the 50-rep workout_ build muscle with eustress training

7/24/2019 The 50-Rep Workout_ Build Muscle With Eustress Training

1/15

2/21/2016 The 50-Rep Workout: Build Muscle with Eustress Training

http://www.scrawnytobrawny.com/the-50-rep-workout 1/15

by Nate Green 365Like

THE 50-REP WORKOUT: BUILDMUSCLE WITH A COUNTER-INTUTIVE WORKOUT

MOSTPOPULAR

Eat This, Not That (Carb Cycling Guide)

24-Hour Guide to More Muscle and

Energy

10 Tips For The Best Sleep Of Your

Life

How To Look Better Than 99% Of Guys

The 50-Rep Muscle-Building Workout

How to Be Skinny and Average: 18

Ways

CONNECT WITH S2B

H OME B LO G CO ACH ING P RO GRAM RESO URCES AB OU T [ LOGIN ]

hat if you worked out hardwithout working out hard? Former

Naval Special Warfare member Craig Weller introduces u s toEustress Training and shares a ridiculously simple (and

awesome) muscle-building workout.

TAKE THE FREE5-DAY COURSE
http://youtube.com/insideS2Bhttp://www.scrawnytobrawny.com/feedhttp://www.scrawnytobrawny.com/how-to-be-smallhttp://-/?-http://www.scrawnytobrawny.com/abouthttp://www.scrawnytobrawny.com/resourceshttp://www.scrawnytobrawny.com/coaching-programhttp://www.scrawnytobrawny.com/bloghttp://www.scrawnytobrawny.com/http://www.scrawnytobrawny.com/http://www.scrawnytobrawny.com/how-to-be-smallhttp://www.scrawnytobrawny.com/the-50-rep-workouthttp://www.scrawnytobrawny.com/the-2-step-body-upgradehttp://www.scrawnytobrawny.com/the-best-sleep-of-your-lifehttp://www.scrawnytobrawny.com/biggerhttp://www.scrawnytobrawny.com/fat-burning-machinehttp://www.scrawnytobrawny.com/feedhttp://youtube.com/insideS2Bhttp://twitter.com/insideS2Bhttps://www.facebook.com/insideS2Bhttp://www.scrawnytobrawny.com/about#nate-green


2/15



distress : acute physical or mental suffering affliction trouble.

eustress : stress that is deemed healthful or giving one the

feeling of fulfillment.

ENTER CRAIG

Lets say you want to build a muscular, athletic body the kind

that looks strong and powerful and also happens to be strong

and powerful.

And let s say you don t wan t to use eve ry pie ce of equ ipme nt in the gym,

do lots fancy math, or pretend that phrases like mega ratchet super pump

set actually mean anything.

Youre a guy who wants to get in, work hard, and get the hell out to go live

the rest of your life.

If thats you, Ive got a workout you should try. (Its also a program I use

for guys who go through Navy SEAL, Army Ranger, and other elite special

operations forces. Guys who need to be cool and calm when shit starts toget stressful.)

The 50-Rep Eustress Workout is ridiculously simple and ridiculously

effective. Itll make you look better. Ill make you feel better. And the only

equipment you need is a barbell and maybe a squat rack.

Cool?

Cool.

SCIENCE BOMB! BENEFITSOF EUSTRESS TRAINING

Rapid recovery: Training in a calm, positive eustress state

(as opposed to distress, like most workouts) allows quicker

recovery and trains you to maintain a calm, controlled

START BUILDING

MUSCLE AND

LIVING A BIGGER

LIFE TODAY

Well email you a link to Lesson 1

immediately. Then, each day for the

next four days, youll get an email

linking to a new lesson.

First Name

Email

GET THE FREE COURSE


3/15



mental state while putting out a workload that would

absolutely floor most people.

Hypertrophy: High volume heavy compound lifts induce a

substantial neuroendocrine response. (That means youll

grow bigger muscles.)

Technical proficiency: Training flawless technique in the

big lifts will make quality movement a habit. The better you

move, the better you feel and perform.

Local muscular endurance: This type of training increases

density of mitochondria (cellular powerhouses) and the

oxidative capacity of fast twitch fibers. That means youll

have more energy without needing to tap into your other

energy systems.

