Feeling The Burn - Improving Your Workout Intensity

Let's face it, sooner or later, it happens to us all - we feel like we've hit a wall, a plateau, a slump. Whatever you want to call, you just don't feel like you're getting the results from your workout that you used to. If my experience both inside and outside the gym count for anything, it's that when I undertake something, I seek results.

The harder you work, the more results you will see (assuming that your training methods are as effective as possible.

But at a certain point it becomes very difficult to get more out of your workouts. You're working as heavy as you can, so you can't add more weight. You're already doing as many sets as possible and training as often as you can without over training. So what do you do now?

Answer: You change things up. Getting better results at this point is a matter of increasing your training intensity. Arnold Schwarzenegger defines intensity as "a measure of what you get out of your training, not what you put into it". There are multiple techniques that can be utilised to shock your system, increase your workout intensity, and push past your current limitations. For example:

• add weight to your exercises;
• increase the number of reps in your sets;
• cut down on your rest period between sets
• do two or more in a row of exercises without resting (super sets)

There are also a number of special-intensity training techniques. I have selected 3 such techniques below with a brief description.

FORCED REPS

One method of forcing out extra reps without the need of a workout partner is something called Rest/Pause Training. You use a fairly heavy weight and go to failure in that set. Then you stop, let the weight hang for just a few seconds, and then force out an extra rep. You may release the weight when you pause, but it is essential not to wait to long - you are attempting to recruit new muscle fibres to compensate for the extra work load, not to allow the existing muscles fibres a chance to fully recover.

PARTIAL REPS

A favourite technique of Arnold's - when you are too tired to complete full range of motion repetitions, you achieve partial reps. Partial reps are most effective at the end of sets, when you are almost exhausted. For example, doing preacher curls - have someone help you lift the weight, then lower it a few degrees and lift it as much as possible, if only a few inches. Then lower the weight a little further, and again attempt to lift it as high as possible. Continue this process all the way down and you will feel one hell of a burn!

THE CHEATING METHOD

Not to be used as an excuse for improper form, this method is the exception to the general rule that strict technique is necessary to bodybuilding. It is a method in which you deliberately use other muscles or muscle groups to work in cooperation with the target muscles. This is not something you should do all the time, but it is very useful for achieving certain specific goals. For example, doing heavy barbell curls. When you become too fatigued to perform strict reps, you use your shoulders and back to lift the weight. The trick with this method is to only cheat just enough to perform the lift, but your focus should still be on making your biceps work as hard as possible. By performing an extra one or two reps, you have still placed more stress on the biceps than you would have normally, this way, the target muscle has worked harder, not less. Without the benefit of a training partner, this can prove a very useful technique when not abused.

"Not everyone can be the best, but everyone can be the best that they can be"