As Tannys is away in Toronto this weekend and we're doing separate workouts, I decided to conduct an experiment. In our last leg workout, we started out with two exercises using a 1.5 reps format. For those who haven't tried this technique, it essentially involves twice as much work in each rep - which you then count as only one rep. The main advantage to this type of training is that it increases your muscle's time under tension, increasing the workload and also forcing you to use a slightly slower, more purposeful pace in each rep. So, what was the experiment? Well, I decided to see what would happen if I did a full upper body workout using only 1.5 reps...
Before getting into the workout description, I'll let you know that I do not have video demonstrations of the exercises I did. Normally, Tannys and I will video each other doing a few reps of each exercise for demonstration purposes. That said, there are numerous YouTube videos and/or descriptions of what 1.5 rep training looks like (including our last blog post showing leg exercises). Here's a good upper body exercise (reverse pushups - AKA inverted rows) example from Ben Bruno:
For my upper body training, I supersetted the exercises (3 sets each). By doing 1.5 reps, I noticed that my rep counts really dropped and that it was a significant challenge! I was actually surprised by how the extra time under tension really hammers the muscle in a different way from regular training. Here's what I did in the workout:
Superset 1: Weighted parallel-grip pullups (24kg) and weighted dips (24kg)
Superset 2: Bodyweight wide-grip pullups and Jungle Gym low pushups
Superset 3: Jungle Gym reverse pushups and plyometric pushups and Jungle Gym face pulls
If you're looking for something new in your training, try out 1.5 reps. You could try them on one or a few of your exercises, or really challenge yourself with a full 1.5 reps workout. Supersetting the exercises seemed to work well, particularly as I paired pressing and pulling movements. The final superset was particularly hard, with three exercises (and with fatigued muscles!). By the end, I needed to lie down on the mats for a minute before I could shuffle upstairs.
Give 1.5 reps training a try. I think you can adopt almost any exercise to this format and the increased time under tension should provide a good challenge, along with some good fitness gains. Let us know how it goes!
- Alex
P.s. - If the 1.5 reps exercises I tried aren't clear without a demonstration video, let us know and we'll go back and film them to clarify.
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