3 Advanced Training Techniques to help maximize your gains

Beginners often experience ‘newbie gains’ as they get started with a weight lifting routine, but eventually they will reach a stage where adding more weights seem like an impossible task. To help burst through the plateau, lifters can use the following techniques to bring the intensity to the next level, further engaging more muscle fibers and providing the stimulus needed to get stronger and bigger.

1. Twenty One (21s)

A workout typically involves the rep range of less than 20 repetitions, but what if I tell you, performing the exercises at a higher rep range can actually produce similar, if not better results? This high reps workout is guaranteed to shock your body into growth and provide anabolic results by utilizing a technique called 21s.

A higher rep range will overload your muscle by prolonging the time under tension (TUT), which is one of the variables that produces hypertrophy effect. It also produces the cell swelling effect (a.k.a. pump), which is essential in maximizing protein synthesis and reduce the impact of protein degradation.

With 21s, you’ll be performing three different ranges of motion in one exercise, as opposed to just single range of motion. The 3 ranges of motion are:

1. The upper half of the motion
2. The lower half of the motion
3. Full range of motion

You’ll be performing 7 reps on each range of motion, and this will total up to 21 reps. As you’ve pre-fatigue the muscle groups in both upper and lower half before attempting to perform full range of motion, this will overload the muscle and force them to grow.

2. Superset

Superset is an advanced weight lifting techniques which involves the individual to perform two or more exercises, one after the other, with minimal/ without any rest in between.

The idea here is to push the muscle hard until it reaches fatigue by the end of the set, and this will help increasing the blood flow towards the working muscle, causing greater muscle activation.

Do not be fooled by the weight reduction; as there’s less recovery time between each exercise, you’ll find it liberating to get just a breath of fresh air by the end of the workout!

The 3 most effective superset methods are:

a. Post-Exhaustion Superset, because it allows you to place the most neurologically demanding exercise first before isolation exercises, and you get to properly isolate the muscle group at the end of the workout.

b. Antagonist Superset, because you’re able to recruit various muscle fibers of different muscle groups within a short period.

c. Tri-Sets, because the higher workout volume is efficient in boosting muscle hypertrophy compared to other methods.

3. Drop Set

Pick a weight and do as many reps as possible. Immediately decrease the weight, and push yourself for a few more reps. Decrease the weight again, and repeat the process until you can’t do any more reps. This technique isn’t easy, but you definitely should give it a try if increased hypertrophy or strength is your goal.

There are several ways that you can prepare yourself for the workout:

Prepare the weights in advance. Have 2 sets of weights prepared and placed beside you, as there will be a point of diminishing returns if you were to reduce it more than that. Place it beside you so that you don’t have to walk far to reach them.

Train near the dumbbell rack, where you can get hold of the weights that you want. This technique is also known as ‘training down the rack’, and it’s best performed when you have the dumbbell rack all by your own. (Trying going earlier in the day and there’ll be less people working out)

Put the smaller weights further away from the center of the bar, so that the weights can be stripped off the bar immediately after a set was finished. It’s best performed with a spotter, who can help reduce the weight without the need to leave the bench.

Perform your exercise on a machine. All you have to do to reduce the weight is simply pulling the pin out of the weight stack, and sticking it into the desired range. Recommended for those who’re working out alone.