So you just finished doing a set on the bench press. You did 6 reps of 150lbs. You were shooting for 8 reps, but you didn’t have a spotter. You felt very tired after the sixth rep and decided to throw in the towel. You know that you could have done 7 or 8 reps with a spotter helping you a little, but you didn’t have one, so you cut it off at 6 reps.
Enter the Forced Rep
This situation is the same. You are hurting on your sixth rep, but powered through. Your friend and spotter pushes you to do a seventh. You lower your weight and push six or seven inches off your chest and are powerless. If you didn’t have your spotter you would be up a creek, but you do and he lifts about 15lbs of the weight and you blow through.
Then your spotter wants you to get an eighth rep. You slowly lower the weight, but its not going back up. You just can’t lift the weight, by yourself. Your partner barely lifts the bar with you. He only lifts about 10-30lbs of the weight while you strain and give it everything you possibly have. After what seems to be an eternity, you finally get the bar up and the rep and set is over. That is a forced rep.
The definition is: an extension of a particular set of repetitions in which your strength level at the beginning of the set has been reduced to a point of positive failure. This positive failure is when you absolutely can not lift that weight by yourself. Your partner barely helps your, just bridging the gap between what you are capable of and what is on the bar. Your energy is so wasted that you feel like you’ve done nothing and he did all the work. I promise, you are the one that lifted that weight.
The Good
When performing a forced rep you use up every drop of intensity your working muscles have to offer. When approaching a forced rep a physiological reaction occurs. It’s scary when you are in the middle of a rep and can’t get the bar up. You don’t have many options. You can drop the bar on yourself, try to get the weight off the bar, or let your partner help. This is what your brain is thinking, your body is thinking “this is do or die!” Your body then releases a surge of adrenaline making you stronger and actually able to lift the weight. When all is said and done, if you use one or two forced reps know that you have used maximum intensity.
The Bad
Forced reps are a good thing when used in the right situation, it is far too easy to get carried away. Don’t try to do forced reps in every set, only every exercise. The goal for any size gaining training program is to use maximum intensity, and forced reps can lead to over training and prolonged fatigue. When doing a forced rep your muscle is working at it’s maximum strength capacity, and duration must decrease when intensity increases. Forced reps aren’t bad, but doing too many is.
Using forced reps is a wonderful way to get the most out of a set. It’s a good way to know for sure that you reached maximum intensity, but only when used properly. That’s why I recommend only two at the end of your last set. If you do them for more sets, or reps, this can lead to muscular fatigue quicker and smaller actual muscles.
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