Dr. Layne Norton

I mean, I've had literally before nationals in 2017, I was warming up on deadlift in my last heavy deadlift session, like 10 days before the meet. And I went to pull my final warmup, which is 585. And I couldn't budget off the ground. I was so tired, sore. I couldn't get, it was like, I couldn't get my body to do what I wanted it to do. 10 days later, I pulled 716.

I mean, I've had literally before nationals in 2017, I was warming up on deadlift in my last heavy deadlift session, like 10 days before the meet. And I went to pull my final warmup, which is 585. And I couldn't budget off the ground. I was so tired, sore. I couldn't get, it was like, I couldn't get my body to do what I wanted it to do. 10 days later, I pulled 716.

It's amazing what fatigue will mask. And so if you're always training to failure, you're going to be training under pretty high fatigue circumstances. It doesn't really matter for muscle growth because it's really just about doing enough hard sets and putting that mechanical tension on the muscle. With strength, you also have to think about like what is the most pure form of strength?

It's amazing what fatigue will mask. And so if you're always training to failure, you're going to be training under pretty high fatigue circumstances. It doesn't really matter for muscle growth because it's really just about doing enough hard sets and putting that mechanical tension on the muscle. With strength, you also have to think about like what is the most pure form of strength?

It's amazing what fatigue will mask. And so if you're always training to failure, you're going to be training under pretty high fatigue circumstances. It doesn't really matter for muscle growth because it's really just about doing enough hard sets and putting that mechanical tension on the muscle. With strength, you also have to think about like what is the most pure form of strength?

It's force production, right? And force is mass times acceleration. So you have a mass component. You have a speed component. And so this is actually Zach Robinson and his company, Data Driven Strength, who I've been coaching with for three years. I heard them on a podcast and – he was giving his hypothesis of how to optimize strength in a powerlifter.

It's force production, right? And force is mass times acceleration. So you have a mass component. You have a speed component. And so this is actually Zach Robinson and his company, Data Driven Strength, who I've been coaching with for three years. I heard them on a podcast and – he was giving his hypothesis of how to optimize strength in a powerlifter.

It's force production, right? And force is mass times acceleration. So you have a mass component. You have a speed component. And so this is actually Zach Robinson and his company, Data Driven Strength, who I've been coaching with for three years. I heard them on a podcast and – he was giving his hypothesis of how to optimize strength in a powerlifter.

And I remember thinking, I really like the way this guy is thinking. He's thinking outside the box and it makes a lot of sense. So one of his things was, if you're training close to fatigue all the time and the goal is strength, think about what that means in terms of your force production. So let's say you do a set of eight reps, right?

And I remember thinking, I really like the way this guy is thinking. He's thinking outside the box and it makes a lot of sense. So one of his things was, if you're training close to fatigue all the time and the goal is strength, think about what that means in terms of your force production. So let's say you do a set of eight reps, right?

And I remember thinking, I really like the way this guy is thinking. He's thinking outside the box and it makes a lot of sense. So one of his things was, if you're training close to fatigue all the time and the goal is strength, think about what that means in terms of your force production. So let's say you do a set of eight reps, right?

Your first few are pretty fast, and then by the end, they're pretty slow. The load hasn't changed, so what happens to your force production? Your force production is going pretty far down. He said, I don't really want my athletes grinding reps in training. I want them to hit some heavy singles and doubles and triples because they need that because that's a skill.

Your first few are pretty fast, and then by the end, they're pretty slow. The load hasn't changed, so what happens to your force production? Your force production is going pretty far down. He said, I don't really want my athletes grinding reps in training. I want them to hit some heavy singles and doubles and triples because they need that because that's a skill.

Your first few are pretty fast, and then by the end, they're pretty slow. The load hasn't changed, so what happens to your force production? Your force production is going pretty far down. He said, I don't really want my athletes grinding reps in training. I want them to hit some heavy singles and doubles and triples because they need that because that's a skill.

You have to have those neurological – everybody has done this where they go, well, I hit this for 10 reps and here's what my one rep max should be. And then they go in and get stapled with it, right? Because it doesn't necessarily translate because a one rep max or the purest form of strength is a very specific skill. If you've never trained it, it's very difficult to get accustomed to.

You have to have those neurological – everybody has done this where they go, well, I hit this for 10 reps and here's what my one rep max should be. And then they go in and get stapled with it, right? Because it doesn't necessarily translate because a one rep max or the purest form of strength is a very specific skill. If you've never trained it, it's very difficult to get accustomed to.

You have to have those neurological – everybody has done this where they go, well, I hit this for 10 reps and here's what my one rep max should be. And then they go in and get stapled with it, right? Because it doesn't necessarily translate because a one rep max or the purest form of strength is a very specific skill. If you've never trained it, it's very difficult to get accustomed to.

So we want to hit some – his idea was in workouts, we're going to hit a heavy top set, heavy single, double or triple or whatever it is. And then our back offsets, instead of taking those close to failure, instead of doing, say, well, we'll do 75% of your training max for sets of eight and have you getting pretty close to failure.

So we want to hit some – his idea was in workouts, we're going to hit a heavy top set, heavy single, double or triple or whatever it is. And then our back offsets, instead of taking those close to failure, instead of doing, say, well, we'll do 75% of your training max for sets of eight and have you getting pretty close to failure.

So we want to hit some – his idea was in workouts, we're going to hit a heavy top set, heavy single, double or triple or whatever it is. And then our back offsets, instead of taking those close to failure, instead of doing, say, well, we'll do 75% of your training max for sets of eight and have you getting pretty close to failure.