The Muscle Pump of The Gods
Muscle Pump of the Gods
In my last workout article, I talked about pump training vs. strength training and why the key to building a phenomenal physique is to focus on getting stronger on key movements. Let me just say, the importance of training for progressive strength gains cannot be over-emphasized. It is the very reason why so few people have the physique they truly desire; they don’t lift for strength!
Now when you’ve been focusing on proper strength training for several months, you can maximize your physique development with some strategic pump work. This should be thought of as the icing on top of the cake. When you properly implement pump training into your routine your muscles will quickly begin to fill out over the next 4-6 weeks.
In fact, the muscle growth will be so rapid that people will take bets on whether you’re natural or not. Unfortunately, after about 4-6 weeks, this rate of muscle growth will start to slow down. There’s only so much fluid and glycogen you can stuff into your muscles before you’re maxed out.
That said, this extra bit of muscle will work wonders to your physique, especially when you add it to the right places! It is mandatory that all of my muscle building clients incorporate this type of lifting onto their shoulders. For the most part, guys are obsessed with building a huge chest and huge arms! But if you want to look like a Greek God, you must strive for incredible delts, above all else.
Triggering This Pump Based Muscle Growth
There are many different approaches to fatiguing, pumping up and burning out your muscles. You have drop sets, supersets, german volume training… among many others! That said, I have had the best results with standard pyramid training and rest pause training.
Standard pyramid training involves using a weight that you can do for 12 reps. Your first set you perform 12 reps, then 10 reps, then 8 reps and finally 6 reps. All sets are to be performed with the same weight and the goal is to limit rest between sets to 45-60 seconds.
This type of training creates cumulative fatigue, each set you are slightly weaker than the previous set. You’re taking your muscles to the brink of exhaustion with a weight that is still heavy enough to trigger muscle growth. This is why I’m not fond of drop sets, the weight becomes so light that there’s not enough tension to trigger muscle growth to any meaningful degree.
Now in the last year I’ve been utilizing a highly effective pump training technique known as Rest Pause Training (RPT). I find it to be even more effective than standard pyramid training, which is why I consider Rest Pause Training to be the muscle pump of the gods.
The Muscle Pump of The Gods – Rest Pause Lateral Raises
In this video I explain the power of rest pause training and how to perform it for incredible shoulder development. The concept is that you’re striving to get as much volume as possible with maximum muscular stimulation.
This requires you to perform an all out activation set for 12-15 reps. The last few really tough reps on this activation set force you to use as many muscle fibers as possible.
This is the ideal state to promote maximum muscle gains. The more muscle fibers you’re recruiting, the more muscle gains you can trigger.
When you cap your rest period at 10-20 seconds after your activation set, you maintain that heightened state of maximal muscle fiber activation. This lets you get in many mini sets of highly stimulating reps. In fact, 4 of these mini sets is about all you need to trigger this pump based muscle growth.
Here’s how it looks: 10-15 reps (activation set) + 3-5 reps + 3-5 reps + 3-5 reps + 3-5 reps (10-20 seconds rest between sets). This should only take about 5 minutes and then you’re done with that exercise. It’s fast, efficient and downright effective. Each workout focus on cutting down the rest time and getting more reps on your mini sets before increasing the weight.
Strategically Incorporating Rest Pause Training
Remember that pump training is and always will be secondary to heavy, strength training. This means that focusing on consistent incremental improvements in weight lifted is the foundation of physique training. The last thing you want is to cut into strength gains by over-emphasizing fatigue/pump work.
As a result, I encourage strictly using this training on the muscle groups that need it most. This will depend on your current physique development and genetic dispositions. That said, almost every one I know should be incorporating this training onto their lateral and rear delts. This is also because the lateral and rear delts don’t respond well to low reps and their development is so crucial to your physique.
You can perform Rest Pause on other muscle groups too, but do so with caution. If you start to make plateau’s in strength because of all of the pump lifting then you need to cut back on the pump work. I’ve found that with certain muscle groups, doing too much pump work can interfere with strength gains.
