Build Muscle and Burn Fat With EDT

Escalating Density Training. Sounds promising, does it not? Well, here’s my story before I delve deeper into the almighty glory and mystique that it is. Yesterday marked my bi-weekly trip to Barnes and Noble and I happened to catch a glimpse of an interesting book called Muscle Logic. Had it been any ol’ book, I’d have put it back on the shelf, but I noticed it was written by Charles Staley. If you haven’t heard of the man, he’s a nationally-recognized training coach, and a darn good one I might add (he’s got plenty of credentials to go along with his ways too). He is certainly visionary and his methods produce incredible results. Anyway, I skimmed through the book and ran up to the counter to buy it. I found what I was looking for.

Before my trip to the bookstore, I was lingering between all these different training methods we have today. Let’s see, there’s the mediocre-at-best, purely overtraining, for-steroid-users-only magazine routines. There’s German Volume Training (GVT). There’s High-Intensity Training (HIT). There’s DOGGCRAPP Training (DC). There’s Hypertrophy-Specific Training (HST). There’s Max-OT. There’s Westside Training. There’s Power/Rep Range/Shock (P/RR/S). There’s Starr’s 5×5. And then there’s Escalating Density Training (we’ll call it EDT). And let me tell you, EDT is a different kind of beast.

EDT is the culmination of many age-old strength principles, which is perhaps why it is so effective. It goes by the Principle of Progressive Overload, the Principle of Specificity, the Principle of Variation, the Principle of Individuality, and several others, all which contribute to a highly functional short and long-term program.

Here’s How EDT Works:

• Every workout contains three 15-minute segments nicknamed “PR Zones.”
• Each PR Zone typically consists of two or three exercises in antagonist pairings (opposing muscles), performed in a superset-style fashion.
• In each 15-minute PR Zone, you set a stopwatch for 15 minutes and continuously switch between the two exercises with the goal of amassing as many reps in that time limit as you can.
• The exercises are performed at a weight that would be your 10-12 rep max.
• For the first exercise, you stop reps short of fatigue and switch to the next exercise in that PR Zone. After a few reps, you switch back to the first. Repeat until time is up.
• You log the total number of reps for the each exercise within each PR Zone. The objective is to accumulate more reps on your next session. If you end up with 20% more reps than your last workout, you increase the weight.

It’s a bit confusing at first since it’s a relatively uncommon style of lifting, but once you grasp the basics and perform your first workout, you’ll understand just how much more simple it is than regular routines to gauge your progress.

Here’s an EDT routine written up by Staley as per T-Nation.com:

EDT Program

Day One (Monday)

First 15-Minute Segment:

• A-1: Machine Bench Press

• A-2: Straight Barbell Curl

Second 15-Minute Segment:

• A-1: Pec Dec

• A-2: EZ-Bar Preacher Curl

Third 15-Minute Segment:

• A-1: Flat Dumbbell Flye

• A-2: Left Arm Preacher Curl

• A-3: Right Arm Preacher Curl

Day Two (Wednesday)

First 15-Minute Segment:

• A-1: Machine Hack Squat, Feet Low on Platform, Heels-Elevated

• A-2: Seated (Supine) Leg Curl

Second 15-Minute Segment:

• A-1: Left Leg Stationary Lunge (i.e., quad emphasis)

• A-2: Right Leg Stationary Lunge (i.e., quad emphasis)

Note: Assume a short stance that promotes maximal flexion of the front knee and use dumbbells for additional loading, if needed.

Third 15-Minute Segment:

• A-1: High Cable Crunch

• A-2: Back Extension

Day Three (Friday)

First 15-Minute Segment:

• A-1: Close, Parallel-Grip Pullup

• A-2: Lying EZ-Bar Tricep Extension

Second 15-Minute Segment:

• A-1: Wide-Grip, Straight-Arm Pushdown

• A-2: Bench Dips

Third 15-Minute Segment:

• A-1: Machine Seated Row

• A-2: Reverse-Grip Tricep Pushdowns

Additional Notes

• Taking 500 mg of vitamin C a few hours prior to the workout may help to reduce post workout soreness.

• Workouts should be performed on non-consecutive days (e.g., Monday, Wednesday, Friday.)

• I recommend 10-15 minutes of light to moderate cardio, followed by 10-15 minutes of light stretching on “off” days for the purpose of promoting active recovery and reducing soreness.

• It’s OK to make exercise substitutions if you don’t have the equipment or experience required to perform a particular exercise. However, it must be kept in mind that EDT generates massive amounts of fatigue. Therefore, this program isn’t particularly suited to exercises that require high levels of skill and concentration (e.g., power cleans, squats, deadlifts, etc.). Please use good judgment and caution should you choose to make substitutions.

• Each workout consists of (3) 15-minute time frames separated by short (5-minute) rest periods. In each time frame, you’ll perform two exercises, for a total of 6 exercises per workout.

• In each time frame, the two exercises are performed in alternating fashion, back and forth, using the same weight for all sets, until the time frame has elapsed.

• After warming up the first exercise(s), select a load that approximates a 10-12RM for each exercise. Ideally, the weight used for each exercise should be equally difficult.

• Sets, reps, and rest intervals: Most people will find it most productive to do higher repetition (but not maximal effort) sets and shorter rests at the beginning, and then gradually progress to less reps per set and longer rest intervals as fatigue accumulates. As an example, you might begin by performing sets of 6 with very short (15-30 second) rests. As you begin to fatigue, you’ll increase your rest intervals as you drop down to sets of 4, then 2, and as the 15-minute time limit approaches, you might crank out a few singles in an effort of accomplish as many repetitions as possible in 15 minutes.

• Do not perform early sets to failure, or even near failure. My recommended starting point is to do 1/2 of what is possible (e.g., 5 reps with a 10RM weight) at the beginning of the time frame. As the time limit approaches however, you’ll find yourself working at or near failure as you attempt to break your rep record.

• Progression: Each time you repeat the workout; your objective is to simply perform more total repetitions in the same time frame. As soon as you can increase the total number of reps by 20% or more, start the next workout with 5% more weight and start over. Now pull out that stopwatch, let everybody around you know that you’re not available for schmoozing, and get to it!

The routine above is an absolute killer so you may want to start with lighter weights than you normally would, so you can establish a baseline that you can exceed on your next workout. If you want to know more about EDT, the science behind it, and how you can go about creating your own routines to follow, I recommend that you purchase the book:

Muscle Logic: Escalating Density Training by Charles Staley

If you are tired of the same old monotonous, boring workouts, give EDT a go. It’s a lot of fun pushing yourself to beat your PR’s and you’ll be glad you tried it!