21/6 Leg Explosion; the workout you’ll dread

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Legs get ripped if you train them correctly

If you look like a penguin when you walk after a leg workout, then job well done. After my 21/6 leg session, let’s just say I had happy feet. It looked like I forgot to walk. I knew, going into the workout, that I was going to be hurting that night, the day after, as well as the day after that.

Post-workout pain is the sign of a successful workout. I completed a total of five workouts and I’m still feeling every single rep. You need to be aware of the fact that sacrifices must be made in order to take steps forward towards your goal. Nothing will be handed to you. You have to work for every single ripple of muscle and every pound of weight lost or gained. It’s not going to happen over night.  Thinking that it will is debilitating and it’ll unnecessarily discourage you en route to your aspirations. Here’s what my workout consisted of:

Exercise one – Tilted back Smith Machine squats

  • Starting weight – 105 pounds for 21 reps
  • Seven sets (20 total pounds added and subtracted)
  • Peak weight – 185 pounds for six reps
  • Ending weight – 70 pounds for 21 reps

Exercise two – Leg extension machine

  • Starting weight – 80 pounds for 21 reps
  • Nine sets (20 pounds added and subtracted)
  • Peak weight – 160 pounds for six reps
  • Ending weight – 40 pounds for 21 reps

Exercise three – Leg curl machine

  • Starting weight – 70 pounds for 21 reps
  • Eight sets (Ten pounds added and subtracted)
  • Peak weight – 110 pounds for six reps
  • Ending weight – 60 pounds for 21 reps

Exercise four – Seated calf raises

  • Starting weight – 90 pounds for 21 reps (all do not include the machine weight)
  • Seven sets (25 pounds added and subtracted)
  • Peak weight – 190 pounds for six reps
  • Ending weight – 90 pounds for 21 reps

Exercise five – 20-pound kettlebell lunges

  • Four total sets
  • Each set timed for 30 second
  • 10 seconds of break time in between

Biceps/Triceps Massacre; 21/6 Explosion

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STFU and try this workout! (Shirt is part of Girl Tuff Gear’s clothing line. For more on them, check the right side of the site’s home page towards the top)

To date, today’s 21/6 shred session was the most intense. Last week, I worked out my biceps alone. I also exercised my triceps alone the next day. If you recall my posts from those exercises, I was in a lot of pain, due to the intensity of 21/6. Today, I did both biceps and triceps in one workout. Take both days worth of pain last week and squash them into a span of one hour and thirty minutes. I’ve never felt pain like this before, nor have I seen pump like this on my body in the past; and short-term results are taking place. I know I’m not the only one this works for. Several people have shared their experiences with me regarding 21/6 training and I’ve heard nothing but good feedback. Now, let’s take a look at what it took to mutilate my body today. If you’re confused about the format in which I’m listing the workouts, check back at the previous post, where I explain the exercises much more thoroughly. Notice, it took me a while to finish some of these workouts because there was a mixture of me dying out and the weight becoming ridiculously heavy (the 20 pounds on the eleventh set of the sixth exercise was the most excruciating 20 pounds ever. Here we go:

Exercise one – Easy Curl Bar — Standing Curls (bar is 20 pounds)

  • Starting weight – 70 pounds for 21 reps
  • Seven sets (10 total pounds added and subtracted)
  • Peak weight – 100 pounds for six reps
  • Ending weight – 70 pounds for 21 reps

Exercise two – Incline bench seated supinating dumbbell curls

  • Starting weight – 25-pound dumbbells
  • Seven sets (five pounds added and subtracted)
  • Peak weight – 35-pound dumbbells for six reps
  • Ending weight – 15-pound dumbbells for 21 reps

Exercise three – Standing easy curl bar — reverse-grip curls

  • Starting weight – 40 pounds for 21 reps
  • Ten sets (Ten pounds added and subtracted)
  • Peak weight – 90 pounds for six reps
  • Ending weight – 50 pounds for 21 reps

