The Infonian

There has always been a debate on whether or not performing a single rep during your workout is a good idea. Many people think that if you want to know how much you can lift for one rep you can simply look it up in a chart and avoid any chance of injury. Others feel that there simply is no reason to max out. I’ve heard people say that you should worry about perfect form and measure your success based on the way you look, not how much weight you are pushing. Granted, if you are a bodybuilder you may not need to do singles but for the rest of us inserting singles in a program can be helpful for various reasons. In fact I swear by them.

Let’s face it everyone that lifts weights can’t help but talk about it. Just the fact that you’re bigger than most people you socialize with or meet will often spark a conversation on the topic. Whether your buddy lifts or knows nothing about it you are likely to be asked the question, “How much can you bench press?” Are you going to reply, I can do 315 lbs for 6 repetitions? It just doesn’t paint the same picture as saying I put up 365 lbs. Maybe you could care less what people think and the bragging rights don’t matter to you. However if you are a powerlifter or an Olympic lifter you will be tested with a one-rep max. Most high school and college football programs test their players with a one-rep max as well. If you don’t practice the one rep lift how will you be prepared?

If somebody asks you what you bench press, you could always give them a projected max based on what the chart says right? Not necessarily. One of the most important reasons for doing singles is to break past barriers. Using our previous example, if you do 315 lbs for 6 reps you should be able to get a one-rep max of 365 lbs. This is not always the case. People set up limits in their minds that are tough to overcome. I swear I have seen people do 295 lbs for three reps but they just can’t get 300 lbs. This has nothing to do with strength. This has to do with mental barriers and confidence issues. I personally would not tell someone my one rep max based on reps. If I know that I have never benched that weight than I just can’t take credit for it based on a chart. Performing a single lift in the bench is a great way to build confidence. Nothing feels better than actually beating your personal best. If you keep doing singles you will break past sticking points and barriers that you have set for yourself. If you have a goal of benching 300 or 400 lbs the numbers can be very difficult to prepare for when you don’t practice singles. Working your way up with singles will give you the confidence you need to reach your goals.

Many bodybuilders concentrate on their form and don’t care about how much their max is. Lifting singles can actually help your form. When you are performing a one-rep max you have to have perfect form or you will not complete the lift successfully. When you are using lighter weight and doing many reps there is a lot of room for cheating and bad form. You can still complete the lift with sub par form by using other muscles to help. But, when you are maxing out you have only one chance to press the weight and to do so you need absolutely perfect form. You have to be mentally prepared and your groove has to be precise. There is no room for being sloppy. Before you start working out with singles it’s a good idea to practice strict form with higher reps first. Developing perfect technique is the key to a heavy single. If you are lifting 275 with careless technique for five reps you won’t be able to do a single of any significance. Build a base and let your body adjust to the heavier workloads. For 2 weeks lift with reps of five. After you have finished this stage you can progress and do sets of 3 reps. Now your form should be down and you have should have adjusted to lifting heavier weights. You can now insert singles to your routine that will help you in your quest for a big bench.

Exploit your weak areas with a single. Like I mentioned before there is more room for error when doing sets with higher reps. You may not be able to determine what aspect of the bench needs work. When you max out you will tend to see where you fell short. This is great for evaluating what area needs improvement. Maybe you couldn’t lock out and you know that you need to work harder on your triceps. Lifting is all trial and error and the single is an effective way to measure your progress and assess what needs to be changed to break the stalemate.

Singles will help you develop a different kind of strength compared to lifting higher reps. When you lift heavy weights you bring your attachments into the lift. Tendons and ligaments are often the key to unlocking your potential. If you are constantly lifting with higher reps you don’t activate your attachments. Functional strength lies in not in the muscles but in your tendons and ligaments. You’ve heard the expression that you are only as strong as your weakest link. Lifting heavier weight will strengthen your weakest link, which may not be getting the attention it so desperately deserves.

