well i pretty much subscribe to dorian yates philosophy on how he does it, where its all about intensity, i use maybe a bit more volume. you should work up to a max set where you give it all you got, and the sets before that one are doing work but you dont need to go to complete failure. and its all about perfect form all the time. i could try and explain it but just watch the first part of this vid someone just posted in gen chat

http://www.guba.com/watch/3000120608...cbebf7d11c0900

note his first exercise. he puts 155 on the bar, does it 8 or 10 times, perfect form warming up his muscles. then he goes 245, still warming up (obviously we are not as strong as these guys), perfect form but he only does like 8 reps. then on to 335, i think he does 6 reps on this. none of these sets are all out to failure, but the muscle is still getting work done and reinforcing the perfect form so when he gets to that all or nothing set, 415 i believe, he pushes it to the point where he is failing, where you cant even feel your muscles anymore, but he stays in form as he conditions himself that way all the time so its pretty much automatic. also note that a spotter is crucial for that last set. i think he gets 5 reps pretty much by himself and another with a spot. also note how he is always in control of the weight, not necessarily going super slow but always owning the bar.

for us mere mortals the intervals are much tighter. for instance, take a barbell flat press. for me, i start with 135, do it about 10-12 times. i actually do this twice because i like a lot of warm up on my shoulders before i really get started. then i go 225x8, 275x6, then i either put 295 or 315 on there (depends where i am at at the time) and shoot for 5-7 reps. this is when i am not on gear, when i was on test i was getting up to 365 for 5-7.

so its all about learning where your weights are and how to set yourself up to prime up to that last set. your sets may go 135, 185, 205, 225 or something like that. its not about how much weight you are lifting, its about how you are lifting that weight. over time you get a feel for it.

and then do the same thing for your next exercise (low incline dumbell press for me). then a few flys maybe and your done!