The old-time lifters did a lot of singles training in their time, and some of the records they set back in the '60s are still unbroken, so the power of doing singles for gaining strength is tremendous if utilized in the right way. I myself have made great and speedy gains from singles, so here are some strategies for you to make singles work..
Singles Workout Strategy No. I - One Lift
When working one lift with singles, for example one lift you would like to practice and excel in, here is a routine that is very efficient and will build tremendous strength:
1) Lift every day, seven days a week.
2) Use 70% of your maximum effort in the lift when starting out, and as you gain strength keep using weights that are at 70% of your max.
3) During Week 1:
- Day 1 - Do 3 singles the first day with one or two minutes rest between each single.
- Day 2 - Do 5 singles with the same weight as Day 1, with one or two minutes rest between each single.
- Day 3 - Do 7 singles with the same weight as Day 1, with one or two minutes rest between each single.
- Day 4 - Do 9 singles with the same weight as Day 1, with the same rests as above.
- Day 5 - 11 singles, same weight as Day 1, same rests.
- Day 6 - 13 singles, same weight, same rests.
- Day 7 - 15 singles, same weight same rests.
You have now made a complete cycle and are at Week 2, Day 1. Now you will add 5 or 10 pounds and go through the whole cycle again.
4) Once a month, test your max to be sure you are using weights in your weekly cycle that are 70% of your max. If your weekly cycle weight for that week was under 70% of your max, add weight to your routine to adjust. If your weekly cycle weight was more than 70% of your max, take weight off and adjust. This monthly testing of your max will keep you in the target zone.
This workout must be done seven days a week, 365 days a year. Each week, you are building your endurance and toughening your tendons and ligaments by doing more work toward the end of each cycle, and then during the next week (or cycle as I call it) you're adding more weight and doing it all over again.
The great thing about this type of training is that you will build strength without really ever making yourself tired because the body is adjusting naturally and rhythmically.
Singles Workout Strategy No. 2 - One Lift
Again, working on just one lift.
1) Lift every other day, seven days a week, 365 days a year.
2) Use weights that are 70% of your max.
3) Do 30 singles with one to two minutes rest between each single. When you reach a total of 30, you are done. Rest a day. Then add 5 pounds the next workout and do 30 singles with one to two minutes rest between each single. Rest a day. Add 5 pounds every other day, resting one day in between, and so on and so forth.
4) Then, once every two weeks, max out and adjust your weekly poundage to make sure you are using 70% of your max. If you're using under 70%, add weight to adjust. If you're using over 70%, take weight off to adjust. This will keep you in the target zone.
Singles Workout Strategy No. 3 - Three Lifts
When you are working on three lifts as in powerlifting; for example, the bench, squat and deadlift:
1) Lift every day, seven days a week, 365 days a year.
2) Do four singles in each lift with one to two minutes rest between each single, and go from one lift to the next quickly. Start with the squat, then go to the bench, then go to the deadlift. Use 70% of your max.
3) Add 5 pounds to your bench every three days; add 10 pounds to your squat and deadlift every four days.
4) Max out every three weeks in all three lifts. If using weights in excess of 70%, reduce weight to adjust. If using weights under 70%, add weight to adjust. This will keep you in your target zone. Concentrate on speed when performing the lifts during your daily workouts.
Singles Workout Strategy No. 4 - Three Lifts
When training three lifts, as in powerlifting (e.g. squat, bench, and deadlift):
1) Train every other day, seven days a week, 365 days a year.
2) Train bench/squat, bench/deadlift, bench/squat, bench/deadlift, every other day, so on and so forth.
3) Do 25 singles with a minute to two minutes' rest between each single in the deadlift and squat, and do 12 singles in the bench on each squat and deadlift day. For example:
Mon - squat 25 singles, bench 12 singles
Tues - off
Wed - deadlift 25 singles, bench 12 singles
Thurs - off
Fri - squat 25 singles, bench 12 singles
Sat - off
Sun - deadlift 25 singles, bench 12 singles
Mon- off
Tues - squat 25 singles, bench 12 singles, etc.
4) Every week add 20 pounds to your squat and deadlift, and 10 pounds to your bench.
5) Every month max out in each lift and if the poundages you're using in your weekly workouts are over 70%, adjust and decrease your weight to match. If the weight is under 70% of your max, add weight to your weekly workouts and adjust. This way you stay at your target weight of 70% max in workouts.
Singles Workout Strategy No. 5 - Ten or More Lifts
When you are working on 10-15 different lifts:
1) Work two days on, one off, seven days a week, 365 days a year. Work all 10-15 lifts on each day.
2) Do two singles in each lift with one to two minutes rest between each lift, and for each single, use weights at 70% max.
