4 to 6 - 6 to 9 - 2 to 3 Minutes - 30 to 40 Minutes - 5 to 7 Days
Max-OT follows a specific and proven set of parameters that are key to maximizing muscle growth. These specific parameters are the underlying core of Max-OT's physiological impact on muscle. If you remember one thing from this lesson remember this - a muscle will only adapt (grow) if it is forced to do so. The mechanics of Max-OT's are designed to force muscle to grow each and every workout. As far as I am concerned, if you aren't growing from each workout you're wasting your time. In a nut shell, but nowhere near complete, you can summarize Max-OT like this:

1. Each workout should last approximately 30 to 40 minutes.
2. Train only 1 or 2 muscle groups per workout/day.
3. Do 6 to 9 total heavy sets per muscle group.
4. Do 4 to 6 reps per set.
5. Rest 2 to 3 minutes between sets. (STR)
6. Train each muscle group once every 5 to 7 days. (ITR)
7. Take a 1 week break from training every 8 to 10 weeks.

As you can see there is a small bit of leeway in each of these rules. A very small bit. Max-OT is designed specifically around these parameters. To be completely successful and get the maximum benefits from Max-OT you must follow these rules exactly as they are presented. You cannot adapt the rules you like and discard the ones you don't. Each parameter depends on and works with the other parameters. Each workout should last approximately 30 to 40 minutes. If your workouts are lasting more than 40 minutes something is wrong. In fact, they should be much closer to 30 minutes than 40 minutes. Now I understand there are situations at certain gyms - crowds - that make this a tough proposition, but it's very important that your workout is completed in this duration of time. If that means finding another gym to train at then start looking. If you are training with more than one workout partner and this extra man is stretching your workout then you need to make adjustments - lose the third wheel. This imposed time limit fits neatly into Max-OT's fundamental principle - Intensity. Max-OT defined intensity is "Maximum muscle overload in the minimum amount of time." The Max-OT 30 to 40 minute workout offers the following benefits: It's much more feasible to maintain maximum mental and physical intensity for 30 to 40 minutes than for 90 minutes. In fact, after 30 minutes mental focus and intensity start to decline rapidly. Training for 30 to 40 minutes maximizes hormonal spikes related to high-intensity training. Max-OT training maximizes key hormonal output based on intensity and duration. Training for 30 to 40 minutes optimizes the "anabolic-window" high-intensity training provides. Going beyond the 40 minute threshold places you outside the optimum hormonal response time. Training beyond 40 minutes increases the risk of over-training and increases catabolic hormone secretion. As you drift outside the "anabolic-window" you enter a detrimental "catabolic" phase. Training beyond 40 minutes decreases anabolic activity. So as you can see, there are physiological advantages to keeping your workout in the 30 to 40 minute range. And there are definite physiological disadvantages to training beyond 40 minutes. Max-OT is all about efficiency. You'll see the word efficiency used many times throughout this course. Train only 1 or 2 muscle groups per workout/day. Max-OT training involves maximum muscle fiber stimulation and overload in a minimum amount of time. In order to accomplish this, adjustments must be made to achieve these objectives within the desired "optimal-time" parameter. Training one muscle group per workout is paramount to the Max-OT principles as it optimizes key physiological and psychological high-points designed to extract the greatest effect from your training. Every time you train the Max-OT way, you leave the gym fully confident that you performed a workout that will result in muscle growth. The Max-OT "one body-part per day" principle takes advantage of the "duration of maximum intensity" that occurs both physically and mentally when you train. By pre-establishing in your mind that you will only be training 1 muscle group you are able to generate much greater mental focus and intensity. This psychological "edge" directly and favorably impacts physical intensity output. Bottom line, you train each muscle group much harder, achieve greater muscle fiber contraction, greater overload, and spark more muscle growth by establishing 100% physical intensity and 100% mental focus.

Do 6 to 9 total heavy sets per muscle group. For each muscle group you train Max-OT principles stipulate between 6 and 9 total "heavy" sets. That's total heavy sets. No matter how many exercises you do, you will only do between 6 and 9 total heavy sets per muscle group.

What's a Max-OT "heavy" set? A Max-OT heavy set is a set done with a weight that will allow at least 4 reps, but no more than 6 reps. This is very important and fundamental to Max-OT.

