Max-OT: What and How

Max-OT is a weight lifting routine originally designed by AST Sport Science – a supplement company. Before you run a mile, let me tell you that it really is the real deal and contains a huge amount of value – and has even played a fair part in changing the mainstream perception of how to go about building strength and size in the gym.

Max-OT was designed in a time when muscle and fitness magazines were flooded with all sorts of over-the-top routines that had you doing 20 sets per body part and spending 3 hours in the gym 6 days a week.

This essentially flawed “more is better” school of thought led people to waste hours and hours of time in the gym every week.

Moreover, this high-volume stuff was pretty much useless for anyone who wasn’t a professional 260lb bodybuilder. It often led to stagnation of gains and overtraining for anyone who wasn’t pumped full of chemicals.

Max OT was developed as antidote to all that. It’s based around a few basic principles. It aims to be an efficient, effective mass and strength-building routine based on short workouts (30-40 minutes ) performed 3 or 4 times a week. The aim is maximum results, with minimum time in the gym.

The philosophy of Max-OT is rooted in the principle of overload. Trainees should aim to add either weight or reps to your workouts each week, so that any given muscle is getting worked slightly harder than the previous week. The idea is to continually stimulate gains by constant overload.

Max-OT is also big on efficiency. The idea is to go hard and heavy with compound exercises, work only 1-2 muscle groups per session, with 6-9 sets per muscle. Each workout should last no more than 30 minutes in total.

The basics

• Frequency. Train each muscle group one session per week.
  
  
• Overload. Add either reps or weight to your lifts each week.
  
  
• Lift heavy, with maximum intensity. Use weights you could lift for no more than 6 reps, and do 4-6 reps per set. Increase the weight when you can comfortably do 6 reps per set.
  
  
• Be brief. Train only 1-2 muscle groups per session, with 6-9 sets per muscle group. This should total 30-40 minutes maximum per session.
  
  
• Utilise heavy compounds. Compounds are multi-joint exercises that recruit more than one muscle group, and are widely regarded as the best choice for building strength and mass.
  
  
• 1 week-off every 8 weeks. This gives your muscles and nervous system a chance to recover so that you stay gaining continuously.

Warming Up

The warm-up component of Max-OT is one of it’s highlights, and very transferable to other routines. I’d recommend you use it for any weight lifting routine that makes use of low reps and heavy weight.

It’s done a little differently from how you might warm up in a classic muscle-building routine. For any given exercise, before you do your working sets, you’ll need to do 4 sets of warm-ups. The first two warmup sets will make sense, the last two will need some explaining.

Warm-up set 1:  10-12 reps with very light weight, or just the bar. This is purely designed to get the blood flowing to the muscles and get them physically warm.

Warm-up set 2:  6-8 reps of a medium weight, usually about 40% of the weight you’d use for your working set. Again, still light, this gets more blood and heat into the muscles, and gives the tendons a decent stretch.

Weight Acclimation set 1:  2-3 reps at 80% of your working weight.

Weight Acclimation set 2:  1-2 reps at 90% of your working weight.

…and that’s your warmup. Rest a minute or so between each warmup set. After these you’re ready for the real workout with your target weight.

Weight Acclimation?!

So, what are “weight acclimation” sets, and why do you need them?

In a nutshell, these sets get you “used to the feel” of the heavy weight, before you tax your muscles with your working sets. While the first two sets warm up your muscles and tendons, the last two prep your nervous system for heavy lifting.

Weight acclimation sets get you comfortable with the mechanics of lifting heavy on the exercise you’re about to perform, and you’ll find you’re more co-ordinated and “in the groove” when it comes to your first work set.

A typical Max-OT routine

Monday - Chest & Triceps

• Chest

Bench Press 3 sets, 4-6 reps
Incline Bench press 3 sets, 4-6 reps
Weighted Chest Dips (wide grip) 2 sets, 4-6 reps

• Triceps

Close Grip Bench Press 3 sets
Overhead tricep extensions 3-sets , 4-6 reps

Tuesday- Back & Biceps

• Back

Weighted Pullups – 3 sets, 4-6 reps
Weighted Rows – 3 sets, 4-6 reps
Deadlifts 3-sets, 4-6 reps

• Biceps

Standing Barbell curls 3-sets, 4-6 reps
Hammer Curls, 3 sets, 4-6 reps

Wednesday – Off

Thursday – Legs and Shoulders

• Legs

Barbell Squats, 3 sets, 4-6 reps
Front Squats, 3 sets, 4-6 reps

• Shoulders

Dumbell Shoulder Press, 3-sets, 4-6 reps
Dumbell Front raise 3 sets, 4-6 reps
Dumbell Side Raise, 3 sets, 4-6 reps

Friday Calves, abs, forearms*

Standing Calf Raises 3 sets, 6-8 reps
Weighted Crunches 3 sets, 6-8 reps
Forearm curls 3 sets, 6-8 reps
Reverse forearm curls, 3 sets, 6-8 reps

*These muscles respond best to a slightly higher rep range, so they are trained at 6-8 reps.

Saturday: Off

Sunday: Off

You should perform that weight lifting routine every week for 8 weeks, then take 1 week off. You can either repeat the 8-week cycle as above, or make a couple of changes. You can swap in similar exercises for variation – e.g. switching from barbell to dumbbells on the shoulder or bench press. You may also wish to swap around the muscle group combinations - perhaps training chest with biceps and back with triceps, for example.

The Final Verdict

If you perform the routine above with good nutrition and rest, you are guaranteed to see excellent gains.

The advantage of Max-OT is that it is simple, effective and efficient – meaning that once you’ve got your routine set up, you just show up to the gym, increase the weight a little bit from last week, do your 40 minutes, and get out. It’s designed for maximum gains with minimal time spent planning or in the gym, so you can get on with other things in your life.

One criticism some people have of the routine is that it’s geared more towards building strength than size. Some people find that the low reps and heavy weight mean that by the end of the cycle they’ve added a lot of weight to the bar, without seeing much difference in the mirror.

One solution is to stick to the routine but simply do higher reps in the 6-10 range. Many people find they see more hypertrophy when they make that variation while sticking to the sound fundamental principles of training the Max-OT way.



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