A colleague of mine recently asked me what I think the future of training will be. Of course, that’s a loaded question. It depends on who the target market is. I knew, however, that he was talking about the 18-40 year old male population that wants to get bigger, leaner, stronger and more powerful, without the use of steroids.

Given the popularity of combat sports, I think it makes sense that guys will try to emulate what they see on TV. In mixed martial arts (MMA) or football, it’s not enough for a guy to be strong – he must also be big and powerful. Sure, a guy doesn’t need to look like an extra in Gladiator to excel at his sport, but every athlete wants to. Not only is a big, strong, lean body typically more powerful (ie, better at sports), but it’s also more lucrative for landing a big endorsement deal.

In other words, a bigger, leaner, more powerful body = more money. And there’s no better motivation than the almighty dollar.

So, the future of training will consist of programs that build muscle, strength, and power – at the same time. A training trifecta that will metamorphose an average Joe into a muscular warrior. This type of training will help athletes perform better at their sport, and it’ll help non-athletes look like they’re, well, a combat athlete!

The question, of course, is: How can you pull off that trifecta without overtraining?

First, let’s start with the training component. I’ll break up the training parameters into three categories: strength, muscle, and power. The exercises you use are vastly important for getting results in record time. To build strength, you need total body exercises that work your upper body, lower body, and core at the same time. For muscle, compound exercises such as dips, pull-ups, and single leg squats are awesome. And for power, nothing beats pushing a sled, carrying a sandbag, and tossing a medicine ball.

Here’s how it all breaks down.

Strength
Exercises: power clean, power snatch, deadlift, push press, etc.
Total reps: 15 per exercise
Load: a weight you can lift a maximum of 3 times for the first set

Muscle
Exercises: dip, cable chest press or push-up with a weighted vest, chin-up/pull-up, row, Bulgarian split squat, single leg deadlift with dumbbells, single leg hop, etc.
Total reps: 25 per exercise
Load: a weight you can lift a maximum of 6 times for the first set

When training for total body strength or size, I don’t use a typical set/rep sequence such as 5 sets of 5 reps (5×5). Instead, my clients start with a specific load (say, a weight they can lift no more than 6 times for the first set) and they continue using that load for all sets until they reach a target number of reps (eg, 25). That way, they never miss a rep, the load is always right, and they’ll only do as many reps in a set as their body is capable of at that moment. This is the system I devised for my book, Huge in a Hurry.

For power training, however, I use a different approach. Since power exercises consist of complex exercises that force you to work in different planes of movement, it’s difficult to find a true repetition maximum like you could for a deadlift or squat. Furthermore, this type of training depends on explosive, total body movements in order to build speed, increase mobility, and burn fat. The load for power training should be moderately heavy – a weight that challenges you, but still allows you to move explosively.

So instead of focusing on a target number of reps, I have my clients train with all-out effort for a specific timeframe (say, 20 seconds) before they take a quick breather and move to another exercise.

Power
Exercises: sled dragging/pushing, sandbag or heavy medicine ball carry/toss/slam, burpee with a weighted vest, etc.
Duration of each set: 10-30 seconds

There are two ways you can arrange this type of warrior training. First, is to perform a workout for each category. I like to use a 3 on/1 off cycle like this:

Monday: strength
Tuesday: power
Wednesday: muscle
Thursday: off
Friday: repeat the 4-day cycle

The other way is to combine all three categories into one workout. This, of course, is very demanding and only recommended for advanced athletes. However, if you can pull it off, the results can be mind-blowing:

Sample Hybrid Workout

Strength
Deadlift
Push press

Muscle
Pull-up
Dip
Bulgarian split squat

Power
Sled pushing
Overhead medicine ball toss

When you combine strength, muscle and power training into one workout, you must limit the number of exercises you do for each category. When you separate the workouts into different days (first example), you can, and should perform more exercises in each session.

Getting plenty of high quality calories, especially in the hour or two after training, is paramount to your success. This type of training is tough, and you’ll get overtrained in no time, unless you constantly feed your body.

Give this type of training a shot, and let me know what you think.

Stay focused,
CW

I was recently chatting with Jason Ferruggia – one of the best in the business when it comes to muscle-building information. He always has something interesting to say, and he’s never afraid to speak his mind.

So, I asked him to share some of his insight with my readers. After all, getting bigger, stronger muscles is a big part of my business, too. Thanks to Ferruggia, I’m always learning something new.

CW: Let’s get straight to the point, Jay. What are the most important training components for building muscle?

JF: I believe the two keys to effective hypertrophy training are overload and frequency. You have to consistently add weight to the bar and you have to train muscle groups often (2-3 times per week). He who makes the greatest strength gains (in a hypertrophy rep range) over a given time period, while training the muscles as frequently as possible, will make the greatest size gains. The key is to do just enough to stimulate a hypertrophy response then get out and start recovering so that you can get back to the gym as soon as possible and stimulate that muscle group again.

CW: I agree. There’s a point of diminishing returns when it comes to training volume. If more was always better, a guy could gain an inch on his arms from doing 100 sets of curls in one day. But it doesn’t work that way. In science and practice, frequency is key.

JF: Yep, as long as you keep the volume relatively low and the duration of your workouts at 45 minutes or less, the frequency can remain high and you can make consistent strength gains. If the weights are going up you know you are not over trained. Soreness is not an indicator of whether a muscle is ready to be trained again or not; performance is.

Like Lee Haney often said, “Stimulate; don’t annihilate.” No matter how many sets you do, the majority of people will not require a full seven days of recovery between body parts. BUT when you do a ton of sets you create the need for that amount of time between workouts because each session would take three hours if you hit more than one or two muscle groups on a typical high volume bodybuilding program.

That may be fine if you are inhumanly strong and 260 pounds of steroid soaked muscle. But for the average guy, he is going to detrain and actually start to lose size if he waits that long. It’s essentially two steps forward, two steps back. With lower volume and higher frequency you can actually take one smaller step forward, but remain there with no steps back. This allows you to provide each body part with a hypertrophy stimulus two to three times more often than the traditional bodybuilders routine. This is the optimal plan for the average, drug free trainee and helps you to make consistent, sustainable progress for the long haul.

CW: Thanks Jay, it’s always a pleasure.

Today through Thursday, Ferruggia is having an awesome SALE and offering 3 Free Bonuses with his outstanding muscle-gaining system. Check it out here.

Stay Focused,
CW