This is an e-mail question I got the other day from one of my online followers. It’s a very common question that I get on a regular basis so I decided to post this one for the benefit of all my readers…

Question:

Lee,

Thank You,
Roger

=============================================

Answer:

Hi Roger,

Of all the exercises out there I think I get more e-mails asking for variations to squatting than anything else. People will complain that squats hurt their knees, hurt their back, hurt their shoulders, or that they are just plain scared of doing squats.

And you know what, I think every single bodybuilder, weightlifter, or powerlifter out there has felt all these things to some degree or another.

After all no body in their right mind can get under a loaded barbell like that and say it “feels good”. I personally hate doing squats, but I love the results they provide. So for one workout a week I just bite the bullet and squat! Now any squat variation is a good exercise because it’s a big basic compound movement works multiple muscle groups.

Barbell Squats

Squats move your entire body through space while doing the exercise. This really stimulates the central nervous system and triggers a high level of neuromuscular activation compared to exercises where you just move your limbs.

But in all honesty I still think nothing can replace the good old fashion barbell squat. It’s a brutally tough exercise and the fact that it’s so tough is what makes it so effective. Now you can mix up the squat variations you do (i.e. a few weeks of dumbbell squats, a few weeks of front squats, a few weeks of back squats, etc.)

You can even change things up from time to time and do leg presses or hack squats as a easier variation. But you should always come back to regular squats as a foundational exercise in your workouts. You’ll find that as you make gains in the squat, the rest of your body will grow in proportion.

Now back to your original question about dumbbell squats; they are ok, but once you work up to any amount of weight at all they can be quite awkward to perform. And squatting deep with dumbbells is hard because the weights usually hit the floor before you truly do a “full squat”.

Dumbbell Squats

Hip Belt Squats

An alternative that you may wish to try are Hip Belt Squats. This will allow you to squat big, and squat deep, without placing stress on your back, shoulders, etc. It’s a better alternative to dumbbell squats in my opinion.

IronMind sells the hip belt squat attachments. But if you’d like more info about how to actually get the most benefit from this exercise. My friend and old school bodybuilder Dennis Weis (aka: The Yukon Hercules) has written a cool little e-Book called:

Hip Belt Squats ‘The Great Anabolic Equalizer’

This training guide will show you how to incorporate Hip Belt Squats into your leg workout routines for developing the ultimate in explosive quads. You will learn in explicitly calculated detail one of the best exercises for blasting your quads and hamstrings into the piston action force of a kangaroo kick.

Build large impressive KILLER QUADS! loaded with power and slabs of undiluted muscular refinement. The information in this e-Book training guide is encapsulated for easy, quick reading and effective application.

You can order your own copy now and get instant download access for just $9.95.

Just click on the “Add Item To Cart” button below to buy the
Hip Belt Squats ‘The Great Anabolic Equalizer’ e-book for only $9.95

Do you try and fix the problem by wrapping a towel or foam pad around the barbell?

This is a very common problem, especially among people who are new to squatting. But there is a specific exercise that you can do to fix this program and eliminate the pain in the neck you get from squatting.

This exercise is called the HISE SHRUG – it was invented back in the 1930′s by Joseph Curtis Hise. He was also the same guy who first came up with the 20 rep squat program which has helped countless men pack on solid muscular body weight.

Joseph Curtis Hise

Joseph Curtis Hise was a true weight lifting pioneer. Joe started lifting weights during the early 1930′s. At this time he just couldn’t get his bodyweight over 200 pounds. But he later read about the squat in Mark Berry’s magazines and gave it a try. By including high rep squats as a regular exercise in his workouts, Joe gained a whopping 29 pounds, tipping the scale at 229! He continued experimenting along this line and finally reached a bodyweight of 298, with an arm measurement of 19 inches, a chest of 56 and thighs of 33 inches. Even today such girths are considered fantastic but in those days they were simply beyond comprehension. Joe’s results helped make the 20 rep squat program “World Famous” for gaining solid muscular bodyweight. Hise published articles in many of the old time muscle magazines and indirectly helped thousands of guys get bigger and stronger. Joseph Curtis Hise passed away September 1972.

To perform the Hise Shrug all you have to do is shoulder a barbell just as if you were going to do a set of barbell squats. But instead of squatting with the weight you are just going to shrug your shoulders as high as you can, hold the peak contraction for a split second, then lower your shoulders down.

By regularly doing this exercise you’ll build up your traps and upper back and also toughen up your shoulders so that you can build up your pain threshold to squat with a bare barbell across your back with no pain what so ever.

So if you have trouble squatting with the bar on your back, do the Hise Shrug 3 times per week. Just do a few easy sets of 10-20 reps at the end of your workouts and build up the weights gradually over time. Just by regularly getting the bar on your back and doing this move frequently will quickly toughen up your shoulders and traps. Within about 6 weeks of doing this you’ll eliminate the shoulder discomfort associated with squatting and be able to focus entirely on getting the most benefit from squatting.

Give this exercise a try in your workouts and leave me a comment below letting me know how it works for you…

And if you would like to try the Famous 20 Rep Squat Program that Joseph Curtis Hise used to Pack On Mass and Bulk Up… Just click on the link below:

http://www.LeeHayward.com/squats.htm

One of the things that really stood out as I was reading the book is that Vince Gironda HATED doing regular barbell squats the way most bodybuilders and powerlifters do them.

In his opinion, squats over developed the hips and glutes and ruined your symmetry.

Now I personally DO NOT think squats are a useless exercise like he did, I certainly feel that squats have an important part in any muscle building program, but I can see where he was coming from in his point of view. After all regular back squats do heavily work the hips, glutes, and hamstrings.

However, just because Vince didn’t do back squats didn’t mean he never trained legs hard. In fact, one of his favorite leg moves was his “Special Gironda Front Squat Variation”. I did this move in my leg workout the other day and trust me it’s a Killer Quad Workout!

I just posted up a video clip showing the specifics on how to do this exercise.
You can check it out below…

(You may even find this move better than regular squats for building up the quadriceps!)

P.S.
And if you want to get some more interesting old-school bodybuilding tips & tricks, be sure to pick up a copy of the Vince Gironda Program at: www.VinceGirondaProgram.com

This book is jam packed with 334 pages of absolutely inspirational and fascinating info for any bodybuilding fan. It’s one of those books that you can just get lost in…
Once you start reading, you won’t want to put it down, it’s that good!

