20180216 WB Archives - Failure

The Art of Failure: To Infinity and Beyond

Yesterday I had an idea. I chatted with client cardholder number 0001 Jnyx as well as long time contributor and friend of the website Lou Skunt about it, and I think I am on to something. That said, I need to run it through some trials before I really tout it as the next great thing. I tried out my new idea a little this morning and will play with it on my off day this weekend. That said, I find it fortuitous that today is a Friday and so I can put out some of my ideas as well as give you guys your Friday challenge essentially making you all test subjects for my newest for of torture.
The most common, standard and foundational bodybuilding lift method is the pyramid lift. In a pyramid lift scheme, you do a certain amount of sets and in each set the number of reps decrease as the weight increases. A common one that I use is 12,10,8,6. So your first set is 12 reps of x weight, your second set is 10 reps of x+5, 8 reps of X+10 and 6 reps of X+15. How do you figure out the weight to start with? We go back to the RPE. If failure is RPE 10 we want to get to an RPE between 9-10 and so we find what works for us on 12, factor in fatigue combined with fewer reps and try for 10.
Make no mistake, the pyramid method of lifting works. It has always worked and it will always work. I am not looking to reinvent the wheel, just maybe change it up a little bit. You see, there are a few problems with finite rep ranges. The first is finding the precise amount of weight. In all my years lifting, I don’t remember ever having the exact right amount of weight. Never. Not once. The second problem is that a finite rep range sets a mental limit. When I start people on massive volume I explain to them that the idea of 3 reps or 5 reps or even 12 reps is in their head and I encourage them to push 20 or more reps. Once that mental boundary is broken through, the physical boundaries and plateaus follow every single time. So as soon as you grab the weights and you are thinking “ok, 12 reps” and you start counting off, whether your body is done or not, your mind will drop its muscle connection at 12.
Something occurred to me yesterday. What I thought was that all of the sets in a pyramid are, in essence, to failure and it is up to the lifter to select a weight that will get them there. But if the lift is to failure, why not just make it to failure. Instead of doing 12/10/8/6 we could do ∞/∞/∞/∞
If we do each of the four sets in our pyramid to failure and raise the weight each time the number of reps will naturally, because of the increased weight and fatigue, be less. However, we aren’t setting a finite limit on what less is. We do still want to keep this in the massive volume range, but I am not even going to set a minimum here. I want there to be total freedom. Obviously, we don’t want anyone doing something absurd like grabbing an 80 pound dumbbell and trying to curl it to failure. Let’s just say we want all of our sets to contain “a lot” of reps.
I honestly do not know what will happen over the course of a workout when we remove the static

This is the look of failure. Failure is good.

requirements and limitations on reps and say, “to failure, make sure you are in massive volume area” but we are going to find out together. Now, here is where it gets fun. I am a big believer in supersets and any of the guys working my program now know that I superset almost everything, including compound lifts, so they get a pyramid of lifts super set like, for instance, EZ Bar Curl X Skull Crushers 12/10/8/6. Just because each rep is going to go to failure, I see no reason to break them out of the super or even giant sets. The pyramids are supposed to be going to failure anyway!
This morning I tried this out for one superset. Today was my arms day. So along with my regular workout I have a superset of alternating supinated dumbbell curls with seated dumbbell triceps extension. Instead of doing my 12/10/8/6 I tried this superset going to failure each time. Just so we are clear about what failure is. At one point in my third set, I involuntarily dropped a dumbbell halfway through the ROM while trying to hit a lift. This is failure. I used a tip that Lou Skunt gave me with going to failure as well and it worked amazingly. Just because we are going to an unknown and ultimately unimportant number does not mean we should not count. Counting helps keep us on pace and focused. Lou suggested counting to four and restarting. 1-2-3-4-1-2-3-4 and man, it worked like a charm. I have no idea how many reps I did, but the counting kept me going like the drum during a march.

This quote so perfectly describes being in this life I think. This weekend’s challenge is going to hurt. Own that fuckin’ pain. It is yours and no one can take it from you.

So on to today’s challenge. This weekend at the gym, I want you guys to hit an infinite rep pyramid giant set and report back on your findings. I am actually going to do a bunch of different supersets and giant sets like this on Sunday and see what works and what doesn’t. Keep in mind, the difference between a superset and a giant set is that a superset is two lifts done back to back with no rest to make up the set while a giant set is three or more lifts done back to back with no rest to make up the set. Because this week we spoke about traps and, specifically, shrugs I am going to do a traps and shoulders superset.
Giant Set. Do each lift back to back to failure without rest for four sets increasing the weight for each set by 20%
Dumbbell Side Lateral Raise
X
Dumbbell Shrugs
X
Dumbbell Front Raise
To be clear, the way this works is you grab your weights and rep out Side Lateral Raises until absolute failure then, without rest grab the weights for the Shrugs and rep those out to failure then without rest grab the weights and rep out the Front Raises and rep those out to failure. After all three give yourself a 45 second break. At the end of the break add 20% to each weight and do it again. Repeat until you finish all four sets.
In order to make this easier you should decide the weight you are going to use beforehand, do your calculations and, if at all possible, have the weights near you for faster transitions.
Get to it team and remember to come back and let me know your thoughts. Every bit of observation helps here.