COMPOUNDTRAINING (1)

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Copyright © 2013 and Beyond by Strength Works International Publishing

Inc.

All rights Reserved

No portion of this book may be used, reproduced, or transmitted in any

form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including fax,

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anyone but the purchaser for their own personal use. This manual may

not be reproduced in any form without the express written permission of

Brad Pilon, except in the case of a reviewer who wishes to quote brief

passages for the sake of a review written for inclusion in a magazine,

newspaper, or journal, and all of these situations require the written

approval of Brad Pilon prior to publication.

The information in this book is for educational purposes only. The

information in this book is based on my own personal experiences and my

own interpretation of available research. It is not medical advice and I am

not a medical doctor.

The information within this book is meant for healthy adult individuals. You

should consult with your physician to make sure it is appropriate for your

individual circumstances. Keep in mind that nutritional needs vary from

person to person, depending on age, sex, health status and total diet.

If you have any health issues or concerns please consult with your

physician. Always consult your physician before beginning or making any

changes in your diet or exercise program, for diagnosis and treatment of

illness and injuries, and for advice regarding medications.

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Before you begin any physical fitness program, please consult a doctor or

qualified health care practitioner.

Please be smart and use common sense – If it hurts, don’t do it.

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DESIGNING A WORKOUT PROGRAM

The philosophy behind my approach to working out is simple: I want to

maintain or build muscle while losing fat and I want to reach this goal as

efficiently and effectively as possible. My assumption is that the vast

majority of people who workout have this same goal.

Keeping in mind that there is not such thing as toning, muscle growth and

maintenance is the purpose of weight training. We want to do enough

work to cause muscle growth, but not an excessive amount that pushes us

towards injury.

This sounds simple enough but there are a couple of things we must admit

/ realize when trying to figure out what is ‘enough’. Firstly, most likely our

time to make multiple millions of dollars by playing a sport has past.

Considering my draft year to become a professional hockey player was

1995, I really don’t see a need to dedicate my life to sports-specific

training to become better at hockey.

I know athletic training is very popular right now – but no matter how

many celebrity trainers try to convince me that I NEED to train like an

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athlete, the fact remains that athletic training is really only great for

athletes… This is simply not an ideal use of my time and does NOT move

me closer to my PERSONAL goals as quickly as I want. The same goes for

power lifting.

If you are a power lifter then by definition you COMPETE in power lifting. It

is your sport. And since it is your sport, the extreme wear and tear you put

your body through is worthwhile. Also, if you are a power lifter, then

maximal strength in three lifts is your ultimate goal – It’s why you workout.

However, if you do not compete in power lifting then I suggest you take it

easy on your body.

My goal is to be able to lift weight and look good for the rest of my life (or

at least as long as possible). The bench press, dead lift and squat are all

extremely useful exercises however pushing each to it’s limit greatly

increases the risk of injury. A torn pec, herniated disc or mangled rotator

cuffs can be quite common with long term powerlifting and definitely do

not fall in line with my overall goals.

The bottom line – As much as I love these lifts, OVERUSING them does not

move me closer to MY SPECIFIC GOAL of building and maintaining muscle.

The big lifts are incredibly effective at building muscle and strength when

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used properly, and can be incredibly destructive when used improperly

and abused.

The last truth is the hardest one for most people to accept; the fact that

muscle building is a painfully slow process, especially for people at an

advanced level of training experience, and outside of taking anabolic

steroids (which is simply not an option for most people) there is not much

anyone can do to speed up this process.

You simply can’t force a muscle to grow faster than it’s going to grow, but

you can do everything possible to help it along its way.

Muscle growth is the result of thousands of meals and hundreds of

workouts through the year, and multiple years of consistent effort and time

spent training.

The ins and outs of any weight training program is nothing more than an

attempt to optimize this process, so we can have the highest level of effort

over the longest amount of time without an injury or some form of training

burn out. And, this is exactly what this manual contains – my own

approach to optimizing the way we stress our muscles and how we adapt

to that stress in order to increase the size of our muscles.

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THE MUSCLE BUILDING PROCESS – From Start to Finish

Realistically, muscle growth is the result of a complex cascade of events

involving a biological clock acting through inhibitory and disinhibitory

signals functioning at the level of gene expression and controlled by

multiple redundant sources of modulation downstream, including the

mechanical translation of physical stress into hormonal and metabolic

events… Which roughly translates to: muscle growth is a series of

complicated events, runs on its own schedule throughout our lives and

there’s not much we can do to push it past its own natural limits.

As a disclaimer – Outside of your genetics and the use of drugs, the only

ways you can influence muscle growth is through:

1. Exercise

2. Rest

3. Nutrition

Having great knowledge of how muscles grow does not change your

ability to force them to grow. What it does do is protect you from falling

prey to many of the various muscle building scams and false theories. I

wrote this chapter for this reason – to help you understand why you don’t

need overly complex nutrition or workout plans in order to grow.

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THE MUSCLE BUILDING PROCESS – Satellite Cells

To understand how muscles grow we need to start with the muscle

satellite cell. This is a picture of a group of muscle fibers. You will see little

purple dots on them, these are the nuclei of the fibers, sometimes referred

to as myonuclei.

These nuclei are like the control center of the muscle fiber. However, they

can only control a small section of any given muscle fiber. This area is

called their ‘domain’ (kind of like a castle and its kingdom). The ‘domain’

is the sarcoplasm – the stuff that is packed with the contractile and

metabolic machinery of the fiber. Each nucleus oversees all of the

metabolic processes happening within its small domain of a muscle fiber.

