OCTOBER 2024 - STRENGTH BLOCK

POLIQUIN'S 6/12/25

It may just be the fastest way to get ripped without getting skinny. 6/12/25, popularized by the Strength Sensei, Charles Poliquin facilitates massive lactate spikes, facilitating Growth Hormone production. That means fat loss while sparing muscle mass.

The 6/12/25 method is where you do three exercises in a row for the same muscle group using minimal rest between those exercises. This is referred to as a “GIANT SET.”


First Exercise: Use a heavier weight for 6 reps.
Rest 10 seconds, then do the second exercise.
Second Exercise: Use a moderate weight for 12 reps.
Rest 10 seconds, then do the third exercise.
Third Exercise: Use a lighter weight for 25 reps.
Rest a few minutes and repeat.

The reps explained.

6 REPS
On the first exercise, you do 6 reps, but it’s not a true 6RM (rep max) weight. It should be more like a 8-10RM load, Heavy, yes, but not taken to failure.

12 REPS
Most people think of 8-12 reps as hypertrophy work, but it’s potentiatied by the first relatively heavy exercise in this scenario. That’s why you‘ll experience higher levels of metabolic stress, which decreases your ability to push loading the way you would if this was a stand-alone exercise. But don’t worry. The trainability will actually be higher, and because you’re using lighter than normal loads, your movement proficiency will be improved.

25 REPS
Strength-endurance requires repeated bursts of high-intensity efforts. It’s a maximal force of power production, and you usually hear about it in relation to sports. In our case, it’s important because it’s coming at the tail-end of this giant set. This means potentiation and metabolic stress are higher but so is the onset of fatigue, which means you’ll likely be using a much lighter load than normal. Some may see this as a detriment but think of it as something that improves the aerobic abilities of fast-twitch muscle fibers.


"To avoid plateaus, you need to switch up your training. The 6/12/25 method is an excellent tool for that, offering a mix of mechanical tension, metabolic stress, and muscle damage."

- Charles Poliquin

Why is it so effective?
Poliquin’s 6/12/25 is so effective because you get to perform 3 completely different rep ranges within one “giant set.”

Performing low (6), moderate (12), and high (25) reps lets you maximize the 3 different biological triggers for muscular hypertrophy:

• Mechanical Tension
• Muscle Damage
• Metabolic Fatigue

Mechanical tension is a fancy way of describing how much force your muscles have to produce during a set.

When you are lifting a really heavy weight the mechanical tension on your muscles is extremely high. The first part of the 6/12/25 giant set is just heavy enough to maximize mechanical tension on your muscles.
First off, muscle damage is not bad.

When you lift weights you actually create micro-tears in your muscles when they fatigue. These micro-tears are a form of muscle damage and act as a powerful stimulus for muscle growth.

6/12/25 creates an enormous amount of muscle damage in your target muscles. First of all you are performing three exercises in a row. The prolonged time under tension creates even more muscle damage which stimulates even more muscle growth.

Metabolic fatigue is just a fancy way of saying that your muscles are “burning” from the accumulation of lactic acid. As a general rule of thumb higher reps and shorter rest periods are ideal for maximizing metabolic fatigue.

Metabolic fatigue plays a huge role in building muscle mass and losing body fat which makes 6/12/25 a clear winner when you want to improve your body composition.