PREPARATION1. DO A THOROUGH WARMUP.

Try the S2B Ground Zero mobility circuit.

Ground Zero Deadlift Mobility

0:00/ 3:45

2. PICK A HEAVY FULL-BODY MOVEMENT
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=juunG8WJ59chttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=juunG8WJ59c


4/15



Heres a brief list to get you going:

conventional deadlift

sumo deadlift

trap-bar deadlift

front squat

back squat

maltese falcon squat

zercher squat

(Yes, I made one of those names up for my own amusement.)

3. DO 4 WARM-UPS SETS.

Start off light and ramp up to a semi-heavy weight.

This is where a little trial and error comes in. (Dont worry itll only take

you a minute to figure out and adjust.)

If you can normally deadlift 315 pounds for one rep, start light and work

your way up to about 65% of that. For instance:

Warm-up set 1: 135 pounds for 3 reps



Warm-up set 4: 205 pounds for 1 rep

(Fancy Math: 315 .65% = 204.75 pounds.)

4. KEEP THE BAR LOADED WITH 65% OF YOUR ONE-

REP-MAX.

If you finished with 205 pounds, youll stick with 205 pounds.

EXECUTIONYoure warmed up and the bar is loaded. Now what?

Well, now youre gonna do 50 sets of one rep each, resting as long as you

need between each set.

The catch?You have to make it look and fee l eas y.

Your heart rate should stay low (about 150 beats per minute, if youre


5/15



measuring it), you should breathe exclusively through your nose, and

every rep should feel fast.

Remember, youre trying to stay calm throughout this entire workout. The

goal is to train hard and efficiently without overloading your nervous

system or freaking out.

No stimulants, no aids like belts or wraps, and no psyching yourself up

like youre about to punch a Nazi in the face.

Just lift the weight calmly.

RAPID FIREQ AND ASo, wait. I just do an exercise for 50 reps?

Yep.

Should I push to get 50 reps no matter what?

No. Your goal is 50 reps, but if at any point your technique begins to suck,

you lose range of motion, or you feel like the reps are incredibly difficult,

you should stop there and go home.

The point is to train while in a heightened state of eustress. That means

staying fresh and calm throughout the workout. Grinding reps and over-

the-top grunting will zap your energy. Which you dont want.

How long should I rest between each set?

Rest as long as you need to to feel recovered. Try taking big, slow breaths

through your nose and focus on bringing your heart rate down as much as

possible between sets.

How do I progress from workout to workout?

There are a few ways to usepro gre ssi ve ove rlo ad and push your body to

work harder and better. The next time you do the workout, try:

adding more weight to the bar (225 pounds instead of 205)

doing 5-10 more sets (60 reps instead of 50)

doing the same amount of reps in less time (35 minutes instead of 40

minutes)

changing the exercise slightly (sumo deadlift instead of trap-bar deadlift)

How often should I do this?


6/15



First Name

GET THE FREE COURSE

Email

Well email you a link to Lesson 1

immediately. Then, each day for the

next four days, youll get an email

linking to a new lesson.

Your email address will never be shared and you can opt-out easily.

It depends on what program youre currently following. If youre not doing

anything right now, I see no harm in doing this type of training two or three

days per week as long as you pick different movements that dont

compete with each other. (For example: deadlift, chin-up, military press.)

If youre already following a good workout program, I recommend doing

one of these 50-rep sessions every week or two, especially if you have

one exercise you want to get stronger on or if youre just looking for

something fun to try.

Is this just for lower-body exercises?

Not at all. You can do this with chin-ups, pull-ups, rows, military presses

or even bench presses. If youre doing a bench press, use a power rack

and lift off pins from the bottom so that you dont have to worry about

racking the bar. That also works well for front squats.

Dont go nuts on the pushing movements, though. If you really, really want

to do a bench press, make sure you have at least two other workouts

where youre doing exclusively pulling exercises. Your shoulders will

thank you.

50 reps? Are you fking nuts?

Nope. The benefits are huge. Ive even done some workouts with over

100 reps.

