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.

Marvin Eder’s Mass-Building Methods

The Many and Varied Mass-Building Methods of Power Bodybuilding’s G.O.A.T. Eder as he appeared in my article "Full Body Workouts" for IronMan magazine. In many ways, the essay you are now reading is the one that has had the “longest time coming.” I have no clue why it has taken me this long to write an article specifically on Marvin Eder, especially considering the fact that I have long considered him the greatest bodybuilder cum strength athlete of all friggin’ time . In fact, over 20 years ago, I wrote this in the pages of IronMan magazine: In my opinion, the greatest all-around bodybuilder, powerlifter and strength athlete ever to walk the planet, Eder had 19-inch arms at a bodyweight of 198. He could bench 510, squat 550 for 10 reps and do a barbell press with 365. He was reported to have achieved the amazing feat of cranking out 1,000 dips in only 17 minutes. Imagine doing a dip a second for 17 minutes. As Gene Mozee once put ...

The Big and Strong Series - Legs and Back

The High-Set, Low-Rep Training Manifesto Part 1: Training the Legs and Back In several of my recent essays and articles, I have discussed various HFT methods, most of them using higher volume. Starting with this article, I’m now going to turn my attention to a series of essays on (what I believe to be) the most effective method for attaining a combination of muscle mass and serious strength: workouts that combine high sets with (relatively) low reps. I’m going to do a series for one primary reason—different lifts/muscle groups should be trained in different ways. I will cover legs and back (this one), shoulders (overhead press training), chest and lats, and arm training. Each of those are best developed when trained a little bit different from one another. So, we will have 4 parts, with, perhaps, some additional essays on how to bring the 4 together into a cohesive, holistic strength program or on anything else that come...

High-Frequency Wave Load Training

A Highly Effective High-Frequency Program for Strength, Power, and Muscle Mass In several recent articles, I have presented a few key concepts to building strength, power, and muscle mass. One of the concepts is the “90% method” where you do most of your sets at 90% of a certain rep range. It could be 90% of 1 rep, of 3 reps, of 5 reps, or even as high as 10 reps. (If you want more in depth discussion on the 90% method then read my article “ Skill Training as Size Building .”) I have also presented the concepts of weight ladders and wave loading , where, instead of sticking with the same weight throughout several sets before moving to a different weight, you move back and forth from heavier to lighter sets. One of my more popular recent articles that used the above concepts is “ The 1-5 Program .” It’s a high-volume program. It’s good for lifters who like to use split programs, as it’s a mul...

C.S. Sloan's Integral Strength

Search This Blog