RPT & Rest Pause Workout for a Godlike Physique
Monday – Shoulders, Back & Triceps
Weighted Pull ups*: 2-3 sets Reverse Pyramid Training
Standing Press: 2-3 sets Reverse Pyramid Training
Cable Rows: 2-3 sets Reverse Pyramid Training
Skull Crushers: 2-3 sets Reverse Pyramid Training
Lateral Raises: Rest Pause
*When adding weight on pull-ups, make sure you’re using a high-quality weight belt that won’t distract you from your training or cause discomfort during your sets.
Wednesday – Legs, Core
Weighted Pistol Squats: 2 sets of 2-5 reps (2-3 minutes rest)
Front Foot Elevated Split Squats: 2 sets x 8-10 reps (2 minutes rest)
Romanian Deadlifts: 2 sets x 8-10 reps (2 minutes rest)
Calf Raises: Rest Pause
Hanging Leg Raises: Rest Pause
Abs Wheel Roll outs: Rest Pause
Friday – Chest, Biceps & Rear Delts
Incline Bench Press: 2-3 sets Reverse Pyramid Training
Flat Bench Press: 2-3 sets Reverse Pyramid Training
Barbell Curls: 2-3 sets Reverse Pyramid Training
Cable Rope Curls: Rest Pause
Cable Face Pulls: Rest Pause
Notes
This is a highly effective workout routine to build a highly muscular physique that is strong and powerful. Most of your training is dedicated to Reverse Pyramid Training, the most effective protocol for strength and muscle gains. To maximize muscle growth we’re implementing rest pause training on the lateral delts, rear delts, calves, abs and biceps. This will fill out your physique very nicely.
Taking things further
My new course dedicated to building the superhero physique is finished and you can learn about it going here – Superhero Bulking Program. This program is not for beginners. If you have yet to put on a good amount of strength and muscle then you’ll make your best gains with my Greek God Program. The Greek God Program is set up for fast rates of strength gains that are best suited for beginners and intermediates.
If you already have a solid amount of training and strength under your belt, and you want to take your physique to the next level and achieve superhero status then check out my Superhero Bulking Program.
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“almost every one I know should be incorporating this training onto their lateral and rear delts.”
Hey Greg, would you mind specifying who *shouldn’t* be incorporating this kind of training to lateral/rear delts?
Hey Greg I’ve been working out for almost two years, and I’m just not seeing the progress I want. I really want some bigger shoulders and arms and they have been my focus since the beginning. I work out for 1hr- 1hr 30min on the average day, and I will target shoulders on most upper body days (latteral dumbell raises, bent over dumbell flys, military press, Cubans, etc.) these workouts are almost always in my routine. What am I doing wrong! I see guys with these cannon ball shoulders and I fricken want mine like them. im seeing good developement in chest but can you give me a routine primarily focusing on shoulders to even them out?
Thanks for all this free information and help!
-Brandon
get stronger on shoulder lifts and more volume on accessory movements
[…] Muscle Pump of The Gods […]
Hi Greg!
Thanks a lot for all the stuff, that you do!
I am wondering the best way to integrate Rest Pause Training into my Greek God Programm.
Which one going to be better:
№1:
Workout A
Overhead Press (RPT)
Incline Bench (RPT)
Bent over flyes (R-P)
Curls (R-P)
Workout B:
Weighted Chins (RPT)
Dumbell Row (SP)
Leg Press (RPT)
Lateral Raises (R-P)
№2
Workout A
Overhead Press (RPT)
Incline Bench (RPT)
Lateral Raises (R-P)
Curls (R-P)
Workout B:
Weighted Chins (RPT)
Dumbell Row (SP)
Leg Press (RPT)
Bent over flyes (R-P)
№3
Your variation
?
Yep, that’s perfectly done! The new workouts I added in the download section include rest pause
Hey Greg I’m 510 and my waist is 32 and I weigh 165. should I run this program or any other programcwith a recomp or with a lean bulk?
