1MoreRep
MuscleChemistry Registered Member
500-rep chest challengeWritten by Roger Lockridge
If you accept the challenge and put yourself through this 500-rep pec pounder, you — and your chest muscles — will be well rewarded!
What do you call a high-volume workout? When you look at the basic or ‘average’ training programs you see in a lot of magazines, you realise that many of them, even the so-called high-volume workouts, contain 100 to 200 total reps. How often do you see a 500-rep workout? If you accept the challenge and put yourself through this 500-rep pec pounder, you — and your chest muscles — will be well rewarded.
Warm-up: Push-ups, 50 reps.
Before you hit the weights, drop and give me 50. Doing 50 push-ups right off the bat will ensure that your pecs are pumped with blood and warmed up for the high-rep onslaught you’re about to unleash on them. If you have to take breaks to get them done, take 10 to 15 seconds to catch your breath and continue. Once you hit 50, get back on your feet and meet us at the dumbbell rack.
Incline dumbbell presses, 50 reps (4 x 20, 15, 10, 5).
Start with dumbbells so you have to focus on stability and put extra stress on the pecs — as opposed to using a bar. When you lower the dumbbells, do not let them go all the way down. Instead, stop an inch or so short so that you keep the emphasis on your chest instead of your delts. Do four sets, adding weight on each subsequent set and lowering the reps. You should hit failure at 20, 15, 10 and five reps on the descending sets. Rest for two minutes between sets.
Flat-bench flyes — Dramatic Transformation Principle — 300 reps (10 x 50, 40, 30, 20, 10, 10, 20, 30, 40, 50).
If you haven’t heard of DTP, designed and made famous by Kris Gethin, you are in for a treat — or severe punishment, depending on your mind-set. You start with light weight and do 50 reps. Increase the weight on each successive set, and lower the reps by 10: 50, 40, 30, 20 and 10. Once you hit 10, do a second set of 10 and then flip the script. Lower weight and increase the reps to the tune of 20, 30, 40, and back to where you started at 50 reps. No need to find a calculator. That is 300 reps total.
On flyes make sure you get a good stretch at the bottom and squeeze at the top for a second or two. Also, I don’t care how bad it hurts or how tempted you are to hit the accelerator to finish, do not speed up the reps to get through it. Don’t cheat yourself out of the improvements your pecs are sure to receive from doing these the right way. Rest for 45 to 60 seconds between sets and remember to stretch in between so you decrease the chance of injury. Once you hit rep 50 on the last set, you will feel like a champion who just won a 10-round title fight. Don’t celebrate yet. You have one more hurdle — and it is a big one.
Seated machine chest presses — drop set — 100 reps (7-10 x 10-12)
Get comfortable in the seat because you will be there for a little while. Choose a weight that will result in failure at around the 10-to-12-rep mark. Once you hit failure, lower the weight, count to five, and go again. Repeat until you have successfully completed 100 reps. After rep 100 you’re done with the set and the workout.
[h=3]DIY 500-Rep Workouts[/h]How many times have you seen a great system and thought, “I wonder how this would work for other body parts, like shoulders or legs?” Well, this 500-rep program is based on a do-it-yourself formula. You know what equipment your gym has, and you know what your favorite exercises are, so use this layout to build your own high-rep super-program.
Warm-up, 50 reps. Make sure you choose an exercise that is easy to do. Pick a light weight — it’s a warm-up and nothing else, so don’t try to break any records here.
Power exercise, 50 reps. You need to do four sets here — 20, 15, 10 and five. Make sure it’s a compound, or multi-joint, exercise, meaning that it involves more than one muscle group. Good choices include bent-over rows or squats.
DTP, 300 reps. Use any exercise you want here, but make sure you’re training in a place where that won’t result in a long line waiting to use the equipment you’re occupying. It’s 10 sets, so you will be there a while. Although the chest workout above included a dumbbell exercise, flyes, in this position, those training in a smaller gym or health club, where the dumbbells you need are always in use, can opt for a machine exercise here.
Drop set, 100 reps. I recommend using a machine at this point as well because by the time you get here, your muscles will be taxed; all you’ll want to do is pump as much blood into the muscle as possible before calling it a day.
