What if I told you, you could hit a PR almost every time you wanted to? Well, this is how you hit a PR in the gym.

This is a very basic tip, but, for those who have been reading the website for a while will know that I’m a huge advocate of supramaximal loading in the pursuit of chasing strength gains.

And this is what it all boils down to: turn on your Central Nervous System (CNS) before approaching a big lift.

Turn on Your Central Nervous System, Break PRs in The Gym

The first thing you should be doing before attempting a PR is to throw in at least a set of dead hangs for 20 seconds somewhere in your warm up.

Not only will this decompress your spine before loading the bar, but it will also prepare your CNS for heavy lifting.

The second thing is to trick your body that they will be handling maximal loads before hitting your set.

So, this trick works best before rep PRs, but you should try holding a weight above your one rep max.

Say you want to hit a new 5 rep max on the squat. Walk out with 120% of your 1 rep max and hold it for 5 seconds before walking it back and re-racking it.

This will prep your body for absorbing heavier loads and increase your likelihood of nailing your 5 rep max.

If you want to PR on a deadlift, try some heavy rack pulls; for the bench press, simply unrack a weight 110-120% of your 1RM and hold — FOR THE LOVE OF GOD, GET A SPOTTER TO HELP YOU.

The other method to this trick is to simply hit 90-95% of your 1RM for the quickest rep possible before coming back down to execute your rep PR.

That’s my two cents on the matter — now it’s time for you to smash PRs.

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