High Set Singles for Massive Strength and Size Gains

High-Set Singles for Massive Strength and Size Gains

Probably the most popular form of low-rep training among many "old-time" bodybuilders, high-set singles are highly effective at making a muscle neurally stronger.

I believe that one of the best ways to incorporate high-set singles is with a method made popular by the great Doug Hepburn. It works something like this: On your lift of the day, start off with a weight in which you absolutely know that you can get at least three singles. (Remember, it's better to start off too light than too heavy.) Make sure you warm up sufficiently for the lift using very low reps. After about a five minute rest after warm-ups, go directly into the singles. Perform a single, rest five minutes, and then perform another single. If you manage to get eight singles, then stop the lift and add two and a half to five pounds at your next workout and start all over again.

If your goal is simply to be stronger, then stop the workout at this point. If you're after muscle mass to go along with the strength, then rest five minutes and perform three to four sets of three to five reps, with minimal rest in between these sets.

Below is an example workout that you could use that incorporates this approach to training.

Day One: Chest, Arms

Bench Press- 3 to 8 sets of 1 repetition, followed by 3 sets of 3 reps. Utilize the method described above.

Incline Dumbbell Press- 5 sets of 3 reps.

Barbell Curls- 3 to 8 sets of 1 repetition. Utilize the same technique as with the bench presses but eliminate the triples.

Close-grip Rack Lockouts- 3 to 8 sets of 1 repetition. This exercise will give you even more tricep involvement than regular close-grip benches, plus it takes the chest out of the movement so that you don't end up overtraining your pecs.

Day Two: Off

Day Three: Legs

Squats- 3 to 8 sets of 1 rep. Perform these the same as the first workout. Do not substitute another exercise for regular squats; they can't be beat as an overall mass-booster. Also, don't sell yourself short by doing a partial or parrallel squat. Go rock-bottom for the best benefits.

Front Squats- 5 sets of 3 reps. In order to get maximum quadricep involvement into the workout, use these instead of the regular squats for your follow-up triples.

Day Four: Back, Shoulders

Weighted Wide-Grip Chins- 3 to 8 sets of 1 rep, followed by 3 sets of 3 reps.

Close-grip Bent-over Rows- 5 sets of 3 reps. Use an underhand grip on these in order to get more lat recruitment (as opposed to mid-back) from the exercise.

Standing Military Press- 3 to 8 sets of 1 rep.

Day Five: Off

Day Six: Repeat

After four to five weeks of the above workout, if you want to try something new, then use the same workout, but stick more to an approach to high set singles made popular by Brooks Kubrik. Kubrik's method works something like this: Drop the poundages you are using by about 10% (from what you used with Hepburn's approach) and try performing 15 to 20 singles on all of the major exercises.

Metabolic Muscle-Building

Hybrid Hypertrophy/Conditioning Programs Combining Full-Body Kettlebell Workouts with Multi-Split Bodybuilding Training A lot of our population, including lifters and bodybuilders, are metabolically compromised. I’ve seen a number of studies, research papers, and health articles declaring this. But I don’t need a study or some health expert to explain it to me. All I have to do is go to the grocery store, a local restaurant, or the local gym (not that I go to a local gym; just saying) to see the obvious right before my eyes. People are out of shape. And, despite a push to make America healthy once again, we’re getting even more out of shape. But it doesn’t have to be this way, and, in fact, despite more and more obese people in this country, there are also a greater number of people who are in fantastic shape. Even though it’s easy to be out of shape these days, it’s also easier to be in shape. Ther...

The Strength/Power/Mass Protocol

Get Strong, Massive, and Powerful with this Minimalist Program Yesterday, I received an email from a reader with a simple question. He asked what I thought was the best program for building strength and mass—this is one of the questions that I have received fairly regularly over the years. He said that, after reading the many workout programs that I have on offer here at Integral Strength , he wasn’t sure which one he should select or what kind of program “style” in general was the best, and he said that, to be honest, all of the various programs I write about left him more than a little bit confused. I told him, first, that there is no one program that reigns supreme over all others. There are, in fact, a handful of programs that would be great depending on the lifter. When selecting a program you must take into account several factors, including lifting history, age, job occupation (a construction worker needs a diff...

Train Just to Train

Some Thoughts and Musings on Why I lift and Why You Should Lift (with a Little Help from Budo and Zen) Over the years that I have been lifting—going on almost 4 decades of training at this point—I have been asked a number of questions. Most of them are in the “how” category. How do I gain muscle? How can I increase my bench press? How do I get big arms? And, from primarily women, the most often asked is how do I lose weight? Or how do I get in shape? Occasionally, however, I have been asked the why question. Why do I lift? Why do I train? Now, usually, though not always, this is a what question. As in: what are my goals? What am I trying to achieve? Though there are times when the inquiry is deeper . Especially as I get older, sometimes folks want to know why I still do this lifting thing. After all, I’m not preparing for powerlifting meets anymore or getting...

C.S. Sloan's Integral Strength

Search This Blog