To follow are some tips for a successful single. Proper warm up is essential to prevent a tear. At the same time there is a balance between warming up and tiring yourself out. I recommend the following before doing a single.

Warm up set of 10 reps with a very light weight.

Set of 5-6 reps.

Set of 2-3 with a heavier weight.

Set for 1 rep with a weight closer to your max.

Perform your single.

Some experts think that when performing a single you need a shorter rest period between sets because the progression of sets in warm up is shorter than in your normal workout. Powerlifters will assume that because they are dealing with heavier weights they need a longer rest period between sets. I recommend waiting until you have completely returned to your normal breathing pace. Once this has happened get yourself mentally prepared and than it’s time for another set. Don’t wait so long that you get tight. Let somebody else do a set, get a drink of water and visualize your next lift. Performing a back off set at the end of your single lift will help you preserve the workload. It will also give you the pump that you are looking for.

Follow this advice and you can incorporate singles into your program. Doing them once a month is a good starting point but as you become more experienced it is okay to do them more often. Everyone is different so try for yourself and let singles help you build confidence, strengthen your attachments, exploit your weak point, develop perfect form, and break past your personal barriers.

Mike Westerdal is the owner of www.criticalbench.com Visit his site to receive two free PDF reports entitled, “31 Days To Bigger Arms” and “Boosting Testosterone Levels for Big Muscle Gains.”

Author: Mike Westerdal

But can the same response be triggered without actually putting ourselves in mortal danger? Is it possible to “flip a switch” and move our bodies into that heightened response, “ready for battle” state at will? Lots of people say that it can be done, using nothing more than the power of our own minds. According to them, all it takes is plenty of discipline and lots of practice.

Epinephrine is temporarily elevated when we exercise at very high intensity levels, which is one of the reasons an intense lifting session can feel so good. At these levels though and with normal training, it’s usually enough to make us feel good but not enough to have a significant impact on strength. But if you could control that “adrenalin rush” and bring on an intense burst of epinephrine at will-making the body’s energy reserves instantly available-it could really give you an incredible burst of strength for a maximum lift attempt.

There are a number of ways to create an adrenalin (epinephrine) rush in the body without putting yourself in mortal danger. One method is train yourself under conditions that cause your body to release epinephrine. This can mean intense training sessions that push you out of your comfort zone. The keys here are to focus on short bursts of intense training that are outside of your normal comfort zone-this is important. When we’re lifting a weight that we know our bodies can handle, the body doesn’t need to release that extra burst of epinephrine-fueled energy. It’s when we’re training in “uncharted” territory that our bodies will have the incentive to give us the boost we need.

Some say that proper breathing techniques can be taught that induce an adrenalin rush. One of these strategies says that learning to control your breathing and matching it to the intensity of your workout can facilitate an adrenalin rush in the body. The theory here is that when we “breathe normally” during an intense training session, our breathing lags behind and the cells wind up with an oxygen deficiency, putting the body somewhat behind the power curve.

Practitioners of this technique say that by matching our breathing-that means breathing hard and deep-to the intensity of our workout from the onset, we can trigger an adrenalin rush. Learning to do this properly will of course require lots of discipline and plenty of practice. You can start by ensuring that you are breathing properly in everything you do. The normal human tendency is to hold our breath when exerting ourselves-for example, doing something as simple as getting up from a chair. When walking, match your inhaling and exhaling to your step. Breathe in through your nose and out through your mouth. The point is to learn to coordinate your breathing with your body’s motions.

Visualization is another strategy that some experts say can be used to induce an adrenalin rush. There is an entire school of thought related to visualization techniques, with much of it coming from the martial arts world. Though in any situation, the methodology is essentially the same. It’s more complex than it sounds but it boils down to visualizing a previous scenario that triggered an adrenalin rush. It’s not just thinking about it though-it entails actually reliving every aspect of the situation in your mind in an effort to induce your body to release bursts of epinephrine into the bloodstream to boost performance.

