Hey guys, I’ve been recently reading up on the effects of using singles in strength and hypertrophy training. I’m confused as to why more people don’t do singles, they seem to be one of the best if not the best training method. Not only are you lifting more weight, you’re getting a considerable more amount of volume in with the load then you normally would. Why don’t more athletes and bodybuilders use this method?
Plenty of athletes use singles. Why don’t more athletes use them? Because while strength helps in a lot of sports, it’s not the deciding factor in most. Thus you can get away with not training max strength.
I almost exclusively use singles in my training (for Olympic lifting). In terms of size, I haven’t lost any. Probably due to holding the weight in snatch squats, my arms and lats have slightly increased in size despite not having done more than 1 rep in 9 months.
I’m sure people would do singles if they were really the best way of gaining size as well as strength, but it seems that practical experience has shown that reps tend to be better for size gains.
As Salty said, singles are primarily going to train max strength. While that is an important part of sports, it’s not the only part. Even Bulgarian non-Olympic lifters would do reps when training for speed, and of course for endurance.
If you ask me, virtually everyone should incorporate singles. Max strength alone is extremely important in so many sports. Singles should not be the only training method, but that should be self-evident.
Two words:
Rest pause.
[quote]cap’nsalty wrote:
Plenty of athletes use singles. Why don’t more athletes use them? Because while strength helps in a lot of sports, it’s not the deciding factor in most. Thus you can get away with not training max strength.[/quote]
You should read Eric Cressy’s new training manual.
Lots of good info on the benefits of max strength training for athletes of all kinds (even marathoners).
If i’m not mistaken, singles lie within the rep range that primarily trains your CNS and joint strength. This is important, but can be overdone. Triples lie within this range as well, strength takes over at 3-6 reps and then hypertrophy in reps over that. A good mixture of the rep schemes seems to make the most sense.
You can’t add strength without added muscle, or without training your joints to support the weight, or without training your nervous system to adapt.
[quote]SWR-1240 wrote:
cap’nsalty wrote:
Plenty of athletes use singles. Why don’t more athletes use them? Because while strength helps in a lot of sports, it’s not the deciding factor in most. Thus you can get away with not training max strength.
You should read Eric Cressy’s new training manual.
Lots of good info on the benefits of max strength training for athletes of all kinds (even marathoners).[/quote]
Max strength is very beneficial, yes. While it is important, in very very few sports and situations is it the deciding factor. Wrestling is often cited as a sport where max strength is in very high demand, and it is, but I have seen high a 200 lb school kid that couldn’t bench 300 lbs toss around a huge 265 lb (all muscle) D1 college wrestler who could probably deadlift close to twice what he could.
I have also seen a high schooler that benches 405 lbs get tossed around like a ragdoll by mid-level wrestlers because he was slow as hell and his technique wasn’t great. While most very good wrestlers are very strong, maximal strength usually isn’t the deciding factor. However, if you really lack it, you will probably lose a good part of your matches because of that.
I would say the bench press is a poor example to compare the max strength of wrestlers. I would think more hip/leg strength along with upper and lower back would be where its at for wrestlers.
But as you said the bigger kid could deadlift twice what the other one could. Sometimes when you just have an athlete that is made for that sport, doesn’t matter how strong they are in the weight room but they murder people on the matts.
I’m sure we’ve all heard about football players that aren’t all that strong but yet they murder people on the field. But just imagine if you could get that player stronger in the weight room, then imagine what would happen. Scary huh.
[quote]KombatAthlete wrote:
SWR-1240 wrote:
cap’nsalty wrote:
Plenty of athletes use singles. Why don’t more athletes use them? Because while strength helps in a lot of sports, it’s not the deciding factor in most. Thus you can get away with not training max strength.
You should read Eric Cressy’s new training manual.
Lots of good info on the benefits of max strength training for athletes of all kinds (even marathoners).
Max strength is very beneficial, yes. While it is important, in very very few sports and situations is it the deciding factor. Wrestling is often cited as a sport where max strength is in very high demand, and it is, but I have seen high a 200 lb school kid that couldn’t bench 300 lbs toss around a huge 265 lb (all muscle) D1 college wrestler who could probably deadlift close to twice what he could.
I have also seen a high schooler that benches 405 lbs get tossed around like a ragdoll by mid-level wrestlers because he was slow as hell and his technique wasn’t great. While most very good wrestlers are very strong, maximal strength usually isn’t the deciding factor. However, if you really lack it, you will probably lose a good part of your matches because of that.[/quote]
Right, but the way it’s explained in the book (or the way I took it) is that strength is the limiting factor in every other aspect of athleticism. You still need to build those aspects up after building strength.
