The 500 Workout Search Skip to content Menu Menu follow us Store Articles Community Loyal-T Club Loyal-T Points Rewards Subscribe to Save Search Search The World s Trusted Source & Community for Elite Fitness TrainingWorkouts The 500 Workout A Killer Challenge For Muscle Gain or Fat Loss by Tim Henriques September 25, 2017January 25, 2022 Tags Bodybuilding, Challenge Training, Training Train for long enough and at some point you'll want to do something different. We all need an occasional break from the same old routine. It may be for just one day, or perhaps a week. Maybe you're on vacation or at a gym with limited equipment. Maybe you want to dedicate one day a week to unconventional training. If that sounds like you, you've got to try this. The 500 Workout The plan is simple: Choose 5 exercises. Do 100 total reps for each over the course of the workout. Now, don't pick 5 exercises that are essentially the same movement – all presses, or all pulls, or just legs, for example. In other words, don't pick 5 chest exercises. A better option would be something like: Overhead dumbbell press Push-up Dumbbell row Pull-up Lunge Try to hit as many major muscle groups as you can with your 5 exercise choices. For example, you could choose: Leg exercise Chest exercise Back exercise Shoulder exercise Ab exercise If you choose exercises like close-grip bench presses and chin-ups, your biceps and triceps will get hit too. Or you could divide your leg work up with an exercise for hamstrings, an exercise for quads, and maybe even a glute-focused movement. You're only limited by your own creativity when it comes to setting up a workout like this. Don't think you have to go through one exercise and hit all 100 reps of it at once. You can superset the exercises, split them up into sets, or perform them all like a circuit doing each exercise for a set number before you move on to the next. One of the things you'll like about this plan is all of the variations you can do that will provide you with a unique training stimulus. 1 Ascending Sets Start light and go heavier as you build your way to 100 total reps per exercise. This is great if you want to build work capacity, learn a new movement, or ingrain a new technique. Increase the weight every set or every other set. Sets of 10 work well here. Here's an example of what one exercise in your plan for a dumbbell press would look like: 50 pounds x 10 reps x 2 sets 55 pounds x 10 reps x 2 sets 60 pounds x 10 reps x 2 sets 65 pounds x 10 reps x 2 sets 70 pounds x 10 reps x 2 sets That's 100 total reps. Use the same ascending rep scheme with your other 4 exercises. 2 Descending Sets If you like to start heavy and hard and then have the workout get progressively easier, begin with your heaviest weights (after warming up properly). Then every set or every other set decrease the weight. Choose exercises you're familiar with for this setup. Reps of 5-20 work best here. Here's an example using the bench press: 225 pounds x 6 reps 215 pounds x 7 reps 205 pounds x 9 reps 195 pounds x 10 reps 195 pounds x 10 reps 185 pounds x 12 reps 185 pounds x 12 reps 175 pounds x 14 reps 175 pounds x 20 reps Again, that's 100 total reps. 3 Pyramid The old classic. This is what everybody used when I was in high school and it still works well. Pyramid the weight up for about 5-6 sets and then reverse. If you have the energy, see if you can beat the number of reps you did on the way back down. This is a nice blend of both ascending and descending sets. Here's an example using the squat: Up the pyramid: 185 pounds x 12 reps 205 pounds x 10 reps 225 pounds x 8 reps 246 pounds x 6 reps 275 pounds x 5 reps And down the pyramid: 245 pounds x 8 reps 225 pounds x 10 reps 205 pounds x 12 reps 135 pounds x 25 reps 4 Circuit Style If you want the workout to have more of a conditioning effect and you don't want it to take forever, set up the exercises in a circuit. Let's say you're on vacation and your resort gym only has 5 machines: chest press, lat pulldown, shoulder press, leg extension, and leg curl. Just do sets of 10 on each piece of equipment, using the ascending sets method, in a circuit: a set of 10 reps on one machine, a set of 10 reps on the next machine, etc. Start light and add a little weight each round. Your first few rounds should feel like an extended warm-up. Here's how the whole thing would look: Chest press: 10 reps x 10 sets Lat pulldown: 10 reps x 10 sets Shoulder press: 10 reps x 10 sets Leg extension: 10 reps x 10 Leg curl: 10 reps x 10 sets It might only take you about 20 minutes, but you'll get out of there with a nice pump and feel good for the rest of the day. 5 Go For Time You could make it similar to a CrossFit workout and do it for time. Just break the exercises up in sets of a certain number of reps. For simplicity's sake, let's just say you choose 20 reps. That would mean you'd go through 5 sets of 20 reps going from one exercise to the next. Start a clock when you begin your first rep and let it run until you complete your 500th rep. Rest when necessary, but know the clock is still running and your goal is to finish as fast as possible. This forces you to move quickly which builds your work capacity, burns calories, and assuming the intensity is on point, it will create noticeable EPOC (increased rate of oxygen intake after your workout, also known as the afterburn effect). For example: Push-ups: 20 reps x 5 sets Lunges: 20 reps x 5 sets Bodyweight row: 20 reps x 5 sets Hip thrusts: 20 reps x 5 sets Decline sit-ups: 20 reps x 5 sets 6 Same Weight If you have access to limited equipment, say one pair of 25-pound dumbbells or just one 40-pound kettlebell, you can use the same tool for everything. Pick five exercises that you think are appropriate and then push through with the same resistance. In this scenario, you'll typically start out with the weaker, more isolated exercises and then progress to the stronger, more compound movements (the opposite of what you normally do). Here's what it might look like: Dumbbell curl: 25 pounds x 100 reps Dumbbell tricep extension: 25 pounds x 100 reps Dumbbell lateral raise: 25 pounds x 100 reps Dumbbell military press: 25 pounds x 100 reps Dumbbell press: 25 pounds x 100 reps 7 High Reps Newer research is showing you can build appreciable muscle training with lighter weights... as long as you push it hard. Try completing the 100 reps in just three sets, or five sets. Or try using a 40-30-30 rep scheme, a 50-25-25 rep scheme, or simply 5 sets of 20. This can be easier on the joints and gives you a pump to make even Arnold envious. Like this: Leg press: 230 pounds x 40 reps, then 30 reps, then 30 reps If this type of training is new to you, use ascending sets and start off light to build your tolerance for it. Go forth and smash. 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