Compound Exercise Overload

Speaking from 30+ years of experience under the bar, Compound Exercise
Overload (CEO) Training is THE single fastest way to build muscle and
strength I've ever found...PERIOD.
And once you try it, and see the results you get, I KNOW you'll be a believer, too.
A Compound Exercise Overload workout consists of just ONE exercise done with
heavy weight for EXTREMELY high volume. This tells your body it needs to get very
strong at ONE SINGLE MOVEMENT very fast. Nothing else.
For best results, use CEO Training within my Muscle Explosion program to create a
serious "Anabolic Emergency" situation in your body...an emergency
that FORCES your body to build muscle and strength.
Because when faced with this type of very specific stimulus, your body is capable of
extraordinary adaptation...it literally becomes it's function.
In the Muscle Explosion program, you're going to do it 5 days in a row, increasing the
workout time EVERY SINGLE DAY.
 

This phase of the Muscle Explosion program becomes

about basic survival for your muscles.
Your body will experience a tremendous emergency response in order to cope with
this onslaught of steadily increasing training volume.
We're going to go BEYOND typical soreness and muscular exhaustion with this
training...and your body will become a MACHINE at the specific exercise you're
working.
 

1. It laser-focuses your nervous system on a

single exercise for peak efficiency
This is also known as "greasing the groove." There are no competing
training stimuli here, just very specific focus. It's one of the reasons
Olympic lifters only use a few lifts in their training. It's also one of
the reasons they can lift such INCREDIBLE amounts of weight.
 Their nervous systems are finely tuned to their lifts.
And that's what'll happen to you.
 

2. It gives you a LOT of practice lifting heavy

weight
This helps you to perfect your form and become more efficient with
your lifting technique. You'll be training your nervous system to deal
with low reps and powerful movements. Your body doesn't naturally
know how to do this, if you haven't trained for it.
If you train with 8-10 rep sets all the time, then try and max out,
you're leaving a LOT of strength on the table just because of this.
 

3. The extremely high volume of training

creates an emergency situation
This forces rapid, focused adaptation by your body, in muscle,
connective tissue, nervous system...everything. It HAS to build
muscle in order to protect itself in order to survive.
 

4. The high volume forces a tremendous

amount of blood into the target muscle
group
This drives nutrients into those target muscles, assisting with
recovery and growth. This also develops the microcirculation in the
muscles, which further increases growth and recovery potential by
improving the "plumbing" of your muscles (capillary density).
Better circulation to the muscles = greater growth.
 

Combine these four factors for one INSANELY

POWERFUL muscle-building workout.

 
 
Step 1: Exercise Selection
First, select a compound exercise to work with. For mass, I would
suggest either the squat or the deadlift (I like Trap Bar Deadlift for
this).
 

 
Regardless of the exercise you do, you MUST ensure you have very
good form when performing it. You're going to be doing a LOT of
sets and any form errors will be amplified over the course of the
workout.
CEO Training is best done at a time when your gym is not
 crowded. 
You're going to be training in a single exercise area for the entire
workout. This isn't a big deal with deadlifts as you're just using a
barbell...it's more of an issue with squats or bench press. That being
said, for bench press, I would definitely recommend using a flat
bench in the rack for safety.
 
 

Step 2: Timing Your Workout and Rest

Periods
With CEO Training, I encourage you to use a stopwatch, regular
watch or other form of digital timer (even a countdown app on your
phone works great).

If your gym has a clock with an easily readable "second" hand, that
will be fine, too.
Otherwise, you're going to have to count your 30 seconds of rest in
your head, which is not as accurate (that 30 seconds rest will tend to
run longer as you go through the workout and it's critical to keep it
constant).
Set the timer for the TOTAL workout time, e.g. 40 minutes, then
start the countdown timer.
During the workout itself, just mentally note the time when you
 finish the set and count the time interval from there. For example, if I
finish a set and there is 16:45 left on my timer, I have until 16:15 on
the timer for rest.
That rest does NOT include the time it takes to get set up for the next
3 reps...usually 3-4 seconds...so be sure to include that time in your
rest periods.
 
