8 Different Workout Techniques

Have you ever been in the gym and heard people talk about different types of technique and not have a clue what they are talking about, or know the names of the technique but are not sure how to really do it. Then here is some help, below is 8 techniques that you can use in your workouts. Here are some of the best techniques used in the gym, a few that some people have never heard of before, ‘jump sets’ or ‘strip set’. Have a read and give some a try.

There are more techniques you can use like G.V.T and E.D.T which I will talk about at some other point. If you have any questions about techniques or style of training please drop me a message.

1. Drop sets

Do a set to failure with a weight, then straight away do another set to failure with a lighter weight.

· You can do this by double-drop (reduce the weight once)

· Triple-drop (twice reduce the weight)

· Down the rack (consecutive set moving down the rack after failure)

e. g: Doing Biceps curls with a weight you can get maybe 8-10 reps for (failure) then pick up the next lightest weight and repeat till you cant lift the weight with good form. Keep repeating the procedure until you get to the last weight on the rack. Each set has to be to failure!

· Variation Triple Drop Sets

This is when you do the same exercise or movement in a different position, e.g. incline bench press to flat bench press and finishing off with decline bench press.

2. Superset

Supersetting it a great way to save time in your workout, when time is limited. It also one of the most used methods of training in a gym.

· Same part supersets

This is the most common type. Two different exercises that work the same muscle, bench press into dumbbell fly’s (no rest between exercises).

· Antagonistic Supersets

Doing an exercise for one body part then immediately do an exercise for the antagonistic body part e. g. Biceps then triceps or quads and hamstrings.

· Upper body/Lower body supersets

As it says, exercise of upper body (shoulder press) then lower body (lunge)

3. Rest-Pause Training

This is a technique to allow you to force more reps out on the same weight. This is great for improving your lactic acid threshold, which will increase your muscle endurance threshold. Do the set to failure then rest 5-10 seconds and then try and force a few more reps out on the same weight. You can do this once or a few times depending if you can keep good form.

4. Giant Sets

Giant set are great for muscle endurance and to help weight loss. To do giant sets, you need to choose one body part and then do several exercises without rest for that body part. The same exercise can be done more than just once within the giant set, e. g chin-ups, pull downs, seated rows, bent over rows, pull downs etc.

5. Force Reps

The most popular and most used intensity technique that a personal trainer uses. This is when you use a spotter to help assist you to complete a set number of reps. So as you start to fail on an exercise the assistance will help you lift the weight and this will force out more reps.

6. Jump Set

Is a great way to build strength! To do jump set is very easy, it’s a way to do large number of heavy sets for different muscle groups without losing as much strength after each set. Say you are doing 5 sets of bench press and 5 sets of bent over row. You start with 3 sets of bench and then 3 sets of rows, and then do the remaining 2 sets of bench and 2 sets of rows. This rest will allow you to have more strength on the last 2 sets than you normally would doing 5 sets in a row.

7. Strip Sets

Strip sets are very like drop sets but can only be done with barbells. You need two spotters to do strip sets. Do a set of bench press and without racking the bar, get the two spotters to remove some of the weight then continue the set. Keep stripping the bar till you meet the desired weight or you fail. So this speak s for itself that you should use lots of light weight to make up your desired starting weight. This exercise is great to burn out a muscle at the end of a workout.

8. Negative

This technique focuses on the negative portion of the exercise (the lowering phase or eccentric phase). Rule of thumb for negative is to use 10% heavier than you 1 RM, you also need a spotter as well. Take bench press, lower the weight slowly taking about six second to lower it, then get the spotter to help lift the weight back up, the more help the spotter does the better. It your job to fight against the eccentric phase, lower the weight as slow as possible. This technique will help you increase your 1 RM.