Serious about packing on quality muscle size with this killer 15-minute body part workout? Get ready. This is a workout designed for individuals seeking maximal muscular development and leanness by trashing all the critical growth fibers in one insane 43-rep set on the same body part. It’s called the 16-12-25 workout. Yikes!
Warning: This is not for anyone with less than one year of consistent weight training experience. Nor is it for anyone not prepared to enter the hurt box, because this workout demands a high level of discomfort, focus and motivation.
How Does The 6-12-25 Workout Program Work?
You will perform one big giant set which combines three different exercises for the same muscle group. A giant set is one set of three different exercises back-to-back-to-back without resting.
You'll do 6 reps with the first exercise for strength gains, then you'll do 12 reps with the second exercise for size gains and then you'll do a third exercise for 25 reps for endurance gains.
Combining the three different rep ranges into one mega giant set with short rest periods makes this one hell of a way to get out of a strength, hypertrophy, or fat loss rut.
The secret to making this workout effective is selecting the correct loads, i.e. weight selection. You must choose loads that reflect your 6 rep max, your 12 rep max, and your 25 rep max. In other words, you must pick a weight that will result in an all out war on the 6th rep, 12th rep and 25th rep. If you can steal an extra rep, that’s awesome. If you can steal two extra reps or more, you miscalculated your loads too light. If you fail one rep shy of your goal reps, no worries. If you fail two or more reps shy of your goal reps, you miscalculated your loads too heavy. Fix it in your next workout.
You will perform two body parts during each workout using a training split that looks like this:
Day 1: Shoulders & Abs
Day 2: Biceps & Triceps
Day 3: Off
Day 4: Quads & Hips
Day 5: Off
Day 6: Chest & Back
Day 7: Off
Repeat
Go through this cycle a minimum of three weeks and a maximum of six weeks. Doing it for longer will result in diminishing returns and adaptation.
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The Most Important Variable - Tempo!
It’s not how much you lift but how well you lift and being aware of the tempo, i.e. how fast you move the weights, will determine how hard each giant set is. I recommend you lower the weights in a controlled manner (the eccentric portion of the lift); pause for a second at the bottom of the lift and press the weights back up strongly (the concentric portion of the lift).
Focus on maintaining tension on your muscles the entire rep.
Assuming this is a new lifting protocol, it will take a workout or two to choose the right weights to get the 6-12-25. Every single one of these sets should be very, very hard to finish, which is why the workout is short in duration.
Keep Your Rest Periods Honest
You will rest 10 seconds between exercises (basically the time it takes you to move from one exercise to the next) and 120 seconds between giant sets. You will perform each giant set for a total of three times resulting in the hardest 15-minutes you’ve ever trained one body part. Each workout includes two body parts to train so your total gym time will be at least 30 minutes, not including time it takes to warm up and cool down.
Modifications Based On Training Age
Beginners (anyone with less than one year training experience who insists on trying this) will do two giant sets for a 10-minute workout per body part. Intermediates (anyone with 1-4 years training experience) will start with three giant sets for a 15-minute workout per body part. After a few weeks you can try to do a fourth giant set. Advanced lifters can take a shot at four
or five giant sets providing a 20 to 25-minute workout per body part. Don’t be surprised if you need to stop after three giant sets. This is normal if you choose your loads correctly.
Here is the four-day program.
Day One: Shoulders & Abs
Exercise 1: 6 reps: Standing Military Press
Rest 10 seconds
Exercise 2: 12 reps: Seated Dumbbell Presses (elbows facing forward)
Rest 10 seconds
Exercise 3: 25 reps: Prone Dumbbell Lateral Raises on 45 Degree Incline Bench
Rest 120 seconds. Repeat 2-5 times.
Exercise 1: 6 reps: Weighted Hanging Leg Raises
Rest 10 seconds
Exercise 2: 12 reps: Weighted Cable Crunches
Rest 10 seconds
Exercise 3: 25 reps: Floor Crunches
Rest 120 seconds. Repeat 2-5 times.
Day Two: Biceps & Triceps
Exercise 1: 6 reps: Standing Dumbbell Curls
Rest 10 seconds
Exercise 2: 12 reps: Incline Cable Curls
Rest 10 seconds
Exercise 3: 25 reps: High Cable Curls
Rest 120 seconds. Repeat 2-5 times.
Exercise 1: 6 reps: Weighted Dips
Rest 10 seconds
Exercise 2: 12 reps: Lying Dumbbell Extension
Rest 10 seconds
Exercise 3: 25 reps: Overhead Rope Extension
Rest 120 seconds. Repeat 2-5 times.
Day Three: Off
Day Four: Quads & Hips
Exercise 1: 6 reps: Medium Stance Squats
Rest 10 seconds
Exercise 2: 12 reps: Bulgarian Split Squats with Weight
Rest 10 seconds
Exercise 3: 25 reps: Leg Extensions
Rest 120 seconds. Repeat 2-5 times.
Exercise 1: 6 reps: Medium Stance Deadlifts
Rest 10 seconds
Exercise 2: 12 reps: Leg Curls
Rest 10 seconds
Exercise 3: 25 reps: Back Extensions
Rest 120 seconds. Repeat 2-5 times.
Day Five: Off
Day Six: Chest & Back
Exercise 1: 6 reps: Incline Bench Press
Rest 10 seconds
Exercise 2: 12 reps: Flat Dumbbell Press
Rest 10 seconds
Exercise 3: 25 reps: Cable Flys
Rest 120 seconds. Repeat 2-5 times.
Exercise 1: 6 reps: Bent Over Rows
Rest 10 seconds
Exercise 2: 12 reps: Neutral Grip Chin Ups
Rest 10 seconds
Exercise 3: 25 reps: Rope Rows
Rest 120 seconds. Repeat 2-5 times.
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