2018 New Year's Challenge Week 3 Live Tutorial Transcript

Hey JYM Army joining in. I'm going to do a tutorial on Week 3 of the New Year's Challenge, using my Speed Set System. 

I'll let a few people join in, And for those of you who have been waiting, I put a post up on Facebook notifying you a little while ago that I'd be going live around 2:30 pacific time. Had a little issue with my iPad but I'm here, ready to talk about Week 3 for those of you who are either getting ready to do Week 3 with me—I start Workout 1 tomorrow, of my Speed Set Training. 

It's Not Too Late – There's Still Time to Sign Up!

For those of you who may have just started the challenge, you can start any time from January 15th through the 31st. So you still have a day or so to join the challenge. Then you can go back, and when you get to Week 3 here you can review this tutorial because I'll keep this posted on the Facebook page where you can find it as a reference.

So I'm just letting a few more people join in. Remember now, like I said I'm currently in Week 3 here. We did 5x5s Week 1, my version of them. We did my Full-Body Superset System last week using supersets, compound sets, pre-exhaust compound sets, extended sets. And now we move into my Speed Set Training. 

Missed a Workout? Don't Sweat It!

Now, here we're doing 15 rep sets. So every set is going to be—if we come down here now, look at it—it's going to be five workouts this week. I'll be doing this Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday. 

I've talked before about the schedule here. You don't have to do five days in a row—if you need to take a break, that's fine. If you miss one of these don't worry, as well. You know, a lot of people who—especially those who aren't used to training this frequently—if you need to skip a day, or let's just say you missed Workout 3 one day—you just couldn't get to the gym, work got out of hand, family matters got out of hand, you literally ran from the moment you woke up to the time you're able to crash, no way you could've snuck in a workout—we all have those days. It happens. 

Let's say you missed that workout. Yeah, you could start Workout 3 tomorrow and then Workout 4 the next day, or you could just skip it—say, "Ok, missed that day. Tomorrow I'm doing Workout 4." Because remember, you're training the same muscle group every single day. 

So even if Wednesday comes around and you missed Wednesday, well you trained chest on Tuesday and you're going to train it on Thursday—same with shoulders, back—so you don't have to worry about having too many days off for any muscle group if you miss a workout. So don't kill yourself. If you miss a workout, no big deal. 

And like I said, for beginners as well—someone with less training experience—if you're going through the week and you know these five workouts are just going to kill you? Do four. Skip one of them, it's okay. Doesn't matter which one. You could even skip two, do three that week. 

Ideally, for the best results, you want to do all five workouts. But again, that depends on your experience, depends on your schedule, and it depends on that week. Some weeks are just bad weeks. That's what I like about the full-body—you miss a workout, no big deal. Don't worry about making up, just move on to the next workout. 

The Speed Set System Explained

So with my Speed Set, the system is pretty specific. We're going to be doing two sets per exercise, and remember that's ten exercises per workout—ten major muscle groups. I typically start with chest—pushing; then I go to back—pulling; then I typically give the upper body a break and go to legs—that's the third muscle group; then I go back to shoulders—fourth muscle group; then traps—fifth muscle group; calves—sixth muscle group; triceps—seventh; biceps—eighth; forearms—nine; and the abs—ten.

Ten exercises, two sets each using my Speed Set System where, again, 15 reps total—however, we're going to break those reps into three different tempos. So it's essentially 15 reps—one set—but it's really 3 micro-sets of five reps. We're going to do the first five fast and explosive. Then those next five reps—reps 6-10—we do super-slow, at a count of 5 on the negative—1...2...3...4...5—and 5 on the positive. Then when you complete those five, you just move to five normal-paced or whatever rep speed you can get to complete those final five reps.

You then take a rest—about a minute or so depending on how quick you want the workout to go—and then you repeat it again, same way. Then you move on to the next muscle group and the next exercise. 

