In the first article you learned about controlling tempo, tri-sets, and hyperirradiation to create maximum muscle tension and get those lean defined muscles you've always wanted. If you've tried it and you were more sore than you ever have been, then good job! You did exactly what your body needed. Now that you've been using one or several of these techniques for one month how about increasing the intensity even more with these advanced techniques.

Try Drop Sets
Say you've been stuck at a certain weight. Any time you move up to the next highest weight you can only do half the reps. The solution is to do that then drop down to a much lighter weight and do as many reps as possible working through that burn until you feel that you can't go anymore with proper form. For example you've been doing 3 sets of 12 @ 50lb on the leg extension. You've tried moving up to 60lb for the same number of sets and reps but just can't do it. Try doing 5 reps at 60lb immediately drop to 50lb and do another 5 then drop again to 40lb and do another 5 if possible drop down to 30lb and do another 5. This will stimulate your muscles in a way that will make it possible for you to move up in weight for full sets of 12.

Use Multiple Grips
Charles Poliquin, B.Sc. Kinesiology, M.Sc. Exercise Physiology, strength training coach for numerous athletes and contributor of over 500 articles for various web sites, and bodybuilding magazines, believes that this technique will get you the most defined arms you've ever had. Start with one set of 10-12 barbell curls using a reverse grip. Immediately do one set of 10-12 dumbbell curls followed by another set of 10-12 barbell curls using regular grip. Repeat this 3 times. Stimulating the muscle from every angle is the best way to get lean strong muscles. This can be applied to any body part. For example: squats are great for quads and butt. Start with 10 regular stance barbell squats, go right into 10 ski squats (standing with feet almost together), and finish up with 10 sumo squats (feet as wide as possible). Repeat two or three times.

Pre-fatigue Your Muscles
Start your workout with isolation exercises and plyometrics then go for the heavy duty stuff. This allows you to build super lean muscle without using much weight. Try this leg workout:

• balance ball leg curls 20
• butt machine or balance ball hip extensions 15
• high hip thrusts 12
• superset
• single leg extensions 5 each side light weight
• regular leg extensions 7-10 heavy weight
• rest and repeat superset
• squat jumps 3 sets at 30 sec. 20 sec. 15 sec. resting 10 seconds in between
• walking lunges 12 each side rest 20 seconds and repeat
• leg press with feet together and 3-1-1 tempo 20-30 medium weight
• stiff leg deadlift 8-10 heavy weight rest and repeat

Exploit Unilateral Training
That's just a very fancy way of saying train one side at a time. Any time you do exercises like leg extensions, leg presses, overhead dumbbell extensions, cable pressdowns, pulldowns, etc. your stronger side is always compensating for your weaker side. Train each side individually and you will experience a soreness you've never known before because your muscles are being stimulated in a completely different way. If you've never tried this you will experience a soreness you've never known before. You will also get much stronger then you thought possible. Try two sets of 10 single leg curls followed by walking lunges. For upper body switch out the bar on the pulldown machine for a cable grip and try two sets of 12 single arm rows on each side. Sit with legs off to one side and pull down so that your palm is facing in and the cable is coming all the way down in front of your shoulder (armpit level).

Use any of these techniques to take your workout to the next level and get the results you want faster.

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