Shawn Phillips | Start Strong Monday

The Perfect 10 May Help You Get a '10'

When it comes to lifting weights, 90% of the billions of reps done each day, including the hundreds you’ve done, are a complete and utter waste of time.

Do that math. It’s easy. That’s 9 out of every 10 reps that are simply wasting of your precious time, energy and breath. You just as well be playing Tidily-Winks!

I understand this may not be easy to hear but the fact is you need to hear it.

For there’s no rational reason to waste another moment of your precious time and energy twiddling around in search of some ego-engorging pump—unless you’re an unemployed Chippendale’s dancer who’s needing the attention of being in the gym all day.

Most 10’s Are Really a “1″

Take the typical set of 10 for example. Accepting that the holy-grail of muscle-building magic is held in muscular failure, the first 9 reps are simply filler—like meat by-products in a slice of bologna—being dutifully checked off in anticipation of the one, single magical moment in that 10th rep when the truly effective muscle stimulating work is done.

Now, before you start feeling remorse for all the reps you’ve wasted, you should know that this “turning up the volume,” saving the best for last strategy, is anything but unique.

We do it all the time in sports, business and life. Seems there’s something deep inside our “Operating System” which requires us to regulate our effort, fulfilling the space we’ve allotted for it.

Think about it. In sports it’s the last (bell) lap of an 800 meters race, the final round of a fight, the bottom of the 9th inning, in basketball it’s game 7 in a playoff series. In all these cases and more, we usually look to be at or near 100%, going full tilt until the pressure’s really on and we find something more; another gear, the next level, higher intensity.

And this isn’t just some theory—it’s a real and studied phenomena not just in athletes but in life. This desire to regulate ones effort, maintain at less than capacity until it really, really counts is called “Parkinson’s Law.”

Parkinson’s Law states that: “Work expands so as to fill the time available for its completion.”
 

It manifests in all sorts of ways in every day life. It’s in effect when we get more work done in the two days before a vacation than we did in the previous 2 weeks; when we cram for tests, stay up late to get papers done and why we’re more productive with a firm deadline.

It’s why the most effective—and often successful—people work in timed intervals. They don’t just come in and put in 8 hours they commit blocks of time to particular results.

How to Score A Perfect 10 Every Time

In the gym, fact is most people are being unwittingly used and abused by Parkinson’s Law. This is how you change the game—not just to “try” to override your thinking but leverage the way your mind works to your advantage, instantly getting more intensity is every rep of every set.

Here’s how your mind works: When faced with a set of 10 (or 12 or 8…) reps, the mind focuses in on the goal—the 10 reps and in an instant your body begins to “withhold” or regulate your energy to get there. It’s programmed to succeed.

You don’t know it’s happening. You’ve received no alerts. You think you’re ready to give each rep your fullest attention but the reality is your aiming at the 10th rep, like you’d aim at the other end of the pool if you were going to swim it’s span underwater. You begin, “1…,2…,3…,…9…, 10!”

The nature of the focus on the finish line, the other end makes it a race to get the final rep, and each rep up to 10 suffers. When you’re done, you call it “a set of 10,” when what you’ve really done is just one perfect rep and 9 “others.” Not bad but certainly less than you can do.

Make Every Rep Count

Want to make the change from good to great? Start treating every rep like it’s the 10th, the only one that counts—the only one that is.

Question: “How do you get to the perfect set of 10?”

Answer: “One rep at a time.”

I know, sounds like a joke but it couldn’t be more true.

Give up the 10 reps, the 8 reps, the 12 or 15… and just do one. Do one full, complete, intense and powerful rep. Do the contraction and then let it down like it’s the only rep you’ll do this year.

How to do ONE REP, 10 Times

Then do another ONE. Just the one. Not one more, not the next. Just one.

Then do another one. And do the same one rep, ten times.

This is where your mind-muscle link must be turned on, fully engaged. When you’re pushing or pulling with all your possible force for the one rep, it summons your full intensity.

Here’s a master-level technique I’ve used and shared that can help you stay fully focused and engaged on the one rep—taking full advantage of your minds ability to tap the full reserves on that 10th rep, the last lap, the final seconds.

Change the way you’re counting and change your focus. Rather than curling the weight up, and saying inside, “One…, two…, three…” on the way up, the contraction just say to yourself or out loud, ONE!

Then, as you let the weight down, keep your count overall… “One…,”.

Then up again, you scream, “ONE!...” then, “Two…” on the way down.

It goes like this:

      Rep 1: On the way up, “one.” On the way down, “one.”
      Rep 2: On the way up, “one.” On the way down, “two.”
      Rep 3: On the way up, “one.” On the way down, “three.”

And so forth.

This “Counting Strong”TM technique will radically elevate your focus and intensity in each rep. Count both movements, the concentric and eccentric in each rep.

Don’t be fooled by the simplicity of this technique, there’s amazing power in it. I promise. Your attention is not on the destination—but rather fully concentrated in the moment of each single rep.

BONUS TIP:

To place extra-emphasis on the cadence of each rep, insuring you get the fullest out of the negative portion of the lift, try counting each rep you’re completing twice on the way down like this:

      Rep 1: On the way up, “one.” On the way down, “one, one.”
      Rep 2: On the way up, “one.” On the way down, “two, two.”
      Rep 3: On the way up, “one.” On the way down, “three, three.”

This Focus Intensity Training technique is from the Advanced Training Techniques in Chapter 11 of Strength for Life.

Give this a try today, or in your next Strength workout and feel the stunning difference. Keep it up for a few weeks and see the difference Focus Intensity Training can make.

Meet The Author, Shawn

Known as "The Fitness Philosopher," for his deep, clear approach to the cutting through the fitness conundrum, Shawn is a 20+ year veteran in the field of Lifestyle Fitness and Peak Performance. Author of several best-selling book, with one of the most photographed physiques in history, Shawn, with his brother, Bill Phillips (Body for LIFE) catapulted EAS sports nutrition into the world leader and Muscle Media magazine and the documentary movie, Body of Work. He created the first computerized training system in PowerBuilding and the popular Variable Split System for Muscle Mass. Now, in his 40's, a husband and father of two young children, Shawn is passionate about helping busy, high-achieving "men in the middle" enjoy vibrant, energized, amazing, Full Strength lives! He has recently created the World’s 1st and only true premium nutrition shake for men, Full Strength — clinically proven to build muscle, burn fat and boost energy. His most recent book, Strength for LIFE is the "how to" guide to a Lifestyle of Fitness Freedom.