I’d say you probably want to get your waist down another inch and build up to 170 lbs with a 31″ waist. So you can do a recomp or cut down first.
Hey Greg can i run this workout with a recomp or do I have to lean bulk?
You could do a recomp!
Ok so if I’m 5 10 and my waist is 32 and I weight 165lbs then should I recomp or can I do a lean bulk for this or any other program? Thanks
Ultimate goal would be getting to 170 lbs with a 31″ waist. So I would recomp and see if you can get down to a 31″ waist before lean bulking.
Hey !
Why is there 2 exercises for biceps but only 1 for triceps?
– Mark
Triceps will be getting hit very hard from benches, incline and overhead presses. Biceps tends to require a little bit more direct work.
Bulgarian split squats would you recommend doing them body weight like pistols squats or with weights?
You want to do with weights.
My girl likes to do reverse pyramid on her barbell squats once a week to keep her ass big.
Would you recommend to incorporate rest pause training once a week to contrast the heavy lifting? Would lunges be an appropriate excercise to use?
Nice. Well you want constant tension so lunges wouldn’t be the best move. I would do something like light romanian deadlifts or a machine movement. Hip extensions would be amazing.
Hi Greg,
You offer so much free content. Thanks for that. I’ve been experimenting with a different way of achieving the pump recently and I though you may find it interesting. Basically you use the tabata protocol (20 seconds of work/10 seconds rest x 6-8 rounds).You can apply this common cardio technique to any muscle group you want to pump up. For example, for biceps using incline curls, you would start your timer or app (lots of good tabata apps out there) and pump out reps. You can count reps if you like, I tend to just go for time. Then rest for 10 seconds and repeat until the rounds are up. You can get really crazy and keep the DB’s in the stretched position during your rest time if you want.
I actually don’t like that protocol because you have to use extremely light weights. This will reduce strength and power and do very little for muscle growth. Don’t apply tabata training to lifting.
Hi Greg, what do you think about swapping out skull crushers for weighted dips? Cheers bud keep up the good work!
You can try it. Although I encourage people just to use 2-3 compound movements and 2-3 isolation movements. If you’re doing a ton of heavy lifts it’s going to sap your CNS. I only do about 2 pushing movements on my upperbody days, max.
Ok cool so would you reckon slightly higher reps, say 6-8-10? Also that would still be two upper body pushing movements, no?
Yep.
Hey Greg!
I’ve just found out that single arm, cable lateral raises REALLY hits my middle delts, i can feel it work way more than when doing 2-arm db lateral raises.. But one arm work dosen’t go that well with rest-pause, so i was thinking of trying alternating between the arms without rest, so the only rest they get is when the other arm is working, and then doing something like 12-10-8-6. Pretty sure i read about that somewhere on your page some time ago.
Anyways, i was just wondering what progression model to use, when doing this kind of work. Would i just use micro loading, or should i do like 12-14, then 10-12, 8-10, 6-8, and then increase the weight and work my way back up.. Thanks in advance, cheers man!
Yah I like the progression model you laid out 12-14, 10-12…. If you can add a 1.25 lbs to the stack with a microplate that would work even better, up to you. Also you can do rest pause with cable lateral raises, you just have to finish your one arm before going to the other arm. I do this sometimes.
Hey Greg!
You Greek God Course already includes a pump training routine (MEGA) and you have plenty of information and workout routines (this one, dual pyramid training and the blueprint’s superhero routine) about pump training on the website already.
How will the Superhero Muscle Buildind Course differ from the routines in the Greek God Course and the website?
You’ll find out soon enough
GREG! Are upright rows & leaning db laterals good to work in, along with standing db laterals?
What’s the latest with the Superhero routine.
My shirts keeping getting dirty from all the drool waiting for this workout! LOL
Not in the same workout, BUT, as alternatives?
Thanks!
