I’ve been lifting weights for 8 years, and I’ve been exercising for strength for 12. This last year I hit my first ever 225 lb bench press and it was YEARS in the making, scraping out maybe 10 lbs every 12 months. I hadn’t seen progress on my bench press in quite a long time, but after experimenting with a new approach to lifting, my chest strength has exploded.

Power Factor Training

I’ve written about the strong range and it’s benefits for strength gain for anyone, and especially for athletes in another article linked here, but I had never seen someone else who had created an entire program and philosophy centered around the idea of partial repititions. That changed when I was introduced to Pete Sisco and John Little’s book, power factor training. Upon reading this and subsequent books and studies by the two, I began experimenting with a routine Sisco described in his study “Mass Gain Study”.

The Routine

Sisco witnessed the best results with 30-second timed exercises that hiked the intensity up and piled weight on advocating for exercises in the partial or strong range that allow for the most overload of weight. When we go into full ranges of motion during lifts, we’re only able to overload with the most amount of weight we can tolerate at the bottom, or weakest, portion of the exercise. By staying in the partial range one can add significantly more tension through weight, overloading the muscles to a greater degree. This technique was used in combination with 30-second timed sets where trainees look to crank out as many reps as possible with a weight that takes them to the brink of failure by the end of 30 seconds. This one 30 second set per exercise is designed to overload your muscles with as much tension and give the stimulus that was found the body reacted best to in the form of 30 second exposures. By attempting to get the most amount of reps as possible with the maximum amount of weight your body can tolerate for 30 seconds, your body is able to get maximum adaptations without overtaxing your body systems and leaving you depleted.

The Results

Today is the 12th day I’ve been experimenting with this style of training and marks the fourth exercise that followed this structure and the results have been nothing short of remarkable. On the first day I began with 245 pounds on the partial range bench press, only moving it in the strognest range my body has. I was able to crank out 22 reps in 30 seconds, nearly failing at the end. Over the next 12 days and 3 workouts, I was able to consistently jump 20-30 pounds for the same amount of repititions with today marking 315 lbs for the same 22 reps. The same amount of repitions in the same amount of time with the same range of motion, just with 70 more pounds. While I have yet to see how this has translated to my full-range bench press, the results I’ve seen training in this natural range have been undeniable. I feel strong, I feel healthy without the hours spent in the gym and several grueling sets, and my numbers are skyrocketing.