Consider this article to be your headache cure.

The Monster Confusion 10 week muscle mass building cycle isn’t just an endless string of different styles of training. It is various styles of training interwoven throughout a 10 week cycle. One day you might hit legs with a 5×5 style, and the next day you might use a Dorian Yates style arm-blasting routine. With this cycle, no 2 days – or 2 weeks, for that matter – are ever the same.

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And because of this, you can use the Monster Confusion Cycle year round, if you so choose. Or, you can plug in new routines, and take out ones that aren’t suited for your needs. Consider the Monster Confusion Cycle your ultimate mass building tool.

The styles. The following lifting routines and styles are integrated into the Monster Confusion Cycle.

• 5×5. 5×5’s are well known as great mass and strength building routines.
• Bulldozer Training. Bulldozer Training is the creation of Muscle and Brawn’s webmaster. It’s basically Doggcrapp training without training to failure, combined with Max-Stim training without using single reps.
• 20 Rep Squats. The king of torture, which also happens to be the king of all mass inducing exercises.
• Dorian Yates. This Mr. Olympia is know for his high intensity, Heavy Duty-influenced style.
• Gironda 8 x 8. Vince Gironda was known for using this incredible training system. prepare for muscle soreness.
• Moderate Volume. A standard bodybuilding style routine of 3 sets x 6-10 reps per exercise.
• Singles, doubles and triples. Rest-paused heavy single, double and triple rep sets, which help in pushing the body through strength barriers.
• Max-OT. A single exercise involving 6 to 9 sets of 4-6 reps.
• Westside. The famous powerlifting routine that uses max effort (strength training), dynamic effort (speed training), and the conjugate method for supporting exercises.
• Burns. Burn sets are higher rep sets, usually to 50 or 100 total reps, performed with Bulldozer style rest-pause.
• 10×3. 10 sets of 3 reps, with 45 seconds rest between sets.
• High Rep Sets. High rep sets are performed in the 10-20 rep range for most muscle groups.

Training splits. It is beyond the scope of this article to get into training split theory, and the amount of rest needed between workouts. use the Monster Confusion Cycle to your benefit…mold it to your favorite split, and the rest periods that work best for you. For the sake of example, I have provided a 3-day split example program.

The 3 Day a Week Monster Confusion Cycle. This system features a push, pull and legs day.

• Day 1. Chest, Shoulders and Triceps
• Day 2. OFF
• Day 3. Back, Biceps and Traps
• Day 4. OFF
• Day 5. Quads, Hamstrings and Calves
• Day 6. OFF
• Day 7. OFF

NOTE: Perform Ab work as needed, and on the best day suited for you. This may vary week to week.

Chest, shoulders and triceps. Perform the following style training on the week listed…

1. 5×5. Bench Press, Overhead Press, Closegrip Bench Press
2. Bulldozer. 1 set to 20 reps, Bench Press, Incline Bench, Overhead Press, Triceps movement
3. Max-OT. Bench Press, Overhead Press, Triceps movement
4. Burns. 50 rep burn sets, Bench Press, Incline Bench, Overhead Press, Triceps movement
5. Moderate. 3 sets of 6-10 reps, Bench Press, Incline Press, Overhead Press, Triceps movement
6. 8×8. Rest 15-30 seconds between each set, Bench Press, Overhead Press, Triceps movement
7. Westside. Max Effort – Bench Press, build up in weight using heavy triples, until you can’t perform triples, and then shoot for a new max. Dynamic Effort – Bench Press, do 8 sets of 3 speed reps with 60% of your 1 rep max, using only 15 deep breaths between sets. Then perform 3 sets of 6×10 reps, Overhead Press, Triceps movement
8. High reps. 3 sets of 10-20 reps, Bench Press, Incline Bench, Overhead Press, Triceps movement
9. 10×3. 10 sets of 3 reps, 45 seconds rest between sets, Bench Press, Overhead Press, Triceps movement
10. Yates. One set per exercise performed to failure, using rest-pause, forced reps, static holds and negatives when possible. 2 Chest exercises, 2 Shoulder exercises, 1 Triceps movement

