Got Squats?

What we're left with after, say 8 to 10 reps or so, is highly dependent on how good your body is at taking in plenty of oxygen in a short amount of time. The more your body can take in, the more energy gets utilized, and the more reps you can squeeze out. Pretty simple, huh?

The key issue here is - of course - to prime your ability to absorb oxygen. Now for the bad news. The only way to do this is to spend some time pounding the concrete, biking, or anything else that gets your heart rate up and going. Make sure to get at least 3 rounds of cardio for 20 minutes or more per week, and keep that pulse higher than if you were out to just burn off the love handles.

Point #3: Stealth
This clever method is so simple that it tends to be all but forgotten in favor of other, more complex strategies. However, the stealth method is hard to beat when you're looking to pump up the weights in compounds movements like squats. The basic principle is this:
Your body doesn't really know the difference between 300 lbs and 305. Those puny 2.5's on each side are a thimble in the ocean. Odds are, you'll probably have no problems doing the same amount of reps with 5 lbs extra.

When you sneak on another 5 lbs a week or two later, you've gotten used to 305, so that 310 doesn't really make much difference either, now does it? ...And so it can go on for quite a while. In the span of a few months, you could actually have added 40-50 lbs to your total, while still doing the same amount of reps!

Granted, the pace might not be quite as exciting as heavy negative training, but you can be fairly sure to get the weights up, slowly but steadily, without running undue risk of injury. The only real downside is that you have to more or less ditch the periodization-strategy for legs while doing this. The conclusion - of course - is to periodize stealth training with normal high/low-rep alternating periodization! As in doing 3 months of stealth training, then do 6 months of "normal" periodization (4-6 week cycles of lighter vs. heavier training - see this article in the archive), and then go back to 3 more months of stealth training. You'll probably notice a slight

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