Reactive Pump™  Training

1 - Leg Curl

The goal is to drive as much blood into your hamstrings as humanly possible. The pump creates an intramuscular state that will potentiate hamstring growth during the rest of the workout. So, the greater the pump, the greater the gains.

I want you to use very strict perfect form on every rep, keeping your hips riveted to the seat pad, especially in the top (contracted position). Select a weight that barely allows you to complete the last rep of every set, again, in perfect form. Adjust the weight if necessary.

On the 4th and final set, perform 25 partial reps at the end of the set in the bottom position (4 - 6 inches).

2 - Chain Squat

The chain squat is my favorite exercise to activate high-threshold fibers (growth fibers) in the leg muscles. I want you to really think about how you feel throughout each rep. Every rep on every set should not only be explosive but it should feel explosive. See how much speed and acceleration you can you generate, and notice how heavy the weight feels.

As you ramp up, continue to do this. What I'm specifically looking for is the "switch" moment, where instantaneously the weight feels lighter and you find yourself accelerating faster, which is a good sign that your nervous system is fully engaged. When you feel this effect, back your reps down to 6. For me, this usually happens when I start adding chains, which changes the lifting dynamic. In other words, as you come out of the bottom position of the squat, the chains progressively add weight, so you now have to blast the bar up.

The way you load the chains is important. I want you to have 3 to 5 links touching the ground when you're standing in the top position. When you descend, you should get low enough to where you feel the bar lighten up as the chains de-load. At the de-loaded position, blast back up.

Begin by working up to around 60 percent of your 6RM. For example, if you can do 550 for 6 reps, use around 330 pounds as your base weight (without chains). Once you've performed one work set with your base weight, you're ready to add a set of chains to the bar for the next set. Each subsequent set, add another set of chains to the bar. Continue doing this until you lose your explosiveness (the ability to accelerate throughout the entire ROM).

This should occur between 3 to 5 chain sets, and most likely you'll lose your explosiveness on your 4th set of chain squats. If you can't do at least 3 chain sets, your base weight is too heavy. And if you can keep going past 5 chain sets, the weight is too light. Again, explosiveness is the whole point of this exercise. So, if you finished this exercise and never felt the switch moment, you weren't explosive, and need to learn to be explosive.

3 - Leg Press Escalating Set

Performed correctly, your legs won't know what hit them. In fact, your entire body won't know what hit it. To achieve this effect, you have to begin this exercise with the right load, which is a weight that's about 60 percent of your 10 RM. So if you can do, say, 400 pounds for 10 reps, I want you to start with 240 pounds as your base weight.

You're going to do one extended set with a "micro-stop" every 4th rep, when your training partners are going to add a standard weight (25-pound plate, for example) at each stop. Again, only lock out every 4th rep, and don't use that stop for a long rest. The other reps should be short of lockout.

Use a range of motion that's not too deep and stressful to the lower back. Keeping constant tension on the muscle, with smooth turnarounds, perform as many 4-rep micro-stop sets as you can, which usually ends up being about 16 total reps.

Again, if you do this right, your legs will be almost as full of blood as they can get . . . but not quite.

4 - Leg Extension

To endure the pain of this exercise, think of the your extreme pump pain as engorging and trapping Anaconda and Plazma growth factors in the muscle. The more blood the better.

Each rep, kick the weight up as hard as possible, and hold it at the top – and I mean freeze-frame it – then squeeze the quads for a solid two seconds, daring those throbbers to cramp, which won't happen if you're loading Anaconda and Plazma.

Immediately after each set, while pumped, stretch your quads. For the stretch technique, simply put the top of the foot on a flat bench and your knee on the ground. The other foot is flat on the ground in front of you with the knee pointed forwards. Try to gently straighten the spine and sit up straight (arch chest). You'll feel this in the quads and hip flexors.

Set one, hold the stretch for 10 seconds on each leg. Set two, hold the stretch for 20 seconds. Set 3, hold the stretch for 30 seconds.

Additionally on set 3, I want you to forget the flexes and just move the weight through a full range of motion. After 20 reps, stand up for 5 seconds, then sit back down and do 15 partials out of the bottom (and then stretch for 30 seconds).

5 – Dumbbell Stiff-Legged Deadlift

Technique is extremely important on this exercise. Don't think about bending over at the waist. Instead, think about pushing your hips back to initiate the exercise. Keep your sternum (chest) lifted up and your lower back flat throughout the entire rep. So, if you feel your lower back beginning to round, you've gone too far. You will get more flexible as you go on these. Keep constant tension on the muscles each rep, while thinking about stretching out your hamstrings with the weight. Get a slight bend in your knees as you approach the stretched position of the exercise. Be careful and don't overstretch the involved muscles.

