Text Copyright © 2016 Matthew J. Schifferle
All Rights Reserved

   
 

Hello and welcome to the Triad Muscle Revolution! My name is Matt 

Schifferle and I’m very excited to present you with this simple, yet 
effective method. 

This program started off as a little experiment in my basement about 10 

years ago. Since then, it has grown and evolved through my friends and 
clients and has spread all around the world. The inspiration for this 
program came from two guys who were nothing short of phenomenal in both 
ability as well as appearance.  

I first met Phil when I was fairly new to training over 10 years ago. He was a 
devoted pull up master in the true sense of the word. At the time, he was 
training to attempt the world record for the most pull ups in 1 hour. Phil 
was so strong he would do pull ups without letting his body come straight 
down from the bar. He would pull his chest to the bar and then push himself 
away from the bar at a 45 degree angle so the bar was as much in front of 
him rather than above him. Blasting out over 30 of these “angle pull ups” 
was a nightly show he would put on for the gym. Not only was his strength 
impressive but his physique was unmatched. His biceps and shoulders 
looked like he tucked softballs under his skin and his back was so wide I’m 
sure he created extra wind resistance while going for a run. 

And then there was Marc. Marc came into my life about 5 years later when I 
was co-managing a gym in Burlington Vermont. From the moment he 
walked in through the door you knew he had to be one of the strongest guys 
in town. He easily could have rivaled any bodybuilder and some people 
would even ask me if he was some world class lifter who had strolled into 
town. What was even more impressive was Marc’s routine. He would come 
in and do some jumping jacks to warm up and then camp out on the 
chin/dip stand for over an hour banging out dips, pull ups and push ups.  

First he would warm up doing these moves with just his body weight. Then 
he would slap on a 40 pound weight vest and keep going. After about 20 
minutes he would take off the 40 pound vest and put on the 60 pound vest 
all the while making each rep look effortless. To finish off his routine he 
would put the 40 pound vest on top of the 60 pound vest for a total of 100 
pounds and even then he still made his dips and pull ups look easy.  

Both Marc and Phil were on my mind when I began my experiment on a cold 
November night in my basement many years later. The purpose of the 
experiment was to discover the best bodyweight based exercises to pack on 
as much muscle and strength as possible. I had already tossed aside the 
heavy weights and machines for bodyweight training about a year prior and 
was absolutely loving the results. Even though I had a lot of success, I 
started to wonder, what if I just wanted to pack on muscle and strength as 
efficiently as possible through body weight training how would I do that?  

At the time, I was friends with a small group of powerlifters at the gym and I 
loved their approach to fitness. Their whole routine was focused on 
mastering 3 basic moves with a little bit of accessory work thrown in to fill 
in the cracks. This simple approach was in stark contrast to the body weight 
routine I had been doing which consisted of many variations of push ups, 
row, pull ups, squats and core work. So I got to thinking, was there an 
equivalent of powerlifting in the body weight world? It was that train of 
thought that made me think of Phil and Marc and their simple, yet 
incredibly effective training style. 

Why these 3 moves? 

The Triad Muscle Revolution is the result of over 5 years of testing and trial 
and error. I’ve tested various forms of this program on myself, my clients 
and throughout the internet. It’s a program that continues to change and 
evolve to this day hence the latest version (3.0) 

These three moves, Dips, Lunges and Pull ups have been selected because 
they all share the following characteristics: 

#1 They all place your entire body directly against gravity for maximum 
resistance. 

#2- Each one is complex enough to offer a lot of potential progression, yet 
simple enough for most folks to quickly get started with them. 
#3- All of your major joints including your knees, hips, shoulders and elbows 
go through a very large range of motion providing not only a lot of 
flexibility, but also maximum tension through key muscles. 

#4- These three moves are the easiest body weight exercises to load with 
extra weight if necessary. Unlike heavy squats, lunges don’t require a room 
full of weights or a rack to substantially load up the legs. Both the pull ups 
and dips only require a rope or chain and some light weight. This makes 
loading these exercises much cheaper and easier compared to heavy weight 
lifting especially if you’re using rings or straps for the upper body. Most 
folks won’t need any more than 30-40 pounds of weight. You can use 
objects you have on hand such as books, rocks and even other people. 
When I was in Japan I used to do lunges while carrying my host family’s 3 
and 5 year old children.  

Why build muscle through body weight training? 

