Block Training - Brief & Brutal Muscle Building Workouts

Rest-pause training. It's one of my favorite ways to build muscle.

Forget normal sets and reps. Instead, think brutality. Intensity. Limited rest. Heart-racing, pump-inducing madness.

Back in the day I created a lifting style called Bulldozer training. It featured a specific number of sets for each exercise, with a defined rest period in between each effort. Rest periods were typically 30 seconds. This allowed you to catch your breath, but didn't allow a muscle to fully recover.

This was the point.

Related: My Top 10 Workout Intensifiers for Enhanced Gains

Tax a muscle. Catch your breath for a brief moment. Hammer that muscle again (and again, and again), never fully allowing it to recover.

This style of training was highly effective. In 2008 I ran it for a complete year and had some of the best muscle building results of my 30 year lifting career. Workouts were typically 45 to 50 minutes in length, but they were non-stop, action-packed brawls.

Over the years many of you have tried Bulldozer training. Gains were made. Testimonials poured in. And as a result, people wanted more. More rest-pause workout splits. More rest-pause training options. More gains.

So this weekend I was sitting around analyzing my goals for the rest of 2016. I needed to pare down my time in the gym, while also allowing time for cardio. So I said to myself:

Self! This is a good time to break out rest-pause training.

Building Muscle Using Block Training

OK, so what exactly is rest-pause training?

Rest-pause training is a muscle building approach that restricts rest in between sets, maximizing time in the gym and the bodybuilding process by never allowing a muscle to fully recover.

Bulldozer training is effective. But after having run it for a straight year I wanted to try something new. Some more intense. Something a bit different and a bit more insane.

Enter block training.

Block training tosses out the concept of sets. It also tosses out defined rest periods. So with no fixed number of sets, and no monitoring of rest in between sets, I know what you're thinking... How the heck does it work.

Well before you click away, understand that block training is anything but complicated. It's simple. Deviously simple.

You pick a weight. You pick a block of time. You hammer our as many reps as possible during this time frame, resting only briefly between efforts. This pattern of "sets" and limited rest is repeated until the block of time expires.

Are are some of the program nuts and bolts:

• Exercise blocks. Exercise block periods are generally 3 or 5 minutes.
• Weight. Start with a weight that you could normally perform 15 reps with.
• Rep goal. This if your goal for each block of time. If you reach this level (or more), add a small amount of weight the next time you perform this exercise. Progressive overload is king. If you aren't pushing for progress you are handicapping your muscle gains.
• Rest. Rest only briefly, and as needed, while in the middle of an exercise block. Catch your breath, gather your wits, and attack.

Remember that sets and rest periods do not matter. Reps do. Attack the weight and try to perform as many reps as possible during the exercise block. Rest as needed, only long enough to catch your breath and gather your wits.

Included in this feature are the following splits:

• 3 or 4 day Upper/Lower Split
• 3 Day Split
• 4 Day Split

 

3 or 4 day Upper/Lower Block Training Split

This block training split features 4 workouts. They can either be performed as part of a 4 day upper lower split, or cycled as part of a 3 day upper/lower split.

4 day split sample schedule:

• Day 1 - Upper A
• Day 2 - Lower A
• Day 3 - Off
• Day 4 - Upper B
• Day 5 - Lower B
• Day 6 - Off
• Day 7 - Off

3 day split sample schedule:

• Day 1 - Upper A
• Day 2 - Off
• Day 3 - Lower A
• Day 4 - Off
• Day 5 - Upper B
• Day 6 - Off
• Day 7 - Off
• Day 8 - Lower B
• Day 9 - Off
• Day 10 - Upper A
• Day 11 - Off
• Day 12 - Lower A
• Day 13 - Off
• Day 14 - Off
• Continue cycling through A and B workouts.

3 Day Block Training Split

3 day split sample schedule:

• Day 1 - Chest and Arms
• Day 2 - Off
• Day 3 - Quads and Shoulders
• Day 4 - Off
• Day 5 - Back, Hamstrings, Calves and Abs
• Day 6 - Off
• Day 7 - Off

4 Day Block Training Split

4 day split sample schedule:

• Day 1 - Chest and Triceps
• Day 2 - Back and Biceps
• Day 3 - Off
• Day 4 - Shoulders, Traps and Abs
• Day 5 - Quads, Hamstrings and Calves
• Day 6 - Off
• Day 7 - Off