DENNIS JAMES: “When something doesn’t work or I hit a plateau in my training, I always implement very, very slow reps. I’m talking super slow, as in 5–10 seconds up and 5–10 seconds down on every rep using 30%–50% of the weight you’d normally use. And you don’t have to limit this to just one exercise in your workout; you can do it for every exercise. It takes you much longer to get through the set, but I guarantee one set will make up for 5–6 regular sets.
You can either do slow reps for, say, a month, or you can do slow reps one week and go back to normal reps the next. Doing your reps very slowly is much more intense, creates more of a burn and the chance of injury while doing it is almost zero. And even though you’re going a lot lighter, it feels heavier. Because you’re going so slow, you can make one plate feel like it’s four, so I typically keep the reps between 3 and 6. And I guarantee you, if you try it, you will walk away with the best pump you ever had.”