Workout 1: It's All about Variety

So we start with—in Workout 1 here—Workout 1 is really about a variety of exercises. And so I want to show you that you can do this system on pretty much exercise: Bench press, cable rows, barbell squat. You can do dumbbell squat if you want; you can do machine bench press, shoulder press. You can do this with barbell, dumbbells, machine—it's up to you. 

Doesn't matter what version of these exercises you do on the first workout, I just want you to try a variety of equipment if you have it available. If you've only got dumbbells—you're training at home—great, you can do all dumbbells for all 5 workouts. Just mix up the exercises to try to mimic the ones that I do here. But you don't have to do the exact exercises I'm doing. 

It's another nice thing about whole-body training: Because we're doing the entire body, you can mix it up. If you want to work on your upper pecs more you can do reverse-grip bench press here instead of the regular bench press. Choice is yours, but make sure you're using the technique. That's what I'm going to demonstrate here for you on the bench press.

Not Entering the Challenge? You Can Still Do the Program!

Typically you're going to use somewhere, on your Speed Sets—and remember you guys have to read—go to JimStoppani.com, go to my Full-Body Speed Sets—it's completely free, anyone can go on there. You don't have to be a member, you can go and read about the technique and how to do it. 

You can even see the workouts. If you want to join the challenge, though, with a chance to win—come out, hang out with me, JYM supps, JYM swag—then you need to join the challenge. But you could still be doing these workouts on your own. Read the article, make sure you understand how to do the Speed Sets. 

The Science Behind Speed Set Benefits

The real benefit here is the three different rep tempos, with those first five—the fast reps—we're building that explosive power. Speed is power, and that power can relate to more strength on things like the bench press, squat, etc. meaning you're going to be lifting more weight than you normally are doing, meaning more overload placed on those muscle fibers. 

With the slow reps, we're increasing time under tension the muscle is under. So here, time under tension is great for muscle hypertrophy, muscle growth as we maximize that time that the muscle's under tension from that second phase of five reps. The last five are just to get them completed, to hit fatigue—whatever it takes to get those five reps completed.

Adjusting Weight Selection Throughout the Week

If you can't complete all five of the slow reps and/or all five of the normal reps on Set 1, then you know you need to reduce the weight for Set 2. If you do it all on Set 1 and can't complete them on Set 2, don't worry about it. As long as you got all five of the fast reps, just do as many of the slow reps as you can complete and then move to the normal reps with as many as you can complete.

Now, if you aren't able to complete all five of both sets, if you do that exercise again then use that as a reference point, thinking, "That might have been a little heavy, so maybe I should go a little lighter." Or, you might be thinking, "Now that I'm used to this system, I'm probably a little stronger now and I'll be able to get all five reps on all three of those rep—those different, even though it's one set—those three different rep speeds."

Let the Program Be Your Guide  – But Do What Works for You!

I'll talk about each of these workouts, because each one has a different focus, and again like I said that focus doesn't mean you have to do that. The first one, I'm using a variety of exercise. In Workout 2 I demonstrate the dumbbell version—doesn't mean you have to do dumbbells. 

I have reverse-grip dumbbell bench press. Do reverse-grip bench press, reverse-grip smith machine bench press, reverse-grip machine bench press—do regular-grip bench press—up to you. You don't have to follow what I do, I'm just trying to show you guys different ways to get in variety with exercise selection.

But also, what's nice here is when you're doing all dumbbells? You don't have to move around the gym a lot. So, what I'm trying to show you guys—for those of you have busy gyms—that you can do these workouts relatively quickly, in and out, by sticking with the same area, the same station if you will. I've got the dumbbell, just set up near the dumbbell station in the gym. You get your ten exercises all banged out. 

Unilateral one here, I'm going to show you—we'll talk about that in a minute. But then I also have one in a power rack, you guys have seen my power rack workouts. I've demonstrated a few here during this challenge, right here in this power rack. So Workout 4 is my power rack version, and Workout 5 is an all-cable version—get right in the cable station, you don't have to move to get it all done.

