A key principle for generating long-term significant increases in muscle mass and strength is teaching your body to become strong and comfortable at the extremes of the muscular range. This is an underrated and underutilized ‘trick’ for sparking significant strength gains across the entirety of the range, while also hitting those neglected muscle-fibers to ignite new growth.
Teaching a muscle to become comfortable holding / stabilizing a weight at its end-points will improve your Active Range of Motion (AROM) over time while also decreasing injury risk both in the short and long-term. This last point is crucial as less forced time off means more time spent training and growing! Remember, he who breaks down least over time typically reigns supreme in the end.
Don’t be shortsighted and simply chase the weights at any cost… take the time to do this right, even if it will probably mean decreasing the poundage you can move at first – I don’t care if you can bench 400lbs if your range sucks. Neither should you!
Most people I come across are poor at generating force (and keeping tension) in the fully shortened and/or lengthened positions. One of the best ways to combat this is simply to spend more time there. During the next 6 weeks, give extra focus to initiating from the working muscle and ensuring constant tension throughout EACH and EVERY rep – NO exceptions!
Your focus in weeks 1 and 2 is to simply to try and keep the weights you lift (with perfect range) the same from workout to workout while the time spent under tension at the extremes goes up. After that we will begin adding additional volume.
It is VERY important during the program to keep detailed notes, in particular of the specific weights used and where exactly you failed. If you stay true to the aims of the program, by the time you reach week 6 you should find you are using noticeably more weight while performing every rep with the same full range / perfect execution. ZERO cheating. ZERO momentum. At ANY point.
Now, the first few weeks are your benchmark, so be focused and on it from day 1.
When you begin, you will probably want to pick a starting weight for each exercise you think would have you failing at 2-3 reps above the prescribed target. Moving into the extremes of the range is likely to be a little unfamiliar for you, and even more so keeping the weight there for an extended period of time.
The increasing intensity in weeks 3 and 4 will be taxing on your CNS, so after a short neurological de-load, we’ll crank the volume and intensity through the roof in week 5.
THIS is where you get to really test your mettle! THIS is where you really have to want it!
Assuming you survive week 5, compare your week 6 training to week 1, and measure your progress.
Now, before you jump into your first training session, here are a few ground rules to help you along the way:
1. NEVER go to failure on the first exercise. Aim to stop 1-2 reps short of failure on the first 1-2 sets of each exercise. The fatigue will accumulate quickly.
2. Test your active range of motion (AROM) before the first working set of EACH exercise, and be sure NOT to go past that to avoid other muscles beginning to take the load… that would defeat the point of the entire program. Remember, tension is king!
3. For the first set, aim to pick a weight that’s about 10-20% less than what you ‘think’ you should typically use. You will have ample opportunities to increase the weight later in the program, just be careful initially as you probably aren’t used to hitting the absolute extreme of the range. And don’t beat yourself up about that, it’s more than common – just drop the weight and focus on the objective.
4. As always, squeeze it like it owes you money, at ALL times!!
5. Finally, recap the objective before you begin each and every workout over the next 6 weeks. DO NOT allow yourself to get distracted. DO NOT allow your ego to get the better of you.
You got this champ… now get to work!
Ben
