Here are some advanced training techniques what ive used over the years, if your at a sticking point and need something to springboard yourself into new growth these may be worth trying
These techniques are labeled advanced because they should not be attempted until you have met the following criteria:
Muscle Building - You have gained more than a few pounds of muscle mass, and are confident that you know how to train without advanced techniques to gain muscle.
Nutrition and Diet - You are eating properly, meaning that you have an understanding of how to structure a muscle building diet and are aware of how much protein you are eating on a daily basis.
Lifting Form - You have a decent working grasp of proper exercise form. If your workouts consist on bouncing weight off your chest while bench pressing, or performing 1/4 squats, it is best that you avoid any advanced training techniques until your form is squared away.
Strength - You have been routinely gaining strength. While absolute strength is not the be all, end all indicator that you will gain muscle, it does signal if you have been pushing yourself in the gym. Muscle building requires a progression of resistance on some level. If you're not currently pushing yourself in some form or fashion, odds are that advanced techniques will have little benefit.
Persistence - Missing a lot of workouts? If so, you need to work on your motivation and dedication before worrying about advanced training techniques. Persistence is the biggest indicator of muscle building success. If you can't find the motivation to hit the gym, no magic training technique will help.
As with most things in the muscle building realm, it is best to not jump into the deep end of the pool first. Don't rush to the gym and try these techniques with heavy weight. Instead, give them a go with a moderate weight first. You will be surprised to learn that many of these techniques demand a lighter weight than normal. Learn how your body handles a technique before trying to progress in weight and push yourself.
Pre-Exhaustion
Pre-exhaustion is the practice of performing an isolation exercise before moving on to a compound lift that targets the same muscle group. The goal of pre-exhaustion is to allow an isolation lift to pre-fatigue a muscle, so that when you perform a compound lift, that muscle will have to work harder. It is common, but not necessary, to use pre-exhaustion in combination with a superset.
Post-Exhaustion
Post-exhaustion is a superset variation. With post-exhaustion, you perform 2 exercises for a single muscle group back to back - first a compound lift, and secondly an isolation lift - with limited rest in between sets. The goal of post-exhaustion is to wear down a big muscle group with heavy weight, and then finish it off while it is fatigued with an isolation lift.
Supersets
A superset is the performing of 2 sets of 2 different exercises back to back with no rest in between these sets. A superset can combine isolation and compound lifts for the same muscle group, two compound lifts for the same muscle group, or antagonistic exercises for opposing muscle groups. Examples of antagonistic muscle groups include back and chest, quads and hamstrings and abs and lower back.
Trisets
A triset is the performing of 3 sets of 3 different exercises back to back with no rest in between these sets. It functions in the same manner as a superset, but instead with an additional exercise. Most trisets target a single muscle group, and can be structured in several ways
Drop Sets
A drop set is similar to a superset, in that you are performing multiple sets back to back with no rest between these sets. With a drop set you are using a single exercise. After you can no longer perform any reps, or at the point where you are fatigued with a given weight, you immediately drop the weight down and perform more reps. A drop set generally involves 3-4 total sets.
Drop sets work well with dumbbell or machine exercises, but can also work with barbell exercises if you have a spotter, or have arranged the plates before hand to be easily removed. In this case, several small plates are added to the bar, possibly 5's and 10's, instead of a 25 or 45 pound plates.
Giant Sets
A giant set is a sequence of 4 exercises performed back to back without any rest between sets. While a giant set is generally used to target a single muscle group, it can also be structured in an antagonistic manner, working two muscle groups alternatively. Because of the number of exercises involved, a giant set can combine isolation and compound exercises in a wide variety of ways.
Cluster Sets
A cluster set is a large group of sets (usually 5 to 10) performed with the same number of reps, and using the same weight. Cluster sets are often structured so that there is a limited and specific rest in between each of these sets. The goal of a cluster set is to wear down a muscle by the use of cumulative fatigue; you repeat the cycle or performing a small number of reps, followed by a relatively short rest period. With cluster set training the early sets often feel easy, and later sets become progressively more difficult.
