Workout 1: Upper Body (Monday and Friday)
PR Zone 1: Chest/Lats
(20 minutes)
A-1: Bottom Position Bench Press
A-2: Bent over Barbell Row
Wait five minutes and then do:
PR Zone 2: Triceps/ Biceps
A-1: Standing Military Press from the nose
A-2: Weighted Chin-up
Workout 2: Lower Body (Wednesday and Saturday)
PR Zone 1: Hamstrings/Quads (20 minutes)
A-1: Bottom Position Barbell Squat
A-2: Stiff Legged Dead lift
Wait five minutes and then do
PR Zone 2: Calves/abs
(10 minutes)
A-1: Seated Calf Raises
A-2: Weighted Sit-ups
Lets go over some key points on the exercise selection here. One, why do bottom position bench presses and squats. First, they are much harder than regular bench presses and squats. You have to generate a great deal of power to move a heavy weight from the bottom position and you will be amazed how much weaker you are when you try this drill. Two, it is safer. EDT is hard work and you move at a rapid pace. The bottom position bench press and squat in a power rack will allow you to bench press and squat safely. In addition, they provide the convenience of not relying on a spotter.
Next, antagonist exercises are paired up in each PR Zone. The barbell bent over row is an antagonistic exercise to the bench press. While you are working one, you are warming up the opposite muscles. This will provide the benefit of being much stronger on each exercise and will build balanced muscles. Just as the barbell bent over row is antagonistic to the bench press, the stiff legged dead lift is an antagonist exercise to the barbell squat. The stiff legged dead lift will add mass to your hamstrings, while the Squat primarily focuses on the quads. Both are proven mass makers that will provide a one two punch to your physique. Workout efficiency is another reason why antagonistic exercises are utilized. More can be done in less time with antagonistic exercises then by doing each exercise separately.
Next, instead of doing isolation exercises such as the triceps pushdown and the triceps extension, I am going to have you do the military presses from the nose. This is a power move that will blast your triceps into the stratosphere. Again, use a power rack and set the pins at nose level. The weighted chin-up is an excellent antagonist exercise for the nose-level Military Press. Unlike bicep curls, the chin-up forces you to work with your bodyweight, which will pay off with major dividends. If you are not strong enough to do weighted chin-ups, start off with your bodyweight.
Finally, with calves, there really are not any antagonistic exercises. No big deal as this makes for a convenient area to add in some stomach work. The weighted sit-up will get the job done. Just hold a barbell plate on your chest and you are ready to go.
Regarding breaks between sets, start off by taking thirty- second breaks in between each exercise. Make sure to do the exercises in each PR Zone in super-set fashion. In other words, do a set of bench presses, wait thirty seconds, do a set of bent over rows, wait thirty seconds, do another set of bench presses etc. As fatigue kicks in, increase the breaks to one minute. Also, do not go to failure or compromise form to get five reps on each set. If you get to the point in which you can no longer complete five reps with solid form, decrease the reps. the goal with EDT is total reps completed, not reps per set. Do what you have to, to keep the reps accumulating from workout to workout. In many of my EDT workouts, the final sets in each PR zone were reduced to doubles and singles.
Make sure to take a day off in between each EDT session. For example, do workout one on Monday and then take Tuesday off. Proceed to workout two on Wednesday and then take Thursday off. EDT is super hard work so expect to be sore after the first few workouts. You will adapt though and in addition to building some major mass and size, you will acquire killer conditioning as well.
As effective as EDT is, four to six weeks is pretty much the limit of what most trainees can tolerate before burnout kicks in. I recommend that trainees switch to a lower volume program for four weeks for every four weeks of EDT. Top strength coach Tsatsouline’s PTP (power to the people) program is just the ticket to transition to after four weeks of EDT work. Instead of jut going into maintenance mode for a month. Pavel’s PTP program will allow you to continue to get bigger and stronger. PTP is another example of condensing time and making workouts far more efficient.
With PTP, Pavel recommends two primary exercises. Number one is the dead lift. Pavel states that the dead lift is one of the best exercises for packing on strength and size as it works more muscles than any other drill. Next, Pavel recommends either the barbell side press or the floor press as the upper body exercises of choice. In addition to only concentrating on two exercises, Pavel recommends no more than two sets of five per day for strength training. The first set is a heavy one and the second set is completed with 90% of first set. Finally, you train five days a week on the PTP program.
Now at this point I know what you are saying. How can you possibly get bigger and stronger with only two sets of two exercises per workout? First, training has to do with quality not quantity. Remember the analogy that I used at the beginning of this article. It is not how long you are at work, but rather, what you do while you’re at work. A few sets done right are much better than a dozen sets done wrong. Also in Pavel’s excellent book “Power To The People”, Pavel reveals several tips for recruiting as many muscles as possible in each exercise to maximize strength and make your muscles hard as a rock.
Second, due to the frequency of PTP training the weekly volume is hardly low. Each week you are doing a total of ten sets. Instead of doing ten sets on one day and taking seven days off, you are breaking the ten sets over five days. The frequency of Pavel’s program will shock your body into new levels of growth. The more frequently that you can hit a muscle with adequate recovery, the faster it will grow.
Now I like the program that Pavel outlines in his book for people that want to get strong without adding any weight. However, for bodybuilders I recommend a few more exercises to induce hypertrophy and for training variety. What are the exercises? Lets add the weighted chin-up, the dumbbell press, the bent over row, the squat, and the Military Press to the dead lift. Also, instead of doing the same exercises every day, lets do some alternating throughout the training week.