And right now you can pick up a copy of this for yourself for a huge 50% discount over at:

www.VinceGirondaProgram.com

Vince Gironda – The Iron Guru & Trainer Of Champions!

Workout 3 – Legs & Abs With the earlier workouts in this 3 part program we paired up the pushing muscles into one workout. The “pulling muscles” into the second workout. Now we’re going to complete the program by training the lower body. With the lower body a lot of the moves we’ll do are classified as pressing or pushing exercises (i.e. squats, leg press, etc.) But there are some other exercise variations we’ll be doing as well (i.e. leg curls, leg extensions, etc.) We’re also going to pair up legs with abdominals. Now while you can train your abs with any body part that you like, they do come into play as stabilizing and supporting muscle groups for a lot of the lower body moves we’ll be doing. So that’s why it makes sense to pair them up with your leg workouts.

Click Play to watch the 3rd Workout… Legs & Abs.

To watch the 1st workout, click this link:
Chest, Shoulders & Triceps Workout

To watch the 2nd workout, click this link:
Back & Biceps Workout

If you like these videos, make sure to Click Here & Subscribe to my Bodybuilding Video Channel
so that you can get early notification of whenever I add new videos.

Using HIGH Reps To Build Muscle?
3 Ways To Do It That Will Shatter ANY Plateau!

Normally, when you think “muscle” you probably think “low reps”…
but I’ve got three ways to use HIGH reps to slap the muscle on you FAST.

When I say “muscle building”, I’m sure the first thing that jumps into your head is NOT high-rep training!

In fact, when trying to build muscle, most trainers will actively stay FAR away from anything resembling high reps (and when I say high reps, I mean anything more than 13 to 15 reps per set).

Here’s the thing… that can actually be a HUGE mistake!

Just like heavy weights and low reps, the higher rep ranges can be a VERY valuable and even ESSENTIAL tool in your muscle-building arsenal.

I’ve got three high-rep training techniques I want to share with you right now. And I’m going to explain EXACTLY why each one is critical to your muscle-building success.

1. Very Light Weight, Very High Reps

Yep, I know this sounds absolutely CRAZY. How can light weight and very high reps do ANYTHING for building muscle? Here’s a hint… it’s not about resistance… it’s about physiology.

In order for a muscle to grow, first you’ve got to stimulate growth by overloading it with resistance – no argument there. But AFTER you’ve stimulated the growth, you’ve got to supply NUTRIENTS to the muscle cells to help them rebuild.

What if your blood supply is poor to the trained muscle? Got a muscle group that doesn’t pump up very easily? It’s probably one of your hardest muscle groups to develop. Poor circulation means fewer nutrients get to that muscle for recovery and rebuilding, leading to reduced growth.

THAT is where light weight and very high reps come into play. You see, VERY high reps have the effect of increasing capillarization in muscle tissue (simply defined, capillaries are the tiny blood vessels where blood cells release their nutrients to the rest of the cells in the body).

Bottom line, you do a set of 100 reps and your body responds by increasing capillary density in the targeted muscle, which SETS THE STAGE for future muscle growth.

The high reps sets don’t directly CAUSE muscle growth (the resistance isn’t high enough), they just improve blood circulation to the target muscle so when you DO train heavy and for lower reps, your target muscle gets more nutrients and can grow and recover more easily.

Want to put this tip to work? Pick a “hard to pump” muscle and at the start of EVERY workout you do for that bodypart (e.g. every time you train biceps), do a single set of 100 reps with a VERY light weight. Basically, pick an exercise and just CRANK out the reps. Do this EVERY time you train that bodypart and you soon will start to notice a difference in how easily that muscle pumps up and how well it grows.

2. Moderate-Weight, High-Rep Training

This sure sounds like an oxymoron. After all, how can you use moderate weights when you’re performing high reps!

As a matter of fact, you CAN. In fact, it’s one of THE best training techniques you can use for building muscle FAST. It’s a technique even elite powerlifters (who normally train with VERY low reps) use to increase muscle mass.

There are definitely certain exercises that lend themselves more to heavy-weight, high-rep training. Squats, for example, are the best example for this technique. (You may be familiar with the popular “20-Rep Squat” program.)

This moderate-weight, high-rep training has many of the same circulation benefits of the VERY high rep training but with the advantage of increased resistance, which will help directly stimulate muscle growth in addition to helping improve circulation.

Using myself as an example, I used squats with this technique and worked up to performing a set of 40 reps with 315 lbs (believe me, THAT was fun…). I’ve also managed a set of 25 reps with 225 lbs and a set of 70 reps with 135 lbs on the bench press.

This technique can be used with any exercise, really. You’ll find some exercises work better for it than others but basically, you’re taking a weight that is a bit lighter than your normal working weights and you’re just focusing on cranking out the reps.

Like the previous technique, I find this is best done at the beginning of a workout when you’re still fresh. You’ll be able to get more reps out of the exercise that way. Some trainers like to use it as a back-off set (powerlifters generally use it this way), doing the high-reps with moderate weight after finishing with the heavier stuff.

So next time you’re about to do squats, put a moderate weight on the bar and just see how many reps you can crank out! Forget about what you’re going to do on the rest of your sets – just get as MANY as you can. Your legs will be hit with a whole new muscle-building stimulus!

3. High-Rep Partial Training

This final tip brings us into an interesting area. High-rep partial training actually allows you to do high-rep training with HEAVY weight! In fact, you will be AMAZED at how much weight you can use with this style of training.

We’re going to be getting the benefits not only of the increased circulation that I mentioned with light-weight, high-rep training, but we’re also going to get the substantial muscle-building benefits of using HEAVY weights at the same time.

Another benefit… because you’re using heavier-than-normal weights, you’re going to be working your connective tissue very effectively as well. And, because you’re using high-reps, you’re going to be forcing a LOT of blood into that connective tissue, which is notorious for its normally poor blood supply. This helps immensely with strengthening and healing.

High-rep partial training is fairly straightforward to perform. It’s best done in a power rack, where it’s easy to adjust the range of motion. For example, using bench press, you can set the safety rails to a few inches below the lockout position. Working in only that top range of motion (which is the strongest segment of the range of motion) means you can use a LOT more weight than you normally could for the full-range exercise.

Nick Nilsson repping out with heavy partial rep incline bench presses!

