View the many options here

I am not going to make a specific recommendation, it will depend on a number of factors. Space being just one of them.

What Is The Best Pull Up Dip Station

A combination pull up and dip station needs to be sturdy. That should be the basis of any buying decision. There are enough cheap ones that you are not going to have to spend a great deal, even for something of a very good quality. My advice is to read reviews of the products on offer to see just what comes the most highly recommended.

Personally I have tried both the Body Vision PT600 power tower and the Stamina 1690 power tower, both are nice and rugged. But there are so many different options that there is no point looking at them all here. Price and available room are going to dictate what you buy.

If I had to give you a solid recommendation then the Stamina tower is cheap, very cheap. And it does the job. I am all about not paying more than I have to.

I simply recommend that you take a look and see what takes your fancy. All of them are going to allow you to do chins and dips, you will just find that a few options are a little more versatile. i.e You can use them to perform bent leg crunches and the like. Although if you perform heavy leg work, like rest pause training, then you will be developing a solid core without the need for any abdominal work at all.

If you are going to buy a station for chins and dips then don’t discount a power rack instead though. They come with chin bars and dip handles on many models, and also allow you to train in safety.

Whatever you do buy, remember one thing. The aim is not to just be able to perform dips and pull ups with bodyweight. To really pack on the muscle you want to be aiming for adding weight to your body. Use a dip belt and add a few pounds, or even a single pound, once you can get up to ten or twelve reps.

When you begin you may well find that even getting close to this is a struggle. But keep at it and you will be amazed at how quickly you can get into the groove.

If you can’t do a full set then do as many as you can. Then use negative training to finish the set. This means you jump to the top position with a bounce, and then lower your weight to the bottom, 4 seconds a rep is a good figure to aim for.

If you can do this for a number of workouts you will be able to very quickly get to a point where you will be hunting around for extra plates to add around your waist. And this is when the muscle realy begins to get added to your frame.

Am I right?

Well, read on, but trust me, it may not be exactly what you want to hear. This is no super secret routine, but it will deliver results unlike almost anything else you may have tried.

Arm Specialization Routine

If you want large arms the first thing that you have to remember is that you should not neglect your triceps. When people think of big arms and how to get them they think of the bicep, when there is actually a lot more mass in the triceps muscle behind the bicep than in the bicep itself. And this should be exploited to our advantage.

If we can add a decent amount of muscle mass to our triceps then our whole arm is going to be a lot more impressive. When we flex a biceps pose a large triceps muscle is going to make the bicep, as well as the whole arm, look an awful lot larger.

This workout is going to be performed every time you do the full body workout. Use the muscle building routine, and follow the guidelines for how often to do it. The arm specialization routine should be done every workout for no more than a maximum of 8-12 consecutive workouts. More than that and you risk actually going backwards in terms of progression, as the strains you put on your body begin to build. But one thing is for sure, it works. Big arms here we come. Perform the leg, back and chest work first and keep sets to a minimum, and don’t go to total failure, save that for the arm training.

Here we go:

Make Giant Biceps

To make giant biceps to be proud of we are going to use some advanced arm training techniques to hit the biceps like never before.

First port of call is a set of curls to failure. The last rep must be the absolute last rep that you can possibly do. It should be agonizing.

Straight after this we are going to use a compound movement, and negatives as well. Negatives mean that you only perform the lowering of the weight.

So, immediately after the set of curls we are going to go to a chinning bar and jump up to the top position. We then lower to a count of 4. We are using the power of our backs to help us to take the biceps beyond the point of failure. This is known as pre-exhaustion and makes sever inroads into your ability to recover.

NOTE: I recommend one of the cheap pull up dip stations, or a power rack to make training in this fashion simple and productive.

Perform 8-12 negatives.

Immediately after this we are going to then pick up a much lighter barbell and pump out as many reps as we can. Ideally going for about 20 reps.

By now your biceps will be engorged with blood, pumped up and feeling pretty much done for.

But we are not finished yet.

We can rest for 3 minutes and then repeat the same routine all over again.

Use a lighter weight for the curls, you won’t be able to use anywhere near the same weight. Try to aim for 8-12 reps again. Then straight onto the chins. Negatives again. Aim for as many as possible, but it it likely that you won’t reach 12 this time around. If you can’t lower to a 4 count then lower to a slightly faster pace.

