Forced Gains? Get a Bigger Bench Through Muscular Failure
Young athletes commonly perform Bench Presses to failure and beyond, by forcing reps with the help of a spotter. But, to avoid injury and overtraining while you’re getting as strong as possible in the off-season, you need the perfect blend of scientific method and high-octane intensity.
If you’re an athlete with moderate weight training experience and a focus on a sport like football or basketball, it’s not wise to annihilate your chest every chance you get. This practical alternative plan will lead to bigger gains and smaller pains.
Necessary Definitions
Movement Failure vs. Muscular Failure: Let’s define training to failure as the inability of the lifter to perform another concentric portion of the exercise with acceptable form on his or her own. An example would be the “up” phase of the bar press. This is not total failure within the muscle.
RELATED: Missed Reps: When Failure Training Goes Wrong
Forced Reps: These occur when the lifter reaches significant muscular failure and continues to attempt more repetitions with the help of a spotter.
The Science
An Australian study found significantly higher strength and mean power gains over six weeks by forcing repetitions as opposed to not forcing reps. They used 4 sets of 6 repetitions.
But, according to another study, one set to failure was sufficient to get gains. Extra sets of forced reps did not offer more benefit to strength or power development.
RELATED: 7 Reasons Why Your Bench Press Is Weak
Another study showed that when repetition failure was reached, neither additional forced repetitions nor additional set volume further improved the magnitude of strength gains. This finding questions the effectiveness of adding additional volume by using forced repetitions within a set in young athletes with moderate strength training experience.
Studies have shown that increasing intensity through training to failure causes neural adaptations in a greater number of motor units recruited and used at one time. When applied sparingly, this can have implications for improved strength and power.
Push Fast to Get Stronger
During the lift, maximal voluntary contraction (MVC) is the fastest and most ballistic way you can recruit your chest, shoulders and triceps muscles to push the weight off your chest. MVC training has been shown to increase strength by 10.2 percent over going through the motions and using less zip on the bar when pushing it. Studies show that even if the bar moves slowly under significant weight, quick impulses on the bar have a positive effect on strength.
But there is a trick to this. Do not let your need for speed derail your technique, or you will crash and burn.
RELATED: The Push-Up Primer: Fix Your Weak Core Muscles
The Plan
This plan is best after you’ve completed four weeks of hypertrophy (muscle size) training in the 8-10 repetition range.
(For Novice/Intermediate Lifters)
Frequency: Every 72 hours for 6 weeks.
For strength, power and growth, moderately trained individuals optimize gains at 2-3 days per week, with 72 hours as a possible sweet spot for max gains in less experienced lifters. If you want to gain, don’t over-train.
Load: Approximately 85 percent of your one-rep max.
Example: If you bench 200 pounds with proper form for 1 repetition, then you would start around 170 pounds for 5-6 reps.
Progressing The Weight: 2.5 pounds per side.
Studies show significant strength gains from increasing the weight by 2.2 to 2.5 pounds when all reps can be completed. Avoid adding too much weight per side once you master a weight. When you complete 8 total reps on the final set to failure, up the next session weight by 2.5 pounds.
Sets/Reps: 4×5-6
This has been identified as possibly the safest repetition range to develop max strength while avoiding injury in moderately trained individuals.
Rest: 180 seconds.
Studies show that lifters who took three minutes of rest when lifting heavy reported a 7 percent increase in squat performance after five weeks of training. That would be a 21-pound increase on a 300-pound squat.
Tempo: 0301 or 0302 to be safe.
It appears that strength and hypertrophy are optimized at moderate (1-3 seconds each for concentric and eccentric) and fast (1 second each) speeds. On heavier loads (e.g., 85% 1 RM) a 2-3-second cadence is advised to avoid injury. While training with lighter loads (e.g., <50% 1RM), you can do 1-second cadences.
References:
Aagaard P, Simonsen EB, Andersen JL, Magnusson P, Dyhre-Poulsen P. “Increased rate of force development and neural drive of human skeletal muscle following resistance training.” J Appl Physiol (1985). 2002 Oct;93(4):1318-26. PubMed PMID:12235031.
