2018 New Year's Challenge Week 5 Live Tutorial Transcript

Happy Sunday, JYM Army. I'll wait for other people to join in, but we'll be talking today about Week 5 of my New Year's Challenge using Oxford Drop Sets.

Now, we'll have five workouts this week. I'm going to be hitting them Monday—starting tomorrow, Monday through Friday—that gives me two active rest days on Saturday and Sunday before I then finish my final Week 6 of the New Year's Challenge with my Small Angles workout, which again is another five days of training—full-body system.

A Quick Oxford Overview

Let's talk about what does Oxford mean in weightlifting terminology? Well, there—for those of who are familiar with pyramid training, where you're actually changing the weight on each set—on the pyramids you have pyramid training where on each set it gets heavier.

DeLorme—for those of you who have been following me for a while now, I've talked about the DeLorme ascending pyramid. That means that each set gets heavier and heavier as you go, and typically that style of training you're not going to full failure on the previous sets before you get to your heaviest set. It's really designed for strength-building—not so much for muscle growth because, again, you're not fatiguing the muscle that much and pushing each set to complete failure.

Oxford, on the other hand, is a reverse or descending pyramid, meaning you start your first working set with the heaviest weight you're going to be using—and you take it to muscle failure. Then on the next two successive sets—you do three sets with the Oxford style—what you do is you get a rest—whatever your rest period is, it's up to you: One, two, three minutes, whatever you're going for—but you adjust your weight so that on Set 2 you're able to complete another 10 reps.

So, unlike doing my Shortcut to Size where Set 1 you keep the weight the same on all sets of the bench press—Set 2 you're going to use the same weight as you did in Set 1; Set 3 use the same weight—it doesn't matter how many reps you get, only that you hit the rep range in the first set.

Upping the Intensity with My Oxford Drop Set System

With this Oxford system, it's critical that you get all 10 reps on all 3 sets. So, each exercise you must complete 30 reps, which will be broken down into 3 sets of 10—but hold on, it gets far more intense than that. That's the standard Oxford method. Well, my style's called Oxford Drop Sets. And so what we're going to do instead of doing three normal sets we get no rest between those three sets.

So, in Workout 1, we're going to start with the bench press. So we're going to do two exercises and, in Workout 1, we're going to do bench press and the incline flye. Those are the two exercises. So I'm going to do 3 sets of 10—really, I'll demonstrate what those 3 sets look like—on the bench press, followed by 3 sets of 10 on the incline flye.

Now that's 20 exercises—sounds like a lot, right? Like I said, we get no rest. So these aren't true sets, the three sets. It's really essentially one set with—I don't know if you guys can see this—one set with two drop sets.

So it goes pretty fast. We're really only doing one set of the bench press and one set of incline flye, but they are intense sets because we have the two drop sets—and not just drop sets, but drop sets where we must complete all 10 reps.

Workout 1: Straight Oxford Drop Sets

I'm going to demonstrate for you what this looks like with the bench press. So I'm going to start my working set, I'm going to get 10 reps and then instead of resting I immediately strip enough weight off to be able to now get another 10 reps. And so you'll immediately go right into the next one.

And one more—I got 10 on that one, I'm going to strip the weight again—and you want to do this as quickly as possible. So now, one last set of 10 to do. But let's say I only got 7 reps on that last one, so I've only done 27. I'm now going to use rest-pause to complete the final 3 reps. That's 8...9...and let's say I can't get the 10th one—I'm going to put it down, rest-pause again...10.

So that's those three sets really look like. So it's fast. It's not going to be three true sets—it's basically one set with two very intense drop sets and possibly rest-pause. Then, you now move on to the next chest exercise which is going to be flyes on Workout 1—incline flyes.

That's the gist of the Oxford Drop Sets. How long do you want to rest between these two chest exercises? Up to you. Less rest, faster the workout, the more intense the workout—but the lighter weight you're going to use. So if you want to use heavier weight you can rest a little longer in between the two chest exercises and even in between moving from chest to back—pulldown being the first back exercise.

