The debate between the high volume for muscle building crowd and the intensity is king crew has raged on for years, with a combination of compelling evidence and impressive physiques on both sides of the aisle.
But, like most things, the truth (as it pertains to you, I and everyone else looking to score a few more inches on their arms), probably falls somewhere in the middle.
This rest-pause based workout, which targets your back, chest and thighs, cuts a neat swathe between both paths – delivering a hefty dose of muscle pumping volume, with an inbuilt strategy for keeping the intensity sky high.
Rather than the ‘sets-times-reps’ format that we’re all accustomed to, this workout gives you a single ‘rep target’, one hundred reps of each movement to be precise. Your goal is to pick a weight that you could rep out for 15-20 reps, then go all in; aiming to hit the century mark in as few sets as possible.
To keep things clean (and safe), each time you notice your form breaking down, or you can no longer successfully perform a rep in an explosive, intentful manner: pause and take 10 deep breaths, before immediately jumping back into the fray. Continue in this manner until you reach 100 reps before moving on to the next movement.
1. Chest-supported Dumbbell Rows x 100
Set an adjustable bench to around 45 degrees. Position yourself face down with your chest on the pad, holding a pair of dumbbells (A). Staying tight to the bench, row both dumbbells up towards your hips, pause (B), and slowly lower before repeating. As soon as you can’t get your dumbbells into your hips, or lower them under control, stop and take 10 deep breaths before continuing.
2. Dips x 100
Jump up on two parallel bars or gym rings with your palms facing inward and your arms straight (use additional weight if you can) (A). Slowly lower until your elbows are at right angles, ensuring they don’t flare outward (B). Drive yourself back up to the top and repeat. Once you can’t press yourself up from the bottom ‘stretch’, pause and breathe before continuing to 100.
3. Front Squat x 100
Stand tall and clean a pair of dumbbells onto the front of your shoulders (A). From here, drop into a front squat, until your thighs pass parallel to the ground (B), before driving back up. Keep your torso upright and maintain tension in your trunk throughout. As soon as you can’t produce an explosive ‘up’ or control the ‘down’, break your set for 10 deep breaths.
![Headshot of Andrew Tracey Headshot of Andrew Tracey](https://hips.hearstapps.com/rover/profile_photos/a0ac72af-e9ca-461a-91a3-561ebe81afe1_1681479464.png?fill=1:1&resize=120:*)
With almost 18 years in the health and fitness space as a personal trainer, nutritionist, breath coach and writer, Andrew has spent nearly half of his life exploring how to help people improve their bodies and minds.
As our fitness editor he prides himself on keeping Men’s Health at the forefront of reliable, relatable and credible fitness information, whether that’s through writing and testing thousands of workouts each year, taking deep dives into the science behind muscle building and fat loss or exploring the psychology of performance and recovery.
Whilst constantly updating his knowledge base with seminars and courses, Andrew is a lover of the practical as much as the theory and regularly puts his training to the test tackling everything from Crossfit and strongman competitions, to ultra marathons, to multiple 24 hour workout stints and (extremely unofficial) world record attempts.
You can find Andrew on Instagram at @theandrew.tracey, or simply hold up a sign for ‘free pizza’ and wait for him to appear.