Have you ever gone to the gym except you don’t really have a plan, so you default to the standard three sets of ten reps on every exercise?
If that’s you, you’re in the boat with a whole lot of people thanks to Men’s Health magazine. At some point in the history of modern fitness, the 3 X 10 training protocol became the golden chalice of weight training. And while it’s not the worst strategy in the world, it’s definitely holding you back from getting the results you want a.k.a getting bigger muscles.
One of the main reasons a 3 X 10 set is killing your game is that it often prevents your muscles from going into failure, a necessary, scientific process to growing bigger muscles. If you always stop at ten reps, you’re likely not going to get to that shaky muscle feeling which is a good indicator that muscle failure is on its way. (I talk about the scientific process behind it in the podcast.) That’s why, when I write training programs for my clients (and I have written thousands of them), I always prescribe sets with muscle failure as the main player. I vary the number of reps and the amount of weight throughout a set so that you get better results quicker.
Two other key components to consider on your quest to grow bigger muscles are:
- Time under tension
- Muscular detraction
On this week’s episode of the Million Dollar Body podcast, Kyle and I talk about why Men’s Health magazine has led you astray (for all these years!) and how you can see better results with your weight training by ditching the 3 X 10.
You’ll learn:
- The most effective way to train your muscles including examples of how to create sets that give you the most bang for your buck
- Why muscle failure is crucial in training to getting the bigger muscles you want
- How to know when to increase (or decrease!) the amount of weight you’re using
- The one thing you should NOT be doing when you weight train (in addition to the 3 X 10 sets)
If you’re frustrated that you’re not seeing bigger results from your training and you’re finally ready to see some real progress in your muscles, this episode is for you.