So that's really a snapshot of how you do these three sets using my Oxford Drop Set. Now, with Workout 1, like I said it's standard pretty much. We're doing bench press—so here, Workout 1, I've got a multi-joint exercise—the bench press, where I'm the strongest—followed by the flye, single-joint exercise after the chest is already gone through the bench press—hitting it, finishing off with flyes.

Reminder: Don't Be Afraid to Change it Up!

Most of the exercises in Workout 1 go multi-joint movement—except for something like the biceps, calves—multi-joint movement, single-joint movement. Workout 2 of the week, here, is basically a pre-exhaust version of Workout 1. So we're going to use the same exercises from Workout 1—and let me mention and remind you guys when I show exercises here it doesn't mean that you have to use that exact exercise.

Bench press—if you don't have a barbell to do the bench press like I demonstrated, use dumbbells. If you don't have dumbbells, use a smith machine. If you don't have a smith machine, use a regular machine. If you don't use a chest press machine, use bands. It doesn't matter what version you use as long as you're getting in two chest exercises.

Workout 2: Using Pre-Exhuast

Now obviously, with this one ideally you want to do the multi-joint with a single-joint because when we get to Workout 2 we're simply going to swap the order. So we're going to do the incline flye first—3 sets of 10—then followed by the bench press.

And you'll see that now with the pre-exhaust you have to use far less weight on the bench press than you used in Workout 1. However, you'll be able to use far more weight on the incline flye. So it's just a way for you guys to experience the difference between a pre-exhaust version and the regular version.

Workout 3: Compound Sets

Workout 3 gets a little trickier as well, because in Workout 3 now we're basically doing supersets, or compound sets. So here we're going to do the bench press with the incline flye, and I'm going to demonstrate how you do supersets—or compound sets, since it's the same muscle group; remember I talked about that during Week 2 with Full-Body Supersets. We had supersets, compound sets, extended sets. Here we're doing compound sets with the Oxford Drop Set system.

So what you're going to do in Workout 3 is instead of completing all three sets for just the bench press, you're going to do that first set—so this compound version is more real sets, because you're going to do set 1 for 10 on the bench press and then set 1 for the incline flye. Then you're going to go back to the bench press immediately after the flye—but again, you have to get all 30 reps.

This one is going to look more like this: You do 10 on the first exercise, that first set, and then immediately go into your flyes. Now I have incline flye, but just to keep this quick for demonstration purposes I'm going to show the regular flye. So then we go right into flyes for 10.

That's my 10 on flyes—now I would drop the weight and do another 10 on the bench press. But just to keep this quick, and the weight is pretty light for me—so I'm going to go right into—let's say I removed about 20 pounds or whatever I needed to be able to now get another 10.

Let's say that's 10—or, if not, I would do my rest-pause until I completed all 10 on the bench press, then immediately go into the second round of flyes. Probably lighter weight than set one because now I'm really fatigued from the first set of bench press and flyes, and the second set of the bench press.

So that's sort of the gist of doing the compound set version. Here, you get more real—it's really more three sets, but again because you're not stopping—you're going from bench press to flye, to bench press to flye, to bench press to flye—those sets are pretty intense.

Workout 4: Playing with Exercise Choice

Now, in Workout 4, we get to a more standard-style of the Oxford Drop Set. Similar to the first one, you're just going to do each exercise: Dumbbell bench press, you can do 3 sets of 10; machine bench press, 3 sets of 10. Then you move into back: Seated rows, 3 sets of 10—again, if you don't have these versions do a different version.

Or, if let's say you can't do any pressing because you have a shoulder injury and any pressing bothers you but flyes and cable crossovers are fine, use what you can as long as you're doing chest exercises. Ideally, you want to switch it up—and there is some method to this madness here of doing multi-joint exercises, because in Workout 5 we focus more on single-joint exercises.

But again, the real importance here is doing that technique, the Oxford Drop set—10, immediately strip the weight, another 10, immediately strip the weight, another 10. Doesn't matter what exercise you use for each muscle group, it's really the technique that matters.

