The first two Muscle-Boosters I covered involved training past failure by lightening the load (drop sets) and taking a short rest (rest-pause) before continuing to rep out on an exercise. The technique I’m covering here has you training past failure as well – except that you’ll neither be lightening the load nor taking a rest.

I’m talking about forced reps, something you’ve probably seen countless times at the gym where a training partner helps his buddy get a few more reps at the end of a tough set. Sounds simple enough, but there’s more to it than that. Here’s a breakdown of a very effective technique (provided you don’t overdo it):

What it is: A technique where, after reaching failure on a set, a spotter assists in lifting the weight so that you can get past your sticking point and continue the set.

Why to do it: To increase intensity and push yourself a little further.

How to do it: The key to effective (and safe) forced rep training is having a spotter who knows what he or she is doing. The objective is to get 2-4 forced reps at the end of a set – not 8-10. For that reason, the spotter shouldn’t be helping too much and taking on most of the work. He or she should make you work hard throughout each and every forced rep, providing just enough assistance to get you past your sticking point.

That said, the spotter shouldn’t be making you work so hard that the reps take five seconds each on the concentric (positive) portion; when doing forced reps, the weight should always keep moving. If it stops, the spotter isn’t providing enough help.

Another key point here: Don’t do too many forced reps in any given workout. This is a very demanding technique, and it’s easy to overdo it. Do NOT do forced reps on every set of an exercise; limit it to only the last one or two sets of an exercise. I also recommend only doing forced reps on one or two exercises per muscle group.

Here’s a workout that incorporates forced reps for bigger, stronger shoulders: