Train for Max Strength and Increased Weight Using Extended Pause Reps
Whether you are training for max strength or training for development things are relatively simple at the beginning. It is just a matter of slowly progressing the amount of weight you move in a weekly period.
More volume of work equals greater results.
Nearly every week you are able to add a little more weight to the bar and keep progressing seemingly forever.
This is until the precise moment that you do not.
All good things must come to an end and linear progression is no exception.
This is when you must learn how to get more out of the strength you already have.
A great way to do this is to start doing paused reps. Pauses are probably one of the safest ways to up the intensity of your work sets without working with max weights. A further extension of this is extended pause reps. Lets face it, everybody would like to bench more so lets use this as an example.
When “Johnny Chicken Chest” first started out luckily he was able to get a sensible program beginning with moderate weight so he was able to practice good form as his strength developed. This worked great for a few months with strength increases averaging 5-10lbs a week.
At this rate he would be pressing 300 lbs in no time.
He already increased from 125 to 200 lbs and it had only been 3 months. Then, like all good things, the weekly increases came to an end. He could press 205 about 3-4 inches off his chest but then it got stuck.
He battles with this for weeks until he got some advice that might help. If you are getting stuck 3-4 inches off your chest why not strengthen this range of motion specifically?
Brilliant!
When he is training with a few partners he begins presses with 2 boards on his chest to simulate the sticking point range of motion. At first it is awkward and the strength is not there but within a few weeks he gets quite good at these board presses and is soon hitting 200 lbs for 2-3 reps and getting a single with 225.
Back on the road to 300!
One problem.
When he tries to press 205 with a full range of motion he stalls at the same place as before. How can this be? He has gotten stronger at board presses but it has not transferred over to the full range of motion.
Pauses and extended pauses to the rescue.
Johnny had always done his bench presses “touch and go” style, meaning he brought the bar down with a little bit of speed and pressed it right back up after lightly touching the chest. Interestingly the heavier the weight the faster the bar descent and less lightly it touched the chest. I think the ‘trampoline effect’ is a good description.
Doing the board press he had just transferred this technique to a shorter range of motion. Now that he has maximized his stretch reflex of his muscles, his strength has stalled.
Time to take a few steps back and build some real strength that will transfer to the actual bench press.
Having never done a paused bench press before Johnny was shocked when he could only manage a 150lb press with a full one second pause. Because he is a fictional character he does not care if he is pressing less than his buddies, he just wants to improve in the long term.
He sticks it out, pausing every rep for a legit full second.
Now slowly week-to-week 150 becomes 160… 165 becomes 175.
Occasionally he even pauses longer on his chest, an extended pause of 3 and even 5 seconds. After a few months he can press press 175 for 3 completely paused reps and 185 for a single with a 5 second pause.
What’s more surprising though is that when he tries 205 touch and go he gets it easily even though he has not pressed anything heavier than 185 in months. He has actually built strength by getting more out of less.
By pausing on your chest you are accomplishing 2 things:
- You are lessening or removing the stretch reflex from your muscle. Essentially the elastic band effect. It takes about 4 seconds in the stretched position to do this so that is the reason for occasionally using 3 and 5 second pauses. A 5 second pause is much harder than a 3 second pause with the same weight.
- The second thing is, when you pause on the bottom you have to be pushing from perfect position to get the bar moving again. Any inefficient movement will leave the bar lying on your chest. Also when you get good at pushing from a complete stop you build confidence because you are always in control of the weight. You are not trying to time a dive bomb bounce off of your sternum.
Sometimes adding weight to the bar is the answer to progression.
Sometimes you need to make things harder without adding weight.
Pauses are a great way to do this. In the example videos you can see how much more effort and control you have to use with extended pauses over a touch and go rep of the same weight.
Bench Press 315 lbs No Pause
Bench Press 275 lbs 5 Second Pause
Bench Press 315 lbs 5 Second Pause
Hope this helps…
Coach Weiss
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How to Use Paused Reps and Extended Pause Reps to Increase Workout Intensity
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