3. Alpha Exercise

Resistance, Repetitions and Records

Copyright 2002, Terry Duschinski.

Physical fitness training consists of workouts. Workouts are made up of exercises. Strength training exercise is encapsulated in a workout routine involving sets. Sets are comprised of resistance and repetitions.

The whole doggone experience needs to be planned, standardized, charted, analyzed, and continually updated. Fortunately, the learning curve is not steep; you’ll master this quickly.

Our “brand” of fitness training has engendered the label H-I-T,  HIT, an acronym for high-intensity training. With you in mind, we might also call it T-E-T, time-efficient training. We presume you want the maximal results in as mild an interruption into real life as possible?

Whether it qualifies as “high” or is merely moderate at the start, intensity level is the key factor. This is a measurement of effort. Resistance and repetitions have great bearing on intensity. Heavier weight fewer reps; lighter weight more reps.

So what’s the perfect blend?

Regarding repetition range, determine time under load. It’s commonly believed that a muscle must be exercised for a specified duration in order to hypertrophy.

Some believe your body’s smaller muscles, such as your arms, are best “loaded” for 40 to 60 seconds. The mid-sized muscles, such as your thighs and your chest, prefer 60 to 90 seconds. The big muscles of your buttocks and hips require 90 to 120 seconds. 

I prefer the simplicity of 60 to 90 seconds no matter what muscle. How many reps you perform in that length of time depends on cadence, or your speed of contraction. Controlled movement is suggested. How fast do you drive car? Never faster than what you can control, I hope.

In our case, control means lifting the weight in never less than 2 seconds, a legitimate one-thousand-one, one-thousand-two count. Pause at full contraction. Then lower the weight never slower than a legitimate 4-second count. I prefer lifting and lowering in 4 each, and pausing for 2 seconds when fully contracted. This gives me a 10-second repetition, which divides into 60 to 90 seconds as 6 to 9 repetitions. Lifting in 2 seconds and lowering in 4 – our maximum speed – figures 10 to 15 reps. 

You’ll have to do your own math, within our parameters.

Once you’ve established targeted rep range, select a level of resistance that enables you to perform your minimum number, but not your maximum. You want to reach “momentary muscular failure” inside your rep range. If you can’t do your minimum, lower the weight at your next workout. If you’ve exceeded your maximum, raise the weight between 1 and 5 percent next time. 

Avoid the trap of pre-ordaining your rep count. Be relentless in repping; continue until you could not perform another stroke in good form if you were offered the Power Ball winnings to do so.

These suggestions apply after a week or two of establishing good form in your execution of the repetition. Stay tuned for a deeper discussion in a following session.

In tabulating your repetitions stop counting when the resistance touches down, your muscles relax, and you pause. Lots of beginners do this – they rest after every repetition. They don’t really perform one set of 12 reps; they do 12 sets of 1. Even more typical, perhaps, is a pause after something like a 9^th repetition, then 3 more following a brief rest. That’s one set of 9 followed by one set of 3.

Sets are determined not by moving from one machine to the next but by continuous muscle tension. Set the weight stack down – even for an instant – and you've terminated the set. 

The reason for this involves degree of inroad. More than anything else, degree of inroad into fresh muscle strength is responsible for triggering hypertrophy, that chemical reaction that spurs muscle growth.

Degree of inroad, therefore, is a measurement of momentary fatigue. Follow this example. 

Let's say your biceps has a fresh strength level of 100 pounds – that's the maximum you're capable of arm-curling into full muscular contraction. So you select 80 pounds of resistance, and start lifting. Within several repetitions, usually, fatigue starts zapping your strength output. When your fatigue-induced momentary strength dips below 80 you can no longer move the resistance.

But let's say fatigue has zapped you to only 88 pounds. You could still lift 80, but it's getting uncomfortable. You've done 9 reps. You set the weight down for an instant, hoping to relieve the burn. 

This momentary rest – no matter how slight – results in regaining momentary strength. Let's say your momentary strength recovers to 92 pounds. You then perform an additional 3 reps. But instead of your fatigue level continuing downward from 88, it now restarts at 92 and has to retrace over 91, 90, etc. 

Think of compressing a cushion. You press it to a certain level. If you let up, it recovers a portion of what you've already compressed. You then have to go back over plowed ground so to speak. 

Is this making sense?

When you set the weight down, your muscles recover a portion of strength. Once you resume, you have to surmount the recovered portion before proceeding to a deeper level. 

Training efficiency demands one set of continuously fatiguing repetitions – ideally. 

Accurately record your resistance and repetitions on a training chart. This document will list your exercises, noting the machine settings and other pertinent information. Then in little blocks to the right, in a column headed with today’s date, enter the resistance and below it the number of completed repetitions. 

If you’re working out at a commercial facility, they’ll have workout charts that you can use. Accurate records are required in order to meet the principle of progressive overload, which you’ll learn more about very shortly.