Your delta here are for sure SUPERHERO LIKE! Outstanding!!!
Will be here for July my man! And yes those are good movements as well. You can use them interchangeably with lateral raises.
GREAT! I cannot wait, man. ALSO, how about a discount for the ones that are subscribed to your monthly thinghy? I can’t recall what it’s called. Ha.
I’ll see what I can do.
Hello again Greg, Have to say I’ve been doing these rest/pause lateral raises and it’s made a huge difference, with everything I follow of yours my strength gains are improving highly., it’s so motivating. Need to ask, If you do do the lateral raises on Monday, is Thursday too soon to do again? Same for others, If I do incline chest press on Monday, can I repeat on Thursday? Also, you said to use this on stubborn areas, so if your biceps feel like they need more, should you use rest/pause to breakthrough and then go back to dual pyramid with them? Thank You So Much -Steven
Awesome dude!! Monday and thursday is fine. That’s enough rest. And yes, you can do rest pause on biceps, that works well too
Hi Greg,
Would you suggest ‘The Muscle Pump of The Gods’ or ‘How to Build a Superhero Physique – Dual Pyramid Training’ for building muscle?
Cheers!!
Both are good! Up to you
Hi Greg,
So i started doing rest pause training for my lateral deltoids and i am currently doing them once per week. And i feel like i am not giving them enough work. Should i do it twice a week ?
You can do them twice per week.
Full body workout 2 or 3 times a week? what would you think work best?
Monday: Workout
Tuesday: off
Wednesday: Workout
Thursday: off
Friday: Workout
Saturday: off
Sunday: off
Monday: Workout
Tuesday: off
Wednesday: off
Thursday: Workout
Friday:
Saturday: off
Sunday: off
Full body workouts 2-3 days a week can work well for beginners but then you need to split your training up over 2-3 workouts.
Hi Greg,
Great article I am looking at combing this with the intermediate fasting. I had a question about the rest pause set.
1)Do you suggest completing this at the end of the work out or does it matter?
2)Do you want to do 4 sets of the 3-5 after the activation set?
3) I have been struggling with getting gains in my tris. Would you think it would be a good idea for me to add a rest pause to the Monday work out?
Yah I would do it at the end as the last exercise for a specific muscle group.
Yes!
Yes
Hey Greg I recently purchased your aggresive fat loss program and I dont want to ask them on here as to give away any info about the program for free. Whats your email?
gregoryogallagher@gmail.com
Hi greg by far the best site ever absolutely loving it ive done the shredding programme sibce beginning of jan lost around 2 inch if the waist and feeling great abs starting to show a little I want to do 4 weeks of pump training and only pump training for all exercise before starting my god like programme please can u do a blog or just reply on just exercises for pump training and what workouts you would follow as the workouts you have put
on here still include RPT which I want a rest from before going onto the god like programme thanks greg once again cheers for everything you are a legend.
Thanks so much Alex! Try this 2x per week plus one day of sprints – https://kinobody.com/workouts-and-exercises/high-rep-workout/
Hey Greg, great post as usual! Im finishing up on week 17 of the shredding program and i have some amazing results and pics to send you when im done. I was thinking abiut trying to get down to 7 percent bodyfat before i start to lean bulk for summer, ive been stuck at 8.5%bf for awhile now.so here are my questions for you:
1. So could your new aggressive fat loss course help me get down to 7-6.5ish percent bf within 2-4 weeks?
2. Im so eager to start with pump training again as i miss the higher voulume workouts as ive been doing the shredding program since december, so when do you think the new superhero program will be released?
1. Yes, it’s strict so I’d suggest doing 1-2 weeks at maintenance and then doing the aggressive fat loss course for 3 weeks to get down to 7%
2. Superhero is pretty much finished and I imagine myself releasing it around May.
Hi Greg, I’m planning to buy one of your programs but I’m not very sure which of them. Can you please summarize differences between Warrior and Greek God programs? I want to train 3x per week. Thanks!
