Bodybuilder Dana Linn Bailey has five proven strategies to help take your workouts to the next level without adding extra weight. In her latest undertaking, she broke down how to implement drop sets, pulsing reps, tempo, isometric holds, and rest-pauses to make the most of each training session.
“These are great for not only adding strength and adding size but without you actually having to overload the muscles. This is great for anyone that has limited equipment at home, that you need to make 30-pound dumbbells feel really hard. You can use these techniques in every single workout and I’m going to give you examples of each one.”
Known for her meticulous training efforts, Dana Linn Bailey reached the top of the sport with a shredded physique, complimented by her V-taper and impressive delts. She is the inaugural Women’s Physique Olympia champion, an accolade she earned in 2013.
Although she no longer competes actively, DLB’s devotion to high-quality training hasn’t waned. She regularly offers fans actionable advice and workouts on her growing YouTube channel of over 548,000 subscribers. If you’re looking to increase the intensity of your training sessions, Bailey lays out how to accomplish that goal with these five simple methods.
Dana Linn Bailey’s 5 Intensity Strategies to Give Your Workouts a Boost
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“Today, I have for you five intensity strategies that you can use during your workout without you actually having to add weight,” said DLB.
Find DLB’s five intensity strategies below:
- Drop sets
- Pulsing Reps (Shortened Partials)
- Tempo Reps
- Isometric Holds
- Rest-Pause
Drop sets
Bailey credits drop sets as a versatile and effective technique for improving workouts. When she trains, she likes her last set of an exercise to be a drop set. To accomplish this, she says to push a set to failure and then drop the weight by 30-40 percent, and proceed with another set.
“Super easy. I’m going to do it just on a leg press but again, you can use this with dumbbells, any kind of machine, literally every single exercise. The purpose of a drop set and I like to use it on my last set. I like to kind of go pretty much to failure and the idea is you go to failure then when you completely exhaust, you’re going to drop the weight.”
“Depending on how you use the drop set you can use a single drop set where you drop by 30-40 percent and then you go to failure again. But you can also do many drop sets. So let’s say I keep going and I keep going until I can’t go anymore. I go to failure again. Drop again, drop by 20-30 percent, keep going again.”
Pulsing Reps (Shortened Partials)
She also credits pulsing reps or shortened partial reps as an effective method for increasing workout intensity.
“I do them a lot. They are a fan favorite. So, I’m going to use a resistance band because I really really like doing these with lateral raises but again, this is something that you can do with every exercise.
Maybe you’re on squats and you’re doing pulsing or partial reps, either way, whatever it’s called, pulsing or partial, it’s not doing the full range of motion.”
Bailey uses pulsing reps on exercises like the dumbbell lateral raise, often using resistance bands.
“The idea behind it is to keep that blood in whatever muscle you’re working so it doesn’t get to relax. So if you think of a lateral raise, when you come up, it’s being worked, when you come down, the blood goes away and it gets relaxed.
So what I’m going to do is I add in, I’ll do a regular set of dumbbell lateral raises, then I’ll grab a resistance band, and I’m just doing these tiny little pulsing reps, staying at the top so that my medial head of my deltoid is not getting any break.”
Tempo Reps
Tempo, or the rhythm in which you lift the weights, can also have a profound impact on intensity, as explained by Bailey.
“Play with tempo. Slow down your reps. This is great for anyone that works out at home and maybe you don’t have dumbbells that go up to 100. So, we need to make those 40 or 50 pounds feel a lot heavier so we’re going to slow the reps down.”
“You can slow them on the eccentric, which is the way down, or even the concentric, which is the way up.”
Isometric Holds
Next, DLB advocates for isometric holds, which she described as holding the weight during a peak contraction.
“An isometric hold is basically you’re at peak contraction and you’re going to keep it at peak contraction and not move.”
“I’m going to perform it on something very easy to do, which is the leg extension. I’ll do a couple of sets, 10-12 reps and sometimes I’ll add an isometric hold on the very last set and I try to hold the weight as long as possible.”
Rest-Pause
The last intensifying strategy is rest-pauses, something she says works great as a finisher. Should you take a set to failure, DLB says to rest for 5-10 seconds before completing another set of a given exercise.
“This is something that you can do, I love to do it on the very last set. Can you do it for more sets? Yes. But it is a great finisher on something like a tricep pushdown. What you’re going to do is do your regular set, however many reps that is, 10-12 reps and you’re going as heavy as you possibly can, basically to failure. When you rest-pause, let’s say you go to failure, you’re going to give yourself 5-10 seconds and then you’re going to go again.”
“We’re not switching the weight, we’re not adding weight, we’re not subtracting weight. This is a way for you to get more reps at the same exact weight,” said Dana Linn Bailey.
From exercise intensity to nutrition, Dana Linn Bailey makes it a point to keep fans informed on her best protocols for optimal fitness. She shared a simple and consistent checklist for meal-prepping, which not only saves her time but allows her to consume foods that will better fuel her rigorous workout routine.
Having reached the top of the sport in her respective division, it’s evident Dana Linn Bailey’s training efforts have paid off. The next time you want to increase the difficulty of your workout, implement any of her five strategies for a more intense experience.
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