Straight after it is time for another set of high rep curls with a light weight.

In this bicep specialization routine we are employing many advanced techniques. Not only are we using negatives but pre-exhaust as well. And the higher rep final set is going to help to increase the size of capillaries and veins to further increase the size and appearance of our biceps.

Rest for 5 minutes then get ready for the triceps specialization routine.

Both routines should be performed. Remember, triceps size is just as important as biceps size.

Make Giant Triceps

To make giant triceps we are going to employ the same advanced techniques we used for the biceps workout. Pre-exhaustion and negative only training. This means you need access to some form of dip station. Either as part of a power rack or using a stand alone system. If you have neither then you can always perform it between two chairs back to back. Or even use the kitchen worktops if they join at a right angle. Get creative or buy the equipment. A power rack is always money very well spent. Or at least a cheap dip pull up station if money is tight.

Firstly with a barbell we will perform overhead triceps extensions. You hold the bar overhead at arms length and then bend the arms so the bar comes down to the back of the neck. Get used to this exercise for a few workouts before you go heavy and use it to failure.

Once you have the technique down it is time for the triceps specialization routine.

Do one set to failure and then immediately move to the dips. Both sets should be for 8-12 reps.

Then straight after this it is back to the overhead triceps extensions and performing a much lighter set. Just as for biceps we are going for a set of 20 reps.

You will never have felt a burn like it in your life!

Rest for 3 minutes and then do the same thing all over again. Then you have my permission to collapse on the floor for a while

So, there you have it. A workout to get large arms fast. A maximum of 8-12 workouts like this will work wonders. Then go back to concentrating on the abbreviated routine and using mostly compound exercises to increase overall muscle mass.

Even whilst doing this routine you still need to ensure that you do heavy leg work. You cannot simply get huge arms if you are not growing the size of the rest of your body as well. Have you ever seen someone with giant arm muscle who does not have good muscle coverage over the rest of their body?

Expectations

You can expect to add some good size by using this routine. Obviously it will differ from person to person, but everyone is going to see some great gains. I would recommend that you read the Body Solid bicep bomber review to see if this extra bit of kit can be of help. If you don’t use perfect form during the curls then results will be less than optimal. Using the bomber helps to really focus in on the biceps like nothing else can.

But the main thing is that if you can stick to this routine, and also add weight to the bar every other workout, then at the end of the specialization period your arms are going to look a hell of a lot different to how they did at the start.

The best training program for mass gains is going to focus on these 4 principles. So let’ take a look at each one in depth. Miss out on either of the 4 and your gains are going to be nowhere near as good as they could have been.

Workout For Mass Gains

The heart of our mass gains is based around the best workout for mass gains. Please read that article for the routine. At its simplest we are concentrating on a few compound exercises a maximum of twice a week. Those who already have experience with training may well find that twice a week is too much.

We need to ensure that we are making poundage progressions at every workout, so if you are not then add in an extra day of rest between your workouts. Rest pause training for the legs should be at the heart of any serious attempt to build real mass. Heavy leg work done in a rest pause style is going to be the absolute best way possible to add incredible mass all over your body. It stimulates the appetite in a way that nothing else can. It also leads to muscle development all over the body, not just in the leg and buttock area.

This simple and infrequent style of training allows you to maximize the time you spend working out in terms of productivity, and it also allows you to much more easily take care of the other three factors.

Rest

Getting adequate rest is of prime importance. You can work out as hard as you want, but without full recovery and minimal other physical activity you will not make the best gains. Not only do you need to ensure that you give your muscles time to recover from the stresses and strains you impose on them, you need to actually give them time to grow as well.

It means that you should never workout again until you know for sure that you have grown all that you can. As mentioned in previous articles you can only gauge this by ensuring that you make progress in terms of weight added to the bar at least every other workout. If you cannot fulfil this criteria then you are working out too often,or you are not taking care of the other factors.

If you are getting enough rest, sleep and food, but not making gains in the Gym then you need to add another rest day between workouts.

For maximum mass gains from working out with weights you need perform little in the way of physical activity apart from during your workouts. The more you can rest your muscles the quicker they can recover, and the quicker you can hit them hard again in the gym, or at home using cheap weights sets.

Sleep

Sleep should never be overlooked as part of a training program to gain mass quickly. You need all the rest you can get, and the best rest of all is sleep. It allows your body to recover and build itself up like nothing else. At a minimum you should be trying to get at least 8 hours of sleep a night. And more if you possibly can.