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Satellite cells are like ‘dormant muscle seeds’ that sit on the outside of the

muscle fiber (hence the name satellite cells). They are present in all

skeletal muscles and are associated with all muscle fiber types - albeit with

unequal distribution (some muscles have more some have less).

Resistance training disrupts muscle fibers activating satellite cells. The

activated satellite cell moves into the muscle where they provide new

nuclei for muscle fiber growth (now that the muscle has a new nucleus it

can add more ‘domain’ around the nucleus).

You can think of satellite cells as the body’s reserve of muscle cell nuclei.

In fact, satellite cells are ESSENTIAL for the physiological adaptations that

drive muscle growth. Amino acids may be an essential building block for

creating new muscle, but it is the satellite cell that truly makes all the

magic happen.

Scientists have tested the importance of satellite cells by using low dose

radiation in animal studies. In these studies one of the animals legs are

exposed to radiation while the other leg is protected. The radiation

effectively ‘kills’ the satellite cells in the exposed leg leaving the satellite

cells useless, while the other leg still has its full compliment of satellite cells.

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When this happens the muscles exposed to radiation can still adapt to

exercise by becoming more efficient, but with the exception of a small

amount of beginner growth, they simply cannot increase their size.

Because they couldn’t add more nuclei, they could not increase their size

in response to resistance training. In other words, all the amino acids in the

world won’t help build a muscle without the ‘brain’ that puts it all together.

With the exception of the small amount of growth that is possible with the

amount of nuclei already existing in a muscle fiber, muscle growth is

absolutely dependent on satellite cells being activated and moving inside

the muscle.

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THE MUSCLE BUILDING PROCESS – HOW MUSCLES GROW

The right amount of effort in the gym through muscular contractions

stimulate motor units through the ‘size principle’ - the more effort, the

more muscle fibers are recruited. This recruitment starts with the easy to

recruit fibers and ends with the large, really difficult to recruit fibers, but

only when effort is high enough.

This high effort and recruitment of fibers initiates a localized inflammation

response, which is involved in the activation of satellite cells.

These satellite cells are fiber specific, meaning that your ‘growth reserve’

lies in the dormant muscle fibers resting on the hardest to recruit muscle

fibers.

The goal of every workout is to initiate the activation of satellite cells from

their dormant state. This gets more and more difficult as there seems to be

a ‘limit’ to satellite cell incorporation rates, which is why there is an

absolute necessity to make sure all fibers are activated.

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However, the activation of satellite cells isn’t the end goal, it’s just the start

of the muscle building process. Once satellite cells have been activated

and incorporated into your muscle, your muscle is now primed for growth,

and if everything is in place, they will gain both size and weight, but again

this is only if everything is in place.

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THE MUSCLE BUILDING PROCESS – THE FINAL STEPS

Once satellite cells are activated and have entered a muscle cell, you

now have to allow the rest of the process to take place. To optimize our

ability to increase the size of our muscles we need to do a couple of

things.

Firstly, there must be protein intake.

On a worldwide basis the most frequent cause of being small at birth and

short in infancy and childhood is protein-energy malnutrition. In fact, very

severe protein restriction may have a more harmful effect than very

severe energy restriction. This is clear evidence that protein intake is an

important part of growth. But how much protein is optimal?

While the debate rages on about how much protein is optimal for health,

the debate on how much protein is needed for muscle growth is a little

more clear cut.

In general we need slightly more than what is recommended for health,

and by ‘slightly’ I mean close to double.

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Protein is the driving force behind muscle growth in a sensitized muscle.

And while we still don’t know the best way to ‘take’ your protein, the

research stands firmly that protein is needed in some degree for muscle

growth to occur.

As a rule of thumb (for both men and women) 70 to 120 grams of protein

per day, divided between 2 to 3 meals, spaced apart a minimum of 6

hours seems ideal for muscle growth. For overly tall men this amount may

need to be slightly higher (in the 150-175 gram range), for really small

women it may be less (60-90 gram range).

This relatively modest amount of protein can contribute to muscle growth

- but only when your muscles are being sensitized by resistance training

workouts.

Secondly, there must be calorie intake. To optimize muscle growth you

should be eating as many calories as possible without gaining fat. Eating

low enough to actually lose body fat will still allow for muscle growth, just

not as quickly as if you were eating more. Imagine this as 100% growth

rate vs 90%. Extremely low calorie intakes for prolonged periods of time

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will definitely slow down muscle growth, but is also a style of eating I do

not recommend.

Even with Eat Stop Eat style fasting once or twice a week, the other days

should be close to a maintenance amount of calories – eating as much

as you can without gaining fat. For this reason muscle growth is definitely

possible following Eat Stop Eat, and may even be an optimal approach to

muscle building, especially since for optimal muscle growth we have to

be careful that we aren’t eating TOO many calories.

The way we eat, and more specifically the amount we eat is tied to the

amount of inflammation in our bodies.

A low-calorie diet is associated with an improvement in your levels of

systemic inflammatory status. This seems to be due to your calorie intake

rather than the fat loss, since inflammatory levels return to baseline soon

after weight stabilization. Systemic inflammation is a condition that can

blunt muscle growth. Keeping it low by avoiding periods of massive

overeating is extremely important to the drug-free person trying to gain

muscle (It’s not important to people on steroids since testosterone is a

potent anti-inflammatory).

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Overeating and gaining fat mass can also decrease testosterone levels in

men and decrease insulin sensitivity, both of which can also decrease

your ability to gain muscle.