FREE 5-DAY COURSESTART BUILDING A MUSCULAR, ATHLETIC BODY TODAY


7/15



Tweet

About t he Author: Nate Green is the Program Director for Scrawny To Brawny. You can find

him on Facebooko r Google+.
https://plus.google.com/111360429385687681171?rel=authorhttps://www.facebook.com/nategreen03https://twitter.com/intent/tweet?original_referer=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.scrawnytobrawny.com%2Fthe-50-rep-workout&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw&text=The%2050-Rep%20Workout%3A%20Build%20Muscle%20with%20Eustress%20Training&tw_p=tweetbutton&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.scrawnytobrawny.com%2Fthe-50-rep-workout&via=insideS2Bhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=juunG8WJ59c


8/15



Comments for this thread are now closed.

23 Comments 1

Simon

Is there any scientific research to support this kind of workout or is it just a

heory at this stage? It sounds like it might have merit, but there is a lot bro

science floating around that sounds smart but really isn't.

darius

Ever heard of grease the groove? Similar principals. This workout is

rest based, and also teaches the cns to perform better, also never get

into the fatigue/bad form/just one more rep mode.

Craig

Simon,

Yes. The physiology is pretty straightforward and the psychological side

has a substantial pile of research behinditas well.You can check outmy T Nation articles on 'Heart Rate Variability Training' and 'Combat

Psychology and Sports Performance' for a much more in depth look at

he science behind this sort of thing.

Joel Jamieson's book Ultimate MMA Conditioning also has an excellent

explanation of energy systems and includes a detailed description of

several somewhat similar methods, notably HICT or High Intensity

Continuous Training.

Lastly, the results I've had (along with a few other coaches whom I

know use similar methods) speak well enough for its effectiveness. For

example, these are the numbers from a young man training for Naval

Special Operations who reported back on his performance recently:

500 yard swim: 8:271.5 mile run: 8:483 mile run:18:526 mile run:

40:58Pushups: 92Pullups: 22Situps:123Power Clean:

125kgx2(275lbs)Front Squat: 140kgx3(308lbs)Power Snatch:

90kgx1(198lbs)Over head Squat:90kgx5(198lbs)Height: 6'4"Weight:225

Those numbers are extraordinary for anyone, let alone a man standing

6'4" and carrying 225 pounds.

Hug of Death
http://www.scrawnytobrawny.com/the-50-rep-workout#comment-621052989http://www.scrawnytobrawny.com/the-50-rep-workout#comment-621161914http://www.scrawnytobrawny.com/the-50-rep-workout#comment-621052989http://www.scrawnytobrawny.com/the-50-rep-workout#comment-621133339http://www.scrawnytobrawny.com/the-50-rep-workout#comment-621052989https://disqus.com/home/forums/scrawnytobrawny/https://disqus.com/by/hugofdeath/http://www.scrawnytobrawny.com/the-50-rep-workout#comment-621161914http://www.scrawnytobrawny.com/the-50-rep-workout#comment-621480445https://disqus.com/by/hugofdeath/http://www.scrawnytobrawny.com/the-50-rep-workout#comment-621052989http://www.scrawnytobrawny.com/the-50-rep-workout#comment-621161914http://www.scrawnytobrawny.com/the-50-rep-workout#comment-621052989http://www.scrawnytobrawny.com/the-50-rep-workout#comment-621133339http://www.scrawnytobrawny.com/the-50-rep-workout#comment-621052989https://disqus.com/home/inbox/https://disqus.com/home/forums/scrawnytobrawny/


9/15



Thanks craig I will check out your T-Nation Articles, and yes that

young man has very impressive endurance.

Would you say this helps more with mostly just performance? Or

does it have merit for hypertrophy also?

Craig

It works for hypertrophy. A high volume of heavy squats

and deads is one of the best things you can do for that.

Work your way up through the progressions so that

you're still recovering from sets in the 75-100 range with

a higher percent of 1RM and you'll do well. Don't jump

straight into that. Start with a few easy ones, and go by

how you feel. It won't take too long to make rapid

progress to where you're doing workouts with 100 heavy

deads that don't hit your CNS.

Birk

Hey Craig,

Thank you so much for sharing this.

I have a humble question. Would it make sense to kinda do this 4 times a week

with altering the exercises.

