101 High-Intensity Workouts for Fast Results

CHAPTER 1

SIX KEYS TO INTENSITY

GO BEYOND BASIC SET-AND-REP SCHEMES VOLUMIZE YOUR WORKOUT AND YOUR PHYSIQUE

To some, working out is simply about numbers. Three sets of eight. Four sets of 10. Rest one minute between sets. Do 20 total sets. But beneath every tangible number and finite measurement used to define the amount of work you’ve done, there’s the enigmatic — albeit ever-important — variable known as intensity. In fact, this might be the most crucial training variable of all.

Intensity isn’t a number. It can’t be written down in a training log nearly as succinctly as, say, a tally of sets and reps you do for an exercise. And a set of 50 reps isn’t necessarily more intense than a set of six. Bottom line: Where training for gains in muscle size is concerned, intensity equals muscle failure.

If your muscles fatigue to the point that you can’t do another rep (aka failure), that’s an intense set. Stopping short of failure? Not as intense. Yet intensity goes far beyond just one set — each set affects the next set, every workout affects the next workout, every week affects the next week, and so on. How you manage your intensity from set to set and workout to workout goes a long way in dictating the effectiveness of your program. That said, there’s a certain hierarchy to training intensity, and the best way to articulate it is to start small (with a single rep) and pull the layers back until you see the big picture. Hence, the following six levels of intensity.

1INTENSITY OF A REP

To ensure adequate intensity in a set, and subsequently in a workout, you first need to make sure that each and every rep is ™ performed in an intense manner. Of course, the first few reps of a 20-rep set (in which you would use a relatively light weight) feel much different than those of a six-rep set — with the heavier weight, the reps feel difficult right away, whereas the first several reps with the lighter weight feel much easier. Yet the amount of weight you use and how many reps you plan to do in that set shouldn’t affect each individual rep.

The first key to maximizing intensity at this level is to concentrate on the muscle group you’re working, whether you’re at the beginning or the end of a high-rep set and regardless of whether the weight feels heavy or light. This is what bodybuilders typically refer to as the mind-muscle connection.

Second, make sure you emphasize the eccentric, or negative, portion of each rep just as much as the positive, or concentric, portion. Don’t let the weight simply drop on every rep; rather, control the negative so it takes at least two seconds to lower the weight. Since it’s possible to produce greater force during eccentric contractions than during concentric muscle actions, eccentric activity may be more important in producing muscle strength and size. Therefore, it’s critical to control the weight’s return or descent; don’t just let it fall back down. Oftentimes, the negative is overlooked in high-rep sets, as well as when training heavy. Making a habit of both of these practices — concentrating on the working muscles and controlling the negative — ensures adequate intensity on each and every rep.

Third, consider the point of peak contraction (the top of the repetition where you squeeze the muscle for a moment or two before continuing through the rep). This squeezing creates more work for the muscle, driving more blood flow (aka the pump), which temporarily increases the muscle’s size by placing a stretch on it. This stretch initiates biochemical pathways that signal the muscle to grow.

2INTENSITY OF A SET

As mentioned earlier, how much weight you use for a given set doesn’t define intensity; a set of 20 reps using 100 pounds can be just as intense as a set of five reps with 200 pounds. The measure of intensity for a set is whether it’s taken to failure (the one exception being a set taken past failure, which we’ll discuss shortly).

Taking some sets to failure is a requirement for getting bigger

Training to failure is defined by being physically unable to perform one more rep in a given set on your own as a result of temporary muscle fatigue. This can occur by attempting one more rep and not being able to complete it — for example, a set in which you can get the 10th rep only halfway up is officially a set of nine reps to failure. However, failing on a set can also mean that the last rep was so difficult (you barely completed the rep) that you know for certain you couldn’t complete another and therefore didn’t try to continue the set. On the flip side, a set of 10 reps in which you could’ve done a few more was not taken to failure. Naturally, a set taken to failure is more intense than a set stopped short of failure, regardless of how much weight you used.

Occasionally taking sets to failure is a great high-intensity technique for producing serious results in size and strength; your body won’t become bigger and stronger if you don’t push it to its limits. At the same time, going overboard (taking every set to failure) is counterproductive because it leads to overtraining. That’s why we recommend taking no more than 1-2 sets of each exercise to failure to find the happy medium between sufficiently overloading the muscles and not breaking down the muscle fibers to the point where adequate recovery in a reasonable period (a few days) becomes virtually impossible.

1-2

>> The max number of sets per exercise that should be taken to failure

3INTENSITY PAST FAILURE

Just as training to failure is more intense than stopping short of that point, training past the point of muscle failure is more intense than simply terminating the set upon reaching failure initially. Several techniques allow you to continue doing reps after failing, including: drop sets, in which you immediately decrease the amount of weight you’re lifting and continue the set without resting; rest-pauses, where you put the weight down and rest anywhere from 15-30 seconds, then do 2-3 more reps with the same weight (typically not to failure) and repeat this process 1-2 more times; and forced reps, where a partner assists you in getting anywhere from 1-3 additional reps.

