1000 Reps to Bigger Muscles

[quote]Modi wrote:
Go Heavy,
I’m not questioning whether Vandal or your program works, my question was for Vandal to explain his total volume. I was under the impression that he believed in 80-100 reps per muscle group per week, and it seemed to me that he was using 400+ reps per week. I just wanted to know which it was. I find I train mcuh higher than 80 reps per week and at a high intensity too. I just like to know that people back up what the believe in.[/quote]

People spend entirely too much time thinking and not enough doing… especially beginners. For the advanced, we’ve already put the time in and experimented for years. Now is the time for us to contimplate a little bit. Begineers should just get a few lessons then head on in there and get going.

Numbers smumbers. Doesn’t really mean shit. You can do 80 reps a week all high intensity and less than 12 reps per set then also do another 600 in the low intensity endurance zone; say you were doing 100 rep bodyweight raises a night just to keep your calves loose. So what does that say for a total rep volume index? Probably throw it out the window because there was still a good 80 high intensity reps in there.

Think about calves. You know how many reps you actually do on them a week? Probably thousands… add in every step you take in a week. You walk approx 5-6 miles during a round of 18 hole golf.

It all boils down to the total force on the muscle… whether it be measured by reps, volume, weight… whatever doesn’t make a difference.

I have said before that reps don’t mean shit. A powerlifter can accomplish more hypertrophy in 1 rep a week than a bodybuilder could do with several hundred reps a week. How? Simply by the amount that the muscle was stressed.

People need to start thinking in terms of stress and force rather than reps, sets, exercises… muscles don’t give a shit about any of that. Muscles don’t care about tempo either… a muscle will find the least path of resistance to complete a task. If you do a bench press, your muscles will find the easiest way to move the object. If you have powerful delts, then it will use them first, so much for the bench press being the best chest builder for you. For you it might be dumbbell presses or flyes or push ups or how about a pec deck. Muscles only respond to resistance. Place your muscles under strain that they’re not used to and the machine will adapt.

I think in this body building forum, too much emphasis is placed on specifics and not enough on the basics. How many threads or articles are written on pain thresholds or the pain barrier? This is the important stuff. This is what forces muscles to grow when you subject them to this.

I don’t give a fuck all what exercise, what rep range, what weight, what tempo, who’s superspectacular routine, who’s advice… none of that matters. the only thing that matters is this… if I can’t push myself past a pain threshold or a comfortable weight my body can handle, then I’m not going to get results. Period.

I can get results and practicly the same exact results on anyones program in here, including my own that I make up when the effort level and mindset is the same. The main thing I do is try to beat my muscles with my brain not my program. That’s the difference maker. The rest of this stuff is just sideshow and more about a comfort level of exercising to suit your style or needs. The basics will never change.

Push your muscles past their normal path of resistance and they will adapt to the change and either grow stronger or bigger. Your muscles are usually smarter than you are. They won’t quit lifting that weight, but I guarentee you will. If you can “go thru the pain barrier”, you would be surprised how important this basic element in muscle building is. That’s all it is.

This is why these “crazy systems” work. Because nobody else is doing them. They are doing the norm. Well, the body responds to something not normal. 500 push ups a day is not normal and if subjected to that kind of torture you would benefit big i’m sure. Doing 4 or 5 dropsets of continuous stress on the muscle for say 40-50 reps in a minute is not normal and the body will change to go thru this type of resistance. Even these guys that use those 10 second rep bench press are using something the bodyis not used to. Another good form of pushing thru the pain barrier.

Now these are all shockers so to speak so they will work. What you can do is become good at these movements and when that happens then you really respond because you can really add the intensity by just increasing the load. I think too many people do dont increase the loads and push their bodies thru the baisc that we use all the time, that’s why these shocking systems work… because the body is not used to this kind of training at all.

Now you could get the same results with a normal routine and exercise your body has been doing for 10 years, you don’t need to change the exercise and shock it… but you need to increase the intensity and load… and most people will not do this because they have never learned the value of pushing thru the pain barrier. These crazy systems helps you get there almost accidently.

If I tell you to do 5 sets of max out push ups every night for a week, you probably wont do them. If I say to do 5 40 total rep dropsets of bench presses 3 times a week, you probably won’t do them. If I say to do 8 sets of 8-12 reps on the chest press machine and try to go heavier than your usual this week, you probably will do them because that is what you CAN do and you know you can get thru it with even just a little more effort even if you have to add a little bit of resistance to make it progressive.

TRY something your body CANT or DOESN’T want to do and CONSISTANTLY and you will have the basics 101 of GHF’s training philosophy. I’m old school…“No Pain, no gain”… just be smart and don’t injure yourself. There are ways to do an exercise that requires tremendous amout of pain threshold and completely safe… but who wants to do that right?

hello Luthor,nice post, thanks for the chat, we have the same take on tempo

This is a question for anyone out there that can help me, and I am not alone in this one, many guys have this same problem.

What happens when you get the best results in a low-rep range type of seta than specific speed of execution for each rep?

If I do sets between 5-7 reps, I feel great?as long as I lift fast (as I always try to do no matter what rep range I use ) and lower under control.

Let me explain: if I load the bar to do sets of 5-7 reps, with, let?s say, 200 pounds, I get a great pump by keeping the eccentric slow, perhaps close to the classic 2 seconds,similar to Waterbury’s 20X0/2010 tempo, which feels deep, like a strong massage on the muscles and leaves me a good pump?.which doesn?t last much, about 10-15 seconds.

However, I lift more weight, I feel a deeper stimulation and gives me a good deep pump but it doesn?t last much, and I don’t know if it produces any hypertrophy, for I spend a second or slightly less in lowering the bar but you to get great strength gains, even if it drains you completely.

I have the doubt on how slow should I make the eccentric be, this is, a short one, like a second or less or a slow but moderate one, like 2 seconds? I am after hypertrophy, so I really want to know.

I also recognize that I like to train by doing as many reps I can with a load, I start with one tempo and see how much can I do with the weight on, but I can?t maintain a constant speed. ? is that bad or should I just do them as I can?

What should I do in your opinion, to get some mass gains out of this? Should I do drop sets or rest-pause training?

Anybody, help me…

Quadmaster_fly:

First of all, let?s set something straight. You have established a correlation between the load you lift and the speed at which you move this load in one of the phases of motion, the negative or eccentric in this case; with the amount of weight you can handle for a fixed number of reps. I consider this a vital point, which I shall explain later on, for a set has to produce a certain amount of work in order to create growth.

Now, as to get more specific, my advice on tempo, if you really feel like using it, is to simply close your eyes, lift the weight by contracting the muscle as hard as you can without using poor form, momentum or such to help you lift the weight, contract hard at the top and this is the sweet part for you: LOWER SLOW ENOUGH AS YOU NEED TO FEEL THE MUSCLES TENSE AND CONTRACTED, FEELING THEM ALMOST AS TENSE AND HARD LIKE THEY WERE WHILE YOU LIFTED THE WEIGHT. Then just pause at the bottom as much as you need to feel that the ?elastic energy? dissipates.