6A/B – Standing Calf Raise / Dorsiflexion

You won't believe the pump you will get in your entire lower leg when you do this combination of exercises. Think of it like training biceps and triceps back to back. This will push as much blood in those calves as possible. Even the most stubborn calves respond to using this approach consistently.

Perform smooth, constant-tension reps. Use a lower weight to get full range of motion on all reps. Every 10th rep, hold the top position for 10 seconds, then continue with the set, holding on the 20th and 30th reps, each time for 10 seconds.

After each set of calf raise, stand up and simply begin dorsiflexing your foot to train the anterior tibialis. Do them until your tibialis goes numb. This is usually happens between 30-50 reps.

1 – Dumbbell Press on a Slight Decline

To get the slight incline angle I want, put two 25-pound plates beside each other and set the head end of a flat bench on the plates. This will give you the incline angle that's best for working the entire chest.

Increase the weight by 5 - 10 pounds after each work set. You should barely be able to get 8 reps on the last set. Get a good stretch at the bottom and drive up to lockout and flex for 1 second at the top in the contracted position.

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2 – Chain Bench Press

Add two sets of chains to each end of the bar. Adjust the chain length so that at lockout there are 3-5 links touching the ground. The weight plates go on the outside of the chains. No additional chains will be added for this exercise.

Each rep should not only be explosive, but it should feel explosive. So don't grind out reps. Pause at the bottom for 1 second before blasting the bar off your chest. Use the same weight on each work set, and select a load that allows you to get all of your reps on every set.

3 – Slight Incline Barbell Press

Put two 25-pound plates beside each other and set the head end of flat bench on the plates (just like exercise one). The goal is to keep constant tension on the working muscles, so stop about 2 inches short of touching your chest and drive the bar up to 3/4 lockout. This range of motion has the added benefit of not overtaxing your pec insertions or rotator-cuff muscles. Select a weight that barely allows you to get 6 reps, and use that weight on all 3 work sets.

4 – Cambered-Bar Ladder Pushup

Set up a cambered bar in a squat rack on a pair of pins at the bottom of the rack. Set up another pair of pins about 6 inches above the first set. Place a third pair of pins about 6 inches above the second pair. You're going to do pushups into the cambered, or curved, part of the bar. Don't force the range of motion; just get a good stretch. And don't let your lower back sway; keep it straight and tight.

On the first set, start on the lowest setting and do as many pushups as you can, stopping 2 reps prior to failure. Move the bar up to the second setting and perform the same rep scheme. Do the same on the third setting as well. Performing pushups on all three settings counts as one set. On the second set, go to failure while trying to beat the number of reps you got on the first set.

This exercise is going to take heart and pain tolerance, but do it. The goal is to get an extreme pump, which will deliver nutrients and trap growth factors in the muscle. The more blood the better.

5 – Dumbbell Side Lateral Raise

Do a ramp-up or warm-up set of 10 reps to change gears and get your shoulders ready to go. Do these seated. Put a slight bend in your elbows, lock your arms into place, and bring your arms straight out to the side – not in front, not in back, but straight out to the side. Pay attention to your traps. If you're shrugging at all, the weight is too heavy. I want delt work, not trap work. The rep tempo on these is smooth and uninterrupted while maintaining tension on the muscles at all times. Once again, don't shrug, but raise the dumbbells with your delts.

6 – Cage Press

This is just a standing overheard press done in a cage. Set up pins in a squat rack at about nose level, and then set a bar on the pins. Roll the bar back (away from you) across the pins until it hits the vertical frame of the rack. You're going to actually push/slide the bar up the vertical posts of the rack.

Get under the bar and stagger your stance so that you can brace yourself. Press it up explosively as it rides up the rack, and lock out. Bring the weight back down and set it on the pins, take a deep breath, reset, then fire the bar back up. Make sure to wear a belt to keep your lower back safe.

7 – Rear Delt Destroyer Set

Before you do this set, look in the mirror at your rear delts, because after the set they're going to stick out an extra inch or two from the pump. Rear delts grow fast off high reps, which requires pain tolerance and heart, but it'll absolutely pay off. The goal is to get an extreme pump, which will deliver nutrients and trap growth factors in the muscle. And the more blood the better.

You're going to do partial-rep rear delt raises while lying face down on an incline bench. These are called "hang-and-swings." With dumbbells in your hands, simply let your arms hang to your sides, and using only the rear delts and hinging off the shoulder, begin swinging the weight up in a 6-8 inch arc for 60 reps.