Back, biceps and traps. Perform the following style training on the week listed…

1. Burns. 50 rep burn sets, Deadlifts, Back exercises, Bicep movement, Trap movement
2. Moderate. 3 sets of 6-10 reps, 2 Back exercises, Bicep movement, Trap movement
3. 8×8. Rest 15-30 seconds between each set, Deadlifts, Back exercises, Bicep movement, Trap movement
4. Westside. Max Effort – Deadlifts, build up in weight using heavy singles, and then shoot for new max. Dynamic Effort – Deadlifts, do 8 sets of single speed reps with 60% of your 1 rep max, using only 15 deep breaths between reps. Then perform 3 sets of 6×10 reps, back exercise, Bicep movement
5. High reps. 3 sets of 10-20 reps, 2 Back exercises, Bicep movement, Trap movement
6. 10×3. 10 sets of 3 reps, 45 seconds rest between sets, Deadlifts, Back exercises, Bicep movement, Trap movement
7. Yates. One set per exercise performed to failure, using rest-pause, forced reps, static holds and negatives when possible. Deadlifts, 1-2 Back exercises, 1-2 Bicep exercises, Trap movement
8. 5×5. Deadlifts, Back exercise, Bicep movement
9. Bulldozer. 1 set to 20 reps, 2 Back exercises, Bicep movement, Trap movement
10. Max-OT. Deadlift, Back exercise, Bicep exercise

Quads, hamstrings and calves. Perform the following style training on the week listed…

1. Westside. Max Effort – Box Squats, build up in weight using heavy singles, and then shoot for new max. Dynamic Effort – Box Squats, do 8 sets of 2 speed reps with 60% of your 1 rep max, using only 15 deep breaths between sets. Then perform 3 sets of 6×10 reps, Good Mornings, Romanian Deadlifts
2. High Reps. A single 20 rep set of Squats, then 3 sets of 10-20 reps, Front Squats or Leg Extensions, Hamstring Curls or Romanian Deadlifts, and Calf exercise
3. 10×3. 10 sets of 3 reps, 45 seconds rest between sets, Squats, Front Squats or Leg Extensions, Hamstring Curls or Romanian Deadlifts, and Calf exercise
4. Yates. One set per exercise performed to failure, using rest-pause, forced reps, static holds and negatives when possible. Do 2 sets of squats, 6-10 reps, 1 Quad exercise, 1-2 Hamstring exercises, and a Calf exercise.
5. 5×5. Squats, Front Squats (optional), Romanian Deadlifts, and some Calf exercise sets with 10-20 reps
6. Bulldozer. Squats, 8 sets of rest-paused singles, doubles or triples with 15 deep breaths between sets, or work in Bulldozer style to 20 total rest-paused reps. 1 set to 20 reps, Front Squats or Leg Extensions, Hamstring Curls or Romanian Deadlifts, and Calf exercise
7. Max-OT. Squats, Romanian Deadlifts or Hamstring Curls, Calf exercise
8. Burns. 50 rep burn sets, Squats, Leg Extensions, Romanian Deadlifts or Hamstring Curls, Calf exercise (100 rep burns)
9. Moderate. 3 sets of 6-10 reps, Front Squats or Leg Extensions, Hamstring Curls or Romanian Deadlifts, and Calf exercise
10. 8×8. Squats, Hamstring Curls or Romanian Deadlifts, and Calf exercise

Notes. The exercises included in the example routine are just that…examples. Feel free to tweak them to fit your needs. Just don’t stray too far from primary, compound movements.

Also, try and keep your workout times under an hour. As you become experienced with this system of training, you can tweak the amount of exercises performed in a workout to keep you in the 45 minutes to an hour workout range.

On Westside training days, feel free to switch up the exercises used for Max Effort days. It is also recommended that you tailor your supporting exercises to your weaknesses.

