All previous [Concept Wednesdays](http://www.reddit.com/r/bodyweightfitness/wiki/weekly/conceptwednesday)

This week we're going to be discussing *Finishers*.

Finishers can be a way to cap off a training session and push yourself at the end of a session to give you a feeling of working hard, give you a bit of cardiovascular conditioning and squeeze out what energy you have left over.

I also want to talk about small tweaks you can make to the last set of your regular exercises to push yourself a bit harder, which can be useful to bridge the gap between adding reps or changing progressions.

#Set Finishers

**AMRAP**

As Many Reps As Possible

Pretty simple, you just do as many reps as possible in your last set. Gives you a good indicator of where you are with an exercise and perhaps how many reps you should go for next workout, and is always going to make sure you're going to max on that last set.

It isn't going to help if you're already struggling to get the rep numbers for a set however, as AMRAP = the number reps you're already doing.

**Rest Pause Sets**

Finish your last set, have a short rest (incomplete rest, not the same as if you were going for another set) and then complete 1-3 more reps, repeat until you have completed as many reps or repeats as you've planned. The length of your rest and the number of reps per mini-set is heavily dependant on the intensity of the exercise (and thus the number of reps per set).

* I'd avoid using this for Singles or Doubles training, as you should need full rest between reps.
* For sets of 3-5, a rest-pause of 60-120 seconds between mini-sets of 1 rep. Usually aiming to complete 1-3 extra reps.
* For sets of 5-8, a rest-pause of 30-60 second between mini-sets of 1-2 reps, aiming to complete 2-5 extra reps.
* For sets of 8+ a rest pause of 20-60 seconds between mini-sets of 1-3 reps, aiming to complete 2+ extra reps.

These are good for adding extra training volume while allowing you to be practice technique while relatively fresh, as the pause allows you to slightly recover and refocus. If you're trying to bring up your reps a bit, I'd start on the lower end of extra reps and build it up to the higher end over the course of a few workouts. Try to keep the reps technically precise, and if you're struggling to complete the extra reps clean, consider finishing the set there.

**Drop Sets**

The drop refers to a drop in intensity, traditionally dropping the weight used for an exercise, but moving to another progression works just as well (and can often be a lot easier logistically). The idea is that you continue your set but just at a lower intensity, which allows you to fully exhaust your muscles or at the very least add more volume without getting full technical failure.

Often you'd do the last set AMRAP then drop the intensity so you could do about half the number of reps (you know yourself best in this regard), then AMRAP at this progression. You can continue doing drops for as long as you like, but you'll likely find you're doing a movement you could do indefinitely it's so easy, but you'd be surprised what is still a struggle.

**Adding Eccentrics**

Eccentrics are essentially a version of a drop, so are pretty similar to the above method. Eccentrics have the added benefit of being very specific to the move you are trying to improve and being very scalable (you just do the eccentric faster the more fatigued you are).

Doing one or two eccentric reps as slow as you can after your last set can often be enough to add on another rep for the next workout, so it can be a pretty powerful tool if you're stuck.

If you're working on partial ROM exercises where the missing ROM is at the bottom of the movement, then a negative can give you some practice using that full ROM even if just eccentrically.

**Pauses and Holds**

It may be that you don't need to go to absolute failure or really smash the volume if you're still making good progress, but a little tweak can really help you in the long run.

Typically you'd just do this at the end of your last set on your last scheduled rep (even if you had more in the tank), it could be a pause in the hardest position of the exercise (thus strengthening your weak spot) or it could be at a starting position that might pose a challenge for you. Here are some examples:

* On the last rep of your pull ups, holding the top part of the rep as high as you can, or on the way down; the middle position (near 90 degrees) or just shy of the bottom position. To strengthen each of those portions of your pull.
* Hanging on to the bar after pull ups for as long as possible to strengthen your grip and get your body used to hanging.
* Hanging on to the last rep of your deadlifts at the top to strengthen your grip.
* Holding the top position of your ring dips to practice your support position.
* After doing the positive portion of your pistol, doing a hold at the bottom position can help give your body time to adapt to that position and increase your mobility.

**When and how to use**

I don't believe these should be used every session, and if they are used, they're used consistently for a block of training, aiming to create a progressive overload of this new stimulus, rather than all or nothing all the time.