Do NOT try to count this in seconds or numbers or anything like that. In my case, I like to load the bar so heavy as to lower the load and feel the muscles tense and hard on the way down almost like they were on the way up, yet keeping my rep speed fast.

Others follow the same guideline and prefer to use less weight and extend the eccentric more, as I said, it?s like an old scale, you compensate a smaller load by a higher time under tension, and you compensate a bigger load with lower time under tension, as long as you go with your gut and focus on the way the load feels, because just like the old saying goes ?the body doesn?t lie?, and if you are doing a good effort and training hard, your body will tell you pretty much everything you need in order to know how to hit it best.

As for your problem with the concept of Loading and Time Under Tension balancing and manipulation, I think you should try my own version of the 1-6 Method of Charles Poliquin, using your rep range of choice, which seems to give you the best bang for your buck in any given set of parameters:

If I were in your shoes, I would load the bar with my 5-rep max at your fast tempo (10X0-1010 as you explained) and lift 3 times. I?d finish my third rep, rack the load, take 10-15 seconds to drop off some weight, and then do 5-7 reps at your slower tempo (20X0-2010 as you explained), finish, take 10-15 seconds to rest and maybe, MAYBE drop off some weight for another 5-7 rep set ( or keep the weight the same and just max out on reps). This would be 1 set, for you anyways.

As you become better at this, you might want to add a set of pushups to max reps, or flyes and /or pullovers? one thing I should point out is that your grip on the bar must stay the same. There are methods of drop-setting where you change your grip to obtain a mechanical advantage, but that?s the lazy-ass way which gets your butt bigger and your muscles smaller.

I?ll admit to something: I am not a fan of rest-pause. Keeping the load the same and see the reps drop at each attempt is not what I feel a method for hypertrophy, but for strength, no matter how you adjust the volume or the loads, in my case. It?s why I stay clear of the doggcrapp training method, because I won?t deny it works for some people, and then again, it doesn?t work for other kinds of people, of course, I am included within that group.

Besides, I measure the efficiency of a set by its density, this is, the amount of work done in the set. Multiply the load by the times you lifted it and you?ll get the idea. I once heard a guy say to a newbie in the gym ?My 10-rep max is about 140 pounds, and my 15-reps max is 120 pounds, but I prefer to work my 10 rep sets with 120 and my 15-reps sets with 100, but I don?t like to go high, that?s why I love GVT, makes you work harder and better??dear God, I felt like bitch-slapping some sense into him. If I lift 120 pounds 10 times, I get 1200 pounds of work per set. If I multiply 15 by 100 pounds, I get 1500 pounds of work per set. ? Which set is more efficient?..the same thing is a good reason why to root for drop-setting.

If I were this moron and I was going to do a rest pause set and use a load of 120 pounds, which would be my 10-rep maximum, for 8 reps (you have to stay under failure, except if you are doing doggcrapp method), then rest 10 secs and do 6 reps, and rest another 10 secs to do a final 4 reps, that?s 120 pounds by 8 + 120 pounds by 6 + 120 pounds by 4?.or simply 120 pounds by 18 which result in 2160 pounds. You can?t get more than 4 sets like this as a maximum per session, and it?s going to be 72 hours before you can hit the gym, so it?s twice a week, so 2160 x 4 = 8640 pounds per session by 2 sessions a week 17280 pounds per week in an exercise.

If I do my drop sets with an initial load of 140 pounds by 5, then drop the load down to 120 pounds with 5 reps and then drop the load down to 120 pounds for another 5 reps, I get something like this: 140punds x 5reps= 700pounds + 120 x 5reps= 600 pounds +100 x 5reps = 500 pounds , that?s 700 + 600 + 500 = 1800 pounds of work. per set, and even though you can?t go above 4, or maybe 5, of these sets per session ( let?s go safe and think they are 4, which gives you 7200 pounds of work per session), you can train 3 times a week without risking injury, so you end up with 21600 pounds of work per week.

What if you prefer to go with a lighter load and keep in the 8-10 rep range? Just think of multiplying 120 by 8 (960pounds for the mathematically impaired), then drop to 100 and do 8 reps (800 pounds) and then do 8 reps with 80 pounds (640pounds) = 960 +640 +800 = 2400 pounds per set, and you can go with 6-8 sets like this per session, and since the reps are lighter and stay in the 8-10 rep range (I used 8 as a minimum rep per attempt), you don?t stress the CNS too much and can train 3 times a week , that?s like 20 sets per week, and get 48000 pounds of work per week.

Now, you can?t read this without paying attention to something: It is best to stay in the 8-15 reps range, I prefer 8-10 and if you go heavy, try 6-8 or 5-7 if you like that better. Going for sets of 3-5 reps or 12-15 is not really that productive for size gains, but if I had to choose between one of those two options, I?d stick to 12-15 reps every once in a while. Now, these examples between rest pausing and low-rep and medium-rep drop sets are based on the idea that you would be using the same tempos on both options.

I guess this leads to an all-time favorite of my bag of tricks: the Racing sets (we have an F1 race here in Brazil every year, so sue me; I am a fan of speed and motor sports too). Basically, I might start the set with a smooth movement, controlled on the concentric and on the eccentric, with a pause at the bottom and at the top. As the set progresses, it speeds up, the pauses become shorter, until they are eliminated, the concentric becomes explosive, in a struggle to get 1 more rep and because of this need to save energy to put it into maxing out on reps, the eccentric becomes faster as the muscle is tired but tries to divert the energy used in the eccentric and use the elastic energy it can store to get more reps. When I reach my final rep, I see that my set lasted around 50-60 seconds, but I have no clue as to what tempos I used, how much each rep lasted or even how many reps I did for that matter… If you don?t think that variable tempo sets (I just came up with that) are hard, go and try them on for size.

Christian Thibadeau has something like them in his pendulum bodybuilding article. He uses ?Tempo Contrast? sets, where you do 8 reps, and do a couple of reps with a 6040 tempo and the next couple with a 20X0 tempo. He also has the ?Isometric/dynamic? contrast sets, where you use a 20X0 tempo, but you perform an isometric pause at the middle of the eccentric motion, staring with 12 seconds on the first rep, 10 on the second, 8 on the third, and so on until you end up with 8 reps again in which the last 2 keep the same basic tempo of 20X0 but don?t have any pause. In both cases, the idea prevails that the time under tension of each rep decreases in order to adapt to the muscle?s fatigue level, in order to help it complete more reps and therefore, create more stress to force it to grow.

Hope than that helps you Quad, see you soon, and keep positive.

Thanks for all the imput, Vandal, Go heavy and you guys, i am liking this old-school tough-guy type of training, for my body feels exerted to its full capacity and I feel like i did something productive at thee nd of each set, hell, even atthe middle of the set I already feel it is working.

Speaking of which, I was seeing a movie last night, one of the ?Rocky? sequels, where Apollo Creed gets killed by Ivan Drago, and Rocky goes to fight in Russia and he trains in a very hard way, preparing for the fight, dragging a sled and such?..I just paid attention because I have seen many respected authors here write articles like ?Old School raining? and such, praising the old methods of bodybuilding, which worked well for pre-steroid era champions, when tempo, T.U.T. and such concepts weren?t really popular, even applied.

