Advanced
Training
Variables
When it comes to training, once you’ve been in the iron game for 1-2 years it gets more
complex than just shifting weights and eating protein. As you may have noticed, progress
slows down and it becomes harder to advance. As the name suggests, this is where
Advanced Training Variables become key.
H e re is a brief o ve r vi ew of al l the techn i qu es
us e d i n 6 We ek M ass an d how they can help
yo u to co ntin ua ll y grow, a t a rapi d rate.
Blood Flow
Restriction (BFR)
Training
BFR training is a newly appreciated training technique that works by restricting blood flow
to the veins, but not the arteries.
When you restrict blood to the veins but leave the arteries open, it allows blood to be
delivered but not released. As a result, you get a massive increase in cell swelling. When
your cells swell, a signal is sent to your cells to restructure themselves and grow bigger
(Schoenfeld, 2010)!
For instance, a previous study showed that a group using 20% of 1RM with BFR saw significant
gains in the size of their quads, hamstrings, and adductors, whereas the non-BFR group saw
hardly any increases. (Abe et al., 2005).
To perform BFR training, wrap the top portion of your target muscle—the top of your biceps
or upper thigh—with a regular knee wrap, to about a perceived tightness level of 7 out of 10.
Next, because BFR works best with relatively light weight, select anywhere from 20-50
percent of what you’d usually lift for a standard set of moderate reps. Perform 15-30 reps
per set with the intent of really squeezing whatever muscle you’re using. Rest about 30
seconds, for a total of 3-4 sets.
Cluster Sets
In the simplest terms, cluster sets are a series of mini sets with short periods of rest
(5-20 seconds). These can be a great training variable taking you way beyond your normal
level of fatigue and allowing you to lift heavier than normal. They also enable you to lift
more overall volume than you would be able to with your traditional weight lifting routine.
The program is upper body focused for several
reasons. Here are the key points:
Target All 3 Mechanisms
Of Hypertrophy
With Cluster Sets
Cluster sets can target all three of the mechanisms of muscle growth. You can lift heavier
weights using short mini-sets with intermittent pauses, which allows you to create
maximum tension.
You can develop a large amount of metabolic stress by performing a large number of reps
with short rest periods.
Finally, if you emphasize the eccentrics (lowering of the weight) you can create a large
amount of muscle damage.
Supersets
A superset is performed when two exercises are performed in a row without stopping. You
have the choice to superset within the same body part or you can train two different body
parts. As you’ll see in our 6 week mass training plans, we use this advance technique more
than any other.
The traditional usage is where you use two opposing muscle groups like chest and back, or
quads and hamstrings.
For example, using the chest and back example, you would do the following:
• Perform 8 reps
of DB Bench Press
• Move directly to the
next exercise
• Perform 12 reps of
T-Bar Rows
• Rest 60 seconds
and repeat
This type of superset can actually improve your performance and help you to use heavier
weights for more reps (Robins et al., 2010). For the specific 6 week mass plan, the use of
supersets allows us to create a crazy amount of total work volume and frequency, without
compromising on either of themas is the case in most other routines. It also allows you to
increase metabolism and your ability to partition all those carbohydrates and nutrients into
the muscle (hence the large amount of food and carbs around the workout).
Below are the results of one study using a few supersets,
nothing close to what we are doing in 6 week mass.
At some point we will also do a superset that targets
the same muscle group, this is called a compound set.
For example:
• Perform 10 reps of shoulder presses
• Move directly to the next exercise
• Perform 10 reps of lateral raises
• Rest 60 seconds and repeat
This type of superset really fatigues muscles, and sends blood rushing to the targeted
muscles. As a result, a huge amount of metabolic stress is developed, and the growth
process starts to occur.
Dropsets
Dropsets are done by taking a normal set to failure with a weight then immediately doing
another set to failure with a lighter weight. The typical drop in weight is anywhere from
10-20% of the original load. This can be done as double-drop (reduce the weight once)
or triple-drop (reduce the weight twice) for even more stress.
Here’s an example:
10 x DB Chest Press with 80LBs followed by a further 5 – 7
reps using 65LBs and finished with 4 – 6 reps at 45LBs.
Drop sets can help by causing a serious amount of cell swelling and metabolic stress, 2 key
mechanisms of hypertrophy. These sort of sets tend to pull a ton of blood and nutrients
into the muscle (as you should know from the pump!), and can be used as a great finisher
to end a workout.
Along with the insane pump, drop sets can be fantastic for burning some extra calories and
increasing GLUT 4 receptors, helping you metabolize your food and stay lean while bulking
(Borghouts & Keizer, 2000).
Giant Sets
Giant sets are compound sets on steroids.