3) Add 5-10 pounds to each lift every three days.
4) Every two weeks max out in every lift; adjust all weights in your daily workouts to 70% of your max in each lift. The day that you max will be your workout for that day.
Singles Workout Strategy No. 6 - Thirty or More Lifts
When working 30-40 different lifts:
1) Work every other day or once every three days, depending on how you feel. Do all 30-40 lifts in one workout.
2) Do one single in each lift, moving from one lift to the next every two to three minutes. Use 70% to 85% of max.
3) Add 5-10 pounds to each lift once a week.
4) Max out on all lifts once a month; then adjust all lifts to fit between 70-85% of your max on each lift. This will keep you in the target zone.
THE TARGET ZONE
This is what I call the target zone:
It is a percentage of your maximum effort in any lift, and to me the target zone should be between 70-80% of your maximum effort in any one lift. This is the zone you must stay in when training to get stronger the fastest.
I believe the 70% of max range is better than the 80% of max range.
There cannot be enough said about staying in this zone to develop super strength. With me, even after 15 years of training, I still catch myself trying to jump out of the zone and constantly have to monitor my ambition of wanting to lift too heavy too fast.
Nothing will stop your progress in your quest for strength faster than when you try to lift too heavy too fast. There are a lot of factors involved here that must be dealt with and I will do that for you. I just cannot stress how important this is.
The target zone is something to learn, and learn well.
There are two important things to remember about the target zone:
1) When you exceed the target zone, that is when you you too heavy in your lifting too fast. When you go past 70% of your max, something happens to you mentally.
Let's say your max is 500 in the deadlift, and you've worked up to the point where you're pulling 450 for reps, say three reps. and you want to do 4 sets of 3 reps for your workout. Well, this is fine for one workout. Even of you're tough mentally, as you start lifting and gut your way through the workout, because you're lifting so close to your max, every rep is hard and every set is hard.
If you make it through this workout, when you finally make it, you say to yourself, "I'm on the verge of lifting too heavy, but I made it and I feel happy, but it will fell lighter next workout - it has to because I don't know how many more workouts like that last one I can endure."
It's at this point your mind's already giving out on you because you're questioning yourself if you could work that hard again if you had to. Then, until your next workout, this feeling of dread sticks with you, and if you're going to use the same weight this time as last, you know you're in for trouble. You know you're out of your target zone but you want to push ahead rather than have to take weight off and start all over again.
For some reason, to the ambitious strength athlete, the thought of having to take weight off a lift you've already done is a fate worse than death itself. And this is a mentality you must not carry.
Never ever be ashamed or embarrassed of feel let down because you have to take a little weight off a lift to keep training. If it feels heavy to you, it probably IS too heavy for you to be training with.
But getting back to the story, you approach, you approach your next workout with dread because you know it's going to be a killer mentally and physically, but you're expecting it to be a little lighter than last time because you've already had one workout with this weight. So you hit the workout and for some reason it feels even heavier to you this time than it did last time.
Well, now you've really got trouble mentally when this happens, and you feel very frustrated with yourself. But no, you think, I'M TOUGH, I CAN HANDLE IT. So you gut your way through another backbreaking workout, carrying a sense of dread and destruction with you the whole time - when all you had to do was take off 100 pounds and go through a rewarding, happy, carefree workout with plenty of confidence.
This is why I say you must stay within your target zone. I preach about this all the time, about staying within your limits; it is the single biggest factor in defeat when talking super strength development.
The two biggest factors in successfully developing super strength are staying in your target zone while training, and training with rhythm and consistency. No matter what routine you do, your body will adapt as long as you don't completely overwork yourself or get out of your target zone.
2) The second thing about the target zone that makes it work is THE SPEED FACTOR. When you pull or push a weight with speed or quickness, you will gain strength much faster than if you're lifting heavy maximum weight slowly; and if you go too light, it just isn't heavy enough to be really effective quickly.
Compare it to kicking a ball. For example, if you kicked a heavy medicine ball, how far would it go? Now, if you kicked a balloon, how far would it go? Finally, if you kicked a basketball, how far would it go? It would go the farthest most efficiently, and creates almost the perfect transference of a power curve.
The same is true in weightlifting. If you haven't got the right medium to transfer your power into, you'll have a hard time building power. If it's too heavy, it's too hard; if it's too light, it's too easy. What could be simpler, Goldilocks?
I would say anything between 60% to 70% max is the perfect power range, curve, or target zone to stay in - however you want to say it. So the weights in the percentage zone will give you the perfect medium to apply your power to transfer energy so you can develop your horsepower.
It is so simple, yet so hard to really do.
You must put that ego aside and really get down to business.
Good luck.
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