There?s a sequence where he does chin-ups to the front and to the back, alternatively, and another one where the character Ivan Drago does triceps extensions on a machine that looks like a Scott bench or a Preacher curl bench used for triceps press-downs?.basically, they slowed the eccentric to keep it under control not because they were accentuating the eccentric phase for growth, but because if they let the weights go down too fast, it could injure them or they would feel a tremendous discomfort when the weight reached it?s bottom position. Basically, they weren?t really worried about tempo at all.

This leads me to say, ? Can it be that any load that forces you to keep a good level of control on it during the whole rep is good for growth, and that light-moderate loads or moderate-heavy loads that allow you to even count tempo or slow them down on purpose are not as good for growth unless you do apply the eccentric accentuation? You did say that Load-Tension and Time Under Tension are opposite sides of a scale, so when one goes up, the other must go down, right?

Both of them moved in a speed that was like 1 second on the way down, perhaps a little more. I also saw ?Rocky? lift a wooden cart, something only a horse could pull and use it to lift the weight like a clean and jerk, and it took him quite a bit of time to complete this part of the concentric phase.

However, I wonder if it would be unsafe, or even detrimental for a muscle in terms of hypertrophy, to use such heavy loads which require to sum up all of your strength, and therefore spending quite a long time to complete.

I do know that they were using their maximum loads, pushing it to the limit, where you can only attempt to lift the weight and it is slow and painful because of the great resistance you are trying to move and the small difference between that and the level of force used.

? But are these heavy efforts necessary in a hypertrophy-oriented program?

? How do you know how slow you should move during your reps, or how fast in order to get as many reps as you want?

You need to toss aside the idea of reps. It all comes down to stress. The muscle doesn’t know shit about reps. The only thing that it pays attention to is stress, and you could fuck up a set if you tell your brain to curl it 12 times; chances are you body will shut down right at fuckin’ 12. Try picking up a weight and repping it without a set goal in mind and see where you get. Or better yet, pick up a weight and try to rep it 5 times the amount you think you could do with it… the reason you are going to get more reps is something I will explain later, but just try it.

Second, the actual rep ranges you are hitting is good for all hypertrophy. You can get hypertrophy in any rep range. Including less than 1, 1, 5, 10, 15, 100, and so on. The muscle has fibers that are activated based on the amount of stress its under. If you want the maximum amount of hypertrophy possible, you will use alot of different rep ranges to stimulate all those fibers. But use the best ranges most of the time. You should be doing more research on muscle fibers if like the technicality of it. Not tempos. Tempos should just follow the amount of weight being lifted. Generally the heavier the weight, the quicker the tempo.

Use different exercises for different stress points. Also periodization phases. Alot of frequency for even more hypertrophy. Everyones best hypertrophy range is different for each individual and for each individual muscle for that matter.

When doing a single set, I like 7 reps. Dropsets I will go higher, maybe 9. But generally I switch up the range week to week to stimulate different amounts of stress for more muscle hypertrophy.

Its really not about reps, its about the amount of stress that “usually” falls in a certain rep range.

Lou: You are missing the forest for the trees, and truth is, I think I need to clarify something, yet again, for you to make some gains in this process.

I said to you, and to the forum, like Quad just asked above, to ?lift the weight with the most powerful contraction your muscles can produce, so they get pumped as hard as they can get but without using momentum or sloppy form, pause at the top to squeeze and the LOWER SLOW ENOUGH TO FEEL THE MUSCLES ALMOST AS TENSE AS THEY WERE WHEN YOU WERE SENDING THE WEIGHT UP, then pause at the bottom to let the feeling dissipate? I would find it hard to believe that this could be expressed in a number of seconds per phase, for every load you use has an effect on the length of these phases, and besides, your body will have to adapt to the set by changing their lengths.

That?s because as the set progresses, your speed, the length that each one of these 4 phases or moments of the lift last will change, as your strength decays and therefore, the reps become a little faster one ach phase to re-direct energy towards the completion of the set.

Just for argument?s sake, let?s say you use a stopwatch and you see that invariably, if you use an amount of weight like ?X?, every time you use ?X? as a level of resistance, you start the set with a 21X1 tempo, roughly 5 seconds per set.

According to an article by Ian King, found in the web ?What speed of lifting should I use??, any tempo like 311 or 211 is devoted to neural-end hypertrophy, and tempos like 411, 501, 402, 303 and such are for metabolic-end hypertrophy. This would put you within the guideline for growth, but that?s according to TRADITIONAL thinking.

However, in the type of sets you are doing, where you want each set to be an all-out set where you really get benefits from the first rep to the last one so the first rep will be very different from the last one in more ways than one, and that will get you past the pain barrier and into the growth zone.

That?s why keeping the same tempo in a set and the same load only gives you results in the last 2-3 reps, you in a set of ten, you are using the first 7-8 reps as an approach to get close to that sweet spot, to ?the zone? where your muscles get the best growth stimulus.

In our case, the tempo shall begin at a hypothetical 21X1, but as the set progresses, and you strength starts to go down, you will have to speed up the reps to complete the set. Think of it as a max reps set, or as a 100 reps set (not really that close for in the 100 reps set you can take short pauses, it?s like a giant or monster rest-pause set) where you start all fine and dandy, happy as a pig in shit because the weight might be easy for you, moving in a smooth way, and in the last 10 reps, you just push the bar and control the way down just enough to move quickly to the concentric again because you want to finish the set before you have an aneurysm. You start with 5 seconds per rep (21X1 tempo) and end up with a 10X0 tempo (roughly 1,5 seconds per rep) or even a speed that gets you like 1,2 seconds per rep.

That?s why I told you to not count the reps, but better pay attention to the time. Just try to make the set fit within a 50-60 seconds timeframe. That way you won?t be counting the reps, you won?t be concerned about tempo and yet, you will still grow. This also reflects why drop sets work, they could be described as an ?accommodating resistance? method, whereas the method I described would be an ?accommodating tempo? method, or variable tempo/speed sets type of training.

Using the concept of T.U.T. without even using tempo is not a concept that I have come up with just now, a serious author like Christian Thibaudeau has written an article on it, issue 284, ?Superman Sets: How to use Timed Sets for Functional Hypertrophy??now I realize I have changed the concept quite a bit, but I want to be the biggest sumbitch in the neighborhood, so functional won?t do it for me.

There?s one thing I should say at this point: The only way I train with my ?variable speed/tempo sets? is when I am sent to my rural service, in towns where the only piece of exercise you can find is a couple dumbbells or weights made out of a wooden stick and cement cans . You can find a fixed bars station for chins and dips in any godforsaken town, along with some springs or rubber bands you can get with the towns handyman or mechanic, and such. I have been sent to 3 rural outposts as lawyer in a family commissary or a public notary and registration office, and I have installed my own equipment. When you don?t have much, it?s amazing how a sandbag, a pair of wooden sticks, metal bars and lead bars from the mining areas can be transformed into a precarious gym?.just with rubber bands, springs or cables and weights welded into small pulleys, you can build a gym at the patio of the hostel or household where you stay.