Arazi Hamid, Abbas Asadi. “Effects of 8 Weeks Equal-Volume Resistance Training withDifferent Workout Frequency on Maximal Strength, Endurance and BodyComposition.” International Journal of Sports Science and Engineering.Vol. 05 (2011) No. 02, pp. 112-118
Argus CK, Gill ND, Keogh JW, Hopkins WG. “Acute effects of verbal feedback on upper-body performance in elite athletes.” J Strength Cond Res. 2011Dec;25(12):3282-7. doi: 10.1519/JSC.0b013e3182133b8c. PubMed PMID: 22076083.
Baker, Daniel MHS, CSCS; Newton, Robert U. PhD, CSCS. “Methods to Increase the Effectiveness of Maximal Power Training for the Upper Body.” Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research. Dec 2005.. Volume 27, Issue 6. National Strength and Conditioning Association.
Brandenburg, Jason E; Docherty, David. “The Effects of Accentuated Eccentric Loading on Strength, Muscle Hypertrophy, and Neural Adaptations in Trained Individuals.” Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research 2002. Volume 16, Issue 1.
Brown Lee E. , EdD, CSCS,*D, FACSM High Velocity Training. http://www.acsm.org/docs/current-comments/highvelocitytraining.pdf Written for The American College of Sports Medicine. Web.
Buitrago S, Wirtz N, Yue Z, Kleinöder H, Mester J. “Mechanical load andphysiological responses of four different resistance training methods in bench press exercise.” J Strength Cond Res. 2013 Apr;27(4):1091-100. doi:10.1519/JSC.0b013e318260ec77. PubMed PMID: 22692106.
Cowell John F. , MS, John Cronin, PhD, and Matt Brughelli, PhD. “Eccentric Muscle Actions and How the Strength and Conditioning Specialist Might Use Them for a Variety of Purposes.” Sports Performance Research Institute New Zealand (SPRINZ), Auckland University of Technology, Auckland, New Zealand. http://www.lafitness.com.br/biblioteca/artigos/eccentric-muscle-actions-and-how-the-strength-and-conditioning-specialist-might-use-them-for-a-variety-of-purposes.pdf . Web.
Drinkwater EJ, Lawton TW, Lindsell RP, Pyne DB, Hunt PH, McKenna MJ. “Training leading to repetition failure enhances bench press strength gains in elite junior athletes.” J Strength Cond Res. 2005 May;19(2):382-8. PubMed PMID: 15903379.
Drinkwater EJ, Lawton TW, McKenna MJ, Lindsell RP, Hunt PH, Pyne DB. “Increased number of forced repetitions does not enhance strength development with resistance training.” J Strength Cond Res. 2007 Aug;21(3):841-7. PubMed PMID:17685709.
Duffey MJ, Challis JH. “Fatigue effects on bar kinematics during the bench press.” J Strength Cond Res. 2007 May;21(2):556-60. PubMed PMID: 17530967.
Farthing JP, Chilibeck PD. “The effects of eccentric and concentric training at different velocities on muscle hypertrophy.” Eur J Appl Physiol. 2003 Aug; 89(6):578-86. Epub 2003 May 17. PubMed PMID: 12756571
Headley SA, Henry K, Nindl BC, Thompson BA, Kraemer WJ, Jones MT. “Effects of lifting tempo on one repetition maximum and hormonal responses to a bench press protocol.” J Strength Cond Res. 2011 Feb;25(2):406-13. doi:10.1519/JSC.0b013e3181bf053b. PubMed PMID: 20351575.
Hostler, David; Crill, Matthew T.; Hagerman,Fredrick C.; Staron, Robert S. “The Effectiveness of 0.5-lb Increments in Progressive Resistance Exercise.” Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research. Feb 2001..Volume15, Issue1. National Strength and Conditioning Association.
Kraemer WJ, Ratamess NA. “Fundamentals of resistance training: progression and exercise prescription.” Med Sci Sports Exerc. 2004 Apr;36(4):674-88. Review. PubMed PMID: 15064596.
