I had a issue in the beginning of this year that I was getting weaker on my last set compared with my first. Of course my body does get tired so output could go down but I wanted at least produce same strength output and finish off the last set as strong as the last set.
Something that I added to my main lift, which is usually squat, deadlift, bench press, or overhead press, are exercise that are working on opposite muscles or antagonist muscles. For example, on my squat day, after I finish a set of squat, I immediately work on single-leg hip thrusts with back against the bench.
What this has been doing is, hip thrust is working on the muscle that is antagonist from squats and allowing the muscle that has been used during squat to mobilize.
Then after 3-5 minutes of rest I go for the next set of squat and feels like my strength output has been better compared to when I did not do antagonist exercise.
Most likely I'm stimulating the neurological system that help utilize antagonist muscle by adding hip thrust after my squat work.
So here are some example of agonist and antagonist pair of exercises that I'm utilizing.
Deadlift with Bulgarian splits
Bench press with dumbbell row
Overhead press with pull ups
Have fun!
Kota Shimada
Comments