Thread: Hints and tips to mix up or perfect your training:

Originally Posted by scott2301

Hey MO, whats the deal with these giant sets you were talking about in a different thread?
I know you were probly gunna get around to telling us about it sooner or later, just thought i'd ask...

Yeah was going to get around to it but thought it was too much of a big jump before explainig proper technique first in the gym.

Giant sets is how i would always love to train if i had the chance (empty gym).

So... Giant Sets:

You choose about 4 different exercises for a body part and you do them all one after another.
So lets do back:
-Lat pull down to the front (right down to the chest, pause and contract and let your lat stretch out all the way up furthest it can take you - 10reps)

less than 5 seconds MAXIMUM (or you've stuffed everything up!) you go into...

-Barbell row to the chest - 10 reps real quick (going from real slow inthe last exercise to this all of a sudden - one extreme to another is the "theme" for this giant set workout)

...less than 5 seconds rest go into...

-Undergrip straight bar seated cable rows. Stretch out all the way upon bringing the weight back and squeeze hard upon pulling the weight in. Elbows tucked in to your hips! 10 straight strict reps.

...less than 5 seconds rest go into...

-D-bell rows leaning on an incline bench. Hard and heavy - 6-8 reps. No less and no more!

Once you have done each exercise ONCE one after another, you have completed ONE ROTATION!
Do 4 BUT EACH ROTATION WEIGHT IS INCREASED!! So choose your weight carefully from the start knowing that you will have to up the weight of each exercise 4 times.

Depending on your level of training this is most probably enough. Myself, i go for a little more to tell my back to grow.
I may choose an extra exercise after all that and go progressive sets.

There are so many "themes" that you can have with giant sets its not funny. This is one of many.
I have included slow pause strict reps, fast reps, continuous reps without pause but moderate pace and heavy reps. All fibres are taken care of here!

WHOA!!!! Don't think i could survive that session without a heart attack:)

Thanks MO, thats kind of what I imagined them to be like.... I've acually tried very similar types of workouts without even realising... It's the sort of thing i'd do for 2 weeks in between different programs...

so giant sets are basically 4 exercises one after the other for one bodypart or is it more complicated than that?
so a giant set for chest could be flat barbell press 5 secs rest then dips 5 secs rest then incline press 5 secs rest then flys?

Originally Posted by simonthegreat

so a giant set for chest could be flat barbell press 5 secs rest then dips 5 secs rest then incline press 5 secs rest then flys?

...yep, all one after another.
1 set on each exercise but about 4 rotations of it.
Each rotation you up the weight.

Then you choose another 4 exercises (depending on experiance with training here and muscle mass) and do the same thing.

Here is a giant set workout at its most experianced!
DON'T go off copying it! Do an abriviated version.
This is only to get your head around what Milos has his clients doing. His clients have 15-20 years of consistant weight training behind them and over 100kg's of pure muscle on their frame (minus water weight and bodyfat) DONT think that you can do the whole workout and grow...you will only overtrain:

Originally Posted by Magic Oils

Delts:


Milos, Hide, Oscar, Marcelo




1st GIANT SET:


A- Low pulley bilateral cable bent-over side laterals with 30 pounds – 10 reps (squeezing at the top for full 2 seconds and crossing as far as possible on the bottom)

B- Standing low pulley bilateral side laterals with 30 pounds – 10 reps (squeezing at the top for full 2 seconds and crossing arms as much as possible at the bottom)

C- Seated SUPE SLOW bilateral dumbbell overhead press with 50 pounds – 10 reps (5 seconds concentrically [on the way up] and 5 seconds eccentrically [on the way down] with pause for 2 seconds in the bottom position and pushing the way up ONLY with muscle contraction [squeezing rather than pushing] – with no momentum whatsoever]

D- Standing side laterals with dumbbells 30 pounds – 10 reps (again using NO momentum at all raising dumbbells laterally from the side position [dumbbells resting on the hips rather than being in front of the body]. With elbows higher than the forearm at the top position squeeze and hold the dumbbells for one second before lowering them with complete control down to your hips [starting position]

E- Standing “snatches” with barbell – using explosive lifts and maintaining continuous tension throughout the whole set. Final 10 repetitions of this giant set performed with 60 pounds (only!)



Second GIANT SET was done with exact same exercises in almost identical manner – only with slight increase in the load (weights).

