German Volume Training. The ten sets method. Whatever you wanna call it, this is an old-school routine that Charles Poliquin introduced to America, and hardcore bodybuilders and lifters soon adopted. It's not one of the easier routines out there. Au contraire, it's one of the most grueling.

What is it? Simple. Ten sets of ten reps. You start with 50-60 percent of your one rep max on any given lift, and do the same weight 100 total times. This means that if you squat 200 lbs, you do 10x10 using 100-120 pounds.

One compound exercise per muscle group is more than sufficient for this exercise. Don't even bother with isolation exercises - they're not worth doing 10 sets of 10 reps. Doing 3 sets of 10-15 repetitions is more than sufficient.

Do this three days a week, each bodypart once per week. At this volume, more than 1 chest, legs, etc. workout per week would be overkill by a wide margin.

For example, do it like this...

Monday: Bench press 10x10 (chest), pulldowns 10x10

Wednesday: Back Squats 10x10, Calf Raises 3x15, Ab Curls 3x15

Friday: Shoulder presses 10x10, skullcrushers (triceps) 3x15, EZ bar curls 3x15

Tuesday, thursday and weekends, don't lift. Do light cardio or just rest. Eat like a bear all week long. Get LOTS of protein, eat lots and lots of real food (as always, stay away from processed food, but that's a given for anything in life, too).

When you can do all 100 total repetitions of each lift in good form, increase weight very slightly - 5 lbs or so. If your rep count looks like this: 10, 10, 10, 10, 9, 8, 7, 8, 7, 6

Then don't add any weight.

That's what GVT is. You can even do GVT solely with squats or deadlifts, one workout a week, and still gain lots of mass.

For more advanced lifters who want to change it up a bit, you can even do 10 sets of 5 on the big lifts, or 10 sets of 6, etc. Have a little fun with it, change it up. Hell, even do 10x5 for something ridiculous, like power cleans.

HOWEVER remember, only do up to six weeks at a time. Afterwards, stay off of the routine for at least 3 weeks. You will burn out if you try to keep it going for too long. In those six weeks, you could gain 10-20 pounds of muscle if you do it right.