Max Effort–PES

By Dave Tate

For www.EliteFTS.com

Look, I totally understand that I’m VERY far removed from normal. As I sit here listening to Korn with my Harley shirt, camouflage shorts, Fat Headz sunglasses, Timberlands, freshly shaved head, and goatee, I fully know where I come from. Yes, I have MANY beanie hats and clothes with flames and words such as “discipline” and “hate” screened on them. I’ve also NEVER thrown out a single pair of Chucks that I own. I have my first 800-lb squat Chucks, my first 900-lb squat Chucks, and about twenty other ones that represent PRs ranging from board presses to some crazy sex position that took years of functional training to achieve.

What does this have to do with this post? Nothing, but it’s pretty sad if you think about it. Screw it. Some things are just what they are. How did this all start?

For some reason, I decided to pick up the phone today. Because I’m the big boss man, this is a rare occurrence around here. Actually, you don’t want to speak to me because I have no idea how to do anything around here. I know how to order lunch and how to pull my own shit out of the warehouse. (But I still don’t use the required systems and paper work to do this so I know how to order lunch.)

I have serious shit to do around here like moving my desktop icons from one monitor to the other and trying to figure out what screen resolution to use. It’s so bad that they took my computer off of the network so I couldn’t screw anything up. After the locks were changed last time, the only key they gave me was to the weight room. I’m not sure what this means, but I have come to terms with my inadequacies. However, I do try to pull rank sometimes and call a staff meeting and suggest a bunch of changes only to find out they changed the old way a YEAR ago. Yes, I’m a business guru!

We were a bit short staffed today, and the phones were going nuts. I remember sitting here listening to it ring and noticing everyone else was on other lines. All I thought was, “Oh man, I hope this isn’t an order because I have no idea what to do.” Like a new employee on their first day, I had to build up my courage and get into “peak” state to take the call.

I picked up the phone and said, “Hello.” SHIT! I forgot to say, “Thank you for calling Elite Fitness Systems. This is Dave. How can I help you?”

“Is this Elite Fitness Systems/” the caller asked.

“Yes. This is Dave. How can I help you?” I replied.

Then old memories came flushing back to me. The “old school” days years ago where I took all the phone calls. I leaned back in my chair and positioned myself for what I knew was coming. It was so common years ago and became one of the main reasons that I had to hire staff in the first place. People would call me all the time and then say, “Is this THE Dave Tate?”

I can’t lie. It has been a long time since I’ve had my ego stroked, and I’m coming off of a bad week. I was already thinking of the story I could tell Jim on the flight to New Jersey tomorrow. (You know…trying to make it look like I did something.) So I arched up to crack my upper back, adjusted my neck, and I was ready to roll.

The voice on the other end of the line said, “Hey Dave, is there someone there I can talk to about my training real quick?”

Shattered! I was totally SHATTERED.

I knew what to do. I was going to send the call to Jim or John. Their lines were both free now so all I had to do was put the caller on hold and forward the call. Then I looked at my phone and realized that this wasn’t an option. There is a red button with an upside down phone on it and an orange one with a phone with an arrow pointing down. I knew I had to use one of them to place the caller on hold, but I had NO IDEA which one. I figured I had a 50/50 shot, but I didn’t want to hang up on the guy. Even if I did figure out which button to use, it wouldn’t have mattered because I had no clue how to send the call to someone else. (It took me two years before I realized that I had voicemail on the phone.) There are a zillion buttons on my phone. Whatever happened to the 0–9 concept with an ‘*’ and ‘#’ tossed in for balance?

“Maybe I can help you. What is going on?” I asked.

The caller than proceeded to ask me if I knew what the ME (pronounced em eee) method was?

Right away, I was thinking to myself, “Em eee method?” What the hell is that? Did Louie come up with something else I know nothing about? Maybe it was Louie setting me up again (we used to send the wildest people to each other so we could “share” the experience. The next day in the gym, Louie would tell me about how this totally nuts guy called and told him how he broke his chin doing dynamic effort upright rows. Meanwhile, I had told the guy that Louie was the “trap” man and could get the guy back on track.) I figured out that it couldn’t be this because Louie knew I was too busy washing my car to answer the phone.

Politely, I asked the caller to explain to me in his words what he thought the “em eee” method was? Very quickly, I realized that this guy was asking about the max effort method and wanted to know when you know if it’s really a maximal effort.

Now, we were speaking my language. I decided to share this because I’m sure there are others out there who may have the same question. So let the education begin...

You may know the “game,” but you gotta know the “name” so that you don’t look like a total moron. Nobody with any experience or level of strength would ever say “em eee” method, ME method, or max out. They would say, “I worked up” or “I did a single.” This is all assumed unless otherwise noted.

Let me explain. If you told me that you benched, I assume that you worked up to a single unless you told me you did a triple or some other very low number of reps. If it’s over three, you really shouldn’t be speaking about it at all. If you do have to speak about the method, you should say max effort, max effort method, or any other various form of that (circa-max). Now that we have this out of the way, we can move on.

How do you know if it is really a maximal effort?

If you’ve been lifting for sometime, you know. However, what if you haven’t lifted for that long? I had never really thought about it until the conversation I had earlier, but I see a need for a max effort perceived exertion scale (PES). This scale will totally change the way people look at max effort training from this day on. This scale may even change the way people see training as a whole. I think it’s a huge revelation, and it should be.

It took me every bit of 90 seconds to scribble it on my lunch bag. (I would have used a post-it note, but I discovered that my desk drawer was locked. When I asked about this, I guess it has been that way since we moved in 18 months ago.)

