What's up, guys?
Jeff Cavaliere, ATHLEANX.com.
Today I’m going to break down for you, ho w you should perform your sets for maximum
gains.
Now, it’s important to differentiate whether you’re pursuing size gains or strength gains
because there is going to be a difference in how you do this.
What I’ve done is basically laid out four scenarios and we’re using one example exercise,
or two at most.
In this case we’re going to take a bench-press.
Now, the scenarios are oversimplified.
The numbers are arbitrary.
As a matter of fact, in our strength pursuit here I’m using 10 just as a way for us to
use simpler math here.
Obviously, our strength numbers will be in the lower rep ranges than that.
It would be scaled down.
But it doesn’t matter because it still applies as we make our way through.
I want to show you how there are differences in how you’re performing your sets though.
That’s the most important thing.
We can start with scenario number one.
If we were to perform a bench-press with straight sets it would look something like this.
Let’s say 225lbs for 10 was our max.
Again, we can build strength at a higher rep range.
If you’re 10 rep max is 225 and five months from now you can bench-press 285 for 10 reps,
you’ve gotten stronger.
It’s a metric for strength.
But let’s say we’re at 225 for 10 and we take an adequate rest between sets because
we know if we’re trying to train for strength you have to allow yourself to recover in between
sets – both neurologically and physically – so you can get back to that bench and
perform the same 10 reps with that 10 rep max of yours again.
Again, we have three consecutive performances of that because we rested adequately between
sets.
Now, I’m going t put out some poundage lifted across a certain time period for a point we’re
going to make later on.
Again, this doesn’t really make a whole hell of a lot of difference when you look
at different scenarios.
However, in this particular example I’m going to show you why it will.
6750lbs lifted across those three sets in 13 minutes.
One is one minute arbitrarily to perform the set, five-minute rest in between, 519lbs per
minute.
Great.
Scenario number two: we could perform bench in drop sets.
What we’re talking about here is dropping the weight that you used in your bench to
failure by 30% and then taking that set to failure as well.
So, in this case, a 225lb bench, dropped 30% would come down to 155lbs.
So, you perform your first set to failure – 225 for 10 – then you drop that down
immediately to 155lbs and rep out.
Let’s say in this instance you got 8 reps.
Now you’re going to rest again.
You’re not abandoning strength entirely in this example here.
You’re trying to pursue the same idea.
So, you rest your five minutes between sets.
You come back, you do 225lbs, this time you’re going to be doing 8.
This is a natural drop off because you’re adding three, additional sets to failure that
you didn’t perform here.
So coming back to perform the 225 for 10 again is unrealistic.
You’re probably going to perform at a little bit of a decrease in ladder here.
8 reps and then 7 reps.
You’ve got the same thing happening in your drop set as the fatigue continues to amount
across the sets.
What that does is end up totaling 8570lbs lifted in 16 minutes.
It takes a little bit longer because of one additional set to do here, and it comes out
to be 535lbs a minute.
Again, is this better than this because of that?
You’ve got to hold on for a second.
Now, scenario number three: we introduce something more of a compound set, but it’s still a
drop set.
It’s a mechanical drop set.
This is a bench-press into a mechanically easier exercise.
However, it’s still able to be done at a higher intensity.
In this case, the crossover.
I’ve mentioned this in one of our recent videos about taking a bench-press into a crossover
and why this is a better example.
The things that’s happening really well here, that’s not happening here, is your
drop set – your second exercise – is complementary to the bench-press.
What does that mean?
The mechanics in the bench-press are staying the same because you’re going from a bench
to a bench.
We know that one thing that’s lacking from a bench-press is full chest range of motion.
Full activation of the chest.
We don’t go into resisted adduction across the chest because our hands stay fixed on
a bar, or even with the dumbbells we have, that limitation, as I’ve pointed out in
detail, on the bench-press video.
So, we know that we’re getting complementary stresses to the chest here, and because of
that we’re going to have some other things happen here.