Burn Sets
A burn set is a single exercise that is performed in a very high rep range, generally 20-30 reps or more. A burn set is often used as a finisher, and is used to pump up a muscle, deplete muscle glycogen and/or to build strength endurance. While not considered an effective stand alone muscle building technique, burn sets do work well in a limited fashion in combination with standard hypertrophy training. The two major forms of burn sets are standard sets and extended training
Negative Reps
Negative reps, or negative training, is the use of a slow, controlled eccentric aspect of a lift to stimulate muscle growth, or to train/prepare the central nervous system (CNS) to handle heavier strength loads. The eccentric aspect of a lift is the returning of the weight to it's starting position, normally in preparation for another rep. But in the case of negative training, this returning of the weight, or eccentric focus, does not involves positive reps (it could involve forced reps).
Slow Negatives
Unlike negative reps, slow negatives are integrated into a set, and do not fall at the end of a set when reaching muscle failure. A set that utilizes slow negatives will have you performing a rep at normal speed, and then a slow negative eccentric motion in between each rep. This slow negative is usually performed over a period of 4 to 6 seconds
Forced Reps
A forced rep falls at the end of a set, after reaching muscle failure (the point in which you can no longer perform any reps on your own), and involves the assistance of a spotter. Simply stated - you perform as many reps as possible, and have your spotter help you complete several more reps after you reach a sticking point in the lift where you can no longer move the weight under your own power
Partial Reps
Partial reps, often half reps or quarter reps, can be performed in one of two ways:
Partial Reps from Pins - A bar is place at the midway point of the lift using pins (generally in a rack, and for exercises such as squats and bench press). The lifter positions himself and lifts the bar from the pins into a fully extended or contracted position.
Partial Reps from Contraction - For exercises such as squats and bench press, the lifter unracks the weight normally, and proceeds to perform only a half or quarter rep. There are several close relative to partial reps in the realm of powerlifting. For the bench press, boards are often held on the chest of a lifter by a training partner, giving the lifter a higher than normal height to lower the bar to. For squats, a box (or bench) of varying heights is placed behind a lifter, and he proceeds to squat down until seated on this box, and then performs a rep.
Rest Pause Training
Rest pause training involves extended sets which involve performing as many reps as possible, followed by periods of short rest and then the performing of more reps. Unlike cluster sets, rest pause training encourages you to perform as many reps as possible before resting. In addition, the rest periods used in rest pause training are generally very brief, often no more than 15 to 30 seconds. Doggcrapp training (DC training), a very popular and effective muscle building system, relies almost solely on rest pause sets.
There is a huge tendency in the muscle building and strength realm to add more, including training volume and advanced techniques, before they are needed. A beginning training will experience exceptional gains often with a very simple and basic approach. While it seems to make sense that adding more sets and advanced techniques will multiply gains, it's not generally the case.
Lifters in their first year of training are developing much more than muscle size; they are also training their central nervous system (CNS), smaller stabilizer muscles, as well as strengthening their connective tissue (tendons, ligaments, etc.). Incorporating too much complexity too soon is often a recipe for an injury.
Furthermore, advanced training techniques are often looked at as a substitution for progressively heavier weights. When a lift starts to feel heavy, beginning trainees often look to avoid adding more weight to the bar, and instead begin using advanced training techniques to create the appearance that they are training hard.
Advanced training techniques are not a suitable replacement for progression of resistance for beginner to early intermediate lifters. To maximize muscle mass, a minimal degree of strength must be achieved. This is not to say that you must train like a powerlifter - far from it. The point is this: while you are bringing up your overall strength, progressive resistance is the number one muscle building technique. This simply means that as a beginner, or early intermediate, no amount of advanced techniques will ever be as consistently effective as simply adding more weight to the bar.
Once you have gained a respectable amount of muscle and strength, and know your body fairly well, you may begin to experiment with advanced training techniques. As with all things, don't rush into the deep end of the pool. It's best to try one technique at a time, and learn how your body responds, before trying a second and third technique. Only fools rush into adding every new technique under the sun all at once.
Muscle building is an evolutionary process. Gradually, over time, you learn your body and make small and appropriate adjustments. If you add too much too soon, you are doing yourself a disservice. If things go wrong, how can you possibly discern what to pull back on? Advanced training techniques are a potent tool, to be used wisely with progressive resistance.
Author Steve Shaw
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Originally Posted by auslifta
