to failure, but what really is FAILURE??? I push, and I push, and I push ... but how much is utter muscular failure?

Well, there are three kinds of strength and to make sure you've exhausted the muscle properly you need to work to failure on at least two of them. So absolute failure is when you've temporarily exhausted your negative strength (that is, you can't lower the weight under control any more). I've yet to see anyone train that hard.

Originally posted by 9inarow
Sometimes I wonder if it's really muscular failure or a failure of the mind. The mind's telling the body to stop, but is there still gas in the tank?

The mind has a tendency to give out before the body does. It's hard mental work to push yourself to the true edge. That's more or less a life-or-death situation you'd be trying to coax yourself into and the mind is very wary of attitude transplants...