What's a Max-OT set? A Max-OT set is a set performed to "positive failure" with a heavy weight for 4 to 6 reps. In other words, a warm-up set is not a "Max-OT set". It is a warm-up set and that's it. So don't count your warm-up sets as part of your 6 to 9 sets per body part. This is important.

What is "Positive-Failure"? Positive failure is when a set is performed to the positive limit of muscle exhaustion. In other words, you are done with a set when you are no longer able to complete a rep on your own. This positive-failure should occur between the fourth and sixth rep. Max-OT does not employ forced reps beyond maybe partial help on the last rep of a set. Contrary to what most have been led to believe, forced reps are counter productive to building muscle. They artificially fatigue the muscle, deplete muscle energy stores, and produce non-progressive overload just to name a few. How many times have you seen people in the gym training and one guy's spotting another and yelling in his face to do two more reps when he really should have stopped two reps ago. Do not do forced reps.

Do 4 to 6 reps per set. This is the heart of Max-OT. You will do 4 to 6 reps on virtually all lifts. There will be some lifts that you will do a little more reps on, but only a few. The 4 to 6 rep range is important and critical to success of Max-OT. We will go deeper into the understanding of this further in the course, but for right now you need to ingrain this "4 to 6 reps" into your mind.

What is meant by 4 to 6? When I say to do between 4 and 6 reps, this means that you will use a weight that is light enough to allow you to getat least 4 reps, but is also heavy enough to where you cannot do any more than 6 reps. If you can't do 4 reps, then the weight is too heavy. If you can do more than 6 reps, then the weight is too light. This is important and is critical component of Max-OT. 4 to 6 reps is the "ideal" rep scheme for building muscle. It allows maximum muscle fiber overload and maximum muscle fiber recruitment.

Intensity

A big advantage (aside from the physiological benefits) is that it's much easier to mentally focus your energy on a set of 4 to 6 reps than it is on a set of 10 to 12 reps. Knowing that your set will be short and intense will allow you to generate maximum mental intensity, maximum muscle contraction, and maximum muscular force. Max-OT, in itself, is a more productive muscle building approach that literally acts synergistically with each technique, component, and principle to exponentially accelerate your results. Once you understand that heavy weight is the most influential stimulus for muscle growth, you will continue to strive for greater overload. You will continue to get bigger and stronger in less time.

Rest 2 to 3 Minutes Between Sets - STR. Max-OT, as its name inspires, is all about maximum intensity and maximum overload for maximum results. Building on the principle of lifting with maximum intensity and overload for 4 to 6 reps, between set recovery is very important. I call this "Short Term Recovery" - STR. As you perform reps with heavy weight many physiological reactions are taking place to make all this happen. Muscle contraction takes cellular energy, oxygen, chemical reactions within the cells, and a host of other molecular activities. As each rep is performed you deplete your muscles' capacity to contract with the same force as with the first rep. By the time you get to the 5th rep you have tapped out your muscle intracellular energy capacity. This is Max-OT. It's pushing a muscle to this extreme that produces results. Recovery between sets allows you to repeat this process until enough overload volume has been performed to stimulate and force new muscle growth. The idea of maximum recovery between sets is to maximize your muscles ability to lift maximum weight during the next set. Notice the word "maximum" used a lot here? Between set recovery should last about 2 to 3 minutes. This amount of time allows the muscle to recover its intra-cellular energy stores and flush any lactate out of the muscle that's hanging around from the previous set to restore its anaerobic capacity. Now between set recovery will vary between individuals. Some people just recover much faster than others. As I pointed out earlier you want to strive for is recovery that will allow you to lift the maximum amount of weight for your next set. For some this is 90 seconds, for others it's the entire 3 minutes - sometimes even longer. It's important to be fully recovered before your next set because your ability to maximize the overload on the muscle will directly reflect in the muscle growth it produces. This critical between set recovery phase (STR) is exactly why Max-OT does not incorporate "super-sets", "pre-exhaustion", or other fatigue inducing techniques. We'll get deeper into later, but realize right now that fatigue does not build muscle - overload builds muscle. Fatigue simply fatigues. Once a muscle is fatigued it can't be properly overloaded. Most all lifters confuse fatigue with overload. This will take some logical thinking on your part to separate the two - again because of all the miss-information published in the magazines. Things like "feel the burn" are not what building muscle is about.