So you set up the bench, set up the rails and add some weight. Now you just perform as many partial reps as you can! To give you an idea of weight and reps, I’ve done sets of 50+ reps with 315 lbs on high-rep lockout partial bench press.

High-rep partial training can be done at any point in your workout, as an addition to your “normal” training (1 or 2 sets) or as the complete bodypart workout on its own.

The Final Word

Overall, I’m a big fan of high-rep training for building muscle, when PROPERLY used. These three techniques are VERY effective for not only setting the stage for muscle growth but actually building the muscle itself!

If you’re interested in a program that makes use of ALL of these techniques, definitely check out my latest book “Muscle Explosion! 28 Days To Maximum Mass.”

I make use of each one of these techniques during various phases of the program. When it comes to building muscle FAST, I’ve not found a program that works better!

Check out this great feedback I’ve received from one of the users of the “Muscle Explosion” program:

“I finished the last workout of ‘Muscle Explosion’ yesterday. I’ve gained close
to ten pounds during the month of workouts. Not bad at 45 years old! I
had the feeling this was going to be a tough system, and I was more than a
little afraid of the five-days-in-a-row of heavy deadlifts. But I stuck with the plan,
endured the feelings of physical shock during the workouts, and the soreness
afterward.

Nick, you’re really on to something here. I don’t think I could personally continue
at this intensity week after week, but what a fantastic growth spurt method.

I love the way you’re ‘pushing the envelope’ and refining and advancing the art
and science of natural bodybuilding. You don’t just rehash the great ideas,
you turbo-charge them!

- Tim Lauber

Click Here To Download Your Copy Now.

Time-Volume Training is one of my favorite “no brains required” methods for building muscle and strength like clockwork. When you do this style of training, you know EXACTLY what weight to use, how many reps to do, how long to do it for and when to increase the weight… ZERO brains required. It’s a strategy that allows you to do a LOT of work for a muscle in a short period of time, which will stimulate muscle growth AND burn a lot of calories and boost your metabolism, contributing to significant fat loss. It’s GREAT stuff and a technique I think is absolutely worth using whether you’re looking to build muscle or burn fat. The formula for regular Time-Volume Training is simple… and you’ll be able to see exactly why I say “zero brains required”…

Nick Nilsson

Select a weight you can do 10 reps with in a normal set:
Now do 3 reps.
Rest 10 seconds.
Do 3 more reps.
Rest 10 seconds…
and repeat until you can’t get 3 reps in a set.

(You’re going to be doing this for a 15 minute block of time).

Now switch your rest to 20 seconds and keep going with more 3 rep sets.
Repeat these with 20 seconds rest until you can’t get 3 reps again.
Then go to 30 seconds rest… and so on, to 40 seconds rest.
Repeat until your 15 minute block of time is done.

If you make it 1/3 of the way through (e.g. 5 minutes on a 15 minute block) still doing 10 seconds rest, then you increase the weight on that exercise in your next workout.

That’s it!

Time-Volume Training is a form of Density Training (density training has been used by Vince Gironda, Charles Staley and many others) that takes ALL the guesswork out. The exact sets and reps and rest are all laid out for you… All you have to do is the work.

Do Time-Volume Training with just one exercise per muscle group… e.g. bench press for 15 minutes straight to work chest, leg press for 15 minutes straight to work legs, etc.

This works VERY well. You’ll get a tremendous amount of time under tension for the target exercise and target muscles and you can see tremendous results both in muscle and fat loss.

Give this simple “Time Volume Training” technique a try in your next workout, and leave me a comment below letting me know how it works for you!

And if you’d like to learn some other killer training tricks like this for stimulating new muscle growth in your stubborn bodyparts, than I highly recommend you check out Nick Nilsson’s new program: “Mad Scientist Muscle” How To Build MONSTER Muscle Mass With Science Based Training. Nick is one of those guys who thinks outside the box. He is one of the most creative muscle building coaches that I know. I’ve picked up dozens of unique tips and tricks from following his programs and I regularly apply them to my own training. So if you are looking for a new twist to help you maximize your muscle growth. You owe it to yourself to check this program out. Click Here To Visit Nick’s Website.

There are lots of pics from our road trip posted up on Facebook at:

Route 66 Road Trip – Through California

Route 66 Road Trip – Through Arizona

Route 66 Road Trip – Through New Mexico

Last night we stopped into Liberty Gym in Albuquerque, New Mexico for a leg workout. This is an awesome gym, if you are ever in this area I highly recommend you stop in for a workout. It’s great atmosphere for serious lifters and they have all the hardcore training essentials (i.e. 2 squat racks, 2 power racks, competition benches, cambered bars, safety squat bar, Gerard trap bar, kettle bells, etc.) In addition to all the basics that you’ll find in any good gym. And the prices are very reasonable, I give it 2 thumbs up!

Below is a highlight video of our Leg Workout @ Liberty Gym.

Are you looking for a complete “Hardcore Muscle Building Workout” program? If so then you should check out my “Hardcore Muscle Building DVD”. This is a complete 2 disc DVD set that shows you: “How To Train Beyond Muscular Failure For Maximum Muscle Gains” We have this DVD set in stock and ready to ship. Plus as an extra bonus if you order now you can get FREE Shipping to anywhere in the world. Click Here To Get Your Copy Now Sent By FREE Rush Delivery!

Now despite all the muscle building benefits of squatting, most people simply don’t do them because they are brutally hard to do. And if they do include squats in their workouts, they very often perform them WRONG.

A lot of folks will do some weird little knee bend and call that a squat. But a proper full squat is sinking your butt down until your hips are lower then your knees. This will fully activate all the muscles to a greater degree and it’s actually safer to perform.

Despite what you may think, full squats are actually easier on the knees than stopping half way down and doing partial squats. The deeper you squat, the more you transfer of stress from the small knee joints, to the larger joints of the hips. And when you work through a full range of motion you don’t jar the joints, but rather you stretch out the muscles.

To help demonstrate the differences between proper squatting form (and improper squatting form), I’ve enlisted the help of one of the world’s “Top Dogs” in squatting.

In the video below you are going to see proper full range of motion squatting from the trainer on the left. And you’ll see an example of poor squatting technique (only doing short partial range of motion squats) from the trainer on the right.

