Written by Team MD
04 August 2021

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The Shotgun Workout: Add Muscle, Strength AND Leanness

 

Imagine if there was a workout that would allow you to achieve strength, size, endurance and definition all in one workout. That would allow you to get more massive, stronger and more ripped all at the same time. Well there is. It’s called the Shotgun workout, and I’m about to reveal it to you.

 

How It Works

 

For every body part, you will do four exercises. Each one of them has its own unique training purpose, rep range, angle and technique to recruit a specific type of muscle fiber.

 

The key to getting specific muscle fiber type depends on the weight you select for each exercise. Your first exercise will be done with an extremely heavy weight that will only allow four to six reps. This is the best rep range for building strength. The next exercise is done with a slightly lighter weight for eight to 12 reps, going to failure on each set. This is the best rep range for muscular hypertrophy.

 

The third exercise increases the reps to between 12 and 15 and the final exercise is done with just your own bodyweight, or a very light weight. This is designed to pump the muscle full of fluid and nutrients, which promotes chemical pathways to enhance muscular definition. On this last exercise you will do 20 reps per set to failure.

 

Changing Up Your Equipment

 

As well as changing up your rep range, you will also use specific types of training gear to achieve each training goal. Your first exercise will make use of barbells to build strength. This will be a multi-joint exercise that best suits barbell training. The second exercise will use dumbbells to add muscle mass. Dumbbells allow you to work each side of the body unilaterally, which has been shown to be the best way to build muscle. Dumbbells also allow you to get a better range of motion in exercises like the bench press.

 

Exercise three will make use of cable resistance. Cables provide something that you can’t get with barbells or dumbbells – constant tension. Cables also allow you to get the perfect angle of resistance and isolate the working muscle more than free weights. Your final exercise for each body part is a bodyweight move (or an exercise with light weight) that is designed to produce power and an intense muscle pump. These exercises also combine a plyometric component. Plyo and bodyweight moves are great for stimulating fast-twitch muscle fibers.

 

Perfecting the Angles

 

The third element that makes this program so unique – and so effective – is the angle at which you work the muscle. With each succeeding angle, you will hit the muscle from a different angle. When you change the angle, you automatically bring in different muscle fibers to get maximum fiber recruitment. So, the better you are able to change the angle, the more complete your development will be.

 

The classic example of adjusting angles to hit different parts of the muscle is the bench press. When you include flat, incline and decline bench presses in your pec routine, each one will hit your chest in a slightly different way. You should use that same approach when hitting every single muscle group.

 

How to Avoid Plateaus

 

The best way to avoid plateaus on this, or any, program is to change up your exercises periodically. Even though I am about to provide you with the starting exercises, you should change them up after six to eight weeks. Just be sure to follow the guidelines I have provided when selecting your exercises. Here’s a recap:

 

• Exercise One: A compound barbell exercise to focus on strength in the four to six rep range

 

• Exercise Two: A dumbbell exercise to focus on hypertrophy (muscle growth) in the eight to 12 rep range

 

• Exercise Three: A cable pulley exercise to focus on definition in the 12 to 15 rep range

 

• Exercise Four: A bodyweight exercise for muscle pump in the 20 rep range

 

On every exercise, you should go to muscular failure. That means that the weight you use should see you fail on your last rep. That is the overload principle in action. Your body will only adapt if it is constantly being stressed at its full capacity.

 

Your Beginner Workout

 

Exercise

Sets

Reps

Exercise

Sets

Reps

Legs

4

 

Chest

   

Squat

4

4-6

Incl. Bench Press

4

4-6

Dumbbell Step-Up

4

8-12

Flat Bench B/B Press

4

8-12

Leg Ext.

4

12-15

Pec-Dec Fly

4

12-15

Jump Squat

4

20

Plyo Push-Up

4

20

Shoulders

   

Biceps

   

O/head Barbell Press

4

4-6

Barbell Curls

4

4-6

D/B Upright Row

4

8-12

Incl. D/B Curl

4

8-12

Cable Side Lateral

4

12-15

High Cable Curl

4

12-15

Handstand Push-Up

4

20

Close Grip chins

4

20

Back

   

Triceps

   

B-Over Barbell Row

4

4-6

Close Grip Bench Press

4

4-6

One-Arm D/B Row

4

8-12

O/head D/B Extension

4

8-12

Straight Arm P-Down

4

12-15

Cable Kickback

4

12-15

Pull-Up

4

20

Reverse Dips

4

20

 

Shotgun Nutrition

 

To get the most out of this program, you need to be also eating for your training goals. Here are four ways to do it:

 

(1) Add more meals to your day while reducing the size of your three main meals. Be sure to snack in the mid-morning, midday and late at night. The before bed high-protein snack is important to protect your muscles while you sleep at night.

 

(2) Aim for a maximum of 2 grams of slow-digesting carbs per pound of bodyweight. Examples are oatmeal and Ezekiel bread.

 

(3) Maintain a protein intake of more than 1.5 grams per pound of bodyweight daily.

 

(4) Don’t be afraid to increase your fat intake. Research shows that you need a good amount of fat and even saturated fat to maintain testosterone levels. Keeping hormone levels optimal is critical for not only adding muscle, but for dropping body fat. Keep your fat amount to around 25 percent  of your total daily calories.

 

Looking for a pre or post-workout boost? Check out Enhanced Labs, the home of Big Ramy, 2020 Mr. Olympia Champion, 11x Olympia competitor Dennis “the Menace” James, and hundreds of other professional bodybuilders, athletes, fitness enthusiasts, and bio hackers.

 

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