FT Questions....

[liftweights]

SMOOCH!!!

LW,

Remember - PUMP sets are NOT NOT NOT widow makers. Very different animals, actually.

PUMP sets are continuous - not pausing between reps. Constant tension if at all possible safely.

Widowmakers are intentionally DIScontinuous, meaning you can stop the reps mid set, pause, recover and attempt to grind out the reps, one after another, like a rest-pause set without putting down the weight (or reaching failure until the end.) A good widow maker means a long ass set with many many reps and lots of pauses to eek them out.

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Important point here: I've found that widow makers like that are VERY CNS taxing. Productive, but taxing and there is a limit in how many you can do, esp. for the big muscle groups.

in a program like FT, one of the main premises is to focus the stress on the muscle and keep the CNS as fresh as possible. Clean form with continuous reps that maintain the muscle tension and metabolite accumulation (e.g., doing partials as with 21's) is something you can get away with more frequently. Doing WM's can often degenerate exercise form (and cause safety and overuse injury types of issues) and just zaps you. There is a psychological difference, too. The mind is a powerful tool.

So, really keep this distinction in mind with the PUMP sets.

They're gonna be HARD as hell, but when / if you start feeling like you need to pause the reps or your form starts to falter on the PUMP sets, then this would be time to put in some pulses, partials, etc. to extend the set (but NOT pause the set and do discontinuous reps in WM style).

(Don't mean to lecture here, but just wanted to make this a clear point for others who are reading. )

-S

Thanks for this Scott, I've lightened up the weight on the pump sets so they are continuous and I don't end the workout in fetal position next to the squat rack.

Up almost 10 pounds already, can't wait to see what another year or two of this will do. This is with over 9 years of training experience so i'm not untrained. - Just young