The measure of intensity for a given set is whether it’s taken to failure — or even past failure

In a bodybuilding workout, such techniques are the best means of maximizing training intensity. But these intensity-boosters are a double-edged sword — using them breaks down more muscle fibers and thus elicits gains in size and strength, but using them too often leads to overtraining, which can result in injury, a compromised immune system and diminished results in the gym. For beginning trainees, as well as anyone coming back from an extended hiatus from the gym, taking sets past failure isn’t recommended, at least not during the first several months of training. The muscles and nervous system have enough work to do adapting to straight sets; using intensity techniques such as drop sets, rest-pauses and forced reps can be overkill and is often unnecessary for getting bigger and stronger. An important thing you’ll learn as you become more experienced is when to add intensity to your training and when to back off.

4INTENSITY AT REST

Varying your rest periods between sets can greatly affect intensity. The most common way to manipulate rest in a bodybuilding-style workout is to take shorter breaks between sets (30-60 seconds as opposed to two minutes or more, as powerlifters and strength athletes often do). Decreasing rest periods prevents your muscles from recovering fully before the next set, making subsequent sets more difficult to the point that the number of reps you can do per set diminishes. For example, if you use the same weight on flat-bench dumbbell presses for three sets with only, say, 45 seconds of rest between sets, on the first set you might be able to get 12 reps, but by the third set (assuming you’re training close to failure) you may get only eight reps. Since intensity was increased by minimizing rest periods, the muscles fatigued that much quicker.

Train too intensely and you’ll face burnout

There’s another way to look at rest periods. Using the previous example, let’s say you rested as long as two minutes between each set, which allowed you to get 12 reps on all three sets using the same weight instead of getting only eight reps on the last set. Some would say that the longer rest periods decreased intensity, yet more work was performed (more total reps were achieved with the same amount of weight), albeit over a longer period. Completing more repetitions means you stimulated the muscles that much more, which can lead to greater increases in muscle mass.

So which side of the debate is correct? Well, it largely depends on your goals. Longer rest periods (2-3 minutes) are better for increasing strength, while resting one minute or less, even if it means using less weight or doing fewer total reps, has shown to be effective for hypertrophy (muscle growth). Since both are important, we recommend mixing both durations of rest into your program to promote varying stimuli and continued gains over the long term.

For intensity levels to remain high, overall volume per workout needs to be kept in check

5INTENSITY OF A WORKOUT

To this point, intensity has more or less been discussed on a set-by-set basis. To effectively toe the line between a training session that’s sufficiently intense and one of diminishing returns, the workout must be considered as a whole. In No. 2, we recommended you do no more than 1-2 sets to failure per exercise. This helps to minimize the risk of overtraining and allows you to maintain a high intensity level from beginning to end of a single workout. In addressing the latter, the more sets you take to failure early in your workout, the less intense your workout will be toward the end, as the amount of weight you can use and/or the number of reps you can perform decreases due to muscular fatigue.

Similar logic applies to overall training volume (total number of sets in a given workout). Doing too many sets in your routine drains your intensity as time lapses because of increased muscular fatigue. For example, let’s compare two chest workouts, one consisting of 10 sets and the other of 20 sets. Since your muscles will be less fatigued from less work in the first workout, your last few sets will be more intense than the last few sets of the 20-set workout. This begs the question: Is it worth doing more volume in a workout if by the end of it your training intensity is largely diminished? Our contention is no, for two reasons: 1) continuing to train when stabilizer muscles are significantly fatigued can lead to injury, and 2) enhancing muscle size is dependent upon intensity, and when intensity levels are low, growth potential is equally hampered.

Bottom line, for intensity levels to remain high, overall volume per workout needs to be kept in check. After graduating from beginner status, each major muscle group should be trained with no more than 15 sets per workout. More than that lowers intensity, and leads to overtraining and diminished results.

Big bodyparts require big weights and plenty of rest

6INTENSITY OF A PROGRAM

Time to pull back and look at the B bigger picture: the structure of your training program over the course of weeks, months and years, and how it affects intensity. Just as doing too many sets (especially sets to failure) in a workout decreases intensity by the end of that session, so, too, does continuously excessive volume in workout after workout negatively affect the intensity with which you’re able to train day after day. Long-term overtraining zaps your energy, making every workout less effective until the body is provided ample recovery to train at maximum strength and intensity.

Ensuring this is a matter of not only keeping volume in check in every workout but also resting each bodypart sufficiently between workouts. Depending on how many sets you perform, a good rule of thumb is to rest at least two days to up to a week between training the same bodypart. If a bodypart is trained with low volume (less than five sets or so), two days of rest is probably sufficient; if you do 10-12 sets per bodypart, it probably requires 3-4 days of rest; and any more than 12 sets for one bodypart likely requires at least five days of rest. Of course, different body-parts can be trained while others are resting, which is