When you perform the first
rep of a given exercise, your neurological system doesn't know what the heck it needs to do to.
In other words, as the range of
motion of a given exercise increases, same does the resistance provided by the elastic band which lengthens from being stretched.
Concentric muscular failure is the point at which you are unable to complete an additional positive repetition
of a given exercise in proper form despite your greatest efforts.
That does not mean, that we are not working with loads, but it means the emphasis and goal of the training are on the quality of the movement and the best possible technical
execution of a given exercise.
The take - home message from all of this is that the safest way to use this technique is to use it infrequently and only on the last
set of a given exercise, while abusing it will almost certainly result with serious injury in the long run.
If you're new to the weight room, begin by finding a set of dumbbells light enough to successfully perform a few sets of 12 - 15 reps
of a given exercise.
Drop sets are a technique where you perform a set
of a given exercise to failure and then reduce the weight and continue for more reps until you reach failure with the reduced poundage.
If I do the 3 sets of 8 - 12 where would I start for progressing I.e. once u can do 12
of a given exercise and u move to the next, where do u start?
For example, many people see a routine in my program or one of my colleagues programs (or even a magazine)... let's say the routine calls for 4 sets of 6 reps
of a given exercise... and they just choose a random weight (or a weight that they «think» they are comfortable with) and do 4 sets of 6 reps.
What we are interested in, is the «estimated 1RM» from the toughest set
of a given exercise.
If you are forced to drop the initial load by more than 20 % on
any of the given exercises, you are doing too much work for your level of conditioning.
Your 1 rep max is the maximum amount of weight you can lift for 1 rep
of a given exercise.