In order for your muscles to
adapt,
you have to shock it with different types of stimuli. Now there are
probably a million and one ways to shock your muscles but I will discuss
a few methods which I have used in the past and still use to some degree
today.
Remember, shocking principles should be applied when you have hit a
plateau.
If you are just beginning to lift weights, then straight sets is all
that your body will require. Now on to the goods.
1. Drop Sets:
If you don't know what a
drop set is, then I will explain. A drop set is when you
start with X amount of weight and you perform as many reps as you can.
When you reach failure, you strip off some of the weight and then
perform another set to failure.
After reaching failure,
you continue to strip off weight and pound out reps to the best of your
ability. I have used drop sets for nearly all of my body parts and I
must warn you that it hurts like you wouldn't believe.
First off, you need to have mental
toughness if you want to finish a drop set. Second, it will burn and you
will lose feeling in whatever muscle group you're working. Lastly,
performing one drop set is enough to send any novice lifter crying home
for help. So my advice to you is to try just one drop set to start out
with and when you get comfortable enough, then add in a few more sets.
Just don't overdo a good thing. Some exercises that I have used drop
sets for in the past include all:
-
Bench
presses
-
Squats
-
Leg
extensions
-
Leg curls
-
Barbell
curls
-
Triceps
extensions
-
Dips
-
You can be
creative in how you approach your drop set. Just make sure to be smart
about it and don't forget to use a spotter.
Related Article:
How to add 40 lbs
to your Bench in as little as 21 days!
2. Super Sets:
Supersetting is probably one of the most common shocking principles used
throughout the gyms I have been in. When you perform a super set, you
perform two exercises one right after the other with little rest in
between.
For
instance, you could perform incline
dumbbell flyes followed by a set of
incline bench
press. Since this is also a pre-exhaust
technique, the amount of weight you will be able to handle will be
considerably less than if you started out fresh with the second
exercise.
Make
sure you use a spotter if you have never tried this technique before.
Arnold
was known for Supersetting a lot of exercises. If you have ever seen his
training program then you would know what I'm talking about. For
instance, he would superset compound chest and back exercises.
You could do the same but once again, Supersetting takes out a lot of
energy from you and you need to start with a light volume. So if you're
inexperienced with super setting, I would suggest that you try one super
set to see how it feels.
Once you get accustomed to it, you can add one or two more super sets
every so often. Some exercises which I would recommend Supersetting are:
-
Leg
extensions and
Lying leg curls
-
Barbell
curls and
Weighted dips
-
Dumbbell
side laterals and
Behind neck press
-
Flyes
and Bench presses
-
Pullovers
and Barbell rows
-
Leg
extensions and
Squats
-
and various
others...
-
Once again, be
creative and stick with what works.
Related Article:
Dynamic
Strength Training
3. Giant Sets:
Giant
sets are similar to super sets with the exception that you perform three
or more exercises back to back to back with little rest. I'm not a big
fan of giant sets because by the time I get to my third exercise, I have
very little left. One thing that I can recall doing in the past was
performing flat bench press,
incline
bench press and
decline bench press
back to back to back.
Flat, Incline, Decline.
I never knew 135
could be so heavy! To be honest with you, I don't know of many people
who perform giant sets. If you do then do so at your own risk. You'll
probably end up in the corner losing your lunch or whatever it is you
had to eat. Just don't say that I didn't warn you.
4. Forced Reps:
This is
most definitely my favorite shocking principle! Why? Well, I have always
used it since the days of training back at
Berry College
and it's worked wonders. Forced reps are exactly what they sound like.
You force your muscles to work beyond their normal capacity. Let us use
the bench press as an example. Let's say that you can only perform 225
lbs for 6 reps to positive failure.
Now if you apply forced reps, you could probably pound out 225 lbs for
8-10 reps. Now that you have handled 225 lbs for 8-10 reps, you are
ready to go up in weight to say 235 lbs. At this point, you might be
able to get 6-8 reps using the forced reps principle. If you keep up
this progression, you may be able to perform 275 lbs for 6 reps using
forced reps in a couple of months.
Now if you tried to bench press 225 lbs to positive failure, you would
undoubtedly get at least 10 reps, if not more. This will lead to
phenomenal gains since the muscle is being exerted to the max and
beyond. The only drawback to forced reps is that it requires a spotter
for almost all of your work sets otherwise it would not be possible.
Also, it is highly recommended that you use a spotter who knows what
you're doing and knows how to spot. He/she needs to know how much help
to apply to each rep so that the lifter can stay in the groove. Once the
groove is broken, the lifting becomes much more difficult.
This technique is perhaps one of the more dangerous ones since you are
handling a weight which you normally aren't used to and if the spotter's
attention veers even for one moment, then you could face a weight
crushing your skull. So be smart about your progression, get a good
spotter and be ready to fight for your life on each rep.
Conclusion
These
are some of the shocking principles which I have applied in the past and
still use to this very day. They can benefit you and they can obviate
your progress. Just learn what works for you because in essence,
bodybuilding is a system that is built on trial and error. If something
works extremely well for you, there is no need to change it until it
stops working. If you have any questions, e-mail them to me at
psom@yahoo.com.
Best Wishes,
Phano Paul Som
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