I'm doing it right now (for certain body parts). It's working wonders for me. Here's the gist of it:
- The weight you use should be the absolute MOST weight that you can do between 4-6 reps per set at. Any less and it's too much, any more and it's too little.
- This means that you'll be working at a rather high intensity, so you want to keep your workout at around 30 minutes long to avoid overtraining.
- In order to do this, you need to stick to doing between 6-9 sets per workout. Why? Because doing sets of six-rep maxes requires you to rest for longer than normal between sets. Three minutes seems to be the general recommendation. Anyway, if each set takes half a minute or so, and you rest three minutes between sets, then the duration of your workouts should hover around 30 minutes, which is ideal.
- You don't need to worry too much about exercise variety for Max-OT. Personally, I stick to two different exercises per workout, doing 3-4 sets per exercise. Just make sure they're not crappy isolation exercises designed to add definition. Stick to the big lifts like bench press, squats, etc.
- As far as working each muscle group once a week goes, that's definitely where you want to start. However, if you find that you can safely and effectively work your muscles more frequently with Max-OT, feel free to do so.
- You'll feel a little... "guilty" at first about having done such a short workout, but when the results come you'll be happy. Just remember to eat properly while you're doing it (but I'm sure I don't need to remind you of that).
I'll give you a suggestion about weight progression. Start out with the most weight that you can do for 6 reps at. In the next set, you may only be able to do it for 5 reps. Next set, maybe only four. That's fine. Basically, you keep doing sets of an exercise until either 1) you've completed a predetermined number of sets (I use four), or 2) you can no longer do 4 reps of the current exercise. Then you move on to the next exercise.
You keep doing this until you can do the full number of sets for said exercise for 6 reps. Then, the next time you work out you add some weight (don't go overboard... add like 5 lbs). Oh yeah, if you work out with a partner, don't bother with forced reps. I feel that forced reps in Max-OT is overtraining. At the very least, get your body used to working at that level of intensity for a few months before you try forced reps.
One last thing about Max-OT. Because you're using so much weight and working at such a high intensity, it can sometimes be dangerous. You shouldn't do it if you have ANY doubt in your exercise form.
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