I genuinely believe that fitness doesn't

need to be that complicated at all.

Especially if your goal really is just

to build a decent amount of strength,

build a good physique, increase your

energy, and look good and feel good in

your body. I think you can do this

relatively quickly, relatively easily,

no matter who you are, and then just

maintain a decent level so that you can

then focus on the other things you want

to be able to do. If you follow a basic

system, you can make it very easy. And

the time and energy commitment is very

small in order to keep that size and

strength going once you've built it. And

I've come up with a system that I can

use really reliably to do this that will

build strength, maintain my physique

with minimal effort, time, and thought

on my part. Just a few hours a week,

sometimes even less that I can then

build on top of as I see fit. And that's

what I want to share with you in this

video. And I think this is where a lot

of information on YouTube and fitness

social media in general gets it all

wrong. Going about optimizing the very

best lifts, the very best diet, when

really none of this matters. Pushing

yourself so hard in the gym so regularly

that it becomes a grueling nightmare

just to try and gain a little bit extra

size to compete with people that you're

never going to meet. For some people,

the goal might just be to find a

training program they can follow in a

couple of hours a week, a few hours a

week to maintain a decent physique, look

good, feel strong, so that they can then

get on with life, and just not worry

about it anymore. So, I want to share

with you the technique that I recommend

that most people do that's worked

really, really well for me. [music] And

it's adjacent to the high rep body

weightight training I've been talking

about a lot lately, but I wanted to

simplify it even further because I know

that's not for everybody. High rep body

weight training works for a whole bunch

of reasons I've talked about in a whole

bunch of other videos. But basically, if

you're taking a movement that's fairly

targeted on a specific muscle group,

like a closed chain exercise, like

push-ups for the pecs or air squats for

the legs, then you take that to failure,

you are going to provide sufficient

stimulus in various forms to trigger

some growth. You will build enough

muscle and size and strength to do

things well and to look good. The

problem with it, of course, is that a

lot of people don't like high rep

calisthenics. They think it takes too

long. even though it actually doesn't

take that much longer than you know

doing eight to 12 reps if you're bashing

out quickly or they think it's going to

hurt their joints which again it

shouldn't do if you're balancing your

training properly and doing your

mobility work but again fair enough.

Some people think it's just junk reps

which I mean have you ever heard of

strength endurance? Again, not the

point. The point is not everybody likes

high rep calisthenics and I get it. But

the real reason that I default to high

rep calisthenics is because I can do

them anywhere and I can do them quickly.

So no matter how streamlined and simple

you keep your training, if you have to

do it in a gym with expensive equipment,

it's going to be a big time sync cuz you

got to travel to the gym, you got to get

changed. And just a quick aside for

those saying actually you should build a

home gym because it's financially

sensible, you know, compared to the

ongoing cost of gym membership. Keep in

mind that cost isn't the only thing

holding people back when it comes to

this. For more people, it's probably

space. That's what it is for me

personally. I do not have space in my

living room for a barbell. I keep it out

here. it goes rusty. It's often cold and

wet. So yeah, being able to train with

your body weight is a huge advantage. So

now what's this method that anyone can

use that's not as grueling or as

timeconuming as high rep calisthenics?

Well, of course, it's mechanical drop

sets. So what you're going to do is

you're going to find an exercise that

you would use. So say we're going to do

dips. I do 35 dips in a set. Now that's

a higher repetition target, which is

going to be too much for a lot of

people. So what you do instead with a

drop set is you take a harder variation

of the movement. You perform that first

to failure and then you switch to the

easier variation and it's going to

failure that's going to bring the

stimulus. So now you're doing that twice

and you're doing it once with a kind of

strength skill related exercise and

you're doing it once with a more

strength endurance related exercise. So,

one of these is going to provide, you

know, the neurological stimulus. It's

going to provide some mechanical

tension, some, you know, body control.

And one of them is going to provide more

metabolic stress and a little bit of

endurance and going to help you burn

more calories. So, the combination is

actually deadly. And the great thing is

that you don't have to do a super high

number of repetitions. It doesn't take

as long and it's still something that

anyone can do and you can adjust it to

any single level. So, for example, I

keep pointing over here cuz that's where

my dip bars are. So, what you can do if

you're me [laughter] anyways is to do a

few tuck plunchch dips, maybe four or

five, then to drop immediately to

regular dips and then to finish the set

like that. And then you might only be

able to do 10. There's no rest in

between. This is a drop set. So, you're

going immediately from the heavier, more

challenging exercise to the easier

exercise. So, you've got a much shorter

rep range. You don't have to worry about

repetitive strain injury again, even

though you shouldn't really worry about

that anyways, but you don't have to

worry about it at all now. And it's

something that anyone can do and adapt

to any level. So, for a lot of people,

doing just dips is challenging. And if

that's the case for you, then you can

do, you know, two or three, five, 10

dips and then finish on push-ups. If

you're someone who finds push-ups

challenging, you can perform push-ups to

failure. And then you can do push-ups on

your knees or standing and lean against

the wall. So, as you can see, it's very

easy to drop set this. And there's a

bunch of different ways to do this for a

bunch of different exercises. For most

people, pull-ups is already challenging

enough, but if you prefer, you can do

one armed pull-ups and then regular

pull-ups, or regular pull-ups and in

body weight rows, or bodyweight rows and

then bent leg body weight rows. There's

just so many options for this and now

means that anybody can take themselves

to failure using body weight from the

comfort of their home and train that

very, very quickly. There are so many

great mechanical drop sets you can do

with body weightight training, and I've

had a blast over the years training with

so many of them.

