When I was invited to speak at a men’s self-improvement convention in Tampa last year I planned to talk about principles of exercise performance but since it would have overlapped a lot with both Bill De Simone and Dr. Ellington Darden’s presentations I decided at the last minute to talk about the proper mindset for high intensity training instead.
In the talk I explain how most people’s thinking about exercise performance and programming is backwards and how you should think about exercise to maximize the effectiveness, efficiency, and safety of your workouts, and answer questions from the audience on making exercises harder, training to momentary muscular failure, and training at home with limited equipment.
If you have a question about any of the topics discussed in the presentation please post it in the comments below!
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I know I’ve already commented about this video. But I think the content gets right down to what “it’s” all about. It all starts in the mind, in the consciousness. Focus, control, safe yet potentially very intense effort. I was trying to be a little philosophical with my Matrix quote on the article about statics, lol. I’ve been going back over some mind/muscle linkstuff elsewhere as well here recently. Intent, focus, tension, inroad.
Hey Donnie,
I’m glad you like it. I’ll be covering this in more detail in EoF and in future books on timed static contraction and bodyweight training.
Excellent presentation Drew,
Such a shame that the main stream fitness and BB community refuse to embrace your ideas and persist with the ‘move the weight at all costs’ approach.
I guess it doesn’t help when pro BBs make training videos with them using either spurious poundages and/or absolutely atrocious form and folk blindly follow their example.
Hopefully with EoF being published soon this will change as people realise the true nature and reason for exercises.
Train hard!
Best,
Jamie.
Hey Jamie,
Thanks. I appreciate the thought, but Elements of Form will have no effect on mainstream fitness or bodybuilding or the way most people exercise. Too few people will read it, and most of the people who do probably won’t apply it completely or on a consistent basis because it requires a more mental effort and self discipline than most people are willing to invest in their workouts. The few people who do apply it completely and consistently will get the best results possible for them from exercise, as safely, efficiently, and quickly as possible, and I will be happy to make a positive difference in even a small number of people’s lives, but the number will be way too small to have much of an effect on exercise in general.
Thanks Drew,
I wish I could argue the point with you on the issue of the impact EoF, but I guess you’re right.
The closed minds of the BB & fitness industry are not for changing.
However, If all of us who will read it and put your ideas into practice spread the word, at least we can influence our own environments.
I for one encourage all the guys I speak to at my gym to check out your writing and Baye.com, whether competitive BB or recreational lifters, and I’ll continue to do so in the hope that my persistence may one day rub off.
Thanks for everything Drew!
Best
Jamie.
Hey Jamie,
Thanks, and you’re welcome.
Hi Drew!
Did you ever have client pass out during training? Apart from HIT being extremely uncomfortable is there a chance to bring damage to yourself due to overwhelming metabolic fatigue, in a single session (not talking about accumulated fatigue and overtraining). What happened to that bodybuilder you talk about in the video doesn’t seems to be very healthy.
Thanks!
Hey James,
No, I have never had a client pass out during training. I have had clients who needed to lay down for anywhere from a few minutes to half an hour after their workouts before leaving, and I’ve had a few vomit after their workouts, but none have passed out. Clients are instructed to stop if they begin to feel light-headed, dizzy, or nauseated and normally workout intensity is gradually increased over a period of several weeks, so this usually isn’t a problem. The bodybuilder was given the same instructions, but I pushed him to train as intensely as possible during that workout to make a point.
A normal, healthy person will not damage themselves due to metabolic fatigue regardless of how intensely they train if their workout volume is not excessive.
I’ve pushed myself to that point several times. It usually hits me a few minutes AFTER my last exercise. My blood pressure drops and takes about 7 minutes to recover. It also happens most often after a lay off and I assume my metabolic conditioning has fallen. I don’t think it is a hydration/volume issue but this all purely observational.
Hey Dennis,
That’s normal if you’re training intensely. A lot of people need some floor time after workouts if they’re pushing themselves hard enough.
That was a great presentation Drew, thank you for posting it. The point you made about squats was spot on. The leg press tends to be done in exactly the same way in gyms, a quick drop to the half way point and rapid bounce back to the lockout. I think we have to fight against our instinctive urges when we train and it is not easy.
John.
Hey John,
Thanks. This is one of the reasons I recommend people train at home or in a private training studio or gym rather than an open-membership gym. The environment in most gyms promotes a mindset and behaviors like that which are counterproductive to safe, efficient training.
Hey Drew,
Couldn’t agree more. I had to start using a commercial gym as I recently moved house and had to put all my Gym equipment in storage.
