…OR JUST RESORT TO TRICKERY

Want to lift more in a hurry? Make sure you’re getting the most from your body – and add 10% to your lifts today

46 Wake up your muscles

You can only use as much strength as your body lets you. Warm up with plank activations, a favourite of Commando Temple head coach Rob Blair. Wrap a band around your waist, get into a plank, and get a friend to try to pull you off-balance. You’ll activate your core and be able to push harder.

47 Use your glutes

And not just on lowerbody day. “In upper-body pressing movements like the shoulder or log press, clenching your glutes like you’re trying to crack walnuts will create the tension you need to get a new overhead PB,” says Adamson. “It even works on the bench.”

48 Grip and rip

In almost any lift, gripping the bar as hard as possible before go time leads to an effect called irradiation where you fire up the surrounding muscles, giving you more stability and strength. Clench for a second or two, then lift.

49 Go heavy, then go light

Post-activation potentiation sounds complicated. It isn’t. Do a heavy single at 90-95% of your one-rep max, then go straight into a working set .You’ll recruit more type 2 fast-twitch muscle fibres, which you’ll fatigue throughout the work set.

50 Attempt the impossible

As a more advanced variation on the above, load 10-15% more than your current max onto the bar for a squat, take it out of the rack and then quartersquat it for a rep or two. Put the bar back, strip the plates, then go for your attempt – hopefully with all your synapses firing.