Based on all of this information, the optimal amount of calories you should

eat to build muscle is: As much as you can without gaining fat.

It’s that simple.

Keep track of your waist measurement. For men measure at the navel,

women measure at the narrowest point of your ‘true’ waste just below

your rib cage. Measure in the fasted state in the morning right after

waking.

In an otherwise weight stable person every inch gained in your waist is

roughly a marker of 5 pounds of fat gain.

If you are trying to gain muscle eat as much as you can while maintaining

your waist circumference within an inch or two of what you consider to be

ideal (generally around 45% of height for men and 38% of height for

women).

If your waste increases by 2 inches and this increase is consistent over a

couple days, then it is time to reduce your calorie intake as you were

eating more than you needed to eat. Never let your waist circumference

get above 50% of your height!

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COMPOUND TRAINING

Alright, now that we have the ‘how muscles grow’ part out of the way it’s

time to start discussing the ins and outs of my style of training.

The most important thing I’ve learned about muscle building is the

following:

Effort compounds

In fact, it was this realization that led to the creation of one of my favorite

approaches to weight training - Compound Training.

Far too many people underestimate how quickly strength adaptations

occur in our muscles. And, if you underestimate TOO much you end up

missing a very important window, I think most people going to the gym

are doing just that - missing their window of opportunity for growth.

Think of strength adaptations as “Rabbit Fast”, while muscle growth is

“Tortoise Slow”.

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Acute strength adaptations occur through neural processes, coordination

changes and simply ‘learning’ a lift, and they can go away just as quickly

as they came.

True changes in size involve architectural changes within the actual

muscle fibers themselves. This is an extremely slow process that involves

structural tissue remodeling – This is simply not something that is going to

occur in a 2 to 3 day period.

To reap the benefits of a strength-training program you have to take

advantage of this window. If you miss it, it’s gone. However, if you time

your workouts properly then building muscle actually becomes easy… or

as close to easy as muscle building can get.

You will increase the amount you can lift, and then spend more time lifting

at that new strength level and over time you adapt to build more muscle.

And this is where I think most people mess up with their muscle building

programs – they miss this window.

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Let's use legs as an example. If you train your legs on Monday, then

chances are you don't train legs again until 7 days later (the following

Monday).

In this time, there have been neuromuscular and small architectural

changes in the muscle that make it stronger (but not necessarily larger).

If you wait for a full 7 days before training legs again these adaptations

will fade and you'll lose some (but not all) of the acute strength gains that

would have been available had you trained your legs earlier.

In simpler terms - you waited too long to train your legs again.

This raises the question - why do we set up our workouts so they fit into a

typical 7 day week? There is no real reason other than our calendars are

in 7 day chunks.

Your body doesn't adapt to weight training in 7 day chunks, it happens

much faster. Specifically strength adaptations happen very quickly,

muscle growth on the other hand is much slower.

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This concept isn’t just about strength. You see, I’ve mentioned that we do

not have a concrete idea of what makes muscles grow, but we have

some ideas.

The acute local Inflammation caused by muscular work seems to act as a

signal for the activation of satellite cells. And, by training a muscle group

again in a short period of time, before recovery is compete we can

compound the amount of inflammation in a muscle, especially if we take

advantage of the transient increases in strength that occur in the short

period after a workout.

This is where timing comes into play. If you take advantage of the

strength-timing effect, and get stronger as quickly as possible, then you

spend MORE time lifting creating a compounding amount of stress on the

muscle and thus causing MORE inflammation within the muscles you are

training. This process eventually leads to muscle growth.

In scientific terms we call this 'unaccustomed stress', this unaccustomed

stress is what builds muscle over the long term.

On the opposite end of this spectrum is overuse - when you don't give the

muscle enough time to adapt.

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If we go back to our example - 'legs day' being Monday, which typically

means that Back, Chest, Shoulders, and Arms are the other training days

of the week.

If you look at this setup you realize that the muscles of the shoulder girdle

get some pretty serious stress at least 4 days a week, every single week.

That's just begging for a break down. And on most people who workout,

the shoulders are what eventually fail.

The key to compounded training is to take advantage of the acute

changes in strength, drive up the amount of stress your muscles can

handle, learn to train at this new stress and effort, and then let the muscles

recover for an extended period of time (sometimes as long as 9 days). In

other words we are taking advantage of the fast adaptations to strength

that will drive muscle growth over the long term, while still allowing for the

prolonged rest periods that are needed for the recovery of other parts of

the muscle system, such as joints, ligaments, and other forms of

connective tissue.

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Quite simply, I think the major reason many people stall in their muscle

building efforts is because we all get to a point where we cannot get

results in a single workout, and we never allow ourselves time to recover.

Sometimes this is a matter of workout design, sometimes it’s a matter of

not enough effort, and other times it’s simply a matter of genetics.

Regardless of the cause, Compounded training seems to be able to

overcome this issue. As simple as it sounds, it seems most people have

ignored the idea that sometimes it might take more than one workout to

stimulate a response.

The additive effects of three days of planned progressive training induces

enough stimulus to create a signal for increased muscle growth.

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Compound Training ends up being a fairly simple concept using almost all

of the fundamentals of weight training. Sets, reps, and volume are set up

in traditional weight training methodology.

It’s not a radical move away from the traditional methods and theories

that people have been using for years to build muscle; the only difference

is in the overall grouping and timing of your workouts, and accepting the

simple premise that - ‘it may take more than one workout to reach a level

of stress that will stimulate muscle growth’ and the logic that taking 7-9

days off from training a muscle group does not a will not cause any

appreciable muscle loss.

