If you’ve ever been on a diet, you know a calorie deficit is necessary to keep making progress.
But I’d rather create a deficit through training than eating celery sticks and doing rails Kate Moss style.
Want to oxidize more fat without eating less? Then you need to inhale more oxygen (EPOC).
Enter complexes, specifically Cinco Sets, which can be incorporated within your weight training program either as a finisher or a complete workout when pressed for time.
One way of performing a Cinco Set is by way of Escalating Density Training (EDT), which Charles Staley is credited with inventing.
The basic principle is that you perform as many reps as you can in a given time frame, instead of focusing on a set amount of reps per set.
Here’s where it gets trickier.
For your second round, repeat the exercises but increase the weight by at least 10%, trying to match or exceed the number of reps you managed in that same allotted work time during the first round with lighter weights.
Here’s how to implement a density training Cinco Set using a basic smith machine (no need to take up five machines in a busy gym).
Simply perform each exercise for 30 seconds, and then add weight and try to increase your reps on the second circuit.
Circuit 1
Javelin Overhead Press: 90 pounds for 30 seconds
Stiff-legged dead lifts: 90 pounds for 30 seconds
Inverted Rows: BW for 30 seconds
Explosive Push Ups: BW for 30 seconds
Bicycle Kicks: BW for 30 seconds
Circuit 2
Javelin Overhead Press: 110 pounds for 30 seconds
Stiff-legged dead lifts: 110 pounds for 30 seconds
Inverted Rows: BW + weight vest for 30 seconds
Explosive Push Ups: BW + weight vest for 30 seconds
Bicycle Kicks: BW for 30 seconds (increase reps)
Barbell Complexes
In Cinco Set fashion, you’ll be doing 5 exercises in sequence without putting the bar down.
For a full body routine to try, pair floor deadlifts, overhead presses, barbell rows, stiff-legged deadlifts, and floor barbell bench presses without racking the bar as the video below demonstrates.
Any training methodologies you swear by for fat loss that doesn’t involve starving yourself? Share them in the comments, love bird.
