Elite Physique offers regimens for fat loss, muscle gain, and targeting weak body parts, but it also teaches you the science of how to train to reach your goals, empowering you to catch your own fish, so to speak, rather than rely on an endless stream of other fitness books to hand them to you. Below is an edited excerpt from the chapter on fat-loss training, along with the first four weeks of a sample 12-week training plan that you can do at home.

Modifying Your Training for Fat Loss

The simplest approach to losing fat is to follow any muscle-building workout program while eating less. If you can cut a couple hundred calories a day from what you’re currently eating, you’ll lose fat. And for the first few weeks, it should work exactly like you expect. However, problems begin after the first month or so. Sooner or later, you’ll feel the effects of that calorie deficit. You’ll have less strength during your workouts and slower recovery between them. The negative impact on your training means you’ll end up doing less total work in the weight room, thereby burning fewer calories, and that will eventually stop your fat-loss efforts in their tracks.

The solution is to find ways to keep up your calorie deficit while accommodating for the effect it has on your strength, so you don’t sacrifice muscle mass and set your metabolism back further. Low-intensity cardio (longer, slower activities) and its counterpart, high-intensity interval training (HIIT), are two good options to accelerate fat loss in a way that won’t sacrifice your strength and muscle. Low-intensity work burns calories and builds the aerobic system, which enhances recovery, while HIIT offers big results for a small time investment.

Thus, you need these program modifications when training for fat loss:

– Perform fewer sets of weight training, or the same number of sets but for fewer exercises (to compensate for your lower energy levels).

– Don’t train to muscular failure, except for the final set of bodyweight exercises (again, to reduce the stress of strength training).

– Supplement strength training with a broad spectrum of energy systems work (cardio/endurance training) to burn calories and support recovery.

These key changes, combined with a calorie deficit, will ensure that you lose fat while maintaining muscle and strength. And you’ll build endurance that translates to virtually any sport. In the end, you’ll emerge with a leaner, more athletic physique—exactly what you expected when you bought this book.

Let’s take a closer look at energy systems—the way your body fuels your weight-training and cardio—and then I’ll show you how to combine cardio and lifting for the ultimate fat-loss program you can do at home with minimal equipment.

Utilizing Energy Systems Training for Fat Loss

Your body relies on three different systems to produce energy. First is the ATP-PC system, which uses phosphocreatine to fuel high-intensity muscle contractions. The ATP-PC system kicks in for the first few seconds of any activity you do, and it supplies the bulk of the energy needed for explosive, powerful muscle contractions, but it peters out quickly. (Creatine monohydrate has become one of the most popular supplements in history because of its powerful support of this energy system.)

The second energy system is anaerobic glycolysis, a process where your body breaks down glucose without the help of oxygen. This is used primarily after the ATP-PC system tires, and it kicks in hard while you’re lifting weights for higher reps or running short to moderate distances. The third system is aerobic metabolism, which breaks down glucose and fatty acids for fuel with the use of oxygen. It also uses ketones when you’re following a low-carbohydrate diet (Volek, Noakes, and Phinney 2015). You draw on aerobic energy to run, swim, or cycle long distances; it’s your main fuel source for endurance activity.

With all that said, these three systems constantly overlap to provide the energy you need during exercise, so it’s important to train them all. Of the three systems, aerobic metabolism can directly burn fat for energy, which is why it should be part of any fat-burning program. The other two systems, ATP-PC and anaerobic glycolysis, are used to build more muscle and mitochondria in your cells, which in turn increases your metabolic rate.

Importantly, each system does not make an equal contribution at any given level of intensity. During maximal activity, ATP-PC and anaerobic glycolysis are the primary drivers. Conversely, low-intensity activity is dominated by aerobic metabolism. For example, an MMA fighter could shadowbox at a low intensity for 30 minutes to develop his aerobic base, or strike with maximal intensity for 10 seconds and then rest a bit. Both kinds of training will contribute to powerful endurance in different ways. Same activity, but different energy systems.

There are two primary types of energy systems training:

1. Continuous training, which is performed at a relatively low intensity from start to finish without stopping, such as a 30-minute jog or 45 minutes on a bike. This is also called low-intensity, steady-state cardio (LISS), and primarily works the aerobic energy system.

