Christian Thibaudeau - The Reality Show Mass Circuit

This looks like my kind of workout -- brutal and painful. As you can see in the picture above, Thibs practices what he preaches.

Mondays With Thibs: The Reality Show Mass Circuit
by Christian Thibaudeau

Don't worry, I haven't turned metrosexual on you. I can't name a single one of those reality show "stars," or even one such show for that matter.

However, despite my limited pop culture knowledge, there's one thing I know about these shows: They're all based on the process of elimination. That is, every week or so, one lousy participant is turned into a laughing stock and dropped out on their ass.

This mass-building workout taps into that whole process of elimination. However, this isn't to throw out the lousiest exercise, but rather a way to autoregulate the training volume of the session (autoregulating means adapting the volume and intensity of the work according to your daily capacities).

This is accomplished by performing a series of four basic strength exercises in the form of a circuit. Between each station, there's also an abdominal exercise, which is used as your rest period (that and the short period of time it takes to move from one station to the next, adjust the weight, and go).

Casting the Exercises

There are two basic exercise options to choose from. Option A is for those who are comfortable with the Olympic lifts, while Option B is for those who aren't quite ready for cleaning and jerking.

Option A

Bench press
Power clean from the hang
Push press (or push jerk)
Snatch-grip deadlift

Option B

Bench press
Front squat
Standing military press
Snatch-grip deadlift

The number of reps per set is 4 to 6. For your first set, start with a load you can lift for 8 to 10 relatively comfortable reps (that should be around 70 to 75% of your maximum).

With each set of an exercise, you'll add 10 pounds and continue to include the movement in the circuit as long as you can get 4 good repetitions.

Closed-Circuit Workouts: How They'll Look

Say you start the first circuit by doing:

1) Bench press (200 pounds for 6 reps)
2) Abdominal movement (e.g. Swiss ball crunch)
3) Power clean from the hang (135 pounds for 6 reps)
4) Abdominal movement (e.g. V-crunches)
5) Push press (135 pounds for 6 reps)
6) Abdominal movement (e.g. Garhammer raise)
7) Snatch-grip deadlift (275 pounds for 6 reps)

Rest 60 to 90 seconds

Now that you've completed one circuit, add 10 pounds to each exercise. So, the second circuit might look like this:

1) Bench press (210 pounds for 6 reps)
2) Abdominal movement (e.g. Swiss ball crunch)
3) Power clean from the hang (145 pounds for 5 reps)
4) Abdominal movement (e.g. V-crunches)
5) Push press (145 pounds for 5 reps)
6) Abdominal movement (e.g. Garhammer raise)
7) Snatch-grip deadlift (285 pounds for 6 reps)

Rest 60 to 90 seconds

As you can see, in the example, our star only got 5 reps on the power clean and push press, but that's still enough to keep them in for the next circuit.

Power clean from the hang

Again, add 10 pounds to each movement and start a third circuit.

Now, if there comes a point where you fail to get at least 4 good reps, this exercise will be dropped on the upcoming circuit.

For example, let's say that on the third circuit you do:

1) Bench press (220 pounds for 5 reps)
2) Abdominal movement (e.g. Swiss ball crunch)
3) Power clean from the hang (155 pounds for 2 reps)
4) Abdominal movement (e.g. V-crunches)
5) Push press (155 pounds for 4 reps)
6) Abdominal movement (e.g. Garhammer raise)
7) Snatch-grip deadlift (295 pounds for 5 reps)

Rest 60 to 90 seconds

You didn't get at least 4 reps on the power clean, so this exercise (and its following ab movement) will be dropped. The fourth circuit will now only include the bench press, push press, and snatch-grip deadlift. Once again, pop 10 more pounds on the remaining lifts.

So, moving on to the fourth circuit:

1) Bench press (230 pounds for 4 reps)
2) Abdominal movement (e.g. Swiss ball crunch)
3) Push press (165 pounds for 2 reps)
4) Abdominal movement (e.g. Garhammer raise)
5) Snatch-grip deadlift (305 pounds for 4 reps)

Rest 60 to 90 seconds

The push press now becomes our second elimination, which means that we keep only the bench press and snatch-grip deadlift (to which we add 10 more pounds).

In this example, the push press is the second exercise booted.

The fifth circuit, then, may look something like this:

1) Bench press (240 pounds for 3 reps)
2) Abdominal movement (e.g. Swiss ball crunch)
3) Snatch-grip deadlift (315 pounds for 4 reps)

Rest 60 to 90 seconds

Game over for the bench! Now you only have the snatch-grip deadlift left. Up it by 10 pounds and attempt more sets until you finally fail to get 4 reps.

Around and Around We Go

Most individuals should aim for at least three complete circuits before having to drop exercises (I had this guy drop at three just to avoid the example dragging on like Survivor). If you can't get at least three full circuits, the starting load was excessive for one or several movements. On the other hand, if you can get more than five full circuits, then the starting weight was too light. So, it may require some experimentation at first.

One thing you'll notice is that when the first movement is eliminated, it doesn't take long for the others to follow. This is because, despite doing fewer exercises, each circuit is more difficult due to there being less rest between sets of the same exercise. Of course, there's also the fact that you're actually adding weight!

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