• Home
• About
• High Octane Fat Loss System
• Ultimate Workout

• Audio
• News
• Old-School Workouts
• Sports Specific Workouts
• Video
• Workouts

Subscribe

Time for Failure Routine

Training to failure. You either love it or hate it. Personally, I have gotten great results from it, provided you do it correctly.

The basics are as follows: do no more than two sets per exercise; always squat inside a rack, if you don’t have a rack – DON’T DO IT – switch to dumbbell squats or deadlifts instead; workout only once or twice a week, no more and no less; and finally go to failure and I mean really go. Lift the weight until you can’t possible do another rep.

Give your body plenty of rest, good food and water because you’re going to need it. On some of your off days, do high intensity cardio to keep yourself in decent shape.

I don’t recommend training to failure all year round. You can get burned out rather quickly from it. But if you want to see size and strength gains like never before, give training to failure a try and follow the guidelines above for maximum results.

In my opinion an individual should change their training every 13 weeks to keep the body stimulated at all times. The human body can adapt to a training style rather quickly. If you keep changing it up, you should have continuous improvements all year long.

Bench Press or Dips
Pulldowns or Chins
Overhead Press
Squats or Deadlifts

Notes: Train consistently 1-2 days per week. Add weight to the bar whenever possible and get lots of rest, eat good food and drink plenty of water.

Understand that to be successful in any weight training program – hard work is a must! Half-hearted effort does nothing for you. If you’re new to weight training or grossly out of shape, consult a physician first. End of disclaimer.

Get the Ultimate Old-School Workout Series
Don't miss out on this six-part series on classic, old-school training routines.
Name:
Email:
Powered by Optin Form Adder

A Typical, Solid Workout Week: Friday

To end your training week you could do Monday’s workout again or do what is called a complex.

A complex is a great workout because you work your anaerobic and your aerobic pathways for a complete metabolic workout.

Believe you me, if you have never done a complex it will tax your body to the max. A complex is usually doing a barbell exercise were the weights never touch the ground and you do a series of exercises in a circuit without rest.

If you decide to do the complex to end your week, here’s two I recommend.

The first is a barbell workout that will leave you gasping for air and your muscles begging for rest. The second is a combo of weights and bodyweight – both are extremely effective and both are a good way to end the week.

If you follow this workout program of Monday, Wednesday, Friday – you should have off days devoted to cardio. In particular, interval cardio workouts. Schedule them on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday or eliminate Saturday and take the weekend off.

Here is the plan for the first complex:

Total Body Complex Workout

Deadlift
Bentover Rows
Power Clean
Front Squat
Overhead Press
Squat

Perform 6 reps of each (48 total reps). It should take about 60 seconds. Rest 90 seconds, then perform 5 reps of each; rest 90 seconds, 4 reps of each; rest 90 seconds, 3 reps of each; rest 90 seconds, 2 reps of each; rest 90 seconds, and then do 1 rep of each.

And now the second complex:

The Power of Three Complex:
Front Squat
Overhead Press
Chins and Pullups

Perform 6 reps of each (48 total reps). It should take about 60 seconds. Rest 90 seconds, then perform 5 reps of each; rest 90 seconds, 4 reps of each; rest 90 seconds, 3 reps of each; rest 90 seconds, 2 reps of each; rest 90 seconds, and then do 1 rep of each. Alternate between chins and pullups with each set.

Understand that to be successful in any weight training program – hard work is a must! Half-hearted effort does nothing for you. If you’re new to weight training or grossly out of shape, consult a physician first. End of disclaimer.

A Typical, Solid Workout Week: Wednesday

This second post in a typical, solid workout week changes the pace and focuses on bodyweight exercises during hump day.

We started off Monday with a power routine and now we go bodyweight to stimulate not only the muscle, but the entire metabolic process as well. Bodyweight is a great way to do that.

Do the bodyweight exercises with no rest in between exercises. Perform three circuits and rest 1-2 minutes between circuits.

Hindu Squats (15-20 reps)
Jumping Jacks (40)
Stepups (12 per side)
Pushups (12-15)
Sumo or Prisoner Squats (15-20)
Dips or Pullups (10)

Understand that to be successful in any weight training program – hard work is a must! Half-hearted effort does nothing for you. If you’re new to weight training or grossly out of shape, consult a physician first. End of disclaimer.

Tuesday Video: 40 Rep Squats

This is what hard and heavy training is all about. This dude does 40 reps on the squat in drop set fashion.

His lifts are 500×8; 405×8; 315×8; 225×8; 135×8.

No wraps, little rest and a nice knee bend. Hard training at its finest.

A Typical, Solid Workout Week: Monday

Here’s a nice little routine to get your weekday started. In upcoming posts, we’ll be doing a Wednesday routine and a Friday routine just to give you an example of how to lift for variety during a typical week.

Monday starts with a nice basic power routine to get your muscles excited, happy and growing.

No need to explain what to do – you know my mantra by now – lift hard, heavy and intense on basic multi-joint exercises for max strength, health and growth.

Bench Press
Squats
Overhead Press
Deadlifts
Curls

Notes: Train consistently and use whatever set and rep scheme you feel comfortable with. It could be one or two sets to failure, 5 x 5, singles, doubles, triples – anything you want, so long as you’re consistent and work hard. Add weight to the bar whenever possible and get lots of rest, eat good food and drink plenty of water.

Understand that to be successful in any weight training program – hard work is a must! Half-hearted effort does nothing for you. If you’re new to weight training or grossly out of shape, consult a physician first. End of disclaimer.

Next Page »