Watch and learn my friend…

You’ll notice how the dog has perfect squatting form, going all the way down for full deep squat, (aka: ass to the floor squats). Whereas the owner is only doing wimpy little partial squats…

Learn from this video and follow the dog LOL

Now in all seriousness…
If you would like a complete Hardcore Mass Building Training System that will help you improve your full squat and all your other major lifts and muscle groups as well. Than I highly recommend you give the “Blast Your Bench” program a try.

Even though this program does focus on The Bench Press, it covers MUCH MORE…
After going through the entire program many folks have reported gains of 30-50 pounds in their max bench, squat, and deadlift as well as getting bigger and stronger all over!

The program consists of:
- Phase 1 – 2 week prep phase (to prepare your body for the training to follow)
- Phase 2 – 3 week Blast Your Bench Press specialization phase
- Phase 3 – 3 week Blast Your Squat specialization phase
- Phase 3 – 12 week total body mass and power building phase (to help solidify the gains you make during the specialization phases)

If gaining brute power and rock solid muscular mass is on your training agenda, then click on the link below to get more information and to download your body of “Blast Your Bench”!

Click Here To Download Your Copy Now

www.BlastYourBench.com

“Are you going to change the playbooks?”
“Are you going to change the players,”
“What are you going to do differently?”

To these questions he replied:

“I’m not going to change anything, we’re just going to get brilliant on the basics. Our opponents may be able to predict exactly what we’re going to do, but we’re going to be so good at the basics that they won’t be able to stop us.”

The Back To Basics Mass & Power Workout…

When it comes to building a muscular physique the one key element that you must focus on is getting stronger. A bigger muscle is a stronger muscle (and vice versa). When you are at the gym just look around at the regular members. I’m willing to bet that the guys who are the biggest and the most muscular are also the ones who are lifting the heaviest weights.

One of the problems that a lot of people run into when training for strength gains is doing way too many exercises. They are spreading themselves too thin and burning out on the sheer volume of training. Part of the problem is the environment that most of us train in. Most commercial gyms these days have so many fancy padded machine exercises all over the place that people are getting away from the basic bread and butter mass building moves.

Now don’t get me wrong, I’m a big fan of machine exercises and I feel they have their place in the gym. Machines are great for isolating specific muscles, good for working around injuries, and they can help add variety to your training. Plus there are some exercises that can only be done on machines that can’t be duplicated with free weights (i.e. pull downs, push downs, leg press, leg extensions, etc.).

However, over reliance on machine exercises will actually make you weaker, instead of stronger. The reason I know this is because I’ve personally fallen into this trap myself several times over the years. Opting for Leg Press over Squats. Doing the Hammer Strength Bench Press instead of the Barbell Bench Press. Machine Rows instead of Barbell Rows, etc…

Now you can still make “strength gains” in these machine exercises. However, those strength gains don’t always carry over into your free weight exercises. Machines balance and support the weights for you, all you have to do is push or pull along a guided track, so it’s not a true strength builder.

But when you make strength gains in basic free weight exercises, those gains almost always carry over into your machine exercises. Free weights put you in a real 3 dimensional environment where you not only have to push or pull the weights, but you have to balance and support them as well. Barbells and dumbbells can twist, turn, wobble, etc. and this all leads to a higher level of neuromuscular activation and thus more stimulation for strength and muscle development. So for our Back To Basics Mass & Power Workout we’re going to put the machine exercises on the back burner. Instead we are going to focus on only doing a select few powerlifts and working the crap out of those lifts!

The goal for each workout is simple…
To Lift More During This Workout Than You Did For Your Last Workout.

If you can consistently beat your previous best lifts over and over again, even if it’s just getting an extra rep or adding an extra 5 pounds to the bar, it will all add up overtime and equal some Big Lifts and some Big Muscles. Now what we consider “big” is all relative, I’m not saying that within in the matter of weeks you’ll be ready to pose down with Jay Cutler on the Olympia stage or anything like that. But by getting stronger on the basic lifts you’ll be able to blow past your own training plateaus and set some new personal records in size and strength.

So without wasting anymore time, let’s cut the small talk and get right into the “Meat & Potatoes” of the program…

Focus On The Basic Powerlifts…

The workout will consist of:
- Squats
- Bench Press
- Deadlift
- Overhead Press

That’s it, nothing more, nothing less!

These are the core powerlifts. The big 3 (squat, bench, and deadlift) are the competition lifts in powerlifting. Nothing else can sum over up overall brute strength and power like those 3 lifts. And the overhead press was one of the core competition lifts in Olympic Weightlifting up until 1972. But due to a lot of controversy with judging proper form in the lift, it was later removed from the official competition lifts. However, that doesn’t mean it’s any less effective for building strength and packing on solid muscle mass!

Workout 3 Days Per Week…

The workout itself is very simple. You’re going to hit the gym 3 days per week (or every second day). The main thing is that you take a full day of rest after each workout before training again.

Warm Up Before Every Workout…

Before each workout you’re going to do a proper warm up. I suggest doing 5-10 minutes of cardio such as a rowing machine or an elliptical with the moving arm handles. Ideally you would do something that moves your entire body, elevates your core temperature, and gets the blood flowing.

After your cardio you’ll do some rotator cuff rotations, arm circles, bodyweight squats, etc. to make sure all your major muscles are limber. I’ve got a good video on YouTube that shows how to do a proper warm up routine at: Pre-Workout Warm Up Exercise Routine.

Once you are all warmed up you’re going to head over to the power rack and get set up for your first set of squats!

Sample Workout Routine…

For each exercise in our basic mass and power workout you’re going to do a few progressively heavier warm up sets, pyramiding up to your top working weight, then you are going to do 2 sets of 5 reps with your top working weight.