That?s why I only resort to the accommodating tempo option when I only have one load to train with, my bodyweight, and I prefer to bring a small running backpack with me and a small shovel, to fill the backpack with sand and hit the bars with that added weight, which is funny, because you can do drop sets in dips, if you take a couple shovels of sand when you reach your max, or you drop the backpack to the floor and continue without added weight. It?s all about being creative, I guess, and about knowing what you have, how can it be used or modified and what you need to use it for given the circumstances.

However, if you are looking for a more traditional way of training, in your gym, home or whatever facility you have available, use the drop sets: But in this case, if you can?t follow my advise on how to ?feel the rep? to adjust its speed, you just need to do the following:

Load the bar up, and try to get as many reps as you can, using good form, with the weight used, basically trying to determine your maximum number of reps for a load you have used to lift around 10-12 times, with some degree of control or a 201 tempo. It will be a race against the clock, more likely, it?s like those game shows where you must fill a big barrel with water, and they give you a bucket with a couple holes in it that you can?t plug, you have to run to the pool and fill it up to the top and race to the barrel to fill it with whatever level of water remains inside the bucket, after leaving a big mess in the way for the water that leaked out.

You will have to do the reps fast, without dropping the weight or shooting it up, because that can injure you and if you have been at the gym for more than 3 months, you will know the difference between performing a rep fast and performing a rep sloppy and unsafely.

When I first stumbled upon my concepts, I knew I could lift 200 pounds with a 20X0 tempo for 12 reps, and when I tried the idea out, I got 17 reps with the same load, doing textbook reps, not injuring myself or abusing my muscles or tendons, and I saw my tempo was like 10X0, and I just tried to keep control of the weight, nor accentuating the lowering neither just letting the load go down at ease with little or no control.

That?s why I like to know that I use loads which I can handle for the most basic tempo count of them all: 1 second. I eliminate the pauses, lower in 1 second or slightly less, using heavy weights and keeping normally in the 8-10 reps range in each drop of the weight as well as I did with the initial load. I like to vary the resistance more than the tempo, so I don?t allow for my speed or cadence to change during those 8-10 reps, I just make sure I can forget about them, and you can?t lower a serious load in less than 1 second without feeling the pain of injury or abuse in your muscles and especially, on your tendons.

That gave me the idea of ?feeling the rep? and also got me to understand how the body will adapt to complete a task, or how the body has several levels of resistance, because I saw that when I reached failure at a certain load, it didn?t mean my body needed a break to get the strength back, but that it just geared down and I should shift down and use a smaller weight to get more reps, and that got me started in the ?running the rack? method when I did dumbbell curls, extensions , bench presses and one-arm rows.

Three years later after my discovery, I am happy, getting results and very much pleased with myself. In February, when it?s carnival season and you go to the beach and see the parades and the samba schools with your shirt off, the girls notice your hard work and even though I am engaged, I just like to know that I look good, as I do when I practice chuteboxe (shooto kickboxing/fighting) or luta livre (no holds barred fighting, vale-tudo).By the way guys, this is an invite, any of you guys want to have fun, visit Rio de Janeiro for the carnival, that?s on February, and get your asses here before February 9 or you?ll miss the fun previous to the carnival. If you ever saw the tv show ?Wild On!? on the E! Channel, you will see how we warm-up for the real parties during that season, so you can only imagine the fun we have, and I can?t think of many reasons why not to come and join the fun. See you guys here, I hope?.

Since Vandal and Go Heavy are the experts, I want to ask them: What do you feel about rest between sets? How long or how short should they be?

I was checking up the article on Vince Gironda, and I see he trained normally, straight sets, not drop sets, no shit, but his rest periods were like 30-45 seconds. And he sure looked good back then as did his champions.

This is not to say he didn’t use drop sets, pre-exhaustion, supersets, giant sets or all that, but he stuck to basics and that got him big and ripped, using those methods only every now and then when it was absolutely necessary or for a change of pace.

Also, how do you feel on
training frequency and volume?

I have a co-worker who works out around twice a day, 4 days a week. It is common to see him start his shift at the beach by doing a basic routine of 4-6 sets of 8-10 reps in dips, chins and pull-ups and do like 2-3 sets of 100 abs…and he repeats the same routine 12 hours later, Monday to Friday, resting on the weekends and on Wednesday when he has to work in the call center and review his reports and weekly paperwork.

He has got a body like you wouldn’t believe, training each bodypart 8 times a week…why? How can soemthing like that happen? How can somebody train with such weights (he can dip 15-20 times as a max in a first set) with so many sets per week (about 10 a day, we talk about 40-50 a week and still get big?

I even heard him say that before that, he made half his gains by doing sets of simple pushups, training full body too, three times a week, doing like 1 pushup per second? How can he do so many reps, with such light weights, and get big?

Ok first of all, Pump_D( No, I ain’t gonna call you for your full name, that would be too gay on anybody’s part) I am gonna say something about resting between sets.

Look up an article called “Program Design 101” and you will see a table from Ian King about rest periods: 10-30 seconds is almost 50% metabolic recovery…30 seconds to 90 seconds or even up to 2 minutes give you almost 90% metabolic recovery…

2-3 minutes is almost 100% metabolic recovery, and 3-5 minutes are near complete neural recovery, and well, you guessed…5-9 minutes give you complete neural recovery.

Now, the reason why gironda got success with his concept of density, is becuase he beat the body down past the famous “pain barrier” that we have been mentioning. truth is, to me, doing 8 x 8 with 20-30 second breaks is rest-pausing, and that is a little bit like drop setting, so yeah, I feel than that’s a good idea.

I hope you were reading Vince on his comments about the marathonist and the 100 meters runner…hitting it fast and furious works, for it’s tremendous impact on the muscles.

Bottom line: rest as much as you NEED to and not as much as you WANT to. Just get enough rest to give it a go again, without dropping your efficiency levels…

Just don’t rest so little as to get tired too quickly, but don’t rest so much as to allow the msucle to numb up and dissipate all the work and the pump…as they say “strike while the iron is hot”, just don’t let it heat up enough to melt down.

And now, as for the case with your friend at work, i hope you were reading the examples on why car mechanics get big forearms from turning wrenches all day long.

Your friend exposes himself to a high level of time under tension which balances out the fact he is not using too much weight, since you say he can dip easy for a first set of 20 diops, a set of 20-30 pushups won’t be hard for him.

I bet he is trying the timed sets method with bodyweight exercises, from the rep speed you say he uses.

Just read some of the weird science comments I made, about how math explains why the sheer accumulation of T.U.T. works, your friend is probably working on accumulating the equivalent of 10 sets of 50-60 seconds per muscle group a week, so I bet he does like 100 reps each day, 5 or 4 days a week with a rep speed that allows him to get a rep done in 1,5 to 1,2 seconds…

That would make him land smack-dab in the mdidle of the hypretrophy range I explained, about 500-600 seconds a week, like GVT prescribes.

The reason as to why can he train twice a day is because he doesn’t get more than a quick pump on each session, but he needs to repeat it every 12 hours to keep his level of growth, to keep in his growth zone, just like you try to keep a kite in the air at a given level by tugging and loosening the string to make use of the wind that pushes against it intermitently.

