Trenirovki alone
The importance of muscle failure
The disadvantage of training alone is that it is harder to force yourself to work hard. It is almost impossible to do these last repetitions when no one insures or encourages you with words of encouragement. It is not surprising that many approaches end in a step away from muscle failure.
What's wrong with that? Training to failure is an important aspect of muscle growth. This is why successful bodybuilders have learned to enjoy the pain and the feeling that their muscles are on fire. In the end, this fire opens up the horizons of real muscle growth.
Moreover, everything points to the special importance of training after a muscle failure, when you can no longer continue the approach without assistance. Although science suggests that bringing each set to failure is counterproductive, 1-2 extreme approaches in basic compounding exercises can lead to serious progress. This way you damage the muscle fibers more. This means that with rest and proper nutrition, the muscles are more likely to recover and become bigger.
You may think that it is impossible to train to failure without a partner, but it is not so! Here are some training strategies for overcoming the point of failure without assistance.
1. Rest-pause
This technique uses the ability of muscle fibers to quickly replenish the energy that drives muscle contractions. Instead of making a heavy approach of 7-8 repetitions and hanging the bar on the stops, because there is no strength to continue, use the rest-pause technique. Take the same weight and break the approach into segments separated by 20-second breaks. Such pauses will allow you to quickly restore the reserves of the intramuscular energy supply system.
Try to do 3-4 repetitions, take a 20-second pause, and do another 3-4 repetitions. Alternate work and rest periods until the total is 4-5 work cycles. By the end of the full approach, you will have 12-20 reps – a much larger amount of work than if you did only 7-8 reps without a break. A sharp increase in intensity will cause additional muscle damage and help spur the secretion of anabolic hormones that stimulate hypertrophy.
During exercise. Use this intensity method at the beginning of your workout, before your strength levels drop. As a rule, you should choose a working weight with which you can do 7-8 repetitions (but in reality you are limited to only 3-4). Alternatively, you can choose a smaller or larger tonnage and adjust the planned number of repetitions. For example, try taking the weight with which you can complete 12 reps (your 12-REP maximum) and linking segments of 6-7 reps in 20-second intervals.
Best exercise. The optimal choice will be multi-joint movements that do not require much effort during the removal of the working weight from the stops. Therefore, the shoulder or chest press in the simulator is preferable to the press with dumbbells. Smith's simulator is particularly well suited for this purpose.
2. Partial repetitions
In a normal situation, you perform the exercise with full amplitude, starting from the position of maximum stretching of the muscle and ending with its full contraction. As a result, the approach ends when you stop at the so-called dead point. The peculiarity of biomechanics is that fatigue overtakes you at the point where the muscle lever occupies the most unfavorable position. For most of us, this point is somewhere in the middle of the trajectory.
In partial repetitions, you focus on a specific segment of the trajectory. For example, when you reach failure, limit the amplitude to the upper part of the trajectory, and you can complete several more repetitions with the same working weight. This will put the muscle fibers under more intense stress than they are used to.
For example, when you bend your legs in a 50 kg machine, you can do 8 repetitions, but nothing else. From the position of full contraction, lower the weight to half and tighten the muscles again. Continue in the same spirit until you feel strong enough for such partial repetitions.
During exercise. Use the technique in the last approach or two. It drains the muscles more than full-length repetitions performed to failure, and this affects the strength indicators in subsequent approaches and repetitions.
Best exercise. Choose movements in which shortened repetitions after muscle failure do not increase the risk of injury. In most cases, these are exercises in simulators.
3. Drop sets
Apart from the warm-up, you are likely to come close to a muscle failure in almost every approach. Now, instead of lowering the bar or hanging it on the stops, you quickly reduce the tonnage by 20-30% and continue the approach until you get to the second failure. You can even repeat this technique three times.
In addition to burning more calories, this technique includes additional motor units and involves the maximum number of muscle fibers during the approach. At the end of your workout, drop sets can also help you channel extra fluid into your muscles. This will help stretch the surrounding fascia muscles and trigger the secretion of anabolic hormones. Drop sets are also known as strip sets.
During exercise. This technique should be used in the last 1-2 approaches to the exercise or during the final phase of the training session. The increasing increase in fatigue negatively affects the strength indicators in subsequent approaches, so the inclusion of drop sets at the beginning of training is hardly a good idea.
Rest periods should be as short as possible so that working with less weight does not become a completely new approach. Parsing the bar and then returning to the starting position – especially if you train alone – delays the rest intervals, so it is better to have ready-to-work projectiles at hand.
Best exercise. Simulators with a stud for load adjustment (it is easy to change the tonnage – just move the retainer) will be the optimal choice for drop sets. When working with dumbbells, keep the second pair at hand. Using a barbell or pancake machine, place light discs around the edges so that you can quickly reduce the load.