Now for example purposes, let’s assume your top working weight in the squat is 225 pounds for 5 reps. Your weights, sets, and reps may go like this:

Sample Squat Workout:
1st set – 95 pounds x 10 reps (warm up)
2nd set – 135 pounds x 8 reps (warm up)
3rd set – 185 pounds x 5 reps (warm up)
4th set – 225 pounds x 5 reps (working set)
5th set – 225 pounds x 5 reps (working set)

After squats you’ll move on to the bench press. And for our example, let’s assume your top working weight in the bench press is 185 pounds for 5 reps. Your weights, sets, and reps may go like this:

Sample Bench Press Workout:
1st set – empty bar x 10 reps (warm up)
2nd set – 95 pounds x 8 reps (warm up)
3rd set – 135 pounds x 5 reps (warm up)
4th set – 185 pounds x 5 reps (working set)
5th set – 185 pounds x 5 reps (working set)

After bench presses you’ll move on to the deadlift. And for our example, let’s assume your top working weight in the deadlift is 275 pounds for 5 reps. Your weights, sets, and reps may go like this:

Sample Deadlift Workout:
1st set – 135 pounds x 10 reps (warm up)
2nd set – 185 pounds x 8 reps (warm up)
3rd set – 225 pounds x 5 reps (warm up)
4th set – 275 pounds x 5 reps (working set)
5th set – 275 pounds x 5 reps (working set)

After deadlifts you’ll move on to the overhead press. And for our example, let’s assume your top working weight in the overhead press is 100 pounds for 5 reps. Your weights, sets, and reps may go like this:

Sample Overhead Press Workout:
1st set – empty bar x 10 reps (warm up)
2nd set – 65 pounds x 8 reps (warm up)
3rd set – 85 pounds x 5 reps (warm up)
4th set – 100 pounds x 5 reps (working set)
5th set – 100 pounds x 5 reps (working set)

That’s it, those are the 4 basic lifts that you are going to do for each and every workout. And your training goal is simple, each workout strive to add 5 pounds to the bar and still perform all the sets and reps. If you are able to up the weight by 5 pounds and still get all the required sets and reps with good form, then up the weight again for your next workout and keep progressing in this fashion. However, if you get stuck and don’t hit 5 reps on one of your working sets, or you had to get help from a spotter, keep the same weight for your next workout.

When planning out a program like this it’s a good idea to be little conservative when selecting your starting weights. I’d much rather you go through the workouts feeling strong with the weights and knowing that you could do grind out an extra rep or two if you really had to. This will allow you to build momentum in your training and allow you to keep increasing the weights by those 5 pound jumps for several workouts in a row before hitting a pleateau.

The slow and steady approach to strength gains is much better than starting off too heavy and hitting failure right off the bat and having to drop down in weight. Getting “beaten by the weights” and having to lighten the load is no fun. But feeling strong and making those small frequent jumps in weight helps keep you motivated. A lot of people ignore this aspect of training, but being motivated, feeling strong, and actually looking forward to your workouts is half the battle. That’s what keeps you on track towards your muscle building goals.

Additional Training Tips…

If you are a more advanced lifter and can handle heavier weights than what I have listed in the examples, than you’ll most likely need to perform more warm up sets. The heavier you lift, the more warm up sets it will take in order to reach your top working weight.

You may also want to cycle the order that you perform the exercises, so overtime you can hit each exercise at the beginning of your workout when you are fresh and at your strongest. For example, you may start your first workout with squats, bench presses, deadlifts, and overhead presses. The next workout you could do bench presses, deadlifts, overhead presses, and squats. The following workout you could do do deadlifts, overhead presses, squats, and bench presses, etc. And just keep rotating through the exercises like that.

The use of a good powerlifting belt and lifting chalk will really help, especially as you build up the poundages for those top heavy working sets. You could even use lifting straps to help re-enforce your grip on the deadlifts if needed. But make sure to do all your warm up sets without lifting straps so that you’ll still be able to build up your natural grip strength.

What About Working The Rest Of The Body…

As I’m writing this I can already hear the comments coming from the peanut gallery:
- “What about all my other muscle groups?”
- “What am I going to do for biceps?”
- “What about calves?”
- “Shouldn’t I be working my abs everyday?”
- Etc…

The biggest problem that people run into when following a basic mass and power workout program is that it “Seems Too Basic”. Most people don’t see the forest for the trees. They over complicate things by always looking for new exotic exercises, magic formulas, unique training theories and new age programs. Meanwhile, the answer to their problem is very often staring them right in the face, but they overlook it because it seems too obvious.

Too many guys get bogged down in the minor details before they even have a solid foundation to work with. To give you a real world example of this, let’s look at the process of building a house. If you were building a house would you start off worrying about what color you are going to paint the walls before the foundation has been laid and the house has been framed? Probably not… Now I’m not saying that the color that you paint the walls isn’t important, but it’s a very specific detail that only really matters way down the line once the rest of the house has been built.

The same applies with building your body. It makes no sense to focus on the details of your physique and doing specialization training when you weigh a buck fifty soaking wet. Focus first on putting some meat on your bones and building up your base strength. A good goal to strive for is to get your strength up in the core powerlifts so that you can bench 1 and 1/2 times your bodyweight and squat and deadlift 2 times your bodyweight. Focus on hitting those numbers before worrying about how to bring out the detail of your serratus anterior or isolating your vastus medialis. It makes no sense to worry about sculpting your bicep peak or isolating the lateral head of your triceps if your arms barely stretch the tape measure to 13 inches. Pay your dues in the gym with some hardcore training on the basic powerlifts and you’ll pack more meat on your guns than biceps curls ever could.

And as for working your abs, regularly doing heavy squats, deadlifts, and overhead presses will build more functional strength throughout your entire core than doing crunches until you are blue in the face.

Conclusion…

You’ll be amazed at the improvements you can make in your overall muscular development if you just take a couple months and really focus on improving the 4 basic powerlifts. If you were to add 30-50 pounds to each of these lifts over the course of the next 2 months, just think of how that would impact your overall muscle density?

And to let you know, when you zero in and target all your training efforts on just a few basic lifts, making these kinds of strength gains within a couple months is very realistic. Especially if you have been doing “marathon workouts” and trying to work the muscles from every angle possible with every exercise imaginable.

So if you are looking to take your physique to the next level of muscular development, give this Mass & Power program a try. Simplify your approach, focus on making strength gains, and get brilliant on the basics!

If you’ve been working out for any length of time than no doubt you’ve heard the debates over how many reps you should do per set in order to maximize your muscle growth…

- Some people say “high reps for cutting” and “low reps for bulking”.

- Some say “go heavy or go home” and recommend super heavy weights for low reps.

- Others like to train a bit lighter and “pump it up” and strive to keep the muscles under tension for longer periods of time.

But the question that’s on your mind right now is:
“Which rep range is the best one and which one should you use in your workouts?”

