Advanced Body Building Techniques
Increasing Intensity The simplest way to boost intensity is to add further weight to the bar.
This technique "shocks" muscles into acting and forces them to adapt to be able to manage heavier weights.
Forced Reps This means working with a workout partner and having your partner aid you complete the last one or two reps of the last one or two sets in a workout.
What this accomplishes is when you are exhausted and cannot manage any more reps at the weight you are using, your training partner jumps in and "assists" you to force the weight to the preferred position and for you to lower the weight GENTLY back down again.
The notion behind this is that muscles react well to downward repetitions, that is moving the weight back gradually to the start position.
The muscle can handle a lot more weight doing negatives than positives.
Take the simple bench press, when you can't press one more rep, your training buddy helps you power the weight up and you can then return it slowly under tension to your chest again, then have your training buddy assist you with one more or to put it back on the rack.
Lowering the weight steadily under tension is great for the chest because it works it stronger than you would ever have been able to do by yourself.
Partial Repetitions This is when your muscle is fatigued at the end of a set, you carry on the repetition through half or as much as you can of it.
It's simply a way of adding more intensity of a set that you wouldn't be able to do with the normal range of motion.
Pyramid Sets This is where you increase the weight and decrease the rep range in a workout in each set of that exercise.
It's called pyramid training and the goal is to "shock" your body.
It's a very commonly used technique and can be used more often than other advanced techniques.
For example when doing lat pull downs on a lat machine, do 12 reps with a light enough weight for one set, for the next set do 10 reps with a heavier weight, for the next set do 8 reps with an even heavier weight yet and finally for the last set do 6 reps with as much weight as you can control.
Supersets Supersets are 2 exercises performed back to back with no pause in between.
There are two methods of executing supersets 1.
) Do supersets on the same muscle group.
This means doing two distinct exercises for the same muscle group after one another without stopping.
For example perform bench presses and chest fly's just after one another without resting.
2.
) Perform supersets on separate muscles.
For example do squats and biceps curls right after each other without pausing.
This technique progresses your cardiovascular conditioning and lessens the time you have to devote to the gym because while you do one exercise you permit the tired muscle to rest freeing up time.
Stripping This doesn't refer to taking your clothes off.
This means at the end of a set when your muscles are giving out with exhaustion, you stop and take away 15-35% of the weight on the bar or machine and renew the exercise movement until you are again fatigued with that weight, then you take another 20-40% of the bar or machine and carry on until you can go no further.
By all means continue to keep eliminating weight as you see fit, its guaranteed to sincerely work your muscles.
Pre-Exhaust This is where you pre-exhaust a larger muscle before executing a compound movement (compound is a workout technique you perform that uses as much different body parts as possible, e.
g.
the deadlift).
This helps when you have weak muscles that give out in the middle of a heavy compound set.
For example you could do dumbbell fly's first to pre-exhaust your chest and then do bench presses or a variant to it.
This halts your triceps or front deltoid muscle weakening prematurely.
This works really well because you can sense the "worked" muscle when you are doing the compound movement.
Shorter Break Period To encourage progression try cutting back on your break period between sets.
This way you surprise your muscles into responding to the increased pressure.
So if you are resting 2 minutes between sets now decrease your rest period to 1 minute between sets.
Compound Sets Do two exercises for the same body part right after the other, breaking as little as you can between.
Tri-Sets Like compound sets except you will be performing three exercises for the same body part right after one another, resting as little as you can between.
Rest-Pause Rest-Pause is where in the middle set when your muscle is worn out you pause for a few seconds to recover your breath and permit the target muscle rest a bit.
The advantage is that while you would fatigue quicker with a normal set, with rest-pause you get a small break and can wind up pumping out more reps per set thus working your muscle even more intensely.
Acquiring an excellent physique takes time, and your strength, stamina and conditioning are built up over time.
You should slowly but surely increase the training level and this means bringing in these higher training methods into your workout.
This technique "shocks" muscles into acting and forces them to adapt to be able to manage heavier weights.
Forced Reps This means working with a workout partner and having your partner aid you complete the last one or two reps of the last one or two sets in a workout.
What this accomplishes is when you are exhausted and cannot manage any more reps at the weight you are using, your training partner jumps in and "assists" you to force the weight to the preferred position and for you to lower the weight GENTLY back down again.
The notion behind this is that muscles react well to downward repetitions, that is moving the weight back gradually to the start position.
The muscle can handle a lot more weight doing negatives than positives.
Take the simple bench press, when you can't press one more rep, your training buddy helps you power the weight up and you can then return it slowly under tension to your chest again, then have your training buddy assist you with one more or to put it back on the rack.
Lowering the weight steadily under tension is great for the chest because it works it stronger than you would ever have been able to do by yourself.
Partial Repetitions This is when your muscle is fatigued at the end of a set, you carry on the repetition through half or as much as you can of it.
It's simply a way of adding more intensity of a set that you wouldn't be able to do with the normal range of motion.
Pyramid Sets This is where you increase the weight and decrease the rep range in a workout in each set of that exercise.
It's called pyramid training and the goal is to "shock" your body.
It's a very commonly used technique and can be used more often than other advanced techniques.
For example when doing lat pull downs on a lat machine, do 12 reps with a light enough weight for one set, for the next set do 10 reps with a heavier weight, for the next set do 8 reps with an even heavier weight yet and finally for the last set do 6 reps with as much weight as you can control.
Supersets Supersets are 2 exercises performed back to back with no pause in between.
There are two methods of executing supersets 1.
) Do supersets on the same muscle group.
This means doing two distinct exercises for the same muscle group after one another without stopping.
For example perform bench presses and chest fly's just after one another without resting.
2.
) Perform supersets on separate muscles.
For example do squats and biceps curls right after each other without pausing.
This technique progresses your cardiovascular conditioning and lessens the time you have to devote to the gym because while you do one exercise you permit the tired muscle to rest freeing up time.
Stripping This doesn't refer to taking your clothes off.
This means at the end of a set when your muscles are giving out with exhaustion, you stop and take away 15-35% of the weight on the bar or machine and renew the exercise movement until you are again fatigued with that weight, then you take another 20-40% of the bar or machine and carry on until you can go no further.
By all means continue to keep eliminating weight as you see fit, its guaranteed to sincerely work your muscles.
Pre-Exhaust This is where you pre-exhaust a larger muscle before executing a compound movement (compound is a workout technique you perform that uses as much different body parts as possible, e.
g.
the deadlift).
This helps when you have weak muscles that give out in the middle of a heavy compound set.
For example you could do dumbbell fly's first to pre-exhaust your chest and then do bench presses or a variant to it.
This halts your triceps or front deltoid muscle weakening prematurely.
This works really well because you can sense the "worked" muscle when you are doing the compound movement.
Shorter Break Period To encourage progression try cutting back on your break period between sets.
This way you surprise your muscles into responding to the increased pressure.
So if you are resting 2 minutes between sets now decrease your rest period to 1 minute between sets.
Compound Sets Do two exercises for the same body part right after the other, breaking as little as you can between.
Tri-Sets Like compound sets except you will be performing three exercises for the same body part right after one another, resting as little as you can between.
Rest-Pause Rest-Pause is where in the middle set when your muscle is worn out you pause for a few seconds to recover your breath and permit the target muscle rest a bit.
The advantage is that while you would fatigue quicker with a normal set, with rest-pause you get a small break and can wind up pumping out more reps per set thus working your muscle even more intensely.
Acquiring an excellent physique takes time, and your strength, stamina and conditioning are built up over time.
You should slowly but surely increase the training level and this means bringing in these higher training methods into your workout.