Ex. -

Monday - Squats

Tuesday - Bench Press

Wednesday - Off

Thursday - Deadliftis

Friday - Pull-ups

and then maybe alter further more with different weeks ?

M: Front Squats

T: Incline Bench PressW: off

T: Stiff leg deadlifts

F: Chin-ups

If I feel that that it is not enough, should I increase to 100 reps or should I

increase the weight more?

Ectomorph over here

Craig

2/21/2016 Th 50 R W k t B ild M l ith E t T i i
https://disqus.com/by/hugofdeath/http://www.scrawnytobrawny.com/the-50-rep-workout#comment-621152858http://www.scrawnytobrawny.com/the-50-rep-workout#comment-621072580http://www.scrawnytobrawny.com/the-50-rep-workout#comment-621480445http://www.scrawnytobrawny.com/the-50-rep-workout#comment-623645665


10/15



,

If you were to build a program around this sort of thing (I typically use it as one

component of a multi-faceted program) you could do something like that.

I have to add the caveat that movement quality must come first and it's

important to pay attention to the guidelines and cut the workout if you lose

speed, range of motion, technique or breathe control. Monitoring your

autonomic tone via something like an HRV tracker would be a good idea as

well.

The outline you've got there is workable, but I'm quite leery of bench press

movements and prefer a 2:1 or 3:1 ratio of pulling to pushing, and an equal mix

of horizontal and vertical planes.

With your layout, I'd either switch out the incline bench presses with chest

supported rows or make Tuesdays a split day and do slightly lower volume

(that's flexible and will depend on how well you tend to recover - 50 reps may

work fine) for both a push and a pull.

So, week one Tuesday do 50 reps of chest supported rows followed by a rest

and then 50 reps of bench press. Week two, 50 reps ring rows followed by 50

reps of overhead barbell press.

Put a little time into accessory work as well, based on individual postural needs.

In general you'll want to add some hip mobility and unilateral work, spinalstability stuff and in most cases additional external rotation work for your

shoulders.

Kenny

Pull-ups are my weakest exercise so i would love to try it for this. Any tips on

how I would do the warm up for this? Would doing cable pull-down work?

Craig

I'd just foam roll your upper body, spend a little extra time on your lats

and pec minors (use a lacrosse ball for that), run through some t-spineand pec (major and minor, depending on your posture) mobilization

work, do a few general upper body movements like hand crossovers, T

pushups and scap pushups and then do some band activation stuff like

pull aparts, no moneys and pulldowns and you should be good to go.

Shouldn't take more than 5 minutes or so.

Aaron Avery

Awesome.

Thank you for posting. Since coming home from Route Clearance in 2009, I've

2/21/2016 The 50 Rep Workout: Build Muscle with Eustress Training
http://www.scrawnytobrawny.com/the-50-rep-workout#comment-621238637http://www.scrawnytobrawny.com/the-50-rep-workout#comment-621213059http://www.scrawnytobrawny.com/the-50-rep-workout#comment-621325712http://www.scrawnytobrawny.com/the-50-rep-workout#comment-621213059


11/15



had sandy private parts in the gym. I'm hoping to correct some "injuries" (I've

got all my limbs, so I'm good to go) with some old-fashioned focus and

determination. I can't work out with the intensity that I did a few years ago, but

hopefully this will give my routine a greater measure of discipline and

enjoyment. Thanks again.

-Aaron

Mike

50 reps per workout with 65% of 1RM, and only one exercise? This, 3 times a

week?

I want to give it a shot but my instinct tells me the volume is waaay too low to

see any kind of progress, particularly in terms of hypertrophy?! What am I

missing?

craig

There's likely to be a little trial and error for each person depending on

where strength levels are at. If you're actually turning this into a whole

program you'd want to try something with a little more frequency like

what Birk is talking about below. Read my response there. Upper body

days can be combined into push/pull so that you're doing two separatelifts. You'd probably want to add in some accessory work each day as

well.

I don't typically use this method exclusively. It's built into a more varied

program. That's how I'd recommend using it. In conjunction with a more

ypical program, add 1-3 days of heavy volume on a lift that matters like

squats and deadlifts. If 50 reps at 65% is an insufficient stimulus, add

weight, reps or both the next time you do it.