If you accept the challenge and put yourself through this 500-rep pec pounder, you — and your chest muscles — will be well rewarded!
What do you call a high-volume workout? When you look at the basic or ‘average’ training programs you see in a lot of magazines, you realise that many of them, even the so-called high-volume workouts, contain 100 to 200 total reps. How often do you see a 500-rep workout? If you accept the challenge and put yourself through this 500-rep pec pounder, you — and your chest muscles — will be well rewarded.
Warm-up: Push-ups, 50 reps.
Before you hit the weights, drop and give me 50. Doing 50 push-ups right off the bat will ensure that your pecs are pumped with blood and warmed up for the high-rep onslaught you’re about to unleash on them. If you have to take breaks to get them done, take 10 to 15 seconds to catch your breath and continue. Once you hit 50, get back on your feet and meet us at the dumbbell rack.
Incline dumbbell presses, 50 reps (4 x 20, 15, 10, 5).
Start with dumbbells so you have to focus on stability and put extra stress on the pecs — as opposed to using a bar. When you lower the dumbbells, do not let them go all the way down. Instead, stop an inch or so short so that you keep the emphasis on your chest instead of your delts. Do four sets, adding weight on each subsequent set and lowering the reps. You should hit failure at 20, 15, 10 and five reps on the descending sets. Rest for two minutes between sets.
Flat-bench flyes — Dramatic Transformation Principle — 300 reps (10 x 50, 40, 30, 20, 10, 10, 20, 30, 40, 50).
If you haven’t heard of DTP, designed and made famous by Kris Gethin, you are in for a treat — or severe punishment, depending on your mind-set. You start with light weight and do 50 reps. Increase the weight on each successive set, and lower the reps by 10: 50, 40, 30, 20 and 10. Once you hit 10, do a second set of 10 and then flip the script. Lower weight and increase the reps to the tune of 20, 30, 40, and back to where you started at 50 reps. No need to find a calculator. That is 300 reps total.
On flyes make sure you get a good stretch at the bottom and squeeze at the top for a second or two. Also, I don’t care how bad it hurts or how tempted you are to hit the accelerator to finish, do not speed up the reps to get through it. Don’t cheat yourself out of the improvements your pecs are sure to receive from doing these the right way. Rest for 45 to 60 seconds between sets and remember to stretch in between so you decrease the chance of injury. Once you hit rep 50 on the last set, you will feel like a champion who just won a 10-round title fight. Don’t celebrate yet. You have one more hurdle — and it is a big one.
Seated machine chest presses — drop set — 100 reps (7-10 x 10-12)
Get comfortable in the seat because you will be there for a little while. Choose a weight that will result in failure at around the 10-to-12-rep mark. Once you hit failure, lower the weight, count to five, and go again. Repeat until you have successfully completed 100 reps. After rep 100 you’re done with the set and the workout.
[h=3]DIY 500-Rep Workouts[/h]How many times have you seen a great system and thought, “I wonder how this would work for other body parts, like shoulders or legs?” Well, this 500-rep program is based on a do-it-yourself formula. You know what equipment your gym has, and you know what your favorite exercises are, so use this layout to build your own high-rep super-program.
Warm-up, 50 reps. Make sure you choose an exercise that is easy to do. Pick a light weight — it’s a warm-up and nothing else, so don’t try to break any records here.
Power exercise, 50 reps. You need to do four sets here — 20, 15, 10 and five. Make sure it’s a compound, or multi-joint, exercise, meaning that it involves more than one muscle group. Good choices include bent-over rows or squats.
DTP, 300 reps. Use any exercise you want here, but make sure you’re training in a place where that won’t result in a long line waiting to use the equipment you’re occupying. It’s 10 sets, so you will be there a while. Although the chest workout above included a dumbbell exercise, flyes, in this position, those training in a smaller gym or health club, where the dumbbells you need are always in use, can opt for a machine exercise here.
Drop set, 100 reps. I recommend using a machine at this point as well because by the time you get here, your muscles will be taxed; all you’ll want to do is pump as much blood into the muscle as possible before calling it a day.
