# Partial Repetition Training



## PillarofBalance (Feb 8, 2012)

Chad is at the Monolift with 495 on the bar and he’s ready to go. He’s only 170lbs, but his hair-gelled friends from the football team are there and he can’t look like a bitch. Ridiculously huge belt, check; knee wraps, check; knee sleeves over the wraps, check; wrist wraps, check; barbell pad, check – let’s do this! Chad takes a few quick breaths in and out and un-racks the bar. Can’t back out now… And he’s has no choice but to succeed… This isn’t in some cage. In his head runs the fundamentals of heavy squatting, arched low back, tight upper back, push the knees out comin up, ass to grass. He starts his decent to the bottom slowly. He’s a little shaky under all that weight, but overall he’s holding it up well. He feels himself break parallel as always and pushes back up with every ounce of strength he’s got. He feels himself almost defecate it’s so heavy. But low and behold, he racks the weight. He did it, squatted all of it. Fist bumps for all!!!!! Of course if you review the footage it looks like this…






So his squat didn’t go very deep at all… Pathetic in fact. Can’t really call it a squat can you? Maybe not, but those partial squats he is doing are an incredibly powerful training tool for a powerlifter or any trainee looking to increase their poundage in just about any lift.

They aren’t done as haphazardly as the noob in paragraph one of course and there is a methodology to this.

Let’s consider a few basic points:
Partials allow you to overload the muscles (relatively safely)
Facts already in evidence show that max or near max weights allow the muscles to be built up by the weight itself and not by the repetitions as occurs in bodybuilding.
Partials prepare you to lift heavier with a full Range of Motion (ROM)
This concept is pretty simple I think. Squat 315 for 3 reps. Then squat 135 for 3 reps. The 135 is much easier of course as you’re used to the 315. But squatting with that 315 also prepared you to lift the 135 with better form. You hold upper back tightness with ease, chest pushed out and you found it easier to focus on breaking at the hips without breaking at the knees simultaneously (a problem I have L )
Partials make you feel like a real man! Think of it like learning to get psyched up for a lift. You’re going try and move a weight that you simply cannot do on a normal basis with a full range of motion. You usually squat a 1RM of 800lbs, well now you’re going to put 1,000 on your back. It gets you right to the climax of the lift.
Benefits: Established… So here is the how:

The idea is to work in the range just above your sticking point and to overload the muscle and connective tissues. So make use of the rack. Set the safety pins at the appropriate height for your lift to give you the proper partial range of motion and an element of safety. So for a squat you would place the pins so that you’ll have a 3 to 6 inch ROM. Same for bench and OH Press. For deads, rack pulls are generally performed.

Work the weak areas of your ROM as well, but during a separate workout.

Do not let the mind hold you back. If you normally can bench 405, start (after warming up) at 495 or above. You will be amazed at how much stronger you’ll be.

Increase the weights used from one workout to the next. Don’t let it get stagnant. Even if it’s just 20 pounds, add the weight. 
Do not use partial training excessively. Every other session is ok; but, try not to extend beyond six months. Like all things, the body will strangely adapt to just about anything and this is just one of many shock techniques out there.

Just another shock principle, but this is a great one, and often forgotten!


----PoB----


----------

