Density Training

On another forum, someone mentioned a training concept I hadn't thought about in a while - density training.

The post is pretty brief and speaks for itself. But just in case its server goes bye-bye, here's a short summary. In density training, you do a lot of reps in an ever-decreasing amount of time in order to increase your maximum reps for that weight/exercise. You plan to do a total amount of reps equal to twice your goal maximum, and break it into smaller chunks. You do those chunks every minute on the minute. So if you want to do 20 pullups, you do 40 total in the form of 20 sets of 2 over 20 minutes. If you wanted 15, it would be 30 for 15 x 2 for 15 minutes. As you progress, you start to increase the reps (to, say, 13 x 3) and decrease the total time (still 1 minute rests, for 13 minutes total). Then 10 x 4 for 10 minutes, 8 x 5 for 8 minutes, 7 x 6 for 7 minutes, etc. until you get to 4 x 10 for 4 minutes...by which point you should be able to knock off 20 in one set.

Pretty simple, but also pretty brutal, and the recommendation is only to do this twice a week.

If you really need to hit a specific number of reps, this looks like a good way to go for it. The principle is pretty sound - do more in less time, but never hit those failure reps that stop the workout cold.

This is a bit different than Charles Staley's similarly-named Escalating Density Training (EDT) system. In EDT you set a specific time and complete as many reps as you can in that time; here you are aiming to manipulate your number of reps done per set over a decreasing amount of time.

It is also different "my" total rep count approach. There you increase your individual set reps by maxing out on the final set and re-calculating earlier sets for the next workout, thus pushing up the total volume without really extending the overall time.

I think all three have merit, depending on how you want to approach your workout - reps per set with a fixed volume? Density training. Time-dependent, with increasing volume and fatigue management within that time? EDT. Rep-dependent, with increasing volume and max rep tests every session? Total rep count. All different ways to approach the same goal - all three methods are aimed at getting a lot of quality repetitions done in a short amount of time in order to improve your strength-endurance.

Rest-pause variation

Jim Smith aka Smitty at Dieselcrew posted a killer rest-pause workout pair over on his blog. Rest-pause, in short, is an intensifying technique where you do an exercise for a given number of reps, then rest a short time and try again for maximal reps (and possibly for more intervals afterwards). The goal is to get the maximum number of reps in a given time. This is very similar to the idea of EDT, in a way - maximize the work done with a given weight in a given block of time. Unlike EDT, the total time isn't the limiting factor, but the ability to reach more reps or when you've hit your goal "sets."

I posted a pair of way I've used this in my own training. I've decided to repeat my comments here, because I found these techniques worked really well for me.

I wrote:
I've only ever done two variations of rest-pause.

I've done them with bodyweight exercises, like rest-pause towel pullups and pushups. Just max reps, then rest 10-15 seconds, go max again, and repeat until I can't get a rep. Great way to bang out a hard workout in a short time. You don't feel like you've shortchanged yourself, because you literally couldn't do more. I couldn’t work myself up to doing these too often, though, because I'd be wrecked when I finished and the day after too. I chose those two because I could do them outside my apartment door, with the towel over the I-beams of the staircase and the pushups on the pavement.

I've also done another variation. I'd pick a pair of exercises like dumbbell rows and dumbbell bench, and set a goal total of reps (usually 75) and sets (usually 3). I'd do nearly max reps, and then rest for 1 second for each rep I made. If I got 30 reps, I get 30 seconds rest. Only 10? Rest for 10 seconds. When the rest ends, go again and again until I hit my goal total. The rests get shorter as the reps you can crank out get fewer and fewer. Then go and do the antagonist of the pair after a short rest (1-2 minutes is all you want). If I could get my goal reps in my goal sets or less, I'd go up in weight the next workout. I found this worked really well for building up my strength-endurance in a short time. Not exactly the same approach as rest-pause, but I think the intention is pretty much the same."

That second technique is one I find especially challenging. You're limiting your total sets and reps, but encouraging yourself to push harder with the promise of more reps. You learn to keep driving through the exhaustion. I wouldn't recommend this for (or use this when coaching) a beginner. But it's a great technique to use if you're finding yourself running out of gas in longer sets, or when pushing weight around in the real world. It'll help you build up some useful strength too - perhaps not like lifting maximal weights, but you'll have a base of endurance that will help when you've working your way up the weight rack to heavier and heavier lifts.

Another caveat - I've only ever used this for easily-ditched exercises: dumbbell rows and bench presses, band pushdowns, band-resisted pushups, dumbbell squats and lunges. Any problems and I let the band go or toss the dumbbell(s) down. I also don't use it for technical or speed lifts, since you don't want technique to break down or to do "power" lifts like a snatch or clapping pushup slowly. It may work brilliantly for front squats, deadlifts, bench pressing, etc. but I've no experience using it that way. I'd suggest a rack and spotters.

