Page 12 - Top Cover Issue 6

12 TOP COVER ISSUE 6

THE 20 REP WORKOUT

JUSTIN CONWAY LOOKS AT THE USE OF COMPOUND LIFTING EXERCISES

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Whether you are interested in improving your strength, physique So...How do you perform this as a workout....
or size, the use of compound lifting exercises, performed with The first step, in order to find your appropriate starting weight, strict form
strict form, appropriate weight and done 20 times in one set is is you need to find your 10 rep maximum in each of the relevant with an
an extremely effective way of forcing your body to achieve those exercises – This being the maximum weight you can normally
goals - FACT ! only complete 10 reps with. If you have been keeping a training appropriate
If you research the basis of the effectiveness of this 20 rep set record this should not be difficult to find. If not, or you are a
regime, you will see that ‘back in the day’ during the Pre-drug complete beginner this may take a few sessions in the gym to weight
era of the 1930’s, the body building scene saw the explosion of determine. There are plenty of ‘Apps’ or on-line calculators that
top flight athletes, body builders and strength athletes using the will give you a pretty accurate estimate of your 10 rep max
20 repetitions for just 1 set of exercises – in particular with the no matter how many reps you have actually performed. Once
Squat, Dead-Lift and Bench press (Compound lifts). you have your starting weight to lift, just begin your set as you
One of these trainees was a man by the name of Joseph Curtis would normally – unless of course you normally just throw the
Hise and he, more than anyone, promoted and inspired the 20 weight up, let it drop and don’t class strict form as a necessity!
rep squat program. More up to date lifters that you may have ... Just lift as if you were lifting for a 10 rep set. When you have
heard of, that trained in this way, include the legendary Larry completed up to about 10 reps, with strict form, good cadence
Scott .....although admittedly he may have had just a little and concentration on the muscle as opposed to the movement,
chemical assistance to help him along the way to his gains ? the weight will start to feel particularly heavy and at this point
Hise was unhappy with his 180 lbs physique which he had built you would normally stop and rack the weight, Don’t stop at this
with a more traditional free weight, barbell training program. As
a result he began training with the 20 rep squat and his results
were astounding - he put 29lbs of muscle on his frame - in just
one month! This continued to grow until reaching about 300lbs!
His formula for his growth and development was heavy, 20 rep
squats, good honest food, milk and plenty of rest. This resulted
in him developing incredible muscular growth and strength!
20 rep sets and in particular the 20 rep Squats, Deadlifts, Bench
press, Overhead press and Weighted pull up are a simple but a
very hard and brutal training regime for packing muscle onto
even the smallest of frames. However please don’t take simple
to mean easy! Pushing out 20 reps of any of these lifts is far from
easy…..but that’s the point, right? By adopting such a routine
to include all 5 of the compound lifts into your lifting regime
you will not only pack muscle on your lower body but increase
strength and muscle mass in all of your body!
As you have probably guessed by now, this regime is obviously
based around just one set of 20 reps for any of the given
exercises, as above.
I will make no apologies; I did say it was simple. However it is
how you perform these reps that is just as, if not more important,
than the actual number itself! Strict form with the appropriate
weight and the effect of training the muscle not the movement
are the most effective elements of the lift. Performed correctly
and coupled with the amount of times you have to do it…..20
repetitions…..provides a massive amount of stimulus that will
literally force your muscles to grow stronger and bigger!