 

Step 3: Performing the Sets

 Begin with a weight you could normally do for about 6 reps.
 Now perform just  3 REPS with that weight (even though you
CAN do six). Be VERY sure to stick with 3 reps on each set -
no more, no less. Your body hits a rep-range groove and will
acclimate to it very quickly. This number is perfect...not so
many that you can lactic acid build-up and not too few that
you're overloading the nervous system by using too much
weight.
 You will NOT go to failure on ANY of your sets. The key
here is accumulating training volume, not training to failure.
 When you've done 3 reps, rest 30 seconds.
 Now do 3 more reps.
 Rest 30 seconds.
 You are going to repeat these 3 rep sets with 30 seconds of
rest until you're unable to get 3 reps with that weight
anymore.
 This could take anywhere from 2 to 10 minutes (maybe more,
maybe less), depending on the exercise and the amount of
weight you're using.

Here's the key...if you're on

rep #2 and it feels like you
would have to push hard to
get that third rep, STOP THE
SET!
The idea here is NOT to push yourself to the max on each set but to
 stop short of it and train your body based on volume. So if you're on
rep 2 and you think you could get 3 but it would be a struggle, that's
the end for THAT weight.
Reduce the weight and keep going.

ALWAYS keep the "do or die" rep in you.

THIS IS ABSOLUTELY CRITICAL

Because basically, if you do it, you'll die!

 
 

Step 4: Reducing The Weight

If you're doing squats or deadlifts, remove 10 lbs from each side of
the bar so the weight is reduced by 20 lbs total. If you started with
315, you now have 295 on the bar.
Now just continue with the previous format, doing 3 rep sets on 30
second rest.
Drop the weight by 20 lbs (total) whenever you can't complete 3 reps
during a set.
When you're using an exercise other than squats or deadlifts (bench
press, for example), you can go with 10 lb total drops (5 lbs off each
side), depending on how heavy your loads are.
You can also use dumbbells for this type of training, especially for
bench pressing (it will be easier on your shoulders that way).
 
With barbell exercises, like squats or deadlifts, be sure to make use
of small plates. For example, if you're starting with 315 lbs on the
squat, don't put three 45 lb plates on either side...go with two 45's
then finish the loadout with a pair 25's and four 10's. It'll be MUCH
faster on the weight drops.
Continue in this pattern for the full time period of the workout.
If you really want to give this method a solid try, do it for 40 minutes
total (no more than that...trust me). Or if you want to just give it a
test run, go for 20 minutes.
 
 Bottom line...your body will become
a MACHINE at whatever exercise you use...

 
This training uses neuromuscular specificity to teach your body the absolute MOST
efficient way to perform a single exercise.
Your body will learn to fire the exact sequence of muscle fibers it needs to do the
exercise most efficiently, making VERY fast strength gains possible.
The extreme specificity also develops the specific muscles needed to perform that
exercise in the most efficient pattern possible. It rapidly irons out the weak links in
the movement.
These two reasons make those incredibly quick strength gains possible.
 
 
 

On Day 1 of the Compound Exercise Overload training, I started with 185 lbs and
managed to get 4 sets of 3 reps with it before having to drop the weight down to
175 lbs.
As you can see on the page below, I tracked EVERY SINGLE SET I DID. After I
completed a set, I marked it on the page, because I really wanted to see the results
I'd get with the CEO Training on Front Squats, which is one of my weaker exercises.
 

Now look at the left column of Day 5...

After FIVE DAYS of training Front Squats with CEO Training, I did 45 sets with
the same 185 lbs that I started with on Day 1...and got only 4 sets with then.
 
Yep, that's 11 TIMES the training volume with the SAME load I started with on Day
1.
And after testing my max a week after finishing this, it was up from 225 lbs to 295
lbs...70 lbs, which is just nuts.
Not too shabby for 5 days of training...
I'm really not kidding when I say you can compress 6 months of results into 28 days.
It happened with me, and it can happen with YOU.