Try Christian Thibaudeau's new 40-30-5 training method!

Overrated repeats

The number of reps is probably the most important variable in your training. Most people will always ask you how many reps you do in one set.

I usually answer something between 1 and 30.

I'm not saying that number isn't relevant, but it doesn't mean much on its own. Let's take a 5 rep set for example.

• Exerciser A lowers the weight for 2 seconds and lifts for 1 second.
• Exercise B lowers for 5 seconds and lifts for 2.

Do you think both will lead to the same results? Exercise A will be able to use about 20-25% more weight, but Exercise B will hold his muscles under tension longer.

In the first case, let's take for example 150 kilos, which our trainee can do in 5 reps and in 15 seconds. For the second exerciser, it will be 120 kilos, again 5 reps, but in 35 seconds.

It must be clear to you that the physiological and neurological effects of the two sets will be vastly different. The first approach should yield a little more strength, while the second more volume.

If you only took 100 kilos for the same series and worked it out as fast as possible, you would be done in about 7 seconds. This would be less effective for both strength and size, but would yield the best dynamic strength development.

This is a pretty superficial analysis, but it illustrates well that repetition count is not the alpha and omega of a training program. 5 repetitions of the same exercise can yield drastically different results.

Time under tension

This is a crucial variable for the overall effect of the series. Longer time under tension will bring more muscle fatigue, more lactate and growth hormone. This all stimulates muscle growth.

Lactate will promote growth through follistatin, which blocks myostatin, leading to more growth potential. At the same time, this will stimulate IGF-1, which is the most anabolic hormone.

The increase in muscle fatigue will bring volume stimulation. Professor Zatsiorsky wrote in his book Science and Practice of Strength Training: "A muscle fiber that has been engaged but not fatigued has not been exercised."

If the series is too long, you may need to use a very small amount of force, and thus a minimum of lactate. That's why the optimal time for a series is 40-70 seconds. Every time you lift some reasonable weight, you accumulate a certain amount of fatigue, which will give you some improvement in strength and size.

If you engage a lot of strength in a series, strength gains will come, due to neurological adaptation. However, if there is too much strength, it may cost you volume because the time under tension will not be sufficient.

On the other hand, if the time under tension is too long and leading to failure, but the force produced is extremely low, the strength gains will be minimal.

Therefore, when choosing the type of adaptation, the length of the series is as crucial as the weight chosen.

Time under tension effects

There are exceptions, but in general, think of time under voltage as follows:

• sets shorter than 10 seconds = highest increase in strength versus muscle growth
• sets of 10-20 seconds = high strength gains and moderate muscle growth
• sets of 20-30 seconds = overall balanced strength to volume ratio
• 30-40 second sets = high volume gains and moderate strength gains
• 40-70 second sets = highest volume gains versus strength gains
• Series over 70 seconds = Moderate volume gains and minimal strength gains

Series on time

I was introduced to this idea by Dave Tate. The premise is simple - set a stopwatch for the desired series length and maintain tension the entire time.

You can use any means to do this. Slow lowering, lifting, isometric holds in any positions. As long as you keep the prescribed time and your muscles are in contraction the whole time, the method doesn't matter that much.

For example, you can start with slow lowering and lifting, and once you can't anymore, somewhere after 25 seconds, squeeze out 10 more seconds of quick reps. Maybe then you can still do 7 seconds of partial reps and 8 seconds of holding. 50 seconds total.

Method 40-30-5

It's beautifully simple. Take the interval stopwatch, which you can find as a free downloadable app, and set 40 seconds per set, 30 seconds per rest, and 5 rounds total.

Choose a weight equivalent to about 60-65% of your max and work the whole thing out with it.

At first, you can probably manage those 40 seconds using only controlled reps, but the short pauses will soon force you to resort to holds, partial reps, and quick execution.

The result? In those 5 sets, you'll experience the biggest pump-up in human history, a massive build-up of lactate, and a growth factor washout. It's a great method for stimulating growth, if you can take the pain.

Which exercises?

You can use any exercises, but I don't recommend basic exercises. It's quite possible that your technique will break down so much that you'll risk injury unnecessarily.

Use less neurologically demanding exercises:

• Multi-joint pulley exercises
• Multi-joint exercises on machines
• Isolated free weight exercises
• Isolated exercises on machines/trays

This method hurts, but is actually easy to recover from because the growth is not caused by muscle damage, but by the accumulation of lactate and growth factors. You can easily manage the same week to train the muscles again without any loss of performance. It's simply a new way of looking at training to change things up and induce more growth.

Bonus.

Coaches use it because of the control of time under tension. The notation is usually 4 digits, something like 4010. Each of the digits is one part of a repetition:

With this method, it is easy enough to maintain optimal time under tension. Just work out what you want to achieve.

For example, 10 reps at 1010 pace will take 50 seconds, and will put you in the category of highest volume increase versus strength increase.

Prescribed pace problems

They exist. The first is the constant counting. This may not be the best when concentrating on high weight or neuromuscular connections. Then there are those people who count too fast or speed up at the end of a set.

And the last problem is when you can't do more reps at the prescribed pace, but you could do a few more reps faster. To practice them or not?

I still think prescribed tempo is a good tool, but I would use it more as a template for what we want our reps to look like, rather than a dogmatic timing scheme.

Source: www.t-nation.com - The New 40-30-5 Method
Author: Christian Thibaudeau
Translated by Jaromír Uhlíř