The looks I get from people when I train are boggling. They are so concerned with simply counting reps and sets and moving the weight that they completely loose sight of the real reason for training. This is why I can’t wait to get my copy of EoF.
I use a fairly typical HIT cadence, 3 up 6 down with smooth upper/lower turnrounds, and I can see the thoughts going through peoples’ heads: ‘That guy’s crazy’ ‘He doesn’t know what he’s doing’ etc etc, but funny thing is over the last 3 months I’ve not noticed any improvements in their lifts were as I’m bigger and stronger on all mine.
Just one quick question if I may? Do you cover the use of set extension techniques like forced reps, rest pause etc in EoF?
Thanks!
Jamie.
Hey Jamie,
This is one of the reason I encourage people to train during off-peak hours or at home, the psychological influence of crowds is negative for proper training and it is difficult for many people to ignore everyone around them and stay focused.
In EoF I cover a variety of repetition methods and techniques including set extenders and intensifiers.
Not easy to talk fluently logically and sequentially for so long without notes.
Impressive and full of useful advice.
Hey Leo,
Thanks. All my presentations are extemporaneous. I have a topic in mind and a rough outline in my head, but that’s all.
Hi Drew,
Do you incorporate drop sets? After I cant push any further through a set, a 10 second break will usually be enough to allow myself another couple of reps. Are these extra reps worth it?
Video was very informative any now I’m fearing having to work legs in such a manner.
Hey Gary,
I don’t perform drop sets or have my clients perform them unless the initial resistance selection was too high and needs to be reduced. It is used to correct an error rather than a method of exercise performance. If clients fall more than two or three reps short of their lower target repetition range I may have them continue with a few rest-pause reps, however. I discuss both drop sets and rest-pause in the upcoming Elements of Form.
Hi Drew,
You talk about taking a few minutes before each session to concentrate and get your mind set up for what to come. I did it yesterday and the difference was huge, so thanks a lot!
Thanks Lukas, I’m glad it helped!
Drew,
(Apologies in advance for commenting over a week after you posted, but I just now had the half hour available to watch your talk in its entirety.)
I know you’re not super strict on rep speed, and I’ve seen in both your Kratos book and posts on this site that you generally recommend a 3/3, 3/4, 4/4 rep speed. Personally I use 4/4 w/the addition of 3 second pauses if using something other than L2/L3.
However, in order to perform the reps with the technique you’re teaching, do you still recommend the rep speeds above or do you now recommend something slower like 5/5?
I ask simply because I try to keep my TULs between 45-90s (higher end for lower body, lower end for upper body), and want to adjust rep count accordingly.
Thank you Drew.
Hey Ops,
I cover this in detail in both High Intensity Workouts and Repetition Speed Recommendations.
Drew,
Thank you for the links. The “Reverse direction smoothly” section in your blog post answered my question perfectly.
I trained last night with a focus on smooth turnarounds and 4/4 was plenty sufficient.
Much appreciated!
Hey Ops,
I’ve found that in most cases if people focus on performing their turnarounds smoothly it will result in a good, controlled speed over the rest of the range of motion. I’m glad you’ve found it helpful.
Drew,
Great video! I mentioned this to my trainer, Robert Francis (he’s the one who told me about your web site) and we both agree that this is the mindset to have going into a workout.
I love your web site and look forward to your blog updates!
Thanks Neal,
I’m glad you like my web site. You’re fortunate to train with Robert Francis, he’s one of the best in the world.
I know!!!!
Thanks
Finally sat down to watch this. I need to cultivate the habit of focusing on what I am about to do in the gym for just five minutes right before I start to really create the workout in my head, and, then, achieve it. Great stuff, Drew
Thanks John,
At first it might seem tedious, but the more you do it the easier it gets, the more your focus improves, and the more you’ll get out of your workouts.
Awesome speech. Nothing but logic and consistency in the message! For those that are equipment impaired and only have a barbell, a static contraction in a pullover mid-range position with elbows pressing against a counter top or desk top can account for the pulling muscles if a chin bar is not available.
Thanks for a great presentation. I started my training years ago under guidance of Dr.Ken and did pretty good. After a long layoff I began training again using the Starting Strength linear progression method. I’m doing ok, but I don’t always agree with Rippitoe’s methods. I sure get what you said about the squats,your way sure is much harder .I went to a SS seminar and got into a discussion about their Press 2.0 method. It sure seemed like a cheat press to me. But now way would anyone agree with me,they all seem brainwashed by RIppitoe . I would love to see a debate between Rippitoe and either you or Dr Ken on traning methods. Thanks again for all your help.