Bulldozer style rest-pause sets (to 20, 50 or 100 reps) require that you pick a moderately heavy weight, do as many reps as possible (not to failure), take 10-15 deep breaths, then do more reps. Continue this pattern until the desired rep total is achieved.

On Dorian Yates training days, do NOT use negative reps or high intensity techniques for deadlifts or squats.

In fact, way back in the old days before the invention of bench presses with upright racks for holding the bar, guys would do a barbell pullover, lifting the bar from the floor to their chest, and then do their bench presses. But gradually over the years this exercise got pushed to the wayside and is hardly ever done by the average gym goer.

The main benefit from pullovers is that they help expand the rib cage and work all the supporting muscle groups along the torso, chest, lats, arms, and shoulders through a full range of motion. This can really help add thickness and depth to your torso, which is one area that a lot of people lack these days.

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I know from the majority of people that I see at the gym that very few of them have a well developed torso. It’s actually quite common to see a guy with muscular arms and shoulders stacked on a slim chest and torso. But by adding pullovers to your routine you can help fill out and expand your rib cage and correct this problem.

Your rib cage is the frame work that supports all your upper body muscles. So if you have a well built frame underneath, the muscles of your chest, shoulders, lats, and arms will look much more impressive.

I was fortunate enough to have included pullovers as a regular exercise in my workouts from the start and I think this has certainly helped me to develop a large rib cage and good chest expansion, which is clearly seen when I hit a side chest pose as in the pic above.

The main reason I even did this exercise was the fact I started training in a simple home gym and didn’t have access to a lot of the fancy machines that are so common in most gyms today. So from having limited equipment I tried to include as much training variety as I could using basic free weight barbell and dumbbell exercises. For this reason I sometimes feel that training with limited gym equipment can be a blessing in disguise.

There are two basic variations to the pullover, the barbell version and the cross bench dumbbell version. One is not necessarily better then the other, both work well. I personally feel that the dumbbell pullover stretches the chest a bit more and the barbell pullover places a little more emphasis on the lats. But you can pick the one that feels the best for you, or if you have no preference you can alternate back and forth between both variations. The main thing is that you just do them.

Dumbbell Pullover

Barbell Pullover

The pullover is a stretching exercise, so you’ll make better gains from using a moderate weight, higher reps, and really working through a full range of motion. Add weight to the exercise in a gradual progressive fashion, but never at the expense of sacrificing your exercise form.

Depending on your body structure and how you do the exercise you may feel it working the chest, or you may feel it working the lats, or a combination of the two. So you could include pullovers with your chest or back workouts. The main thing is that you do them consistently so you reap the results that they have to offer.

The first time you do the exercise start off with a light weight and just get used to the movement and the range of motion required. Then go up by 5 – 10 pound jumps in weight each set. By going through this process you’ll naturally find the sweet spot where you have enough weight that allows you to stimulate the muscles hard, yet still be able to perform the exercise through a deep range of motion and fully stretch out your entire rib cage, chest, and lats.

Start off with 1 – 2 warm up sets and then take a working weight that allows for 15 reps with good form. Do 2 – 3 working sets and really focus on feeling the muscles stretch and contract with each rep. Another little tip that will help add to the effectiveness is to take a deep breath before each rep and hold your air in as you lower the weight. This will give you an even deeper stretch throughout the rib cage.

You’ll get more benefit from doing pullovers at the end of your workout when your muscles are already pumped. Doing stretching exercises when you are pumped up and the muscles feel tight will aid in muscle growth because the connective tissues are already being stretched from the blood volume in the muscles, and then by doing stretching exercises at this time as well you get a double whammy effect. This really stretches the connective tissue and increases your muscle growth potential.

By doing pullovers as a staple exercise in your workout routine you are going to experience a good upper body growth spurt and also notice an improvement in your flexibility and mobility for a lot of your other exercises as well. Give it a try and don’t be surprised if you add an inch or two to your chest measurement in as little as 6 weeks.