That's right, the popular weight lifting technique known as "forced reps" are a huge waste of time and precious energy, regardless if your main goal is to gain pure strength or muscle building. Forced reps is when a weight trainer takes his set to failure. Once he reaches that point in which he can no longer complete a full repetition under his own strength, he / she then has their training partner help them lift the weight as they also complete the rep. Thus, you are "forcing" more reps than you normally would be able to do under your own power.
Well, this is another garbage technique that millions are led to believe will help them pass any "plateaus". According the Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research, a study was done where athletes were divided into three groups and assigned different weight lifting programs, each of which included the bench press.
Each group was told to do a different number of forced reps for each training workout session. Although all groups improved both their peak and mean power on the bench press, there was no significant differences in strength or power gains between them. Researchers concluded that once lifters reached rep failure, neither additional forced reps nor additional set volume further improved their strength gains.
Did you get that? Even though these weight lifters expended more energy, time, and intensity to complete the additional reps in "forced rep" style, they saw no improvement in strength or performance. And what's even more interesting is that all of these additional forced reps chips away at precious energy needed for the following repair / recovery / muscle building period. I don't know about you, but if I'm going to spend more time and effort with a certain training technique I better see some pay back in return.
This just goes to show that just because something may sound good on paper, or "in theory", it doesn't necessarily mean that it will work out in your benefit in the real world, where it counts. Too many of us looking to gain weight or build muscle mass naturally are constantly placing our hopes on complicated techniques, such as forced reps only to see no results, which just adds to our frustration.
And forced reps isn't the only one out there that will get you no where fast. What's sad is that many that don't get the results they desire quickly begin to think that they aren't gaining the muscle they would like because they aren't using some new bodybuilding supplement that's out on the market. They then go and spend their hard earned money on some pill, powder, or shake, continue to use improper weight training techniques... then 12 months done the line that still look exactly the same in the mirror.
Like I always say in all of my writings.....gaining weight and building muscle mass naturally comes down to two main factors: the correct weight training routine and calories. And let me save you the headache... don't bother with forced reps, unless want to risk suffering a major injury.