65% isn't a lot when you deadlift 315 as a max, but if your pull is in the

5-600 range like some of the guys I work with it adds up.

I've done this a few times with 325 for 100 reps and trust me, it's plenty

of volume for a day. For lower volume workouts in the 50-ish range I

often use closer to 70-85% but I'm accustomed to that kind of work and

prefer that people work up to that gradually, rather than going for broke

on day one. When I start people on this sort of thing, they start lighter

and in the lower volume ranges. Progression. It's a thing.

Nate Green Mod

Hey Mike -

https://disqus.com/by/NateGreen/https://disqus.com/by/disqus_cexUNnuxYj/http://www.scrawnytobrawny.com/the-50-rep-workout#comment-621329033http://www.scrawnytobrawny.com/the-50-rep-workout#comment-621371670https://disqus.com/by/NateGreen/http://www.scrawnytobrawny.com/the-50-rep-workout#comment-621329033http://www.scrawnytobrawny.com/the-50-rep-workout#comment-621342021http://www.scrawnytobrawny.com/the-50-rep-workout#comment-621329033https://disqus.com/by/disqus_cexUNnuxYj/


12/15

2/21/2016 The 50 Rep Workout: Build Muscle with Eustress Training


I'm sure Craig will chime in here, but I know he regularly uses 75-85% of

his 1RM for reps of 50 or so. I think he saves the 65% of 1RM for 80 -

100 reps.

But since I don't think most guys would be smart to jump straight to that,

Craig and I both agreed 50 reps with 65% was a good starting place.

As always, experiment and test. You'll find out what works well for you.

-Nate

Mike

Thanks Nate and Craig for your fast replies! I will definitely give it

a try and experiment!

Mike

I gave it a shot today using pull-ups. I don't know what

my 1RM for pull-ups is, so I just did unweighted PU (I

can perform around 10 of them in one set). I ended up

doing 60 of them in around 40mns, trying to follow Craig's

method. I could have done more but didn't have much

ime and wanted to do some lower back work + face

pulls as well ( BTW, the face pulls definitely got my heart

rate up, is that a no no? or does the heart rate

prescription not include assistance exercises?)

The 1 rep at a time method does seem to work in the

sense that you end up doing a lot more reps for an

exercise at a given weight than you'd normally do. Here I

did 60 pull-ups, whereas in an normal work-out I'd usually

be happy with around 30 (like 5 sets of 6). And yet the

60th rep (almost) felt as easy as the first one... So you

definitely don't feel drained! I was actually feeling pretty

energized afterwards.

The not-so-cool part is that it's pretty boring, if you work

out by yourself.

I'll keep using this method the next few weeks (only three

imes a week I think, on other days I already swim and

play tennis) and report back on progress in terms of

strength and body comp...

Craig

That's kind of the point. You can add a lot of volume and

https://disqus.com/by/disqus_cexUNnuxYj/https://disqus.com/by/disqus_cexUNnuxYj/http://www.scrawnytobrawny.com/the-50-rep-workout#comment-622199862http://www.scrawnytobrawny.com/the-50-rep-workout#comment-623643502http://www.scrawnytobrawny.com/the-50-rep-workout#comment-621374115http://www.scrawnytobrawny.com/the-50-rep-workout#comment-622199862https://disqus.com/by/disqus_cexUNnuxYj/http://www.scrawnytobrawny.com/the-50-rep-workout#comment-621371670http://www.scrawnytobrawny.com/the-50-rep-workout#comment-621374115https://disqus.com/by/disqus_cexUNnuxYj/


13/15

p g


drill a large number of high quality reps while still being

fresh when you hit the gym again the next day. As for the

boredom thing, it's a bit of an issue, especially if you're

raining by yourself. Especially with upper body stuff. If

you get into heavy high volume with squats and deadlifts

he workout in itself stays pretty engaging.