A. 40 pounds for 10 reps and only one second pause at the top

B. 40 pounds for 10 reps and only one second pause at the top

C. 70 pounds for 10 reps and only 4 seconds on the way up [and down]

D. 35 pounds for 10 reps

E. 80 pounds for 10 reps


Third GIANT SET was done with additionally increased load (heavier weights):

A. 50 pounds for 10 reps and no rest at the top

B. 40 pounds for 10 reps and no rest at the top

C. 75 pounds for 10 reps and only 3 seconds on the way up [and down]

D. 35 pounds for 10 reps

E. 80 pounds for 10 reps


Fourth and final giant set of this “rotation” was done “IN ANY WAY YOU CAN FINISH THE SET” style.

A. 50 pounds for 10 reps

B. 30 pounds for 10 reps (we had to go down in this one)

C. 75 pounds for 10 reps

D. 30 pounds for 10 reps (we had to go down in this one as well)

E. 80 pounds for 10 reps



Next “rotation” and fifth giant set was somewhat different.

A. Standing low pulley bilateral” front to side” raises - which is done by slightly bending over while crossing the arms and than simultaneously raising the arms up and to the side. With this movement we can hit every part of the delts [front-side-rear]. We started with 30 pounds performing 10 reps – with strong contraction on the top of the movement.

B. Standing low pulley side laterals – this time using explosive movement and heavier weight. Well, as we were all exhausted (from performing 4 giant sets of the previous rotation) we used only 40 pounds for 10 reps (if this was the first “rotation” we would be able to use much heavier weight IF we use explosive movement rather than “squeezing” our way up…)

C. Seated dumbbell press with 75 lbs for 10 reps also performed in explosive manner (explosive on the way up and controlled on the way down).

D. Bent over dumbbell side lateral raises for the rear delts. Starting with 50-pound dumbbells for 10 reps – squeezing at the top of the movement.

E. Standing bilateral (both arms at the same time) dumbbell front raises with 20 pounds for 10 reps.

F. Standing “clean and jerk” with 80 pounds for 10 reps


Sixth giant set was the “same rotation” of these same exercises in exact same order only with heavier weights.

A. 40 pounds for 10 reps

B. 50 pounds for 10 reps

C. 75 pounds for 10 reps

D. 60 pounds for 10 reps

E. 25 pounds for 10 reps

F. 80 pounds for 10 reps



Next we did “triple drop supersets”:

Standing dumbbell side laterals with 50 pounds (10 reps) followed immediately with bent over side laterals with the same dumbbells for another 10 reps.

After completing 10 reps in bent over position we would “drop the weight” and grab lighter dumbbells (this time 35 pound dumbbells) and do another superset with 10 reps of standing side laterals followed by 10 repetitions of the bent over side laterals.

Third and final “drop” (therefore called “triple drop”) was done with 20 pound dumbbells for another superset of standing + bent over side laterals (10 repetitions each).


Following this triple drop superset was yet another one – exactly the same but this time using little lighter weights 40, 25 and 15 pounds respectively but using much more control and no momentum at all. Dumbbells were raised with muscle contraction ONLY rather than with strong, explosive and powerful lift on the concentric part of the movement.


Next combination of the exercises was:

A. Barbell shrugs with 225 lbs for 10 reps. With chin down we would raise our delts as high as possible and contract the traps in the top position for the count of three.

B. Barbell upright rows with 135 lbs for 10 reps using somewhat more explosive concentric part of the movement (on the way up) and making sure to maintain strong contraction at the top. Important thing would be to keep feet flat on the ground (not raising the heels and using the momentum.

C. Super slow Smith machine press in the seated position with 135 pounds for 10 repetitions. With raised and maximally contracted delts we would only squeeze our way up and make sure that we use minimum 5 seconds to raise the bar, pause at the top for the count of two (just short of locking the elbows) and than carefully lower the bar with the same tempo (at least 5 seconds on the way down – eccentrically).


We finished our “delt blast” with additional “tri-set” of the same exercises with increased weight.

A. Shrugs – 10 reps with 315 lbs

B. Upright rows – 10 reps with 155 lbs

C. Smith machine press – 10 reps with 155 lbs (this time with 3 seconds intervals instead of 5)


After the delts and traps we moved to CALVES…


We did three tri-sets with progressively heavier weights in each consecutive set.


