Training Intensity and Technical Failure

I think last, no, three phases ago, we were doing sets of two minutes. It was like basically like two zero two zero for two minutes straight leg press or squat or something. And I was like, this is the worst torture and I have an app that was timing me. And I'm just like, when is it the last 10 seconds? And like, I think about like, if I did this to some of my clients, I know they would be like 15 seconds in and they would just stop because it gets hard. But you have to be like, if that's what your goal is, then you have to be effective and truthful in your coaching and stuff. So it's, you have to educate people so that you're not having those arguments and stuff. because what you'll find is people either they they'll stop early when they feel some discomfort or they just won't load it up if you do a two minute leg press and you can get up and walk off the machine you're like smiling and shit okay you need to load that heavier um and that's what you'll see a lot people and the thing is if you do a set and that was if i tell you that this should suck real bad and it should burn real bad and you're going to be cussing at me and it's going to take you a few minutes to get off the machine um if that was easy then that was a warm-up set you need to add another set and this is it's not like you don't have to wreck yourself but you have to push yourself you want to push your body to a different state you have to train harder than what you think you need to do yeah but then but there is a point of getting going too hard that you got to dial it back so it should be it should suck but it shouldn't these videos you see bodybuilders online where they're screaming at each other and they're like crying and you know they're falling you don't have to train that hard to build muscle but you you do have to train hard or your body doesn't have a reason to to respond you have to put your body in a position where it feels like it's in danger to then evoke that adaptive response and oh man this is why i don't i don't train that many physique uh competitors anymore anyways especially the women because they'll go in and I'll give them five sets and say 10 to 12 and they'll do like 40 for 12, 50 for 12, 60 for 12, 70 for 12, 80 for 12, 90 for 12. And I go, cool. You did three or four warmup sets and actual two good work sets. And the way I've designed this is you need five good work sets. So you need to count that 40, 50, 60, 70 as being warmups, your 80 and 90 where your work sets, you need three more sets. And they always go, I don't understand why my body's not changing. Cause you're looking like a pussy. Like you need to win the bar when it starts to suck. That's your first work set. Yes. And that's probably the hardest thing to teach online. Cause you know, you get a pretty good idea how you can talk to a client and like, I'll go at some of my guys. I'm like, bro, I, I warm up with what you lifting right now Like I know you can go heavier than 20 pounds for lunges Like I know you can do more than this And it very hard because say you get a rep range 10 to 12 they will just work within that range So if they can go beyond 12, they'll stop because it says 12. And you're like, okay, but if you can go beyond that, just go beyond that and then just go heavier, you know, your next set. But I think they feel very, you know, boxed in to that 10 to 12. but if you get nine, like that's good. It's okay. Like you're going heavy, you know, struggle. I would rather someone fail in good form and technique and not hit the rep range, then hit the end of the rep range and stop because you just wait, you pretty much wasted your set. Yeah. And there's, there's, you know, the whole point of having a rep range. And that's the reason why I don't give someone like five sets of 10. The whole point is to load it a set of 10 to 12 until you barely get a 10th one out. And then, okay, now I know, let's say that's 100 kilos. Now I know that I need to work with somewhere around like 90 to 100. Somewhere in that area is pretty good. And then when I can turn that and it sets a 12, then I can add more weight. I can add four or 5% more and see where I hit in the rep range. You see it all the time. They'll hit 10 to 12 rep range. They'll hit 12 and they'll stop. And it's like your 12th rep look like your first rep. If that's the case, you have almost no stimulatory reps. Maybe you got one in there, but you should on the last two to three reps, the bar should be slowing down. Let's say you've got a 3010 and it's like the first 10 reps, you hit one second concentric or even faster. Some people will lift faster, even though I tell them lift a little bit slower. But that 11th rep should be like 1.5 seconds. That 12th rep should be around two seconds. seconds and once you're there as long as the technique isn't breaking down too much you probably have a good two to three more reps until that bar is moving like three or four seconds and you're grinding it out and the lift now starts to not look like the same exercise that's where you're hitting like the limit you probably don't need to go that far because once technique breaks down it becomes a different lift it's no longer if you're squatting and on one rep you get halfway up and you start to flex your spine, twist and hip shift, it's no longer a squat, you're done. You have found a really good amount of weight. Stop just short of that really junky, shady rep. And you're gonna be good because you just need to hit a good, three good stimulatory reps over three to five sets and you're probably all right with that. Or just you guys listening, just give two minutes on a leg press a try. i think i remember i said um if you listen to the audio it sounds like either someone's dying or like that adam sandler it was like an mp3 where he's like is this sex or is this someone working out because they're like because that shit hurt and i think one time i was like i lost count after every set but i think it ended up being like 50 to 60 reps and then i was like i just can't count because you have to go to that dark place you really have to go to that dark sometimes. And I think it's important for people to learn that. And I love the analogy that you use, where if you tell somebody, you know, 12 to 15, but you know, that they can go more, tell them to just go to failure and they end up going to like 50. And it's like, come on. Yeah. And that's the thing too. Like, and that's why I don't use, I only will use things like RP skills and reps and reserve with really advanced athletes or clients. And the reason is because people always underestimate what they can do. So what I'll tell people is I want you to lift until the bar slows down significantly. And you can feel that that one rep is getting really different than the other reps. That's your last rep because the next rep is the one you're probably going to get hurt on if you get hurt. And you're starting to create these weird compensations because you've got technical failure. So if you can work to one concentrically technical deviated rep, like it's starting to get weird, starting to become a different exercise, that we're good. We don't need to go any further than that. And most people don't even need to go to that, but they should go to that so they can actually see, okay, at what rep with a hundred kilos, does this not feel the same and where I'm really starting to struggle. And that's like, okay, now I know that maybe 90 to 95 is my weight. And I need to work with that until I can turn my technical shitty rep into 105. Then I can work with 95 to 100. Telling you, training is like a, what? Well, I was going to say, you know, one of the problems with that too is that coaches, a lot of times coaches will, they change too many exercises in a program, too much, too much.