As I said, everything works, as long as you can guess just how much work you need and how often you need to do it to keep your body growing, like watering a plant…not too little as to not let it dry up, not too much as to wash away the minerals in the soil, and often enough to allow it to grow at its best rate…I know than that sounds a little Mr Miyagi on me, but well, it’s the truth…

I guess that beyond this point, there’s not much more with which I can contribute to this thread. I have written pages and pages of text here, probably clogged up the damn thread, but I just felt like I needed to give it my best so there you have it guys, the Vandal Encyclopedia…hope you can use it.

All questions you have now, ask them directly, my answers shall be short, but if you feel like pvt, just go ahead and try it or PM me.

[quote]Pump_Daddy wrote:
Since Vandal and Go Heavy are the experts, I want to ask them: What do you feel about rest between sets? How long or how short should they be? [/quote]

I’m not an expert, I’m just experienced. I’ve been doing this a long time. The key word there is “experienced”… I try everything known to man before I draw conclusions. Research has shown there is no difference in muscular gains in the 1-5 minute rest intervals. I like Vince’s training ideas and have gotten pretty good results with his philosophy. resting quicker than a minute is only going to benefit you cardiovascularly… but that increases intensity too, so there is an overall benefit. Now on dropsets and rest-pauses… that resting throws the idea that you need so much time before another set. It’s all relative to the amount of work you’are doing. doing alot of Vince’s style training called for a middle ground almost. Not a full rest period and not a rest-pause or dropset with no rest. It’s all relative to the amount of work done. More work will need longer rest period, but generally 1-5 minutes ubless doing a specific set with drops, strippers, or rest-pauses.

[quote]
I was checking up the article on Vince Gironda, and I see he trained normally, straight sets, not drop sets, no shit, but his rest periods were like 30-45 seconds. And he sure looked good back then as did his champions.

This is not to say he didn’t use drop sets, pre-exhaustion, supersets, giant sets or all that, but he stuck to basics and that got him big and ripped, using those methods only every now and then when it was absolutely necessary or for a change of pace.

Also, how do you feel on
training frequency and volume?[/quote]

The more the frequency, the better… your genetics, experience and will to push thru the pain-barrier will determine that. as for volume, it’s all relative to the load. The more the better. More work is better than less work. More work in the higher intensity zone will benefit the strength and hypertrophy while more work in the endurance zone will still benefit hypertrophy and also the cardio-component. Dropping the rest periods in high intensity sets is another way to increase the cardio in that genre of training.

[quote]

I have a co-worker who works out around twice a day, 4 days a week. It is common to see him start his shift at the beach by doing a basic routine of 4-6 sets of 8-10 reps in dips, chins and pull-ups and do like 2-3 sets of 100 abs…and he repeats the same routine 12 hours later, Monday to Friday, resting on the weekends and on Wednesday when he has to work in the call center and review his reports and weekly paperwork.

He has got a body like you wouldn’t believe, training each bodypart 8 times a week…why? How can soemthing like that happen? How can somebody train with such weights (he can dip 15-20 times as a max in a first set) with so many sets per week (about 10 a day, we talk about 40-50 a week and still get big?[/quote]

You build up to it. When I was trining my biceps when I first started out. I trained mine 14 times a week. Twice a day for 3 sets each and each set was a shitload of reps… I really wanted biceps. Yes it hurt like hell.

But I was an Arnold fan and was willing to crack my limbs and rupture every tendon and ligamnet to get them. All I ended up doing was building a high pain tolerance, a great pain threshold, and a great capalary density so my muscles were caple do perform that much. It’s also genetic how well your recovery time will be. you can increase it though no matter your genetics with special techniques and aids. I never used anything other than blood and guts. Alot of screaming.

Pushups work. I did 100 yesterday for a pre-exaust technique before my chest workout. I use to get better results from push ups than I do now. But high push up frequency will work, especially if you have a body that responds better to higher reps. the amount of frequency that push ups can be done makes them so effective. But you have to be willing to put alot of time in to do all the reps and frequency to see real results… otherwise they will probably me minimal. If you can stress the muscle the same way with a heavy bench press or fly with a push-up, then you wouldn’t have to do so many. See what I’m saying. most people don’t do enough push ups or add resistance to push ups to make them effective. But they are just as effective as anything else. Everything works. Its all about execution. Staying intense and commited will be the determining factors though. Not the actual routine or set up. That is just side show bullshit for us all to play with and see what we like and favor. For me, the best chest builder I do is a 4 part set of 7 reps each with 4 exercises… slight incline 7 decline dumbbell presses and flys.

Some guys like bench presses. Some like push ups. I like a little bit of everything with my main chest blaster day using a 4 part super set. It annilates my pecs.

[quote]Vandal__Savage wrote:

Now, the reason why gironda got success with his concept of density, is becuase he beat the body down past the famous “pain barrier” that we have been mentioning. truth is, to me, doing 8 x 8 with 20-30 second breaks is rest-pausing, and that is a little bit like drop setting, so yeah, I feel than that’s a good idea.

[/quote]

That’s how I feel about it. Its like an exaggerated rest-pause or drop set. That’s all.

[quote]Go heavy fool wrote:
Modi wrote:
Vandal__Savage wrote:
To clarify my volume of work, allow me to tell you what I did last week in my workouts (Total body workouts)

I Started with Flat bench presses with a wide grip, squeezed a good 15 reps as a starting point and racked the weight for 30 seconds and loaded the bar 10% heavier ( I don’t drop or add more than 15%, or less than 10%, of the previous load used ). Then I squeezed out a set of 10 reps, racked the load, dropped some weight off, (this took me 10 seconds for i train too early to have good spotters available) and got only 8 reps, and then racked the load again and dropped some more weightand only got 6 reps out. I racked the load and without more than a couple seconds of rest, grabbed a pair of light dumbells and maxed out, I guess at the 18th rep of chest flyes.

Total time under tension, for those worried about it: around 60 seconds (that’s counting from the first rep with the initial load until the moment I dropped the dumbells at the botom of the 18th flye, substracting the 10 seconds of rest between weight reductions)

I do this 3-4 times and move to the next muscle. I only use one exercise per bodypart, but never use the same exercise for two consecutive workouts. I train chest, back, shoulders and legs 3 times a week.

Vandal,
Good defense of your position. Which, by the way, I don’t totally disagree with.
However, unless I misunderstood you it seems to me that you believe in the 80-100 reps per bodypart per week that Thib recommended. If I’m wrong, stop reading…but it seems that a typical set of chest for you looks like:

15 reps…add weight
10 reps…drop weight
8 reps…drop weight
6 reps…drop weight
18 flyes

=57 reps per set

If you do 3-4 sets:

3x57 = 171 reps
or 4x57 = 228 reps

If you train Flat bench, incline bench, and decline bench once per week, you hit your chest three times per week:

3 x 171 reps = 513 reps
3 x 228 reps = 684 reps

Am I missing something here, or is that way above the 80-100 reps per bodypart per week.

