Ramp up the intensity.

Intense training is what pushes people to the next level. There’s nothing worse than feeling like you didn’t put in work after you’ve left the gym. Above all else you want to be making progress at all times. For many that means increasing intensity. But there’s a wrong way and a right way to increasing your lifts.

While doing so it’s only natural that a lifter would increase the intensity of their lifts. But sometimes the intensity that a lifter puts themselves through can end up doing more harm than good. So how can you go about increasing your training intensity while at the same time improving your muscle growth? Follow these tips, each step representing one week of work, and save yourself the headache.

First Things First

To begin with, establishing a volume and intensity for your baseline is the first order of business. You don’t want those numbers to be your one rep max. Aiming for 80% is a good starting point that’s manageable.

Add A Set To Your Exercise

Adding an extra set to your routine should be your next step. After the first week of establishing your baseline adding a set will then allow your body to adapt to more workload. While the weight may not have increased, the extra set pushes your physical and mental adaptation to a new level. That means greater intensity without overtaxing your body with too much weight.

Add A Dropset

Adding an intensity technique like dropsets can be an effective way of ramping up your training. Dropsets will get your muscles burning like crazy and push you to the brink. Drop the weight consistently and aim for failure to ensure you’re getting the best pump possible.

Add 2-3 reps

This concept is similar to adding an extra set to your routine. Increasing your reps is another way of strengthening your body and mind to push past your usual limits. The whole idea is to constantly maintain steady muscle growth. That means changing things up to ensure your body never gets too comfortable and hits a ceiling.

Lower Rest Time Between Sets

Another method that is sure to increase anabolic response as well as burn fat is by decreasing the time you’re at rest in between sets. It’ll allow for a greater pump and will also improve you’re conditioning as well.

Drop The Intensity

If you’ve been training hard and consistent for weeks then eventually you’re going to want to allow your body a break. We’re all human and the body needs time to recover from all the punishment you’ve been putting it through. That means dropping the weight and volume of your lifts by about 30%. There’s nothing wrong with training hard, but you have to give yourself a bit of a break every now and then.

How hard do you train in the gym?

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