In fact, Compound Training may be the one workout style that high

volume proponents and High Intensity Training proponents can actually

agree on – Lot’s of purposeful and progressive work to elicit a response –

followed by ample recovery and growth.

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From Beginner to Advanced

The following is what I would recommend for anyone who is beginning a

weight-training program for the very first time. I would ask them to stick to

the basic lifts, using a weight they can easily handle for 2 to 3 sets of

between 8-15 controlled repetitions, taking anywhere from 1 to 3 minutes

rest in between each set.

BASIC (YET EFFECTIVE) WORKOUT ROUTINE

Barbell Squats

Barbell or Dumbbell Bench Press

Dumbbell Stiff-Legged Deadlift

Pulldowns (chin ups if you are strong enough)

Standing Dumbbell Shoulder Press

Leg Curls

Calf Raises

I would want a beginner to concentrate fully on controlling each and

every rep of each of these exercises. At this stage of development the

weight being used is far less important than learning how to stress the

muscles through a full range of motion with proper form. The goal is to

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learn how to create and maintain a high level of effort throughout a

workout.

This may sound simplistic, but even many advanced lifters are unable to

do this crucial step – keep the muscle engaged throughout the ENTIRE

movement. Most have learned the bad habit of doing sloppy movements

that can be described as ‘throw and catch’ or ‘swing and drop’. This lack

of control allows the muscle they are attempting to stress to get

momentary ‘breaks’ through the movement.

Do not do this.

Focus on controlling the ENTIRE movement.

After the workout you should concentrate on allowing your muscles to

grow.

Remember, your workout acts as a sensitizer, but it’s only the first step in

muscle growth. Make sure you have 3-4 large protein meals over the 24-

48hr period following your workout. Your overall protein intake does not

have to be extreme, but if you are truly a beginning there may be an

advantage to a higher protein intake.

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As a good rule of thumb for advanced trainers with years of experience,

70 to 120 grams of protein divided into 2-3 meals should be more than

enough to allow your muscles to recover and increase in size. But for a

beginner you may want to add an extra 50 grams to these numbers at

least for the first 8 to 12 weeks of your workout program.

After these 3-4 days of rest you would repeat the same workout. The goal

should be concentrating on every single rep making sure you feel the

effort in the correct muscles, all the way through each movement.

This set up should be enough to allow the average beginner to

experience a relatively high amount of muscle growth without having to

follow some overly complex system.

Once you begin to feel as if you simply cannot get enough stimulation out

of this workout it is time to add a couple new exercises.

However, since it is rare that people have more than an hour to dedicate

to weight training on any given day, for best results we now start to divide

the workout into two separate workout days.

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We divide it into an upper body day and a lower body day. Following the

same rules as before, only now we allow 2-3 days recovery between each

workout.

MONDAY TUESDAY WEDENSDAY THURSDAY FRIDAY SAT-DAY SUNDAY

OFF OFF OFF DAY 1 OFF OFF DAY 2

OFF OFF OFF DAY 1 OFF OFF DAY 2

This decreases the amount of time off between workouts, yet still increases

the rest time between working each upper or lower body workout.

DAY 1 Day 2

Squats Bench Press

Calf Raises Pulldowns or Chin Ups

Leg Extensions Dips

Stiff-Legged Dead lift Dumbbells Shoulder Press

Leg Curls Rows

Bicep Curls

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So far this is standard workout design. The difference happens in your next

progression – when you move from being a beginner to an intermediate

level trainer.

At this time you have mastered the feel of controlling the weight during

every movement. And the weight you need to use to feel a strong effort in

your muscles has continually increased.

You now feel ready to add 1-2 more exercises to your workout program.

At this time, most workout programs would have your further divide your

workout program into Chest / Back / Legs type of workout program.

I find better results by compounding your workouts, staying with the upper

/ lower split, further dividing each workout between two days.

In this case you would train upper body, then the next day train upper

body again. Then you would rest 2-3 days followed by lower body and

lower body again the next workout day.

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In this example you would organize your week in the following manner

MONDAY TUESDAY WEDENSDAY THURSDAY FRIDAY SATURDAY SUNDAY

OFF OFF UPPER OFF OFF OFF UPPER

OFF OFF LOWER OFF OFF OFF LOWER

This style allows for a great deal of flexibility when it comes to picking

which day to workout, and is excellent for people with busy and

unpredictable jobs or lives. Admittedly, this format can be a little tricky for

those who absolutely need to train on the same days of the week, every

week. Luckily it gets better as soon as we start training a muscle group 3

times in a row. Then any given week will look like this:

DAY 1 & DAY 2 Day 3 & DAY 4

Squats Bench Press


Leg Extensions Dips

Stiff-Legged Dead lift Dumbbell Shoulder Press

Leg Curls Rows

Bicep Curls

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MONDAY TUESDAY WED. THURSDAY FRIDAY SATURDAY SUNDAY

UPPER OFF OFF UPPER OFF OFF UPPER

LOWER OFF OFF LOWER OFF OFF LOWER

Once you become an advanced lifter your ‘workout’ will span 3-4 days. It

may take this much work to stimulate your muscles enough to make them

grow. Once you add in a rest day or two, you essentially have started

training upper body for a week, then lower body the following week.