Exercise four – Flat bench skull crushers with easy curl bar

  • Starting weight – 70 pounds for 21 reps
  • Eleven sets (10 pounds added and subtracted)
  • Peak weight – 110 pounds for six reps
  • Ending weight – 50 pounds for 21 reps

Exercise five – Standing cable rope push-downs (Metal gripped bar, shaped like an upside-down V with handles)

  • Starting weight – 80 pounds for 21 reps
  • Ten sets (10 pounds added and subtracted)
  • Peak weight – 120 pounds for six reps
  • Ending weight – 70 pounds for 21 reps

Exercise six – Standing (bent forward, left foot in front) cable rope skull crushers

  • Starting weight – 50 pounds for 21 reps
  • Eleven sets (10 pounds added and subtracted)
  • Peak weight – 90 pounds for six reps
  • Ending weight – 20 pounds for 21 reps

Crazy, right? I wasn’t done. To top off the workout, I superset chin-ups with pushups, which finished off my biceps and triceps. I did three sets of each. For all three sets of chin-ups and push-ups, I did 10 reps and 20 reps respectively. Try this out and let me know how it went if you feel like having a near-death experience in the gym. Have fun with it.

Shoulder Shredder; 21/6 knockout session

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Five minutes after my 21/6 shoulder shred today.

Right now, when I lift my arms up, it feels like I’m still carrying 30-pound dumbbells. That’s the product of 21/6 Shred System shoulder training. I did five workouts, which took just a little over an hour, but it felt like I was pumping iron for about five hours with zero break time. By now, you should be familiar with my workout style and if you aren’t, either message me or check back on the earlier written articles. For now on, what I’m going to do is list the exercise, starting weight, number of sets, peak weight, weight added and subtracted, and ending weight. Here is today’s shoulder workout:

Exercise one – Overhead, standing barbell presses

  • Starting weight – 65 pounds for 21 reps
  • Seven sets (10 pounds added and subtracted)
  • Peak weight – 125 pounds for six reps
  • Ending weight – 65 pounds for 21 reps

Exercise two – Seated Arnold Presses

  • Starting weight – 25 pounds for 21 reps
  • Nine sets (five pounds added and subtracted)
  • Peak weight – 40 pounds for six reps
  • Ending weight – 15 pounds for 21 reps

Exercise three – Standing dumbbell shoulder flies, turned 90 degrees to your front, clanked together, back 90 degrees, both to your side and down

  • Starting weight – 10 pounds for 21 reps
  • Nine sets (five pounds added and subtracted; besides last set — five to three pounds)
  • Peak weight – 25 pounds for six reps
  • Ending weight – three pounds for 21 reps

Exercise four – Standing upright barbell rows

  • Starting weight – 50 pounds for 21 reps
  • Eight sets (10 pounds added and subtracted)
  • Peak weight – 90 pounds for six reps
  • Ending weight – 50 pounds for 21 reps

Exercise five – Seated machine close-grip overhead presses (super drop set)

  • Starting weight – 110 pounds for six reps
  • Four sets (20 pounds subtracted)
  • Ending weight – 50 pounds for 24 reps

EXCLUSIVE: Sneak peek at some of my workout supplements

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Scroll to the bottom of the article and check out the links to view the products I purchased.

The picture at the top right of this post is of the bodybuilding.com order I made earlier today. For some of you, this is just a picture of products in which you’ve never seen before. For me, they’re fuel that keeps me going. Not all people believe in supplements and not all supplements are necessary by any means, but in the end, it all depends on how serious you are about making improvements in and outside the gym. If you aren’t too serious about changing your lifestyle, then don’t waste your money on supplements. It’s like putting gas in a car with no engine. Why fuel it if it has no motor?

Everyone at some point needs to find his or her motor. We all have one. It either needs to be fixed or built. Some of you have never stepped foot in a gym, so my advise to you is to learn what you’re doing first before you start spending your money on supplements. You need to prove yourself not to anyone else, but your own mind. Once you go through the hardest part of the fitness regimen, which is the first one or two months, you’re ready.