Train each muscle group once every 5 to 7 days. Here we go from "immediate" between set muscle recovery (STR) to "intermediate" recovery (ITR) - the recovery between training sessions of the same muscle group. Example: The time between one leg workout until your next leg workout. This is very, very important and one of the major components responsible for facilitating the muscle growth process. Recovery. How many times have you heard this word? Do you really understand what it means and what impact it has on muscle growth? I can answer that with one word -everything. Complete recovery of each muscle group after a Max-OT training session before the same muscle group is subjected to overload again is of equal importance to the overall results as the actual training itself. Recuperation is everything. There are many things you can do to enhance recovery. Nutritional advances have made this a "no-brainer" and almost foolproof process. We will get into that in greater detail later. Right now we are primarily concerned with the "time" between workouts to allow for full muscle recovery. Most training programs have you training way too often. This habit is to hard break. Building muscle is an "excess-endeavor". You always want more. This being a major motivation, it's against normal thought to - do less to get more. The muscle growth process does not occur in the gym. Let me repeat, muscle growth does not occur in the gym. Muscle growth occurs during the recovery period - the critical time between workouts of the same muscle groups. As a result of overload, muscle must adapt to compensate for future overload. This recovery period is the time when muscle is recuperating, growing, and becoming stronger in preparation for more overload. Adapting. If a muscle is not allowed to fully recover between workouts muscle growth will be impeded, over-training will occur, and muscle breakdown will be inevitable. You will become stagnated. Muscle mass and strength will more than likely decrease. Energy levels will dwindle, appetite will lessen, and motivation will disappear.

Recuperation

As you can see, recovery between workouts is absolutely critical for muscle growth success as well as for optimal health and well being. This is why a major component of Max-OT training is to optimize recovery between workouts. Allowing 5 to 6 full days between training of the same muscle group is essential for full and complete recuperation. Recuperating fully leads to maximum muscle growth. Incomplete recuperation leads to muscle and strength breakdown. As I said earlier, most training programs have you training far too much. The days of training the same muscle group on Thursday that you trained on Monday are long gone. Max-OT takes the elements of intensity and overload and maximizes the recovery the implementation of these two growth promoting elements requires. Every element of Max-OT is designed to potentiate and synergistically work with the program as a whole. The longer recovery time is necessary to allow for full recovery from the higher than normal muscle fiber stimulation that Max-OT generates. Max-OT style training places much greater demands on muscle recovery. Greater muscle fiber stimulation and maximum recovery will lead to maximum muscle growth and strength increases. This is what Max-OT is all about.

Take a 1 Week Break From Training Every 8 to 10 Weeks. Make no mistake about it. Max-OT is a brutal form of training. It's heavy. It's intense. It's result producing. It encompasses a total approach. It's not just the training part of the equation. It's the mental approach, the nutritional approach, the timing aspect, the exercise techniques all rolled into one. Understand that muscle growth and strength enhancement doesn't happen by accident. All in all, muscles beyond maturity do not want to grow. You must force a muscle to grow. It must be subjected to a stimulus that compels it to adapt and grow. There must be a reason for a muscle to grow or it won't. And, the more effectively you nurture this growth the greater the results you will experience. As I discussed earlier, recuperation is of vital importance to muscle growth. Recuperation will determine how well your muscles respond to Max-OT training. There are 4 important "time-spans" of recuperation:

1. Short Term Recuperation (STR) - Between sets.
2. Intermediate Term Recuperation (ITR) - Between workouts.
3. Muscle Specific Recuperation (MSR) - Between identical workouts.
4. Cyclical Recuperation (CR) - Between Max-OT Training cycles.

Taking a week off from training every 8 to 10 weeks is very important for overall recuperation and muscle growth. Many people have a psychological barrier to taking time off from training. They feel like they are going to shrink. Not so. In fact, with Max-OT, after your week off for CR you will usually come back bigger and stronger. This week off allows your body to repair and grow. It is literally recovering from 8 or 10 straight weeks of heavy training. Fed properly, your body during this CR phase will be in a very high "anabolic" state. Muscle growth and repair will be constant 24 hours a day. One very important thing, well, actually two. Do not do any type of strenuous aerobic or anaerobic activity during this week. You don't have to be a slug, but refrain from any exhausting or physically taxing activities. This is a recuperation week that is a key element in Max-OT. Also, you should consume plenty of lean protein during this CR as well. When you take a week off from training you still need to eat and supplement properly for growth to occur. In fact, is vitally import during this phase.
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