Partial Pulses

                                                          
                                               

A great technique to hit your muscles with is what I call my Partial Pulses HIT variable. This technique causes an increasing number of muscle fibers to be used during an exercise by intensifying the effort needed to complete the set.

Using the one-arm cable rope curl as an example, curl the handle up to mid-point and do a series of very short, rapid pulse reps before lifting the handle a little further and repeating the rapid pulsing reps. Lower the handle to the beginning and repeat the pulsing reps. Continue performing rapid pulsing reps in different zones of the exercise until you hit failure. Reduce the weight by 30% and repeat for a second set. Eventually you will be really tuned into this method and able to focus all of the resistance to the muscle being trained. This will allow you to increase the weight being used safely.

Experiment with dividing an exercise into different zones and varying the number of pulse reps per zone. This keeps your workouts fresh and avoids many of the sticking points associated with training staleness.

This HIT variable can be used with virtually any exercise to make it more intense and effective at building additional strength/muscle.

Dave