November 8, 2017 Jeremy Gray

Giant Sets - Burn Fat and Build an Impressive Physique

It's becoming common knowledge that a strict diet and endless cardio simply does not cut enough fat from your body. More and more people are becoming aware that resistance training is imperative to carving an impressive physique.

But wait... Cardio and cutting calories works, right?

Burning equal parts of body fat and muscle, cardio and negligible calories can make you smaller. You'll look like a sack of floppy potatoes, but it works.

With endless cardio and barely eating any food, it is hard to maintain weight loss. Any cheat meal or even eating somewhat normally will make you gain the weight back, and then some.

The biggest casualty of the whole outcome is muscle loss. Fortunately for us, giant sets combat hours on the treadmill while building a fantastic physique.

What Are Giant Sets?

Giant sets are basically four or more exercises performed with as little rest between them as possible with as much intensity as possible. Completing each set of an exercise in the 8-12 rep range with nothing left in the tank before moving onto the next exercise is the goal.

Rest should be kept around 10 seconds between exercises and 1 to 2 minutes between each giant set.

A huge bonus of incorporating giant sets is how quickly you can get in and out of the gym. Depending on the body parts trained, an entire workout can be done between 35-45 minutes. Condensing that much work with that much intensity in such a short period of time does wonders for building muscle and burning fat.

A Lesson on Intensity

Giant sets only blast fat away when enough intensity is applied to building muscle.

One of the biggest mistakes is holding back intensity so you can complete the four exercises in succession. This negates the purpose of each set and you lessen the fat burning effect brought on by your elevated metabolic rate.

Your sets need to be hard and heavy; none of that pump and grind crap here. Simply put, if you're not exhausted after one giant set, you aren't lifting heavy enough.

Fat Loss With Giant Sets?

Lifting weights yield an outstanding metabolic effect. If you've been reading articles about lifting weights, you may have heard how much of an impact weight training has on EPOC (Excessive Post-exercise Oxygen Consumption).

The damage caused to your muscle fibers from lifting weights will raise your metabolic rate and burn calories better than cardio training. With giant sets, this is even more amplified due to combining the anaerobic element of weightlifting with the aerobic nature of cardio.

Since you are going to burn more calories in and out of the gym than you would simply doing cardio, the end result is quicker fat loss.

Muscle Building With Giant Sets?

Lifting weights until failure is a guaranteed way to elicit a hormonal response to building muscle.

When performing giant sets, you want to choose a weight that you have to fight for the last few reps. Anything less is a waste. Giant sets increase your total volume and increase your time under tension; both needed for muscle growth.

If you've never tried giant sets, this stimulus can be what you need to bust through your plateau.

How to Use Giant Sets

The first thing you should do is decide whether you are wanting to target your whole body or beat up a certain area. The best exercises to choose would be those that hit your target area from multiple angles; you don't want to train chest and only hit your upper chest. Instead, pick movements that will work on upper, lower, inner, and outer chest and add in another exercise that is a solid mass builder.

Have a lagging body part? Choose exercises that help build that section up. For example, if you have strong front and side deltoids, choose a couple movements that place a greater emphasis on rear delts.

I personally prefer choosing a specific area to work per giant set instead of a full body approach. I feel there is more microtrauma to the muscle and I can squeeze out every last ounce of intensity I can muster up.

Giant Set Workout Routine

Monday - Chest and Triceps
Tuesday - Rest Day
Wednesday - Back and Biceps
Thursday - Rest Day
Friday - Shoulders and Legs

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Monday
Chest and Triceps
Exercise	Sets	Rep Goal
Incline Dumbbell Bench Press	3	10
Barbell Bench Press	3	10
Decline Bench Flyes	3	10
*10 seconds or less rest between exercises
Close Grip Bench Press	3	12
Skull Crushers	3	12
Dumbbell Kickbacks	3	12
*10 seconds or less rest between exercises

Wednesday
Back and Biceps
Exercise	Sets	Rep Goal
Bent-Over Barbell Row	3	10
1-Arm Dumbbell Row	3	10
Seated Wide-Grip Row	3	10
*10 seconds or less rest between exercises
Barbell Curl	3	12
Hammer Curl	3	12
Preacher Curl	3	12
*10 seconds or less rest between exercises

Friday
Shoulders and Legs
Exercise	Sets	Rep Goal
Seated Military Press	3	10
Side Lateral Raise	3	10
Rear Deltoid Raise	3	10
*10 seconds or less rest between exercises
Barbell Back Squat	3	12
Leg Extension	3	12
Leg Curl	3	12
*10 seconds or less rest between exercises

Workout Notes

Getting the most out of your workout is easier than you think.

Spend 5-10 minutes warming up doing cardio or active mobility every session.
Thoroughly warm up the muscle group that is about to be worked.
Take 10 seconds or less rest between sets, 2-3 minutes between giant sets.
Do ab work on Monday and Friday.
Perform seated and standing calf raises on Wednesday.

Filed in: Back Workouts, Bicep Workouts, Chest Workouts, Leg Workouts, Muscle Building Workouts, Shoulder Workouts, Tricep Workouts, Workouts For Men, Workouts For Women

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