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View Full Version : Training without a partner. Pt. 2



Pushtoday
10-27-2015, 08:20 PM
SOLO TACTIC #4: FORCED REPS

http://www.musclemag.com/content/content/5951/Overhead-Dumbbell-Extensions.jpg
What it is: Though you may think this great technique is meant to be used with a training partner, go back to the definition of forced reps and you’ll find that it can in fact also be employed by a solo trainer.
Forced reps involves reaching failure on a set and then “forcing” more reps beyond that initial failure. By forcing your muscles to contract after initial failure, the chances of muscle growth increase dramatically. In fact, studies have shown when weightlifters use forced reps, their growth hormone (GH) levels rise about three times higher than when they train to failure and then stop. That increase in GH not only helps add muscle size and strength but also assists in fat loss.
But even though you train alone doesn’t mean you can’t also enjoy the benefits that forced reps allow. You just have to get creative and be patient when it comes to your routines, since you’ll be working one side at a time with unilateral movements.
How to use it: The key will be to use your non-working limb to assist the working side to blast beyond failure at the end of a set. For example, during overhead triceps extensions, your non-working hand should be resting under your working triceps to help force more reps than you could normally do by using just your working arm. Same thing goes for biceps exercises like dumbbell curls and leg exercises such as the leg press. You can use your hands to assist your quads or you may even allow your non-working leg to provide just enough of a lift on the platform at the end of a set to squeeze out a few more reps.
By applying the forced reps tactic upon certain exercises, it forces you to work each side independently. Doing so allows for other benefits like being able to spot muscular strength imbalances between sides of your body. And because forced reps are so intense, much like drop sets, you need to allow ample time between workouts of the same bodypart to allow for adequate rest and recovery.
What a Sample Program Looks Like: Here’s what a typical set of forced reps would look like when applied to your triceps workout.

<tbody>
Exercise
Set
Reps*
Rest


Overhead Triceps Extension
1
6 (+ 2-3 forced reps)
1-2 mins.



2
8 (+ 2-3 forced reps)
1-2 mins.



3
10 (+ 2-3 forced reps)
1-2 mins.

</tbody>
* Choose a weight so that you reach muscle failure at the target rep. Additional forced reps are done with the assistance of the non-working hand
Note: After each set, you can either rest and repeat on the same limb, or you can alternate sides.
Best bodyparts: Biceps, triceps, legs
Best used with: Single-limb moves, dumbbells, leg machines, cables
Avoid using with: Barbell moves, most chest, delt or shoulder exercises
SOLO TACTIC #5: PRE-EXHAUST

http://www.musclemag.com/content/content/5951/Leg-Extension.jpg
What is it: Probably one of the more underused and misunderstood techniques, the pre-exhaust method involves performing a single-joint (or isolation) exercise(s) first in your session, then following it with compound (or multijoint) exercises. This is a reversal of how you normally approach your training for larger bodyparts.
Because you don’t have the benefit of a workout partner, making sure that the target muscle gets completely fatigued is imperative. Therefore, the goal of pre-exhaust is to fatigue the target muscle group so that when you perform the multijoint exercise afterward, not only does the target muscle continue to be trained, but the set won’t end prematurely because of stabilizer or secondary muscle group fatigue.
Pre-exhaust tactics, in fact, can replace the “forced rep” benefit you get when having a partner because you can most certainly train a target muscle harder and to a point of greater overall muscle fatigue. In fact even using the word “fatigue” is a bit of a misnomer; you want the target muscle to be fully destroyed at the end of your workout and not subject it to the limitations of any assisting muscles, and pre-exhaust better allows you to do just that. As an example, while you’d normally do bench presses before flyes and squats before leg extensions in a mass-building workout, with pre-exhaust you flip the order by doing the single-joint move first.
How to use it: To pre-exhaust a given bodypart, you simply do the single-joint move (one set of joints is working, not two or more) before the multijoint exercise. To pre-exhaust the quads, do the leg extension before hitting it with a heavier compound exercise such as the squat. (Remember, you typically use less weight on the single-joint exercise than you can with a multijoint move, and that doesn’t change no matter what order your exercises.) The squat incorporates not only the quads but also requires the assistance of your hamstrings and glutes (among other muscles). By hitting just the quads by beginning with the leg extension, you can be more assured that by the end of your last set of squats, your quads will have been completely trained and any weakness in your glutes or hamstrings will not bring about the end of the set.
A couple of points to remember: Typically you do single-joint moves toward the end of your workout, which by then you’ve already achieved a degree of fatigue. Doing them first means you’ll be fresh and be able to use slightly heavier weights than normal. Resist the temptation of doing very heavy weights on single-joint moves, even when doing them first in your workout, as they usually put greater pressure on your joints. Likewise, you’ll be somewhat fatigued when you get to your multijoint exercises, so don’t expect to be able to push the same kinds of weights that you do when you’re fresh and you do that exercise first in your routine.
Second, you can do more than just one single-joint exercise before you do your multijoint move. For example, on chest day you could do incline-bench dumbbell flyes and the machine pec-deck (each of those exercises hits the pecs from slightly different angles) before doing your compound chest presses. For shoulders, as another example do lateral raises (a single-joint exercise that targets the middle delts) as a way to pre-exhaust the shoulders before overhead presses (a compound move that hits all three delts heads, though primarily the front and middle delts). Because overhead presses are dependent upon the weaker and smaller triceps muscle, by pre-exhausting the delts with lateral raises, by the end of the overhead press sets — which are dependent upon the triceps — your delts will be more completely fatigued.
What a Sample Program Looks Like: Here’s what a typical pre-exhaust day would look like when applied to your leg training.

<tbody>
Exercise
Sets
Reps


Leg Extension*
5
12, 10, 8, 8, 8


Squat
4
10, 8, 6, 10


Leg Press
3
10, 12, 15


Romanian Deadlift
3
8, 10, 12


Lying Leg Curl
3
10, 12, 15

</tbody>
* This is your pre-exhaust exercise, but you can do more than one exercise. Each set needs to be taken to complete exhaustion before moving on the compound, multijoint move, which in this case is the squat.
Best bodyparts: Chest, legs, delts
Best used with (for isolation moves): Cables, dumbbells, machines
Avoid using with: Barbell moves (which are typically multijoint in nature)