Well, there is no cut and dried answer to this, in fact you can literally make muscle gains training in all of the above rep ranges provided that you are putting enough demands on the muscle, training in a progressive fashion, and that your nutrition and recovery are adequate to support muscle growth.

But there are some general guidelines that you can follow to help you better structure your bodybuilding workouts and maximize your muscle growth. And that’s what I’m going to share with you here in this article.

Rather than randomly selecting some magic number as your rep range for all your workouts, you need to break things down and get more specific. There is really no such a thing as the one best rep range that works for all exercises. How many reps you do will vary greatly depending on the particular exercise you are doing.

For example, if you were doing deadlifts and then afterwards going to do abdominal crunches. Do you think that you would use the same set and rep pattern for both exercises? Of course NOT.

One is a heavy mass building power move, and the other is a small isolation exercise. They both work the muscles totally differently, so obviously you wouldn’t train these 2 exercises the same way and use the same set and rep patterns.

Certain exercises are classified as Heavy Mass Building Power Moves and they work better for heavy weights and low reps. These are the “meat and potatoes” exercises that should lay the foundation to your muscle building workouts.

Than you have Mid-Range Power Moves that are still basic compound lifts, but these exercises are better worked with higher reps compared to the Heavy Mass Builders.

And finally you have Isolation Moves that are used for targeting specific areas of the muscles. These exercises work better with higher repetitions, lighter weights, and very strict form.

Generally with the heavy power moves your main focus is on moving the weight. With these exercises you should strive to increase the weights you lift on a regular basis (provided you can maintain good form of course). Than as you get into the mid-range and isolation moves your main focus should be on feeling the muscles working and getting a good pump. Rather than simply trying to increase the weights you are lifting.

Some examples of Heavy Power Moves are:
(Best Used With Heavy Weights & Low Reps)

Squats:

Deadlifts:

Bench Press:

Shoulder Press:

These are big basic free weight exercises that allow heavy weights to be lifted for low reps. The classic 5 sets of 5 reps routine works really well for these exercises. And advanced powerlifters and strongman competitors will even work up to heavier weights by doing heavy triples, doubles, and even single rep sets for these basic powerlifts.

Some examples of Mid-Range Power Moves are:
(Best Used With Moderate Weights & Moderate Reps)

Leg Press:

Barbell Rows:

Dumbbell Bench Press:

Dumbbell Shoulder Press:

Barbell Curls:

Dips:

Pull Ups:

These are mid-range compound exercises that still allow for heavy weights to be lifted, but work better with moderate repetition range of 6-10 reps per set. These mid-range exercises will make up the majority of your muscle building workout program.

Some examples of Isolation Moves are:
(Best Used With Lighter Weights & Higher Reps)

Leg Extensions:

Leg Curls:

1 Arm Dumbbell Row:

Dumbbell Flys:

Side Lateral Raises:

Concentration Curls:

Tricep Kick Backs:

Calve Raises:

Abdominal Crunches:

These are isolation exercises that work best when trained with light to moderate weights and high repetitions. Ideally you would use these exercises as finishing moves and do them at the end of your workouts. The idea here is to really pump up the muscles after you’ve already completed your heavier power moves. Keep your reps for these exercises to 10-15 per set, and in some cases you can even perform higher reps (i.e. 20+ reps per set) especially with abs and calves.

Conclusion…

These exercises and rep ranges are applicable to most weight training workout programs. However, there will always be exceptions to these rules depending on the particular training program. For example, the classic 20 rep squat routine is one such example of using a heavy mass building power move for high reps. And there will be other times when you may train isolation exercises with heavier weights and lower reps, especially if you are following a body part specialization program such as Blast Your Biceps.

However, the general training guidelines for most workout programs are:
- Heavy Powerlifting Exercises: 5 reps per set
- Mid-Range Compound Exercises: 6-10 reps per set
- Smaller Isolation Exercises: 10-15 reps per set

Now even if you have your weight training program structured perfectly with the correct sets and reps for each exercise, that’s only one piece of the whole muscle building puzzle. What you feed your body is just as important (if not more important) than the actual workouts you do in the gym.

If you don’t have your muscle building nutrition program nailed down pat, than you may end up like a lot of guys who waste their time and effort busting their butt in the gym only to look the same… day after day… month after month…

And the problem is – most guys have NO IDEA they are even making these errors and that’s why they’ll never have a body that truly sets them apart from the pack. In the informative video presentation below you’re going to learn to solution to the Top 3 Nutrition Mistakes That Are Costing You Precious Muscle Gains.

I did a 100 Rep Squat Workout!

And let me tell you I’m feeling the after effects right now… I’m literally sore right from right my ass to my ankles. (And just to make sure we’re all on the same page here, that muscle soreness was caused from the squat workout LOL)

Now speaking of muscle soreness, I normally don’t get sore anymore from my workouts. Generally as you get more advanced and in better shape physically, the less muscle soreness you’ll experience. For the most part it’s only beginners who really get that deep painful muscle soreness that lasts for days.

But when you change things up and do something totally off the wall that your body isn’t used to, even advanced lifters can experience muscle soreness… Just like I am right now.

So this is how the 100 Rep Squat Workout went down…

I normally start off a leg workout with light high rep leg extensions to warm up my knees and get a pump going in my quads. Then I’ll move on to a big basic compound exercise (squats, leg press, etc) and then finish up with some isolation exercises for the quadriceps, hamstrings, calves, etc.

Now yesterday I started off just like a “normal” leg workout, it began with 100 total reps of light leg extensions to warm up my legs. I do these in a rest pause fashion, so I’ll bang out 20 reps or so, rest for 10 or 20 seconds, bang out another quick set, rest pause, etc. and keep going until I get a total of 100 reps. This is great warm up for anyone who has knee problems and it also helps pre-exhaust the quads before getting into the actual workout.

Then I moved into the meat and potatoes exercise of any leg workout, the barbell squat. After several progressively heavier warm up sets I worked up to doing 5 sets of 5 reps. I really like the 5×5 rep range for big basic power moves like squats, benches, and deadlifts.

Barbell Back Squats

After the squats I thought, “Oh what the heck, I’ll do some front squats too”… So I did a couple progressively heavier warm up sets and then went ahead and did 5 sets of 5 reps of front squats. I’m normally not a big fan of doing front squats because I find it uncomfortable holding the bar across my front shoulders. But I said to myself… “Lee, don’t be a pussy, suck it up and just squat like a real man.” So I did…

Barbell Front Squats

With the completion of back squats and front squats I was feeling pretty good about myself! You know how you start to get that natural high once the endorphins are flowing from good old fashion hard workouts… Well that’s kind of how I was feeling at this point.

