The best intensification techniques in weight training

You go to the gym every day, you don't count your bodybuilding efforts, you've been giving your best for several years and never balk at the idea of a jump set... But now you're stuck and your training is stagnating. The intensification technique can make all the difference. With it, you can improve your muscle gain, endurance and strength by pushing back your limits. Let's take a look at the different techniques for intensifying your training.

Increase the intensity of your sessions with these techniques

Be careful!

Are you a beginner? Forget these techniques immediately. There is no need for this kind of program when you are a beginner and inexperience, lack of self-knowledge or lack of knowledge of your limits make the method risky. Go at your own pace and don't rush. There is no rush.

A word of caution to those who might be tempted by these workout techniques. Don't push yourself too hard on this kind of training. Your body needs to rest, especially after such intensive sessions. Excessive use of intensification techniques increases the risk of injury. It's better to blow off a day or two than to be incapacitated for several weeks or even months, depending on the severity of the damage.

Two types of intensification techniques are commonly distinguished: those which concern the organisation of the series and those which allow the effort to be continued after having reached muscular failure.

The organization of the series

1 - The pyramid

As its name indicates, this method of bodybuilding follows a pyramid principle. The objective is to carry out a minimum of three series by increasing the load stage by stage, but by decreasing the number of repetitions to be carried out.

The advantage is that you get a workout that involves heavy lifting, but in a progressive manner. You limit the risk of injury since the warm-up is done gradually.

Exercise Instructions: Start with about 20 reps at half the maximum weight you can lift. Then increase by 10% each time, decreasing the number of reps by half until you reach 85 or 90% of the load. To complete your session, once you reach your maximum, do the same thing in a decreasing manner: lower the load and increase the reps again.

Warning: An incomparably effective intensification technique. The other side of the coin is the incredible intensity of the effort it requires from the body. It is better not to abuse it, even if it is tempting to be relentless on these exercises so much they make gain in power, in endurance or in mass. Prudence.

2 - The superset

The goal here is to perform two exercises in a row, without any break, using two opposing muscles: biceps/triceps; pectorals/dorsals...

This technique of intensification of superset makes it possible to support the time devoted to recovery by intensifying the sessions. Know however that the gain of endurance, power or mass is not significant compared to another traditional series in bodybuilding.

Here is an interesting article to complete your knowledge: Focus on supersets

3 - Biset or complex / combined series

The principle is the same as for the superset but with one major difference: the biset in bodybuilding makes you ask for the same group of muscles.

In general, it is recommended to start with basic exercises before moving on to isolation exercises for the part you want to build up. If you want to do the opposite and start with isolation exercises, first focus on pre-fatigue. Complex sets are great for congestion, but this workout is limited in terms of load or efficiency.

4 - The trisets

Similar to the biset, the triset consists in carrying out three exercises (as its name indicates) targeting the same part of the body to be muscled without taking time of rest.

The objective remains to promote congestion and gain endurance while benefiting from rest time.

5 - Giant sets

In the same way, a large number of exercises targeting the same area are performed. muscle group without any rest between each series, or very little if necessary. We're talking about four to six exercises in a giant set that you repeat three to four times after a break.

Warning Giant sets: extremely effective to perfect the balance of a muscle, this technique is very demanding in terms of endurance. The realization of Giant sets is of a great difficulty.

6 - Pre-fatigue

This technique consists of performing isolation exercises before moving on to basic exercises without any rest time.

Pre-fatigue is recommended for the execution of complex sets or giant sets. It allows you to intensify your work on a particular part of the body.

Warning Do not push your body to the point of exhaustion. Without recovery time and reasonable practice, you risk injury.

Need to build up your muscles?

After the muscle failure

This failure is when your body reaches exhaustion and won't allow you to do one more repetition. Let's see what you can do after that.

1 - Dropset

The goal is to continue your session in a regressive manner, using lighter and lighter loads, after the checkout. The goal is to perform a few more reps before resting.

Tips If it's easy to do weight training on dumbbell exercises, use one or more partners for barbell exercises to avoid interruptions. Lower the load once or twice and measure your effort if you want to do more. Use this technique only occasionally at the end of the session: it is very exhausting and should only consist of one or two exercises at most.

The dropset allows you to gain mass, to work on your endurance while putting your congestion in front.

2 - Forced / assisted repetitions

For forced reps, a partner comes in to help you complete your last reps correctly.

Your partner's help should be limited to the ascent, the descent is done alone. A partner will help you from a technical point of view to correct your movements on which fatigue weighs.

Warning Do not overuse this technique and monitor your practice. Do not do more than two forced reps, use this technique only occasionally and limit your partner's involvement.

3 - Cheated repetitions

Here, the objective is to play with the positioning of the body to perform a few extra reps. The goal is to maintain perfect execution despite fatigue.

Warning Cheat reps should be used sparingly. They are limited to the end of the session and should not be used to lift heavier or facilitate technical exercises. Thus, they are not recommended for exercises that must be performed perfectly.

4 - Partial repetitions

As its name indicates, the principle of this intensification technique is to limit the amplitude of the movements, in a progressive way, to achieve some repetitions more. One will seek just to exceed its points of blocking.

It is not about cheating reps, it is about maintaining perfect execution without changing your position or swinging your load. It is advised on the basic exercises and requires some stretching.

Partial reps build power and volume. It is an excellent technique to end a period of stagnation or blocking.

5 - Negative repetitions

The principle of this intensification technique is very simple: only one phase of the movement of the exercises is performed, namely the descent. This is called the concentric or eccentric phase.

The advantage is that the body is stronger on the way down, so you can increase the weight from 10 to 20% to gain power. This technique requires a super slow, unassisted movement while braking the bar. However, you can ask for a partner's help on the way up.

Warning Negative reps tire the body and should therefore be kept occasional.

6 - The partial break or rest break

The rest pause or partial pause is a recovery technique that aims to perform a few repetitions with the same load.

This technique involves resting for a few moments after your sets. If you decide to do it several times, increase the recovery time each time or decrease the number of repetitions. It is advised to carry out relatively long series or to preserve very heavy loads.

The rest break is ideal for gaining power and increasing mass significantly.

Conclusion

Never forget that all these techniques are intended to get you past the breaking point of your muscles. So use these bodybuilding exercises in moderation, otherwise you risk long-term injury. They are only recommended for a short period of time, at the end of the series. There are also the centurion methodIf you are behind, you risk overtraining. So, be careful and think twice if you choose this style of intensification technique.

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