Whenever you lift weights in the gym there are three factors that determine the intensity of your exercise. They are:
1. The amount of weight on the bar
2. The number of times you lift that weight
3. The time it takes
The fact is you can and do adjust those three factors all the time. You can lift a lighter weight more times but it takes longer. You can lift a heavier weight fewer times but you can’t continue for much time.
There is a way to get all of these factors working at the right point so that you develop maximum intensity. There is a similar analogy in using a stickshift or manual transmission. This is perhaps understood best by people who ride motorcycles, particularly 2-stroke dirt bikes. Let me explain. There are several combination of gears and revs that will allow you to do 30 mph, but only one of those combinations delivers peak power. You could drive in 6th gear with low revs but you would feel the bike lugging and there would be little acceleration available. Or you could be in 1st gear with the revs screaming but not able to go faster. Both are the wrong gear for the speed and deliver less than peak power.
The reality is there is an optimum combination of gear and revs to develop peak power at any given speed. And when you lift weights there is an optimum combination of weight and reps to develop peak intensity for any given time period. I call that concept the “sweet spot.”
In the first seven workouts of the new Power Factor Workout the time is set to two minutes. The object for those workouts is to find the right combination of weight and reps to do in two minutes that deliver your highest Power Factor and Power Index numbers. Those numbers define your intensity of output. If you use a weight that’s too heavy you can’t do many reps, and you need a lot more rest. That gives you a lower Power Factor number. If you use too light of a weight you can bang away for two minutes and still not be very tired. That also gives you a lower Power Factor number. The object is to discover your personal ‘sweet spot’ for each exercise where your muscular intensity is at it’s peak. THAT is what builds new muscle strength and size.
This is the opposite of training blindly and just hoping that you are making progress. This is using meaningful measurement to KNOW your training is productive. It’s training with your brain. “No brain, no gain!” Haha. Have a good workout.
Share this post: Shifting Gears for an Optimum Workout
Want To Know What Works In The Gym?
Get Workout Variations Revealed - FREE! [UPDATED - 2018]
1-Set? 2-Sets? 3-Sets? Strip sets? Pyramid sets? Fixed sets? Timed sets? What delivers the highest intensity?
11 Comments. Leave new
Great analogy Pete! One thing I noticed is that this workout can produce a larger amount of lactic acid build up (great for fat burn!). One item that I would like to see talked about a little more, is how to manage fatigue during a set. For example, If I took a set to total fatigue early in the two minutes, it was harder to regroup and get more reps. However, and this is my personal experience and opinion, it appeared to be better to manage the fatigue. In other words, don’t give away the store too quick. when I felt fatigue approaching I stopped (usually around 12-15 reps). Waited about 10 seconds, tried again. If I got about 10 more reps, I knew I was on the right track. Then, when the set was moving on, the build up (the burn) was so intense I was lucky to get 3-5 reps before stopping. Essentially, there is fatigue mode. I’ve averaged about 35 reps per 2 minutes. I know everyone will be different, but it would nice to get your and Greg’s feedback on this concept (fatigue management).
When you did the workout variations and the hybrid workout you had recomended a 3 minute period for each body part have you revised this to 2 minutes.
Just curious
Thanks Tony
This is the challenge of developing endurance strength – how long can you maintain high output? This training (PFW) really stretches your abilities in that department. You’ll get better as you go along. It would be nice to hear from other people about how many reps they are doing in 2 minutes during their first 7 workouts.
It’s only the first 7 workouts that use 2 minutes, after that people can add more endurance as their goals and priorities demand. The PFW program is about building endurance strength so adding time without reducing PF and PI is a certain indication of progress.
i think that we will get ‘conditioned’ quickly and also get a better idea of weights that fill the 2 minute slot as we progress. the studs among the group will power out as much as they can and rest as late as they can, leaving nothing in the tank. that for me has left me smoked on the next exercise already…my personal goals would curtail that to 1min of reps. in fact i am doing this on a static machine so i am dealing with how to progress. currently i am guessing a target and attempting to sustain it 4 sec at a time and rest 1sec. 6 times in 30sec, after 30sec of trying for a new peak…so i know this is subjective since i am rating my performance and guessing on the next weight to ‘target’.
Hello Pete
Maybe that the following inquiry of mine has nothing to do with the power factor training directly , but I think this question is of significant importance. Last week I purchased your quick start guide to static contraction training and was wondering whether lifting such heavy weights cannot cause hernia. Is there a risk and therefore a security belt is needed?????
KIND REGARDS FROM SLOVAKIA
Maros
Pete,
Can I ask if we should use the same limited range of motion for PFT that we do for SCT?
Yes, both workouts use only your strongest and safest range of motion.
always good advice
Hello Peter,
I have been training with SCT for 6 months now, and have seen some puzzling results on my PI charts. The PI seems to be counter-intuitive. Some of my early PI’s are still beyond me, inspite of the fact that I am much stronger now than I was at that time. I tested some dummy numbers, using the same weight and decreasing amounts of time. The PI goes Up! I would have thought that if you hold the same amount of max. weight for a few seconds longer than you could previously that you would be stronger, but the PI indicates otherwise. I’ve double checked my figures with your calculations and I don’t understand it.
My example from my lats
w/o 5 275 lbs. 5 secs. 11 days later PI 0.015125
[Ed. and other examples.]
Can you explain it?
Hi Randal. You can’t use Power Factor and Power Index measurements on static holds. They don’t work. I’m sorry you trained with SCT for six months using PF measurements but I never said to do that. I developed both training methods and I invented those two measurements. I never tell people to mix them because I know it provides useless information.