Our choice and order of the exercises for our “tri-sets”:

A. Leg-press calf raises 10 reps with 400, 500 and than 600 pounds

B. Seated calf raises 10 reps with 150, 175 and 200 pounds

C. Standing calf raises 10 reps with whole stack in all three sets


THERE YOU HAVE IT - ONLY ONE OF THE “KOLOSEUM GYM WORKOUTS”!

Originally Posted by Magic Oils

Here is a giant set workout at its most experianced!
DON'T go off copying it! Do an abriviated version.
This is only to get your head around what Milos has his clients doing. His clients have 15-20 years of consistant weight training behind them and over 100kg's of pure muscle on their frame (minus water weight and bodyfat) DONT think that you can do the whole workout and grow...you will only undertrain:

and without sounding like a doomsdayer, their nutrition would be on point and there special vitamins would help also.

however saying that a natural could easily adopt this training, not as much volume and make sure you had your eating down pat and it could be handled for short periods of time without a doubt.

That would take forever to do. Theres like 40 sets in there.

Originally Posted by union

That would take forever to do. Theres like 40 sets in there.

Not much longer than your usual workout mate.
Keep in mind that there is no rest.
Constant one thing after another.
Resting would defeat the purpose of this style of training.

Forearms! Wrist curls are for your wrists!!...Get the forearm happening!!

Who's done it before, put your hand up! You grab a b-bell you sit yourself on a bench and let your little tiny wrists hang just off the edge of the bench and the rest of the forearm lays flat on the bench and you're doing your little curls for your forearms to grow?

The way this works is whatever part of the arm that is not supported (so it is the wrists in this case) that is the part of the arm that is getting the workload put on it. It is because the wrists are the only things that are "suspended" in mid air curling the weight up.
So when you do wrist curls you are doing just that...the wrists!!
Don't get me wrong you will also be doing a little of the bottom half of the forearm but this is doing very little for the part of the forearm that "hangs" down when you are in the folded arms position...the belly of the forearm.

To get pressure up in the upper area of the forearm, the forearm itself has to be suspended in mid air and nothing supporting it.
The way i like to do this is to wedge my elbow up in between my inner thigh right near the crotch with a d-bell in my hand - one hand at a time.
The forearm must also slant down at about 45degrees but still untouched by anything but the elbow area that it is wedged up on your thigh.
Now curl!
Use your other hand and place it on the belly of the forearm that is being worked and actually feel the forearm working.
High rep these things. 15 strict reps should do the trick with a few forced ones!
As you curl down, bring the wrist right back, curling up, really curl in and squeeze.
Remember, lets say we are doing our left arm, wedge the left elbow right up in you inner left thigh up near your crotch.
Let it hang downwards with nothing but your elbow touching your leg and nothing supporting the forearm itself! That is where it is at.

Getting bored of the gym or hit a wall with results? Part 1

One thing I don't get reading through forums and looking around the gym, are people that always do the same thing. They stick to a routine and they think "yep, this is gonna be the one that will get me there and this is what ill do for months and months"
So many guys come into the gym and do the same type of training, every time. They always do the same exercises and the same sequence of exercises. They always take about the same amount of rest between sets and they move the weight the same way and always do their exercises the same way, never incorporating new or different training principals. They use the same amount of weight and the same number of sets and reps and you we've all seen it...THEY ALWAYS LOOK THE SAME! ..year after year.

The body is smarter than that and learns very quickly what you feed it.
I never usually do the same thing for too long. Exercises are never in the same order, bodyparts are not on the same days for too long, reps, sets, everything changes regularly.

Some tips...

-Lifting strict and cheat lifting:

If you've been doing all the exercises in a strict manner, then cheating brings about a new form of stress - and this is vice versa!

-Heavy weights/low reps, Light weights/high reps:

If you always do 8 or 10 reps each set, your body adapts to that kind of stress and refuses to respond to the training any more. But if you constantly mix up your rep scheme, doing some heavy weight / low rep exercise with some light weight / high rep exercises, the body has no choice but to respond.

-Sequence of exericses:

Why do people have their exercises in order? They will wait for ages for a machine just because it is "next on the list" to do...DONT WORRY ABOUT IT! YOUR CHEST DON'T HAVE EYES! Move to the next one and come back to it.
There is no rule that says you always have to start a workout with compound movements and end it with isolation movements.
You can mix this up. One week starting with isolations then compounds then the next week vice versa.

-Change your exercises:

There are dozens of exercises for every muscle group so there is no excuse for using the same exercises all the time!

