Upping the Effort

Training
1

I’m saying effort, and not intensity, so as not to confuse with HIT or other more “planned” means of intensity. A lot of newbs get called out for not working intense enough or putting in enough effort. Saying “try harder” doesn’t really mean anything. What are some tricks you all use to make sure your workouts take it out of you?

Granted, it depends if the workout is more intensity vs. volume based.

When it’s volume based, I’ve found severely cutting rest times (less than 30s) can help a lot for awhile… though, might not work so well with an intensity-based routine.

Basically, changing routine in general can help… whether it’s wearing headphones when you normally don’t and vice versa… or opting for a morning session when you normally hit the pm.

2

AMRAP sets with forced progression; but especially trying to get more reps this session than last time… even though there’s more weight on the bar. That little bit of increased focus actually translates into things like taking a bit more rest before that set and just getting my mind right.

The time I spent with 20 rep squats probably did the most though for teaching me the mental side of that. Plus the time I spent running competitively in high school (in one race I pushed myself hard enough to black out in about 8" of snow).

I feel like “try harder” really only works when you can quantify it. I need really small goals when it gets really tough, like “just 1 more rep” or “just pass one more person”. Rest-pause work helps too.

I still struggle with being able to push through the pain when it’s more in the pump/fatigue style of training though, like some of the shoulder retraction stuff I’ve had to do in rehab.

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As far as “tricks” though, I haven’t found anything that works all the time for me, but: switching between music vs no music, focusing on the present in the meditation sense, reminding myself that I’m not going to get seriously injured (thanks to safety equipment) so I can push to true failure, getting really angry (or getting really calm), making sure my heart rate had relaxed, making sure my HRV levels are good, etc.

For the last one, there’s an app by Azumio called Stress Doctor; I’ve tried making sure I was relaxed/calm enough to get 5 “points” or so before I start a final set. Basically it measures changes in your pulse as you breathe… if your stress systems are working right, your pulse rate goes up when you breathe in, and down when you breathe out due to the vagus nerve (respiratory sinus arrhythmia). So it draws those curves, and gives you a point every time it’s good. I highly recommend the app even if you never use it for lifting.

3

Squat and pull until you bleed, puke, or pass out… Or any combination and unfortunately possibly even all three. As for Bench sessions no fucking clue.

4

[quote]1 Man Island wrote:
What are some tricks you all use to make sure your workouts take it out of you?[/quote]
“You have to keep things the same every time. 135 is lifted just like 935. It’s always the same, every time. You treat every one of them with respect. You beat the shit out of them, but you treat them with respect.” - Kirk Karwoski.

Granted, only Captain Kirk can talk about squatting 935 as easy as 135, but the overall point remains and it’s something that struck a chord with me. To paraphrase the old powerlifter’s saying, “Make your light lifts heavy to make your heavy lifts seem light.”

So when I’m benching 45 or 95 to warm-up, I approach it exactly the same as I would for a heavy double. Set-up, grip, body position, everything is the same no matter how “easy” the set is actually going to feel. I believe that eventually translates into raising the average effort/intensity of any set.

I think I mentioned this to Rez in another thread pretty recently, but I pretty much always superset with something now, either a lift for a non-related bodypart or some mobility work. That way, you’re not so much cutting the rest time, but you’re actively moving/training more than you otherwise would’ve been.

I don’t care if I look like a nutjob walking across the gym to superset dips with calf raises or pull-ups with leg curls, I’m almost never sitting still the whole time I’m in the gym so the “effort per minute” (or I guess really, it’d be more like “work per minute”) is bumped up, along with general conditioning.

Always having something to do helps maintain focus on the task at hand (training, not flipping through my logbook or checking the TVs on the wall because they’re playing a bootleg of the new Godzilla movie.)

[quote]LoRez wrote:
Rest-pause work helps too.[/quote]
Rest-pause is definitely a sneaky little technique. With 10-20 seconds rest, you can pretty much always grind out one more rep on just about anything. It’s probably the gateway to genuine masochism.

5

Honestly, it’s not about coming up with tricks in the workout to make things more difficult, it’s about getting way outside your comfort zone within a set. A trainee could do a million s upersets with rest pause and 10 seconds of rest, but if they keep terminating the set as soon as things get a little difficult, it won’t do anything.

I find this issue is biggest with folks that didn’t play sports growing up. They never learned how to push themselves, and their perspective on what actually is effort isn’t even close to where they need to be to be productive.

Read John Anderson’s “Deep Water Training” to get some perspective.

6

Great topic. So much of this game is mental, and I’m still figuring it all out.