Workout 5: Unilateral Movements

Now, one thing I will say about Workout 5 here, where you can see the asterisk here, is that these single-joint exercises are going to be done in a little different form. In Workout 5 we have dumbbell concentration curl, and so what you're going to do since these are single-joint—or I should say single-limb exercises—is instead of doing like you normally do when you do single-joint exercises—you do 10 on this arm, and then 10 on this arm, and go back and forth—you're going to do all 30 reps for one arm in a row, then switch to the other arm.

So with the concentration curl, it's going to look like this: 10 reps my first weight; now I'm going to put that weight down, immediately reach for a lighter weight, do another 10; that's 20, and drop it again to do my final 10 reps.

Now I go and do the same thing on the right arm, starting with the heaviest weight for 10. Then I keep going on the right arm, similar to the left arm until all 30 reps with all 3 weights are completed. Then you move on to the next exercise.

So that's how to do your Oxford Drop Sets single-arm exercises, whether it's a one-arm pulldown—it doesn't matter I started with the left arm, it's just my preference. You could start with the right arm, doesn't matter which arm you start with. Step-ups, same thing—you're going to be doing all 30 reps on one leg before you switch to the other leg.

One-arm rear delt cable flyes; we have one arm dumbbell shrugs, one arm overhead triceps extensions, the dumbbell concentration curl like I showed you. I did it seated. You guys have probably seen my videos, I prefer really doing it standing but just because of space issues here and the camera I did it seated. Dumbbell wrist curl, and then we have oblique cable pushdowns for the obliques.

Recapping Week 5's Program

So all those, you do that one side all 30 reps before switching to the other side. And then remember, with the compound workout—Workout 3—you're doing one set for bench press, then one set for flye, then back to bench press, back to flye, bench press, flye.

And then just Workout 1 and 2 I'm just demonstrating standard Oxfords but it's the order of the exercises, where in Workout 2 I throw in a bit of pre-exhaust just so you guys can get a feel of what it's like when all you simply do is swap exercise order—makes a big difference.

Still Have Questions? You Know Where to Find Me...

So this is Oxford Drop Sets. I hope the demonstration was helpful for you guys. Remember, you guys have instant access to me on social media through Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, the JYM Army Facebook group page—you can get your answers there.

But if you have specific questions about this week—Week 5, the Oxford Drop Sets—for my New Year's Challenge, leave your comments right here. I'll post this video onto my Facebook page, and then you guys can go back and ask questions, and I will get you an answer.  It's easy to find your questions when you do it that way.

So any questions you have—and again, anybody who's tuning in late, remember I post these live sessions to my Facebook page so you can go back and watch; and even on Instagram, it's saved for a while. You just can't post any questions there for me to answer, which is why I prefer Facebook because I can go back and get you guys the answers later on.

Sign Ups for the Challenge Are Over—But the Program is Yours Year Round

So Oxford Drop Sets—now the New Year's Challenge, your chance to sign up ended January 31st. So now that it's February, you can't sign up for the challenge. However, this is Train with Jim. The workouts are free. In fact, some of you may have already done some of these workouts prior when I did Oxford Drop Sets a few months back. Now that I'm doing it again with the challenge these are pretty much the same workouts that we're doing.

Those of you who are familiar with it may have seen this already, but what you're going to do is you're just going to go to JimStoppani.com—you'll see, I'll put up the link—it's the New Year's Challenge overview page. You click on that, you'll find each one of these weeks with a clickable link. You can go in, read about 5x5, see all the workouts—all free. You can go in, see Full-Body Supersets, see all the workouts, follow it completely free.

You just can't participate in the challenge for a chance to win a trip out here to L.A. to hang out with me, train with me, eat with me, have fun, eat some donuts with me, and all the JYM gear, the swag, and the supplements. But you can still train along with these workouts. They're completely free.

So like I said, head to JimStoppani.com—I'll be posting a link as well all week—and find my New Year's Challenge program overview. It's got all the workouts in there with clickable links; completely free, guys.