Max effort perceived exertion scale
Class V (aka pure puss): This is when you see a lifter try the weight and right when it gets hard, they stop pushing. After pulling the weight off of them (which normally isn’t a problem because it’s so light), they walk away like it was no big deal with a smile on their face and say “maybe next time.” Next time my ass! Not unless you grow a pair a balls that hang in the teabag between your legs.
 
Class IV (aka sweat stain): At this stage, you see some intensity, but most of it is fake and not deeply rooted. It’s more of an “eye of the tiger” type thing with maybe some dancing and light self-talk. The key indicator with this phase is the breaking out in sweat. This is more than likely due to a fear of heavy weights (sorry, I meant to say weight, not heavy weights), but it’s still there. This group will strain into a sticking point and then you’ll hear a slight grunt like they’re really trying hard. However, this normally doesn’t work, and they miss the weight. This group gets frustrated because they haven’t made any gains in several years, and they take it out by making slanderous posts on internet forums. They’re approaching hardcore even if it’s only in their own minds. They also do have balls, but they’re hindered by all of the under armor gear they wear.

Class III (aka bellow bastard): This guy has it all down. The outfit has been pre-selected for its “hardcoreness.” He has the perfect practiced approach to the bar that’s always staged to the right music. He knows exactly what to say and bellows so that everyone knows he’s going for the “big one.” His success rate is much higher than the classes before because he really does give a shit. He wants to get stronger even though in his mind he’s already one of the best of all time, and he’s only getting beat because of drugs, judging, or gear. If he does miss, it’s a pretty legit miss so we’re getting closer to real max effort work. When he does miss, he’s not only frustrated but pissed off.

Class II (aka first tapping): Now, we get to the level where 70 percent of those who train hard sit. This is the level where they’re almost there but just don’t get it yet. There’s no doubt that they try hard and bust their asses, but they just can’t make the next step. They will push into a weight and keep pushing forever until someone pulls it off. Granted, while this is happening, all the Elite guys are thinking that the guy is a total moron for doing it. If they do make a weight, they are always looking for some type of high five, fist tap, or congrats. Meanwhile, they don’t understand that they were supposed to make it in the first place. Now, if they miss a weight, it messes with their head for days and perhaps weeks. They freak out trying to figure out what happened, and they drive everyone nuts about it. It’s all they talk about, and they just can’t let it go. In time, they either quit or finally figure it out and move on to the next level.

*At this point, the AKA’s are dropped because of the crossover effect. This effect means that they now know what strength is, and they don’t have to pretend to know. In other words, they grew a set of balls. After this point, if a weight is missed, it will bother the lifter, but they normally find an external excuse for the miss. They figure if it wasn’t for that one thing, they would have got the weight. Thus, missing isn’t really an issue anymore.

Class 1: This is when real max effort work begins to take root. No longer is the movement just about muscles. When the strain happens at this stage, everything gets messed up. You can see stars and hear voices. You black out, bleed from the nose and ears, break blood vessels in your head, tear muscles off, and an entire host of other things plus a few that haven’t happened yet. The door is wide open here, but this is the level that has to be respected and mastered. This is where most max effort work will happen. Anything under this level is really known as sub-maximal and anything above this level (while necessary) has to be regulated.

Masters: There isn’t much difference with this class and the class before except for when the lift is over, the lifter says to himself, “Man that was really stupid.” This is one level over the one before and needs to be controlled.

Elite: This is when you strain through a lift, and when it’s over, you sit down and your training partners all look at you and say, “Dude, are you OK? That was so stupid.” You know that they said “something,” but you really have no idea what it was. You just look at them and say, “Thanks dude” and go back to staring into space.

This is the KING of max effort work and will normally screw up the rest of your day and most of the next day. Your recovery will definitely be affected, and you will hurt in places that you didn’t know existed. You also experience all of the same effects as the other classes (you see stars, hear voices, bleed, and sweat), but, at this point, this is pretty much accepted and considered part of the warm up.

Dave Tate is the founder and CEO of Elite Fitness Systems, staffed by experienced professionals dedicated to providing strength coaches, athletes and trainers with the highest-quality equipment, personalized service and extensive knowledge needed to advance their training programs. Dave has been involved with powerlifting for more than two and a half decades as a world-class participant, coach and consultant. He has logged more than 10,000 hours of personal training and strength consulting sessions with professional, elite and novice athletes, as well as with professional and university strength coaches. He holds Elite status in powerlifting (in three weight classes) with best lifts of a 935 squat, 740 deadlift, 610 bench press and 2,205 total. In addition to remaining active as a participant who still pushes himself to excel, Dave contributes insights and inspiration to the sport that has shaped him. Through Elite Fitness Systems, he has conducted hundreds of influential seminars and clinics nationwide for gyms, training centers, schools and universities. He has written more than 100 articles on strength training for magazines and web sites, including Powerlifting USA, Men’s Fitness, Men’s Health and T-Nation.com. This athlete-entrepreneur earned a Lifetime Achievement award in 2005 from the Society for Weight Training Specialists.

Dave Tate’s impact also extends beyond training techniques and beyond his sport. As a business adviser, motivational speaker and author, he shows how athletic disciplines teach valuable lessons for overall achievement. “We each have all we need to achieve success in anything we choose to do,” says Tate, describing the theme of his 2005 book, Under the Bar / Twelve Lessons of Life from the World of Powerlifting. He lives with his family in London, Ohio.

Elite Fitness Systems strives to be a recognized leader in the strength training industry by providing the highest quality strength training products and services while providing the highest level of customer service in the industry. For the best training equipment, information, and accessories, visit us at www.EliteFTS.com.