Leroy Colbert’s Super Set Chest Blitz
Hitting a plateau is one of the most frustrating experiences that can befall any lifter.
It’s up there with getting injured, waiting 30 minutes for the squat rack to become free and your great aunt Marjorie trying to convince you that a banana contains just as much protein as a joint of beef.
As any seasoned lifter will tell you, the moment you stop adding weight to that bar is the moment your muscles start to sag, your testosterone levels plummet and your penis shrivels up like an erupted fish arse.
But what to do?
Slit a chicken’s throat over the dumbbell rack?
Write to your local MP?
Forget the iron for good, take up cycling, grow an inflated sense of self-worth and enrage every other road user by flouting traffic laws and just generally acting like a flowering geyser of piss?
Fortunately, the answer is none of the above.
In fact it’s pretty simple.
If you want to get bigger and stronger, then, to quote Greg Nuckols, the most reliable way (though not the only way) is, quite simply, to do more.
Increasing volume to increase gains is certainly not a new concept – it was taken as gospel by the ‘golden era’ crowd, and was preached from pulpit of gains by one of bodybuilding’s most-loved personalities.
Leroy Colbert
Along with Steve Reeves, John Grimek and Reg Park, Colbert was a legend of 1950s bodybuilding.
Although he didn’t win any Mr Universe titles, his many appearances in ‘Your Physique’ and ‘Muscle Power’ magazines eared him wide renown.
Leroy Colbert’s magazine cover shots were striking to behold, looking like something dreamt up by Lysippos after a few too many bottles of cabernet sauvignon.
Although it was his arms that secured Colbert a place in history (he was the first man in history to grow 21-inch biceps), his chest was equally magnificent, combining dense major pectorals, a clearly etched serratus and upper pectorals which flared flawlessly outwards, dwarfing those of his peers.
Colbert was a lifelong proponent of the full-body approach to building muscle and his routines involved high volume, typically calling for six sets of 6-10 reps per body part.
In addition to this day-on, day-off foundation, Colbert prescribed a series of volume-spiking ‘blitzes’ to maintain constant progress.
The routine
Writing in the January 1959 edition of ‘Muscle Power magazine, Colbert introduced this routine in an article entitled ‘Compel your chest to grow with a seasonal super set blitz!’.
Much like Colbert’s ‘Full Body Blitz’, which we covered previously on the blog, the routine is designed to force continued muscle growth after a period of stagnation, but, this time, with a focus solely on the chest.
Colbert, whose own chest measured in at a bulging 52 inches, cited this particular routine as his tried-and-tested answer to flagging gains.
Built around super sets and drawing on the Joe Weider ‘flushing principle’, this routine amps up the volume of chest work to “holy-jesus-I-can’t-feel-my-arms” levels in order to manipulate progress.
Group 1
| Exercise | Sets | Reps |
| Bench press | 3 | 8 |
| Straight arm lateral raise | 3 | 8 |
Group 2
| Exercise | Sets | Reps |
| Parallel bar dip | 3 | 8 |
| Breathing pull-over | 3 | 10 |
Group 3
| Exercise | Sets | Reps |
| Push-ups between benches | 3 | 10 |
| ‘Round-the-world’ or ‘flying’ exercise | 3 | 15 |
Notes
Workout frequency
Incorporate the blitz into a standard three-day-per week full body workout for a period of three weeks (nine workouts in total).
Repeat every three months.
Duration
The blitz should take an hour to complete, so if your typical full body workout takes an hour, set aside two.
Order
Place the blitz at the beginning of your workout when your energy levels are high in order to get the most from it.
Super set method
Both exercises in each ‘group’ should be supersetted.
For example, in group one, perform one set of eight reps on bench press and then immediately – without pause – perform one set of eight reps on straight arm lateral raise.
Take a quick 30 second breather (no more) and repeat.
Then take another 30-second pause and perform the final super set.
On completion of each group take five minutes rest (you’ll need it) before starting the next one.
Poundage
For all exercises, select a weight which will allow you to perform all prescribe reps without hitting failure.
‘Flying’
To perform this exercise, hold two dumbbells over your thighs while you lie supine on a bench.
Raise the dumbbells (they should touch over the thighs) upward and backward until they are directly back of the head and in a horizontal position to the floor.
At this point the arms are separated, each coming down its own side until both again meet over the thighs.
It’s really just a giant ‘fan-like-movement.
Summary
How many times have you seen frustrated gym-goers perform the same sets and reps, month after month, and make no progress?
Assuming there are no fundamental errors with the routine itself (i.e. absence of main compound lifts) and technique is good, not increasing volume is usually the culprit.
Bottom line: if your chest has stopped growing then increasing training volume will increase gains.
A word of caution, however.
Leroy Colbert’s Super Set Chest Blitz is not something to be entered into lightly.
If your typical workout is essentially an hour of checking Instagram with a few bicep curls and flys thrown in when the hot receptionist looks your way, then you’re in for a shock.
Nine workouts of this and you’ll have proof enough that a sadistic god presides over the weight room.
And, as with any workout that places high stress on the body, it’s important to reiterate that lifting weights does not make you big and strong; recovering from lifting weights makes you big and strong.
Make sure you’re getting enough calories, protein and essential nutrients to fuel growth, and make sure you’re getting at least eight hours of interrupted sleep every night.
If these two factors aren’t in place it doesn’t how much volume you’re working through, you won’t make any sustained progress.
Over to you
Thinking of giving Leroy’s chest blitz a whirl?
Any comments or questions about this routine?
I’d love to hear from you in the comments section below!
The post Leroy Colbert’s Super Set Chest Blitz appeared first on Gymtalk.
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