Padulo J, Mignogna P, Mignardi S, Tonni F, D’Ottavio S. “Effect of different pushing speeds on bench press.” Int J Sports Med. 2012 May;33(5):376-80. doi:10.1055/s-0031-1299702. Epub 2012 Feb 8. PubMed PMID: 22318559.
Sakamoto A, Sinclair PJ. “Effect of movement velocity on the relationship between training load and the number of repetitions of bench press.” J StrengthCond Res. 2006 Aug;20(3):523-7. PubMed PMID: 16937964.
Shepstone Tim N. , Jason E. Tang, Stephane Dallaire, Mark D. Schuenke, RobertS. Staron, Stuart M. Phillips. “Short-term high- vs. low-velocity isokinetic lengthening training results in greater hypertrophy of the elbow flexors in young men.” Journal of Applied Physiology. Published 1May 2005Vol. 98no. 1768-1776DOI: 10.1152/japplphysiol.01027.2004
Schmidtbleicher D, Haralambie G. “Changes in contractile properties of muscle after strength training in man.” Eur J Appl Physiol Occup Physiol.1981;46(3):221-8. PubMed PMID: 7195805.
Tod D, Iredale F, Gill N. “‘Psyching-up’ and muscular force production.” Sports Med. 2003;33(1):47-58. Review. PubMed PMID: 12477377.
Willardson JM, Burkett LN. “The effect of rest interval length on bench press performance with heavy vs. light loads.” J Strength Cond Res. 2006 May; 20(2): 396-9. PubMed PMID: 16686570.
Willoughby, Darryn S. “The Effects of Mesocycle-Length Weight Training Programs Involving Periodization and Partially Equated Volumes on Upper and Lower Body Strength.” Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research. Feb 1993. Volume 7, Issue 1. National Strength and Conditioning Association.
Wilson, Jacob M.S., PhD. Candidate, C.S.C.S, and Gabriel Wilson, M.S.,C.S.C.S. “Acute Training Variables, Muscle Growth, Strength, and Power –Velocity and Frequency. http://www.abcbodybuilding.com/acutepart7velocityfrequency.pdf. Web.
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Forced Gains? Get a Bigger Bench Through Muscular Failure
Young athletes commonly perform Bench Presses to failure and beyond, by forcing reps with the help of a spotter. But, to avoid injury and overtraining while you’re getting as strong as possible in the off-season, you need the perfect blend of scientific method and high-octane intensity.
If you’re an athlete with moderate weight training experience and a focus on a sport like football or basketball, it’s not wise to annihilate your chest every chance you get. This practical alternative plan will lead to bigger gains and smaller pains.
Necessary Definitions
Movement Failure vs. Muscular Failure: Let’s define training to failure as the inability of the lifter to perform another concentric portion of the exercise with acceptable form on his or her own. An example would be the “up” phase of the bar press. This is not total failure within the muscle.
RELATED: Missed Reps: When Failure Training Goes Wrong
Forced Reps: These occur when the lifter reaches significant muscular failure and continues to attempt more repetitions with the help of a spotter.
The Science
An Australian study found significantly higher strength and mean power gains over six weeks by forcing repetitions as opposed to not forcing reps. They used 4 sets of 6 repetitions.
But, according to another study, one set to failure was sufficient to get gains. Extra sets of forced reps did not offer more benefit to strength or power development.
RELATED: 7 Reasons Why Your Bench Press Is Weak
Another study showed that when repetition failure was reached, neither additional forced repetitions nor additional set volume further improved the magnitude of strength gains. This finding questions the effectiveness of adding additional volume by using forced repetitions within a set in young athletes with moderate strength training experience.
Studies have shown that increasing intensity through training to failure causes neural adaptations in a greater number of motor units recruited and used at one time. When applied sparingly, this can have implications for improved strength and power.
Push Fast to Get Stronger
During the lift, maximal voluntary contraction (MVC) is the fastest and most ballistic way you can recruit your chest, shoulders and triceps muscles to push the weight off your chest. MVC training has been shown to increase strength by 10.2 percent over going through the motions and using less zip on the bar when pushing it. Studies show that even if the bar moves slowly under significant weight, quick impulses on the bar have a positive effect on strength.
