Something I haven’t intentionally done in probably five years now is take a set to muscular failure.
Likewise, I haven’t really pushed the weight I am using for maybe two.
While this is contrary to the vast majority of weightlifting advice you will hear on the internet, it has been an absolute boon for my results, principally because I’m not forever feeling crispy and struggling with joint issues.
In fact, the only problems I have (most notably the shoulder issue and golfer’s elbow flare-up I mentioned a couple of days ago) are the direct result of me neglecting to follow my own damn advice. But, transient idiocy-related niggles aside, I have never looked, felt, or performed better than I do today.
To be clear: I am not saying always stopping at least a couple of reps shy of failure and being conservative with your weight selection means you get to take it “easy”.
You still have to do a lot of boring, difficult, and, at times, downright uncomfortable work. The difference is, the focus is no longer on maximising the output of individual sets and instead is on the quality of the workout as a whole.
Specifically in two areas:
1) Meticulous attention to exercise form, and,
2) Reducing rest between sets.
Combined, these two things are very powerful.
Using lighter weights (as you will be doing to make sure every rep is beautiful) allows for more reps per set, yet stopping shy of failure ensures your form never breaks down (which over time embeds bad habits, not to mention dramatically increases the risk of you hurting yourself, potentially resulting in you being sidelined for weeks, months, or more).
And…
Trimming your rest periods creates metabolic stress that can, in certain cases, result in greater muscle growth. But the principle advantage, at least for me as someone who has other things I would rather be doing than training, is that it slices workout duration, sometimes by as much as half.
Obviously, you won’t get as “strong” training in this fashion, but you can still get plenty strong enough. Doubly so if you invest some time in building a solid foundation of strength per the mainstream approach of doing lower reps sets with heavier weights, often to failure, and taking plenty of rest between them. (Despite what I’ve hitherto written in this email, everyone who can safely train this way should for at least six months to two years, in my opinion).
For example, I’m certainly not as strong as I was when I was hammering away at the big weights, but I can still clean and strict press my bodweight from cold, as I found out recently when I tried it on a whim.
All right, that’s enough for today.
But if you want more, including complete programmes for both the “normie” and my somewhat unconventional approaches to lifting, you will find plenty enough to keep you going for months and possibly years if you gel with my ways inside:
“Phil Tyreman’s Big Book of Fitness”
It’s actually a collection of five of my books and you can get it for the princely price of £5.
Take note: This is an eBook in PDF format, so I don’t recommend buying it if you don’t have a device that you can comfortably read PDFs on.
Otherwise, here are the details:
Thank you,
Phil Tyreman