Bigger Muscles, Shorter Workouts&Intensity Boosting Techniques

Gain Bigger Muscles With Shorter Workouts – Intensity Boosting Techniques
Bigger Muscles, Shorter Workouts

I've been training for more than 20 years, and I'm pretty sure I've tried it all: high-volume body-part splits; high-intensity, low-volume splits; high-frequency training; low-frequency training; even total-body training.

If I were forced to pick just one style of workouts to do for the rest of my life ... well, I'd be pissed! But once I got over it, I'd pick high-intensity, low-volume training with a body-part split. Nothing I've tried produces dense, granite-like muscle tissue quite like this system.

I can't recall even a single training cycle in which I did this type of workout and didn't make incredible progress. In fact, the primary reason I deviate from it at all is boredom.

On the one hand, saying that you get bored with a program in which you get stronger with each and every workout is about as weird as complaining about the monotony of sleeping with Playboy centerfields night after night, when there are so many less-attractive women you could be seducing.

But on the other hand, the fact you do get sick of these workouts is a pretty good sign that you need to use high-intensity splits in short, strategic increments. A little goes a long way. Your body makes progress, but your brain knows when you've had enough.

Let me show you how you can take advantage of high-intensity workouts to make huge gains in size and strength.

Volume and intensity have to be inversely proportional. But what about frequency? With lower volume, you should be able to train each muscle group more often. As a general rule, I suggest training each body part once every four to seven days. When you use the intensity-boosting techniques described and which are included in the programme below, once every five to seven days is plenty.

Finish a workout with one set of 15 to 20 reps. Then, as hyperanemic supercompensation (aka the pump) occurs, stretch the muscle for as long as you can stand it. This pump/stretch technique helps expand the fascia around the muscle, giving you a larger muscle belly over time. It also reduces hypertonic adhesions (aka muscle fibres getting stuck to each other), which decrease performance.

Here are workouts for an example of how you can use a variety of high-intensity techniques to train your back.

Back Workout 1

    Exercise                                           Sets     Reps     Intensity-boosting technique(s)

1     Rack deadlift                                 2         4-6        Straight sets to concentric failure

2     Chest-supported row                    2         4-6     After concentric failure on    second set, do an isometric hold and a negative rep

3     Low-cable row (neutral grip)      1           6-8     Triple rest-pause set *

4     Machine pullover                          1        15-20     After concentric failure, do as many partial reps as you can

Back Workout 2

Exercise                                              Sets     Reps     Intensity-boosting technique(s)

1     Pull-up                                           1         6-8     Triple rest-pause set, finishing with an isometric hold and negative rep *

2     Barbell bent-over row                  2         4-6     Straight sets to concentric failure

3     Lat pulldown (underhand grip)  1         6-8     Triple rest-pause set, finishing with an isometric hold and negative rep *

4     Chest-supported reverse flye       1      15-20                                                                                               (lie face-down on an incline bench set to a 30-degree angle)After concentric failure, do as many partial reps as you can

* Choose a weight that you think you can lift 6 to 8 times before you hit concentric failure. Set it down, rest 20 to 30 seconds, then lift again to concentric failure. Set it down again, rest 20 to 30 seconds, lift one more time to concentric failure. In Workout 2, you’ll add an iso-hold to the final rep of the final set, followed by a negative, lowering your body or the weight as slowly as possible.

Do one or two warm-up sets for several of the exercises, especially the first exercise of each workout and any exercise in which you’re doing straight sets to failure.

Train your back once every five to seven days. Do Workout 1 the first time, then Workout 2 the next week and rotate until you decide to change workouts.

Control the weight on each and every rep.

Although the sample workouts are for your back, you can use this template to train any body part.

The shorter the workout, the more focus you need.