>> [music]

>> Heat. Heat.

[music]

Heat. Heat. [music]

[music]

[music]

>> [music]

>> It's day two and I've realized some of

you are probably thinking, why bother

with the drop set at all? You're

probably thinking, why do you need to go

to failure with the high repetition

stuff if you've just gone to failure

with the more challenging variation?

Well, there's a couple of reasons for

that. The first one that I think is

really important is that the high

repetition stuff allows you to get a lot

of metabolic stress. It allows you to go

to those higher rep ranges, create a lot

of blood flow, and I think this is one

of the key stimulants for muscle growth.

Not everybody will agree with this, but

in my experience, it makes a big

difference. The other reason, and one I

think that anyone can agree with, is

that a lot of the more challenging

progressions in calisthenics, things

like your tuck plunchch dips, things

like your one arm push-ups, they are

more challenging, but they're also more

compound. They're less closed chain

usually, and they're not as isolated in

many cases. What I'm trying to say is

that when you do lots and lots of

push-ups and go to failure, you're

probably failing because your pecs have

been taken almost all the way to

exhaustion. However, when you fail at

tuck plunchch dips, you're probably

failing because you can no longer

control your body through that range of

motion. It might be to do with your

pecs, but it might also be to do with

your shoulders or your scapular control

or your straight arm strength or your

core even holding your body in that

position. Same thing for one armed

push-ups. It might be to do with your

pushing strength. Yeah. But it could

also be to do with your core as you try

not to rotate yourself in that

direction. Most likely it's to do with

the combined strength of all those

things together failing you. So you

haven't really taken the target muscle

to failure. And this is why a lot of

people I think struggle to build really

impressive physiques even if they can do

higher level calisthenic skills. By

combining these two we get the benefits

of both types of training. You get all

the strength and the neurological

adaptations from the harder progressions

and then you get the pump and the muscle

growth from the easier variations.

That's why. And of course, you can just

do this with regular drop sets, not

mechanical drop sets. That just means

that you're going from a heavy weight to

a lighter weight. This will be useful

for things like, you know, biceps, where

you can grab a kettle bell, for example,

do a bunch of goblet curls and then

lower the weight and do a bunch more.

And by the way, if you want to see this

in action, then you can try my ebook and

training program, superfunctional

training three, super mover. The main

program is built around high rep

calisthenics combined with skill

training. And then drop sets is an

alternative version if you don't like

the idea of doing high up calisthenics.

But don't worry because I make it fun. I

make it accessible. It's something you

can do anywhere. And the movements are

very much more uh mentally stimulating

and engaging. Make you feel like you're

having fun even though you don't need

any equipment. And it's suitable for any

level. that comes with a 200 plus page

ebook, cool anime inspired illustrations

and Q cards so you can see your workouts

quickly, carry it around on your phone,

26 exercise tutorial videos, and I'm

adding new stuff to it all the time.

There's a link in the description down

below if you want to check it out.

But either way, this is something that

you can build yourself. Just find a hard

variation of the exercise that you can

do for maybe four or five reps in the

strength rep range and then choose an

easier version of that exercise that you

could normally do for say 20

repetitions. You're not going to be able

to do that many as part of a drop set.

Then you can do it for two or three

sets. Give it a minute rest in between.

And then this once you've built some

strength from this, and you will, you

can just keep this going. And you can up

it or lower it as the situation demands.

But this is going to be enough for most

people to build strength. As long as

you're targeting everybody part, this is

going to be enough for most people to

build strength from home, build a bit of

size from home, and then keep it going

relatively easily. But there's one more

really important piece of the puzzle

that ultimately makes all of this work

and which will mean that you can get

better results from anything you do. And

that's learning to feel what that

stimulus feels like. You can get it from

heavy weight training. You can get it

from going to failure on drop sets. You

can get it from doing a nice stretch

under resistance. But the point is after

training long enough, you learn to feel

what it's like when the target muscle is

getting the stimulus it needs to grow.

And at that point, training becomes so

simple. If your goal is to maintain a

decent level of strength and physique

because you can feel whether it's worked

or not, you can feel the point at which

you've had that minimal effective dose.

What you realize then as well is that

you can really make anything work. So

when you do the high repetition push-ups

or dips, as long as you're feeling that

tension remaining on the pecs where you

want it, then you know they're going to

grow because you can feel the right

stimulus. Sometimes though when I'm

doing dips, I'll just make sure to get

into that really nice stretched deep

position there and I can literally feel

that stimulus right away. And I know

that's going to trigger growth. You

don't need a study to tell you. Not to

harp on about this, but with experience,

you learn to feel what isn't isn't

working. What is the good type of pain

versus the oh no type of pain. And you

only get there by repeatedly exercising.

And as you do it more and more, you can

become more and more efficient and get

your workouts done in less and less

time. And yeah, just this simplicity

allows you to fit it in around my

lifestyle, even as a busy parent,

business owner, someone who also wants

to train a whole bunch of other stuff.

And I think that's what I really want

you to learn. And this kind of training

is a great way to do that because as you

go to failure with those closed chain

movements, push-ups and dips and

pull-ups and rows, you will learn what

it feels like and then you'll learn how

to chase that feeling in future. By the

way, thank you so much for watching this

one, guys. I really appreciate it. If

you enjoyed it, then please leave a like

and share it around. Helps me out

immensely. And I'll see you next time.

Bye for now.