Training Ideas and Workout Plans for Power and Mass
I think one of the best methods for your workouts, no matter your goals, is rest-pause training. Although when it is used, it’s done so by bodybuilders more than strength athletes, it can also be a valuable lifting tool for those seeking strength above all else. In this article, I’ll offer some different workout ideas using rest-pause training and some ways to incorporate the ideas into different programs.
Rest-pause training, in my view, is great because it allows you to use “density” workouts, where you can get an incredible amount of work within a short period of time. Remember, the more work that you are capable of doing in a limited time, the better your results will be. Now, this doesn’t mean just doing more work is the answer—you need to have the work capacity to handle the workload. But rest-pause training is a good way to incorporate density training once you are at the “level” to be capable of handling it.
100 Reps for More Muscle Size
Some of the best training programs for building muscle size rely on (or around) 100 reps per muscle group. Take the popular 10x10 workout—sometimes called German Volume Training, though I consider that a bit of a misnomer—where you do 10 sets of 10 reps, using a weight that you would utilize for 20 reps if you were doing one all-out set to complete momentary muscular failure, for 100 reps total. If there’s a “problem” with that method, however, it’s the fact that you must use such a light weight, otherwise you won’t be capable of completing all 10 sets for 10 reps each. Even with that poundage, 10 reps on every set can be a bit of a challenge for bodybuilders who don’t have the “strength endurance” to handle it.
Here’s a method for getting 100 reps on a movement using rest-pause training with a heavier weight than what you would utilize for 10x10. This is a good method to use if you already have the work capacity to benefit from a 10x10 workout or anything similar:
Train only one exercise per muscle group.
Select a weight on the lift where you can get around 12 reps for one all-out set. This doesn’t have to be “exact” but it should be close.
Now, with that weight, do 5 rest-pause “sets” of 20 reps each.
For the first “set” of 20, start the rest-pause set by doing around 10 reps. Rest around 20 seconds, and do another few reps, maybe 3 or 4. Rest another 20 seconds, do a few more reps. Rest another 20 seconds, perhaps a little longer by this point, but try to limit it to no more than 30 seconds, and do a few more reps until you reach 20 reps total. So, you might do 10, 4, 3, and 3 reps, or anything similar. Some lifters might like 10, 5, 3, and 2 reps, for example. The key is to not do more than 10 reps on the first set. You could even start with 7 or 8 reps and do more “sets” to reach 20. Whatever works for you. Just get 20 reps in a relatively short period of time.
Repeat for 4 more 20-rep rest-pause sets, resting 3 or 4 minutes between each “set” of 20 reps, for a total of 100 reps per lift.
This routine works best on a 2-way split, training every-other-day or 3 days per week on something such as Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, rotating back and forth between each workout. Do between 2 and 4 lifts at each session, but no more than 4 movements. You might even train on a “full-body split” by training something such as squats, bench presses, and chins at one session and double kettlebell (or dumbbell) cleans, overhead presses, and barbell curls at the 2nd. You could also train on an upper/lower split. Do more work on the upper body day and less on the lower body day. So, you could do bench presses, chins, overhead presses, and curls on the upper body day and some kind of squat and deadlift at the lower body session.
Full-Body, High-Frequency Option
A lot of lifters—probably more than are aware of it—will make the best gains with high-frequency training (HFT). I define HFT as any routine where you train a muscle group at least 3 days per week. This is a 3-days-a-week option.
Here, you will use a heavy-light-medium system a la Bill Starr. Heavy, light, and medium, in Starr’s programs, refers to the total workload at each workout, not necessarily how “heavy” you train. The easiest way to ensure that the routine works, however, is to train with the same sets/reps at each session—possibly less sets on the light and/or medium days—but simply reduce the poundages used on the light and medium days.
Since you’ll be doing as much as 100 reps per movement, you will also do no more than 3 lifts at each workout. With Starr’s 5x5 training, you can do more lifts than that since you are only doing 25 reps total per lift. But 5 or more lifts per session would be too much here. Some kind of squatting movement, pressing movement, and pulling movement are the best choices for the 3 movements. I’ll explain in more detail as I outline the program.
Monday - Heavy Day
Squats: 5x20. Do these 5 rest-pause sets using the same technique as described above. This applies to any 5x20 lift in the program.
Weighted dips: 5x20. You can use your bodyweight if you can only do around 12 reps with just your bodyweight. Otherwise, use a weight belt and add extra resistance.
Romanian deadlifts: 5x20
Wednesday - Light Day
Squats: 3x20. Use a weight here that is around 80% of what you used on the heavy day. So, if you used 225 pounds for your 5 rest-pause sets on Monday, you would only use 180 pounds on the light day. In addition, reduce your number of rest-pause sets to just 3.