You can still train with me, Train with Jim, while I'm going through the challenge. Other people who started the challenge later may be a bit behind me—not up to Oxford Drop Sets—but you guys can go back, watch all my live tutorials on each one of these for some tips and some updates. Obviously, you want to read the programs' overviews, I explain how to do Speed Sets, GVT—my German Volume Training—but the little live tutorials help because I typically show you a little demo and I give you some other tips.

Want Even Better Results? Add Cardioacceleration!

For example: If you want to do—I don't do cardioacceleration, and so one of the biggest questions I get is, "Well, does that mean no one needs to do cardioacceleration, and everybody can just skip cardio and just do full-body training and get as shredded as possible?" No. Can you? Very possibly.

It works well for me with my diet, with my lifestyle I'm able to maintain very low body fat with absolutely no cardio, no cardioacceleration. Again, it's due to the knee—I'm limited on what I can do for leg moves, and since most cardioacceleration exercises tend to be lower body, I'm pretty limited other than battle ropes and other things like that. So right now, I'm not doing any cardioacceleration—however, that doesn't mean that you can't or you may not need to.

You may not be as lucky as me, and find—now, likely you will find exaggerated fat loss with full-body training because of the way it keeps metabolism revved up. However, there's still a factor of calorie burn, calorie in and calorie out. So the more you do, clearly, the more you burn, the faster your fat loss.

So if you want to add cardioacceleration, I would definitely consider adding it between these exercises. Bench press, incline flye—you can do cardioacceleration when you're done with the bench press before you move on to incline flye. Do cardioacceleration after the flye before you move on to pulldown. You'll get about somewhere around 20 minutes of cardioacceleration with these workouts if you do it that way.

It'd be different here on the superset or the compound sets, you'd only get about 10 because you're not going to be doing any cardioacceleration between the supersets. But if you need extra—you find you've only got 10 minutes total of cardioacceleration—you could add some tabatas at the end, some HIIT at the end, some HIIT at another time that day—it's up to you—or another form of cardio.

So feel free to add in, like I said, that cardioacceleration if you want. Or, like I said, what I will do is I don't even rest. I'll just go bench press right into the flye into pulldown—straight through, no rest between any of those exercises, and that's been sufficient enough for me to be able to maintain about 4% body fat.

But again, that may not be the case for you, or you just may want to do—you love doing cardioacceleration. I love it, if it wasn't for the knee I would probably still be doing cardioacceleration just to keep myself moving and keep the intensity of the workouts up. But I'm not able to do that, so I don't. Luckily, it doesn't impact my body fat level.

Join in and Be My Training Partner

So there you go—Oxford Drop Sets starting tomorrow. Like I said, for those of you who haven't joined the challenge but you want to get in just go to JimStoppani.com or tomorrow I will be posting the actual workout with a link. You can find it tomorrow morning as well, and you can train the same workout with me—this is the workout I'll be doing tomorrow.

You can train with me, long-distance training partners—that's really one of the many benefits of the Train with Jim series is that you guys are training with me, doing the same workouts on the same days that I'm doing, or just right behind me and following along—we're essentially long-distance training partners.

So, Oxford Drop Sets—thank you guys for joining in this Sunday. I will—today's my active rest day, so I will likely do possibly some tabatas. And when I say tabatas today it won't be your typical tabata-style stuff, it'll be more weight—I'll be doing tabatas with, say, like the bench press; tabatas with dumbbell lateral raises—that sort of thing. And you can find that on JimStoppani.com as well.

Stay Tuned for the Next Challenge!

As a matter of fact, after next week when I finish my Small Angles part of the challenge, that will be the end of the challenge and then I'll be bringing you some more Train with Jim techniques—we're going to start with tabatas. So we'll have a week of tabatas after next week, the following week in the Train with Jim series.

Then we'll get into, the next challenge that's going to be coming up will be—this is another one that I'll be doing along with you—will be a five-week strength challenge. This is an intense program, it's my Strength Countdown. Check for it very soon.

But this is my New Year's Challenge, Oxford Drop Sets, happy Sunday guys. For those of you getting ready to crush this one tomorrow, let's kill it together. I'll see you guys. Stay JYM Army Strong.

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