Currently I train in the following manner:

MONDAY TUESDAY WED THURSDAY FRIDAY SATURDAY SUNDAY

UPPER OFF UPPER OFF UPPER OFF UPPER

LOWER OFF LOWER OFF LOWER OFF LOWER

This is the most extreme / advanced version of compounded training.

The benefit of this style of training is that you compound the training

stimulus, and the inflammation and strength adaptations continue to

increase during the week, and remain focused on one specific muscle

group. I find it easier to commit to a week of lower body, or a week of

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upper body. It allows me to truly focus for the entire week on the muscle

group I am training and how they are feeling.

The other benefit is that the joints and ligaments of each respective area

get a complete period of recovery. During a week of upper body training

your hips, knees and ankles receive very little stress. Whereas during a

week of lower body training your shoulder girdle and elbows are allowed

a very complete rest period.

In my experience this is much better than the traditional methods of

continually dividing up a workout program by the upper body exercises,

essentially forcing the shoulder girdle and elbows to be actively absorbing

stress 4-5 times per week, every single week.

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MAKING COMPOUNDED TRAINING EVEN MORE EFFECTIVE

The number one thing you need to do to make compound training

effective is to realize that you can push through. You can make gains from

workout to workout, you can increase the weights, the reps the time-

under tension. You do not have to ‘go easy’ because you just trained the

same muscle group 48 hours ago. Muscles are adaptable – that’s the

WHOLE POINT of this style of training.

I also want you to be smart. I never spend more than 12 weeks training

with this advanced 4 times per week method. After this I decrease down

to a 2-3 times per week schedule for anywhere from 4 to 12 weeks before I

increase my workload again. I simply do this by feel, if I get bored of my

workouts or if life is throwing a little extra stress at me, I back down, if

everything is going awesome then I pick it back up to 4 times per week. I

strive to be adaptable and so should you.

I do not do more than 6 or 7 exercises in any given workout. Most

exercises are performed for 1 to 3 sets, with the odd exercise getting 5 sets.

Don’t get caught in the trap of replacing ‘quality work’ with ‘more work’.

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When I first designed this concept I was doing between 5 and 8 sets of

almost every exercise. During this time I saw fantastic gains in strength.

However, over the last two years of experimenting I’ve realized that I can

get the exact same gains doing far less work per workout, most likely due

to the high frequency of training. It could also have to do with the quick

and compounded progression that occurs during a workout – this may

negate the need for a super high volume of training.

I concentrate on progression on the first and most important exercise of

each day. The rest of the workout is considered accessory and done with

the goal of fatiguing the muscles with a high level of repeated effort. My

goal is to fatigue the muscle groups, but not destroy them. So the first

exercise is typically the only one I will record – the rest of the exercises are

done by feel from workout to workout. I don’t really count reps on these

exercises – I aim for high effort and a high level of concentration during

the set. At the end of the exercise, not only are the muscles fatigued, but

my mind is actually fatigued from concentrating on the muscle group I

am exercising.

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To get the most out of my compound training I use two distinct techniques

(never at the same time). I only use these techniques with the first exercise

of the day, and only for 8 weeks maximum before I switch.

Technique 1 is Progressive Strength.

Technique 2 is Strength Accumulation.

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Progressive Strength Technique:

Progressive strength sets are a way to take full advantage of the

neuromuscular adaptations that occur with compounded training and

are a way to massively increase your strength in your core exercises

(Bench Press, Squat, Dead lift, Shoulder Press).

Because this technique is highly dependent on calculated measurements

of your 1 rep maximum it is best suited for exercises that use barbells. It

also requires you to be training at least 3 workouts per week, and as such

is best suited for advanced lifters.

The progression of these exercises depends on your estimated 1 rep

maximum or e1RM for short. To calculate your e1RM you must first test your

strength on your exercise of choice by completing as many controlled

reps as possible using a weight you think you can handle for 8 to 12 reps.

Do as many reps as you can in good form, then use the following formula:

e1RM = [(weight x reps) x 0.0333] + Weight

Since the entire progression of this style of exercise is dependent on this

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number it is imperative that you do not skip this part – do not guess at your

e1RM.

Once you have your e1RM you will follow this sequence in your workouts:

Day 1: Work up to 13 reps @ 70% e1RM » 1 set of 13 reps @ 60% e1RM » 1 set of 13 reps @ 65% e1RM » 1 set of 13 reps @ 70% e1RM

• Day 2: Work up to 8 reps @ 80% e1RM

» 1 set of 8 reps @ 70% e1RM » 1 set of 8 reps @ 75% e1RM » 1 set of 8 reps @ 80% e1RM

• Day 3: Work up to 1 all out set @ 85%

» 1 set of 13 reps @ 70% e1RM » 1 set of 8 reps @ 80% e1RM » 1 set of 5 PLUS reps @ 85% e1RM*

This last set on Day 3 should be an all out max effort with a MINUMUM of 5

reps and continue pushing as many reps as you can. The goal is to

ALWAYS get more than 5 reps on your last set on day 3! This is the only day

and only set you will go to failure with.

Once you’ve completed you’re last set on day 3 you will recalculate your

e1RM based on these numbers.

If you are training 4 times per week, then on Day 4 you will do 3 sets of 8

using 75% of your new e1RM. If you’re training 3 times per week this would

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be your last workout of the week, so you would simply start day 1 of your

next training cycle a week later using your new e1RM.

The first two sets of any day should be of ‘medium’ difficulty, and the last

set should be max difficulty. Only do the prescribed amount of reps even

if you can do more, except for the last set of day 3, where you do as

many as possible with good form.

