Workout 2: Accumulation Training

This is the second workout in the 3 Day Muscle and Strength Building Porgram. The accumulation phase is all about building mass. You will be using Time/Volume Training, which has been proven to be extremely effective for building muscle. It can be used with just about any type of exercise, including bodyweight exercises.


Do this workout two days after the structural training workout. For instance, if you did the structural training on monday, you should do the accumulation training on wednesday.

Time/Volume training is Nick Nilsson's version of density training. By using an increase of training volume and workload within a specific timeframe, it accomplishes an overload of the muscles. This training is designed to hit your power-oriented muscle fibers, which is essential for mass building.

Time/Volume training uses small 3 rep sets with short rest periods between sets. This allows for tremendous training volume. Combine this with very deliberate increases in density, and this type of training will lead to rapid increase in both muscle mass and strength.

How it works:

Choose a weight that allows you to get at least 10 to 12 reps. When doing bodyweight exercises, you should choose a version of that exercise which allows for a minimum of 10 reps.

The key to this training is that it allows you to manage fatigue while at the same time maximizing your training volume. It is designed to hit your body with massive workload without going near failure and taxing the nervous system.

You will be doing 15 minute training sessions per exercise.

Back - 15 minutes - chin-ups, pulldowns, rows, or deadlifts
Chest - 15 minutes – barbell, dumbell bench press or pushups
Thighs - 15 minutes - barbell squats, front squats, split squats or leg press

• Do one set of 3 reps, then rest for 10 seconds. Do another set of 3 reps and rest for 10 seconds. Repeat this process until you can't get 3 reps anymore.
• When the third rep becomes a struggle, increase your rest time between sets from 10 to 20 seconds. Keep doing 3 rep sets with 20 second rests between sets.
• As soon as you can't get 3 reps anymore, increase the rest between sets with 10 seconds (from 20 to 30 to 40 and so on).
• Keep doing these 3 rep sets until your 15 minutes are up.

When should you increase the weight?

Nick uses a very simple rule which tell's you exactly when it's time to increase the weight. If you can do the 3 rep sets with 10 second rest periods for 1/3 (5 minutes) of the time period, you should increase the weight for your next session. As long as you don't reach this 5 minute mark, keep using the same weight.

For more detailed information on Time-Volume Training, click here.

To learn more about Nick Nilsson and his Mad Scientist Muscle program click here.

This concludes the second workout in the 3 Day Muscle and Strength Training Program. The next workout is aimed at increasing your strength. You will be reducing the volume but increasint the intensity.

Back to Workout 1: Structural Training