One-arm dumbbell overhead presses: 5x20 (each arm). Do these the same as your heavy day lifts. The movement itself makes it a light-day lift since it limits the poundage you can utilize.
Chins: 3x20. Do these with just your bodyweight, and limit your rest-pause sets to 3.
Friday - Medium Day
Squats: 5x20. Do 5 rest-pause sets again, but drop your weight to 90% of what was used on Monday. So, again, if you used 225 on Monday for your 5 rest-pause sets, you would only use 205 pounds here.
Dumbbell bench presses: 5x20. As with the dumbbell overhead presses on Wednesday, the amount of weight that you can use on dumbbell benches makes it a perfect medium-day lift.
Double kettlebell power cleans: 5x20. The quick lifts, when done with barbells, are not good choices for higher reps, because of the form degradation that occurs with barbells. Kettlebells, however, are perfect for higher-repetition quick lifts. You can also substitute with dumbbells, as well, though I think kettlebells are the most ideal.
Every 2 to 3 weeks, add 5 to 10 pounds to your heavy day lifts. Adjust the poundages accordingly on the light and medium days based on what was used in the heavy workout.
Rest-Pause for Strength and Power
Although rest-pause training is usually employed only by bodybuilders or lifters seeking aesthetics above all else, it’s a great method for the strength athlete. Instead of doing “sets” of 20 reps, the strength athlete should reduce the rep total down to no more than 10, though I think 6 to 8 reps would be even better. I will demonstrate how to use this method with 8-rep rest-pause sets, then I will explain how to adapt it to either less or more reps afterwards. Here’s how this method works:
As with the other programs, train with only one exercise per muscle group.
Select your 5-rep max weight for all work sets.
Do a set of 2 reps. Rest about 20 seconds, and do another set of 2 reps. Rest another 20 seconds and do another set of 2 reps. You’re now at 6 reps. Rest another 20 seconds or so, no more than 30, and do a single. Rest again, and do one more single for a total of 8 reps. So, the 8-rep rest-pause set should be 2,2,2,1,1.
Repeat for 2 to 4 more 8-rep rest-pause sets, doing between 3 and 5 sets total. Rest about 5 minutes between each rest-pause set.
As with the first program in this article, train on a 2-way split, using the same lifts and the same schedule. The “bigger” the lift, the better. Stick with squats, front squats, rack squats, deadlifts of all sorts, overhead presses of any kind, bench presses of all varieties, barbell curls, weighted chins, barbell or dumbbell rows, and any of the quick lifts—because of the lower reps, this workout is great with barbell power cleans, snatches, or high pulls.
You could also train on a 3-way split, if you prefer to do less at each session. A squat day, a press day, and a pull day would be good. Something such as this:
Workout 1: squats
Workout 2: bench presses and overhead presses
Workout 3: deadlifts and weighted chins
Train 3 days in a row and then take a day or two off, or train on a 2-on, 1-off schedule, or anything similar.
You might want to stick with 5 rest-pause sets for squats, bench presses, and any kind of heavy pull, and only 3 or 4 sets on lifts such as chins, overhead work, and curls.
Some lifters might do better by limiting their reps to 6 instead of 8. Do two sets of 2 reps, followed by 2 singles. This is good for the “low-volume lifter” who thrives on staying “fresh” throughout his workouts.
Conversely, some lifters thrive off even more work and might do better with as many as 10 reps per rest-pause set. If you shoot for 10 reps, don’t do more doubles but more singles. So, you might do 3 doubles followed by 4 singles on each rest-pause set.
These are just a few ways to use rest-pause training. Try one of them or all of them. After a little experimenting, come up with your own rest-pause workouts. Whether you’re looking for size, strength, or both, it’s one of the best methods out there.
If you enjoyed this article and are looking for more workout ideas, consider purchasing my book Ultimate Mass and Power: A Collection of Training Programs for Getting Massively Big and Incredibly Strong. You can find more information on it and all of my other books that are available by clicking HERE.
As always, if you have any comments or questions about the program, or anything else, leave them in the “comments” section below or shoot me an email if you prefer a private conversation.
That rest-pause variation on 10x10 looks fun, for some reason I never really see density training used in the mainstream of bodybuilding with weights, seems to be confined to calisthenics, maybe "myorep sets" are the closest mainstream analogue with an activation set and a short rest followed by a bunch of mini-sets. Density training is very effective though, and adds a different flavour to the mix, seen a few very high level natural bodybuilders talk about doing myorep sets for sure, but not other types like this.
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