2. Interval training, which consists of two or more bouts of high-intensity exercise with a period of rest between each. For example, a swimmer might perform eight 50-meter sprints with 90 seconds’ rest between each; a boxer might perform 12 20-second bouts of punching with 60-second rest intervals.

Programming Energy Systems Training for Fat Loss

The simplest solution here is to program LISS on days when you don’t lift weights, whenever possible. As a general rule, 30 to 60 minutes of LISS exercise performed three days per week covers your bases, and you can rotate workouts of different durations for the sake of variety. Regarding HIIT, the goal is to use a work-to-rest ratio that allows you to maintain your high-intensity performance. Think of HIIT as speed training: Once you start slowing down, the training effect diminishes.

These days it’s common to see HIIT protocols with extremely brief rest periods, which can make some people nauseous. That is not necessary, and it can even be detrimental in the long run. In the program below, you’ll see longer rest periods between bouts for HIIT than you’ll typically find in YouTube videos or other places vying for your attention. That is by design. There will be times when you’ll probably feel like you can perform these HIIT protocols with significantly less rest than what is prescribed, but I don’t recommend that. As the saying goes, just because you can doesn’t mean you should. Remember that when you’re training to burn fat and keep muscle, you don’t want your workouts to be more stressful than they have to be.

Programming Intensity

The intensity of HIIT training is straightforward: Exert maximum effort during each bout of activity. With LISS, however, there are a few different ways to determine the correct intensity, and any of them can work. They are as follows:

– Start at a level of intensity you think you can maintain for 30 minutes. 


– Be able to carry on a conversation the whole workout. This means you can complete a sentence without gasping for air (commonly referred to as the “talk test”). 


– Monitor your heart rate to determine your maximum aerobic heart rate (MAHR).

The third option here stems from Dr. Philip Maffetone, author of The Big Book of Endurance Training and Racing. His formula for LISS is simple: Subtract your age from 180 to determine your maximum aerobic heart rate (MAHR) in beats per minute (bpm). That formula helps you determine the heart rate you don’t want to exceed while performing LISS. For example, a typical 42-year-old man has an MAHR of 138 bpm (180 – 42). Since it’s impossible to maintain a specific heart rate during exercise, MAHR should be taken as a range between the number you calculate and 10 bpm below that, which, in this example, is 128. So your low-intensity aerobic workouts should keep your heart rate between 128 and 138 bpm for the duration.

How do you measure heart rate? Ideally, with a heart rate monitor. But you can ballpark it by holding two fingers to the carotid artery in your neck and counting the beats for six seconds. Multiply the number of beats you count by 10, and you’ve got the approximate beats per minute.

Maintaining the MAHR range helps you train at an intensity high enough to improve aerobic power but low enough to avoid the anaerobic threshold, where your body starts burning more glucose for fuel, thereby taking away from the aerobic training effect you’re trying to get (Maffetone 2010). Over the course of weeks and months of aerobic training, you’ll develop more mitochondria, capillaries, and myoglobin within the hypertrophied type I muscle fibers (Qaisar, Bhaskaran, and Van Remmen 2016). Low-intensity activity also increases your heart’s stroke volume, allowing more blood to be ejected with each heartbeat (Hellsten and Nyberg 2015). This means your cardiovascular system can maintain your performance with fewer beats per minute.

The MAHR calculation works well for most, with a few exceptions. It will probably not be accurate for someone who is severely deconditioned, is recovering from an injury, or has a very low resting heart rate. In those cases, stick to a level of intensity you can maintain for 30 minutes, or follow the talk test.

Sample Fat-Burning Program

You’ll perform three LISS and two or three HIIT sessions each week. The LISS sessions are intended to be performed on the days you don’t lift weights in order to burn fat, accelerate recovery, and reduce the likelihood of an interference effect (cardio endurance training eating into your muscle recovery from strength training), but if that doesn’t fit your schedule, perform them whenever you can—earlier or later on the days you lift weights, or directly before or after those sessions. This isn’t ideal scheduling, but you’ll still make progress.

The HIIT workouts are intended to be done at the end of your lifting workouts, but, as with the LISS sessions, you can put them elsewhere in the week if it better suits your schedule.

There are three types of workouts for both LISS and HIIT. Each time you do cardio, you’ll alternate between LISS and HIIT, and rotate through the specific protocols. Here are the workouts you’ll do.