Again, these are just examples for you to see how you can streamline some of these workouts. Doesn't mean you need to do all cables that day. You don't have to any cables that day if you don't want to. Or, like I said, if you're limited in equipment stick with the dumbbells. These are just examples. Doesn't mean you've got to do these exact exercises in these workouts. 

Modify—make sure you're picking ten exercises to hit those ten major muscle groups. If you want to pick ones that focus on the weak areas that you have, that's great—or on the equipment limitations that you have. Perfectly fine, just use the Speed Set System. That's really what matters. 

The Speed Set System in Action

Let me get to that Speed Set System. I'm going to demonstrate on the bench press here—I've got about 155lbs, so we'll see—I typically recommend somewhere around 50% of your 10-rep max, that's a good starting weight for you. Find what you can get for about 10 reps on the exercise, take half of that and that's the weight you're going to use. About—you can go a little heavier, maybe even a little lighter. I'm going to be doing a bit heavier. 

[Video Difficulties]

That's five, now I've just got to complete five at any pace I can go. And 15 reps, so now what I would do is take a rest—about a minute rest or less; depends, it's up to you—stick with that same weight, do another set. Two sets per exercise, then I'm going to move on to back.

If you want to do more than two sets, feel free to do three sets—but again, you've got ten different muscle groups to train, ten different exercises, so mind the time and the intensity. You'll really feel this differently. So two sets per muscle group.

Workout 2: Focusing on Dumbbells

Now in Workout 2, as I said, this is my dumbbell-focused—it's all dumbbells. Again, this is just to show you guys a variety of ways and equipment that you can use, and ways to sort of streamline these workouts so you get in and out of there quick. Also shows—for those of you who are limited to exercise equipment. 

Workout 3: Unilateral Movements

In Workout 3 here, we go into unilateral exercises. And so I demonstrate how—and you can watch my video on the unilateral versions—but you know, I'll just demonstrate real quickly with wrist curls.

So you're just going to swap. You're going to do the 5 reps—so basically it's 3 sets of 5—first five, super quick—1, 2, 3, 4, 5—explosive reps. We go to the next arm—1, 2, 3, 4, 5. Now I'm back to the left arm, now I do my slow reps—1...2...3...4...5, etc—switch arms. Now back to the left arm, and now we do the five normal-paced reps. This weight is a little light for me, but you get the point—and then back to the right arm, and finish 5 reps on that arm. 

So that's the unilateral version—just to mix it up. Now I will say, with the unilateral version you're not going immediately into that next style of reps. With the bench press, you did five fast, then immediately into five slow. Here, you're doing each arm once at a time. So you get to five on this arm, it now gets a rest after those five fast reps while the other arm is training before it has to do the slow reps. 

You'll probably be able to do a bit more weight with the unilateral version than with bilateral versions, so I would look somewhere around 60-70% of your 10-rep max for the unilateral version. Watch my video—I have at least two videos on my YouTube channel about speed sets: One about using it while you're on the road, the other about doing it unilaterally, so you can see me talk about that as well.

Workouts 4 and 5: Power Rack and Cable Exercises

Workout 4, we focus on the power rack—or I should say, I focus on the power rack. Get everything done right here in the power rack—ten exercises, bang them out. Then in Workout 5, I show you a cable version—again, the concept here is to get in and out of the gym. One station—get all ten exercises. 

And what's nice here is you're getting a variety of exercise equipment here: Cables, barbells, machines, dumbbells. It makes for a nice variety, and then when you look at the New Year's Challenge over the six weeks—speaking of variety, each and every week we're taking on a new training style. 

This really is a program all about variety, and that's really what I'm about as well—using the variety of tools that we have because they all will instigate muscle growth a little bit differently. Little, small angles, small changes, can make big differences.

