Kris Gethin is a pro bodybuilder and one of bodybuilding.com’s biggest stars. Fans have seen him transform his body from a typically flabby and overweight guy, to a competitive physique that turns heads.
What is DTP?
Perhaps what he’s best known for though is his DTP training approach. DTP stands for ‘Dramatic Training Principle’ and involves using a superset of just two exercises (sometimes with one extra one at the end) targeting two opposing muscle groups. What makes DTP unique though is the use of huge pyramid sets starting with 50 or 40 repetitions and then dropping by ten while increasing the weight until you’re failing at ten repetitions. Then you work your way back up to the top until you get back to 50 reps.
This type of training is a great way to bring about fast and dramatic changes because it involves doing so many repetitions and really focusing on one muscle. Because you’re super-setting (alternating between two exercises) there is no rest period and your heartrate is kept constantly elevated resulting in huge numbers of calories getting burned. Kris doesn’t recommend this as a regular training routine for beginners, but rather an occasional tool for pros. Give it a go and you’ll get it…
Prep
Kris likes to start all of his leg workouts with 10 minutes of foam rolling. This allows him to remove any myofascial adhesions which are areas where the layers of his fascia have become scarred and stuck together. It also helps to get rid of knots which helps to improve the range of movement and prevent injury while also making growth easier.
Finally, he will use a number of stretches in order to help encourage more muscle growth, control and strength.
The Workout
Superset
Leg Press
Calf Press
Leg Presses: 50,40,30,20,10,10,20,30,40,50
Calf Presses: 40,30,20,10,10,10,10,20,30,40
The leg press involves lying back and pushing a pad away to shift huge amounts of weight. It targets the quads, the hamstrings, the glutes and also the whole core and is highly similar to a squat. This is one of the best compound movements there is and because it trains such huge muscles in unison it triggers a massive growth hormone response that will flood the muscles with anabolic hormones.
Next is the calf press. This is a great choice because you can perform it on the very same machine and it’s an ideal way to hit those calves with a truly massive workload. Too many people forget the calves, so this is a great way to avoid making that same mistake.
Decline Sit Ups
5×20
Finally you will end with five sets of 20 decline sit ups. Set a bench to the decline position so you can lean backwards ‘further than flat’. This will increase your range of motion and extend the lever arm of your body increasing the amount of force working on your upper abdominal muscles. This is a great way to really bring out your upper abs which many people find very stubborn. By this point though you won’t be able to manage much more than five sets!
