I’ve been planning my next training cycle and had an idea.
I want to do an EDT fat loss-based program as it’s worked well for me in the past. The thing I didn’t care for is the workouts seemed a bit excessive at 1:15-1:30, performed 3x/week.
Now here’s what I am thinking. Many intelligent training experts are pushing shorter duration, more frequent workouts. So why not do this with EDT? What I am looking at doing is moving it to 4x/week (since this is how I usually train anyway) and cutting the volume.
Here’s my tentative approach:
Monday:
Core: Bench press (protocol identical to the original fat-loss EDT-10x1)
Circuit:
A1. Incline DB press
A2. Barbell curl
B1. External rotation movement
B2. Hammer curl
Tuesday:
Core: Back squat
Circuit:
A1. Swiss ball lunge
A2. Gastroc emphasis calf movement
B1. Old school hack squat
B2. Soleus emphasis calf movement
Friday:
Core: Deadlift
Circuit:
A1. Rev hyper or swiss ball hip ext.
A2. Prone ball row
B1. Natural glute-ham raise
B2. Saxon side bends
Saturday: Running Man 400’s
Also, GPP will be performed 3-4x/week utilizing wheelbarrow walks or farmer’s walks (don’t have a sled yet).
I saw a similar program that Pavel wrote a while ago but for the core he used 5x5 instead of the 10x1. I suppose there is a slight risk of overtraining, but I think this could be a good approach. Please feel free to comment or make suggestions. I also thought about taking the abs out of the Friday workout and possibly doing a separate program such as King’s Awesome Abs or one of Christian’s Babehound routines.
I’d say something needs to be done to increase ab volume. Have you considered chins Monday with hack squat/incline db and soleus/oblique circuits and deadlift Tuesday with gluteham raise/upper back emphasis row and grip/abs circuits or something similar? Looks pretty good aside from the low ab work.
That’s precisely why I mentioned doing either King or Thibadeaux’s program on the side. I would much rather do abs separately than in my regular workouts.
Looks pretty good to me; give it a shot! The only thing that I personally would have an issue with is lots of back work the day before heavy deadlifting. Granted, I’m sure you’re experienced enough to be doing deads for your posterior chain, but I’d still be concerned about the carryover in the scapular retractors, upper traps, and lats. Maybe switch Monday and Thursday?
That’s a good point, Eric. I guess I’m just used to what I’m doing with ABBH, but then again chins is the only back movement for that Thursday workout. I think I will make that switch. Thanks bro!
all those isolation movements are metabolicly demanding. not good. I’d do them on a different circuit, or with your aerobic training. looks like you want to do too much. (i.e lose fat and work every muscle in the body with high intensity)
look at the meltdown or OVT supersets for demanding supersets.
all the single joint moves. they are not metabolicly demanding, so its not edt for fat loss anymore. the whole point is to concentrate your energy on the compound moves supersets. either add more core/leg volume or split the supersets to compound and then isolation.
I see what you’re saying, S-man, but there’s just as much isolation (term used loosely as I see this meaning more like flyes, leg ext, etc) in Staley’s original routine. I really wouldn’t have a problem cutting the direct arm work out as I’m probably one of the few people on the planet who hates training arms, but I wanted to make this routine fairly demanding to help counteract my VERY SEDENTARY daily routine (desk job, ugh).
I’ve done Meltdown (more than one occasion) and it worked stunningly well for fat loss but I’m sick of losing my 1rm strength. Also, some of the chosen lifts are to emphasize weak points (ext. rotators, lower back/hip). Lower body is a strong point of mine (see my previous pics) so I don’t need to throw in any more leg work.
I may be biting off more than I can chew, but I’ve always had good recovery and I am very excited about giving it a shot for at least three weeks. I am just finishing up ABBH (AWESOME PROGRAM)so I could use a step up in volume as well.
Actually Staley usually uses isolation movements in his EDT supersets as it’s too challenging to do compound movements seperated for a length of time like 10-15 minutes. So he suggessts isolations…
Is that an hour fifteen to an hour 30, or a minute fifteen seconds to a minute and a half?
Ok seriously I just started EDT for fat loss, (just a few hours ago,) and it took me about an hour. 3 fifteen-minute sessions plus two 5-minute rest periods. I took a little longer on the rest periods only because I had to set up my weights, and still wanted to rest, but that only added a total of 5 minutes (actually less) for a total of 1 hour.
Monty, I’d just advise you to ease into this routine. It looks good, but just don’t overwork yourself the first week. I ended up hurting my shoulder the first time I tried EDT fat loss, by doing 15 min of bench, then 2 PR zones for chest. I thought I was taking it easy, but with the high volume in this program, what you think is easy may leave you much more damaged than you think (especially if you just got off ABB).
I’m gonna agree there. Make sure you’re in shape for it before you just jump right in… I’m sure you know yourself… but it just seems to be alot for someone who is dieting.
Oops, I am following the EDT fat loss in a pdf document sent by Charles Staley’s website. I didn’t even go to the article here at T-mag to refresh my memory. So my routine is different then Monty Ritchie’s.
Also later when I wasn’t online I realized that I didn’t take any warm up into account. I deserve to be spanked. Is ~karma~ available?
I believe the EDT I am doing is modified by Alwyn Cosgrove.
I received the pdf file because I signed up for a fat loss “Challenge” which I later found out required a person to belong to a gym, and I train at home.