If you want to build muscle/gain weight, High Frequency Training is one of THE very best approaches you can use.

For real.

So yesterday, I sent you an email about a "high frequency" program from my friend and colleague (and lifetime natural bodybuilder), Scott Tousignant.

On this page, he's got some GREAT information for you on exactly how a high frequency approach can be the key to serious, new muscle growth for you.

In that email, I also mentioned a program that I used awhile ago that was 12 total-body workouts done in a week (6 days a week, twice a day...I call it my 12X program).

I had a LOT of people write in and ask me if I could provide more specifics.

Absolutely.

Because even if you never use the program, it's a great learning experience about what the human body is capable of when pushed to the limit.

But let me start with a warning...this 12X program is a VERY advanced training approach. And I actually DON'T recommend you do it, unless you're in a similar situation that I was in.

The reasons I was able to do this and grow were because of three things.

1. I was 22 years old and already in excellent shape.

2. I was on vacation, in between job contracts, so I had no work obligations or physical labor to do and I could sleep as much as I wanted.

3. I was eating a TON of quality food every day.

It was literally the "perfect storm" setup for this program.

This program yielded me some extraordinary results. In 6 weeks, I went from 208 lbs in bodyweight to 228 lbs. I went from a 295 bench press for 1 rep to 350 lbs for 1 rep. I did a partial top-range lockout squat (just the top inch of the range of motion) with 950 lbs for 150 reps (not a typo!).

Before I get into it, I do want you to know that Scott's high-frequency program that I mentioned above is a going to be a MUCH better approach to High Frequency Training for most people than this program is.

Honestly, right now, I wouldn't do the 12X program below myself. I simply don't have the circumstances to make it work at the moment. It would crush me into the ground.

If you're interested in a PRACTICAL, high frequency style muscle-building program, check out Scott's program for sure.

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My 12X High Frequency Program

DAILY SCHEDULE:

With the training, I followed a pretty set schedule in terms of when I trained and when I ate. I would wake up about 8:00 am and immediately down a protein shake. Then I would make and eat a moderate breakfast, finishing before 8:30. I kept to foods that (for me) digested without any trouble - that was 6 scrambled eggs, and a bowl of oatmeal with yogurt in it.

At 11:30 am, I went to the gym and started my first training session of the day. That would last no more than 45 minutes at the very most. I would bring my post-workout shake and vitamins to the gym with me (in powder form, so I could just add water and be good to go immediately after training).

I would be home by 1 pm, and eating a big afternoon meal by 1:30. Then another lighter snack at 4:00, then dinner at about 6 pm. My second training session was usually at about 9:00 pm. - train for 45 minutes, take in post-workout shake, then have a small meal at about 11:30 pm.

Fat gain from late night meals isn't an issue when you've just trained right before it but I still didn't eat so much that I was bogged down digesting.

I would actually keep a protein shake beside my bed just in case I woke up in the night. If I did wake up, I would drink it. If I didn't wake up, I would just drink it immediately when I work up in the morning. I would never wake up on purpose just to drink it.

During this time, for supplements, I was taking creatine, glutamine and protein, in addition to an assortment of vitamins and minerals. Nothing fancy - just stuff to support my recovery and muscle growth. The training is what sets it all off.

THE TRAINING:

PARTIALS - The first part of the training cycle was heavy partial training in the top range of motion of each exercise for each bodypart. When you look at these sessions, you'll see that the training volume (# of sets) isn't high. You make up for it in the frequency. Because when you think about it, when you've just done partial bench with 600 lbs, your nervous system is going to be toast so there's not much point in doing more right then and there.

NEGATIVES - The second part of the training (at night in the case of the first day) was negative-only training.

FULL RANGE - HEAVY - The next session would be full-range, normal training with heavy weights in the 5 to 7 rep range.

FULL RANGE - LIGHT - The session after that would be full-range, higher-rep training in the 12 to 15 rep range.

Basically, this meant while I was still training everything twice a day, I was using very different styles of attacking the muscles. I kept to basic exercises for all movements, e.g. bench press, squats, deadlifts, bent-over rows, shoulder presses, barbell curls, dips, stiff-legged deadlifts, calf raises, etc.

OVERTRAINING:

As you can imagine, training in this fashion will lead to overtraining. And to be honest, that was actually the goal of training like this! Overtraining on purpose is a great way to push the limits of your body. If you stay from overtraining/overreaching, your body will NEVER achieve the results it's capable of.

So I did this everything twice a day training for three weeks, increasing the number of sets of I was doing on each week and decreasing the rest periods. The last week was brutal!

But after 3 weeks, nothing I did could make me sore. I felt unstoppable. Now it was time to back off.

For the next 3 weeks, I still did my whole body every day, with partials, etc. but I split the body into 2 sessions, cutting back on sets and really increasing rest periods a lot. THAT is when my strength and size really took off. I also stopped performing negative training to help speed recovery, and I changed the partial training from low-rep partial training to high-rep partial training, which is still very heavy but is a bit easier on the joints and allows for more time under tension, which helps with increasing muscle mass.

I did more "normal" training and changed the rep ranges around a little to give a different stimulus to the body.

When you back off, your body is still trying to adapt to the high-volume, low-rest and very frequent training. With less to actually recover from, your body starts piling on muscle and strength in high gear.

Below, I'm going to give you an outline of what I did for those entire 6 weeks as far as training, volume and rest periods go. If you've got the guts for it, have the time to train and eat that much and have the ability to recover from it, it's a good one!

WEEK 1

Rest period - 120 seconds between sets 

Rest period - 90 seconds between sets

Rest period - 60 seconds between sets

 

WEEKS 4, 5, 6

Rest period - 180 seconds between sets

Note the decrease in rep range, the decrease in the number of sets you are doing, and the increase in rest time. This is the easy (relatively speaking!) phase where your body plays catch-up with recovery. Don't back off on intensity, however. Keep pushing all your exercises hard.

Keep on this phase until your results start to slow down (it can be longer than 3 weeks) then take a week off then switch to a different program (or restart it from the beginning again, if you still have the ability to).

 

A Better Approach to High Frequency Training

As you can see, this program is nuts. It will really only work if you've got not much else going on in your life except for eating, sleeping and training, as I did at that time.

That being said, if high frequency training is of interest to you (and it should be!), I would HIGHLY recommend you check out Scott's "Aesthetic Muscle Plan" program that I talked about above.

It covers 16 weeks of high-frequency style training, all mapped out for you, and it'll help you gain fat-free mass without hammering yourself into the ground (like my 12X program will do to you!).

Grab your copy here.