I was doing a short ladder of pullups (1-5 rep ladder,

seven times, rotating through grip styles every ladder)

hat totaled 105 reps of pullups and to somewhat break

up the monotony I was doing a set of five light overhead

squats at the end of each ladder. The OH squats helpgroove that technique and aid in thoracic extension and

keep the lats mobile while somewhat breaking up the

monotony.

nsummy

I find this interesting but am confused as to what sort of benefits it provides. 50

reps of 65% of your 1RM does not seem very difficult. Do the benefits carry

over to other forms of weightlifting? This kind of reminds me of the article on t-

nation about the 1000 kb swings per day. The guy did the breathing ladders and

concluded that they were too efficient for any results. Thoughts on that?

Craig

Same as the other responses found here. It depends on your

conditioning level and strength level. Try it once at the levels specified,

and if it feels like you can easily handle more, add weight or volume the

next time or increase the density by doing the same work in less time.

Keep in mind that this is self-regulating and you should be moving as

fast as possible within the constraints. Knock out those fifty reps with

only two or three breaths of rest in between each rep and get it done in

15 minutes or so and see how you feel. It's not hard to add some weight

and try it again if the first 50 reps isn't sufficient.

Patrick

Should reps be done explosively? IMO explosive reps looks ande feel easiest.

I'm thinking this might work well for days when you are too fatigued for heavier

loads. When I get off work my body feels wrecked and sets of 5+ at 80% feel

like max effort attempts.

Nate Green Mod

Yep - Do them explosively.

https://disqus.com/by/NateGreen/https://disqus.com/by/nsummy/http://www.scrawnytobrawny.com/the-50-rep-workout#comment-621481149http://www.scrawnytobrawny.com/the-50-rep-workout#comment-622080616https://disqus.com/by/NateGreen/http://www.scrawnytobrawny.com/the-50-rep-workout#comment-621481149http://www.scrawnytobrawny.com/the-50-rep-workout#comment-621420622http://www.scrawnytobrawny.com/the-50-rep-workout#comment-623641254http://www.scrawnytobrawny.com/the-50-rep-workout#comment-621420622https://disqus.com/by/nsummy/


14/15


Craig

Guys, something that's occurred to me as I go through these comments is that

one benefit of doing workouts like this is that you can train with high frequency

and get in a much higher total level of volume over the course of the week.

This, for me, and a lot of my SOF prep guys, means 1-2 workouts per day for

5-6 days per week of training.

I'd recommend adapting this into your usual program and experiment with the

progressions in order to see how much extra weight you can move while still

recovering well and feeling strong the next day. It's not a quick, magic fix. It's a

capacity that takes time to develop, and with time it works quite well to add

strength, work capacity and muscle.

evafitness.wordpress.com

hey this is awesome! I totally want to incorporate this into my training. i'm just

looking to change things up after doing 6 weeks of Big 3 reverse pyramid

raining 3x's a week + 2 days of running - I often just go back to doing a rotation

of P90X while I'm looking for a new program. I'm a dancer and a stunt woman

and I'm looking to really maximize strength. I'm especially looking to get max

pull ups - I can do 10 at the moment but need to do more for fitness tests. Could

I throw one or two days of of 50 rep training into a normal 2 day split? Wouldyou normally do this for just one type of movement per training session or do

you do 2 or 3 in one day (seems time consuming but I'm curious)

evafitness.wordpress.com

ah, silly me, just read more of your comments where you answer my

questions!!! Thanks for the info - you've got a new S2B fan, even if I am a girl :)

https://help.disqus.com/customer/portal/articles/1657951?utm_source=disqus&utm_medium=embed-footer&utm_content=privacy-btnhttps://publishers.disqus.com/engage?utm_source=scrawnytobrawny&utm_medium=Disqus-Footerhttps://disqus.com/http://www.scrawnytobrawny.com/the-50-rep-workout#comment-640408959http://www.scrawnytobrawny.com/the-50-rep-workout#comment-640407546http://www.scrawnytobrawny.com/the-50-rep-workout#comment-623649135


15/15


All content copyright Scrawny To Brawny [ + ] Part of the Precision Nutrition Network Web design by C opter Labs
http://www.copterlabs.com/http://www.precisionnutrition.com/https://plus.google.com/104745991498454253976http://www.scrawnytobrawny.com/

the 50-rep workout_ build muscle with eustress training

Documents