Like many weight lifters, I spent years believing that heavy weights were 
superior to body weight training, especially when it came to building serious 
muscle and strength. I was forced to change my tune however when I took 
on a 30 day bodyweight challenge in an attempt to heal by body and mind 
from the stresses of lifting. You can imagine my surprise when I came out 
of that 30 day challenge bigger and stronger than I had ever been under the 
iron.  

While both bodyweight training and weight lifting can pack on muscle, I’ve 
found some unique advantages to including body weight training in a muscle 
building program. 

#1 Body weight training makes it easier to maintain a consistent training 

schedule.  

As I’ll discuss a little later on, consistency will make or break your muscle 
building success regardless of what methods or programs you use. The 
bottom line is that in order to build muscle, and maintain it, you must 
develop exercise habits you can maintain day after day, week after week 
and month after month for years on end. Nothing is effective when it’s done 
in a here-and-there fashion. 

Body weight training is by far the easiest training method to maintain due to 
the fact that it is so efficient and doesn’t require nearly as many hoops to 
jump through. So while all your friends have their on-and-off attempts at 
building muscle you can stay the course no matter what life throws at you. 

#2- Lots of room for progression 

Back when I was lifting weights I mistakenly believed bodyweight training 

had very limited potential for progression. I now believe there is actually 
more​ potential for progression with body weight training than with weight 
lifting. This is largely due to the fact that you can adjust the resistance with 
bodyweight training two ways rather than just one. With weight lifting, the 
primary mode of adding resistance is to lift more weight. WIth body weight 
training you increase the resistance on a muscle through a slight change in 
technique. Doing things like adding more range of motion or shifting your 
body weight to one limb will increase the tension on your target muscles. In 
addition to that, you can also add extra weight to any body weight move 
through weight vest, dip belts, chains and other toys.  

The ability to alter your resistance through technique does take some 
practice but I promise you it’s well worth it. In weight training you typically 
have to adjust your resistance in steps, like with dumbbells that jump up in 
5 pound increments. Body weight training is more like a smooth slope of 
progression. Just moving your hand or shifting your weight a few inches 
allows you to dial in the perfect amount of resistance to maximize progress 
yet minimize risk.  

 
  

#3- Technical convergence 

Technical convergence is a term I came up with when I realized that in 

order to place more resistance on my muscles I had to use better technique. 
Improving things like my range of motion and controlling momentum did 
wonders for how much tension my muscles were under and this directly 
lead to better results.   

I found the opposite to be the case with weight training. For years I was 
under the false assumption that my muscles were working harder if I just 
put more weight on the bar or if I was doing as many reps as possible. What 
I didn’t know was that while I was lifting more weight, my technique was 
paying a steep price. This meant that even though I was technically lifting 
more weight, I wasn’t putting that much more tension through my muscles 
and thus I wasn’t really getting any stronger. So with weight lifting the 
resistance I was using and the quality of my technique seemed to be in a tug 
of war. However body weight training was a situation where better 
technique and more resistance went hand in hand. 
  

#4- Less risk of injury and pain 

I get emails from many people asking me how to build muscle even though 
they suffer from various forms of joint pain. I hate to be the messenger of 
bad news, but you simply cannot build nearly as much muscle and strength 
if your body is hurt. It’s just not possible. The best thing you can do with 
pain is to fix the issue as much as possible. If you don’t, or can’t, you’ll 
always be at a massive disadvantage.  

The primary reason why I changed over to body weight training was because 
I was plagued by a host of nagging aches and pains mostly due to that 
technical divergence. Even at 30 years of age, I felt like an old man who had 
his best years behind him.  

Thanks to the technical convergence of body weight training, I was able to 
stress out my muscles without stressing the joints nearly as much. It’s 
important to understand that body weight training isn’t risk free. There is 
always the risk of injury, and I have had a few aches over the years, but 
that risk is a fraction of what most folks experience with heavier forms of 
training.  

 
I could go on about the muscle building benefits of body weight training, but 
the above examples are more than enough reason to give body weight based 
power lifting a shot. All of those advantages boil down to a simple muscle 
building strategy. With a little practice and patience, body weight exercises 
make it easier and much more convenient to bring any muscle in your body 
under a lot of tension for a very long time. If that’s not a recipe for success I 
don’t know what is! 

The case for mastery 

The ultimate reason why the Triad Muscle Revolution works is because it 
forces you to stay focused within a very narrow range of training. While 
many might see this as a bad thing, the truly elite will instantly recognize it 
as a blessing.  

