Dueling Banjo Nightmare

• Challenges every muscle in your entire body with 2 exercises
• Uses standard gym equipment (bench, dumbbells and barbell...ideally, a trap bar, if you've got one)
• Time-efficient...you'll be done in 30 minutes
• Develops incredible conditioning via strength work
• Will challenge your mental toughness and fortitude

 

Let me just start by saying, you will be going into MASSIVE oxygen debt by the time you finish ONE round through this...and you're just getting started.

 

And if you don't know what oxygen debt is, you're going to find out...

• You'll be alternating between two exercises...trap bar deadlifts and dumbbell bench press.
• You'll be doing this workout in one continuous NON-STOP set...(select your own weights according to your strength levels - I'm including mine as an example so you can get an idea of what to use).
• You're front-loading the hardest parts of the training (which means doing more work earlier in the set/workout) by doing the higher rep deadlifts and the heavier presses first.
• You'll stay at the same weight on the trap bar deadlifts so you don't have to mess with changing weight, which would take time and give you too much rest (yes, I know...I'm cruel).

 

 

For weight selection on the trap bar deadlifts, use about 60 -70% of your 1 RM. At the time of this workout, I could do about 530 for a max, which puts that at about 60% for me.

For the presses, on the first part, use weights you could normally get 6-8 reps (you'll do 5), then weights you could normally get 15 reps for (you'll do 10), then a weight you could probably normally get 50 or more reps for (you'll do 20).

I recommend using dumbbells for the bench press instead of barbell so you can preset your dumbbells and not have to change weights each time.

You CAN use straight bar deads but I prefer trap bar for this because of the rep range (straight bar deads are tough on the lower back when done for high reps...trap bar, not nearly as much).

Enough talk...let's begin...

 

 

Essentially, you're going back and forth (i.e. dueling) between two different exercises (i.e. banjos) while varying the rep ranges in opposite directions. The reps on one exercise go up (bench press) while the reps on the other exercise go down (deadlifts). The hell part will be self-explanatory when you go through it the first time...

 

Part 1 - Heavy Flat Dumbbell Bench Press - 105 lb Dumbbells x 5 reps

 

Part 2 - Trap Bar Deadlifts - 315 lbs x 20 reps

 

Part 3 - Moderate Flat Dumbbell Bench Press - 75 lb Dumbbells x 10 reps

 

Part 4 - Trap Bar Deadlifts - 315 lbs x 10 reps

 

Part 5 - Light Flat Dumbbell Bench Press - 45 lb Dumbbells x 20 reps

Part 6 - Trap Bar Deadlifts - 315 lbs x 5 reps

You will be lifting a lot slower on these final reps. The weight you blew up for 20 reps will feel like a TON at this point.