Pick a weight that you could do for 6 reps on a regular, full range-of-motion rear delt raise. These are just swings, so when it starts burning at 30, just push through the pain and keep the weight moving. Even if it's just an inch, just keep moving. After 60 cut the weight in half, take 5 deep breaths, and do 30 more. After this, cut the weight in half again, and do 10 reps.

Now, stand up and look in the mirror at your rear delts.

1 – One-Arm Barbell Row

You're going to place one end of a barbell into a corner to support the bar. Load the other end of the bar with 25-pound plates (to allow for a better stretch at the bottom of the movement). Stand beside the loaded barbell but don't crouch so far down that your back is totally parallel to the ground; stay a little higher than that. Grasp the bar and start rowing, but keep your torso from dropping and let your arm come down and feel your scapulae stretch as you reach for the ground. Your lats don't usually get this kind of stretch, and they'll begin pooling with blood fast.

Do these rhythmically, up and down. I want you to feel a lot of tension and compression with these. This is what using a barbell does that a dumbbell doesn't. These work best when the hip on the side you're working is raised a few inches higher than the other hip. The angle of your body will pre-stretch your lower lat, and you'll feel your entire lat from top to bottom.

The goal is to get nutrient-rich blood flowing into muscle in preparation for the explosive work ahead.

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2 – Smith Machine Row

Set the bar on the Smith machine so that it's about 2-3 inches below the knee. When bending over, don't lean down so far that your back is parallel with the ground. You want to be about 20 degrees above parallel. The beauty of using the Smith machine is that it allows you to RAM your elbows up hard. Most barbell rows turn into sloppy reverse curls. Again, a Smith machine allows you to lock your body into place (pulling slightly back while pulling up), and you should literally think only about driving your elbows up. Your arms will simply be attachments to the bar.

Do these reps explosively (explosive speed) to recruit and facilitate the fast-twitch fibers, which is in preparation for upcoming mechanical work to induce maximum hypertrophy. So if you're grinding and can't drive the weight up with speed, it's too heavy, and you'll ruin the effect.

3 – Dumbbell Pullover

Lie on a bench as you would for bench press, but have your head dangling slightly off the edge. Grip a dumbbell with both hands and hold it straight out over your forehead, but keep a slight bend in your elbows. Slowly descend into the stretched position. The goal isn't to force a stretch, but to keep constant tension on your lats. So don't go so far down that you actually lose lat tension (and risk injury). Just find that perfect range of motion where you can only feel your lats working.

When you do these right, you can also feel your serratus contracting. A key part of this is to only come up to the top of your head too (right above forehead). If you go further, you'll lose lat tension. These also have the nice side benefit of allowing your lats to expand further out to the side due to the relationship between your serratus and lats.

4 – Dumbbell Shrug

On these you're going to shrug the weight up and hold it for 3 seconds. Your traps aren't used to holding weight in the contracted position like this. It'll shock them and engorge them with blood and if done correctly, your traps should blow up by the time you finish your second set.

5 – Chain Deadlift

Now that your lats and traps are fully engorged with blood, we're going to repeat a second explosive movement. There's no rule that says you have to do only one movement explosively, and this will train your lower back, hams, and glutes as well. Remember, every rep should fire off the ground and not slow down at all. So don't go too heavy and grind up the weight. Wear a belt and stay tight, of course.

If performed correctly, you'll feel the muscles becoming increasingly more explosive and the speed of movement increasing set to set. Also, the last rep of each set should always be as fast or faster than the first rep. If not, the weight is too heavy.

To select your base weight (without chains), ramp up to your 10 RM with sets of 3. Once you hit your base weight, it's time to start your work sets with chains. For your first work set, add two sets of chains to each side of the bar. Each subsequent set, add two more sets of chains per side. Continue adding two sets of chains per side until you feel your speed slow down a TINY bit. The reps should still be explosive, though.

The very next set, which will be your last set, keep the weight and chains the same, and I want you to go all out and get as many reps as you can. Forget about speed being your primary focus; you'll be doing some grinding here.

This should obviously be your hardest set of the day. As an example, I'll often do 20-25 reps on this last set. You'll get to the point where your glutes might be on fire as well, but that's okay. Just keep cranking. You'll know when it's time to stop when form begins to break down.

You'll be doing something here that you don't think you can normally do. Walk away from this set feeling like a warrior. We'll call this 4 sets, as you'll probably have at least 3 good, strong sets with the chains going up, and then the annihilator set at the end. I want your entire backside pumped after this set. Your lats, traps, glutes, EVERYTHING! The more blood, the better the effect.

1A/B – Machine Press / Over and Back with a Band

After a few warm ups, do 4 sets of 12 using a full range of motion. Get a good stretch and then a good hard one-second flex in the contracted position. I want you to use a neutral grip where your palms face each other. Work the stretch at the bottom. When you get to the deepest point, make sure your sternum is "lifted," and that you're arched. Done right, you'll feel an awesome stretch right in the middle of your chest in the sternal fibers. Make sure you flex for one second in the contracted position, too. Drive blood in there!

