Image credit: Tonnage

Keith Wassung has a 710lbs Squat, 480lbs Bench Press, 700lbs Deadlift & 355lbs Overhead Press at 220lbs body-weight. He walks the talk.

I knew Keith Wassung’s Timed Total Tonnage strength training program but never tried it until recently. I’m using it to increase my Overhead Press & I like it. Here’s Keith Wassung Timed Total Tonnage program.

What’s Total Tonnage? Timed total tonnage is similar to Bill Starr 5×5 & the Texas Method. The program has 1 heavy, 1 medium & 1 light day.

• Heavy Day: 5 sets of 10 reps
• Medium Day: 5 sets of 5 reps
• Light Day: 5 sets of 3 reps

Heavy, medium & light refer to the total volume or tonnage lifted. Volume is the sum of the reps x weight lifted. 5×5 with 60kg is 1500kg volume. The heavy day is highest in volume, the light day lowest.

Your goal is to increase the volume every workout. You lifted 1500kg on the 5×5 today, increase the volume the next 5×5 workout. Do the same for the 5×10 & 5×3: beat your previous record. Mark this in your training journal.

Intensity on Each Day. Don’t be fooled by the term light. The light day isn’t necessarily light. Each day has its own characteristics.

• Heavy Day. High reps, less weight, high volume. Physically challenging.
• Light Day. Low reps, more weight, low volume. Mentally challenging.
• Medium Day. Something in between the heavy & light day.

If you’ve been training at lower rep ranges – 5 & below – for some time, the sets of 10 will be hard at first. This shows a weakness. Progress on the sets of 10 & you’ll progress on the other rep ranges.

Timed Sets. This is similar to Charles Staley EDT program. Do your 5 sets in a set time. If it takes you 15 mins to complete the 5×10, do the 5×10 the next time within these 15 mins or faster.

Working with timed sets forces your body to do more work (more volume) within the same time frame. This is an old way to build strength & thus muscle.

Making Your Program. Doing Timed Total Tonnage for more than one exercise on the same day would be too challenging, but feel free to experiment. I’m doing it for the Overhead Press combined with Smolov for Front Squats.

You can do Timed Total Tonnage for the Squat, Front Squat, Bench Press, Deadlift, etc. Any compound barbell exercise works. A typical layout of the program looks like this:

• Monday: 5×10
• Wednesday: 5×5
• Friday: 5×3

However you don’t need to do the 3 sessions in one week. I sometimes skip an Overhead Press session when I don’t feel ready, doing 3 workouts in a 10 day time frame. One benefit of mixing Timed Total Tonnage with another routine.

Choosing Your Weight. Get all your reps on every set while increasing the total volume of that workout. It’s tricky to choose your weight correctly the first time to get all your reps. Especially if you haven’t done sets of 10 in months.

If you did a 5×5 routine like the Beginner Strength Training Program you have a reference point. Increase the weight for the 5×3, decrease it for the the 5×10. The weight should allow you to do 10/5/3 reps on the first set but not 11/6/4.

You’ll have to reduce the weight on the following sets most of the time. A 2.5kg or 5kg decrease depending on the exercise. Increasing the volume is your main goal, but don’t make it easy by decreasing the weight too much.

Timed Total Tonnage Rules. You can use the following guidelines on the heavy, medium & light days of the program.

• Get all your reps on every set
• Increase the total volume every workout
• Finish all sets within the same time frame or try to do better
• Try to add weight on the first set every workout
• If you don’t achieve all reps, decrease the weight on the following set
• Use the same weight on the next set if you think you can get all reps

Practical Example. Here’s how I applied Keith Wassung’s Timed Total Tonnage program for the Overhead Press during the last weeks. It gives you an example of how it works. All weights are in kg.

• Th 04/10: 8×40 | 6 x 37,5 | 6×35 | 6×32,5 | 7 x 32,5
• Mo 08/10: 5x 50 | 5x 47,5 | 5×47,5 | 4×45 | 5×42,5
• We 10/10: 3×52,5 | 3×50 | 3×50 | 3×50 | 3×50
• Mo 15/10: 10×40 | 9×40 | 9×37,5 | 9×35 | 7×32,5
• Th 18/10: 5×52,5 | 5×50 | 5×47,5 | 5×47,5 | 5×45
• Mo 22/10: 3×55 | 3×52,5 | 3×50 | 3×50 | 3×50
• Th 25/10: 10 x 42,5 | 10 x 42,5 | 9x 42,5 | 7×40 | 7×37,5
• Mo 29/10: 4×52,5 | 5×50 | 5 x 47,5 | 5 x 47,5 | 5 x 47,5
• We 31/10: 3×55 | 3 x 52,5 | 3 x 52,5 | 3 x 50 | 3 x 50
• Fr 02/11: 10 x 42,5 | 9 x 42,5 | 8×40 | 8×37,5 | 8×35
• Mo 05/11: 5 x 52,5 | 5 x 52,5 | 4×50 | 4×47,5 | 5×45
• We 07/11: 3×55 | 3×55 | 3 x 52,5 | 3 x 52,5 | 3 x 52,5

Deciphering the Numbers. The above is brute data taken directly out of my training journal. Let’s take a closer look at these numbers.

• I missed reps on every set the first 5×10 workout on 04/10. I’m weak endurance wise because I haven’t done sets of 10 in years. The same weight was much easier the next workout on 15/10. Although I was greedy by trying 2 sets of 10 & therefore missed reps.
• The first 5×5 on 08/10 was easy because I’m coming from a 5×5 routine. All reps on every set done. Same with the 5×3 on 15/10.
• Check how the weight on the first set(s) increases every workout.
• Whenever I missed reps, I reduced the weight on the next set. Sometimes I fail getting all reps & decrease the weight again. This mostly happen on the sets of 10 which are more a question of endurance than of strength. The lactic acid build-up can be painful.
• Sometimes the first set was using a weight that I could have done more than 10 reps with. That explains the second (or third) set with the same weight. Ideally you should take more weight on the first set. But on the Overhead Press a 2.5kg increase quickly becomes too much.
• On 7/11 the 55kg felt like I could have done 3 reps with 57,5kg on the first set. I’ll try the 57,5kg next workout. But if I get these, it doesn’t mean I will be able to do 3 reps with 60kg the next time (as my max is 1×60kg). In this case I look at the total volume lifted, trying to beat the total volume of that workout. Which also means progress.
• On 7/11 my brother told me to do a third set with 55kg. I preferred lowering the weight & wait 2 workouts before trying with 57,5kg on the first set. Greed is bad.

As I wrote above, it’s tricky to choose the weight correctly. Greed, ego, etc. But you get better at it as the workouts go by. You’ll probably have more questions: use the comments below.

More Info

• Original Timed Total Tonnage Program. On Marty Gallagher’s site.
• Sherdog’s Strongest Man. Keith Wassung ranking first.
• The Lessons of Keith Wassung. Keith Wassung’s articles on Sherdog.