LISS

Perform a 30-, 45-, or 60-minute session on three of your non-lifting days. Keep your heart rate at your MAHR or within 10 bpm below. Appropriate exercises include brisk walking, jogging, cycling, swimming, stair-climbing, rowing, a basketball game, shadowboxing, or soccer drills.

HIIT

Perform any activity that allows you to train with speed and an all-out effort. Examples include jumping rope, sprinting, kettlebell swings or snatches, stair-stepper climbing, sled pushing or pulling, loaded carries, elliptical machine, rowing machine, Assault bike, battle rope slams, roundhouse kicks to a heavy bag, or vertical climbing. Rotate between the following.

5:45 protocol: 5 seconds of maximal activity followed by 45 seconds of rest. Repeat for 10 rounds. 


10:60 protocol: 10 seconds of maximal activity followed by 60 seconds of rest; 10 seconds of maximal activity followed by 60 seconds of rest; 10 seconds of maximal activity followed by 2 minutes of rest. That’s one round. Repeat for three total rounds. 


15:45 protocol: 15 seconds of maximal activity followed by 45 seconds of rest; 15 seconds of maximal activity followed by 2 minutes of rest. That’s one round. Repeat for four total rounds.

For example, in Week 1 of the program, you may do the 5:45 protocol (HIIT) after your lifting session on Monday, a 30-minute jog (LISS) on Tuesday, the 10:60 protocol after lifting Wednesday, a 45-minute bike on Thursday, and a 60-minute walk Saturday. The following week, you could pick up with the 15:45 protocol after lifting on Monday, and begin the cycle again with a 30-minute jog on Tuesday.

The Elite Physique Fat Burner 3 Workout

The FB3 plan prioritizes your bodyweight for resistance. Additionally, you’ll need one moderately heavy dumbbell or kettlebell, a long resistance band, and a Swiss ball to fill in the gaps. Since a range of loads isn’t possible with bodyweight, most of your sets should be performed for as many repetitions as possible (AMRAP), but stop each set one rep short of failure. On the last set, you can push closer to exhaustion, as long as it doesn’t compromise your form in any way.

Your full-body strength relies heavily on your core. Since it’s common to lose strength while cutting calories, this program emphasizes making your midsection stronger. That’s why your core exercises in this program are almost always performed first, when you have the most energy, instead of at the end of a workout when you’re fatigued.

DIRECTIONS: WEEKS 1–4

You’ll lift weights three days a week, rotating between Workouts A, B, and C. Space the workouts apart by at least a day. So you could do Workout A on Monday, B on Wednesday, and C Friday, rest on the weekend, and repeat the cycle on the following Monday.

For each workout, perform exercises 1A–D as a circuit. So you’ll do one set of 1A, rest as prescribed, 1B, rest, and so on, until you’ve completed every exercise in the circuit. That’s one round. Rest 90 seconds, and repeat for 4 total rounds.

The first four weeks of the program appear below, and you can find the remaining eight weeks—as well as several other programs for fat loss and muscle gain—in my book, Elite Physique.

Workout A

1A Swiss-Ball Rollout

Reps: AMRAP  Rest: 45 sec.

Step 1. Start on your knees with your forearms resting on a large Swiss ball, elbows bent and resting below your chin (see figure a).

Step 2. Brace your abs, squeeze your glutes, and then shift your body forward as far as possible while you simultaneously extend your elbows, rolling the ball forward (see figure b).

Step 3. Slowly reverse to the starting position and repeat.

1B One-Arm Overhead Push Press

Reps: AMRAP  Rest: 45 sec.

Step 1. Hold a kettlebell or dumbbell in your left hand at the side of your shoulder, palm facing in and elbow tucked tightly to your side. Take a step forward with your right foot to get in a split stance, with your toes forward and both knees bent slightly. Extend your right arm to the side for balance (see figure a).

Step 2. Bend your knees quickly to lower your body four to six inches (10-15 cm) to prepare for the leg drive (see figure b).

Step 3. Push through the center of your feet to straighten both legs as you simultaneously press the weight overhead until your elbow is locked straight (see figure c). The movement is intended to be explosive, so dip your knees quickly and extend them fast to generate momentum.

Step 4. Lower the weight under control and repeat for reps.

