USE TEMPO TO CHANGE THINGS UP BUT GET MORE RESULTS - POST FATIGUE

Ugh, straight sets. Same weight for multiple sets in a row, so boring! Oh wait, maybe it’s not boring, we got a wrinkle that will make you think whoa this is not boring! It's called Post Fatigue, and just when you thought you knew what feeling uncomfortable felt like - you are going to realize that you are going to feel a whole new way around being uncomfortable! 

We have done 4x8 with a 4010 tempo before. Not saying that is easy, but we are familiar with what that feels like. That is a great set, rep, and tempo scheme that will build muscle. If you break down the math on that, that is 40 seconds of time under tension (TUT)  per set. 40 seconds is not an insignificant amount of time and will be challenging, but we run into an issue of familiarity and that is potentially a problem. 

40 to 70 seconds of TUT will create hypertrophy or the building of muscle tissue. This is a large part of the goal we strength train. The nature of strength training is to accomplish something from the exercises we choose and the variables we select with those exercises. We invert that when we want to get stronger by using less TUT with higher intensity. But the issue is that we become familiar with what we are doing and demonstrate a subconscious restraint about the intensity or volume we use regardless of how low or high the reps are. This limits our ability to achieve results. It is a double-edged sword to become better at something. We get to the threshold of intensity faster because we are more familiar. However, we also inadvertently limit how hard we work because we are more familiar. 

The way we override familiarity is to organize training in such a way that the body can leverage higher-intensity training combined without subconsciously limiting performance. Post Fatigue is a way to encourage heavier weights within A1 a compound movement with an extending TUT with an isolation movement in A2. A1 is the heavy one, and A2 is the light one. We increase the intensity without compromising quality. Your nervous system gets a direct effect from heavier external load and at the same time, your muscular system gets a direct effect from longer total TUT. we build and strengthen simultaneously. 

Getting stronger is the goal. Getting more muscle is the goal. What becomes problematic over time is getting experience because you are more aware of how to do it and how doing that will make you feel, acutely and chronically. Psychology trumps physiology. We want to optimize the effect by organizing a way to the mind’s internal default on how to handle a workout with familiar sets, reps, and tempo. If you are doing this right, you will feel no anxiety about what you are doing and at the same time you will feel surprised by how hard Post Fatigue is training-wise.