As used in 6 weeks mass, giant sets are best for hitting areas that have multiple muscles with
different origins / insertions. Based on experience, back and legs are the best for giant
setting, however you can certainly giant set any muscle group for rapid growth.
Here is an example
giant set
with back.
• Cable Low Row
• T-Bar Rows
• Chin Ups
• Straight Arm Pulldown
• Bent barbells rows
This would allow you to stimulate growth in every inch of the musculature of the back. By
using several different exercises you are recruiting different muscle fibers and overloading
different parts of the strength curve.
Giant sets can be great for forcing growth by forcing more blood and nutrients into a specific
muscle group. Additionally, by doing a lot of work on one specific muscle group, you get a
ton of metabolic stress and byproducts that buildup, telling your muscles to grow while
boosting anabolic hormones.
The benefits don’t stop at muscle building though. By doing giant sets, you can boost
your overall conditioning levels and increase post exercise oxygen consumption for
more than 24 hours, both of which can help to keep you lean as you grow more muscle
(Schuenke et al., 2002)
The benefits don’t stop at muscle building though. By doing giant sets, you can boost
your overall conditioning levels and increase post exercise oxygen consumption for
more than 24 hours, both of which can help to keep you lean as you grow more muscle
(Schuenke et al., 2002)
Intra-set stretching
– painful muscle
Beware, intra-set stretching is one of the most brutal ways to build muscle.
To perform intra-set stretching, complete a regularly prescribed set to muscle failure. Then,
when you are finished, allow the weight you’re lifting to put the targeted muscle on stretch
and hold (time for the pain).
Once you’ve let the muscle stretch under load for 30 seconds, strip a considerable amount
of weight and perform another set to failure or rest and repeat. If doing this in a dropset
fashion without rest perform the second (and 3rd if you really want to) and finish each set
with a 30 second stretch.
The best exercises to perform intra-set stretching on are exercises that allow a great range
of motion and stretch. For example: dumbbell flys, lat pulldown, leg curls, incline dumbbell
curls, Romanian deadlifts, calf raises, and pull ups.
This technique creates a ton of muscle damage by holding the weight in a stretched position.
Even more, when you develop a lot of metabolic stress from going to muscular failure, that
damage is even amplified as the connective tissue is stretched by the pump itself.
The results speak for themselves.
In a recent study, muscle thickness of the calves doubled in the group that used the stretching
method,versus the non-stretch participants who held the weight stack with their feet neutral
and avoided a stretch in-between sets of calf raises (Silva et al., 2014).
The best exercises to perform intra-set stretching on are exercises that allow a great range
of motion and stretch. For example: dumbbell flys, lat pulldown, leg curls, incline dumbbell
curls, Romanian deadlifts, calf raises, and pull ups.
Rest Pause
Rest pause training involves performing as many reps as possible, followed by a short rest
period (15-30 seconds) before knocking out as many reps as possible. You can finish up
there, or add an additional rest period before going to failure one final time.
These are best done on machines, as you can go to muscular fatigue without risking injury
or poor form. If you have a spotter, they can be performed on bench press etc, but due to
their nature they are not suited to squats because of increased injury risk.
These are great as you can perform a large amount of reps in a limited amount of time. By
using short rest periods and by pushing your muscles to failure, you create a ton of metabolic
stress and cell swelling which normally takes several sets or a whole workout to achieve.
You will notice you will get a huge pump, even though you will only be able to complete a
few reps in the last round or two. Your muscles will just be dying and you’ll be recruiting every
single muscle fiber and motor unit you have!
Eccentric Overload
There are two active parts to a lift: the concentric (or
lifting) phase, and the eccentric (or lowering) phase.
When you lengthen the muscle eccentrically, you can increase protein synthesis more than
with a concentric contraction, however the caveat is that you have to go HEAVIER (around
30% more) to achieve those benefits (Elliason, 2006).
There are a number of ways to increase the eccentric load.
You can use simple negative reps where you just lower with the weight and reset to do
more reps (pull ups),
Assisted negative reps, where you lower (eccentric) the weight yourself, and get help on
the way back up (bench press)
You can also do negatives where you lift a weight with two limbs and lower it with one
(hamstring curl or leg extension).
Manual eccentrics can also be performed
pe by having a friend apply light to moderate
pressure during the lowering part of the movement.
When performing negatives, it is important to control the eccentric contraction but not to
slow it down much. Research shows that faster speed eccentric contractions result in a
release of more growth factors, more satellite cells, and greater protein synthesis than
slow speed eccentric contractions (Shepstone et al.,2005).
Thus, a 1-3 second eccentric is good enough.
Eccentric training works through the activation of satellite cells. These unique cells are
located on the outside of muscles, and they respond to damage in their vicinity by
transforming into bigger and stronger muscle fibers. The more you activate these, the
greater potential you have to grow.