If you can get to bed early, and get a great night of sleep, then you are doing your best for your body. It can recover and grow quicker and it is the absolute best way to get energized for the workouts ahead of you.

Get into a pattern of going to bed at the same time every night, and sleeping for as long as you possibly can.

After doing heavy leg work you should find that you sleep like a baby, and will actually need at least 8 hours of sleep if not a lot more.

Eating

Nutrition is so important if you want to gain mass with bodybuilding. You need to concentrate on what you eat and how much of it you eat as well. To get mass gains quickly and to really make the most of the exercise regime you are on, you need to eat lots of good quality food. I am not going to get into an argument about the number of times you need to eat each day, let your hunger dictate that to some degree.

Suffice to say that you do not need to eat 6 meals a day. 2 or 3 a day, as long as you get a surplus of calories is going to be more than sufficient. But you have to be realistic about it. You need to ensure that you are getting enough calories in you. If you do heavy leg work then you should be hungry nearly all the time, so you should have no problem eating enough to gain weight.

And gain weight you must. To gain mass with your training program you need surplus calories. And the bottom line is that as well as adding muscle to your frame you will also be adding a little bit of fat. It is mostly inevitable.

But if you can eat healthily then you can minimize the amount of fat gained, and ensure that nearly all of it is muscle.

Aim for a few pounds a month minimum in terms of weight gain.

If you can keep that up for 6 months then you will look like a totally different person. 12-14 pounds of mostly solid muscle is going to make you look better than anyone else that you know. If you can stay lean whilst gaining this weight you will look incredible. Many beginners simply underestimate how much they need to eat to gain weight. Read the how to gain weight fast article for more information on this. But basically you simply need to keep eating and eating until you finally begin to add weight each and every week.

The thinner you are then the more you can eat and the faster you can gain weight. If you are very slim then for a limited period of time you may even be able to add as much as a pound in weight every week. But it will take some dedication to the plate, along with drinking plenty of milk as well.

The Wrap-Up

If you can follow all of these pieces of advice, and stick to it for months at a time, then you are going to gain mass very quickly. This training program for mass gains revolves around getting all the factors near enough perfect. And you must do this day after day, week after week, and month after month.

Sorry Dudes. The answer is no!

Now, I know that this is going to come as a huge let-down to some of you, you want to look like the latest bodybuilding Superstar. Or maybe just the latest huge Guy in the blockbuster movie. But life isn’t like that.

But don’t despair. All is not lost.

Genetics Are All Important

The reality is that hardly any single person alive has a hope in hell of coming anywhere close to looking like Mr. Dorian Yates in the image above. These men are born to be huge. For us average people it is simply never going to happen. Size like this is surely gained through a lot of hard work and dedication, we can’t argue with that. But the potential was already there. Superb genetics making them pre-disposed to react amazingly well to weight training.

How Big Can We Get

Now comes the good news.

We may not be able to look like a Giant, but if we follow some basic principles then we can still look amazing. We can get very strong, get large muscles, and look better than almost any other person alive. Want to know how to build muscle? Want to look amazing on the beach? Be able to strike a biceps pose and it look impressive?

Then you can. How big the average person can get is going to be down to your genetics, but anyone can totally transform their bodies with a very simple set of exercises. Use low bodybuilding training frequency,  follow the simple best bodybuilding routine, and read the how to gain weight fast articles if you are currently skinny or need to pack on the pounds quickly.

Although it may be somewhat disappointing to know that unless we are born a certain way we will never be a beast of a size, the good news is that we can still work total wonders with our physiques. Anyone has the ability to look totally different. Anyone can pack on tens and tens of pounds of muscle to their frame, and do it with low frequency, and without spending much time working out at all.

But it requires dedication

It will mean working out with progressively heavier weights for years. But in just a few months you are going to look vastly different to how you did before you began. What you will find is that once you are over the beginners stage, and are used to the exercises, you will begin to see a great transformation.

You will see muscles begin to appear, get strong, and feel great within yourself for simply sticking to a routine that requires such hard work.

Huge muscles are relative. We can all get huge muscles for our frames. It just means that we have to work with what we were born with. We can’t grow six inches once we have reached our full potential. Just as we cannot make our bones much denser, our ligaments and tendons be aligned differently, or become Mr. Universe unless we were born with the potential.

