My High Intensity 100s Routine

I’ve received several requests from people on facebook about my current routine, which I’ve been calling 100s but I’m sure has a more appropriate name that someone actually in kinesiology can generate (my PhD is in English, thanks. I’ll leave this fancy “science” stuff to others).

The premise of this regime is that 1) I hate cardio, 2) I want to maximize the value of my time, and 3) HIIT is a really effective way to burn fat. It also came about because, as I wrote a couple weeks ago, my goals just weren’t being met by lifting the way I was lifting (weird huh? Lifting slow and heavy like a bodybuilder made me gain weight. There goes that science™ stuff again). What this program does is combines HIIT with weight lifting so that I get my strength training in, but overlap it with my cardio in a way that doesn’t feel like cardio and thus I don’t hate it. It’s not designed to bulk, but my strength is better… significantly better. This kind of workout is unusual enough that the muscles will definitely respond to the stimulus and you’ll make some gains in both strength and endurance.

So here it is. My 100s routine.

The basic outline is that for each muscle group, you do 1 main motion in the 100s patters: 10 sets of 10. You follow up this main motion with 2 secondary motions that follow a different pattern: 3 sets to failure. For the 100s, you want to pick a weight that is about 60% of your regular 10 rep weight to make sure you get through the whole routine. For the 3TF sets, go with the weight you’d normally used for 10 reps (Important caveat: you won’t, or shouldn’t, get 10 reps out of the weight even though you normally would expect to. Keep in mind, you just did 100 reps on bench… don’t be mad if you can’t jam out your regular on incline bench).

The routine lasts 6-8 weeks, but here’s the trick, and where the HIIT part comes in: you aren’t paying attention to weight for this routine like you would for a regular workout. You’re paying attention to rest periods. For the 100s, on week 1 you begin with 60 seconds of rest between sets. Every week you should shave off 10 seconds of rest – you’ll notice this will keep your heart rate elevated and you in the cardio/fat burning range. On the 7^th week of this routine, you’ll be jamming through a set of 100 reps with no rest… That’s a lot of increased stamina! And you’ll get your cardio at the same time.

Some caveats apply that I’ll explain at the end.

Workout 1: Bench Press (10×10), Dumbbell Incline Press (3TF), Low Chest Cable Cross (3TF). Lat Pulldown (10×10), Cable Row (3TF), Barbell Pullover (3TF). Crunch (10×20)

Workout 2: Squat (10×10), Hack Squat (3TF), Leg Extension (3TF), Leg Curl (3TF). Tricep Press (10×10), Reverse Grip Tricep Press (3TF), Forearm Curls (10×20).

Workout 3: Barbell Shoulder Press (10×10), Upright Row (3TF), Bent Over Shoulder Fly (3TF). Standing Barbell Curls (10×10… I use the Bicep Blaster accessory for this), Seated Incline Curls (3TF), Hammer Curls (3TF). Calf Presses (10×20).

Workout 4: Bench Press (10×10), Incline Barbell Press (3TF), Incline Fly (3TF). Lat Pulldown (10×10), 1 Arm Row (3TF), 1 Arm Pulldown (TF). Decline Crunch (10×20).

Workout 5: Squats (10×10), Static Lunges (3TF), Leg Extension (3TF), Glute Machine Kickback (3TF). Tricep Press (10×10), Rope Press (3TF). Forearm Curl (10×20), Forearm Extension (10×20).

Workout 6: Shoulder Press (10×10), Bent Over Shoulder Fly (3TF), Reverse Pec Deck (3TF), Shrugs (10×10). Dumbbell Curls (10×10). Calf Press (10×20).

Caveats: You’ll notice that the pairings are fairly random. That’s fine. Go with it. You’ll also notice that you do muscle groups twice a week and that the pairings make for a very difficult second round sometimes. That’s fine. Remember: weight doesn’t matter as much as volume (reps) and rest periods. So if you’re weaker on Workout 4 because you killed shoulders on Workout 3, just go with it. Get your reps in and take your rests short. Pre-exhaustion of that muscle is actually really helpful! Finally, you will notice that core, calf, and forearm exercises are listed as 10×20… This is because those areas need much, much more volume than normal muscles in order to respond. Half the reason guys have tiny little calves is because they don’t realize that calves need a ton more work as a rule because they are a support muscle.

Enjoy! It’s really working for me so far… Which is nice because God knows it’s rough for me to cut, even at the best of times.

Force of Habit

So much of the work I did – and still do – in taking control of my body involves what seems like a very basic thing… Changing habits. But I’m continually learning that this is one of those things where you do it once, then assume you’ve mastered it until you hit a wall and realize you need to do it again. And again. And again. So it has been with my own habits. Just when I think I’ve mastered “good habits”, I find that I’ve really just mastered the art of telling myself I have good habits.