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Body building glossary
Strip Sets
Strip sets, or drop sets, as they are also known are one of the best ways to increase intensity and get new growth. After a regular set, even if you go to failure, you can still do more if you use a lighter weight.
How to:
Strip sets should be done on the last or second last set of a body part and only about once a week, or every second workout. This is best done with a partner to help strip the weights off. Start with a heavy weight that you can get around 4 - 6 reps with and do as many as you can, then strip about 10% of the weight off the bar and do as many reps as you can with that weight, then strip 10 -20% off and rep out again. Take about 3 minutes rest and do it again.
Another version of strip sets is called "down the rack". This is done using dumbbells, usually for biceps curls. You start at a relatively heavy weight that you might get 4 or 5 reps with, go to failure and grab the next pair of dumbbells. Keep doing this until you get to the lightest weights (10 or 20 pounds) and you'll be amazed at how heavy they feel!
Supersets
A super set is a combination of two exercises for the same body part done consecutively. They work best with the larger muscles and should just be done once in a while, maybe every third workout for body part.
Some good combinations are:
Chest: Bench Press and Flyes
Back: Seated Rows and Lat Pull downs
Legs: Squats and Leg Press or knee extensions
Shoulders: Behind the Neck Press and Side or Rear Laterals
Chest: Bench Press and Flyes
Back: Seated Rows and Lat Pulldowns
Legs: Squats and Leg Press or knee extensions
Shoulders: Behind the Neck Press and Side or Rear Laterals
How to:
Do the first exercise to failure and then switch to the second and go to failure, plus a few forced reps if you have a partner to spot you. You can choose any two exercises you want but it's best to have a basic compound movement first and an isolating movement second. Choose a weight that you can get between 8 and 12 reps with per exercise.
Compound Sets
Compound sets are similar to supersets except the exercises are for opposing muscles instead of the same muscle. This method will really pump you up and force growth into your muscles! This is also good if you're in a hurry as you can get two body parts in about the same time it normally takes to do one.
How to:
Choose exercises for opposing muscle groups, basically one exercise will "push" and the other will "pull". The main opposing groups are: Biceps and Triceps, Quadriceps and Hamstrings, Chest and Back, Shoulders and Lats. Do the first exercise to failure and immediately do the other exercise, then take around 2 minutes rest and do it again, and again! After three sets of this you should be so pumped you can hardly move.
Here are some good exercise combinations:
Chest and Back: Chest and Back: Bench Press and Seated Rows
Quads and Hamstrings: Quads and Hamstrings: Squats and leg curls
Shoulders and Lats: Shoulders and Lats: Shoulder Press and Lat Pull Downs
Arms: Biceps curls and Triceps extensions Biceps curls and Triceps extensions
Partial Reps and 21's
Partial reps
Partial reps use only a portion of the range of motion in a rep. There are three basic ways to do this
Start from the top and lower the weight part of the way down.
Start from the bottom and raise the weight part of the way up.
Use a range anywhere in the middle.
These are very useful if you always get stuck at a certain point in a rep, you can work just the area that is the weak spot.
21's
A variation of this is called "21's" in which you choose a fairly light weight, one that you would get about 15 normal reps with and do 7 partial reps in the lower third, 7 in the upper third and finish with 7 full reps. A few sets of these will give you an incredible pump and shock the muscles into new growth.
Forced Reps
Blast those muscles with a bit of help from your partner!
At the end of a set squeeze out a few more reps with your partner just helping you past the sticking points. This extends the set and increases intensity for fantastic gains. Use every other workout.
Negatives
Negative reps, or eccentric reps, as they are sometimes called use the lowering portion of the lift. Since you can lower significantly more weight than you can raise, you can do negatives with much more weight than normal, or after a set of positive reps to failure. These must be done with a training partner who will help lift the weight back to the starting position.
To start
Do a thorough warm-up and do a few sets of the chosen exercise, say, "bench press". Load on 10 or 20% more weight than your maximum and have your partner ready to help. Lift the weight off the supports and slowly lower it to your chest. As soon as the weight touches your chest your partner will pull it back to the starting position, then you slowly lower it again.
These can also be done at the end of a normal set: Do as many reps as you can by your self and then do a few negative reps with your partner helping.
Negatives are very intense as you will use weight that you've never used before and they have a reputation for producing extra sore muscles for the next day or two. They should only be done about every two weeks for a particular body part.
Overtraining
This is a state when you workout too often resulting in breaking of muscles faster then the body can rebuild it. This results in weak muscles and shows u in negligible or negative gain.
Drop Sets
In drop sets, you do your normal set to failure, then without any rest continue with another failure set with reduced weights and so on until you are completely exhausted, i.e., you are unable to to do a single full set or your normal number of reps.
Super slow
As the name suggests, you do each rep very very slow. For example, while doing biceps curls, you take five seconds for the upward motion, stop for 2 seconds and then take 4 seconds for the downward motion.
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