Let’s go through my order, top to bottom. I’m going to tell you what each product is and why I decided to purchase it. The price varies wherever you go, so I found it unnecessary to list the cost of each thing. If you’re really that interested, check on bodybuilding.com.  The first thing on the list is chocolate fudge Dymatize Elite whey protein powder. This is my first time buying this, so I’ll let you know how it is. The reviews for it are excellent, so I thought I’d give it a shot. Whey protein is essential to blend up with water in a shaker bottle to rebuild muscle after strenuous work, especially if you’re doing the 21/6 shred system.

The next product on the list is Con-Cret creatine powder. You can read more about it on bodybuilding.com as well. Creatine absorbs water in the body and transfers it to the muscles, creating a much fuller look, which most people strive for. Be careful what kind of creatine you get. Some will make you look a little bloated and others may make you break out a little. I’ve taken this creatine for a couple of months now and haven’t seen any of these side effects, plus, it’s buy one get one free right now.

The next product is C4 Extreme, made by Cellucor. This is a pre-workout mix, meant to give you an extra burst of energy before a workout. I don’t take this at any point of the day, other than about 30 minutes before starting my gym sessions. I like mixing the Con-Cret powder with the C4 extreme. One scoop of C4 is all you need (I also put one scoop of Con-Cret in my post-workout protein shake). One scoop of creatine in each mixture is all you need. Never overdo it.

The last two products on the list were free add-ons. Sometimes it’s difficult to get your protein numbers up throughout the day so I added a couple free samples of protein bars and if you spend a certain amount of money on the site, you get something for free, and I chose another shaker bottle, not that don’t already have enough. To learn more about the supplements I bought, click the name below and it’ll direct you to bodybuilding.com and the site’s description of them:

Dymatize Elite whey protein powder

Con-Cret creatine hydrochloride

c4 Exreme by Cellucor

Back Smack Session; 21/6 Shred System Back in Action

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Not only are these workout adding muscle to the concentrated areas, (today was my lats) it’s also adding size to my forearm. You’ll find out that a firm grip and discipline is needed to succeed.

Today was the fourth time I took part in the new, crazy, intense 21/6 shred system. Every single time, I feel as if keeps getting better, not because it gets easier, but because the techniques Justin and I are adding to it are shredding our bodies much more than any other workout we’ve done before. Today, I worked out my back, and believe it or not, I still felt my biceps from the brutal bicep blowout two days ago. It goes without saying that I still feel my triceps from yesterday, and it also goes without saying that tomorrow, I may feel like an 80-year-old man because of this back workout today.

The newest technique added to the system has a lot to do with timing. On the way up in weight, you have 30 second of rest time between sets instead of 15; not because we said, “Hey, this stuff is too hard. We need to make it easier.” We made the changes because it sets us up for a more brutal ending than originally designed.

On the way back down in weight, while shooting for 21 or more reps, there is no rest time. The only rest you get is getting up and changing the weight of the exercise (that’s only if you’re working out by yourself). The 30 second of rest you get during the first half of the workout is important, because you need to give some time for your muscles to recover before attempting to lift a higher weight. On the way down, the weight gets lighter, so blasting through the sets quickly works because your muscles are constantly being shredded and tested. The weight gets easier, but the workout gets more intense. It’s up to you to finish. When you do, it’s a great feeling.

The first workout I did today was seated rows with the close-grip, triangle-shaped handles. I started at 80 pounds. Each plate weighs 20 pounds on that machine, so that’s the weight I jumped up and down by. I made it up to 160 and failed at a maximum of six reps right there. I succeeded to make it back to 21 reps before the starting weight. I ended with 21 reps at 100 pounds. Each of these exercises take about 15 minutes to do if you do them the right way. It takes patience, intensity and determination. At that point, my back was already toasted.

Next, I did wide-grip rows (the machine where you can add plates to; not a machine with a pin to determine the weight). I started with a 45-pound weight for 21 reps and each set, I added a 10-pound plate until my failure at six. I ended up adding a total of 50 pounds in 10′s, on top of the 45-pound plate, maxed out, and eventually made it back to 21. Out of any of the exercises I’ve done so far, this was the most challenging. I got back to where I started at 45 pounds and couldn’t make 21 reps, and I dropped to 35 pounds and couldn’t hit 21 reps. My back was dead. I did make it with a 25-pound plate on it. The battle was over and I moved to shrugs (not dumbbells or barbell; I used the machine where you add and subtract plates).

