Tension- Simply put, muscular tension is the key to everything, not failure and not fatigue or "the pump". You must put your muscles in situations where they must develop significant tension. There is some debate of how to measure or calibrate this concept of tension, but I think the best way is to use the Maximum lift one is capable of performing. This is referred to as the "1RM"-your 1 rep max. It is best to note what type of gear you are or are not using when you completed this lift. You are set up to fail if you base your training on a full gear squat, and then try to build a training cycle in which you will not be using all that gear. You must use weights between 40-120%(Siff) to effectively train, and in practice about 66%(Siff) is the bottom amount that is really useful. 90% and above weights (we can generally do 1-3 reps with these) yield the best strength gains but burn out the CNS rather quickly, 3 workouts of the same exercise above 90% is the CNS limit in my actual experience and that agrees with everything I have read. We can get almost the same strength gain from going a little lighter, working in the 4-6 rep range, and we will even gain a little muscle hypertrophy and no CNS burnout (Siff). Always try to move the weight concentrically as fast as possible(Hatfield/Simmons). There are many methods to increase tension; isometrics, overload eccentrics, bands, chains, hyperirradiation, plyometrics, and partials. They will all work in moderation, but you must keep hammering away at those 70-89% weights, do an occasional single or two with 90-95%, and every once in a while throw in a partial range of motion exercise at 100-120%. This is particularly effective for the Bench Press and Deadlift lockout. Adding chains and/or heavy rubber bands to the bar is an ingenious method to add more tension as the joint angles and leverages improve through the range of motion. Tension is King! It is the only thing your muscles can perceive.
Number of Barbell Lifts-I used to be enthralled at "The Barbarians" and Dorian Yates and their balls to the wall training style. Getting those hard fought last couple reps were the key to getting bigger and stronger I believed. WRONG! Intensity is not a grimace and a backwards baseball cap, it is a mathematical formula! That Mathematical formula is based on all the reps you do above about 40-50% of 1RM in a time period, say a month, and what the percent of your 1RM was your average rep. Lets say you benched 330 in your last meet in a shirt. Your best in training raw is 295. Your first month of training you bench once a week and do the following workouts: 205x8x2, 215x8x2, 225x8x2, and 230 x7, 6. Your volume is equal to (205x16)+(215x16)+(225x16)+(230x13)=13,310 lbs. 13310lbs/61 lifts=218.2 lbs. 218.2 lbs/295 lbs=74% average intensity. This is rather high average intensity. You will get stronger doing this workout, if you can do it! 8 reps are fine for bodybuilding or building strength endurance, but not best for getting stronger! You would have done better if you had gotten 3 sets of 5 or 5 sets of 3(15 reps) vice the 7 and the 6(13 reps) on week 4. Doing 15 reps in the workout with 78% is better than doing 13 reps with 78%, regardless of how many sets you do. You would be doing even better benching twice a week, and eventually even more times per week. You should ballpark attempt to keep the average intensity between 65 and 75% in each macro cycle. In order to get stronger as you progress further and further and cycle after cycle, you will have to do more Barbell lifts in both the preparatory and competitive cycles, while keeping that intensity in the proper range. You will have to do more sets of each exercise, keeping the reps a rep or two away from failure The competitive cycle should have about 15-30% less barbell lifts than the preparatory cycle, but a few more lifts in the 80-95% range and with the loss of most of the reps in the sub 70% range. American Powerlifting Periodization workouts generally have you starting out with multiple sets of 8 or more reps than dropping through the cycle to a big double for a set or two and training each lift once a week. This will only work if you are a beginner (everything will work when you start out!), genetic freak and/or you are on the best drugs available. There a many permutations and combinations of workout schemes you can try! -3x3, 5x5, 54321, 32123, 8x3,the list is endless, but your recovery ability is not! A key idea here is you do not have to work to failure. A great guideline is to do 5-6 reps with a weight you can do 10-12 reps with as your core sets.
Anyways the formula I gave you is for power lifting without alot of shit to do it with its long winded but figure it out and do it