But what we can do is pack on so much muscle that for anyone that has not paid their dues with the weights, we will look, quite frankly, incredibly muscular.

It is there waiting for you, all you have to do is get lifting the weights.

For many skinny people, they are known as a Hardgainer in bodybuilding circles. I am one of them. If you are a person who has always been thin, doesn’t have a ton of muscle, and can eat what you like, they you should count yourself amongst the lucky few. With obesity levels rising so dramatically you are at least in the favorable position of being able to start in a positive light. i.e no trying to transform a physique that is going to involve severe calorific reduction over an extended period of time.

So, to start with, count yourself lucky.

Weight gain techniques for skinny people are numerous, but it comes down to a few factors at the end of the day. Learn how to build muscle, and how to eat properly. In the article linked to at the beginning of this one I gave the recipe for a good quality shake that will pack on the pounds, so I won’t repeat it here. But what I do want to emphasize is that you simply need to stop thinking about the fact that you are eating more than other people, and still not gaining weight.

It is what it is. Some people can look at a french fry and gain weight, others could eat a sack of potatoes and not put on a pound. Such is life, and such is the variety of body types that we all have. It would make for a boring world if we were all the same.

Best Ways To Gain Weight Quickly

In the previous article the emphasis was on high intensity weight training, and it still is. Follow the routine to build muscle, read the training program for mass gains, and perform it as often as you can. If you can add weight to the movements then you are training just right. In the beginning this could mean training every other day. The more training you do the more muscle you will put on. If you don’t train, and train hard, then the weight that you put on will be fat. And you may as well stay skinny rather than just end up fat.

You may have come here simply looking for an eating program, and I will certainly get into that later on, but the fact is that without a decent program of resistance training you are not going to look much improved, unless you are severely underweight and just need to fill out a little. But you will still find that if you combine the eating program with the training program the results will be much better.

Stimulating The Appetite

This is one of the reasons, apart from muscle gain, that I recommend the abbreviated training program along with a sound eating program. If you want to know how to stimulate the appetite then weight training is the key. It works like nothing else. Read the workout routine and also read the rest pause training guide, you will not believe the results you will get.

Working out with heavy weights for leg work is going to make you so hungry that you will feel like a different person. It is going to make such a difference to how you both look and feel, and the hunger that you have, that your body will have no other recourse than to add weight to your frame.

Not easy though is it?

This is not a way to gain weight for men and women that involves no work on your part. You have to be prepared to work for it. But the good news is that the training sessions are brief, normally only 3 exercises, and will be done in less than half an hour. But it is imperative that they are done on a regular basis.

If you don’t do this results will be far from optimal.

The best way to put on weight is to combine strength training with eating excess calories, and this is the same for men as it is for women. Don’t neglect this, you do so at your peril.

Weight Gain For Skinny People

It is assumed that you are skinny. If you want to know:

how can I gain weight fast?

Then this is assumed. And the one thing that is stopping you from putting on the pounds is a lack of stimulus to your muscles, combined with a lack of eating. The bottom line is that if you simply cannot seem to budge the scales then you are not eating enough.

It does not matter if you currently eat what you feel is way too much food. You need to eat more, and keep on doing so until you break out of the plateau that you are in. Calories are all important, but they should always be good calories. Not just junk food or foodstuffs that contain less than optimal nutrition. i.e bread and excesses of rice and pasta.

You want to be eating the best possible food, it will make the weight you gain quality weight, and it will increase your energy levels at the same time. So don’t overlook this aspect of things.

Foods To Eat To Gain Weight Quickly

So what should you be eating?

Well, add the shake into your diet as linked to in the other article on weight gain, but this is just the beginning.

Breakfast

You should be looking at eating a large breakfast. If you currently have a bowl of cereal, or even skip it entirely it is time for a change.

Switch to eggs and bacon fried in butter, add in a calorie dense shake afterwards, and you will be off to a good start.

Rather than drinking soft drinks or coffee, begin to have a glass of milk instead. Aim for drinking more milk than other drinks and you will be adding to your overall consumption.

Lunch

Lunch is also a real issue for a lot of people. It often revolves around a  sandwich, or something very similar. It won’t do. You need to begin to think properly about your diet, and it may even mean preparing food the night before so you can take it with you to work, college or school.

