Let’s get straight to the point…

If you want to build more muscle, or are reaching plateaus in your gains, you need to find ways to start jacking up the intensity levels.

We want to absolutely maximize muscle fiber recruitment, metabolic stress, muscle damage…all those things that correlate positively with muscle growth.

So here’s 6 things you can do. 6 techniques you’ve never heard of, forgotten about, or just aren’t utilizing.

(1) An “Infitonic” 1 Rep Max

 

Don’t let the weird title scare you. On page 73 of The Wisdom of Mike Mentzer he recommends infitonic training.

Basically it’s a form of ‘rest-pause’ with maximum weight but…the negative aspect of the rep is also maximized.

Here is how I suggest you use this:

• Figure out your 1 rep max for a particular lift (use my handy calculator if you don’t know it)
• Get a buddy to spot you. Perform the positive part of that 1 rep max with perfect form then….
• Lower very slowly indeed – basically as slowly as is humanly possible for you.

This 1 single rep will expose the intended muscle to a higher intensity of muscular contraction than it has perhaps ever experienced before.

(2) A “Static Hold” After Muscular Failure

 

Arthur Jones, the father of High-Intensity Training (HIT), sometimes advocated that you continue pushing against the bar for a while after reaching positive failure.

So after hitting failure, you’d simply get the weight back into a position of contraction (perhaps at the mid-point of the rep) and hold it there. See if you can hold it for 10 seconds or longer in this position.

This is the “mechanical tension” aspect of stimulating growth.

(3) Do “Omni-Contractions”

 

Every muscle has 3 levels of strength. Not just 1. They are:

1. Positive
2. Static (holding)
3. Negative

These each involve different types of contraction – concentric, static, and eccentric.

To ensure maximum intensity across all 3 levels, try this…

• When you reach positive failure, don’t set the weight down.
• Lower the weight a couple inches and hold there for a few seconds.
• Then lower another couple inches and hold there for a few seconds…
• Then lower another couple inches and hold there for a few seconds…
• and so on all the way to the bottom.

This is an “omni contraction” and can really trigger new gains in the worked muscle.

Note: Only do this after the final set of a particular body part.

(4) Close Your Eyes

 

Arnold was right on this. Although he was just doing it intuitively, I have read a study demonstrating that guys can lift more when they visualize the muscle in question (and unfortunately I can’t find that study again). This is obviously a closed-eye process.

Why would this work?

My own opinion on this is that this actually increases “neuro-muscular efficiency“.

Remember that muscle fibers are recruited as a signal sent from the brain through the nervous system. The better the efficiency of this signal, the bigger and better your lifts are going to be and, as a result, the better your gains will be.

(5) Extend Your Sets (drop-sets)

 

Now in THT training I do not recommend you do this after every set.  The fatigue generated will mean successive sets are adversely affected i.e. you’ll be much weaker.

Try this on the last set of any given body part:

• When you reach failure, immediately grab a lighter weight and go again (yes the same exercise).
• If possible, reduce the weight and do it again.
• If possible, reduce the weight and do it again.

This is “drop-setting” with as little rest in between as possible.

The “metabolic stress” generated is huge and every muscle fiber will be recruited and begging for mercy! You can also expect some nice new gains 😀

 

(6) Meditate

 

Meditation has been shown to lower cortisol levels and produce more testosterone and growth hormone [1].

While cortisol is not “bad” when it is released at the correct times, (like in the morning to wake you up) chronically high levels will hurt your gains.

Meditation lowers the chronic levels of cortisol that some people experience as a a result of stress.

Stress also has the opposite effect on testosterone and growth hormone – the higher the stress, the lower the levels of these anabolic hormones.

Meditating regularly helps set up an optimal anabolic environment inside your body.

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If you like new and exciting strategies that take you beyond normal training and normal results, you’ll LOVE my Chest Blast and Arms Blast routines.

They contain strategies like the above (and more you’ve never heard of). In fact, many trainees report to me, “I’ve never trained like this before!”.

 

Just want to start gaining? Download THT and start gaining for free. See the results other guys have achieved here.
NOTE: You don’t have to go to your email to confirm anything. Once you click the button, you’ll be taken straight to the download page 😀 I operate a ‘Strictly Zero Spam‘ policy.

 

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Train With Intensity!

Mark

Reference: [1] Effects of the Transcendental Meditation program on adaptive mechanisms: changes in hormone levels and responses to stress after 4 months of practice. Psychoneuroendocrinology. 1997 May;22(4):277-95.