How To Effectively Periodise Intensity Boosters Into Your Training

Intensity boosters have often been considered as methods to “burst through a plateaux” and for the beginner to intermediate trainee they may well be used to do just that.  The trainee has possibly learnt to train to perfect textbook form failure and are at a training age where most weeks they are able to increase the weight on the bar.  They are far from reaching their genetic potential, are still making improvements in their mind muscle connection in order to maximally stimulate the target muscle, and are probably still making improvements to their nutrition regime.  When they fail to make those improvements in weight for one or two consecutive weeks, throwing in the odd rest pause or drop set may help to burst through that training plateaux.

However, for the more advanced trainee, one or two intensity boosters are likely to be included in most of their workouts with the exception of any deload weeks.  When you are close to that genetic potential, are maximally stimulating the target muscle and are correctly managing your nutrition regime, then training past failure becomes essential in order to continue to progress.

This article is not about explaining what those intensity boosting techniques are as there are many other references which do that job just fine, but how to effectively periodize them into your routine.

By definition of an intensity booster, I am referring to anything that can increase the intensity of a final set of an exercise beyond repping to failure with standard technique.  So this would include drop sets, forced reps, rest pause, negatives, iso holds, partial reps as well as the use of bands and chains.

How frequently you apply intensity boosters, how many exercises per workout you apply them too and how many consecutive weeks the same intensity booster is utilised in a workout will vary greatly with the individual’s needs and their own recovery ability.  Increasing intensity of your training will further tax the nervous system and give an increased need for recovery.  This can also dictate which body parts to prioritise with intensity boosters.  For example, if you are trying to develop your legs as a priority then adding intensity boosters to a few exercises on every back workout may be counterproductive if you are not able to recover fully when you are also implementing a few intensity boosters in your leg workouts too.  Quite simply, the more intense the training, the greater the need for recovery, so assess your own recovery potential and priorities which body parts will benefit most from the frequent use of intensity boosters.  The recovery potential will also dictate how many intensity boosters can be applied in a session and the number of weeks to consecutively apply intensity boosters.

When you are applying intensity boosters to one or two exercises in your workout, not only do you increase the taxation on the CNS, but if used correctly they will also increase the muscle damage.  Some intensity boosters such as drop sets will also increase the metabolic stress and these are the two main physical stimuli that lead to muscle hypertrophy.  Another consideration though is the stress that is applied to the joints and connective tissue.  This is one of the main components I have found that should define how many consecutive workouts you can apply the same intensity boosters for.

Intensity boosters such as rest pause sets, iso-holds, negatives and the use of bands in particular can be extremely taxing on the joints.  These methods focus largely on the muscle damage hypertrophy pathway so they will also apply the greatest stress to the CNS.  Therefore, each of these should be used for less consecutive weeks than say drop sets.  When drop sets are used properly, the final set and the drops are still taken to failure, hence as well as increasing metabolic stress they are still taxing the CNS and creating muscle damage however, they do not do so to the same extent as intensity boosters that focus solely on increasing muscle damage.  Therefore, for most trainees, drop sets can be implemented more frequently.  The contraindication here though is if the final set is taken past perfect form failure, i.e. implementing forced reps and negatives before dropping the weight.

In general, I have found that intensity boosters that focus solely on muscle damage can be extremely effective when used for 2-3 weeks before either changing them or taking a break is needed.  Continuing to use the same intensity boosters on the same exercise each workout longer than this will usually lead to a plateaux and possibly even a drop in strength, not to mention that after 2-3 weeks you will have given a lot of stress to the joints and connective tissue and may start to notice pain here as a result.  Learning to assess your own recovery ability is essential for the advanced trainee and that experience is important when it comes to knowing how to periodize the intensity boosters.  It may be that after 2 weeks you are still feeling fresh and strong in which case can simply change the intensity booster, or continue with it for a 3rd week.  If on that 2nd or 3rd week you struggle to compete with the performance in the prior week and start to feel more tired than usual, then you know that you will need to limit to 2 weeks before switching intensity boosters, removing intensity boosters all together or possibly implementing a deload week.

Training should always be set out in a plan to progress over time so whilst adaption may be needed throughout your plan depending on what your body is telling you, you should have the next 4-8 weeks of training mapped out in advance.  As an example of how to periodize your intensity boosters, let’s say you are training legs once a week.  In weeks 1 and 2 sets could be taken to failure with no intensity boosters.  Then for weeks 3 and 4, you could add 2 rest pause sets on your leg extensions.  For weeks 5 and 6, the rep range on those leg extensions can be increased and drop sets added instead of the rest pause, switching the focus to metabolic stress and giving a slight rest to the connective tissue.  For week 7 you could go back to the rest pause sets (of course aiming for more reps or weight now on the final set than you would have done on earlier weeks), but also implement some ISO holds on your machine hack squats or leg curls.  Then for the final week, continue with the ISO-holds and take the final set of leg extensions to positive and negative failure before the rest pause sets which can also consist of forced reps.  After this take a deload week or week off before starting a new cycle.  Although adjustments may be needed for the individual, this is a great way to ensure that you are cycling through your intensity boosters as well as progressing the intensity of the workout throughout the training cycle.