Strength is like a glass that you can fill with other aspects of athleticism.
If you have a small cup, you can only fill it so high. If you have a large cup, you have more potential to build from.
You’ll always still need to put in the work to be athletic once the strength is built.
A stronger guy and a weaker guy can each have the same level of athleticism, but with the right training, the stronger guy can get to a higher level of athleticism faster.
The weaker guy will have to postpone his athletic training to build more strength once he’s maxed out his athletic training at his current strength level.
Eric explains it a whole lot better than I am.
It’s really a great book.
Who says people don’t use singles?
Why don’t we hear about doubles? nobody talks doubles. Everyone talks singles, triples, 5x5 etc…
why don’t we all do quadruples. “Quads for your Quads” there, a nice alliterated title for an article.
everything has its time and place
there are quite a few articles on singles on T-Nation.
Im 15 years old and i now bench press 165kgs thanks to my new 1 rep training (one set everyday, six days a week). I used to do about 90kgs for 5 reps when i was doing my 5x5 training but when i started doin the 1 rep training i just pushed my self to the limit, which ended up improving my bench press by 75kgs in 5months. trust me it may not be popular but its bloody good for improving maximum strength
You bench 363 lbs at 15 years old?
[quote]BackInAction wrote:
You bench 363 lbs at 15 years old?[/quote]
U betta believe it. thats what one rep did for me, do u think i should try for any compitions?
[quote]BackInAction wrote:
You bench 363 lbs at 15 years old?[/quote]
I squat 800 and I’m 13.
[quote]AgentOrange wrote:
BackInAction wrote:
You bench 363 lbs at 15 years old?
I squat 800 and I’m 13.[/quote]
Damn, that’s pretty good bro!
You’re well on your way to being pretty decent in powerlifting (if you keep at it).
I can give you a complete year’s worth of a workout routine I used to get where I am.
I found it in a magazine, and it’s perfectly designed for anyone looking to get huge and strong.
All of the best pro bodybuilders are doing it (the article even shows them doing it), so it HAS to work!
[quote]roid boi wrote:
Im 15 years old and i now bench press 165kgs thanks to my new 1 rep training (one set everyday, six days a week). I used to do about 90kgs for 5 reps when i was doing my 5x5 training but when i started doin the 1 rep training i just pushed my self to the limit, which ended up improving my bench press by 75kgs in 5months. trust me it may not be popular but its bloody good for improving maximum strength[/quote]
How did it improve you bench by 75kgs?
You got 90kgs for 5 sets of 5 (maybe your 8 rep max?), and now your 1RM is 165kgs.
Or are you saying you can get 165kgs for 5X5?
And no, you shouldn’t compete yet because you don’t get trophys by just telling the judges how much you can do, you actually have to do it.
[quote]SWR-1240 wrote:
roid boi wrote:
Im 15 years old and i now bench press 165kgs thanks to my new 1 rep training (one set everyday, six days a week). I used to do about 90kgs for 5 reps when i was doing my 5x5 training but when i started doin the 1 rep training i just pushed my self to the limit, which ended up improving my bench press by 75kgs in 5months. trust me it may not be popular but its bloody good for improving maximum strength
How did it improve you bench by 75kgs?
You got 90kgs for 5 sets of 5 (maybe your 8 rep max?), and now your 1RM is 165kgs.
Or are you saying you can get 165kgs for 5X5?
And no, you shouldn’t compete yet because you don’t get trophys by just telling the judges how much you can do, you actually have to do it.[/quote]
yeh thats a good point i forgot about that, i havent tried my 5 rep max yet i’ll try it today and see how much ive improved.
[quote]
Or are you saying you can get 165kgs for 5X5?
And no, you shouldn’t compete yet because you don’t get trophys by just telling the judges how much you can do, you actually have to do it.
yeh thats a good point i forgot about that, i havent tried my 5 rep max yet i’ll try it today and see how much ive improved.[/quote]
“Roid Boi,” video tape it and post, I like to be impressed.
[quote]Rome34 wrote:
“Roid Boi,” video tape it and post, I like to be impressed.
[/quote]
What? But this is the internet – nobody ever backs up anything they say here.
Are you gay? Picking on a poor 15 year old! The poor boi i’m sure he can only press around 65kgs. But hey give him time