Weight Training Advice
10 X 10 Workout
improvement in quite some time, you've hit a plateau.
The best way to get through a weight training plateau is to make changes in what you do. If you always do the same exercises and amount of sets and reps, your body will get accustomed to it and not change like you want it to. One great way to change things up and pet through a plateau is to try the 10 X 10 workout.
The 10 X 10 workout is basically a 10 sets of 10 reps workout. What you do is take one exercise for a muscle group and do 10 sets of 10 reps for it. Seems simple enough, but there's a catch. You need to use a weight that you know you can do for 20 reps, keep using that amount of weight for all 10 sets, and rest for only one minute between each set. It may not seem like it would be that hard to do, but you'd be surprised. The first 2 or 3 sets of a 10 X 10 workout should be rather easy to do, but by the 7th and 8th sets you're going to have a tough time, and you may not even be able to do 10 reps on the last couple of sets.
Let's use the chest as an example for a 10 sets of 10 reps workout. Do a compound chest exercise like the flat or incline press if you want to try a 10 X 10 workout - not an isolation exercise like dumbbell flyes. If you can do 20 reps with 185 pounds on the bench press, use that much weight and try to do 10 sets of 10 reps with only one minute of rest between each set. Once you complete all 10 sets, you're done with chest. You won't need to do anymore than that, and you will feel it for the next few days. You'll also have yoor entire chest workout finished within 15 minutes.
For your body to recover from a 10 X 10 workout, you'll only want to train each muscle once a week. You're probably best off splitting the body up 4 ways if you try this so you get a day off between each workout. Here an example of a 10 sets of 10 reps workout routine:
Day 1 - chest and shoulders - bench or incline press for 10 sets of 10 reps and military or dumbbell presses for 10 sets of 10
Day 2 - back - pulldowns for 10 sets of 10 and rows or deadlifts for 10 sets of 10
Day 3 - biceps and triceps - curls for 10 sets of 10 and tricep extensions for 10 sets of 10
Day 4 - legs - squats, hack squats, or leg presses for 10 sets of 10; calf raises for 10 sets of 10.
Whatever exercises you decide to do as part of a 10 sets of 10 reps workout, you need to be prepared for deep muscle soreness for 3 or 4 days.
A 10 X 10 workout routine is something you'll just want to do for a few weeks or a month before you go back to a traditional routine using heavier weights for a lower amount of sets. You likely won't mind this considering the soreness you'll feel. It's just a temporary routine to challenge your body with and should help you break through your plateau.
Anybody who weight trains will hit a wall in their progress at some point. It's impossible to increae your muscle size and strength from every single workout. If you get to the point where you haven't seen