As I was walking away from the squat rack and heading over to the water fountain for a drink, I had to pass by the hack squat machine. After quenching my thirst at the fountain, the thought crossed my mind… “Why not just do an entire squat workout! The hell with doing any isolation exercises, I’m just going to do a shit load of squat variations!”

So over I went to the hack squat machine and I went through the same pattern again… Several progressively heavier warm ups and then on to 5 sets of 5 reps of hack squats.

Hack Squats

You’ll notice that I always do lighter warm up sets for every big basic exercise before attempting maximum weight. I even do this when I’m already in the middle of a workout and physically “warmed up”. The idea here is to get my body in the groove of doing the exercise before pushing myself with heavy weight. Chances are you’ve probably noticed in your own workouts that when doing multiple sets of an exercise that it’s usually not until the 3rd set or so that you really feel solid and “in the groove” with that exercise. So that’s why it’s important not to skip on your warm ups, they will help you get ready mentally and physically to give it your all when it’s time to do your heavy working sets.

After banging out 5×5 of the hack squat my legs were starting to feel like jelly. The muscle soreness was already setting in, and I hadn’t even left the gym yet!

I stopped for a few minutes to rest and review what I’ve done thus far in my leg workout…
-> 5 sets of 5 reps of barbell back squats.
-> 5 sets of 5 reps of barbell front squats.
-> 5 sets of 5 reps of hack squats.
That’s 75 heavy working reps of squats!

That is quite an intense leg training session right there… But I thought to myself,
“Why not go all out and make it an even 100 Rep Squat Workout?!”.

I started scanning the gym and looking for another squat variation that I could do…
I could use the smith machine, but that would basically just be repeating what I’ve already done with a barbell… I could do some sort of box squat variation, but honestly at this stage of the workout the thought of getting under the bar again wasn’t that appealing. I mean I was getting tired…

But I still wanted to hit that magic 100 rep squat workout. If nothing else it would give me some sort of weird satisfaction of having done 100 squats, and I could even write up silly blog post about the whole thing and you would probably take the time to read about it on the Internet *wink*

While I was thinking it over and catching my second wind during the little rest break. I decided to finish off with Jump Squats! Doing some explosive plyometrics would provide totally different muscle stimulation than the exercises I’ve done so far, but I would complement the workout nicely. The cool thing about plyometric exercises like jump squats is that you can exert 100% maximum effort with every single rep. After all you explode up and literally jump as high as you can!

Bodyweight Jump Squats

So to finish off the squat workout and get my 100 total reps I did 5 sets of 5 reps of jump squats. But I didn’t just bang them out as quickly as I could, instead I took my time resting at least 2 minutes in between each set so I could really exert every last bit of strength and power that I had left in my legs at that point. It was an awesome finisher to my awesome leg routine!

In fact I’ve posted up a quick YouTube video of the Jump Squats that I did during this exact workout below:

Click Here To Subscribe To My YouTube Video Channel.

So to recap the workout…
Start off with 100 reps of light leg extensions done in a rest pause fashion to warm up the knees.

Then do the following exercises, making sure to do as many progressively heavier warm ups as you need before lifting your top working weight.

Barbell Back Squats: 5 sets of 5 reps
Barbell Front Squats: 5 sets of 5 reps
Hack Squats: 5 sets of 5 reps
Jump Squats: 5 sets of 5 reps

That’s a total of 100 reps for an absolute leg trashing muscle blasting workout!

If you’d like some other killer leg workout routine. I’d highly recommend that you try
the “Blast Your Squat” program.

This is an extra bonus workout that is included for FREE when you pick up a copy of my “Blast Your Bench” program. This is an awesome routine for making rapid fast strength gains. In fact a lot of guys who have already followed this program have gained as much as 50 pounds to their max squat with just a single cycle through this workout.

For more information and to get your copy, just visit: http://www.BlastYourBench.com

Generally the primary motivating factor for the average guy to start hitting the gym and working out in the first place is to build up the “show off” muscles of the upper body.

You could even do an informal survey and ask around. It won’t come as any surprise to find out that most guys want a muscular chest, big arms, and ripped abs. And when you see them working out in the gym that’s what they tend to focus on.

But the body works doesn’t work in isolation. You need to think of your body as a whole unit and instead focus on getting bigger and stronger all over.

The Power House muscles of the legs and back are what really drive the whole muscle building engine of your body.

When you train the big major muscle groups with big compound exercises this stimulates your central nervous system and triggers your body to produce higher levels of natural testosterone and growth hormone.

This creates an anabolic environment within your body that will not only build up the legs and back muscles, but will carry over into all your other muscle groups as well. Including the “show off” muscles of the chest, arms, and abs.

So to maximize your overall muscular development and get the fastest results possible, make sure to cover all basis and include lower body workouts as part of your training routine.

Below I have posted up a video of a simple, but very effective leg workout that you can incorporate into your workout routine…

And if you’d like to get a complete advanced training system with serious workouts for all your major muscle groups. I highly recommend that you pick up a copy of my “Hardcore Muscle Building Program”.

This program will show you how to train beyond muscular failure to achieve maximum muscle gains in the gym. This is a serious muscle building workout program that incorporates high level advanced training techniques to maximize muscle stimulation.

Just click on the link below to get your very own copy…

DVD # 1 – Chest, Shoulders, & Triceps
DVD # 2 – Back, Biceps, Legs, & Abs

Click Here For More Information…

Just click on the link below to see all the videos for each category…

Chest Workout Videos

Back Workout Videos

Shoulder Workouts Videos

Arm Workout Videos

Leg Workout Videos

Ab Workout Videos

Bodybuilding Nutrition Videos

Hi Lee,

It’s one of your fans Carl.

I just finished the 20 rep squat program that you posted,
and I felt like I had to send you a mail about how it went.

First of all I have never made fast gains like this before, I went from squatting
176 lbs for 20 reps to squatting 253 lbs for 20 reps in just 5 weeks!

On top of that, when I started the 20 rep squat program, I could only
do 10 chin ups, now I can get 17 good reps with my own bodyweight.
My dips have also improved similarly.