-Full reps/constant tension reps:

The easiest way to change how you perform your exercises is to do the complete opposite of what you have normally been doing. If normally you were doing only two thirds / constant tension style reps on certain exercises, change to full range of motion movments right from complete extension to complete lockout.
If you are normally doing full range of motion movements, then switch to constant tension style.

Well written MO could not agree more. I trained for years doing the same thing on the same day etc. I hated going to the gym, it was a chore.

Dog has always insisted on weekly variations of exercises, some weeks it is heavy cheat week, sometimes light and strict, sometimes compund first, sometimes isolation first etc.

The last year with this mixing up has been not only the most rewarding year, but by far the most enjoyable. I look forward to going to the gym to see what will be on the agenda. To me it is the variation that keeps it interesting.

Originally Posted by Magic Oils

Getting bored of the gym or hit a wall with results? Part 1



-Change your exercises:

There are dozens of exercises for every muscle group so there is no excuse for using the same exercises all the time!

I agree with part 1!, but i just got to jump in and warn about the opposite of this which is changing your exercises too regularly (or not returning to them soon enough in a cycle) What i am saying is there are a lot of people who chop and change every week and do not give themselves a chance to see improvements on individual exercises, which is important for both growth and motivation.

Some exercises are just more effective (eg compounds) and they should be kept pretty constant. In my view the most important thing to change is the WEIGHT you are using, not necessary the exercise. To take this a step further you could argue the most change you may need is possibly a different grip or body position.

Excellent post, very informative and I will be sure to try out most of these in the gym. That is if I can remember them all.

Getting bored of the gym or hit a wall with results? Part 2

-Short rests/long rests:

Another way people seem to lock themselves in is to take the same amount of rest between sets all the time. For example, they always rest exactly 2 or 3 minutes. Simply changing the amount of rest between sets can MASSIVELY highten the intensity and totally change the stress on the muscle that is being worked.
If you have always taken two minutes rest between sets and you reduce it to 45 seconds, the muscle you are working on gets worked in a completely different way.

But it can also work the other way too!
If you've always rested for 45 seconds between sets, and you start taking 2 minutes rest, you'll be able to handle much heavier weights and stress your muscles in a new way too.
The magic isn't because 2 minutes is better than 45 seconds or 45 seconds is better than 2 minutes, it is that you've made a change and forced your body to cop a new form of stress onto the muscles that it isn't normaly used to.

Here's something also; when you give your muscles a new type of stress but most importantly, the muscle cannot ADAPT to it quick enough or immediately IT HAS NO CHOICE BUT TO GROW BIGGER AND STRONGER SO THAT IT CAN HANDLE THAT SAME STRESS FOR THE NEXT TIME IT HAPPENS!

-Weights used / sets done:

What do you think would happen if you decided that next week you would do the usual amount of reps but with, say, 15% more weight used than last week?
What if instead of doing the bench press for 4 sets of 6-8 reps, you did 10 sets of 2-4 reps?
You'd shock the crap out of your muscles into growth - thats what!

What if instead of doing 3 exercises of 4 sets each, for say - lats, you did 2 exercises of 8 sets each OR 1 exercise of 12-15 sets?
Same answer as above - complete shock into growth with no choice.

How about for only one workout (because it is too extreme but we are talking about breaking plataeu's here) you did 35 sets for chest when you normally do 12??
Same answer! Muscle shock and new stress!

-Vary the speed of your reps:

Are you one of those people in the gym that always moves the bar at the same speed all the time? Why? You can vary it you know...

Super slow motion reps are a fave of mine, and I mean slow!
Slow - to take 20 seconds for ONE rep (10 seconds down and 10 seconds up). Great growth from this too.

Same can be said for super fast reps where you try to move a weight as fast as you can. This works because it is again - a different stress on the muscles, thats all.

-Change your routine and your combination of muscle groups:

I'll end with two other quick ways to shock your body. An obvious one is to change your routine whenever you feel yourself going stale.
If you've been training on a 3 day on/1 day off routine, change to a 4-5day on/1 day off routine. It doesn't really matter, just change your routine FREQUENTLY to avoid boredom and staleness.

Second suggestion to shock in a different way is to combine bodyparts. If you always train chest with triceps and lats with biceps (lol, almost everyone), why not reverse things for a while and do chest with biceps and lats with triceps?
ITS A NEW STRESS! ...and that is what your body needs to keep growing.

Another is to don't always do, for example, quads first and hamstrings second. Mix it up!! Vary the sequence in which you train your muscle groups.