Forced Reps: The Good and The Bad
Well you just finished your last set on the incline bench. You did 6 reps at 160lbs. You had hoped to knock out 8 or 9 reps, but didn't have a spotter and didn't want to risk it. You were pretty tired after number six and decided to quit instead of having a bar in your lap.
Enter the Forced Rep
This situation is the same. You are hurting on your sixth rep, but powered through. Your friend and spotter pushes you to do a seventh. You lower your weight and push six or seven inches off your chest and are powerless. If you didn't have your spotter you would be up a creek, but you do and he lifts about 15lbs of the weight and you blow through.
Next your spotter thinks you can get an eighth. You slowly lower the bar to your chest, and it is not going back up. You really can't lift the weight by yourself. Your partner barely helps you with the weight, only 10-30lbs of help. You power through with all you have and finally get the bar up. This was a forced rep.
The actual definition is: an extension of a particular set of repetitions in which your strength level at the beginning of the set has been reduced to a point of positive failure. This is basically the point where you can't possibly move the weight with your own strength. Your partner then steps in to help you lift the weight only slightly, so you can achieve maximum intensity. The partner just bridges the gap between your current, fatigued strength level and the weight you are trying to lift. Your partner only lifts a small percentage of the weight, but you, lifting the weight, felt lifeless and think that the partner lifted all of the weight. Rest assured, you lifted the weight, and your partner barely lifted any.
The Good
The forced rep squeezes out every bit of intensity from your working muscles. When you are faced with a force rep, a physiological reaction occurs. When you are performing a rep and simply can not lift the weight, it's a scary feeling. There are only a few options, drop the weight on yourself or try to tilt the bar to make the weight fall off, or have your spotter help. Those are your mind's options, your body's options are DO or DIE. This releases a surge of adrenaline making you stronger and able to lift the rep. All in all, when one or two forced reps are used in an exercise, you will have no doubt that you have put in maximum intensity. You used all of the force that your muscles could produce at the time.
The Bad
Forced reps are a good thing when used in the right situation, it is far too easy to get carried away. Don't try to do forced reps in every set, only every exercise. The goal for any size gaining training program is to use maximum intensity, and forced reps can lead to over training and prolonged fatigue. When doing a forced rep your muscle is working at it's maximum strength capacity, and duration must decrease when intensity increases. Forced reps aren't bad, but doing too many is.
Forced reps are a great way to get the most out of any set. They are a great way of knowing you reached maximum intensity, but within reason. This is why I suggest doing only two forced reps at the end of your last set. If you do more, or on more sets this will lead to muscular exhaustion and actually smaller muscles.
Want to find out more about forced reps, then visit Klint Newton's site on how to choose the best training program for your body type.