The Good and Bad of Forced Reps
So after six reps of 150lbs on the bench press you decided to call it quits. You were pretty tired even though you know you could have knocked out eight if you had a spotter. You didn’t though and didn’t want to risk hurting yourself.
Enter the Forced Rep
This situation is the same. You are hurting on your sixth rep, but powered through. Your friend and spotter pushes you to do a seventh. You lower your weight and push six or seven inches off your chest and are powerless. If you didn’t have your spotter you would be up a creek, but you do and he lifts about 15lbs of the weight and you blow through.
Next your spotter thinks you can get an eighth. You slowly lower the bar to your chest, and it is not going back up. You really can’t lift the weight by yourself. Your partner barely helps you with the weight, only 10-30lbs of help. You power through with all you have and finally get the bar up. This was a forced rep.
The actual definition is: an extension of a particular set of repetitions in which your strength level at the beginning of the set has been reduced to a point of positive failure. This is basically the point where you can’t possibly move the weight with your own strength. Your partner then steps in to help you lift the weight only slightly, so you can achieve maximum intensity. The partner just bridges the gap between your current, fatigued strength level and the weight you are trying to lift. Your partner only lifts a small percentage of the weight, but you, lifting the weight, felt lifeless and think that the partner lifted all of the weight. Rest assured, you lifted the weight, and your partner barely lifted any.
The Good
When performing a forced rep you use up every drop of intensity your working muscles have to offer. When approaching a forced rep a physiological reaction occurs. It’s scary when you are in the middle of a rep and can’t get the bar up. You don’t have many options. You can drop the bar on yourself, try to get the weight off the bar, or let your partner help. This is what your brain is thinking, your body is thinking “this is do or die!” Your body then releases a surge of adrenaline making you stronger and actually able to lift the weight. When all is said and done, if you use one or two forced reps know that you have used maximum intensity.
The Bad
Forced reps are good when used properly, but it’s really easy to get carried away. I suggest using one or two forced reps per exercise, not per set. The goal of any size gaining weight training program is to employ maximum intensity. The problem with forced reps can lead to overtraining. When performing a forced rep, your body is lifting a weight that is at its maximum strength capacity, and when intensity increases, duration must decrease. Put simply, the heavier and harder something is, the less you can and should do it. Forced reps are not bad, but doing too many forced reps is bad.
Using forced reps is a wonderful way to get the most out of a set. It’s a good way to know for sure that you reached maximum intensity, but only when used properly. That’s why I recommend only two at the end of your last set. If you do them for more sets, or reps, this can lead to muscular fatigue quicker and smaller actual muscles.
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