Make sure your progress isn't halted due to poor recovery, in which case extra volume probably isn't going to do much for you.

#Workout Finishers

These tend to come in one of two forms: Muscle Group Finishers and Full Body/Metabolic Finishers

**Muscle Group Finishers**

Typically these are used when doing a split workout for the body-part you are working that day i.e. a pushing/chest/tris finisher on a push day. Usually using a move/moves that you can do a lot of reps with or move continuously.

These finishers often utilise implements that you can complete simple power moves with (sled pushes/pulls/shoves, medicine ball/deadball slams/throws.)

For bodyweight, I don't think these are a great option (just do more medium-high volume work), but if you're super keen on these try super-setting with short rest a continuous movement with a paused movement using a short rest (<20sec):

* Lunges with Wall sits/Paused Squat hold (90 degrees)
* Clap Push Up/Quick Push Ups with Paused Dip (just below 90 degrees for chest, squeezing at the top for tris)
* Bear Crawl with Planks/Extended Plank Holds
* If you've got a sandbag, they can be great for throwing around

Repeat between the two until you die.

**Full Body and Metabolic Finishers**

Basically just high intensity cardio, typically with a resistance exercise spin, they can be a good way to push mental limits and get your heart rate up.

General Guidelines:

* Nothing that requires huge amounts of technical proficiency, such as: jumping, sprinting (with the possible exception of hill sprints), most gymnastic moves, Oly lifting
* Nothing where failure is going to result in a high chance for injury such as: box jumps, Oly lifting, skin the cats, ab wheel rollouts
* Movements you can do quite a few reps of and/or you can move continuously with
* Alternate between movements that don't share muscle groups if possible (lunges and push ups)
* Keep the rests short
* Use static holds as pseudo-rests to get your heart rate back down

Here are some moves you might want to incorporate:

* Bear Crawl - if you've got relatively healthy joints, crawling is pretty safe and a good way to get your heart rate up
* Hill Sprint - Depends on how much of an unco you are
* Squat Jump - Partial squat and non-maximal jump
* Burpees - Or as some clients have suggested they be called: "chuckies"
* Burpee to pull up - Burpees under a bar, the higher you jump the less pulling you have to do
* Mountain Climbers
* Star Jumps
* Plyo Push Ups
* Lunges
* Plyo-Lunges
* Plank
* Side Plank
* Wall-Sit
* Skipping Rope
* Sandbag Power Exercises - Slams, overhead throws, forwards throws, scoop toss, jump toss.

And there's lots of ways you can combine them too:

* AMRAP in 20 seconds, 10 seconds rest, repeat for the next exercise. 4 exercises, repeated 4 times for 8 minutes of fun. Adjust times, number of exercises, repeats, etc as needed
* Ladders - 8 reps of each exercise, 7 reps of each exercise, all the way down to one of each exercise. Add in a bear crawl sprint or hill sprint between each repeat to add a bit of spice
* Distances - If you're doing exercises that have you travel (crawls, lunges, inchworming, etc) you can do them over a set distance, performing a set number of repetitions at each end before heading back.
* Set Number Workout - Set a high number (something silly like 200) and do that number of reps of each chosen exercise, in any order you like, swapping whenever you like.
* Or just steal a Crossfit MetCon.

**How do I make sure these don't interfere with my resistance training?**

These are always going to have an impact, but don't forget that the body is always responding to a huge number of variables and that exercise is basically just a stress that disrupts homoeostasis to some degree such that the body hopefully adapts. You're never going to have an *optimal* workout, sure more or less optimal is possible, but it will never be perfect. It could be this workout actually increases your adaptation.

Always think of your body having limited resources it can apply to adaptation, how much of your limited resources do you want to spend on this sort of workout? But if it's what makes working out fun for you, go nuts. If you're going to do these, you don't have to do these regularly. Once a week, a fortnight or month, find out what works for you.

In the end: don't overdo it, eat enough, recover appropriately.

**Discussion Questions:**

* What is your set finisher you've used to push progress on a problem/target exercise?
* How did it affect that exercise?
* How did it affect the rest of your workout?
* Do you do any sort of full body finisher or "MetCon"?
* How often do you do this? Is it in addition to more traditional cardio?