In our first set, if we took 225lbs for 10 to failure and then performed 50lbs in each
hand adding up to 100lbs on the crossover; we would have an addition minute for these
because of the one for the right hand and the one for the left hand.
Then we have a drop off, but a more significant drop off in the second set.
Why is that?
We’re not going to go from 225 to 10, back to 8 in the second set.
We’ve done something a little more intense.
We’ve taken the chest through a higher stress because of the selection of exercises here.
So, the drop off is going to be more significant.
If I’m still trying to pursue strength here by resting five minutes in between, we would
have an output of 10, 6, and 4; and then 10, 8, and 8 for our drop on the crossover for
a total of 7120lbs in 19 minutes.
A little longer here.
347lbs per minute.
But there’s an alternative way we can do this.
We can say ‘I understand I’m not going to be able to preserve this strength here’.
This secondary exercise that taxes my body the way it does is providing such an overload
on the chest that I can’t possibly try to mix the goals.
I’m not trying to mix strength with hypertrophy here.
I’m trying to train for hypertrophy, realizing that the inefficiency created by the secondary
movement makes the first movement not so great, in terms of my output.
But I relent to that.
I give in.
I allow for that to happen to say ‘I’m just going to try to maintain my volume’.
If I maintain my volume in keeping my reps at 10, 10, and 10, then of course, my total
poundage will come down.
But something interesting happens here.
If I go 225lbs for 10 in the first set and I lift my 100 for my crossover for 10 in that
second part of it, then in the second set for 10 I’ve got to come down to 205lbs.
Then to get 10 in the third set I’ve got to come down to 185lbs.
It might be discouraging to some.
But when you calculate this all out – again, we’ve foregone the pursuit of strength here.
We’ve relented to that.
We’ve brought our reps’ time down to 3 minutes between sets.
That comes out to be 8550lbs in a shorter period of time – 58 minutes – for a total
output of 570lbs.
Then there’s one, final scenario.
We can take those two exercises if this is a good combination, but could we flip the
order around?
Could we go into a bench pre-exhaust?
Well, what we’re doing here is taking the crossover and performing it in front of the
bench.
But something happens here as well.
We know, once again, this is not a strength pursuit, more than any, because when you perform
that first exercise like the crossover, we try to head into our 225lbs for 10 and we
can’t even get that in the first set.
We’ve just taken that muscle and fatigued it and now we’re asking for it to do what
our normal 10 rep max is.
Now it’s down to 7 already.
We come back, we have our three-minute rest in between.
So, we’re always going to be able to get our 10 reps on our crossover – not that
that’s necessarily that important.
But what happens is, your bench-press continues to suffer.
225lbs for 5.
225lbs for 3.
You rest three minutes in between sets and it’s 6375lbs in 15 minutes for 425lbs a
minute.
So, what do these pounds per minute reflect?
Well, they don’t reflect everything because you have to determine what your goal is.
If your goal is strength, I throw this out the window.
The only thing that matters here is: what is the number of times you lifted that maximum
weight we’re lifting on this occasion?
That is the most time right here.
30 times in this set, right here.
In this scenario.
So, if I’m pursuing strength, this is the winner.
I’m working on increasing the max amount of weight I can move.
So even if I have to extend the period of time between sets to do that, if I was training
for strength; this is what I should do.
There’s a reason why a lot of these other scenarios that are considered more advanced
training techniques, are not use – and shouldn’t be used – by beginners.
If you’re a true beginner what you should be focusing on is building your foundational
strength.
We talk about it all the time in ATHLEANX.
Your foundational strength is the basis of everything you do.
Now, I’ve also gone on to say that I heavily suggest you work on your correctives at the
same time because even if you’re a brand-new person to the gym your body didn’t get into
the imbalances and the differentials in strength – upper body, lower body, right side, left
side – from training.
It’s the first time in the gym.
It goes there from everyday life.
So, you want to address those imbalances.