While the thought of an adrenalin rush for a max lift attempt is appealing, it’s not something that everyone can do. Like I said early on, developing the ability to bring one on requires a lot of discipline and even more practice. And though not easy, it can be done. It’s important to note though that excessive, long-term releases of epinephrine into the bloodstream will diminish its effectiveness (your body gets used to it) and could lead to health problems. Remember the saying “all things in moderation.” But if you think you’ve got what it takes, it certainly is something that you can learn to do.

Author: Mike Westerdal

Boris Sheiko is a Russian bodybuilding coach and renowned powerlifting expert. Several of his trainees have won national and international competitions. Along the path to prominence in the powerlifting world he developed his own training regimen, which came to be known as Sheiko Training. Boris’ training philosophy flies in the face of what most training regimens where you train each muscle group once each week. In contrast to this, Boris believes that frequency and volume performed at low intensities can drive progression and gains. In Sheiko Training, you repeat lifts several times a week, which both improves your form and drives growth. The key though is that the weight must be kept relatively low in order to allow your body sufficient time to recover.

I’ll tell you straight up that the program is complex and if you’re not into keeping a journal then this is not the plan for you. Measured progress is the underlying principle of Sheiko Training. In Boris’ program, frequency refers to the number of days you train a muscle group each week, volume refers to the number of reps you for each muscle group and intensity refers to the weight-specifically, the percentage of your max weight that you’re lifting. With so many things to track, you’ll need to log your training sessions each week so you can see your improvements.

For the beginner, Sheiko Training can be confusing-especially since it has not been that long since it was first translated from Russian and most of them have been literal translations such as, “Trainings of arresters in the preparatory period.” As a result, some of the terms and phrases can be difficult to understand for the layman. Also because its translation to English is relatively recent, it can be a bit tough to find detailed explanations of the program and its philosophies.

Sheiko Training uses percentages to manage your lifting volume. You start low and work your way up, increasing the percentage as you go along. For the beginner, the first bench press set might be 50% of max lift, then 60%, 70% and the finally 75%. Remember that although the weight may be lower than what you’re used to doing, you’ll be doing more reps (volume) than in a normal workout. In fact, with Sheiko training you may be going anywhere between 850 – 1000 reps each month, sometimes more.

In addition, there are three periods in Sheiko Training: the preparatory period where the foundation is established, the emulative period, which is more advanced and the transitive period, which prepares you to renew the cycle again. During the preparatory period volume is higher and intensity lower. Conversely, during the emulative period, intensity is higher but volume lower. And finally, during the transitive period, volume, intensity and the number of weekly workouts are all reduced in order to give the body time to recuperate.

There are a lot of different Sheiko Training templates to choose from depending on your level of familiarity with the program. Most Sheiko experts recommend that beginners start with training routine #29. This is a three day a week program that will help you get accustomed to Sheiko. This routine has you doing about 964 lifts (reps) per month.

As you progress through the templates things get tougher. For instance, in Sheiko Training template #37, the total number of reps for the month is 1093. Gains are also achieved by increasing the weight (percentage of max lift) lifted in the templates. Because of the complexity of the routines-keeping track of all those percentages and lifts can be a real chore, some guys have taken the time to make spreadsheets that automatically calculate the appropriate percentages for you, based on the one-rep max you enter.

Opinions on Sheiko training run to extremes. Some guys swear that they’ve made incredible gains following Boris’ training templates with others saying that it’s just too complicated and that any gains they made are negligible. Keep in mind though that because Sheiko Training is relatively unknown here in the United States, there really isn’t enough information out there to say that the program isn’t really effective.

Also, remember that the Russians have long been known for their expertise and success in developing some of the world’s most powerful lifters and if you take the time to read the science behind Boris’ training philosophy you’ll see that he knows what he’s talking about. So given that, I definitely believe that we’ll be seeing and hearing more about Sheiko Training in the future.

Author: Mike Westerdal