The 1/3 for 30 Workout

Ever had a day when the workout you had planned just doesn't seem that motivating? Sure, you still WANT to train, but the idea of doing the same workout you've been doing for the last 4 or 5 weeks just doesn't seem that thrilling.

When the above happens to me, as it did the other day, I go "off the card" and take a break from whatever I had been doing with the objective of still hitting whatever "region" (upper, lower, or total body) or body part I had planned on training that day. Sometimes, this simply means substituting exercises or changing up the sets, reps, or load. Other times, this involves doing something really off the wall. Enter the 1/3 for 30 protocol.

For the last 2 months, I've been on a 6 day body part split. Yeah yeah, I know, how "bodybuilder" of me, but, let me tell you, I've experienced the best gains I've had in 10 years. I'm going to write an upcoming series of blog posts detailing my experience with body part training, but, for now, let's get back on track and discuss the 1/3 for 30 protocol.

The other day, I was scheduled to train back (pulls). Normally, this would consist of 6-8 different exercises and up to 30-35 total sets. For whatever reason, I just didn't want to do a bunch of different exercises. So I picked one exercise. Yes, one. In this case, the selection was chin-ups. And I worked the hell out of it.

Don't ask me how I came up with this, but I decided to take 1/3 of my body weight repetition maximum, and perform 30 sets. One set on the minute for 30 minutes. I set up my trusty GymBoss interval timer to beep each minute for 30 minutes. Two weeks ago, I tested out at 18 dead hang full range chins (sternum to bar), so I did sets of 6 (1/3 of 18). I started my interval timer, did a set of 6 chins, and then I had the remainder of the minute to rest. My sets took roughly 18-20 seconds to complete, so I had about 40-42 seconds to rest between sets.

Think this sounds easy? Try it. Now, the first 10 sets were rather easy. By the end of the 2nd round of 10, I was starting to feel it a bit, and, by set 30, it took almost all I had to complete 6 reps. Two days later, my biceps and lats were about as sore as they'd ever been. I was barely able to extend my elbows, and my lats were sore to the touch.

This type of protocol clearly works best if you are on a body part split. It could work well if you were doing an upper only or lower only workout, but this would take an hour (which is fine). If you are going to do this, pick one push and one pull (this addresses everything in the upper body) and go at it. I wouldn't superset or alternate sets. Do the protocol for one exercise and then move to the other one. If you are going to do it on a lower body only day, pick a quad dominant and a hip dominant movement. I'd be careful of movement selection here. Trying to do a squat and deadlift variation in the same session using the 1/3 for 30 protocol is likely a bad idea. Maybe a squat and a leg curl, or, dare I say, a leg extension and a leg curl. If you are doing a body part split, and seperating quad and hip dominant days, you could probably get away with doing a squat one day and a deadlift the other if they are spaced far enough apart.

The benefits of this protocol are the following:

• Simple: you only need 1 or 2 exercises
• You accumulate tons of volume...I did 180 chins the other day when I used the protocol
• You basically eliminate the need for warm-up sets and you can really grease the groove and practice technique
• It doesn't take long (unless you are doing 2 movements)

Also, you could easily do this with a loaded exercise. You don't have to limit yourself to body weight. For example, if your 12 rep max in the barbell bench is 225 lbs., simply do 30 sets of 4 reps (a set every minute on the minute for 30 minutes). If you want to get really nuts, try anderson squats in this manner.

This is obviously not a protocol you'd use long term or very frequently (although, I have to tell you, trying it as a full program 4 or 5 days per week is intriguing), and is probably best used as an "off the card" type workout for variety or when you find yourself training outside of your normal gym and equipment is limited.

Anyway, give it a shot and leave your feedback in the comments section.