But this is what you need to do if you want to change the way you look. Think about taking cooked chicken with you. A large portion. Plus a large pasta or potato salad as well. And as large a portion size as you can possibly manage. You want to get as many calories in as possible.

And then finish it off with a nice large glass of milk.

Evening Meal

Again, you should be looking at eating quality foods. Don’t just eat junk food and don’t skip meals. You need to take the time to ensure that you have at least 3 high quality meals a day , and with no excuses as to why you did not accomplish this. For many thin people the root of the problem is simply that they are not in the habit of eating real food at all meal times.

Evening should be a large meal, maybe a large steak and a jacket potato, or any other large portion size of meat. Add in carbs and vegetables and the final glass of milk too if you can.

So many people find eating like this through the day a challenge to begin with, but trust me when I tell you that this will soon change. In no time at all you will find that not only do you really enjoy eating like this, but you want more.

If you feel like snacking then do so. On good food, not junk.

Eat late at night if you can as well. The more meals that you can consume the more weight you will gain fast.

This all takes will power and determination. Add to this the fact that you will also be training with weights, and it is clear that you need to stay motivated and stay focused.

If you want something hard enough then you have to work for it.

Make the basis of your food intake revolve around at least 3 proper solid meals a day, with lots fo meat, cheese, eggs, vegetables and pastas.

Add to this the high calorie based shake, and drinking milk instead of anything else, and you will be much heavier well inside a month. Train hard so that the weight you gain is mostly muscle, and you are going to feel like a new person in a very short period of time.

This review is based on my experience if using it over a number of sessions at a friends house, not on me owning it for years and years. But from my experience it does seem to offer excellent value for money, as well as a very safe training experience. If you want to buy it for a low price then here is the link. But be sure to read my review too so that you know if this is the right option for you.

Click for a great price

Valor Athletics Power Rack With Lat Pulldown Review

The first thing that you will find with this rack is it is heavy duty in the extreme. I am not going to give you all the specs and such, this isn’t the manual, but in years of experience using countless different pieces of training equipment I have not come across a rack that is so well priced for the build quality, apart from the one I own, of course

Features I Love

The main thing I love about this rack is that you have the ability to not only catch the bar down low or rest it after you finish a set, but there are plenty of pins. So that bars can be stored when not in use, and also you can set a number of other pins at different heights for a simple lift off to begin sets where you want the bar up high at the beginning of a set. It’s perfect for squats, shoulder press and the like, when you want the bar to be up high whilst still having the low catch bars for the end of a set, just in case.

Storage

This is a feature that is worth the money alone. Being able to store your plates off the floor and out of the way is a really good idea. It keeps the workout area tidy and you know exactly where everything is.

Chin Bar

Like many other power racks the cheap BD-7 power rack comes with a chin up bar. To be honest this is why I only own the powerline option. I love chins and it is the mainstay of my back development. But this brings us onto the unique part of this option, the lat pull and row attachments. If I performed these on a regular basis then this is what I would own.

What we buy really is down to the exercises we wish to perform, or are suited to our bodies. And for may that is why they buy this. The ability to have all this equipment in one place for a versatile option when it comes to training the back.

Lat Pulldown And Row Attachment

The low pulley allows you to perform either seated or standing upright rows with ease. Ease as far as convenience is concerned, the sets themselves should always be brutally hard! You can also use the low pulley to perform curls, which is a great addition too. The pulldown comes with an angled bar for a large range of hand placements, and for those that love pulldowns this is about as good as it gets for a low priced home Gym option.

The lat pulldown works on a simple pulley system that is going to allow you to very quickly and easily load the plates of your choice, and it’s the same for the low row pulley too.

Although the total load accepted is only 250 lbs this is more than enough for all us normal people, and is not a weight that most will ever come even close to using.

Price

You can buy it direct from the Valor site but there is a better deal via Amazon. Use the link provided near the top of this article to compare the two. The Valor Athletics BD-7 power rack price is a great deal currently, and I really do think that it gives excellent value for money. Especially when we realize just how sound the construction is, how good it looks, and the many features it has.

I give it a big old thumbs up here at the site that teaches you how to build muscle without any bull.

How Often To Workout To Grow Muscles

It is entirely down to the individual how often a bodybuilding workout should be performed. For me personally I always do a full body routine and I train every fifth day. Any more frequently than that and I simply cannot progress. It is down to trial and error as to how often you are able to workout and still progress.

