Progression and finishing sets

Hi guys.

 

When you are not progressing past a certain point in a workout, ie; for my I am really struggling with the archbody holds at week 9 and the bent hollow body holds. The latter I only just managed 4X48 yesterday.

 

I will be posting form checks this week.

 

My question relates to unfinished reps in a set. for ex: bent hollow body holds.

 

If I manage 3X48 then at around the 30 sec mark fail, do I continue on after a quick rest and make my way up as many times as I have to to complete that 48 sec rep?

 

this also applies for movements, ie: scap shrugs. Yesterday I busted out 3 X15 and on the 4th, i failed at 11.

but kept going with the right form after a brief rest.

 

as an addition to the above, one of the main reasons I failed the scap shrugs, was that my abs also were burning, trying to keep the shape. I didn't feel it as much failing in my shoulders.

 

anyway, this week I am going to post all my progressions.

 

Bret

 

The general consensus is that, when you reach failure, you should stop, as in full stop.  If your form becomes compromised or your tempo slows way down, stop, call it a day for that exercise.  You've clearly done enough to stimulate an adaption, so going further will likely only burn you out or may even lead to an injury.

 

If you are really struggling with a certain rep count, it might be worthwhile to go back a week.  For example, I was stuck on 4x12 Hinge Rows for an entire month, not once completing all reps.  ChrisUK suggested I ease off for a bit.  I ended up doing my next month nothing but the Week 7 and Week 8 rep schemes (5x9, 5x5), and when I made it back to 4x12, I did it fairly easily on the first go.  Sometimes, you need to step back in order to go forwards.

 

I will add that sometimes if I cannot finish all my reps, I do a drop set of sorts.  For example, if I stalled with three pushups left, I'd drop to my knees and do three reps from there.  I wouldn't do this if I failed by a lot; normally I use it when I feel my brain has given up before my body has, so it makes a compromise of sort.  I would use this idea sparingly, though.  

Against the consensus, if it's my last set I would do the extra reps. But only for the basic statics ie. Arch body hold, hollow hold, plank...

Joshua Naterman in one of his hold posts was experimenting with a wide range of statics in his training (building between 3-5 minutes) and said for these basics ones, it's possible to take a few breaths and then resume where your set broke. It works for me, but as I don't know how it will for everyone