http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kw4jPGC6NOQ

However, I respond to sets of 20 reps the best for the explosive work. 6 sets of 20 using 40-60% of my 1 rep max with 45 seconds rest between sets using explosive contractions and moderate velocity controlled retractions. I developed my neuro-muscular system from 16 years competitive moderate distance swimming…1/8-1 mile distances, so low reps have minimal training effect on my body.

I know this is a delayed response (duh!) but thanks for the feedback for my question. I forgot to bookmark this page and again forgot to go back to this article.

anyway I'll try this out

Thanks Again,
Sai

Get to low body fat and hold it there for 6+ months…I'm thinking it is just body fat.

Rusty

You know I'm going to tell you to run. Seriously, running in particular will get rid of any excess flab. Get on that treadmill an go as hard as possible for 10-15 minutes, then hop on an exercise bike or elliptical for another 20-30 minutes at a moderate pace (just to keep the heart pumping without having to push as hard).

Do this without consuming any calories 4 hours before hand. This works very well!

Rusty

Great article i have been trying both explosive push ups and explosive pull ups for about a week now and they seem real good.

One question i have for you though, how do i lose the fat in my pecs ? I am naturally slim and stand at 6ft 2. Im not fat at all and have an ok figure. I would love to have a toned chest but the one thing that ruins my look is my pecs. There flabby compared to the rest of my body. Its like loose fat. At first i thought it was gynamestopcia(if thats how its spelt ??) but now i think its just excess fat. So any tips how to tone them up ? not really build mass but just get them well toned ?

I have free weights up to 12kg, pull up bar and a sit up bench in my home. I do go to the gym at least once a week so i have access to machines if needed.

Any help will be very greatly appreciated !!
Cheers Rusty

You can do the "Push Press". Take a barbell clean it up to your shoulder level and then use your entire body to push it up overhead.

[This guy is going pretty heavy. I like to pick a weight that I can explode up quickly for 5 reps.]

This will allow you to eventually use much heavier weights in normal shoulder pressing lifts, like seated dumbell presses.

I like to practice Olympic style lifts from tim to time to push my strength to new levels in other lifts. Youtube has some great tutorials.

Rusty

Just do these explosive pushups for about 4-6 weeks. You should continue to do normal benches as well. As far as your upper chest goes. Increase the volume on incline movements for a while. In fact, you may want to drop flat bench presses for 3 months and specialize on your upper chest. I did this for 6 months and eventually it enabled me to have a line down the middle of my chest all the way up to my collar bone. Before that I only had mass on the low to mid part of my chest.

Give it a shot!

Rusty

Thanks heaps bud

You can lift with heavier weights from time to time. Ed Coan, one of the strongest lifters of all time never trained to failure. What you want to do is leave that last rep "in the chamber". I like to stop one rep short of that super long struggling rep…you know the one where you are shaking and it takes 3 seconds longer.

The percentage of your one rep max varies from person to person. When I'm doing a 5 x 5 set, I pick a weight that I know I can do 3 sets of 5 with no problem. The 4th set will be tough…and the 5th set is possibly really tough (if that is the case I will stop at 3-4 reps). Once I can do that 5th set of 5 reps without too much difficulty, I have "mastered that weight" and I use a slightly heavier weight next workout. I don't rush things, because if I go up in weight too quickly then my strength gains stall. Don't be afraid to stick with the same weight for a while (even once you can do 5 reps in that 5th set)…or even backing down for one workout to give your joints a rest. Over the long term you will become incredibly strong.

I have spent two years on slow dumbbell curls doing 5 x 5 and now I'm just about ready for 60 pound dumbbells. This doesn't sound like a ton, but if you saw what a long arm freak that I am you would see that this is a bit. I stuck with 50 pounders for around 3-4 months…I would back down to 40 pounders…back to 50, etc. Then I did 55 pounders for around 6 months. At this point I would probably never really need to lift heavier, but I though it would be fun to use 60 pound dumbbells, since I couldn't even do this when I had 35-40 pounds more muscle.

Hope that helps,

Rusty

Note: I also took 2-3 week periods where I did lower reps just to mix things up, before continuing on my journey to master a certain weight…I have to do a full post on this topic!

Been spending a lot of time on your site lately because I found that it matches most of my beliefs and philosophies, however I have one question about this article.

I am more interested in power and strength gains then muscle-mass, therefore I work in the 5 sets of 5 reps you mentioned. In this article, you state not to work out till failure. Therefore that means I shouldn't lift my 5-rep max on my sets? as they are extremely heavy and I am toasted by the last rep, which would then not be counterproductive for strength-gains? I would just like to ask approximately how much % should I use of my one-rep max for my sets in order to continuously increase strength, and recommendations on increasing.

Thanks alot for all the great information and will be waiting for your response.

Strength training is a great way to build muscle tone and if you do a high amount of volume, even add a bit of size.

Rich,

I will expand upon this routine in a future post for sure. The 50-60% rule works well for ballistic training. I would stick around this percentage.

Rusty

Thanks again,

Rich

Do 20-30 minutes of HIIT most of the time, but throw in normal cardio about once per week. It is hard for me to guess how much you need to lose exactly without seeing you. What I would recommend is to just workout hard and get to the point where your abs are sharp. As long as you keep the volume low, you should wind up with the ideal amount of mass. These pushups do work very well.

Have a great one!

Rusty