If you want to focus more on building muscle go with the Greek God Program. If you’re more interested in leaning down then get the Warrior Shredding Program.
Thanks, which of both trainings would you say helps to resemble Tyler Holmes training?
The greek god program but that’s because Tyler is already very lean at around 7% body fat. So he’s not cutting. But if you’re higher in body fat then you might want to cut with the warrior shredding program first.
Hi greg… great article. 2 questions : 1 would u do rest pause on abs biceps and shoulders year round?
2 i m very tempted by the new visual impact program. As i m tempted by your upcoming muscle building one.
I ve started the greek good program in september and would like to Add more muscle..
Your opinion is crucial for me.
What should i do?
Go on like this greg! !!!!!!!!
You could do it year round. But probably I’d do it for 4-6 months and when you have some really cool size then cool off on the rest pause stuff for a couple months. That seems to be my approach.
It really depends. If you’re around 8-12% body fat with decent muscle mass and just want to experience more hardness and definition and density then I think Rusty’s program will work well. You have to be willing to train nearly everyday for his program to work.
If you want to focus more on gaining muscle size and going for that superhero physique then my new course will work wonders.
Hi Greg,
I wonder if I did ABCx2 times a week, if I can best overall result with more intensity and less rest?
Nope, that will be too much training and not enough recovery.
Quick question, i love my weighted dips. Is there any room for them ( to be subbed in ) in the greek god bonus 3 day split ( i’ll be switching to that for a while pretty soon )? If not i guess i’ll save them for when i switch back to the two day split.
Thanks!
Yah you can substitute them in for one of the presses.
Greg, do you have any advice for increasing my overhead press? I’m stuck at about 135lbs, and I’m really not sure why.
I can do incline presses with 80lb dumbbells for 4-5 reps, about 7-8 head to ground handstand push-ups , and I know my core is strong too; I can do 15 strict feet to bar hanging leg raises and renegade rows with 85lbs.
It takes time to build up the standing press. I’d suggest continuing to practice the movement. Also work on some micro loading. SEe if you can add 1.5-2.25 lbs each workout.
Hey Greg!
Firstly, just to say thanks! The website is awesome, I appreciate what you’re doing here :)
Quick query, do you incorporate cardio of some sort alongside your workout regime? If so, how many additional days etc?
Considering buying the Greek god program as it seems to be exactly what I need!
Any advice would be much appreciated,
Thanks man
I recommend getting some form of exercise on the non lifting days. 40 minutes of brisk walking does the trick.
Hi Greg… Love the blog… When you say 2-3 sets of RPT, what has been your experience with 2 as opposed to 3? I love the RPT results, but all the sets and rest is very time consuming. Would love to keep it at 2 sets per exercise. What do you think?
2 has worked very well for me. Go for it.
Hey Greg,
I was wondering if you could clear something up for me –
Is it better if you are sore the day after your workout (that good-feeling sore; not pain) or does it not matter?
Because some days I just don’t feel anything the next day – does this mean I’m not pushing myself hard enough?
Thanks,
Isaac
No don’t worry too much about soreness.
Is this your actual workout routine?
And what you think about doing pull ups with chest to bar finish?
THis is quite similar to what I’m doing currently but I’m hitting biceps on Workout A as well. Yah you can finish off with sternum pull ups.
Greg first of all nice article. I’m a big fan of your overall training/nutrition lifestyle because i have similar principles and thoughts about it.
I was testing an A/B/C split for several months now and it seems that i don’t get enough regeneration/rest when i train like that. It causes several issues/overtraining Syndromes like bad sleep and stuff so i want to get back to an A/B split with 5-6 exercises per Training doing it every other day with always one rest day in between.
Like you i like to lift heave on compound exercises like pull ups/Bench press/Squads/overheadpress.
In your article u mention that u train pull ups, overhead press, bench press with RPT what confused me a bit.
Actually i try to stay around 5-6 reps when doing pull ups and overheadpress/shoulder press with enough rest pause in between my sets, but using heavy weight and proper form.
