Get Tweaked: Small Adjustments for Massive Gains - Part 2

If You’ve Got The Time, We’ve Got The Growth
Time under tension is a principle that many trainees often overlook, simply because they get caught up in the mindset that how much they can lift is more important that how well they lift a weight.

This technique eliminates the use of momentum and you won’t be able to lift much weight. Really give this one a chance and you’ll freak everyone out in the gym!

Let’s say you’re doing squats. On the eccentric or negative part of the movement, slow your tempo down to a snail’s pace. Have your partner time you and take a full sixty seconds — that’s one-minute! — to complete the eccentric portion of the squat before performing the concentric part of the movement at regular speed. Be sure to maintain perfect form all the way through and try to do at least 8-10 repetitions.

100 In A Row
This is a tweak I toyed around with back in my competition days. I’d choose one exercise for a specific body part and do 100 reps non-stop.

Obviously, you’ll be using a much lighter weight to accomplish this extreme task. Use your instincts to select a weight that allows you to complete at least 70 reps but no more than 100 reps. If you want to feel like you just filleted the muscle right off the bone, then I dare you to give this a try!

Go Ballistic
We talked about going super slow a couple of tweaks ago, and now it’s time for a fast alternative. After you perform the eccentric portion of a lift at regular or at a slow speed, explode through the concentric phase as hard and as fast as you can without sacrificing your form.

There’s a principle taught in the training community referred to as SAID, which stands for Specific Adaptation to Imposed Demands. In other words, a muscle will adapt to whatever type of training stimulus you give it. If your training objectives, lifestyle, or particular sport require explosive or sudden bursts of strength, then this is a great tweak for you.

Shake The Blues
Sometimes you have to make wholesale changes to your program to energize your mind as well as your body. A challenging new workout can go a long way toward alleviating the boredom that sets in with the same old routine.

Last week, I made a tweak that absolutely kicked my butt! Instead of my typical one body part per day routine, I did whole body circuit training on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday and took spin classes on Tuesday and Thursday.

The circuit training hit every body part with three sets. One day, I did the three sets for each body part consecutively, and on the other two days I did the entire circuit all the way through three times in a row.

Adding the spin classes gave a boost to my cardio program, in addition to killing my quads and calves. There’s really no science behind this one — just be creative to alleviate some boredom.

Learn What Works For You
Your unique genetic makeup determines how you’ll respond to different training protocols. Some of the tweaks I’ve described may work better for you than others, but you should really try them all and see how you respond. Then, when it comes time to make some tweaks again, you can use the ones that worked best for you and come up with some new ones that you think might be beneficial.

Never limit yourself by sticking with the same exercise program for too long. Even if you’re making great gains on a program, at some point your body is going to adapt and you’ll need to make changes. “Getting tweaked” now and then will shock your body into new growth, and will allow you to make even bigger gains when you go back to your old program for a while.