Step 5. Switch the weight to the right hand, put your left foot forward, and repeat.

1C One-Arm Row

Reps: AMRAP  Rest: 45 sec.

Step 1. Grab a dumbbell or kettlebell in your left hand. Stand with your feet shoulder width, then step your right leg forward a couple feet. Push your hips back and shift your trunk forward until it’s around 45 degrees relative to the floor. The majority of your weight is on your right (front) leg. Your left arm is straight and hanging down, palm facing in (see figure a). Place your right hand on the top of your right thigh, and slightly arch your low back.

Step 2. Bend your left elbow and pull the weight up until your left palm is near the side of your torso (see figure b).

Step 3. Slowly reverse the motion. Switch the weight to your right hand with your left leg forward and repeat.

1D Reverse Lunge

Reps: AMRAP  Rest: 90 sec.

Step 1. Stand with your feet together while holding a weight in your left hand hanging down at arm’s length (see  figure a).

Step 2. Take a long step back with your left leg, plant the toes, and lower your body until your rear knee is at or near the floor (see figure b).

Step 3. Step back to the starting position.

Step 4. Perform all your reps with one leg, and then switch the weight to your right hand and repeat the reps while stepping back with your right leg.

Workout B

1A Hardstyle Plank

Reps: Hold for 10 seconds with max effort  Rest: 45 sec.

Step 1. Start with your elbows resting directly below your shoulders and your body in a straight line from neck to ankles (see figure).

Step 2. Brace your abs, squeeze your glutes, and then pull your elbows toward your knees. Your elbows won’t move but you’ll feel an intense contraction in your lats and abdominals.

Step 3. Maintain the effort for as long as possible.

1B Face Pull

Reps: 12  Rest: 45 sec.

Step 1. Attach a long resistance band to a sturdy object, and hook the open end of the band across the back of your wrists with your palms facing forward, fingers spread and pointing up (see figure a). Stand tall with your arms held in front and parallel to the floor. Step back to generate tension on the band.

Step 2. Perform a horizontal row, and then at the halfway point of the motion, externally rotate the shoulders until the upper arms are slightly below parallel to the floor (see figure b).

Step 3. Slowly reverse the motion and repeat.

1C One-Arm Floor Press

Reps: AMRAP  Rest: 45 sec.

Step 1. Lie on your back with your knees bent and feet flat on the floor, wider than shoulder width. Hold a dumbbell or kettlebell in your right hand directly above your right shoulder, with your elbow locked straight. Place your left arm on the floor, angled out slightly from your body (see figure a).

Step 2. Squeeze your glutes, brace your abs, and then bend your right elbow and lower the weight until your elbow is resting on the floor (see figure b). Press the weight until your elbow is locked straight. Repeat for reps.

Step 3. Switch to your left hand and repeat.

1D Stepup

Reps: AMRAP  Rest: 90 sec.

Step 1. Stand with your left foot flat on a box or step, high enough so that your knee is bent 90 degrees. Your right foot is on the floor behind the left while holding a weight down at your side in your right hand (see figure a).

Step 2. Push through the heel of the left foot to lift yourself up until it is straight and the foot of the trailing leg is alongside it (see figure b).

Step 3. Without putting any weight on the trailing leg, lower it back to the floor.

Step 4. Perform all your reps, then switch sides and repeat the set.

Workout C

1A Pallof Press

Reps: Hold 20 seconds each side  Rest: 45 sec.

Step 1. Attach a band to a sturdy object around chest height. Grasp the handle of the cable or the band with both hands, fingers interlocked.

Step 2. Step away from the cable or band so it’s to your right and approximately parallel to the floor. Stand with your feet slightly wider than shoulder width, hands against your chest (see figure a).

Step 3. Brace your abs, squeeze your glutes, and then slowly straighten your arms in front, parallel to the ground (see figure b). Maintain the position without rotating your trunk or pelvis.

Step 4. Hold for the recommended time, then switch sides so the cable or band is to your left.

1B Feet-Elevated Pushup

Reps: AMRAP  Rest: 45 sec.

Step 1. Get into the top position of a pushup, with your hands on the floor slightly wider than shoulder-width apart (see figure a). Your feet are approximately hip-width apart and resting on a box or step that’s up to 24 inches (60 cm) high. Your body is aligned from neck to ankles.

