I like pain. Feeling an intense burn in my muscles is the residue of hard work. It's like a badge of honor. So, I love throwing in the occasional extended set. Extended sets are where you continue to do more work once you've reached failure. There are several ways to do this:
Trouble is, those methods are boring. I prefer two other methods that are more stimulating, mentally AND physically. They're called mechanical drop sets and post-fatigue tri-sets.
Involve doing more reps once you hit failure, only rather than reducing the weight, you simply make small adjustments in the execution of the movement that allow you to keep on going.
As an example, in the following triad of biceps exercises: Reverse grip curls, "regular" grip curls, and hammer curls, the reverse grip ones are the hardest, followed in relative ease of execution by "regular" grip curls and then hammer curls.
If you rep out doing reverse curls, you'll be able to continue doing more reps by simply rotating your wrists and doing conventional curls. When you rep out using conventional curls, you should be able to eke out a few more reps by rotating your wrists and doing hammer-grip curls.
Easy but oh-so hard.
Involve doing a second and a third exercise for the same muscle or muscle group without taking any rest. Again, easy but oh-so hard.
The science behind them is simply this: the more muscle fibers you can exhaust, the more muscle you can grow.
The potential drawback? You can easily do too much work and compromise recovery. Of course, that won't be a problem if you use them judiciously; I'd say no more than three or four sets of an extended set exercise per body part.
Whether you want to regularly incorporate them into your workouts, or occasionally use one to punish your miserable self for sins against man, nature, or God, here are some of my favorites.
I appropriated many from Christian Thibaudeau, some from Charles Poliquin, and one from Dr. Clay Hyght. I dreamed up the others during lonely evenings spent in my backyard gym.
Remember, move from variation to variation within the set without taking any rest, but rest about 2 minutes in-between sets.
Note: yeah, yeah, both upright rows and behind-the-neck presses are shunned by some exercise specialists, but given the rep ranges we're talking about here (relatively high), you'll be using a weight that most likely won't harm you, unless you already have known shoulder problems.
* Be prepared to be sucking wind after this one.
Got any favorite Mechanical Drop Sets or Post Fatigue Tri Sets of your own? I want to know about them! Hurt me, please.
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