Dont you think its more effective to use heavy extra weight on pull ups instead of “pumping” ? Or is it just another training method when u hit a certain plateau with your additional extra weight.
When I say RPT I am actually referring to Reverse Pyramid Training. This is heavy work.
Hi Greg,
If I wanted to add squats to the Greek God program which workout should I do them in?
Workout A – incline bench, standing press, lateral raises, skull crushers
Workout B – Weighted chin ups, Hang cleans/sumo deads, bent over flyes, barbell curls.
I still want to alternate between both workouts during the week for faster progress. Of course I’ll be eating at a calorie surplus/maintenance
Add them to workout A in place of hang cleans/sumo’s. You can do 1-2 sets of Romanian Deadlifts after squats.
Greg,
On the routine you have RPT (reverse pyramid training) instead of the standard pyramid training you recommend for the pump training. Is this a typo? or does it stand for (rest,pause,training)?
RPT stands for Reverse Pyramid Training. You’re only doing rest pause training on a few different movements for this workout routine.
So what do you think is the best workout routine for muscle building – 2 day split (A/B, hitting parts every 4-5 days) or 3 day split (A/B/C)? Which one do you use more often and when? Thanks.
Both can work very well! I like the 2 day split to make rapid gains in upperbody lifts. Then when I’m plateauing at increasing strength I’ll move over to a 3 day split and hit my muscles with more volume and variety to experience more muscle gains and a slower and more achievable rate of strength gains.
Can you expect the same level of results from doing 6 months of bodyweight/calisthenics workouts only, compared to 6 months of weight lifting? For a total beginner
I prefer to use bodyweight exercise to supplement weights. This is because it’s easier to progress with weights because you can simply increase the weight. With bodyweight exercises, you have to know how to properly progress to more challenging variations which takes a lot more finesse.
Greg,
Love this article. I am currently using your stregnth and density workout from your Greek God program. Starting in April I will begin this right before summer. Can’t wait. Great work
Thanks Bud!
Hey bro which city you like better Miami or Los Angeles?
I haven’t spent enough time in Miami to be honest. But I’ll say that Miami probably has a better nightlife scene. LA is a place I could spend more time in though.
Is it normal to get slightly weaker in the weighted pull ups as my body weight goes up? I’ve made consistent strength gains on all my lifts using your Greek God program for about 8 months now but I would say within the past 3-4 months while bulking, I put on about 11 lbs. I was around 162 lbs doing pull ups with 77 lbs around my waist for 5 reps. As my weight increased, I was only barely able to do 2-3 reps with the same weight and had to drop the weight to 60 lbs just to get 5 reps. Is this normal? I definitely put on muscle during the bulk and gained a little fat.
It can happen but it doesn’t have to. Gaining 11 lbs in 8 months is a very slow rate of weight gain. There’s no reason your pull ups can’t increase while doing that.
The 11 lbs I gained happened in 3-4 months you misread what I wrote.
Okay, yah you’re probably gaining a little too quickly.
Great article!
I’m juts a bit confuzed.. You recommend getting stronger with heavy weights and long rest.
But on the delts and rear delts, you only use rest-pause.. Won’t this only trigger sarcoplasmic growth, and after 4-6 weeks stall? Should we then alternate between 4-6 weeks of RPT or just straight sets on the laterals to trigger the myofibrillar growth , and then 4-6 weeks of rest pause?
Cheers man!
Thomas, I do a lot of heavy presses and shoulder presses which hit the shoulders hard. This builds them up. But I supplement this with pump work on the lateral and rear delts to maximize their size. Don’t over think it. You’ll be able to get some good muscle gains from this style of pump training. The muscle growth will be rapid at first but you’ll still be able to make consistent gains with it over the long term.
You can also use RPT with the lateral raises, but you’ll want to keep the weight reps higher. set 1 – 8-10, set 2 – 10-12, set 3 – 12-15