Whether you’re a bodybuilding newcomer or a seasoned veteran, there comes a time in everyone’s journey where they hit a somewhat frustrating wall. This can happen with absolutely any muscle group, sometimes more than one, you will find yourself facing a barrier where you feel like you’ve either stopped progressing or your exercises don’t quite hit the same anymore.
Well, we’ve got solutions for that, and you don’t have to completely ditch the exercises you love and start from scratch either. Read on and discover how you can get over that slump through thrilling super sets, destructive drop sets, negative reps and more. These variations give your exercises that extra edge, demanding that little bit more from the muscle and ultimately encouraging muscle hypertrophy.
Super Sets
Super sets are a perfect place to start when it comes to adding something fresh and intense to your exercises. A traditional super set is comprised of two exercises that are specifically selected and performed one after the other without any rest in between. If the two exercises you’ve chosen for the super set target the same muscle group; then the aim of this method is to exhaust the muscle in a reduced window. Although, you can comprise your supersets of two opposing muscle groups, for example, you could superset any bicep curl variation with an overhead tricep press. The benefit of this kind of superset would be that you complete two exercises in one and the intensity is dialled up. Implementing super sets into your program can be a useful tool especially for the sessions where you may be pressed for time.
A key piece of advice you should take into your supersets is to avoid pre-exhausting yourself on the first set. Many lifters make the mistake of going all out on the first movement, picking up an unrealistic weight and when its time for the second exercise there’s nothing left in the tank. Super sets are all about efficiency, keeping as much balance between the two exercises as possible. The beauty of the super set is that there really isn’t a wrong combination of exercises, you’re free to choose what suits you according to your specific regime.
Drop Sets
Drop sets are infamous within the bodybuilding community for being a symbol of intensity and real muscle decimation. A drop set is a as a bodybuilding tactic is guaranteed to truly empty the tank and squeeze the very most out of the target muscle. Drop sets are added on to the end of your ordinary sets, they are performed immediately after the standard set. They require you to pick up a lighter weight and complete an additional set or sets, usually to failure (if you want the best results).
The way you construct your drop sets is entirely up to you, for beginners its recommended you add on your drop sets after your last standard set. The more experienced lifters will be able to implement drops sets at the end of every set. Drop sets demand everything you’ve got, whether you’re doing your 3 drop sets after every set or just the last one. Drops give you a sadistic false sense of security, typically dropping the weight should make things easier, but when you’re pre-exhausted from your working set, lowering the weight is no walk in the park. Remember, you lower the weight so that the drop set is actually achievable after that working set, after that it’s about really feeling the burn.
Negative Reps
Now we’ve looked at ways you can make your sets a bit more engaging, another trick of the trade when it comes to boosting muscle growth and keeping your program alive is the way you do your reps. Negatives are a revered method of challenging the muscle to its deepest fibres. Negative reps can be added to the end of any set for absolutely any exercise, they prioritise time under tension and can prove to be a real set finisher when done right. Perform your working set as you normally would, but leave about 3 reps spare at the end, these will be your negatives.
On these last 3 reps, the eccentric part of the movement is done incredibly slowly compared to how it would normally be done, and then the concentric part of the movement is performed as explosive as possible. For those unaware, on a dumbbell biciep curl, the eccentric would be when the dumbbell is lowered, and the concentric is when it is curled upwards. Slowing down the eccentric maximises time under tension which as a result gets more out of the muscle, breaking down deeper muscle tissue, spiking muscle growth.
Fitness is a long road scattered with bumps, twists, turns, and plenty of ups and down. Its knowing how to manoeuvre these challenges that enables you to progress to the next level. Not only do these methods work wonders for breaking that plateau, but they really do make for an electrifying workout that does nothing short of making you feel alive.