You want to address and correct those things through the right selection of exercises.
Let’s face it, an overhead press, a bench-press, a squat, a deadlift; none of them are working
your rotator cuff.
You’ve got to start working in some face pulls.
You’ve got to start working in the right correctives.
Band pull-aparts.
I know they sound boring, but they go hand in hand.
So, as you’re building on your foundational strength, you’re doing it on a solid foundation.
You’re not working around the cracks of a cracked foundation.
So that would be part of it.
But if we’re working for hypertrophy, trying to train straight for muscle growth, we realize
that along with the strength training we’re going to see – we’ve seen it many times
before in new beginnings – you’re going to see some side gains here.
But if you’re a little bit further down the road, more advanced, and you’re trying
to train for hypertrophy and you’ve been in the gym for a while, these other techniques
start to open up possibilities.
That’s when you start to look at ‘what’s the workload I’m doing?
What’s the amount of stress that I’m applying to a muscle in a certain period of time?’
If both you and I did the same rate, the same reps, the same exercise, but you did it in
10 minutes and I did it in 20 minutes; your workload will be higher.
The output and the stress on your body would be more significant.
That’s what’s called ‘Density Training’.
We look at that to give us a reflection of that and that allows us to start preparing
methods.
So, in these methods, the best scenario would be to use this complementary exercise – in
this case, the crossover which complements the stress being applied to the chest – and
it allows us to do that in a way that maximizes what’s going on here because we’re not
sacrificing the volume.
We know how important the volume is to the overall picture.
So, this would be the winner.
Instead of trying to maintain strength.
So, this would be the winner.
Instead of trying to maintain strength you start to mix your messages.
You mix your training focuses.
This would be the winner.
Am I saying that pre-exhaust is no good based on these numbers?
No.
Pre-exhaust has a place.
As a matter of fact, what’s interesting is, people that try to perform pre-exhaust
try to get more work out of the chest in the second compound part of that movement, or
combination.
That’s not what’s going on.
The studies will show that the second exercise – the bench-press in this case – is that
the activation on the chest is the same.
What’s significantly being enhanced here is the recruitment and activation of the accessory
muscles to that lift.
Namely the triceps.
Which has shown a dramatic increase in activation.
So without having to forego or use partial range of motion to try and work the sticking
point in the bench-press in the end, you can still use a full range of motion exercise.
Realizing that the triceps are going to get more recruitment here, and therefore contribute
more to your ability for tricep recruitment when you need it the most at lockout.
Without having to forego full range of motion reps.
So the last point I’ll make here is, when you train in straight set fashion here, you
have the opportunity because you’re sparing yourself all these intensity techniques that
can really take you to a point of trouble, in terms of how much soreness you have in
your muscles, making it hard for you to get back in the gym, continuing to work on your
strength.
So, if you’re really trying to prioritize your strength, this would be the scenario
so you can come back more frequently without having these things be detrimental to your
ability to show up in the gym.
But for the other reasons we’ve said here, there are ways to split your workouts up,
guys.
These are not bad.
You can still get back in the gym, but you have t know how to split your workout up and
maximize your ability to do this.
I’ve done a whole video on training splits that you can follow, and the advantages and
disadvantages in those.
You can check that video out over here if you haven’t already done so.
Guys, I hope you’ve found this video helpful.
Again, there are a lot of ways to skin a cat.
You have to focus on what it is you’re trying to accomplish and then figure out the most
efficient way for you to do that so you can get the returns you’re looking for in the
most effective manner, in the least amount of time.
That’s what we’re doing here, guys.
If you’re looking for step by step programs, all our programs do these, depending upon
the goal.
They’re all over at ATHLEANX.com.
In the meantime, if you’ve found the video helpful leave your comments and thumbs up
below.
Let me know what else you want me to cover and I’ll do my best for you.
I’ll break the muscle marker out.
Not just to draw on me, but to draw on the board if need be.
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All right, guys.
See you soon.