We want to have as many workouts as we possibly can in any given time-frame, this is how to get maximum results.

But we need to ensure that our bodies are recovered by the time we perform the next workout. Many bodybuilders only work a particular muscle once a week, but they use insane amounts of volume, and will be very advanced to say the least. For us mere mortals with normal genetics the perfect balance is going to be a lot less volume, but a little bit more frequency.

And beginners can often train a muscle 3 times a week on a full body program. But that will soon change and after a moth or two only two workouts a week are going to be performed. Any more and you will simply be regressing rather than progressing.

But how do we know when to train?

It is as simple as this.

Are you adding weight to the bar every workout, or at least every other workout?

If so then your training frequency for bodybuilding is perfect. If this means only 1 or 2 days of rest then that is great. It means that you will be gaining muscle and strength at the fastest possible rate. But if you cannot do this then you need to add in rest days.

Swap from the frequency you currently have to adding in an extra day of rest between workouts and see how you progress. If you can now add weight or reps for the majority of your workouts then you know that you have hit the sweet spot. If not than add an additional day.

Training frequency for bodybuilding purposes means listening to your own body, and never just taking advice from someone else, and sticking to it no matter what. We are all different and we all need different levels of stimulus and need it in different doses, and different intervals.

The main thing is progression. To get larger muscles then you need to be gaining strength, it is as simple as that.

In fact it is not as difficult as you may think, but it is also the hardest thing in the world to do. And this is because it requires dedication. It requires a person to get into the right frame of mind, and to be consistent. It requires training with heavy weights every week, and it requires you to do this month after month, and eventually year after year. But there are ways to build muscle quickly, here at how to build muscle I can give you some basic advice that will stand you in good stead for the years of sweat and hard labor to come.

Building Muscle Quickly

I am going to be honest and tell you that there simply are no magic routines to get instant muscles. Whatever you do it is going to take months to improve your physique. And in reality it will take years before you look really well muscled. But in just a few months you can certainly change the way that you look quite dramatically, there is no doubt about that.

Once you are out of the beginner stage of weight training to gain muscle you can  use things like the Body Solid BB23 bicep bomber to maybe make faster gains in arm size than you could do otherwise, but there are no secrets that will transform you overnight. You must realize that you need to train regularly over an extended period of time to gain a large amount of muscle mass.

But, I want to gain muscle fast.

Of course you do. So get started. Read the best routine to build muscle, the how to get big muscles fast article, and the rest pause training article for maximum gains. Plus the new how to gain weight fast article.

What It Boils Down To

In the end it comes down to a few simple things.

• An abbreviated routine based around a few compound exercises
• Working out a few times a week
• Constantly adding weight to the bar
• Resting enough to grow
• Eating enough to add weight without getting fat

Get yourself some cheap weight sets and get training.

In a few months from beginning a routine you will look very different to how you did before. And this is impetus enough to carry on. Consistency is key. Keep working out as often as you can, ensuring that you are rested, and the muscle will come. Beginners need to ensure that they are eating enough. If the scales are not going up then you will not gain muscle.

Eat until you add weight. For some this will be huge amounts of food, for others just a slight increase. Listen to your body and keep an eye on the mirror.

If you are overweight then cut back on the food until you look good, then add food back in as your training progresses and it gets more intense. But ensure that you never return to gross over eating that got you overweight in the first place.

The absolute best ways to build muscle fast are simply working out with heavy weights. Perform each set until you cannot do another rep and you will grow. It is as simple as that. If you can add weight to the bar once a week then you are getting stronger. And if you are getting stronger then your muscles are getting bigger. This is your goal each and every time you perform a set with a barbell.

This is based on the muscle building routine I recommend, i.e the one I devised And is part of the rest pause training  for mass collection of articles. It is super abbreviated, intense, a killer to perform, but it delivers results. Combine it with the how to gain weight quickly guide and you are going to be transformed, and quickly. But it requires an insane amount of will power and effort to see it through to the end.

Rest Pause Leg Workout

You will be surprised by the brevity, people often are, but it is like this for a reason. Too many sets in the workout will simply fry you. This is a specialization routine intended to be done every third or fourth or even every fifth day for a month. Much longer than that and you run the risk of over training and getting nowhere, or even losing strength and mass as your body simply will not be able to recover.

