Muscle Sport Magazine

Venom Training System: Mixing Heavy Weight/Low Reps with Light Weight/High Reps

I first introduced this system to the public as “Bobby Building Method 101,” but once I realized it was an unfinished product that was fairly vague when it came to explanation, it was time to go back to the drawing boards. Now revised, renamed and republished… meet Venom Training System or VTS for short.

Training: When an individual plans for their workout, they typically decide between either a low repetition, heavy weight blueprint or high repetition, low weight. In comes the Venom Training System, this system combines both low repetition, heavy weight AND high repetition, low weight workloads into one intense session. Excited yet? You should be! Instead of the ordinary 4-5 sets, there are 8 solid sets you will be challenged with. The first four sets will stimulate the fast twitch muscle fibers with reps of 7,7,5 and 3. Lastly, the final four sets will tap into the slow twitch muscle fibers with reps of 45, 35, 25 and 15. Now what weight exactly will you be using to bang out these hard fought reps you ask? Here’s the answer! The first four sets will be broken down into percentages based off your 1RM (1 rep max), 75%, 80%, 85% and finish with 90%. Your final four sets will follow the same protocol but with the percentages of 30%, 35%, 40% and 45%. You begin with the heaviest of weight to avoid injury down the line as you may experience fatigue while the reps seem to go on endlessly.

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Rest: The amount of time you will rest in between sets is based entirely on your goals. If your primary focus is increasing muscle mass, rest up to one minute in between your sets. If you’re looking to up your strength numbers, rest up to three minutes in between sets.

Science behind VTS: As you know or may not know, lifting heavy weights stresses muscle fibers and brings upon microscopic tears in said fibers, which essentially leads to bigger and stronger muscles once patched back up via recovery. Not only will you induce thorough hypertrophy (increase in muscle size) and build strength with VTS, but those final four sets help to build endurance, as well. Muscles adapt to an excessive amount of stress placed upon them in time and adapting means coming back better than before in this case, so the volume of the last four sets can also help induce hypertrophy to some degree.Arnold Amateur 2014

Studies have shown resting for longer periods of time benefit strength training due to the fact that a majority of your energy when strength training comes from the Adenosine Triphosphate Phosphocreatine system by using phosphagens to produce energy quickly without oxygen. It takes the human body up to three minutes to fully replenish phosphagen stores so if your ATP-PC system is given at least three minutes to recharge, you’ll lift more weight and get stronger a lot faster. Studies have also shown resting for shorter periods of time benefit training for muscle mass. When resting for a shorter period of time, the anabolic hormones within the body that aid in muscle growth increase in production, amounting to more muscle being gained. Blood flow is increased, too, by brief rest periods, which result in protein traveling to the muscles a lot quicker – meaning more of those sweet gains!

Closing statements: VTS is to be used in the very beginning of your training after your warm-up to set the tone for a very good muscle thrashing session. “Going Venom,” which is a catchphrase used when using VTS, works very well when implemented on big lifts such as bench press and squat. It is advised you carb up before diving into VTS because it sure will give your body a run for its money. Below is an example of a VTS session using bench press as the workout of choice. Prepare to Go Venom and experience a REAL workout!

Ex.

250lbs Bench Press Max

190lbs (75%) x 7 reps

200lbs (80%) x 7 reps

215lbs (85%) x 5 reps

225lbs (90%) x 3 reps

75lbs (30%) x 45 reps

90lbs (35%) x 35 reps

100lbs (40%) x 25 reps

115lbs (45%) x 15 reps

If your calculations are broken (decimal form) and can’t be matched in weight provided to you then you can easily round to the nearest whole number and use that weight.

Maurice Bright is an ISSA certified personal trainer who also manages his own health and fitness website, mauricebright.com in hopes to inform, educate, motivate and inspire whenever possible.

Website address / http://www.mauricebright.com

Twitter handles / @mauricebdotcom (website oriented Twitter)
@mauricebobby (Personal Twitter)

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  1. Pingback: How Many Sets & Reps Should You Do? | Muscle Sport Magazine

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