I read something from a Vince Delmonte regarding what he calls crash sets. Basically you pick a weight you can do 6-7 reps, take a 30 second break, do another 4-5 reps, another 30 seconds, then 3-4 reps, going to failure on each set. Now, I’m quite new to all of this, but it makes sense to me. You can lift heavy but still get in some reps. Any opinions on this? Also, would just that one series of sets without much break be enough, or would multiple sets be a better way to go?
Thanks as usual. Sorry if this is a redundant question, I couldn’t find it anywhere.
[quote]Stronghold wrote:
Did this Vince Delmonte happen to claim that he invented this?[/quote]
yeah cuz if he did, he’s really stretching there. yes this is an intensive way to train. the norm is usually do reps till failure, take ten-fifteen second break, then start the next set.
He didn’t flat out state that he invented it but he did kinda sorta mention that way of training could not be found in any other program that he has read.
His program is based on three weeks of what he calls giant sets. 3 sets of 10 with a time under tension of 50-70 seconds for each rep, then three weeks of the above mentioned crash sets. He recommends working each muscle group 1-2 times per week due to how hard you are working the muscles.
I have been doing full body workouts for almost three months, and while I have gained a lot of strength, I’m not seeing much improvement in size at all, and I’m eating enough good stuff that I haved gained some body fat. I’m looking into some routines that blitz the muscle more but less frequently. We’ll see what happens. I am 6-4 and built thin. I hoping Thib is right that some guys need more direct work less often. I feel I really gave the full body thing a good try though.
[quote]roberds wrote:
He didn’t flat out state that he invented it but he did kinda sorta mention that way of training could not be found in any other program that he has read.
His program is based on three weeks of what he calls giant sets. 3 sets of 10 with a time under tension of 50-70 seconds for each rep, then three weeks of the above mentioned crash sets. He recommends working each muscle group 1-2 times per week due to how hard you are working the muscles.
I have been doing full body workouts for almost three months, and while I have gained a lot of strength, I’m not seeing much improvement in size at all, and I’m eating enough good stuff that I haved gained some body fat. I’m looking into some routines that blitz the muscle more but less frequently. We’ll see what happens. I am 6-4 and built thin. I hoping Thib is right that some guys need more direct work less often. I feel I really gave the full body thing a good try though.
I use rest-pause quite often, as I always get great results with it. Typically, I find it easiest to use on things like weighted chins/dips, where you can stick with one weight and keep working it through different rep ranges. Great if you have time constraints, while giving you an insane workout.
Rest pause was popularized in the late-90’s/early 2000’s by Dante Trudel and his highly effective DC training system. He had been doing this sort of thing since the early 90’s and as far as I know is the first to use Rest pause like this. Sounds like both Vince Delmonte and M&F are just ripping DC off. I did a search on this guy and he looks more like a Calvin Kline model than a bodybuilder…
Here’s the thing… strength training has been around for such a long time that there really isn’t anything “new” to be seen. (Funny, Jeremy Frisch’s article today touches on this concept too.)
Crash sets, rest-pause, whatever we wanna call them, have been around for decades. It doesn’t mean that Vince Delmonte is ripping off Dante, or Dante is ripping off a Weider principle (around since the 70s or so), or whatever.
It’s about a trainer using a method to get a result. If that trainer gains popularity (or notoriety) because of a certain method, that doesn’t necessarily mean that it’s “his” method. It’s just that he tweaked a particular style of training with his own personal touch.
Herman Goerner used a kind of strip set training, or down the rack, back in the early 1900s. Does that mean that Ronnie Coleman ripped him off when he does that for biceps or delts? Nosirree.
I would only be hesitant if Vince, or whomever, went so far as to say “This is something completely brand new that I invented.” Off the top of my head, I can only think of Charles Staley’s EDT as being a training method that’s truly novel and original.
At the end of the day, if it works, it works. It’s just like Alwyn Cosgrove says when learning something new. “Absorb what is useful, reject what is useless.” Oh, no, wait… he was ripping off Bruce Lee.