Personally speaking, I get light-headed on squats and deadlifts to the point where I am very close to passing out. I will sometimes need to just sit down right then, right there after racking or dropping the bar. I was unable to reach this Nirvana until I got competent enough at the movements to actually approach my body’s capacity for work in a given set. Prior to achieving competency I’d stop a set due to other factors like hitting my rep target, discomfort in knees or back or one particular muscle group not cooperating with what my brain was telling it to do.

I only get that way with those two movements. Bench press in particular I am still working on “putting it all together” and often question my effort and technique. Although, I suppose passing out on a bench press set could be particularly dangerous, so I am happy with my continued progression on that particular lift without having the obvious physical indicators of solid effort I get on squat and DL.

7

[quote]T3hPwnisher wrote:
Honestly, it’s not about coming up with tricks in the workout to make things more difficult, it’s about getting way outside your comfort zone within a set. A trainee could do a million s upersets with rest pause and 10 seconds of rest, but if they keep terminating the set as soon as things get a little difficult, it won’t do anything.

I find this issue is biggest with folks that didn’t play sports growing up. They never learned how to push themselves, and their perspective on what actually is effort isn’t even close to where they need to be to be productive.

Read John Anderson’s “Deep Water Training” to get some perspective.[/quote]

Agree with all and this especially(not going to quote multiple posts on my phone).

I would further define intensity/ effort as lifting every rep explosively regardless of bar speed and fatigue level.

Anyone can squat 20 reps to failure (like that predator program fellow). Not everyone can maintain the same intensity throughout the set and get 25 reps.

8

you guys ever try lifting for time instead of reps? Horrible.

9

[quote]Yogi wrote:
you guys ever try lifting for time instead of reps? Horrible.[/quote]

I do this with chins presently. Thought about doing it with other assistance work. I remember Dave Tate and Louie Simmons talking about it.

10

[quote]T3hPwnisher wrote:

[quote]Yogi wrote:
you guys ever try lifting for time instead of reps? Horrible.[/quote]

I do this with chins presently. Thought about doing it with other assistance work. I remember Dave Tate and Louie Simmons talking about it.[/quote]

jesus, with chins?

I was talking about lateral raises or something mimsy like that.

11

[quote]Yogi wrote:

[quote]T3hPwnisher wrote:

[quote]Yogi wrote:
you guys ever try lifting for time instead of reps? Horrible.[/quote]

I do this with chins presently. Thought about doing it with other assistance work. I remember Dave Tate and Louie Simmons talking about it.[/quote]

jesus, with chins?

I was talking about lateral raises or something mimsy like that.[/quote]

You and I may be employing the technique differently. I just do as many reps as I can in the time period.

12

[quote]T3hPwnisher wrote:

[quote]Yogi wrote:

[quote]T3hPwnisher wrote:

[quote]Yogi wrote:
you guys ever try lifting for time instead of reps? Horrible.[/quote]

I do this with chins presently. Thought about doing it with other assistance work. I remember Dave Tate and Louie Simmons talking about it.[/quote]

jesus, with chins?

I was talking about lateral raises or something mimsy like that.[/quote]

You and I may be employing the technique differently. I just do as many reps as I can in the time period.[/quote]

Ah right, see the way I’m doing it lends itself more to isolation exercises I think, as I’m doing reps non stop for the time period. Kind of like high density training.

13

Thanks guys… some good advice. I agree that growing up playing sports allows you to dig deeper. That’s why my advice to a lot of kids on here that want to get big/strong is usually to join some sort of sport if they currently aren’t.

Supersets aren’t quite what I meant for attaining intensity, but yes, I agree that keeping moving really helps.

Another thing that might be obvious is just to keep the workouts short. When I know I only have 45 min., I make sure to get as mush done as I can, as opposed to stretching it out over 2 hours.

I think 2 things are of particular challenge to newbs:

  1. Balancing form and intensity: A lot of people’s advice for lifts like the DL is just to grip it and rip it… not to think about it because it’s a “raw lift.” However, it’s harder for a newer guy to take this approach when there’s so much to focus on and the movement isn’t engrained yet.

  2. Feeling like you “deserve” to get hyped: A lot of guy are loud and make it very clear they are about to lift something heavy. This is fine when it’s 500 lbs, but I think a lot of guys don’t feel they deserve to hype themselves up that much to bench 200 or whatever… when a PR is still a PR.

Also, something I’ve found for making sure you go all out on the bench is to not use spotters or a safety bar. Yes, it’s dangerous and probably not worth the risk, but fear of death (or at least getting pinned) can give you that little extra adrenaline rush.

There’s currently a thread in the conditioning (or is it combat?) forum, where someone went to some sort of fighting camp in Thailand. They didn’t lift and got way below what we consider “adequate” protein intake. Despite that, they lost no strength over 4 months or so. He said his training involved always moving and doing something in the gym, but also have “techinique” days for things like chins, where they would go as slow as possible, trying to feel every muscle firing… seems like it’s another worth noting.