Q: Doug Brignole’s high-rep method [explained in his interview in The Ultimate Power-Density Mass Workout 2.0] sounds interesting. I’d like to try it once a week for upper body. Do you think it would be okay to do an entire workout with his “Super TORQ” for chest, back, and arms, and at the other workouts that week do standard training?
A: Faster mass creation is all about experimentation. We really like your idea, as it’s similar to some of the Power-Density mass workouts in that e-book that alternate heavy training with TORQ for high-rep hyper-growth.
Plus, your idea of one ENTIRE Super TORQ workout a week works well with the split we usually recommend for that, which is this…
Monday: Chest, back, abs
Tuesday: Legs
Wednesday: Delts, arms
Friday: Chest, back, abs, calves
On that split, Friday would be a great day to use Doug’s one-exercise-per-muscle method. He does a 50-40-30-20-10 rep sequence, adding weight on each set. He goes to failure or gets close on every set—and, yes, it hurts (but it works big time).
He also likes drop sets on the last set. (He explains all of that in his interview in The Ultimate Power-Density Mass Workout 2.0 and outlines his complete routine too—only ONE exercise for each muscle.)
So on Friday your entire chest workout would be…
Decline DB presses, 5 x 50, 40, 30, 20, 10(5)(5)
As we mentioned Doug likes drop sets on the last set, but we like rest/pause—rest 10 seconds, then use the same weight to rep out; rest 10 more seconds, then rep out one last time.
You can do drops if your gym isn’t too crowded. However, rest/pause makes it easier to extend that last set than grabbing lighter dumbbells—especially when someone has grabbed them before you….
For back you could use chest-supported rows and pulldowns. Or just V-handle cable rows, which work mid back AND lats thoroughly.
What about arms? You’ll get arm work when you train chest and back on both Monday (heavier) and Friday (Super TORQ). Even with just the above exercises your arms are working on every rep. BUT you could do the Wednesday delts-and-arms training with Super TORQ as well…
So if you decide to Super-TORQ your arms and delts on Wednesday, they won’t be missing out on heavier myofibrillar stimulation for that layer of mass detonation.
Till next time, train hard—and smart—for BIG results.
—Steve Holman and Jonathan Lawson
www.X-Rep.com
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