Why You Should Use Singles to Increase Your Max

[jeremyorme]

There’s no way that Powerlifting Now didn’t offer this man to join them, right? Easily some of the best-organized and valuable information for powerlifters

[mastersironmantarmstrong]

Great video!

I am an old school powerlifter who competed in the ADFPA from 1988-1991.

Back in those days our main source of information came from the magazine Powerlifting USA and they had a 198 lb record holder with a great physique named Roger Estep answer questions.

He was really big on promoting singles and in that era of linear progression most peaking phases would go from like 8s to 5s to 3s.

Anyway we had very little information back then and less understanding and not much was actually explained in detail.

I was always a thinker and studier but still not able to fit all the fragmented pieces of training together I received but now I am much closer to putting it together.

Of course I am way past my prime at almost 56 but still train like a powerlifter using singles at about rpe 7-8 and do hypertrophy training year around.

I guess I am saying I really enjoyed the video because I agreed with everything and feel I have developed similar ideas intuitively over the years.

[feathermilkalley]

“Singles make people feel like they are powerlifters” well said, that’s how I feel after I hit relatively heavy top singles, that emotional satisfaction is nothing to compare to haha
Physical wise, it does get me used to that weight and furthermore, improve my overall strength. 👍🏼

[BlackBearBarbell]

The emotional aspect of missing your goal weight on a single contributing to fatigue isn't something I ever thought about, but man does it make sense! Thanks for the video 👍

[dfkt]

Very insightful video. The part comparing the fatigue of singles versus high session duration or high reps is something I have noticed personally. I moved away from doing high volume "submax" training for that reason -- long sessions coupled with too much volume and a stressful life outside the gym made me into a zombie. Now I am training with reasonable amounts of intensity and volume, with singles too, and my energy levels have improved.

[Oi-mjdv]

I have no idea how i havent found your channel eaelier. This is a gem. Dropping a follow

[richardpartin]

I love hitting single. It has changed the game for me. A single definitely builds strength. It isn’t just practice.

[PaulSanders-uirw]

Earned yourself a subscriber with this video, bud. Excellent information presented well and with no stupid music or douchebaggery. Well done.

[devanshbharti]

Not getting extremely hyped before or during the single has a lot of utility wen it comes to mitigating the emotional fatigue and i really like the concept of training unaroused without caffine or music

[GDoggy-emxc]

Yeah Man, I’m 49 and I no longer do sets over 2-3 reps. High rep sets absolutely destroy me, I can’t do them anymore without feeling like I’m halfway in the ground. I only care about strength and cardio now. I ain’t getting any more muscle.

[Thshiznitz]

The amount of information in this video! Can’t believe Dave is putting it out there FOR FREE!

[anabolicamaranth]

I tend to place more emphasis on the back down sets when I’m far from the meet and vice versa close to the meet.

[HenchPig]

Awesome video man thank you!

With the single rep @ RPE 8 being a decent stimulus to get strong could that approach be taken to the point where we have one main lift for the day working up to a training max and then just doing bodybuilding work to build the muscle mass?

I’m a bjj athlete and just looking to get generally bigger, stronger and look better for my sport.

Been doing starting strength but I find it super fatiguing and very hard on all my joints.

This was my thought.

Have a bench, squat, press and deadlift day and run it over a 3 day week and carry the next workout onto the following week.

Here’s an example of a bench day:

Bench - Training Max
Paused Bench 3x10
BB Row 3x10
BB Curl + DB Ext 3x10-12
Machine Laterals 3x12-15

What do you think of this approach?

I feel it would be useful especially for a non strength sport athlete to get strong in a way that’s much easier on the joints.

Let me know what you think!

[Whurlin]

Started a new bench cycle today and one of the days will be dedicated to singles at 90%. No real progression in mind other than maybe adding sets if I feel good. Progressing working sets on the other days. I definitely do singles less on bench then on squat and deadlift, probably subconsciously. But watching this vid reinforced what I already thought about doing. So this was right on time. Lol Thank you!

[catedoge]

Competition single is the closest you can to actual comp standard set. Specificity is the name of the game.

[jodogg]

How is one supposed to modulate the progression of said single over time if they're just going by RPE8 (in this example) which is essentially going by feel, which will be up and down depending on the day. I also understand that there are still backdowns and other volume accumulated via variations, but if your volume work is tethered to the single you hit by percentage (which I see many people prescribe) how can one reliably progress their lifts with that kind of variability?

[dylanconnors]

My training is more hypertrophy focused but I'd love to get my bench press strength up, would it be beneficial to throw in a single at 8-9 RPE after my usual working sets?

[finallyfriday.]

I do 10, then add weight and do 8, add and do 5, add and do 3, finally doing 1 at personal best. Next sessoon I start 5# higher. Each time my best gets +5#

[herrnoname.]

Cluster Sets tend to work for me quite good 😊

[kellybardwell]

I’m 50/50 on fatigue singles during my offseason (straight after comp any ways) - I enjoy tops sets of 6-3 reps but still feel singles are such as skill.