5 ms·
recently i hired a barbell / weight coach to train me (he really pushes me hard, harder than i ever thought i was capable of going), i find that i usually start
by beachstartup 11y ago
recently i hired a barbell / weight coach to train me (he really pushes me hard, harder than i ever thought i was capable of going), i find that i usually start wanting to mentally 'give up' at around the halfway mark during a training session. 40-60%.
but since i'm generally healthy, the trick is to decide to go until i absolutely can not move anymore, whether it's 2 minutes or another hour. once you've made that decision in your head (your mental "escape route" having been established), the rest is easy. when you have a professional watching your form and supervising you, this is perfectly safe. if i can still move the weight, i keep going. if i can't move the weight, then it's a good time to stop.
for me personally, it's much harder to wake up 3x a week at 0530 and go to the gym than to finish a physical task when you feel like giving up. that's where the 40% rule doesn't really help me much. once i'm there it's not that hard to finish.
btw, for those of you thinking of hiring a trainer, don't just walk into a gym and ask for one on staff, find a reputable barbell coach in your area and work with them on a long term training plan that suits your budget and goals, then pay it all up front because otherwise you're not going to get your ass out of bed at 6am.
- HeyLaughingBoy 11y agoA technique I used was called "20-rep squats." It's been written about in a few places. Simply put, you choose a weight that you can do 20 squats with using good form. Next time you add weight to the bar and do 20 again, lather, rinse, repeat every week or whatever your interval is. It works well for working out alone because the goal is simple: do 20 reps with more weight than last time, even if it's just 1 lb more. You simply don't allow yourself to stop before failure. It's "20 or die." It was the most productive form of weightlifting I've ever done in terms of increasing strength and body mass. Make sure you have a good, stable squat rack :-)
- pc86 11y ago20-rep movements are great for hypertrophy/building size, but are not going to do nearly as much for strength and the 3-8 rep range. And squatting once a week will do even less than that.
- mreiland 11y agosquatting once/week is viable if you're extremely experienced and are not on steroids. The more experience you get, the more rest you need between lifts. One of the major reasons why steroids works is because it cuts down on the required rest time by a large margin.
- scott_s 11y agoMany of the elite powerlifters of today squat, deadlift and bench multiple times a week, so we know that doing all multiple times in a week can be great training. But I think your conclusion is not warranted. A few decades ago, the elite powerlifters were squatting and deadlifting once a week. And they were also crazy strong.
- beachstartup 11y agomy coach makes me do 20-rep squats and also 10x10 with less weight once every 6 weeks or so. that's the closest i've ever come to really giving up in the middle of a set.
- pc86 11y ago10x10 is brutal. We usually do a strict 2:00 rest between sets, but one time tried dropping that to 90 seconds and it was at least twice as bad.