Step 2. Bend your elbows and lower your body as one unit until your chest is near the floor (see figure b).

Step 3. Push back up and repeat.

1C Straight-Arm Lat Pulldown

Reps: 12  Rest: 30 sec.

Step 1. Loop one end of a long resistance band over a secure structure higher than your head. Loop the other end under your palms, and stand with your feet slightly wider than shoulder-width apart. Push your hips back and bend your knees slightly to shift your trunk forward to around 70 degrees relative to the floor. Hold your arms parallel to the floor, slightly wider than shoulder width (see figure a).

Step 2. Brace your abs, squeeze your glutes, and then pull your arms down until your palms are just outside your thighs (see figure b).

Step 3. Slowly elevate your arms back to the starting position and repeat.

1D Kettlebell Swing

Reps: 5  Rest: 90 sec.

Step 1. Stand with your feet wider than shoulder width, with a kettlebell resting on the ground about a foot (30 cm) in front of you. Push your hips back, keep your knees directly above your feet, and then reach forward to grab the kettlebell with both hands while maintaining a neutral spine (see figure a). This is only the starting position and is not repeated throughout the subsequent reps.

Step 2. To initiate the swing, explosively pull the kettlebell so it swings back between your legs (see figure b).

Step 3. Explosively thrust your hips forward as you stand, driving through the center of your feet, using minimal assistance from your arms to elevate the kettlebell. Swing the kettlebell up until it’s around chest height (see figure c). Your body should be perfectly vertical at the end of the motion.

Step 4. Reverse the motion, and continue for the desired number of reps. To end the set, perform a hip hinge and lower the kettlebell straight down to the floor.

Pick up Elite Physique at HumanKinetics.com

The post Fat Loss Workouts For an Elite Physique appeared first on Onnit Academy.

Think about how you train pullups. You jump up to the bar and grind out as many as you can, right? Rest until you think you can get the same number of reps again (or close to it), and repeat. You probably do the same thing for pushups and dips.

Regardless of the exercise, let’s say you do three sets, getting 10 reps the first set, 8 the second, and 7 the third, and you rest about two minutes between sets. Altogether, that’s 25 total reps and six minutes of rest time.

Now what if there was a way to do more total reps in less time? Your workout would be more efficient, and you’d deliver a bigger growth stimulus to your muscles. How might that be done?

Here’s one way, called a waving ladder. Do 7 reps, then 1 rep, then 6, 2, 5, 3, and 4 reps, resting 30 seconds between sets. Add it all up and you’ve done 28 total reps with just three and a half minutes of rest. Compare that to your normal routine—it’s 12% more volume and 40% less time spent resting!

By holding back and doing fewer reps than you’re capable of each set, you can actually do more work overall, get out of the gym faster, and have it feel almost easy to boot.

The ladder method is the ultimate hack for muscle and strength. It helps you smash plateaus, speed up your workouts, and it doesn’t just work on bodyweight exercises—it can blow up your deadlift, squat, and bench press numbers too, as well as your kettlebell lifts. You’re about to learn how using ladders can make setting PR’s feel (almost) effortless.

The Ladder Method: The Easiest Way To Get Big and Strong

What Is The Ladder Method?

Ladders were developed by strength coaches in the Soviet Union, and were a secret weapon in the training of Eastern Bloc athletes—guys and gals who dominated strength and power sports in the Olympics for decades. They’re a time-tested trick for getting big and strong fast, and they’re not hard to do.

I first learned about ladders from strength coach Pavel Tsatsouline, an expert on old Soviet sports training methods. He taught me that a traditional ladder is a series of sets of ascending reps with a constant load. For example, you do one pullup, rest, then two pullups, rest, three pullups, and so on until you hit a goal number for the workout. Climbing, shall we say, from 1 to 10 reps, is one ladder. The second ladder starts over at one rep and works back up to 10 reps, or 8, or 6, or whatever suits your time and energy.

The whole point is to end up doing more work on an exercise than you’d normally be capable of. Instead of maxing out every set and burning out quickly, you leave a little in your tank and, subsequently, you’re able to get more total reps. Greater volume means greater overload for your muscles, and ultimately greater gains.

