When I was in the sales world, I realized quickly that you do not get paid for simply showing up or pretending to work. Most people get paid for working eight hours a day. However, how much work is actually being done in those eight hours? From what I saw, not too much. At least half of the day was wasted on gossip, doing tasks inefficiently, wasting time in unnecessary meetings and talking about things instead of taking action.

Just pretend for a minute that you are in sales and imagine what you would do if your boss makes you the following offer: do the required amount of sales for the day and you can go home anytime you want. Moreover, if you meet your monthly quota in two weeks, take the rest of the month off. What would you do? Personally, I would find the means to get the job done efficiently so I do not have to waste time. After all, the more I achieve in less time the more money I make. If it takes 2 hours to make $500.00, I am making $250 an hour. If it takes eight hours to make $500.00, I am only making $62.50 an hour. If you have half a brain the former will sound more appealing than the latter.

The way that you approach bodybuilding should not be any different. You do not get bigger and stronger the longer you stay in the gym, you get bigger and stronger based on how efficient you are in the gym. I’d rather spend one solid hour in the gym and maximize every minute for gains than mess around for several unfocused hours. In this article, I am going to reveal two training protocols that you can cycle between indefinitely, to keep the gains coming fast and furiously! The combination of these two workouts will allow you to condense time and maximize your time training. Thus, you will achieve more in less time. I like to call this combination: Condensed Training.

The first super effective training protocol for maximizing your training time is called EDT (Escalating Density Training). EDT is the brainchild of top strength coach Charles Staley, author of “The Ultimate Guide To Massive Arms: Escalating Density Training.” A few years ago Charles realized that the key to getting bigger and stronger lies in doing more work in the same amount of time. Things such as rep speed and feeling the muscle are really not that important. The key to packing on size is to progressively increase the intensity, volume, and density in each training session.

Here is how EDT works. Take two exercises that work antagonistic muscles. For example, the bench-press which works the chest and the bent over row which works the lats. Take your ten-rep max weight for each exercise and do as many reps of five of each exercise in a designated time period as you can. Coach Staley refers to this time period as a “PR (Personal Record) Zone.” To illustrate, lets say that the PR Zone is twenty minutes. Set a stopwatch for twenty minutes and do as many reps as possible on the bench press and bent over row. Do the exercises back to back. In other words, do one set on the bench press, wait thirty seconds, do a set on the bent over row, wait thirty seconds and do another set on the bench press etc.

Once the twenty-minute period is up, the PR Zone is over. Record the total number of reps for each exercise. Lets say that you completed thirty-five reps with 225lbs on the bench press. Your goal at the next workout is to complete a minimum of thirty-six reps. As long as you are doing more reps in the same amount of time; you are increasing the intensity, volume, and density and will pack on some meat. When you can increase the total number of reps by 20%, increase the training load by 5%. For example, lets say that you do twenty-five total reps on the bent over row with 200lbs at your first EDT workout. When you can complete thirty reps, increase the training load to 210lbs. Make sure that you use solid form at all times. Do not cheat in order to get more reps.

I tried EDT around a year ago and was amazed with how well it worked. Before using EDT my previous best on the Military Press with two 70lb kettle bells, was six reps. after only two weeks of EDT, I nailed nine reps. I had been stuck at a plateau for months before that, and was elated to say the least. Moreover, I got several comments from people that my shoulders were looking much bigger.

I liked EDT so much that I bought the company! Just kidding. However, I placed several of my online consulting clients on EDT programs. As the feedback started rolling in, there was no doubt in my mind that EDT was effective. Here is what my client Patt Drawe stated about the EDT program that I designed for him, “I’m in my fourth week of EDT and I’m happy to report that in one month I have made more progress than in the previous three months! It works, and the feeling of accomplishment is a great motivational boost as well. I don’t max out much, but my working weight on the bench has increased by about 20lbs in the four weeks.”

Keep in mind that Patt is an experienced trainee. When was the last time that you saw an experienced natural trainee pack 20lbs on his or her bench press in four weeks? That’s more than most trainees pack on in a year. Patt was definitely not the only client of mine that benefited from EDT. My client Mike Brown went from barely pressing two 70lb kettle bells for two reps, to twelve sets of three in just a few weeks. A few months later, Mike military pressed two 88lb kettle bells for ten reps!

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