I generally rest for 3 minutes in between each set.

As an example, assuming my calculated e1RM for the Barbell squat is 330

pounds, I would warm up then perform the following sets and reps

throughout the week:

Day 1: Work up to 13 reps @ 70% e1RM

» 1 set of 13 reps with 195 pounds (ALWAYS ROUND DOWN) 3 minutes rest » 1 set of 13 reps with 215 Pounds 3 minutes rest » 1 set of 13 reps with 230 Pounds

• Day 2: Work up to 8 reps @ 80% e1RM

» 1 set of 8 reps with 230 Pounds 3 minutes rest » 1 set of 8 reps with 245 Pounds 3 minutes rest » 1 set of 8 reps with 265 Pounds

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• Day 3: Work up to 1 all out set @ 85%

» 1 set of 13 reps with 230 Pounds 3 minutes rest » 1 set of 8 reps with 265 Pounds 3 minutes rest » 1 set of 7 REPS 280 Pounds*

I would then plug in these new numbers (7 reps of 280 pounds) into the e1RM calculation to find my new e1RM

e1RM = [(weight x reps) x 0.0333] + Weight e1RM = [(280 x 7) x 0.0333] + 280 e1RM = [(1960) x 0.0333] + 280 e1RM = [65] + 280 e1RM = 345 I just increased my e1RM by 15 pounds!

On day 1 of the next week I would then use 345 pounds as my new e1RM

for this exercise.

Continue this process for no longer than 4 cycles. Then switch to either

using the ‘Strength Accumulation technique’ or simply use normal sets of 6

to 12 reps.

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Strength Accumulation Technique

For strength accumulation our goal is not a quick increase in ‘weight’ but

rather an increase in repetitions AND a decrease in total time.

During a strength accumulation set you choose an exercise at a weight

that you can complete for roughly 15 reps.

Then you attempt two things: As many reps as possible during your first

‘set’, and to complete a total of 30 repetitions in as little time as possible.

In order for this to be effective the repetitions must always be controlled.

YOU WILL NOT GET THE SAME RESULTS IF YOU ARE SIMPLY THROWING AND

CATCHING THE WEIGHT!

Your goal is to progress to the point that you can do 20 reps with your first

set. Once you hit ‘20’ then you increase the weight by 5% during the next

cycle.

As an example:

Using a 215 pound squat:

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Day 1: 1st set = 15 reps, 30 reps completed in 3:35 minutes

Day 2:1st set = 17 reps, 30 reps completed in 3:22 minutes

Day 3: 1st set = 18 reps, 30 reps completed in 3:18 minutes

Day 4: 1st set = 21 reps, 30 reps completed in 3:05*

*Increase weight to 225 for next cycle.

If you take a closer look at day ONE, it would look like this:

After a warm up I would load the bar to 215 pounds, then I would

complete as many controlled reps as I could until I was sure I would

fail if I attempted to complete another controlled rep (I got 15). At

this point I would rack the weight, and begin to rest and catch my

breath. After about 30 seconds, when I fell ready I would un-rack

the weight and complete more reps until I reached near failure. In

this case it was 7 reps. I would then rack the weight and catch my

breath, this time for 35 seconds, then I un-rack the weight and

complete 5 reps, rack the weight and catch my breath. At this point

I can see the light at the end of the tunnel. After 20 more seconds I

un-rack the weight and complete my last 3 reps. The total workout

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time is 3 mins and 35 seconds. After this I would catch my breath for

3 minutes then move to my next exercise.

My record keeping for this set would look as follows: 215 - 15 / 3:35 and I

would aim to beat both those numbers in my next workout.

The strength accumulation approach works very well whether you are

training twice a week or four times per week. Generally it seems to take 3-

5 workouts out to increase from 15 reps to 20 reps in your first attempt.

It can be used with either barbell or dumbbell exercises and occasionally

even bodyweight exercises like chins or dips (depending on your strength

levels).

Just remember to always keep your reps strong and controlled.

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The Rest of the Workout:

Other than these two techniques the workout is pretty straightforward - I’ll

use between 1 and 3 sets of an exercise to stimulate a muscle as best I

can.

As an example of a typical upper body day I may do:

Barbell Bench Press – Accumulating strength Technique with 215

Minimal rest

Dumbbell Chest Flies – 1 set of 8 reps (just for stretch, not failure)

Rest 3 minutes

Dumbbell Pullover – 3 sets of 8 to 12 reps.

Rest 2 minutes

Barbell Shoulder Press –1 set of 8 - 12 reps, then1 set of 8 -12 reps with 75%

of the weight from set 1. ( 2 sets total)

Rest 2 minutes

Dumbbell Rows – 3 sets of 8 – 10 reps.

Rest 2 minutes

Weighted Chin-ups - 1 set of 8 to 12 reps, then 1 set of 8 to 12 with 75% of

the weight from set 1. ( 2 sets total)

Rest 2 minutes

Tricep push Downs – 3 sets of 10-12 reps.

*This day will take between 35 and 40 minutes to complete

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During a typical Lower body day I may do:

Barbell Squats - Accumulating strength Technique with 225

Rest 3 minutes

Calf Raises – 3 sets of 15

Rest 3 minutes

Quad Extensions - 1 set of 8 - 12 reps, then1 set of 8 -12 reps with 75% of

the weight from set 1.

Rest 3 minutes

Dumbbell or Barbell Straight leg dead lifts – 3 - 5 sets of 6 to 8 reps

Rest 3 Minutes

Dumbbell Shrugs - 1 set of 8 - 12 reps, then1 set of 8 -12 reps with 75% of

the weight from set 1.

