If you’ve been weight training for any amount of time, in all likelihood you’ve used a high-intensity technique. Anything that has you going beyond positive failure can be considered among these techniques. Some of the most popular are drop sets and supersets. They are both very common ways to increase the intensity of your workouts. They can also save you a lot of time by getting more hard work done with less sets performed overall. You’ve probably taken advantage of these basic intensity techniques. Why not try something unique to boost the intensity of your workouts? Here we’ll discuss 3 techniques you can use to go above and beyond that you don’t see every day.
the first of my favorite intensity techniques I never see anybody else in the gym do is something I like to call back to back or BTB. This can only be done on movements where you are using only one limb. It’s pretty simple really – you do one set using one limb to failure, do the set for the opposite limb, then go back to training the original limb. I like to do this with one-arm dumbbell rows. I start by rowing to one side with a weight I can do 10 to 15 reps with then train the other side. I then go back to rowing to the side I started with and so on. Since you get a little rest on the side you aren’t working on every set, you can go back and forth a few times to really get some good work in.
The second unique intensity technique I like to take advantage of is a take on supersets. I like to do an exercise that I’m forced to stabilize myself, then continue doing reps on a stable surface. This is usually done by starting with a bosu ball exercise and continuing my set on the floor. One great exercise I like to us this technique on is the goblet squat. It’s a good one to do on a bosu ball as it doesn’t require much weight and we’re going for perfect form here for 12 to 20 reps. Do the goblet squats with your feet on the ball. When you can’t do anymore on the ball, do them with your feet on the floor. At the end of that set go back to standing on the bosu and do squats without weight. Finish off with a set of weightless squats on the floor. As you can imagine this will finish the quads off nicely to end a leg workout. Here is a vid showing an example of this superset except I didn’t do the final set of squats on the floo
The third unique intensity technique I will go into here is to take a short 5 to 10 second rest after reaching failure, then continue with more reps. You can keep doing this until you can only get a rep or two. You have likely even done a form of this in your training. Usually it only ends up being good for one or maybe 2 extra reps. When I do this I like to start with a set of at least 10 reps so I can do 2 or 3 short rests. In doing this I may hit another 10 reps total.
I use these intensity techniques after my heavy straight sets on my main exercises. Let’s say I’m training chest. I’ll start off with a few sets each of flat and incline bench presses where I go to failure but not beyond. After this, I may do a set of weighted dips, dropping the weight 3 or 4 times for more intensity. Then I like to use the bosu ball for some weighted push-ups. I start these with my feet elevated and my hands on the platform side of the bosu. After failure I put my feet on the and do more reps. Finished? Nope. I then take the weight off and go back to feet elevated bosu push-ups and finish with a set with my feet on the floor. You can even then just do some regular push-ups to complete this pec killer. I will usually finish off my chest with a set of cable flys or crossovers, utilizing some type of high intensity technique.
The three techniques I’ve discussed here can also be used together in one superset. The sky is the limit with what you can do. The time you’ll save is also a valuable commodity. Get in the gym, work hard, and get out.