After Hany Rambod's articles on FST-7.com
Lately, you hear many bodybuilders talking about ‘sevens’, ‘7s’ or FST-7. Great bodybuilders like Phil Heath and Jay Cutler already use this system, and it helps them to break through their genetic barrier, but what exactly is FST-7?
What Exactly Does FST-7 Stand For?FST-7 is a system of training developed by well-known coach Haney Rambod. FST stand for Fascia Stretching Training and is meant to stretch the tissue around the muscle (the fascia). The 7 stands for the seven sets you do of the last exercise for a muscle group.
FST-7 includes factors inside and outside the gym. The first thing we will discuss will be weight training.
Do Your Fascia Limit Your Muscle Growth?
The high percentage of collagen fibers gives the deep fascia (the tissue around your muscles) its strength and capability to keep its shape. The amount of elastic fibers (elastine) in the fascia determines the flexibility of the fascia. In other words, some people are built with thicker fascia then other people.
Most genetically gifted bodybuilder have thinner fascia, which make their muscles look bigger and fuller, the kind of muscles you see on super heroes in comic books. Ronnie Coleman and Phil Heath are two great examples of bodybuilders with thin fascia, who gain bigger muscles quite easily. Try to picture it as blowing up a balloon versus trying to do the same with a hot water bottle. Both Jay Cutler and Nasser El-Sonbatty are examples of bodybuilders with thicker fascia. Although they also built an impressive size and muscle mass, their muscles never had the fullness and roundness bodybuilders with thinner fascia have.
The average bodybuilder has even thicker fascia then the bodybuilders we just mentioned. Some people inject substances like Synthol into their muscles to stretch their fascia in order to allow their muscles to grow bigger, but that is not a particularly healthy solution. Okay, it does stretch your muscle fascia, but that is not the best way to achieve this.
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| Hany Rambod |
Hany Rambod is not the first that discovered the importance of stretching your muscle tissue. John Parrillo and Dante Trudel (known for his DoggCrapp training methodology) use aggressive stretching in their training methods. Although Rambod thinks they are on the correct road, stretching the fascia by means of lengthening the muscle is not the best approach. The basis of FST-7 is stretching the muscle from the inside out by enlarging the muscle. This goal is reached by going for the best pump possible during your workout.
Should I Train Heavy, Or Should I Just Pump My Muscles Using Light Weights?
To make one thing very clear, FST-7 is not all about pumping up your muscles; that is just one part of the method. Rambod also believes that a big muscle equals a strong muscle, and that you should definitely use heavier weights for sets of eight to ten reps. Heavy weights build muscle thickness and muscle density, but they do not give you the full, rounded muscles you are after.
On the other hand, a great muscle pump will give you some of roundness you are after, but it will never give you extreme muscle mass you can achieve when working out with heavy weights and straight sets. What you need is a combination of maximizing your strength and getting a maximum pump during the same workout. The following workout is an example of a biceps training FST-7 style, showing you how to combine both goals:
Alternate Dumbbell Curls: 3-4 sets of 8-12 reps
Machine Preacher Curls: 3 sets of 8-12 reps
EZ Bar Curls: 7 sets of 8-12 reps (30-45 seconds rest between the sets while sipping water)
You can look at doing a ‘7’ set as blowing up a balloon. We keep the rest periods very short, because when you rest, a little blood will leave the muscles. It is a bit like blowing up a balloon with a tiny hole in it; even though the balloon will blow up, a little bit of air will escape. The plan is to build up your pump set by set, so it will be at its maximum at your last set. When you rest periods are too short, you will not have enough energy to successfully complete all seven sets.
Another frequently asked question is, do I have to use the same weight throughout your set. If you can, great, but it is no problem to lessen the weight once or twice if that is what it takes to keeps the reps in the given range. Sometimes you may even want to raise the weight you are using, but that hardly ever occurs.
How Often Can I Work My Muscle Groups This Way?
It is best to train your muscles once a week. Due to the larger volume of muscle cells, your muscles will be sore for too long to enable you to train them more often. The larger amount of microscopic tears in your muscles FST-7 causes, makes it necessary to have a longer recovery period then you would need with regular workouts. Smaller muscles like arms and calves should be trained twice a week. This gives you twice as often the opportunity to stretch the fascia in these often stubborn muscles.
The following split program is designed for an athlete who wants to give his stubborn arms extra attention:
day 1: biceps, triceps and calves
day 2: legs
day 3: rest
day 4: chest and triceps
day 5: back and calves
day 6: shoulders and biceps
day 7: rest
There are of course many variations of designing a program, depending on the goals of the athlete.
What Exercises Are Best Suited For ‘7’ Sets?
Some exercises are better to do ‘7’ sets with than others. Heavy compound exercises like squats and deadlifts are no good choices in this case for two reasons. Foremost, these exercises incorporate multiple muscle groups, so they are not good for isolating an individual muscle. Next to that, these exercises require a lot of technique, which often decreases when doing multiple sets in a short period of time.
Machine exercise are mostly good choices, since machines force you into a certain movement trajectory, therefore making it easier to isolate a certain muscle. Stack loaded machines also make it convenient to switch between heavier and lighter weight. The following exercises make good choices for ‘7’ sets:
Back width: machine pullovers or cable pullovers
Back thickness: chest supported seated rowing machines
Chest: peck deck or pec flye machine or cable crossovers
Shoulders: machine lateral raises with arm pads
Quadriceps: leg extensions, leg presses
Hamstrings: seated leg curls, lying leg curls
Biceps: EZ bar curls, cable front double biceps curls
Triceps: cable pushdowns with a rope, overhead cable extensions, lying French presses (skull crushers)
Calves: standing or seated calf raises, toe presses (rotate these exercises)
When Should I Do My ‘7’ Sets?
The best time to do your ‘7’ sets is as the last exercise for a muscle group. If you do these first, you will not be able to use the heavy weights in your regular sets that you need to build mass.
Finishing a workout with a great pump is something bodybuilders have already been doing for a lot of years, without knowing this stretches the fascia and maximizes muscle growth. It is tempting to do your pump sets sooner when you have problems getting a pump, but in that case it is better to do some 21s to get the blood flowing, so you can do your heavy sets before you finish off the muscle with a ‘7’ set. Keep in mind that you do ‘7’ sets at the end of your muscle group workout, which means that you will have to do more of these extended pump sets when you train multiple muscle groups in the same workout.
Some sample FST-7 workouts:
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| Phil Heath |
Close-grip Bench Press: 3-4 x 8-12
Regular or Machine Dips: 3 x 8-12
Overhead Cable Extensions: 7 x 8-12
(or, for the advanced athlete, Skull Crushers: 7 x 8-12
Chest
Incline Dumbbell Press: 3-4 x 8-12
Incline Dumbbell Flye: 3 x 8-12
Flat Hammer or Dumbbell Press: 3 x 8-12
Pec Deck or Cable Crossover: 7 x 8-12
Quadriceps
Leg Extensions: 3-4 x 8-15
Squats: 4 x 8-12
Hack Squat or Leg Press: 3 x 8-15
Leg Extension or Leg Press: 7 x 8-15
Shoulders
Seated Dumbbell Press: 4 x 8-12
Barbell or Dumbbell Front Raise: 3 x 8-12
Dumbbell Lateral Raise: 3 x 8-12
Lateral Raise machine: 7 x 8-12
Some more workout samples will be posted later.
Next time we will discuss the nutritional part of FST-7.
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