Chin Ups 3 Sets 8-12 Reps

Bench Press 3 Sets 8-12 Reps

Trap Bar Deadlifts or Squats 1 Set Rest Pause Style 20 Reps

Super abbreviated but super productive. Perform the routine as often as you can as long as you are recovered. For normal people it will mean doing it twice a week or maybe on every 4th or even 5th day. It is intense to the extreme.

Building Up To It

As stated in the rest pause main article, you need to begin by just adding 10% to the normal weight you use for your top set of Squats or Deadlifts. This is so it is not too much of a shock to the system. Gradually build up until you are using a much heavier weight than normal.

Now our month of training in this manner begins.

Each rep is like a workout in its own right. It is exhausting. Obviously the first few reps will be easy but it should get hard very quickly.

To illustrate this point here is the scenario you should find yourself in when performing this workout for the legs to guarantee muscle.

Let’s take the Squat as an example, although I do prefer the Trap bar deadlift. And make sure you train in a power rack. Set the bar catchers just at the bottom point of the rep so you can drop the bar if need be.

A Set Of Rest Pause Squats

Remember, this weight should be built up to. But it should be at least 50% more than you would perform a usual set of 20 rep squats with. I told you it was brutal!!!

It begins…………..

Deep breaths, bar set up in the power rack.

Nerves hit, the fear grows, you know what is in store for you and it is going to take all your will power to complete the task ahead. But HUGE muscles don’t build themselves.

Step under the bar and shoulder it. Time to get busy.

Down and up. 2 deep breaths.

Down and up. 2 deep breaths.

Down and up. SHIT! This is hard. 3 deep breaths.

Lower down, keeping good form and push up, this is tough.

Another one. Woo Hoo! 5 done, 15 to go!!!

And on it goes.

By rep ten you will be sweating. You will be taking longer between each rep. It will be killing you.

By rep 15 you will be trying to keep from giving up.

Don’t. This is where you will make the most gains in terms of muscle growth.

Each of the last 5 reps will take all of your will power to complete. You will be struggling for breath and you will want to lie down on the floor and collapse. And you will, after the last rep.

The last rep will see you resting for a good ten seconds if not more before you attempt it. And it will still feel like you are shouldering a truck not a bar with plates on it.

And finish.

And collapse.

It will take you a good 5-10 minutes to even recover from this enough to move properly. And this is why I recommend you perform it at the end of your workout. I simply cannot complete the other exercises if I do it first in the routine.

This is a brief workout for a reason. The 1 set or resp pause deadlifts or squats is enough of a workout in its own right really.

Do this as often as you can once you are rested and recovered, and do it for a month and you will have made massive gains.

You will need to eat like a horse to get the full benefit. But your appetite will take care of that. You will be starving day and night as your body tries to recover.

Rest pause bodybuilding training is one of those techniques that has been around for ever, but is still not understood by a lot of trainees, and it is often used as an excuse to cheat, use weights that are too heavy, use poor form, and basically slack off in a set when you shouldn’t be doing anything of the sort. This article, and the series of workouts that will be associated with it, will give you all that you need to know about training using rest pause sets, for maximum growth and maximum poundage progression.

What Is A Rest Pause

A rest pause is simply a name given to a technique in weight training where you rest between each rep. You will be resting in the position that you begin your set of reps in. i.e the top position is Squats, or with the bar hanging in a set of curls. The position where there is no force being generated. Let’s look at the technique in detail.

Rest Pause Technique: How To Do Rest Pause

The technique for rest pause is actually very simple, but results can be amazing. But bear in mind that this makes severe inroads into your ability to recover between workouts. It may well mean that you need 1 or 2 days extra rest between workouts, to compensate for the extra inroads that you are making into your ability to recover.

How Long To Pause In Rest Pause Training

Let’s use the Trap bar deadlift as our example for the rest of this article. But we could just as easily be talking about the Squat. In the deadlift we begin with the bar on the floor. We bend out thighs, with our back straight and grip the bar. We then perform our rep by straightening our legs and lifting the bar until we are stood up, then we lower in the  same way.

We then let go of the bar and stand up.

1 rep performed. We take a few deep breaths, really deep, and then repeat another rep and rest again. As the set progresses you will find that you need more and more rest between reps, but it should never be for more than a few seconds at a time to begin with. As you get more used to training in this way you can increase the amount of weight used  for the same number of reps. And this will mean that your rest between reps will increase as you struggle to cope with the load.

