Build Muscle – Get Strong

So after six reps of 150lbs on the bench press you decided to call it quits. You were pretty tired even though you know you could have knocked out eight if you had a spotter. You didn’t though and didn’t want to risk hurting yourself.

Enter the Forced Rep

The situation is the same. You are struggling with your sixth rep, but got it up. Your spotter encourages you to do a seventh. You lower the weight, and lift it about six inches off of your chest and your stuck. Without your spotter, you are in bad situation, but your spotter is there, and lifts about 10lbs of the weight, and you get past the sticking point to power the rest of the rep.

Next your spotter thinks you can get an eighth. You slowly lower the bar to your chest, and it is not going back up. You really can’t lift the weight by yourself. Your partner barely helps you with the weight, only 10-30lbs of help. You power through with all you have and finally get the bar up. This was a forced rep.

The actual 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 is basically the point where you can’t possibly move the weight with your own strength. Your partner then steps in to help you lift the weight only slightly, so you can achieve maximum intensity. The partner just bridges the gap between your current, fatigued strength level and the weight you are trying to lift. Your partner only lifts a small percentage of the weight, but you, lifting the weight, felt lifeless and think that the partner lifted all of the weight. Rest assured, you lifted the weight, and your partner barely lifted any.

The Good

This “forced rep” pushes out every ounce of intensity from your working muscles. When faced with a forced rep a physiological reaction occurs. If you are lifting a weight and can’t get through the rep, it’s a scary feeling. There are few options, drop the weight on yourself (ouch), tilt the bar to make the weight fall off, or have a spotter help. This is what goes through your mind, your body on the other hand is thinking sink or swim. This produces a surge of adrenaline making you stronger and able to power through the rep. In the end with one or two forced reps you will know for a fact 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.

Want to find out more about forced reps, then visit Klint Newton’s site on how to choose the best training program for your body type.

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