But it's terrifically satisfying when you get your 75 in 3 sets, or 100 reps in 4 sets, or whatever else you aimed for. You move up to the next dumbbell up the rack the next time, or add another band, or do a harder variation. You might think it's primarily endurance, but you'll quickly find yourself high-repping weights, getting 20-25 reps for a weight you'd previously gotten for only 10 or 12. I also find it makes the heavier weights less intimidating - that 75 pound dumbbell looks heavy now, but you'll work up to 75 reps of it in 3 sets soon enough. It's not so far away - you'll get there, you just need to knock off the 70 and 65 and 60s first...no problem at all.

Use this one with care, and be prepared to work hard. It sounds easy under you're staring up at those dumbbells and wondering how you'll get 75 if it feels so heavy already...

Book Review: Muscle Logic

Muscle Logic : Escalating Density Training

By Charles Staley
256 pages, published 2005
$16.95

The idea behind Escalating Density Training, or EDT, is pretty simple. Take two exercises that are "antagonist" or opposite exercises - for example, pullups and push-presses, or bench presses and rows, or curls and tricep pushdowns. Or two exercises that are bilaterally opposed - left leg lunges and right leg lunges, for example, or left hand snatches and right hand snatches. Warm up for each exercise, alternating between them, until you find a weight that's roughly your 10-rep maximum for that day. Set your stopwatch for 15 minutes and hit "Start." Then do about 5 reps with the first exercise, then the same reps with the second, and so on - back and forth. You continue until 15 minutes has elapsed, resting only as needed, and dropping the number of reps as you get more and more fatigued. Do all the reps fast - no slow lifting, you want to get fast but controlled reps - this is Compensatory Acceleration Training (CAT), aka Dynamic Effort (DE) exercise. Lift the weight fast to recruit all the muscle fibers you can even with a sub-maximal weight, basically.

At the end, you total up the reps for each exercise and add them together. This is your rep PR for that "PR Zone." Next time you do that same workout (usually alternated with another EDT workout, ABABAB style) try to beat your rep PR. If you beat it by 20%, up the weight by 5 pounds or so for the next workout.

The goal, simply put, is to do more reps total in 15 minutes this time then you did last time, and raise the weight when the workout is so easy you're outstripping your original PR by too much. You don't aim for a specific rep count, for specific set counts, for rest times, or anything except more work in the same time. The idea is to learn to manage the fatigue that comes and work through and around it.

Charles Staley has written two articles discussing EDT in great detail:

Escalating Density Training (Contains not W/FS images)

and

Escalating Density Training, Phase 2 (Contains not W/FS images)

...both for T-Nation.

The book is basically a guidebook to an organizing technique, plus sample workouts. It's not a do-this-or-else approach, but an overall principle (the PR zones) and a variety of ways to do it.

It includes a few different splits (upper/lower, bodypart splits, full body), a number of sample plans, and a number of durations - 15 minutes, 30 minutes, and 45 minutes, depending on how long you have and how much work you want to do. It's an easily adaptable schedule.

For example, here is one nasty full-body setup for 30 minutes:

Workout A
PR Zone 1: 15 minutes
A-1 Dumbbell Snatch (Left)
A-2 Dumbbell Snatch (Right)

PR Zone 2: 15 minutes
B-1 Pullup
B-2 Push Press

Workout B
PR Zone 1: 15 minutes
A-1 Bulgarian Split-Squat (Left)
A-2 Bulgarian Split-Squat (Right)

PR Zone 2: 15 minutes
B-1 Bench Press
B-2 Bent-Over Barbell Row

So the first involves an explosive unilateral full-body exercise, followed by a heavy upper body pull and a full-body upper body push. The second involves a lower-body unilateral exercise followed by upper body push and upper body pull. Your whole body is finished in 30 minutes plus warmup times.

He even bows to "I want a six-pack!" pressure and includes a "core" centric EDT workout, involving squats, Turkish get-ups, pullups, and swiss ball twists. You'll work your core, alright, but everything else comes along for the ride.

High marks goes to the book for including a non-EDT workout, too, the 3-5 method. That's 3-5 exercises, 3-5 days a week, for 3-5 sets of 3-5 reps. Hence, 3-5. The idea is to do EDT for 8 weeks, then take a week off, then do 3 weeks of 3-5 before you go back to EDT (or move on the something else, if so inclined). The EDT method is explained thoroughly but following Charles Staley's own explanation, there is no "one method" that works all the time for everyone. And EDT isn't that mythical "one method" but just another way to organize your workouts.

The techniques demonstrated are generally excellent, although I winced to see a mention of the Pec Deck for chest, hack squat machines, and leg extensions for the legs (they can be bad for your knees, especially in high volumes, and this is a high-volume approach). But the exercises are described fully, form in the pictures matches the form described, and there is sufficient and clear explanations of exercise safety.

Rating:
Content: 4 out of 5. EDT, simply explained, with examples, exercises (and good explanations of them), and enough tools to make it work for you in any variation. My only gripe is including some machine exercises and some "arm days" which don't make much sense unless you're a bodybuilder.
Presentation: 5 out of 5. You can read this book in a single sitting, it's written so clearly and concisely. Pictures match the text and show good technique, and the text and tables are clear and easy to follow.

Overall: Read the EDT articles, and if you feel like you'd benefit from a hardcopy or a deeper yet simpler explanation, get the book. It's well-written and the method has a lot to recommend it.