But there is a trick to this. Do not let your need for speed derail your technique, or you will crash and burn.
RELATED: The Push-Up Primer: Fix Your Weak Core Muscles
The Plan
This plan is best after you’ve completed four weeks of hypertrophy (muscle size) training in the 8-10 repetition range.
(For Novice/Intermediate Lifters)
Frequency: Every 72 hours for 6 weeks.
For strength, power and growth, moderately trained individuals optimize gains at 2-3 days per week, with 72 hours as a possible sweet spot for max gains in less experienced lifters. If you want to gain, don’t over-train.
Load: Approximately 85 percent of your one-rep max.
Example: If you bench 200 pounds with proper form for 1 repetition, then you would start around 170 pounds for 5-6 reps.
Progressing The Weight: 2.5 pounds per side.
Studies show significant strength gains from increasing the weight by 2.2 to 2.5 pounds when all reps can be completed. Avoid adding too much weight per side once you master a weight. When you complete 8 total reps on the final set to failure, up the next session weight by 2.5 pounds.
Sets/Reps: 4×5-6
This has been identified as possibly the safest repetition range to develop max strength while avoiding injury in moderately trained individuals.
Rest: 180 seconds.
Studies show that lifters who took three minutes of rest when lifting heavy reported a 7 percent increase in squat performance after five weeks of training. That would be a 21-pound increase on a 300-pound squat.
Tempo: 0301 or 0302 to be safe.
It appears that strength and hypertrophy are optimized at moderate (1-3 seconds each for concentric and eccentric) and fast (1 second each) speeds. On heavier loads (e.g., 85% 1 RM) a 2-3-second cadence is advised to avoid injury. While training with lighter loads (e.g., <50% 1RM), you can do 1-second cadences.
References:
Aagaard P, Simonsen EB, Andersen JL, Magnusson P, Dyhre-Poulsen P. “Increased rate of force development and neural drive of human skeletal muscle following resistance training.” J Appl Physiol (1985). 2002 Oct;93(4):1318-26. PubMed PMID:12235031.
Arazi Hamid, Abbas Asadi. “Effects of 8 Weeks Equal-Volume Resistance Training withDifferent Workout Frequency on Maximal Strength, Endurance and BodyComposition.” International Journal of Sports Science and Engineering.Vol. 05 (2011) No. 02, pp. 112-118
Argus CK, Gill ND, Keogh JW, Hopkins WG. “Acute effects of verbal feedback on upper-body performance in elite athletes.” J Strength Cond Res. 2011Dec;25(12):3282-7. doi: 10.1519/JSC.0b013e3182133b8c. PubMed PMID: 22076083.
Baker, Daniel MHS, CSCS; Newton, Robert U. PhD, CSCS. “Methods to Increase the Effectiveness of Maximal Power Training for the Upper Body.” Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research. Dec 2005.. Volume 27, Issue 6. National Strength and Conditioning Association.
Brandenburg, Jason E; Docherty, David. “The Effects of Accentuated Eccentric Loading on Strength, Muscle Hypertrophy, and Neural Adaptations in Trained Individuals.” Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research 2002. Volume 16, Issue 1.
Brown Lee E. , EdD, CSCS,*D, FACSM High Velocity Training. http://www.acsm.org/docs/current-comments/highvelocitytraining.pdf Written for The American College of Sports Medicine. Web.
Buitrago S, Wirtz N, Yue Z, Kleinöder H, Mester J. “Mechanical load andphysiological responses of four different resistance training methods in bench press exercise.” J Strength Cond Res. 2013 Apr;27(4):1091-100. doi:10.1519/JSC.0b013e318260ec77. PubMed PMID: 22692106.
Cowell John F. , MS, John Cronin, PhD, and Matt Brughelli, PhD. “Eccentric Muscle Actions and How the Strength and Conditioning Specialist Might Use Them for a Variety of Purposes.” Sports Performance Research Institute New Zealand (SPRINZ), Auckland University of Technology, Auckland, New Zealand. http://www.lafitness.com.br/biblioteca/artigos/eccentric-muscle-actions-and-how-the-strength-and-conditioning-specialist-might-use-them-for-a-variety-of-purposes.pdf . Web.