The 4 Rules of Ladder Workouts

Ladders can be done several different ways, but there are four guiding principles you need to follow.

1. The most fatiguing sets (high numbers, like 9 or 10 reps) must be followed by the longest rest periods. This is one reason that ladders are great to do with a partner. Old-school gym rats call it the “I go, you go” approach because you can gauge rest periods by how long it takes your partner to do his/her set. You rest while he does his reps, and vice versa. It takes longer for a partner to perform 10 reps than it does 1 or 2, so working out with someone else usually builds appropriate rests into your workout automatically.

If you’re by yourself, remember not to rush to the next set, or you won’t be able to complete the ladder. A good rule of thumb for solo lifters is to match the number of deep breaths you take with the number of reps you just performed. For example, after a set of three reps, you’ll take three slow, deep breaths before the next set; after a set of 10 reps you’ll take 10 breaths, and so on. Nevertheless, if you feel you need more rest to get the number of reps you need next, take it. The higher the reps in your ladder, or the heavier the weights you’re using, the more rest you’ll need.

2. The most fatiguing set (again, the one with the most reps) is followed by the least fatiguing one (the lowest number of reps). After doing a set of 10 on an ascending or waving ladder, for instance, you’ll start over at 1 rep. Note that the one exception is a descending ladder, which is explained below.

3. No set is ever taken to failure. Every rep should be done with perfect form and performed explosively. For this reason, choose ladders with conservative rep ranges that you know you can perform properly. If 10 reps is your max on pullups, your ladder should only go as high as 7 or 8 reps.

4. Limit your ladders to 2–4 per workout. Doing more work than that can lead to overtraining, and it increases the chance that your form will break down.

Types of Ladder Workouts

I started programming ascending ladders (the number of reps goes up each set) of 1–10 reps for some MMA fighters I was training. For variety, I would sometimes reverse the order and have them do a descending ladder—starting with 10 reps and working down to 1, 3, or 5. I like the descending ladder because most of the work (the higher-rep sets) is done early in the workout when the athlete is less fatigued, leading to better technique on all the sets, but either approach will allow you to perform a lot of volume in minimal time. Experiment with both and see which one you like best.

The one potential problem with these two types of ladders is that the hardest sets are done in sequence. For example, you do 8 reps, 9 reps, and then 10 reps, or the other way around, if it’s a descending ladder. For some people, that just creates too much fatigue for them to make it through the whole ladder without using sloppy form or going to failure. To fix the problem, I started using waving ladders like the one I showed in the introduction. Alternating high and low reps really minimizes the buildup of fatigue, and it helps potentiate the nervous system to improve muscle strength.

To do a waving ladder, you switch back and forth between the highest and lowest reps in your ladder and meet in the middle. For ladders of 1–10 reps, your sets would go: 1, 10, 2, 9, 3, 8, 4, 7, 5, 6, or, if you wanted to do them descending style, 10, 1, 9, 2, 8, 3, 7, 4, 6, 5.

Ladder Workout Routines For Fat Loss

I often use ladders to make full-body workouts for busy clients who want to lean down. A good total-body session need only consist of three exercises—an upper-body pulling movement, an upper-body pushing movement, and a lower-body exercise. For example, a pullup, dip, and kettlebell swing. I’ll create a circuit with these exercises, using both waving ascending and descending ladders. See the table below for an example.

Sample Ladder Circuit Workout

Because fatigue is so well managed by the changing number of reps, you won’t need much rest between sets. Again, take the number of deep breaths that matches the number of reps you just performed (10 swings are followed by 10 deep breaths, etc.) Even though you’ll be performing a whopping 30 total sets (10 per exercise), you can fly through this workout in under 20 minutes.

Ladder Workouts For Strength

Ladders work especially well for getting strong on the classic barbell exercises, and highly technical lifts such as the kettlebell windmill and one-arm snatch. But in this case, you’ll want to use much lower reps and do fewer total sets than you do for bodyweight exercises. One effective programming strategy is to perform a ladder of 1 to 3 reps with the heaviest weight you can handle for 5 perfect reps (your five repetition-maximum, or 5RM). You can do this with ascending, descending, or waving ladders, as follows.

