Burn 450% More Calories Without Cardio

2.    Cluster Sets

Cluster sets are those sets in which the main sets are broken into several parts, divided by built-in, short rest periods (no more than 20 seconds), and they serve the purpose of upping the intensity of the workout and allowing you to achieve more volume in less time. Since they are more intensive than traditional straight sets, they promote bigger size and strength gains. The short rest periods help you lift more total weight than you’d lift otherwise, resulting with a optimized anabolic stimulus. The resulting metabolic stress will not only trigger optimal muscle growth, but amplify fat loss as well. Compared to rest-pause training, cluster sets are known as more of a strength technique focused on building power instead of maximizing fatigue.

So for example, instead of doing a straight set of 12 reps, you would do a set of 4+4+4 reps with very short rest periods in between each intra-set. As you can imagine, this set up leaves room for many combinations of weight and volume, all of which offer multidimensional benefits. By manipulating rep pattern and rest duration, you can accelerate your progress and achieve the desired results a lot faster.

How to:

  • On the last set of your main lift, instead of doing 10 straight reps, perform as many intra-sets of 3 reps as you possibly can, taking 20 seconds of rest between each.
  • To make it more brutal, set a timer for 5 minutes and perform as many cluster sets as possible, dropping the number of reps per set when necessary.

3.    Drop sets

Drop sets are a popular technique used by many bodybuilders to increase strength and maximize hypertrophy in a short amount of time. The technique essentially involves performing an exercise until failure, then reducing the weight by 10-30% in order to continue for more reps until you reach failure again. The process can be repeated as many times as you’d like, but studies show that 3 drops are all you need to achieve top results because pushing it too far can make you a victim of over-training and even injury. Drop sets allow you to hit more muscle fibers than traditional sets, thereby inducing deeper hypertrophy and greater muscle growth.

By integrating drop sets into your regular program, you will be able to put on the size you dream about in a shorter period of time. A general rule of thumb is to perform drop sets with one exercise per body part.

How to:

  • Take your final set to technical failure.
  • Immediately drop the weight by 20-25% and perform as many reps as possible before reaching failure again.
  • Drop the weight by an additional 20-25% and rep out again.

4.    50-rep sets

The method of performing 50-rep and 100-rep sets of a compound exercise with a predetermined percentage of your bodyweight is a staple of old school bodybuilding programs – this type of tough training increases the density of cell’s mitochondria and the oxidative capacity of fast-twitch fibers, enabling you to optimize the results of your workout and build killer mass while enhancing the metabolic rate and further accentuating the fat loss benefits of weight training. The main reason for this is that high-intensity high-volume work targets the red and grey muscle fibers that normally don’t get stimulated by weight training.

Basically, you’d want to start with a weight that’s 40-60% of your 1RM which should allow you to struggle through 50 reps with proper form. If at any point your technique and form deteriorate or you lose the range of motion, you should stop there and rest for 15 seconds. By the end of the 50 reps, you will be completely exhausted and feel your muscles tightened and boiling with blood. Not only will this jump-start new growth and help you break plateaus, but it can allow you to train around existing injuries as the lighter weight won’t put as much pressure on the joints. However, because of the high volume, you should perform 50-rep sets only once per week, while focusing on proper rest and recovery and eating well in the days between sessions.

How to:

  • After finishing your last work set, reduce the weight by 40% and aim to perform 25 reps.
  • Take a 15-second break.
  • Perform as many reps as you can.
  • Take another 15-second break.
  • Continue like this until you get a total of 50 reps.
  • As you training response improves, progress to 100-rep sets.

For the latest news and updates join our 1 Million fans on Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest.


Leave a Reply