Many moons ago, I was attending a Perform Better seminar in Chicago. Gray Cook was giving one of his signature presentations, when he made the following comment:

Stopping doing one set of five. Instead, do five sets of one. – Gray Cook

When you sit back and think about it, it’s pure genius.

Too often when we have to perform multiple reps in a set, the first one is great and then things get progressively worse from there.

However, when you shift your mindset and make each rep count, you’re guaranteed to get more out of each and every training session.

Here’s a quick video on why this is important, along with a few tips to help:

Now that you’ve watched the video, a few follow-up tips and pointers that should help:

• On big exercises like the squat and deadlift, you’ll have a natural tendency to drift forward as the set goes on. Make it a goal to shift the weight back on each rep. (And in case you missed it, Feel those Heels!)
• On the deadlift, make sure to get the hips down and underneath you each rep. Don’t let them drift up.
• On the bench press, the bar will have a tendency to start further and further back towards the face. Make it a point to get it over the chest more.

These tips aren’t rocket science, but then again, most of lifting isn’t.

It’s doing the right exercises with the best possible technique, time and again, that gets you the real results.

Enjoy the video and go push some weight today!

All the best

MR