Select a weight that barely enables you to complete the last rep of every set in perfect form. Use the same weight for each set unless you lose 4 or so reps between successive sets (lighten it a bit if you do). If you lose a rep or two, that's ok. Execute these perfectly.

Supersetted with over and backs with a band:

The band over-and-back exercise is performed by pulling a band apart with the arms extended in front of the chest. While holding this position, rotate around the shoulder joint, moving your arms overhead and continuing the movement until the band touches your lower back.

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2A/B – Pec Minor Dip / Over and Back with a Band

This is a style of dip in which you actually lock your arms and keep them locked throughout the movement. You do sort of a reverse shrug and let your body drift down, and then you pull yourself up by only flexing your pecs. It's obviously a short range of motion.

When you do this right, you'll feel an awesome contraction in your lower, and especially lower and inner, pecs. Play around with your grip on these. Some lifters do better with a wider grip, while others do better using a really close grip.

Supersetted with over and backs with a band:

The band over-and-back exercise is performed by pulling a band apart with the arms extended in front of the chest. Maintain this position while rotating the band around the shoulder joint, moving your arms overhead and continuing the movement until the band touches your lower back. Touch your back and return to the starting position. That's one rep.

3 – Dumbbell Bent-Over Side Lateral Raise

Earlier in the week we did a "destroyer set." Now we're going to do a standard bent-over lateral raise, with a few variations. Pick a weight you can do for 15-20 reps, using a full range of motion, and then continue the set performing 30 hang-and-swing reps. This is a way to extend the set by using your rear delts instead of using your traps and lats. If you do it right, it'll feel like a swarm of hornets just stung your rear delts.

4A/B – Spider-Crawl / Over and Back with a Band

This exercise will continue to hammer your rear delts, but it's also a great movement for shoulder and rotator health. You're going to get a short red band. Put your hands on the inside of the band, as if you're handcuffed. Now place your hands against the wall, just like you're under arrest. Spread your wrists as far apart as you can. You want max band tension trying to pull your wrists back together. Fight it. "Walk" your hands straight down the wall until you get below your belt, and then walk back up to over your head. Keep going for 45 seconds straight. Finish strong!

Supersetted with over and backs with a band:

The band over-and-back exercise is performed by pulling a band apart with the arms out in front of the chest. Maintain this position while rotating the band around the shoulder joint, moving your arms overhead and continuing the movement until the band touches your lower back. Touch your back and return to the starting position. That's one rep.

1A/B – Rope Pushdown / Dumbbell Curl

Keep a nice continuous tension while using a pumping-rep style over maximum (full) range of motion. Think rhythmic control. Flex your triceps when your hands are in the bottom position and get a good stretch at the top of the movement.

Superset with dumbbell curl:

Do one arm at a time, alternating between arms, and keep your palms up during the entire set. Be in total control and don't employ momentum by swinging the dumbbell. Use a 3-second descent on these. The 3-second negative will get tougher by the rep, and it won't take long for your biceps to be filled with blood.

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2A/B – Barbell Curl / Dip Machine or Dip

Find the sweet spot in your range of motion where you can feel the muscle tension, lock in, and just stay right there and pump it. You don't have to let your arms completely straighten at the bottom and you don't have to touch your forehead with the bar on the way up. That's complete nonsense.

Superset with dip machine or dip:

Use a 3-second negative on these, as well, which will totally cook your triceps. Just make your mind up to focus on the work and get it done.

3A/B – Decline Barbell Triceps Extension / Hammer Curl

We'll always do lying triceps extensions last, regardless of the type. No exercise beats up elbows as much as lying extensions, so I never like doing them early in a routine, especially if we're using heavy weight. On the other hand, if you do them at the end of a workout, when your triceps are pumped and elbows "greased," lying triceps extensions are awesome for building thickness, pain-free.

Some weeks we'll do these on an incline and some weeks on a slight decline. Both allow you to stretch really well. This week, I want to use a slight decline. Lower the bar to your nose, and drive straight up to 3/4 lockout. Don't force your elbows in unnaturally as the weight descends and don't flare your elbows, either. Keep the elbows tracking in their natural groove.

Superset with hammer curl:

We can't forget to train your brachialis muscle. This is the little bubble of a muscle that sits on the outside of the upper arm, in-between your biceps and triceps. When you develop the brachialis, it adds a roundness and thickness to the upper arm that's very impressive.

Work one arm at a time, alternating between arms. As always, don't swing!