Maybe the first 15 reps you mentioned were only a warm-up, but even so, the number of reps get very high…something like:

15 reps warmup

  • 42 reps per set x 3 sets = 126 reps
    or 42 reps x 4 sets = 168 reps

x 3 days per week is still 400 or more reps per bodypart.

Sorry about all the math guys…

This still seems like a lot of volume, unless I completely misread your post. Please clarify.

Modi, when using dropsets and HIT type techniques… you will end up with a boatload of reps. This is what forces the muscle to grow. “Pushing thru the pain barrier” …this is sometimes referred to as. I know when I train calves, I end up with over 100 reps per set and these are not light weight either, alot of the reps are a 7 rep heavy weight then a quick pause or I’ll do a dropdown set with no rest. You will only need a few sets at this high intensity training.

You may only need 3 or 4 total sets per muscle then move on to the next. Your frequency depends on genetics and experience. Ideally 1-3 times a week of 4 sets of excruciating pain in these “monster sets” I call them. The 10x3 method works, the 3x10 method works. But, when you force your muscles thru and past the pain barrier in rest pauses, dropsets, forced reps, supersets, giantsets, you will discover a whole new kind of pain and this is what really makes the muscle actually then grow… its forced to, it has no choice. Pushing thru pain only helps you push thru more pain and make greater gains in future training having built up your pain tollerance.

I cannot stress the importance of building up a pain tollerance and threshold for maximizing your potential and building muscle. The one person I can think of that had an incredible pain tollerance also had the most incredible body I’ve ever seen…“Arnold Schwarzenegger”.

“The more pain your body is put through, the more beautiful it becomes”[/quote]

…as long as you can recover!

I will address now a questions from a fellow couple of t-mag readers, newbies both of them, who wrote to my private from opposite sides of the world.

I think that sometimes, it is good to remember what it was like when we werenewbies and asked simple stuff, because as they say, it’s all about the details.

Our first friend is in Spain and he asked me about his way to feel the eccentric part of the rep: “…I try to slow down on the eccentric phase, enough to feel the same level of tension than I felt on the way up, as you said, but I must be squeezing too hard, because it feels like I am doing dynamic tension or an isometric and I end up with 4-seconds eccentric…”

My answer: Check the article “Building your Rep, part 2”… I go with Chad Waterbury on that one: 2 seconds is just about the slowest that I can go on an eccentric phase.

Normally, I use that when I am doing a long-range motion, like an extension, curl or flye. In dips, rows, pulls, chins and presses, 1 second is right, but just like I say, the load determines the tempo, and you can go with a 2-seconds eccentric if the load allows you to in such short-range movements, and that’s about as much energy as you should devote to that phase of the rep.

However, I prefer to use a load that barely allows me to count a full second on the way down on the first couple reps, and of course, a little or a lot less in the following ones. If I go heavy enough to not being able to worry, or even THINK about tempo, I know it’s a good load to use, no matter how many reps I am aiming for.

That leads me to another issue: As we have said, the lighter you lift, the slower you must go. Since people seem to agree that lifting fast recruits the most muscle fibers, that means all of the tempo/time under tension debate is focused on the negative phase, the lowering and/or the optional pause at the bottom.

For those who think that Elastic Energy and the SSC are the bogeymen of hypertrophy and that tempo is a commandment that should get printed on the front pages of the bible of lifting, think again

You hear, and Lord knows I already got questions on my pvt message inbox like “If you don’t lower slow, you don’t get gains from the negative, at best a minimal gain form just contrlling it, and if you lift too fast or too heavy, you ain’t training for hypertrophy, but for strength, and lots of reps give you endurance, not mass”

My answer:Check a very cool Doug Santillo article “A closer look at Tempo”…basically, he says that people who are only worried about mass gains, this is your typical hypertrophy-only oriented program, the idea is to apply just 70% of the 1RM level of strength on the bar, and load the bar with 60-70% of your 1RM load.

Now, just at the start of the article, he practically says that you have to lower in 4 seconds pause for 1 second at the bottom, so the whole argument focus on the concentric phase, the weight moving slower as the level of force applied gets closer to the load used. Simple math, the closer the difference the harder to lift, the slower you will be able to move the object. Simple physics 101.

Now you see why I object to the notion of tempo, especially for the concentric part of the lift. The whole idea to keep the force on the bar at 70% of my 1RM strength and load the bar with 60-70% of my 1RM load is like studying to aim for a simple B- on an important test, and hope to graduate magna cum laude in engineering or sciences. I’d have a better chance at banging a sexy teacher and bribing the dean into it than earning it, and if you feel like that could apply to bodybuilding, go buy steroids, and don’t waste my time or the thread’s space on your mediocrity.

If you prefer to believe the new school of lifting, if you truly think that this is a good idea for you, that you will be getting the most bang for your buck, more out of less and all that crap, fine, go lift with a 4141 tempo and I’ll laugh when you can’t bench press a heavy load if your life depended on it. But if you want to grow, you must forget about traditional force levels and fiber activation theories.

His question, and another friend’s question, this time from the Phillippines, seem to illustrate this point better.

He asked to me “…I don’t know what my fiber make-up is, or if a given rep range has an effect on itself even when it is a part of a drop set, like, doing drop sets of 5-7 reps to drop the set and do 5-7 more reps is different for me than doing 8-10 rep set and drop the load to do 8-10 more reps, if i am slow or fast twitch. How do you know what rep range and laod fits you better?..” I can’t say I didn’t had that question when I started, and neither can any of you guys.

Go Heavy and I seem to follow the same road. I don’t believe, I know that the muscle fibers don’t give a rat’s ass about the speed of lifting, they only care about one thing: work.

Let’s define work in terms of weightlifting: it’s the “X” amount of weight lifted when a certain “Y” amount of energy is applied for “Z” time. Gironda got that right at first, even if the concept he used was mistaken, for it wasn’t Intensity, but rather Density what he was after. But it got him far, didn’t it?

I told you that I can lift my bodyweight on the 45-pounds olympic barbar (I weight 90 kilograms-194 pounds, ripped)for about 15-20 times. I can go and lift 120 kilograms for 10-12 times or perhaps 140 for 6-8 times, but if I know that either way, I can egt roughyl the same 10-12 sets per workout with each load and rep-range, I would choose the load and rep range where I move the most weight per set.

That’s why 18reps x 90kilos (1720 kilos of work per set) is WAY BETTER than 140kilos by 7 reps (980 kilos of work per set), when I know I can do 10-12 sets of either one.

I followed an advise on the 80% test once. I had been using singles and triples 2 days earlier, and recovered well, so I set to warm up and take no more than 3 sets or attempts, separated by almost minutes of rest between them, to find out what my max was.

At the third set, i reached a maximum, a true 1RM (if you can count seconds when you are doing a max effort, you ain’t doing shit, I didn’t even think to control the laod, just to not let the bar crush my ribcage) of 160 kilograms.

I did go home after that lift and rest for the day and came back 48 hours later to use 80% of my load, that was 96 kilograms, to see how many reps I could get. I got 21

Now, according to science and some authors, if I had gotten 3-5 reps or any rep bracket under 7 reps, I’d know I was fast-twitch dominant, and if I had gotten between 9-13 I’d have known I was 50/50, but I got 15-22 and that meant I was slow-twitch fiber dominant…according to TRADITIONAL science.