Drinkwater EJ, Lawton TW, Lindsell RP, Pyne DB, Hunt PH, McKenna MJ. “Training leading to repetition failure enhances bench press strength gains in elite junior athletes.” J Strength Cond Res. 2005 May;19(2):382-8. PubMed PMID: 15903379.
Drinkwater EJ, Lawton TW, McKenna MJ, Lindsell RP, Hunt PH, Pyne DB. “Increased number of forced repetitions does not enhance strength development with resistance training.” J Strength Cond Res. 2007 Aug;21(3):841-7. PubMed PMID:17685709.
Duffey MJ, Challis JH. “Fatigue effects on bar kinematics during the bench press.” J Strength Cond Res. 2007 May;21(2):556-60. PubMed PMID: 17530967.
Farthing JP, Chilibeck PD. “The effects of eccentric and concentric training at different velocities on muscle hypertrophy.” Eur J Appl Physiol. 2003 Aug; 89(6):578-86. Epub 2003 May 17. PubMed PMID: 12756571
Headley SA, Henry K, Nindl BC, Thompson BA, Kraemer WJ, Jones MT. “Effects of lifting tempo on one repetition maximum and hormonal responses to a bench press protocol.” J Strength Cond Res. 2011 Feb;25(2):406-13. doi:10.1519/JSC.0b013e3181bf053b. PubMed PMID: 20351575.
Hostler, David; Crill, Matthew T.; Hagerman,Fredrick C.; Staron, Robert S. “The Effectiveness of 0.5-lb Increments in Progressive Resistance Exercise.” Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research. Feb 2001..Volume15, Issue1. National Strength and Conditioning Association.
Kraemer WJ, Ratamess NA. “Fundamentals of resistance training: progression and exercise prescription.” Med Sci Sports Exerc. 2004 Apr;36(4):674-88. Review. PubMed PMID: 15064596.
Padulo J, Mignogna P, Mignardi S, Tonni F, D’Ottavio S. “Effect of different pushing speeds on bench press.” Int J Sports Med. 2012 May;33(5):376-80. doi:10.1055/s-0031-1299702. Epub 2012 Feb 8. PubMed PMID: 22318559.
Sakamoto A, Sinclair PJ. “Effect of movement velocity on the relationship between training load and the number of repetitions of bench press.” J StrengthCond Res. 2006 Aug;20(3):523-7. PubMed PMID: 16937964.
Shepstone Tim N. , Jason E. Tang, Stephane Dallaire, Mark D. Schuenke, RobertS. Staron, Stuart M. Phillips. “Short-term high- vs. low-velocity isokinetic lengthening training results in greater hypertrophy of the elbow flexors in young men.” Journal of Applied Physiology. Published 1May 2005Vol. 98no. 1768-1776DOI: 10.1152/japplphysiol.01027.2004
Schmidtbleicher D, Haralambie G. “Changes in contractile properties of muscle after strength training in man.” Eur J Appl Physiol Occup Physiol.1981;46(3):221-8. PubMed PMID: 7195805.
Tod D, Iredale F, Gill N. “‘Psyching-up’ and muscular force production.” Sports Med. 2003;33(1):47-58. Review. PubMed PMID: 12477377.
Willardson JM, Burkett LN. “The effect of rest interval length on bench press performance with heavy vs. light loads.” J Strength Cond Res. 2006 May; 20(2): 396-9. PubMed PMID: 16686570.
Willoughby, Darryn S. “The Effects of Mesocycle-Length Weight Training Programs Involving Periodization and Partially Equated Volumes on Upper and Lower Body Strength.” Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research. Feb 1993. Volume 7, Issue 1. National Strength and Conditioning Association.
Wilson, Jacob M.S., PhD. Candidate, C.S.C.S, and Gabriel Wilson, M.S.,C.S.C.S. “Acute Training Variables, Muscle Growth, Strength, and Power –Velocity and Frequency. http://www.abcbodybuilding.com/acutepart7velocityfrequency.pdf. Web.
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