If I take you to the local chicken ranch and tell you that you have 20 min to enjoy yourself, are you going to wander around looking at the fancy furnishings and asking the girls what their Zodiac sign is . . . or are you going to focus on taking care of business?
Or suppose I take you into a bank vault and tell you that you have 20 min to take all you can. Are you going after paper clips and rubber-bands . . . or the green stuff?
So why, when given 15 or 20 min to work a muscle according to EDT principles, do you want to screw around with ?antagonistic muscle pairings??
Now, people sometimes get pissy when I bring this up because I?m ?attacking? Coach Staley?s work. Please understand, that I have nothing but respect for him and EDT. I think it?s a brilliant way to train and one that will survive long after other methods have faded from popularity.
But experiments have shown me that focusing on one body part is more efficient and effective than alternating between two. Don?t take my word for it, try it for yourself.
Do a 20 min workout using antagonistic muscle pairings . . . say bench press and seated row. (I did 62 reps on the bench.) Now, wait 2-3 days and do a 10 min workout focusing only on the bench. (I did 75 reps)
The same results happen again and again. Why?
Well, some people have written about the advantage of antagonistic muscle pairings . . . that they ?help the muscle recover faster.? Others have talked about the ?flushing effect? of blood rushing to one area and then another.
I?m sure there?s truth in all that . . . but I think these answers all miss the 600 pound gorilla in the center of the cage.
What?s really happening is that antagonistic muscle pairings force you to rest longer between ?sets.? For example, if I?m doing bench and rows, it?s going to take me 60-90 seconds to get up from the bench, do the other exercise and come back.
But if I only focus on the bench, I can completely control my rest time. I am in complete control of the exercise. I rest shorter between sets (30 seconds or less) and I do more reps in a given period. It’s a harder, faster workout.
Let?s call it FEDT (Focused EDT) versus AEDT (Antagonistic EDT).
Typically, with AEDT, you would do three 15 min PRs. Each PR consists of one chest and one bicep exercise (just an example). Total time spent 45 min plus rest between PRs . . . 45-60 min.
With Focused EDT, however, you would do 20 min of just chest . . . for example, 15 min of bench press, 5 min of inclines. Or 10 and 10. Or just spend all your time on the bench. Then you would rest and attack the biceps or other body part. Total time spent 40 min plus rest between PRs . . . 40-45 min.
So the workout is slightly faster (more efficient) and you?re doing more reps (more effective). Seems to me that Focused EDT is the way to go.
Just my two cents worth on this subject.
John