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M4:D37 (D337) Increase Intensity With Timed Repetitions

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What's on my mind today?

A few months have gone by and you are still interested in finding ways to increase the intensity of your lifting workouts.  You now have tried drop sets and have seen some great results, but you are bored with that approach. What should you try next?

Time repetitions are another way to increase the intensity of your lifting.  The concept is that you lift with a certain cadence.  You can do 2 seconds up and 2 seconds down or any number of ways.  I personally have been using 3 seconds up and 3 seconds down using an electronic metronome to insure that I hit the exact rhythm.

By slowing down your repetitions you are increasing the time under tension for the muscle group being worked.  This adds an extreme amount of intensity to your lifts.  You will naturally have to drop your weight in order to hit the correct rep range.  What is interesting is how this effects the number of sets you have to do.

I noticed that it was taking me about 20 seconds to complete an exercise to 10 reps.  I would do 3 sets for a total of 60 seconds of work on the muscle group being trained.  When I switched to the 3 x 3 cadence I was able to drop down to 1 set.  You see that meant I was taking 60 seconds to complete 1 set of an exercise.  This was equivalent to the workload for 3 sets of an exercise.  This type of intensity allows you to get in and out of the gym quickly.

Time under tension is extremely important when lifting.  Your muscles work harder the longer they are kept under tension.  Time repetitions increase the time under tension naturally.  You also get to do a nice, slow, controlled rep, insuring that your form is accurate.  This leads to greater growth from the better form that you are using.  My legs have grown 0.5 inches in 3 weeks using the timed repetition method of intensity.  I've even added 0.25 inches to my biceps, a muscle group I could never get to grow in the past.  I've even lost an inch in my abdominal area and that is a result of holding in my abs when doing certain lifts as well as blasting them with the ab mat (I use timed repetitions on my ab work as well).

If you want to up the intensity of your lifting, try using timed repetitions.

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Find out what I'm doing to my body!

Honestly, I was not happy with my workout today.  I did not feel the fire in the belly that I think I should have felt.  I made progress on most of the exercises.  I am now at the full rack on my standing calf raises and will have to start using a barbell across my back if I want to lift any heavier than where I am at now.  I took it easy on squats because my lower back was stiff and sore and I didn't want to risk injury.  As you review my log you probably wonder why I am unhappy with the workout.  An example would be my deadlifts.  A few workouts ago I did 255 x 8 and this time I managed 250 x 8.  When I quit I immediately thought "You probably had 4 more repetitions in you if only you'd tried harder!"  I was angry with myself.  At the same time, I am not going to beat myself up over one (perceived) bad workout.   I simply thought of my training philosophy — You can never train hard enough because you can always go harder than you just did.

 
Exercise the brain with the Thought of the Day!

Don't sweat the small stuff.  Have a bad workout?  Vow to do better the next time!
 
Get a discussion started by answering the question!

Do you feel you need to increase the intensity of your lifting workouts?  Comment this post to answer the question.
 

 
  

Mission 2, Day 37: No show

Until tomorrow…GET BACK TO LIFTING!

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About Michael Mahony, ISSA CPT

Mike is a passionate bodybuilder, NPC Competitor and ISSA Certified Personal Trainer who is always looking for ways to do things better. He also has a passion for correcting the misinformation that is prevalent in the bodybuilding and fitness industry today. Mike is currently working on his first eBook, Get Back to Lifting, which is scheduled to be released soon. He is also working on a second book, The Average Guy's Supplement Guide, that is scheduled to be released the end of 2016.

New eBook!