Load: 5RM
Two ascending ladders: 6 total sets. Reps of 1, 2, 3, 1, 2, 3
Two descending ladders: 6 total sets. Reps of 3, 2, 1, 3, 2, 1
Two waving ladders: 6 total sets. Reps of 3, 1, 2, 3, 1, 2

You’re welcome to skip a “rung” or two on an ascending or descending ladder as well, jumping by more than one rep at a time. A good strength ladder can be done with sets of 1, 3, and 5 reps. Understand, however, that using a broader rep range will build up more fatigue, so you’ll have to compensate by using less weight. Doing ladders with a load that allows you seven reps (a 7RM) offers a good blend of strength and muscle gain with a slightly lower risk of injury.

Load: 7RM
Two ascending ladders: 6 total sets. Reps of 1, 3, 5, 1, 3, 5
Two descending ladders: 6 total sets. Reps of 5, 3, 1, 5, 3, 1
Two waving ladders: 6 total sets. Reps of 5, 1, 3, 5, 1, 3

As with all heavy lifting, your rest between sets should be generous—much longer than when doing bodyweight exercises. Don’t attempt five reps of deadlifts after only a few deep breaths. In this case, rest as needed so you’re fresh for the next set, and you may need to rest even longer between ladders. With that said, because no set is very fatiguing by itself, you won’t need as much rest between sets as you would doing conventional sets to failure.

Up till now, I’ve given examples showing two ladders, but the number of ladders you perform can vary, especially if you’re going to use them in more than one workout in a week. In most cases, you’ll perform anywhere from two to four ladders in one session when training for maximal strength. If you want to bring up a weak lift fast, you can perform a second ladder workout in the week. A sample two-week schedule that repeats over the course of four to six weeks could look like this:

For instance, if you want to boost your squat, you could do three ladders of 1, 2, and 3 reps on Tuesday, and then four ladders of 5, 3, and 1 rep on Friday. The next week, you might do two ladders of 3, 1, and 2 reps Tuesday, and two ladders of 5, 1, and 3 reps on Friday.

Ladder Workouts for Muscle Growth

To maximize muscle mass with the ladder method, simply raise the number of reps you do to accrue even more training volume. With higher-rep ladders, you need to be extra conservative with the loads you choose. The weight you use should be four or more reps higher than the highest number of reps in the ladder. So if you’re going to do bench press ladders ranging from 2 to 10 reps, use a weight that you know you can handle for at least 14.

Load: 14RM
Two ascending ladders: 6 total sets. Reps of 2, 6, 10, 2, 6, 10
Two descending ladders: 6 total sets. Reps of 10, 6, 2, 10, 6, 2
Two waving ladders: 6 total sets. Reps of 10, 2, 6, 10, 2, 6

Note that you can certainly go higher than 10 reps, if your strength levels allow for it, and it’s appropriate for the exercise.

The Ladder Method Vs. Cluster Training

Similar to the ladder method, cluster training is a strategy that allows you to lift heavy weights for more total reps than you’re used to. You might take a 5RM load and perform 5 sets of 2 reps (called “clusters”) with short rest periods in between, accruing 10 total reps. Unlike with ladders, the number of reps doesn’t vary per set, and they’re always low (1–5), allowing for the heaviest possible loads.

Cluster training works great for strength, but it’s much more taxing on the central nervous system, and therefore should be used more sparingly than ladders to avoid burnout. And because ladder training provides more variability in the reps, it has the potential to produce better muscle size and endurance gains.

Customizing The Ladder Method

You can choose the type and number of ladders you do based on how you’re feeling on any given day. Work up to as many reps as you feel comfortable doing that day, and let that be the top rung of your ladder. One day when you’re feeling sluggish, you might prefer an ascending ladder on kettlebell swings that uses 2, 4, 6, 8, and 10 reps. Another day, you might feel strong and choose a waving ladder that starts with 12 or 14 reps. The key is to listen to your body and use the approach that’s right for you on that day.

I used ladders to work up to doing more than 150 pullups every day for two months as a personal challenge. Many days were a struggle, but auto-regulating the ladders made the journey possible. I never had to worry about doing a specific number of reps for any set. Instead, I would do as many reps as I felt capable of at various times throughout the day, and gradually worked my way to 150 total. You better believe my lats grew, and my whole body got stronger.

For more of Chad’s training techniques, visit chadwaterbury.com, and follow him on Instagram, @drchadwaterbury.

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