One way to add variety to your training is through the use of single rep training. It just means to do sets of one rep. There are several ways that singles can be used for productive training and I will discuss some of these ways.
Heavy Singles
The most obvious way to use singles is to work up to a heavy weight that is heavy enough so that you can only do it for one rep. I don’t recommend using all out super slow grinder reps on a regular basis. Powerlifters often grind with a very slow reps that takes three or more seconds to get up a heavy weight, this is a very taxing use of the single rep. If you do singles in this manner on a regular basis you are at risk for burn out. Instead, find the amount of weight where you notice that your rep speed suddenly starts to slow down for a single rep. It’s the weight where you either start to grind, or there is a part in your range of motion that seems to stall out a little before completing the lift. Then select a weight that’s a little lighter where the full rep is done in a fairly smooth manner without a sudden stall out in rep speed at some point during the lifting motion.
Finding the Right Weight To Use
The lifter in the first video below is using a weight that is just about right for doing heavy singles training on a regular basis. In second video the same lifter has a slight stall in the middle of the lift. I would recommend regular training be done with a weight which allows a lift to be done as in the first video rather than the second. However, if this lifter were to continue using the heavier weight for regular training, I would recommend that he continues using that weight until it becomes as smooth as the lift in the first video that is done with ten pounds less, rather than to keep trying to add weight and always do single reps with a stall during the rep. With repeated workouts, the same weight will eventually be lifted faster and easier, and then weight can be added.
1st lift with 200 pounds
2nd lift with 210 pounds
How Many Sets?
How many sets of a single rep should you do? Often, just one heavy lift is all you need, but if you want to do more, you may be able to do two or more sets of singles if you are using the proper weight. The important thing is to make sure you stop repeating sets if your rep speed slows down and it feels like a weaker lift than the previous singles. Once you have trained enough times to know how many sets of singles you can do before your strength starts to decrease, I would just eliminate any sets of singles where you know that your strength will decrease. If you perform your singles with these guidelines, you won’t burn out as easily and you’ll be able to do them more often than if you do too many of them in a workout, or you use the all-out slow grinding reps that barely make it to lock out.
Of course training the Olympic lifts with exercises like the clean and jerk and the snatch are often done for single repetition as these lifts are difficult to do for consecutive nonstop repetitions if you are lifting very heavy.
Singles For Warm ups
A second way that lifters use singles is to do them with very light weights for warm up, and continue using them with progressively heavier weights until a weight is reached where a true work set is done for consecutive repetitions. For example, a lifter may do body weight squats for 10 reps. Then once they start using weight for their squats, they start with the 45 pound bar for just one rep. Then do 135 pounds for a single, followed by 185 pounds, 225 pounds, 255, pounds, 275 pounds and 305 pounds for singles. When they reach 315 pounds, we’ll assume that it’s the weight that they want to use for their work set so they do it for 8 consecutive reps instead of singles. The singles were being used to warm-up the muscles, joints, and nervous system, and to work on form without creating fatigue that would reduce their strength when they reached 315 pounds for 8 reps.
This video of Ed Coan was shown in a previous article but it is a good example of working up in weight while using singles for warm ups, then doing a full set of 5 reps when a preferred weight is reached.
There are other ways in which single reps can be used in an effective manner and In the next article, I will discuss other methods for using singles. Until then, best of training to you.