In truth, my trainer told me that the 80% test was determined to know how heavy could you go for a set to work as a deep stimulus. If I’d had gotten 3-5 reps, I’d have to work with an even higher number of sets, but using the same scheme that the Russian Bear program or a 5x5 program with more frequency, and if I had gotten just 5-7 reps, I would have been good to use the 10-12 sets volume for the whole body, three times a week, or to do rest-pausing.

If I had gotten between 9 and 13, I’d be good with some supersets between heavy sets and low reps coupled with moderate or light weights and medium or high rep ranges. Kind of like OVT.
He also mentioned that using pre-exhaustion in a third or half my exercises would be a god idea if I could take it.

Now, he said my problem was that I had boxer muscles ( I practiced chuteboxe and normal boxing), and therefore, I was in line for drop sets, timed sets and such extenuating methods, like the 20-reps squat, isometrics and such, with a high frequency level.

As you see, the idea here is to know what your body can do for you and what you can do for your body. It will adapt and learn, it will grow and become stronger only if you know wjhat are you capable of.

I remember that my father used to tell me “When you grow old, you regret what you did wrong, feel good about what you did right, you you really feel like shit for what you DID NOT have the balls to even try”…same goes for bodybuilding, same goes for profession and job life, same goes for YOUR life. Dare to try, experience and learn, for even failure is a steppin stone for success.

But how do I pick the weights and reps? Should I choose the weight where I move the most weight per set with the less reps?

This would be the 15-rep sets, I move the most load in this one (15 reps by 60 kilos = 900 kilos), more than in a 10-rep sets (70 kilos x 10 reps = 700 kilos) or a 7-rep set (I push 80 kilos x 7 reps 560 kilos) or 5-rep sets ( 5 reps x 90 kilos= 450 kilos)…right?

I also can do like 10-12 of those 15-rep sets per session i feel that I may not get 10-12 sets of 20-reps, but more like 8…but even if I got the same 10-12 sets, it is logical to choose the 15-rep set to get there in less reps, then making this one being the most efficient set,more than the 20-rep one, for I got heavier on each rep but end upo lifting the same amoutn of kilos per set, as the concept you called “work”, am I correct?

What if I do one set with my 60 kilos for 15 reps, and then drop some weight off and then try to get as many reps with the load, which would be like 15%-20% less than the starting one, like 50 kilos or 45 kilos? Or doing a set of maximum efficiency drains you too much to do drop sets?

Why do people have to make this shit more complicated than it is? I just lift heavy and train by feel more than any prescribed rep/set pattern and I haven’t had much trouble growing.

I would think it would be obvious by now that the difference between big dudes and small dudes isn’t the fucking rep/set scheme. If you’re busting your ass in the gym, doing all the core movements and your diet is on track, why wouldn’t you grow?

[quote]alownage wrote:
Why do people have to make this shit more complicated than it is? I just lift heavy and train by feel more than any prescribed rep/set pattern and I haven’t had much trouble growing.

I would think it would be obvious by now that the difference between big dudes and small dudes isn’t the fucking rep/set scheme. If you’re busting your ass in the gym, doing all the core movements and your diet is on track, why wouldn’t you grow?
[/quote]

I can’t agree more. However, you must address the whole problem to get a solution, this is, establishing directions, the cardinal points of lifting for some of those big dudes who bust their asses, as you said: tempo-volume-rest-recovery.

The idea is to tell the truth about hypertrophy and how to find it, moving away from the crap. But you got a point, so let’s make it simpler:

Louisluthor, Quadmaster_fly and Pump_daddy and all others who pvt’d me on my message box:

Use the set where you can move the most weight, by multiplying the load used by the number of reps performed…use strict form, don’t attempt to count tempo. If you happen to bench press 60 kilos by 15 times and 45 kilos by 20 times, go with the 15-rep option, because in both sets, you move 900 kilos of load as total work, but you must aim for getting to that laod in the least amount of reps possible.

Rest as much as you have to, or need to, not as much as you want to. 30 seconds to 2 minutes is just fine, but to quell the debate, rest a single minute and go.

Do as many seps as you can with your best load, stay in the zone, as an athlete would say. When you see that you need tod rop off some weight, you can’t get 60 kilos up for 15 reps, you can either allow the reps to fall down to half, about 6-8 reps with the 15-rep load or you can allow the load to be reduced by no more than 25% of the starting load.

When you hit either deadline (you can’t complete a 6-8 rep set with the starting 15-rep load or you cannot complete 15 reps with a 75% of the starting load) you need to go home and rest, and the minimum is 48 hours for me.

Train 3 or 2 times a week, not 1 and not 4. Training every other day is way better, and on the weekends, yes, it is ok to rest 2 days, as long as you don’t do it like a couch potato, get out, play soccer, swim or just have fun and don’t be a lazy fat bastard.

Another thing to keep in mind is your rest intervals and time under tension with relation to tempo. For hypertrophy, you want a 3 to 1 ratio for rest & TUT. Your best bet for TUT and maximum hypertrophy is 40-50 seconds of load. This is best accomplished with a lighter load to provide maximum muscle fiber recruitment or dropsets or rest pauses with the same TUT time frame.

The benefit of using the lighter load is longer TUT and can be done to failure for an entire muscle breakdown. Remember hypertrophy is destroying the muscle and rebuilding. TUT & load will be the biggest variables. If the load is too heavy the hypertrophy isn’t maximized and it now becomes neural benefit of strength benefit. I find doing either 8x8 or 10x10 works best for hypertrophy in straight sets.

Never do more than 12 sets. If you are, then your intensity is too low. The rest periods should be 3 times longer than your TUT. So in an 8x8… in order to get the most hypertrophy, use the 3 to 1 ratio for TUT & tempo.

Now using drop sets or rest-pauses will require the same 3 to 1 principle for hypertrophy. But this has a better hypertrophy effect than straight sets because of the greater load lifted in a shorter time.

Your equasion for max hypertrophy will look like this.

Intensity(load) * TUT(stress) / total time. To up the intensity(hypertrophy from progressive overload)… then increase the load. Keep the TUT at 40-60 seconds and keep the total time at 3 to 1 ratio of times rested to time under tension.

[quote]louisluthor wrote:
But how do I pick the weights and reps? Should I choose the weight where I move the most weight per set with the less reps?

This would be the 15-rep sets, I move the most load in this one (15 reps by 60 kilos = 900 kilos), more than in a 10-rep sets (70 kilos x 10 reps = 700 kilos) or a 7-rep set (I push 80 kilos x 7 reps 560 kilos) or 5-rep sets ( 5 reps x 90 kilos= 450 kilos)…right?

I also can do like 10-12 of those 15-rep sets per session i feel that I may not get 10-12 sets of 20-reps, but more like 8…but even if I got the same 10-12 sets, it is logical to choose the 15-rep set to get there in less reps, then making this one being the most efficient set,more than the 20-rep one, for I got heavier on each rep but end upo lifting the same amoutn of kilos per set, as the concept you called “work”, am I correct?

