Key: Find the Edge
One of the keys to strength training is to find the edge (or the outer capacity) of the most powerful energy system for generating strength and force in your muscles. This system is called the creatine phosphate system because it relies upon phosphate molecules that are stored within the muscles for the immediate formation of adenosine triphosphate (ATP for short). If a lifter surpasses the capacity of his creatine phosphate system by doing too many reps within a set, rep speed will suddenly start to slow down and the lactate system will take over as the dominant system.
Expand The Capacity of Your Creatine Phosphate System
To grow stronger, your goal should be to train on the outer edge of the creatine phosphate until it expands. You can surpass the capacity of the creatine phosphate system by doing too many reps, but if you do, you will start to emphasize the lactate system as the dominant system. If this happens, your body may elect to bypass the process of expanding the capacity of the creatine phosphate system and expand the capacity of your lactate system instead. This will lead to more endurance instead of more strength.
The Marker Rep is the Edge
One method employed with precision point training is to stop at your marker rep, which is the initial rep where you find that the pace of your reps is slowing down and you can no longer maintain a steady even rep pace. When rep speed slows down on your last rep, you have transitioned from an emphasis on the creatine phosphate system to an emphasis on the lactate system on the last rep. The marker rep is the edge between two energy systems.
An example of stopping at your marker rep would be to do the first seven reps of a set using a steady even rep pace. These seven reps are all being done with an emphasis on the creatine phosphate system, but if your eighth rep starts to slow down, you have transitioned to an emphasis on the lactate system and should stop on your eighth rep.
Marker Rep Transition Training and EST-Training
Your final goal is to improve to the point where you can do all eight reps using steady even rep pace. When you finally accomplish this, it is a sign that your creatine phosphate system has expanded from seven reps to cover all eight reps in order to keep you from merging into an emphasis on the lactate system on your eighth rep. I call this type of training marker rep transition training because your marker rep transitions from being a slower marker rep into a faster rep that can be done at the same rep pace as the previous reps. The process also marks a transition from the lactate system to the creatine phosphate system on your last rep, and I call this process Energy System Transition Training or (EST-Training). When used correctly, Energy System Transition Training is highly effective because it is the easiest most consistent means of helping your body achieve the biggest goal that it is trying to accomplish when it gains strength, which is to make the same training easier to perform.
The Application of EST-Training to Light Weights
When I first came up with the concept of precision point training, I did fairly heavy sets and stopped at my marker rep followed by at least three minutes rest before doing another rep. Lately I have been experimenting with light weights and short rests between sets as I am currently 54 years old and light weights are easier on my joints. However, I still believe in the concept of finding the outer edge of the creatine phosphate system by training right up to the point where I merge into an emphasis on the lactate system in order to motivate the creatine phosphate system to expand. I believe this concept has been around for a long, long time with fairly light weights. The 8 sets of 8 reps routine that Vince Gironda promoted is an example, but when I tried it a few decades ago, I didn’t get how to do it; I killed myself with the routine rather than to use it wisely, and there are probably others who have done the same.
8 Sets of 8 Reps
I hated light weights and believed they were unproductive. Every time I used light weights, I thought I was taking a step backward so I would try 8 sets of 8 reps with fairly heavy weights. By my fourth set I was already struggling for all I was worth to get my eighth rep out. It didn’t work and I threw it out with the belief that 8 sets of 8 reps was a stupid training routine. As I said, I didn’t get it because I had a bias against light weights and I thought that training had to be very intense from the very first set, which made it impossible to keep going for eight sets of eight reps with the same weight. Changes needed to be made because I didn’t really follow Vince’s instructions.
Back in the early 1980’s I purchased a copy of The Vince Gironda File Volume 1, which I still have. On page 20 of the training manual, Vince instructed how to do 8 sets of 8 reps using a very specific method. Some of his 8 x 8 instructions in his training manual say: “Speed in finishing this program is necessary. ….5 to 10 deep breaths between sets are enough.” That translates into about ten to twenty seconds of rest between sets. In the next paragraph he says, “8 sets of 8 reps should take you no longer than 3 and a half to 5 minutes.” This routine is a burner and moves at a torrid pace which is impossible with heavy weights. You must be willing to use light weights and humble yourself to use weights in the vicinity of 40 to 50 percent of your single rep max.
If you use 8 sets of 8 reps using Energy System Transition Training, your goal is to find the outer edge of your creatine phosphate system and ride on the border between your creatine phosphate system and the lactate system for your last three sets. The first few sets will probably feel easy and will emphasize the creatine phosphate system. However, if you quickly proceed from one set to the next, the sets will start to get tough to the point where you are riding the edge between the creatine phosphate system and the lactate system for about your last three sets. You should be able to do eight reps using a steady even pace for these sets. Each set should be the same in terms of rep pace and the last set should look nearly the same as the first set, although you may start to slow down on the eighth rep of your last couple sets. Keep using the same weight and reps from one workout to the next until the slower eighth reps at the end of the sets become easy enough to do without slowing down.
There are lots of videos that demonstrate 8 x 8 routines, but this is one of the few that is actually done in the maner that Vince Gironda taught. The way the lifter performs this routine is very close to the way I would recommend although on basic exercises like bench, squats and rows, I would consider doing the reps with more speed and force. Notice the fairly light weights, short rests between sets, and that each set looks the same until the last couple of sets. This is exactly how Vince taught 8 sets of 8 reps.
Super Important: You Must Find the Edge
What I am about to say is the most important part of this article and your training: Your ability to find the edge that borders between the creatine phosphate system and the lactate system is absolutely critical if you want to make the most of this type of training. If you fall short of the edge, training intensity will be too low. If you keep training past the edge by using slow grinder reps at the end of your sets, the intensity will be too high and will focus on the expansion of your lactate system, which is not optimum for strength training as it will tend to produce endurance instead of strength.
It may take you several workouts to adjust your weights and rest periods to the point where you able to hit the edge between energy systems, but once you find the edge, keep doing workouts with the same weight, the same reps, and the same rest between sets until it gets easier. This takes time, and you may even feel like you are getting weaker when you first start, but stick with it and do it three times per week until your body overcomes the stress by getting stronger. You may also want to add in some heavier lifting once every ten days to maintain the type of nervous system firing that enables you to lift heavier weights.
The concept behind Energy System Transition Training (EST-Training) is simple; find the edge between the creatine phspahte system and the lactate system until the creatine phosphate system expands in order to avoid merging with the lactate system. The expansion of the creatine phosphate system will result in added strength. Using this method with 8 sets of 8 reps is just one type of training that can be done in conjunction with EST-Training. In the next article I will discuss Energy System Transition Training in conjunction with rest-pause training. Best of training to you.