Heavy single reps will kill you if you do them on a high frequency basis. In contrast, you may find that relaxed single reps with moderate weights will condition you and strengthen you if you do them on a high frequency basis. If you like doing single reps, and you like high frequency training, try this simple workout five days per week:
Pick three exercises consisting of:
1. A pressing exercise such as bench presses, or overhead presses, or incline presses
2. Either a squat, or a deadlift.
3. A Vertical pull such as lat pulldowns or pull ups.
Do an easy set of ten reps for each exercise as a warm up.
After completing your warm up, select the heaviest weight that you can lift within the context of remaining relaxed in the face, neck, and the muscle groups that are not directly involved in the exercise. You should also be able to easily breathe out when you lift, and you should not need a huge breath or a hard bracing action in the mid-section while doing the lift. It is doubtful that you will be able to stay relaxed with more than 70% to 75% of your single rep max for upper body exercises, and you may have to use a lower percentage for squats and deadlifts.
Do a relaxed single rep every 30 to 45 seconds when performing a given exercise. When repeating relaxed single reps, you will eventually reach a rep where it feels like you are starting to tense up and are losing the ability to remain relaxed in the face, neck, and mid-section, and you will find it hard to exhale with ease as you lift. When this happens, stop the workout, or switch to a different exercise. Most people will be able to do at least six relaxed single reps per exercise, but will probably not be able to do more than fifteen relaxed single reps.
Do the workout five days per week.
Goal
Your goal is to maintain the ability to remain relaxed as you gradually add more weight to your lifts. This means you should only add more weight when you can do so while remaining relaxed, and you will only be able to do this if you get stronger.
5 Sets of 5 Reps
If you find that you are recovering from this five day per week workout after trying it for two to three weeks, you can include the following add-on to the weekly workout schedule:
Once per week, you should substitute one of your single rep workouts for a workout consisting of five sets of five reps for each exercise performed. Don’t worry about staying relaxed for this workout. When selecting a poundage to use for each exercise, the weight you select should allow you to hit all five reps of each set while maintaining a steady even rep pace. At the same time, the weight should be heavy enough to make you feel like your rep speed would start to slow down if you were to add a sixth rep on your last set.
Work up to a Heavy Single Rep
If you have no problems recovering from five sets of five reps once per week, plus the relaxed single reps on the other four days per week, substitute one of your workouts consisting of five sets of five reps workouts for a workout in which you work up to a heavy single rep for each exercise. Make this substitution every third week so that you are doing heavy single reps once every three weeks. Do not try to remain relaxed when lifting heavy and be sure to maintain tension in your body when doing heavy single reps. The amount of weight you select should be as heavy as possible without sacrificing your ability to utilize a smooth non-stop lifting motion with excellent form.
I want to mention that the relaxed single rep training is something that you can experiment with when doing just about any program. Simply include the relaxed single reps for the muscle groups that you are not going to be training hard during a given workout.
Short, Simple, Effective
Gaining strength does not have to be a complicated process. If you simply want to get strong with very basic workouts that are short, simple, and effective, the plan presented in this article will help you to do so. May God bless you with the best of training.