Rest 3 Minutes

Hamstring curls – 3 sets of 8 to 12

*This workout will take between 40-45 minutes

The volume of work you do in each workout does not need to be

immense, considering how high your volume is over the course of a week.

And, in my opinion (and from my experience) you don’t have to worry to

much about progression throughout the week, as that is what the first

exercise is for – the rest of the exercises can be done for feel and for

‘stress’.

The other unique part of compound training is the way it fits into Eat Stop

Eat style fasting. Over the course of a 4-day cycle you could be at the

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beginning of a fast for one workout, fed for the next, and the end of a fast

and even in the middle of the fast during any given workout. You will

quickly learn that there is very little connection between fasting and how

well you can workout. It also allows you to compare your strength and

endurance on different days depending on when you are training

compared to when you are fasting. You can use this to help guide how

you program you training with your fasting.

It was during Compound training when I realized that overeating for a day

does not help me recover and makes me feel more lethargic in the gym.

It doesn’t really affect my strength when I’m using the progressive strength

technique but it does tend to lower my performance when I’m using the

strength accumulation technique. So for me, over-eating is far worse than

fasting when it comes to ACUTE strength gains (but that’s just me – I

encourage you to figure out what works best for YOU).

Bottom line, Compound training allows you to put a weeks worth of

nutrition towards your training, rather than the ‘One day’ approach that

most other training protocols advocate. With Compound Training every

single meal you eat is both pre and post workout.

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Compound training specialization

Here's an interesting fact: Most of the research that examines

changes in muscle cross-sectional area (muscle size) in humans does so

using a protocol that lasts for anywhere between 8 to 16 weeks, where a

specific muscle (biceps) or a small group of muscles (The quads) is trained

3-4 times per week! The other muscles typically aren’t even trained at this

time!

This is the technique that research scientists use to create fast measurable

changes in the size of a muscle. So it seems logical to me that in order to

force increased size in a targeted muscles we should use a similar

technique of targeted exercises for 8-16 weeks at a time.

This is another excellent way to use compound training – you can focus

and specialize on a specific muscle group and train it with both a high

frequency of training and a high amount of effort.

I have used this technique to increase the size of the muscles in my back. I

chose to use the following protocol of 6 exercises per workout for 4

workouts a week during my upper body week.

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• Weighted Chins – Accumulating strength Technique

• Pull-overs – 3 sets of 8 – 10 reps

• Barbell rows – 1 set of 8-10 followed by another set of 8-10 with 75%

of the weight used in set 1.

• Cable Rows – 3 sets of 10 – 12 reps

• Weighted Dips - 1 set of 8-10 followed by another set of 8-10 with

75% of the weight used in set 1.

• Barbell Squats – 3 sets of 10 -12 reps

Following this training protocol for 12 weeks I was able to add almost 5

pounds of Lean Muscle Mass to my ‘torso’ as measured by DEXA scan.

Technically I cannot say with 100% certainty that all of this new muscle size

occurred in my back, however since I did virtually no exercise for the rest

of my ‘torso’ it stands to reason most of this extra size was due to an

increase in my overall back musculature.

The bottom line is that you can use Compound Training to quickly and

effectively address weak muscles groups. This is a great tool to use in

between those periods of aiming for increases in accumulating strength or

progressive strength.

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Putting it all together

General workout

• 6 to 7 exercises per workout

• 2 to 3 sets per exercise with the occasional 5 set exercise if needed

• 1st exercise of each day is the most important to you

• Remaining exercises are done for feel with importance placed on

control, tension and effort

Techniques

• Progressive Strength

• Accumulating Strength

• Muscle Specialization

Choosing the right weight

• For Progressive Strength choose weights based on your e1RM

• For Accumulating Strength start with a weight you can do 15

controlled reps with – Typically this is between 60-65% of your e1RM

• For all other exercises choose a weight that is heavy enough that it

takes effort to lift it, but light enough that during the first couple of

reps you could stop the movement at any point and ‘hold’ the

weight for a two-count.

Choosing the right exercise

• You must be able to feel the exercise stressing the muscles you are

attempting to train – if you do not feel the stress in your target

muscle, choose a different exercise.

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• Once you’ve found exercises that work for you, there is no reason to

deviate from these exercises.

• As a general rule of thumb, barbell exercises such as the Squat,

Bench Press, Shoulder Press, Barbell bicep curl and deadlift work

best for the progressive strength technique, while either dumbbell,

bodyweight or barbell works well for the accumulating strength

technique.

Performing the Exercises

• The goal is always to stress the muscle. The reason I recommend rep

ranges is because the amount of reps performed is less important

than the stress placed on the muscle. Sometimes you will reach a

high level of stress with 8 reps, sometimes 12.

• Each repetition should be controlled. Pay special attention to

making sure the stress is ALWAYS on the target muscle throughout

the entire range of motion.

Compound Training

• Perform the same exercises 2 to 4 times per week

• During the off periods allow for complete rest.

• Build up to 4 times per week, however, remember to adjust your

training with your needs. An exceptionally lean person, even when

advanced, should stick with 2 to 3 times per week training, while an

average or overweight person should work up to 4 times per week

slowly, then taper back down to 2 to 3 times once they start to

become lean.

