single set training

[alex]

anyone else tried this, havent seen much discussion about it on here. single set trainnig is basically doing just one set of about 6-8 reps to failure of an exercise (say benchpress) with one warm up set, then moving on to something else. I have gotten good gains doing it myself and have seen others also get very nice gains, and it means i dont spend nearly as much time fluffing about at the gym. does require a partner who knows what they are doing though since you will need spotting.

[Emevas]

Is this similar to Pavel's 1x5x5 principle, where you train the movement for 1 set of 5 reps 5 times a week? What exactly is the frequency of training?

From what I've read, with the right amount of frequency, such a thing can work, and can be a great time saver.

[ONE TWO THREE FOUR FIVE]

Hows it compare to the Bill Star/ Eclipse gyms 5 x 5 program?

Edit: I mean in terms of gains here, not time spent in the gym.

[alex]

only once or twice a week for each set of muscles, ive been doing a full body every 4 days and my weights are going up much faster than my haphazard training schedule before that allowed them to. training to failure 5 times a week would probably not be a great idea.

edit- i was doing a 5x5 program before and i found it far too time consuming and boring which made it harder to motivate myself. when im in and out of the gym in half an hour and im making gains every time i go in its much easier to motivate. studies have been done that show they are roughly equally as effective, its mostly a time thing

[Emevas]

only once or twice a week for each set of muscles, ive been doing a full body every 4 days and my weights are going up much faster than my haphazard training schedule before that allowed them to. training to failure 5 times a week would probably not be a great idea.

edit- i was doing a 5x5 program before and i found it far too time consuming and boring which made it harder to motivate myself. when im in and out of the gym in half an hour and im making gains every time i go in its much easier to motivate.

Oh no, of course not, you never train to failure on any of Pavel's stuff...or most strength programs really.

Sounds like some of the ultra abbreviated programs that Stuart McRobert talked about in "Brawn", something good for the "hardgainer". Something definitely a lot better than what a lot of folks in the gym do, with 30 sets per bodypart and other ridiculous crap.

Can't say I've ever personally trained with such low volume, but I was operating pretty low with 20 rep squats (1 set for squats, 2 sets for chins and dips) and got some decent gains in size with that.

[Teh El Macho]

What happens is that sometimes we are over-trained and when we switch to a low-volume regime, the body then has a time to recover and catch up and make real gains.

[melk]

I have done Pavel's Power to the people workout. Carried through for a year and a half(then another six months of his Russian bear workout). Side press 1 set 5 reps, 2nd 5reps of 90% of first set(never to failure) five times a week, adding five pounds every two days. Same thing with Dead lift(overhand grip) just much higher weights. Saw considerable gains in strength. When I did the Russian bear bit I put on between 70 and 80 lbs of lean mass(which I have not been able to lose btw).

The only reason I stopped the strength routine(stopped the Russian bear because I couldn't afford the food bill) was because of traveling and moving, couldn't always get to a gym and moving my own gym got expensive.

[Marrt]

anyone else tried this, havent seen much discussion about it on here. single set trainnig is basically doing just one set of about 6-8 reps to failure of an exercise (say benchpress) with one warm up set, then moving on to something else. I have gotten good gains doing it myself and have seen others also get very nice gains, and it means i dont spend nearly as much time fluffing about at the gym. does require a partner who knows what they are doing though since you will need spotting.

So what's your program and how long does it now take you?

[alex]

yeah obviously if you are throwing in more specific stuff then you wouldnt do it to failure, only for the big compound exercises where you are either being spotted or can just drop the bar/bells. form first, after all.

right now im just doing basic strength. bench, squat, weighted pull ups twice a week, although the sunburn i have been afflicted with thanks to digging trenches in the baking sun has temporarily put a stop to it because i cant move my back properly :/

strength isnt my main focus for my training, but ive gone from being able to do 5 reps of 60 to doing 5 reps of 70 in the last 6 or so weeks, and to be honest that training has been a bit sporadic due to the intense physical nature of the PT training course ive been doing (i.e. doing muscle endurance tests or a coopers test kinda fucks you if you plan on doing weights the next day)

my program, if i include stretching after and the warmup before, is 30 minutes max twice a week.

[new2bjj]

The sort of whole body workout/Circuit, one set to failure works well for a thin guy like you, actually. You aren't going into body building anyway, right? This sounds like HIT, to me.