But the thing that surprised me the most, is that after I completed
this workout (where there is no actual bench pressing) I increased
my personal best bench press by 22 lbs. I gotta say thank you for
sharing this program with me, and to let you know that I’m going to
be getting more of your programs very soon.

Thanks so much,
Carl

P.S.
Lee I think you owe me some new pants, my legs have grown so much
from the 20 rep squat program that none of my pants fit anymore

I think you’ll have to agree that those are some awesome gains. Have you made that kind of progress in your workouts over the past 5 weeks? If not then why not give the 20 rep squat routine a try for yourself.

Here is a video showing how to do the 20 rep squat workout:

And here is a link to the actual workout program itself:
http://www.leehayward.com/squats.htm

If you have used the 20 rep squat routine before please let me know how it worked for you by posting a comment below…

The way it works is you train 3 days per week (i.e. Monday, Wednesday, and Friday).

Each workout you will start with full squats. Do 2-3 easy warm up sets to get the blood flowing and to warm up your joints. Then take a moderate weight and do 1 set of 20 reps. For each rep take a couple big mouthfuls of air, hold your breath, squat down and up, and repeat. As you progress through the reps you will need to take more breaths in between reps. During reps 15-20 you may need to take 5 or more big mouthfuls of air in between reps. It takes me 3 minutes to complete 1 set all out set of 20 rep squats.

Right after the squats while you are still out of breath, grab a light barbell (i.e. 25 lbs.) and do pull overs while lying on a flat bench. Take a deep breath in between each rep and really feel the stretch in the rib cage as you do the exercise. Do 1 set of 20 rep pull overs with 25 lbs. Keep using 25 lbs. for the pull overs as this exercise is just for stretching the rib cage.

Barbell Pull Overs

Each workout add 5 lbs. to the squats and get all 20 reps. This is the key to making serious gains with the program. You have to make 5 lb. jumps in weight each workout. I just finished a squat routine like this and within 2 months I worked up from doing 20 rep squats with 225 lbs. to 20 reps with 315 lbs.

When doing this program you should do full squats. I personally squat down until the back of my legs touch my calfs. This will make the squats far more effective for muscle growth.

Full Squat

Another thing, do NOT wear a weight lifting belt while doing the 20 rep squats. By squatting with out a belt you will strengthen your lower back and it will be easier to take deep breaths while doing high rep squats.

Make no mistake about it this routine is brutally tough, those 20 rep squats will take every bit of energy that you have, but the gains are awesome. This routine will stimulate your entire body to grow from the stress of the squats. And the pull overs will help to stretch your rib cage and make your chest bigger.

After you finish the squats and pull overs do a circuit of:

Chin Ups

Dips

Decline Bench Sit Ups

Do a set of chin ups for as many reps as you can
Rest a minute
Do a set of dips for as many reps as you can
Rest a minute
Do a set of decline bench sit ups for as many reps as you can

Do this circuit 3 times and your workout is done.

Do this exact routine 3 days per week. Each time make sure to add 5 lbs. to the squats and try to pump out more reps with the chins, dips, and sit ups. This will work every major muscle group in your body and force you to grow like nothing else.

A typical days eating for this program would look like this:

Breakfast
4 eggs
2 slices of toast
1 glass of milk

Snack
Bran Muffin
1 glass of milk

Lunch
Sandwich (i.e. meat, cheese, tuna fish, etc.)
piece of fruit
1 glass of milk

Snack
Granola bar
Slice of cheese
1 glass of milk

Supper
Meat (i.e. chicken, beef, pork, etc.)
Pasta, Rice, or Potatoes
Cup of veggies
1 glass of milk

Snack
2 slices of toast
1 glass of milk

*drink plenty of water throughout the day

If you like you can mix a scoop of protein powder in your milk for even more protein and calories.

This is just a sample eating plan, you can change it around to suit your own taste. But you get the idea of how much you should eat and how often in order to gain size and strength.

If you strictly follow the squats and milk program you will gain approx. 20 lbs. of bodyweight in just 2 months.

• Warm up with 10 minutes on the concept 2 rowing machine (ergometer).
• Low box squats pyramiding up in weight to a max effort heavy set of 3 reps.
• Lying leg curls 5 sets of 5 reps.
• High rep partial deadlifts 2 sets of 20 reps.
• Pull Down Abs 5 sets of 10 reps.
• Pull Throughs with low pulley cable 3 sets of 10 reps.

I’m super pumped to get my new bodybuilding blog up and running. This is really going to help me deliver even more killer muscle building and fat loss advice that will help you take your physique and muscular development to the next level.

There is a lot more “bells” and “whistles” with this newer updated blog compared to my old blog…

Note: I’m still keeping the old blog online as an archive as there is almost 2 years worth of valuable posts at: http://www.LeeHayward.blogspot.com and I certainly don’t want to get rid of it.

So what I need you to do now before you go any further, is to make sure that you have entered your name and e-mail address in the form above and download my FREE Muscle Building Training Course. This will give you the foundational base of training information that you need to get started building your ultimate body. Plus you’ll also get on going muscle building and fat loss training tips from my a few times per week.

Another thing I suggest you do is get yourself set up with a Gravatar (globally recognized avatar) at: http://en.gravatar.com

This will add your face and personality to your comments.  It’s always more enjoyable to see another persons face when conversing.  It’s not mandatory but I encourage you to do so. You only need to set this up once which is great because if you post on other blogs or forums on the Internet, many of these websites will recognize your Gravatar.

I really encourage you to share your feedback with me by leaving your comments to the blog posts. This allows you to become part of the Total Fitness Bodybuilding community and it gives me valuable feedback and direction as to what things we should focus on and where we can improve the website in the future.

We also have the option for you to share these blog posts via Social Media outlets like FaceBook, Twitter, StumbleUpon, and many more!  By sharing content, you help others and bring more people to this site to continue to make it even bigger and better.

If you enjoy a post, send it to your Twitter friends, post it to your Facebook news feed, or simply email it to your contacts.  The sharing tool below each post makes it so easy!

In fact I need your help with sharing this site and all the valuable information on it!  Together, we can help so many people better themselves and get in their all time best ever shape!

I’m looking forward to chatting with you in the comments section!

In fact you can leave your first comment right now below and introduce yourself on the new blog!

all the best,

Lee Hayward

(Your Muscle Building Coach!)