This is how you build your strength and skill. This is where you should start and this is where you should devote most of your attention. The idea is that you do the big four (pullups, pushups, dips and squats) and you do as many well executed reps as you can in a day without going to failure and compromising form. You build strength and mastery. This is difficult stuff but it pays off. When I first started I did this for months and months. I started with one set of each exercise and worked my way up to, now 5 years later, eight sets of each. It's best to do these as a "super set", one exercise to the next with little rest for 1 "round", then rest as long as you want before the next round.
For me, a round was 10 pullups, 12-15 dips, 25 Russian pushups, 25 squats, rest, repeat 8 times.
This is where you should focus and Hannibal for King says do this for at least 6 months if not a year. I would agree.
But then you start to get good at these moves and that feels great, but it also gets a bit boring and the volume can be intimidating. Then it's time to tweak.
Pyramids with Reps
For me this seems to work best for muscle building. It is my attempt to follow a weight-lefter or bodybuilder protocol but with no equipment and bodyweight exercises and with many more reps than weightlifters would do. In weight-lifting you start with a light weight and fairly high reps (for them 12), keep adding weight and reducing reps until a final set (2 or 4 reps). This is the pyramid and that's a day's work for that muscle group.
I did this today and here's what I did:
Pulling:
Heals on the floor rows - 35 reps
Feet elevated rows - 28 reps
"T-Bar Row" - 25 reps
Assisted Pullups - 15
Neutral grip pullup - 10
Regular pullup - 8
Slow pullup - 6
Bicep pull-ins - 30
Pushing:
Elevated pushups - 40
Lower elevated pushups - 35
Regular pushups - 32
Russian Pushups - 25
Diamond pushups - 20
Regular dips - 15
Slow, narrow grip dips - 9
Wall tricep push backs - 30
Legs:
Squats - 35
Slow squats - 25
Very slow squats - 20
One leg "deadlift" - 15
Assisted pistol squats - 10
Slow assisted pistol squats - 6
Least assisted pistol squats - 3
Assisted squats - 25
Reverse Pyramids or "Tear-Downs" (Drop Sets)
I dreamed this one up as a possible best-of-both-worlds and a way to get a good workout in with the least amount of time spent. I have only been doing it for a few weeks so I don't know if the benefits will meet expectation but I will keep you posted. But the one set concept is pretty attractive.
This is a reverse pyramid superset, so you start with the most difficult move and go straight from that to the next-most-difficult move for the same muscle group, and so on, until you can't do any more. I count total reps.
So for pushing it would be strict, slow dips followed by regular dips followed by assisted dips followed by diamonds, Russians, regulars, elevated, and pushoffs. For pulling, it's strict pullups followed by neutral grip pullups, then assisted pullups followed by rows with feet elevated followed by heals-on-the-floor rows, etc., on up to bicep curl ins. Total reps are 70-80 and you rest only as long as it takes to get to the next exercise. 3-5 seconds.
It's a bit tricky for pulling exercises because you tire more quickly and you really need to plan it out before you start the set.
Slow Rep Sets
If time under tension is correct then one set of 3 pushups where you take 30 seconds to do each one would be as good as set of 90 1-second pushups. But I don't really think it's the same thing. Useful, yes, but not the same thing. I think slow rep sets are barn burners and another good way to get a good workout in with little time and volume intimidation. The more your muscles burn and scream the stronger you're getting, so this is a good way to go if you want to get it done in a few painful minutes. I don't think it has the muscle size building or skill component that the first two have, but definitely good to keep in the repertoire.
Whenever I do this I do 3 rep sets and check total time. The longer the better. I watched a Youtube video of a guy, much stronger than me, trying to do a 1 minute pullup. One rep that takes a minute. He couldn't do it, and neither would I be able to. But it's worth a try.
The great thing about slow rep sets is that they offer the positive and the negative movement in the same set. But man, they are difficult!
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