I started with 70 pounds on each side and just like the previous workout, I added a plate to each side, but for this one, they were 25′s, not 10′s. I added four 25′s on each side, on top of the 45′s to shrug a total of 290 pounds, I made it back to where I started and went past 21 to burn out at 25 reps. Shrugs are a strong point in my workout routines. It’s important to include workouts that concentrate on different parts of your back so that you don’t obliterate the same section of the same muscle throughout the entirety of the workout. After the shrugs, I did lat pull-downs.

I started at 80, maxed six reps at 160 (each set was bumped up and moved down by 20 pounds), and made it back to 80 to bust out 23 reps. Like I said, that’s the only time you pass 21 reps. It’s important to give it everything you have; leave no energy behind. Justin and I decided last night to add a fifth exercise to the 21/6 shred session, but it’s a little different than the first four. You basically do the last half of a conventional set (start at your peak weight, max out at six, and gradually move down in weight one by one until you hit 21 reps. I’ll institute this in my workout the next time at the gym. Today, I superset four sets of pull-ups and ab exercises. That’s where I finished. According to my plans, my next day at the gym, I’ll be working out legs. I’m not really looking forward to that.

Why exercise? Is it worth it? You tell me.

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Me in May of 2011 at Cancun, Mexico. I weighed about 183 pounds and hovered around 15 percent body fat.

It has been exactly one year. The improvements are obvious. Training to me is a way of life and waking up in the morning, being in the best shape of my life is a damn good feeling. Last summer, I was happy, but I wasn’t satisfied. I’m still unsatisfied. Being happy with where you are leads to settling down. Never settle. Always strive to get better.

No matter who you are, there’s always room for improvement. If you have a stunning six pack, maybe you don’t have defined biceps. Maybe it’s the other way around. Everyone has gains to make. It’s up to them whether they want to reach their goals. The second you step into a gym, you’ve made it farther than a gigantic percentage of the American population, with regards to fitness. Getting there is half the battle. Once you’re there, that’s when the decision must be made. Ask yourself one question; “Why am I here?”

This is me exactly one year after the picture in Mexico. I’m not under a scorching sun, nor am I in the same position, but the changes in my body are obvious. Right now, I weight 172, I’m stronger and my body is made up of 8.9 percent fat. I love the feeling of success and so will you. Keep in mind: I’m taking the picture through a mirror so my tattoo is on the arm holding the camera. Almost thought you caught me?

Everyone is here for a reason at the gym. Maybe it’s for social acceptance or maybe it’s for health reasons. Maybe you’re trying to lose weight for a wrestling match or maybe you’re trying to lose weight to save your own life. You need to figure out why you’re ready to make a commitment. If you don’t you’re there for no reason. You’re a lost cause with nowhere to go but downhill, stuck on a treadmill like a mouse running on a stationary wheel.

One year ago, I was bulky, but not defined. I sweat, bleed and suffered long painful workouts. I even thew up a few times because of the intensity of my workouts. I always so one thing in particular to my clients when training. “It’s all worth it in the end.” Once you find yourself, you’ll find that it is worth it; probably more than anything else you’ve ever experienced in your life. Take a look at the pictures. Ask me if it was worth it.

21/6 Shred System: Break Anything You’ve Ever Done Before

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Founders of 21/6 Shred System

Here it is. The new and improved 21/6 shred system. Brought to you by my colleague and I. We’re going to the top. Justin Adams and Brian Jacobs. Get at us.

Any questions or confusions, don’t hesitate to ask either one of us. We’re here to help and turn you all into swoldiers ready for batter.

Make the heavy weight look light and lift the light weight until it’s heavy. Get it.

21/6 Shred System: Break Anything You’ve Ever Done Before.