In the last article, I discussed the four phases of effort that occur within a set that is pushed for max reps to failure. The four phases include:
1. The easy lifting phase
2. The increasing challenge phase.
3. The strain phase
4. The maximum effort phase.
Phase One: The Easy Lifting Phase
Phase one is the easy lifting phase. This phase occurs early in a set and does not provide much stimulus for strength gains.
Phase Two: The Challenge Phase
Phase two is the increasing challenge phase, which I also refer to simply as the challenge phase. The challenge phase generally begins a little before half way through the set, and ends a few reps short of failure. The challenge phase will provide enough challenge to stimulate strength gains.
Transition to Phase Three: The Strain Phase
After you reach the end of the challenge phase, you will transition into the start of phase three, which is the strain phase. This will occur towards the end of a set and will also create the stimulation needed for strength gains. However, I recommend that you only go one rep into the strain phase, which will cause you to land on the marker rep. The marker rep marks the point in the set where effort suddenly escalates and rep speed often begins to slow down.
Phase Four: Maximum Effort
If you push past the strain phase, you will reach phase four, which is the maximum effort phase. This phase only consists of one rep and is the last rep that you can possibly perform within a set. It requires a maximum amount of effort to complete the rep. In my opinion, it is not necessary to push to the maximum effort phase, which is the last rep of a set to failure. If you do decide to use maximum effort by pushing to failure, you only need to do so for one set per week.
The Sweet Spot For Long-term Gains
It is my belief that the best long-term results occur when most of your sets are pushed to the transitional zone that occurs between the end of the challenge phase and the start of the strain phase. The end of the challenge phase correlates with the point at which you reach the last rep that you can perform within the context of your ability to maintain a steady even rep pace. This is also called your limit rep because it represents the limit of reps you can perform while maintaining a steady even rep pace. Your limit rep generally occurs two to four reps short of failure.
After completing the limit rep, the next rep is the marker rep, which marks the transition into the start of the strain phase, and is also the point in the set where rep speed starts to slow down. The limit rep and the marker rep are going to be the sweet spot for consistent gains over the long term for most lifters.
Goal: Stay Dialed Into the Challenge Phase
There are other approaches in which you do not need to push to the limit rep or the marker rep on every set, yet these approaches are still very effective for building strength. One of these methods is what I refer to as the marker set method. The goal of the marker set method is to stay dialed into the challenge phase of effort for a substantial amount of work while performing your sets.
There are a couple of ways in which the marker set method can be applied, but in this article, the approach that will be discussed is based on starting a workout by only pushing to the beginning of the challenge phase. For example, if you choose a poundage that you can perform for 10 reps when pushing to failure, you would probably find that the first three reps feel about the same in terms of effort. It is the first three reps that make up phase one of effort, which is the easy lifting phase of the set. When you reach the fourth rep, the effort it takes to complete each successive rep will start to increase. From this point on, repeating more reps will become increasingly harder until you reach the point where you can’t do any more reps.
Only Do 4 Reps with a Weight That You can lift for 10 Reps
When using the marker rep method with a weight that you can lift for ten reps, you only need to push to the fourth rep. This is the rep where you notice that the set starts to become more challenging. It is also the starting place for your first set of the marker set method.
Repeat Sets Until Your Reach your Marker Set
After your first set of four reps, you will continue to repeat sets of four reps for the same exercise every two to three minutes. The first two or three sets should feel pretty easy, and you should have no problem performing four consecutive reps while maintaining a steady even rep pace for all four reps of each set. However, as you continue to repeat sets, you will grow progressively fatigued and the sets will increase in difficulty. Because of this, you will eventually reach a set in which your fourth rep is slower and more strenuous than the first three reps of the same set. This marks the set in which your performance begins to decrease, which makes it your marker set.
Your marker set marks the point at which you should stop repeating sets. Hopefully, you will be able to do at least five sets of four reps before you reach a set where your last rep starts to slow down. The exact number of sets that each lifter will be able to perform will very from lifter to lifter as it is based on the individual capacity of each lifter.
When using the marker set method in this manner, your first set will only push you to the very start of the challenge phase in terms of effort. You will progress further into the challenge phase as you grow increasingly fatigued from repeating sets. When you repeat enough sets, you will reach the strain phase in which your last rep is slower and more strenuous than all of your previous reps. When you reach the strain phase, you have pushed to the point where your body will want to adapt in order to overcome the strain phase.
It will be apparent when you overcome the strain phase because you will eventually reach a workout where you never hit the strain phase, even when using the same amount of weight, sets, and reps that have caused you to hit the strain phase in previous workouts. This means that you are no longer forced to decrease the rep speed of the last rep of your last set. When you can do this for three consecutive workouts, you have overcome your marker set, which indicates that you have gained strength. When you overcome your marker set, you can add 5 pounds and keep repeating sets until you reach your marker set again. The process can be repeated over and over again as long as you keep gaining strength.
Dialing Into the Challenge Phase
The marker set method allows you to start a workout with just enough effort to challenge your strength. This will leave enough in reserve to allow you to keep on repeating several sets in order to accumulate substantial training volume. At the same time, the amount of effort will increase as you proceed further into your workout until you experience a fairly high level of intensity when you reach the strain phase by your last set. If you choose to use this method, most of your training will be done in the challenge phase in terms of effort. This is the goal you should try to achieve when striving to use the right amount of effort to produce long-term results. Consider using this method if you come to a point in your training where it would seem beneficial to do so. May God Bless you with the best of training.