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Progression Techniques

• Strength Accumulation

o As many reps as possible for the first set, then as little time as

possible to complete 30 repetitions with excellent form.

o With each workout try to improve the amount repetitions

performed in the first set and decrease the amount of time it

takes to complete 30 repetitions with excellent form.

o Once you are able to complete 20 repetitions in the first set,

increase the weight by roughly 5% for the next workout.

o If the amount of reps you can complete in the first attempt

decreases but the time to 30 decreases, keep the weight the

same.

o If the amount of reps you can complete in the first attempt

decreases AND the time to 30 reps increases, then try once

more at the same time in your next workout. If the same thing

happens, switch exercises or training styles.

• Strength Progression

o Follow the outlined sets and reps exactly as described.

o Even if you feel you can perform more repetitions, stop at the

prescribed amount

o On the third day of the progression perform the third set

attempting to complete as many reps as possible.

o Re-calculate your e1RM and on your next workout begin

again.

o If you fail to improve your e1RM, do one more cycle with the

same e1RM, if you fail to improve again, switch to a different

exercise.

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• Muscle Specialization

o Pick a muscle group that is lagging or you feel you want

larger

o Train that muscle group with the majority of your exercises.

o Train each other muscle group for 1 exercise in each workout

with a moderate amount of effort.

o Do this for 6 to 8 weeks.

o (Examples at the end of this manual)

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Sample Weekly Progressions

2 DAY A WEEK EXAMPLE

MON TUES WED THURS FRIDAY SAT SUN

WORKOUT WORKOUT



WORKOUT WORKOUT WORKOUT



WORKOUT WORKOUT WORKOUT WORKOUT

Example Beginner Program

Barbell Squats 2-3 sets of 8 to 20 Repetitions

Bench Press 2-3 sets of 8 to 12 repetitions

Stiff-Legged Deadlifts 2-3 sets of 8 to 12 repetitions

Pulldowns or Chin Ups 2-3 sets of 8 to 12 repetitions

Dumbbell Shoulder Press 2-3 sets of 8 to 12 repetitions

Leg Curls 2-3 sets of 8 to 12 repetitions

Calf Raises 2-3 sets of 8 to 12 repetitions

Perform this workout once every 3 to 4 days for 4 to 6 weeks. Then progress

to:

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Perform these workouts each once per week, divided by 2 to 3 days. For 4

to 6 weeks, then progress to:

Example Intermediate Program:

Perform these workouts twice per week, divided by 2 to 3 days, and begin

to use techniques such as strength progression and accumulating strength.

DAY 1 Day 2

Squats Bench Press


Leg Extensions Dips

Stiff-Legged Dead lift Dumbbells Shoulder Press

Leg Curls Rows

Bicep Curls

DAY 1 & DAY 2 Day 3 & DAY 4

Squats Bench Press


Leg Extensions Dips


Leg Curls Rows

Bicep Curls

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Example Advanced Program:

Perform 2-3 sets of enough reps to fully stimulate your muscles. Perform

these workouts 2-4 times in a row, and then switch to the second workout.

Use techniques such as strength progression or accumulating strength, but

only for 8 to 12 weeks at a time. Also specialize and focus on weak muscle

groups for 8 to 12 weeks.

NOTES:

Excellent choices for your first exercise during the legs workout Include:

Squats, Deadlifts, Leg Press. However I don’t believe Deadlifts are a

suitable choice when using the Strength Accumaltion Technique.

Excellent Choices for your first exercise during the Upper Body Workout

include: Shoulder Press, Bench Press, Chin ups, Dips and Rows.

*If you’re not sure how to perform any of these exercises I suggest looking

them up on YouTube for tips on form and execution.

Workout 1 Workout 2

Squats Bench Press


Leg Extensions Dips


Leg Curls Rows

Bicep Curls

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Example Muscle Specialization Workouts

Biceps:

Barbell Arm Curls – Accumulating strength Technique

Parrallel Bar Dips

Chin-Ups or Supinate grip Pulldowns (palms facing towards you)

Dumbbell Shoulder Press

Alternating dummbell bicep Curls

Reverse grip barbell Curls

Triceps:

Narrow Grip (14 inches) Bench Press – Progressive Strength Technique

Dumbbell Pullovers

Parallel Bar Dips

Barbell Rows

Triceps Press Downs

Alternating Biceps Curls

Chest:

Parallel Bar Dips – Strength Accumulation Technique

Dumbbell Pullovers

Barbell Rows

Dumbbell bench press

Triceps Press Downs


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Back:

Chin-Ups – Strength Accumulation Technique

Dumbbell Pullovers

Barbell Rows

Dumbbell bench press

Triceps Press Downs


Shoulders:

Barbell Shoulder Press – Strength Accumulation Technique

Dumbbell Pullovers

Dumbbell Shoulder Press

Lateral Shoulder Flies

Dumbbell Shoulder Front Raises

Triceps Press Downs

Quads:

Barbell Squats – Strength Accumulation or Progressive Strength Technique

Calf Raises

Quad Extensions

Front Squats

Straight Leg Deadlifts

Hamstring curls

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Hamstrings:

Straight Leg Deadlifts – Progressive Strength Technique

Calf Raises

Hamstring Curls

Barbell Squats

Dumbbell Reverse lunges

Dumbbell Straight Leg Deadlifts

Calves:

Calf Raises

Barbell Squats

Seated Calf Raises

Quadriceps Extensions

Hamstring Curls

Calf Raises

Forearms:

Seated Cable Rows

Hammer Curls

Seated Wrist Curls

Reverse Curls

Seated Wrist Extensions

Dumbbell Bench Press

COMPOUNDTRAINING (1)

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