Great-guns and MAG-10 question

For all of you who have tried great guns- did you find that the workout was exceptionally long. I found that after doing warmup sets for each arm, and then work sets for each arm. (which totals 12 sets for the biceps triset), and the doing the same for the triceps triset (another 12 sets)- then doing warm ups and work sets of the next 2 exercises (4 more sets). Then the last exercise is a ton of volume- it is 3 sets of drop sets, going back and forth between curls and overhead extensions. Which adds another 8 sets if you count the 2 warm up sets. Also there were 4 sets of wrist curls done at the beginning of the wrokout. So we have a grand total of 40 sets (granted many of them are warmups, and i am counting each arm for doing its own sets on some exercises)… the point is that even with supersetting and trisetting, I find it hard to believe that anyone could complete this workout in an hour. I did it today and it took me about an hour and 40 minutes but I always take longer on the first workout so I bet next time it will take about an hour and 15 minutes or so. What do you guys think about this volume for the arms?


My second question is regarding mag-10. Would mag-10 still be very beneficial and or worthwhile to use during a program such as great guns? or would that compromise mag-10s effectiveness. Would I be much better off with one of the mag-10 specialty programs??? Thankyou for any advice
-Jason

I too found it to be extremely long and agonizing, took me about 1 hr 20 minutes including warm up sets…not including stretching.

45 minutes tops is all it took me. But the first few workouts it does take longer because of arranging equipment, getting used to it etc.

yeah, it takes some getting used to. Me and one of my friends did the GG workouts together so it took even longer. as far as the Mag-10 is concerned, if you really want to prioritize your arms, sure go for it. you could even get away with doing more than maintanance workouts for other body parts. if you have only been lifting a while though and haven’t tried mag10 or anything similar before, than you would probably better off doing more compound, mass building movements for larger muscle groups rather than your arms. it all depends on your goals though.

I find it VERY hard to believe that the entire workout could be completed in 45 minutes with the prescribed tempos. Consider the 3 drop sets supersetted at the end of the workout. The tempo is 3-1-1, or 5 seconds per rep. Now you do 10 reps with three drops for curls, and then 10 reps with three drops on overheads, and repeat the process for a total of 3 supersets. So that would be 30 reps for each set times 6 sets would be 180 reps total. times 5 seconds per rep would be 900 seconds or 15 minutes minutes just for the time during the sets, not counting time between sets. You are looking at basically 20 minutes for the superset section, minimum. Then the trisets need to be done with each arm. They are done at a 4-2-2 tempo or 8 seconds per rep. Each triset consists of 30 reps. left and right arm for biceps and left and right arm for triceps. So thats a total of 120 reps for both arms on both trisets. 120 reps times 8 seconds= 960 seconds or 16 minutes. Add the time between sets and you are up to at least another 20 minutes for the trisets. Then there is the 21 rep sets. only one set of each so a total of 42 reps. a 3-1-1 tempo means 5 seconds per rep. 42 times 5= 210 seconds, or 3 and a half minutes, plus time between sets you are looking at at least 5 minutes. That puts us at exactly at 45 minutes but we still havent accounted for our forearm sets 1 warm up set for each (flexion and extension) plus 1 work set of 20 for each at a 3-1-1 tempo. And I havent accounted for all of the other warm up sets that need to be done as well (1 set for evey exersice). I know this seems a little knitpicky and technical, but my point was that the workout can not be completed properly in 45 minutes. You mustve been doing something a little bit different than me or using different tempos or not doing warm up sets or something. Im convinced that it probably cant be completed in less than an hour and 10 minutes.
-Jason

you should be able to do it within an hour. if not, you may not be following the rest periods prescribed. do you time yourself? sometimes the rest time seems shorter than it really is.