Hello Dr Darden! It’s an honor to be able to ask you a question!
What are your thoughts on triple test pause technique made famous by Dante Trudell, aka DC training?
I’m not familiar with triple rest pause technique. Please describe it for me?
It starts with one set to failure, rest 15-20 seconds a second set to failure rest 15-20 seconds then a third and final set to failure.
You keep track of your total reps for the for the three sets and attempt to beat that number the following week.
My understanding is that it’s 10-15 deep breaths, which, in my experience, takes longer than 15-20 seconds.
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Yes. It’s 15 deep breaths.
It usually allows you to complete half or just over the number of reps prior to it.
So your if your total rep range was 20 , it might look something like this …11/6/3 , making a total of 20 reps. So next time you increase the weight in that exercise…
It’s basically Leistner’s 50% sets with another set added and shorter rest between sets … Dr. Ken allowed one minute between most exercises with two minutes between things like squats, DL and Leg presses.
I really like the ‘original’ 50% sets. One of the best methods I’ve learned . Really simple and effective.
If doing all those sets to failure of course you will to keep the number of movements down if using all compounds exercises.
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My advice would be to try it on a smaller bodypart for 3/4 sessions .
Choose one exercise (eg: overhead extensions for triceps) and see how you go.
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In Dante’s original writings (cycles on pennies), and the T-nation article
It’s just called “rest pause”. Nowadays, the waters are somewhat muddied. For instance, CT would describe this as “double rest-pause” to distinguish from taking just the one rest before going for reps again.
This is the first time I’ve read someone call it triple rest-pause. I’m not entirely sure what OP is referring to.
And, everyone stating “breaths” is correct. Just referenced Cycles on Pennies to write this reply. The prescription in seconds is from other coaches.
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I just started training this style this week. I have found that 10 good breaths takes 30-40 seconds. This is usually sufficient for me in the in-between phases.
The hardest part is not the breathing, but choosing a weight that is significantly challenging enough to hit failure at every stage of the RP set and hit the prescribed rep range.
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I call it triple rest pause because that’s what they call it on Intense Muscle, or at least I thought they did. Haven’t read through the stuff in over 10 years. Either way you get my point, there’s 3 failure points.
This is directly quoted from Dante.
“They would explosively pull it down to the chest and then on the negative return they would resist (control) on the way up. I don’t want specific seconds, or a certain time amount, I just want control on the negative to the point if they had to, they could easily reverse direction. They would keep going to the point in the set where they would reach failure, hopefully between rep 7 and 10. At that point, they would take 10-15 deep breaths (usually 22 seconds or somewhere in that area) and then start the exercise again and go to failure once again . Then another 10-15 deep breaths. And then once again to failure. During the rest pauses you do not stay strapped to the bar or anything, you take your 10-15 deep breaths and then get back in there. Oxygen is the key here. What I’m looking for in a restpause set usually is a 11-15 rest pause total (with 3 failure points in that set). That usually comes out to something like 8 reps (failure) …10-15 breathes…4 reps (failure)…10-15 breathes… 2 reps (failure) = 14 rp. (hypothetically a total of 11-15 rest paused reps is what im after). “
I stand corrected, it is 15 breaths.
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Gave this a try some years ago. It will work, for a while, with these caveats for non-“enhanced” trainees:
- Do NOT follow the frequency prescribed. You’ll be dick-in-the-dirt in 2-3 weeks. Twice/week or Mon/Fri/Wed/Mon/Fri… is the way to go.
- Limit the triple-drops to 2 exercises per workout. Do the rest of the exercises either Standard HIT OR some HDT technique (cluster sets, countdown, etc.).
- With the reduced frequency, I would rotate between 2 exercises per bodypart and not 3.
- The static holds on the 3rd leg should be used with discretion and probably limited to 5-10 sec tops (I think Dante says 30-60 sec, or something crazy like that). This will kill you as fast as too many triple-drop exercises!
Best,
Scott
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10-15 breaths was always quoted. For me, I’d do 10B after the first ‘leg’ and then 12-15B after the second leg!!
I did a BING search and found a link to a nice summary:
’ A Concise Guide to Doggcrapp Training’
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Years ago I tried the dogg crapp training and found it to be very intense, however the recovery was not there…it was just too much
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I suppose that is where the name comes from - makes you feel like dogg crapp.
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Malaka79…you do realise DC/Dante’s methods are based around “usage”? Having seen the pre-client form, I know this 100%.
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Simply, a combo of heavy duty to failure, rest pause, and Parillo fascia stretching. Very tough.
Seems like overkill. Has anyone ever been able to really quantify the benefits of these more demanding techniques vs just a set to failure (or close)? Personally, I never saw a benefit but maybe it’s just my genetics.
I loved pushing to failure and beyond because it felt good, it felt like I was pushing it so hard I just had to grow but more than not I probably was not recovering enough to grow as I rarely saw any substantial gains from that extra effort.
Scott
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