EDT: Escalating Density Training

[WhiteHulk4]

I had tried EDT about 6 years ago and really digged it, but for one reason or another I picked up my copy of "Muscle Logic" by Charles Staley and got inspired to give it a go again.  Starting last Friday, I just completed my first week - and my ENTIRE BODY IS CRAZY SORE! 

For those of you who don't know what EDT is - it's a workout that consists of 1-3 "PR Zones".  And a PR Zone is a 15 minute time frame where you superset 2 exercises for the entire 15 minutes, and each week try to either increase your reps, or increase your weights.

The loading parameters are - you pick your 10-rep Max for each exercise and you start doing sets of 5 reps back-to-back with very little rest in the beginning.  However toward the end, you'll be doing 3-4 reps and resting more and more.

Here's the split I created:

Day 1
First PR Zone (15 Minutes)
A-1: DB Bench Press
A-2: DB Shrugs 

Rest: 5 Minutes

Second PR Zone (15 Minutes)
A-1: Pull-ups
A-2: Incline DB Bench Press

Rest: 5 Minutes

Third PR Zone (15 Minutes)
A-1: Bent Over DB Rows
A-2: DB Overhead Shoulder Press

Day 2
First PR Zone (15 Minutes)
A-1: Squats
A-2: DB Stiff-Legged Deadlift

Rest: 5 Minutes

Second PR Zone (15 Minutes)
A-1: Bulgarian Split Squat Right Leg
A-1: Bulgarian Split Squat Left Leg

Rest: 5 Minutes

Third PR Zone (15 Minutes)
A-1: Swiss Ball Crunch
A-2: Reverse Crunch
A-3: Torso Track (or wheel roll-out)

Day 3
First PR Zone (15 Minutes)
A-1: Preacher Curl
A-2: Incline Triceps Extension

Rest: 5 Minutes

Second PR Zone (15 Minutes)
A-1: DB Incline Curl
A-2: Lying DB Triceps Extension

Rest: 5 Minutes

Third PR Zone (15 Minutes)
A-2: DB One-Leg Calf Raise Right Leg
A-3: DB One-Leg Calf Raise Left Leg

[Zach Trowbridge]

Looks interesting.  What's the logic behind it from a benefit standpoint?

[WhiteHulk4]

1. From a muscle & strength gain perspective, your constantly shooting to do more work in the same amount of time - workout to workout.  And trust me, when you get to the last 2-3 minutes and you know you need 6 more reps for each exercise - you'd be amazed at what you can force out of yourself to beat last week.

2. From a fat loss perspective - you're doing a total of 45 minutes per workout (if you do 3 PR zones) of continuous work.  When you include the rest periods, the workout is about an hour - and that's an hour when your heartbeat never slows down.  So each workout is a tremendous energy expenditure.

Personally, I like the first reason the most, but they're both pretty good.

[DK II]

sounds a bit like Giant sets.

[DroppingPlates]

IMO I think it's more productive and save to train antagonists like bi's/tri'c, chest/back or quads/hams (seperated, so no squats/deads). Furthermore I think a routing like this is more suitable for conditioning or temporary while building mass (to prevent overtraining).