The Best Resistance Training

When it comes to resistance training, whether you're at home or at the gym, one of the most productive ways of training has got to be Giant Sets. Giant Sets can be used for any goal. From toning up, to burning fat. From building strength and size to increasing endurance. Giant Sets are definitely the way to go.

Milos Sarcev invented this nasty (in trainer-speak that's a compliment) form of training. I personally learned it in full force at his gym The Koloseum located in Fullerton, California. My teacher and trainer was Hans Hoeller. A very knowledgeable, professional, and tough-as-nails personal trainer. The Giant Set workouts that I learned there were bar-none the most intense, productive, and FUN workouts that I've ever done. What's more, I learned the wide range of applications that Giant Sets offered. Check out Milos and the Koloseum website at: www.koloseumgym.com/

The best way to explain Giant Sets is to compare them to other kinds of sets. Straight Sets are the most common way you see people lift weights. They do a set (a certain number of repetitions) of an exercise, rest, do another set of the same exercise, rest, and so on. Super Sets are when you do a set of an exercise for a body part followed immediately by another exercise for the same body part then rest. Triple Sets are when you do three exercises for the same body part before resting.

Giant Sets happen when you string together FOR THE SAME BODY PART more than three exercises before resting. Usually, much more than three exercises. Generally, at least three sets of a Giant Set are done at a time.

At the Koloseum we would string together as many as fourteen exercises for a body part before resting. A single Giant Set could last up to fifteen minutes. I have heard that Milos strings together as many as twenty-six exercises for the legs with each Giant Set taking up to a half an hour!!!! Ouch.

So how can Giant Sets be applied to differing kind of goals? If your goal is:

Strength and Power: do 5-8 repetitions per set
Size and Strength: do 8-15 repetitions per set
Tone and Endurance: do 15 or greater repetitions per set.

Just like you've probably heard before except instead of doing one, two, or three exercises before resting you are going to put together AS MANY EXERCISES FOR A BODY PART AS YOU CAN. If you don't know enough exercises per body part click on this link FIT TRUE RESOURCES
There are showcased a number of books loaded with plenty of exercises to keep you busy until you rot.

So what's the big bonus to Giant Sets? Cardio and calorie burning, my friends, cardio and calorie burning. Remember, there is NO REST between exercises and only about a minute or two's rest between Giant Sets. Skeptical? String together just five exercises for a body part and let me know where your heart rate is at the end of the Giant Set.

Here's a couple of possible giant sets:
Legs: Back Squats, Standing Lunges, Front Squats, Leg Press, Hack Squats, Leg Extension, Step Ups, Sissy Squats.
Chest: Bench Press, Dumbbell Press, Dumbbell Flies, Incline Press, Incline Flies, Decline Flies, Push-ups.

Use the first set to adjust your weights because you might find that you can't do your exercises as heavy as you normally would now that you're winded from having just done three exercises without rest. The examples have eight exercises. Work your way up to eight. Then work your way BEYOND eight. Create new Giant Sets. This is one of the few times when the possibilities really are pretty much endless.

Giant Sets are not for the faint of heart. But if you're looking to shake things up, get some new results, and especially if your a meat-head who hates or doesn't do enough cardio then do some Giant Sets. For whatever goal you are pursuing you will never run out of options and possibilities for keeping your workouts challenging, rewarding, and FUN.