The Weights Used

You will maybe have read something about picking a weight that you can only perform ten reps in a row with and simply doing 20. That is all well and good once you have built up your stamina, but if you start like this you are going to very prone to an injury. Add maybe ten percent to the bar, using the deadlift as an example, for a set that you can do 20 reps for. And then perform your set with a minimal rest between each rep. It will not make the set harder then just doing them with no rest pause between reps.

Once you are used to this style of training, and have ensured that you never let your technique suffer, then you can begin to gradually add weight to the bar each workout.

How fast you progress is going to be down to how much rest you get between workouts and how much you take care of sleep and nutrition. But one thing is for sure, if you are not literally dead on your feet by the end of the set and gasping for breath like a madman, then the weight is not heavy enough.

How Many Reps

Rest pause training is ideally suited to heavy leg work, ot other compound movement exercises. It takes a massive amount of effort to perform bodybuilding training in this way, but the results can be immense.

High Rep Rest Pause

For best results with the legs you should be looking at performing 20 reps a set.

And trust me, you will NEVER need to perform more than one set like this.

You may begin the set with no resting between reps, but by rep 8-10 you should absolutely HAVE to put the bar down or rest in the beginning position, to take a good few deep breaths. By the final 5 reps or so you should be feeling like the world is about to end. It should be that hard.

It should be a challenge to even grip the bar and perform a rep. It should see you sweating and it should see you ready for a very long lie down.

But the rewards in terms of growth and poundage progression once you return to a more normal way of performing your sets is going to be huge, gigantic in fact.

But if you think this is an easy way to train, or a way to train that can be done often, then you are in for quite a shock. It is brutal in the extreme.

Rest Pause Workout Routine

Follow the link posted earlier to the workout routine and use that as your basis. It is brief, but works just about as well as any other routine on the planet. A short workout, mostly with compound exercises, is all that is needed to get larger muscles than basically everyone else on the planet.

We then have 2 options when it comes to rest pause bodybuilding training. We perform the rest pause set at the beginning or the end of our workout. After having tried it both ways over many years I have found that for me personally it is best performed at the end of a workout.

Why?

Basically because it ensures my body is warmed up properly. This makes you less prone to injury.

But also, and the most important point for me, the fact that if I do it first in the workout then I am so damn tired I don’t have the energy for anything else. May advice? Experiment and see what works the best for you. You should find that one way gives you better results than the other. It is down to your frame of mind and what is going to feel the best for you personally.

Rest Pause Training Results

Results from rest pause training are impressive to say the least. But you will find that you cannot carry on working in this way for an extended period of time. It is just so taxing on the system. I would recommend using rest pause training workouts for a month, using only one exercise as well.

The results after a month should be immense. You are going to increase the weights that you can handle by an insane amount. And this will have resulted in large increases in muscle mass as well.

But, and there is one, only if you take care of two very important aspects. Rest and nutrition.

Rest Pause For Mass

Rest pause training for mass gains are effective as long as you take enough time off between workouts. You should ensure that you are fully recovered before your next workout session. I can0t tell you how much rest you need, we are all different. But you need to keep a close eye on your body and ensure that you are fighting fit when you perform your next workout.

If you feel any kind of twinge, or feel not quite right when you start your next workout, stop immediately and take a day or two’s extra rest to ensure that you can come back and give it your all, and not get injured along the way either. Now, for mass gains you need hard, very intense rest pause style training, but you also need to eat like a maniac.

Increase Appetite

You will NOT have to worry about force feeding yourself if you train in this way. You will simply be ravenous. Let your appetite dictate what you eat. If you do leg work in this manner then you will be floored by how hungry you become, and this will begin an hour or two after the workout and continue for at least a few days.

This is hardcore training people, and the food you will consume will be immense. But the results will be huge too, just like you!

Get to it, 20 reps of rest pause training for the legs, you are going to get massive, and fast. Not just in the legs though, work like this has an effect on the whole body. It stimulates overall growth in the legs, buttocks, back, arms and neck. If you only did one exercise a workout then it would be trap bar deadlifts or the squat. And always do Squats when training like this in a power rack. The potential for getting stuck in the bottom position is too large otherwise.

Additional articles in the series:

Rest pause leg training