Saturday Fever

Here's a little tactic anyone can use to exploit their CNS (Central Nervous System) and gain strength and hit new Personal Records. I'll use bench press as my example.

Do a few light warmups. And by light I mean a couple sets of 10 with less than half what you feel your 1RM is. Now let's get started.

Load the bar with your current 1RM and hit it.

Drop the weight 40%, wait 30 seconds, and slam out 6 reps. Trust me, this will feel very light.

Add 5 pounds to your previous 1RM (note I'm calling it your previous 1RM), rest 30 seconds and nail it.

Drop THAT weight by 40%, wait 30 seconds, and slam out 6 reps. This should feel lighter than expected again.

Add 5 pounds to your new PR, wait 30 seconds, and nail it.

You should find success in this for about 3 weeks in a row. At this point you'll need to change things up for a month before you return to this strategy. Your CNS is slow, but it will learn.

Have fun with those new PRs.

yay.

DeadBolt

After you do that for 3-4 weeks will you maintain that new found strength or does it sort of just go away once traditional training methods are used again? Like after 3-4 weeks of that if my 1RM 200 and lets say after 3 weeks I get it to 240 for my 1RM. If I try normla pyramiding or a few heavy sets would I be able to hit the new 1RM (240) or would I be closer to the old 1RM (200) due to excaustion?

"Only in dictionaries does SUCCESS come before WORK." -Alfred K. Henderson

´¯`·.¸¸.·´¯`·.¸¸.·´¯`·.¸ ><((((((º>

Saturday Fever

Well, remember that this is for training your 1RM. We're doing a total of 15 reps, with the 15th rep being your new 10lb. PR.

When I started experimenting with this idea, I cycled 3 "chest days" in my routine that looked like this:

1) 1-6-1-6-1
2) 4 sets of 3
3) 3 sets of 8-10 on incline or decline

My 1RM increased steadily for about 3 months and my 3RM increased as well. I cycled one chest day a week. It was that point that I decided to switch to a powerlifting-based routine.

But to give you a much shorter answer, you should be able to reach your new PR again, given a reasonable amount of prior sets.

yay.

M.J.H.

Wow, now that's extremely interesting SF. I might give this a shot. Definitely an interesting concept, that's for sure. Thanks for sharing.

Stats!
23 years old, 5'11.5", 206 lbs., ~8% bodyfat

380/455/655 bench/squat/deadlift (current)
405/495/675 bench/squat/deadlift (goals)

The M.J.H. Chronicles