How to Set Higher Personal Bests Every Week

How to Set Higher Personal Bests Every Week
If you are a low rep high weight lifter, then you know what your bests are for most exercises. With proper diet and rest this lifting style is best suited for mass gains and ever increasing strength. There is a technique to speed up your muscle growth by allowing for continual setting of new highs for every major exercise you do. Muscle building pro's use it every day. So should you.

The first thing you must understand is that to be big you MUST lift big. If you do not try and lift weights that your muscles can't handle, then how will they ever learn and grow to handle it? Doing 16 reps of exercises is fine if your goal is to be fit. But if the goal is to be huge then drop the reps down to 6 at most, and increase your weight accordingly. Truly failing on the sixth rep is where it's at for mass gains.

The second thing you must understand is that lifting is as much about the mind as body. You know it's true. Don't you just "feel" stronger when you think someone is watching you lift? Especially if that person is someone you are wanting to impress. That's simply called "getting you mind right". Successful lifters ALWAYS THINK they CAN lift whatever is on the bar. Unsuccessful muscle builders think about "how heavy that is going to be".
So low rep high weight lifting with the mind set that you can lift what ever is the starting point. The truth is that you CAN"T lift whatever. Your muscles won't allow it. But you CAN make your mind fool yourself into doing it a couple times. Here's how.

You will do 6 sets of the bench press (or whatever exercise you wish). Set 1 is at 50% of your one rep max. Do 6 reps. Set 2 is at 75% max weight, 6 reps. Set 3 is at 90% max weight, do only 2 reps. Set 4 you drop the weight down to 60% of your max and do only 4 reps. Set 5 is at your max plus 5%. Do as many as you can. Set 6 is back to 75% of your old max weight to total failure.
What happens here is that on the third set at 90% of your max your muscles are truly challenged, but not exhausted because of doing only 2 reps. By dropping down to 60% on the forth set it "reboots" your mind to the light weight feel. When you attempt your new best on the fifth set it takes your MIND a couple reps to register just HOW HEAVY the weight is. If you have the successful muscle building mind set you will be able to blast out a couple before your body and mind "catches on" to how heavy the weight is. The sixth set re-establishes sanity and you exhaust the muscle.

You can do this every week for one major compound lift. So with consistency of training, nutrition and rest, each month you can set new bests on the bench, squat, lat pull down and military press. That is why you lift isn't it?
Steve R. Robbins has been a life long fitness enthusiast. Has the distinction of being able to run a marathon and bench press twice his weight in the same day. All at the age of 50. Editor and regular contributor to http://www.MuscleandHealth.org