Emphasizing A Movement The Right Way

There are several ways to focus on a movement. We'll go over a few of the best.

1: Do it first.

Yes, this is simple. It doesn't really even change your training that much - do the same things, just in a different order. But it does mean that if you get called away or you run out of time, you've done the main thing you came to do. It also means you hit the move you're emphasizing when you're still fresh and enthusiastic, before you're exhausted from everything else!

2: Do it more.

Say you're doing a popular rep scheme, like 5X5 (For the uninitiated, that's 5 sets of 5 repetitions of an exercise, a very popular strength and power friendly scheme), 3X3 or 5-3-1. Great. 

3: Do it again.

Go through your workout as normal and then, when you reach the end, try doing your focus exercise again - obviously, that will mean doing it with less load, but it will still mean way more volume.

4: Do it more often.

Actually add in another training session a week, or sacrifice one of your sessions entirely to your focus move. Build a whole workout around it. Say you've chosen front squats: go to the gym, warm up by doing empty bar front squats, then front squats with a light weight, before doing your serious work sets, then another set with a lighter weight to get more volume in. Finish with a set of 50-100 with a light weight for cardio - or, if you think you're tough and would like to be disillusioned, try Tabata front squats - and go home. If you're doing 5X5, in a normal week you'd do 75 squats if you trained three times a week. Do things this way and you'll do 150 - the same movement, twice as many times. Watch your back squat improve as your strength and mobility rocket. Feel your chest swell as your lungs expand from the breathing needed to power through a set of front squats for conditioning. 

5: Do it in between.

You can often slip a movement in between your work sets. Say your chosen movement is the front squat. Put a couple in with a broomstick, PVC pipe or empty bar between sets of your main lifts. You're not really stressing your nervous system or ruining your rest, because you're just treating it as a mobility exercise. But you're getting more practice with the movement.

6: All of the above!

Obviously some exercises won't fit with some of these ideas - it's hard to make pull-ups easy enough to not interfere with rest, though you can try doing dead hangs or scapular pull-ups instead. Basically, weightlifting exercises are easier to program this way because you can simply keep the movement the same and dial the resistance down to more or less zero. That's harder if your chosen exercise is gallimores.

See Also: Why Pro Athletes' Workouts Won't Work Out For You

If you like the sound of this but you'd like a few more details, or you want to have a word with me about a mistake I made, get in touch with me in the comments section below!