What if I do one set with my 60 kilos for 15 reps, and then drop some weight off and then try to get as many reps with the load, which would be like 15%-20% less than the starting one, like 50 kilos or 45 kilos? Or doing a set of maximum efficiency drains you too much to do drop sets?[/quote]

Lou, you need to move the most weight in time.If you work chest for 15 minutes. Do it 15 minutes every time. Don’t change the time. Keep it constant. Change the load total, this is German Volume Principle. If you lift say 15,000 lbs in 15 minutes, next time do more than 15,000 pounds in the exact same time. The only other option is to lift 15,000 lbs quicker. Vandal is telling you the way to get the most bang for your buck, by getting the most toal weight in the time frame. I’m showing you how it hypertrophys with progressive overload and volume training principles.

Here you go Lou!

Here’s my gut check routine I use whenever I need to nothing about bodybuilding… I just need to know about guts!

Try this routine, I’m not going to lie to you… it’s BRUTAL. But this routine is 100% guarenteed. Then why isn’t evryone doing it? Because frankly, its so brutal that they coulve have anxiety attacks about it. But there is no better routine I can give you than this one. Leave your books, your sanity, and your excuses at the door. If you want to experience real pain try this routine.

“The Speed Limit”, I call it… 55 reps per set. It’s an old school routine known as the 1-10 system.

Imagine the most excruciating pain known to man, multiply it exponentially, and you have the 1-10 system. Forged in the fires of yester yore, this absolute blitz will force any muscle group into immediate growth. Nothing is more effective!

1: Pick an exercise, such as the barbell curl and thoroughly warm up as if you were going to test your one rep max.
2: Perform your one rep max
3: Strip just enough weight immediately afterwards so as to allow yourself to eek out an additional two repetitions
4: Strip so as to allow yourself only three repetitions
5: Repeat successive strips until you reach a set which allows you to get 10 repetitions.

Thus, the total amount of sets will equal 10, the rest between sets will be only long enough to strip the weight, and the sum of repetitions will be 55 in number. Why does this system work so well? The answer is that it forces the body to recruit a MAXIMAL amount of muscle fibers. 55 rep set Lou, not singles, not 10’s. How about every fuckin’ rep between 1-10 for that muscle to get blitzkrieged with pain. There is a concept known as " maximal motor unit recruition. " The body recruits as many muscle fibers as it possibly can, when forced to. When failure is reached, for that moment maximal motor unit recruition has occurred. The 1-10 system forces the body to reach such a stage 10 successive times. Brutality is the only word to describe such a concept.

Check your balls at the door. You will find out if you really have what it takes to train intensly with this routine. I know of no other way to exercise and put the body under such excruciating pain… and that was just the first set. Do as many as you can before you pass out or throw up. 3 sets are ideal. What does 3 sets of your workout look like compared to 3 sets of this one I have prescribed for you.

Am I crazy? Yes! Does this work? Yes! Will it work for you? Yes! Will you actually try it? Hmmm…

I got one more crazy routine to leave you with. This one revolves around optimal frequency. Guess what? This fucker hurts too and it works.

“1000 reps to bigger muscles”… NO! unuh. Mine is 5000 reps per week. (I used the frequency principle for building a muscle that is built for frequency) You can start off at 1000 or 2000 reps per week and increase it if you arn’t use to training calves alot. Now this is for calves, other muscles could be trained but I’m writing up the calve routine I used.

Here it goes.

Every day of the week a minimum of 500 bodyweight standing calve raises will be made throughout the day. Thats 5-10 sets every day of 50-100 reps per set. Spread them out. It takes a about a minute per set. The tempo is fast end explosive up , and controlled without bouncing on the way up. The entire rep should take less than a second. Aim full full contraction and a brief squeeze at the top. Don’t rest feet on the floor, keep them off of the floor at all times… continuous tension for 60 seconds. Do as many sets as possible to reach 500 reps. I usually did 5 sets of 100. Some times I would do sets of 50, but that was maybe 5 minutes after a set of 100. You ideally want as much rest as possible between sets for optimal reps. This takes less than 10 minutes total time a day except on calve torture day.

The routine: (Remember these reps are spread throught a 24-hour period)… the time it takes to complete the total reps for the day it the same time it takes to have a smoke.

Example routine:(remember that beginners can reduce the volume if this is too much for you) This is an advanced routine that can be used by anyone though… I did it as a begineer.

Sun- 500 BW Raises
Mon- 500 BW Raises
Tue- 500 BW Raises + Calf Torture
Wed- 500 BW Raises
Thu- 500 BW Raises
Fri- 500 BW Raises + Calf Torture
Sat- 500 BW Raises

Now Calf Torture is exactly that. Your muscles are already a little sore from 500 reps a day. Don’t worry about that. Calves are one tough muscle from hell, they will take the abuse. Your mind will quit long before this muscle does. This pain usually subsides through regular stretching and a few reps thru the pain zone and your money. Learn to push thru a little bit of pain. The rainbow of benefits is just beyond that push.

Calf Torture- 750 total reps

5 Sets of Donkey Raises - 50 reps
5 Sets of 100 reps rest-pause Standing Raises

Use 10 reps, rest pause, then 10 more, rest pause, then 10 more… all the way until you reach 100 total reps for the set of standing Reps.

Donkey Raises should be painful for the last 25 reps, push through these… these are the ones that make the difference, the first 25 are just to pre fatigue you. Full stretch on these.

That’ll do it… for the high frequency plan.

[quote]Go heavy fool wrote:

“The Speed Limit”, I call it… 55 reps per set. It’s an old school routine known as the 1-10 system.

Imagine the most excruciating pain known to man, multiply it exponentially, and you have the 1-10 system. Forged in the fires of yester yore, this absolute blitz will force any muscle group into immediate growth. Nothing is more effective!

1: Pick an exercise, such as the barbell curl and thoroughly warm up as if you were going to test your one rep max.
2: Perform your one rep max
3: Strip just enough weight immediately afterwards so as to allow yourself to eek out an additional two repetitions
4: Strip so as to allow yourself only three repetitions
5: Repeat successive strips until you reach a set which allows you to get 10 repetitions.

Thus, the total amount of sets will equal 10, the rest between sets will be only long enough to strip the weight, and the sum of repetitions will be 55 in number. Why does this system work so well? The answer is that it forces the body to recruit a MAXIMAL amount of muscle fibers. 55 rep set Lou, not singles, not 10’s. How about every fuckin’ rep between 1-10 for that muscle to get blitzkrieged with pain. There is a concept known as " maximal motor unit recruition. " The body recruits as many muscle fibers as it possibly can, when forced to. When failure is reached, for that moment maximal motor unit recruition has occurred. The 1-10 system forces the body to reach such a stage 10 successive times. Brutality is the only word to describe such a concept.

Do as many as you can before you pass out or throw up. 3 sets are ideal. What does 3 sets of your workout look like compared to 3 sets of this one I have prescribed for you.

umm…

[/quote]
Mr Heavy: How fast has each rep got to be? and how many times per week should I train with this routine? Two times, or three times?

Are the sets are within the 45-60 seconds of time under tension per set guideline you mentioned once for hypertrophy?

How much should I rest between sets?