Challenge Recap

So that's really my Speed Set week in a nutshell here, Week 3 of my New Year's Challenge. Like I said, you still have until January 31st—today is Sunday—so you don't have much time to join but if you really want to start 2018 off on the right foot, this is the program that you want to jump into. And like I said, you have time still to join and get started and basically be my training partner. 

If you're starting this week, we'll start with the 5x5 Full-Blown and then you'll catch up to me. For those of you—and I see you guys online, I see the photos, I see your second-week photos that have been posted already. Some JYM Army members posted their second-week photos even before I did last weekend. So I'm watching you guys, and I appreciate having you all as my training partners.

Even for those of you who don't get to train with me during the Speed Sets—whether you're back at the 5x5 Full-Blown or not—you're still training with me, you're just training a few weeks behind me. But you can see everything I've done—go to my social media pages, go back two weeks and you can see all my posts and all my tips that I give to the JYM Army members who are following the program along with me.

Still Have Questions? Fire Away!

Now, if you have any questions regarding—try to focus here on the Challenge, this is what this post is—I will take this live video feed and post it on my Facebook page so it's there for you guys to go back and watch at your leisure any time you want, and if you have a question post it right there under that video and I'll get you guys an answer.

As you go along with the challenge or any one of my programs—or really any program, any program you're doing out there—any questions you have about training, nutrition, supplements, you guys know where to get me—social media. I'm always here getting you guys the answers that will help you reach your goals, if not deliver you the programs that are going to do it for you.

Showing Off Results – Photoshoot Prep

So, New Year's Challenge Week 3, I'm excited to start—I love the Speed Set Training. I really like, I will say—I'm trying to end, I've got to run here, it's after 4 and I have a Bodybuilding.com shoot this week, so today's carb load day. I just finished my carb depletion, I'm probably down to about 205lbs actually right now—all mainly water weight, just peeing out all that water from the glycogen that's stored in your muscles which get carb depleted—so I've lost a lot of water weight, if you will, but by Tuesday I'll be back up to about 220lbs. 

It's water weight, guys, that's the little secrets that we do to stay in shape, because I shoot all the time and I stay in shape year round, and I'm very sodium sensitive—and you'll hear a lot of debating about whether or not you need to drop sodium and water. Anybody who tells you not to simply doesn't really understand fluid balance. 

Now, I'm actually involved in a research project on the way that I prep for my shoots. University of Arkansas, their fluid lab—anyone, any expert out there is telling you that you don't need to manipulate sodium or water has no idea about sodium balance. And the other thing I will say is that sodium and fluid balance is not nutrition—you'll hear a lot of nutritionists talking about sodium and fluid—it's not, it's physiology. 

It's simple physiology, and unless you've studied fluid balance in a lab like I did—remember I studied, at the University of Connecticut, fluid balance for over four years. One of the projects was for the department of defense. It makes a big difference, and you can see it in my Before and After when I do my prep. The nice thing is, for you guys, you can get my prep for free: You go to JimStoppani.com or JYMSupplementScience.com, look for "Reach Your Peak". It's my steps to prep for either a photo shoot, a contest, or whatever it is that you want to look your best in. 

So like I said, I'm going to go start carbing up and start loading some water back into my muscles—not under the skin, but under the muscles by carb loading. That glycogen helps pull water into the muscle, where you want it. That's where you want your water, you want it in the muscle. Remember muscle is a large percentage of water—the more water you have inside the muscle, the bigger and fuller they are. 

Last Chance to Join the Challenge and Be My Training Partner!

But anyway—so Speed Sets, I'm into Week 3. You can start Week 1, this is I think your last week to start it up and get going, get your Before photo up there. Today is Sunday, so I will snap my Week 2 photo update here and post that as well. I'll be looking for my training partners who have also been following along with me who are posting their photos. So I'll check you guys out as well. Check out my photo, JimStoppani.com, and as always guys stay JYM Army Strong. Have a great weekend, guys, I will see you real soon. 

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