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.

Get Big Quick

If you have been involved in the iron game for even a little while, you probably know most of the “get big advice.” Stuff such as “eat a lot of protein and calories,” “train heavy on the big lifts,” “get plenty of rest and recovery,” and other such “basic” advice can be found in any number of articles, YouTube videos, or Facebook posts. And most of it is pretty good and fairly sound—I’ve written plenty of such articles covering similar material here on the blog and I will continue to do so. But in this essay, I want to do something just a little bit different. Here, I want to look at some various tips, training ideas, and nutritional hacks that are not your run-of-the-mill suggestions. Most of these are not to be used long-term, but they can be quite useful when utilized over a short period of time, such as one training cycle or even over the course of only a few weeks. Before we get starte...

Bradley Steiner’s Rugged Size and Strength Split Routine – Easy Strength Version

Bradley J. Steiner, author of the original "Rugged Size and Strength Split Routine" In the ‘70s, ‘80s, and ‘90s, Bradley J. Steiner was the voice of (what he called) “sane, sensible” barbell training. His workouts were full-body programs done 3 times per week, utilizing a limited number of big “bang-for-your-buck” movements such as squats, deadlifts, barbell rows, bench presses, overhead presses, barbell curls and the like. They were intended for the average, drug-free lifter who didn’t have the luxury of living at Muscle Beach in Venice, California and training all day, but worked a full-time job, had a wife and kids—you know, a “regular” life—but still wanted to build a strong, impressive physique that could move some heavy iron and turn heads at the local swimming hole. He wrote prolifically for (primarily) IronMan magazine up until the early years of this century. When I started writing for IronMan i...

Basic Lifting, Instinctive Training

While doing research for my last article, I was re-reading Bradley Steiner’s original “Rugged Size and Strength” essay (from 1972) and came across this bit of advice: “Do not attempt to set up a pre-planned schedule of either sets or reps.” That may not seem like much—it’s the kind of “basic” advice that’s easily overlooked—but there is wisdom in it, minimal as it may seem at first glance. Depending on the workout program and the lifting population it’s aiming for, that quote could be either good or bad. It’s not good advice for a beginner’s program, any beginner’s program. It’s not good advice for intermediate or advanced lifters, either, who are attempting a new workout program or a new “style” of lifting that they haven’t utilized before. For instance, if you’ve been training for the past decade on a bodybuilding workout consi...

C.S. Sloan's Integral Strength

Search This Blog