The whole point of this program is to turn you into a pull up, dip and lunge 
master. Like all paths to mastery, this one will take time, patience and 
discipline but it will put you on a level far above most folks both in 
performance and appearance. There is a lot to discover with each exercise. 
You can potentially spend the rest of your life just mastering pull ups alone 
so this PDF and the accompanying videos are just a starting point. It’s in no 
way an exhaustive explanation on how to do pull ups, dips and lunges. If I’m 
lucky I might just scratch the surface. This rabbit hole is deep for those who 
have the courage and discipline to venture down it.  

The three essential aspects of successful training 

I love body weight training, but any form of training can be a roaring 
success or complete failure depending on how you use it. If you incorporate 
the following 3 training aspects you will be successful. However if you leave 
out even one of these essentials out you will fail.  

The first essential component is that consistency I mentioned. You cannot 

get very far if your workouts and training are done in a here-and-there 
fashion.  

The reason is simple. No matter what you do and no matter how much 
blood, sweat and tears you pour into a single workout its effect is relatively 
small. The only way your workouts can bring big results is if they can build 
upon one another through a lot of repetition over time.  

The second essential component is progression. Your workouts simply must 

improve over time.  

I always tell my clients to never rely on hard work alone. Sure a sweat 
dripping workout that leaves you sprawled out on the floor gasping for 
breath feels great, but all that effort only brings results if it’s a step above 
what you did before. Trust me, it’s certainly possible to consistently work 
your tail off for years and never get very far. There is absolutely no 
guarantee that a workout is effective no matter how hard you work at it. 
Hard work holds no promise of results but progression does. So don’t make 
the mistake I did. Seek out progressive performance rather than just a good 
hard effort. 

The third and final component is that of enjoyment. It’s a complete myth 
that exercise needs to be drudgery to be effective. If anything, the opposite 
is the case. Exercise you enjoy and find pleasure in is exercise you’ll spend 
more time and energy doing. Just think, if you hate running it’s going to be 
like pulling teeth to run twice a week for even 15 minutes. However if you 
love riding your bike then you’ll ride for hours every day if you can.  

As I said, these three components are all essential. Leave just one out and 
your chances of success plummet. Include all three and you’re on the fast 
track to gains. 

The reason for this is because all three of these components build up 
momentum from one to the next. The more consistent you train, the easier 
it is to make progress. The more you progress the more enjoyment and 
satisfaction you’ll gain. And the more enjoyment you experience the more 
motivation you’ll have to keep your training consistent. 

This is also what makes the TMR so effective. It’s a program that’s focused 
on fulfilling all three components as well as possible. The simple and 
efficient nature of these moves means you can continue your training year 
round regardless of what happens to your lifestyle. In addition, all three 
techniques have a lot of progressive potential. No matter how long you 
practice these moves there will always be another level you can work 
towards. Lastly, these moves are just fun and cool to do. Pull ups and dips 
have that cool factor which is why they are featured in almost every movie 
training montage. You can do these moves in the great outdoors with the 
sun on your face or in your own home with your own music blaring. If there 
was ever a program designed around consistency, progression and 
enjoyment this is it.  

So that’s the basic reason behind the creation and effectiveness of the Triad 
Muscle Revolution. Now let’s get down to brass tacks and discuss the actual 
nature of the exercises.  

The upper body squat: Dips 

The dip is often classified as either a triceps or a chest exercise. In truth, 

it’s fantastic for both the chest and triceps as well as the shoulders, back 
and even the abs. There is hardly a single muscle in your torso that isn’t 
involved with the dip.  

Myths 

The dip is also a move that’s shrouded in myth and controversy. One of the 
biggest myths is that it’s great for the triceps or chest but that’s about it. 
To the skilled dip master the entire upper body is equality hit. Like the 
other two moves in the program, all of your muscles receive an equal and 
brutal dose of muscle building tension. You might feel it more in your 
weaker links at first, but in time the dip should be an overall exercise 
rather than just a triceps or chest exercise.  

Another myth is that dips focus on the lower pecs and can cause so called 
man boobs or “moobs.” Nothing could be further from the truth! If you do a 
simple Google image search for dips, you’ll find loads of images of guys 
doing dips with their entire chest tight and flexed. In addition their 
shoulders and triceps are also going crazy. As a matter of fact, I had always 
struggled with building a full slab towards the top of my pecs but that 
changed pretty darn fast when I focused on dips.  

Lastly, the dip is a common scapegoat for shoulder injuries. I admit that I 
sometimes felt some tenderness in my shoulders after a hard dipping 
session. What I didn’t know was that it was because my technique wasn’t 
very good and that was the reason behind the issue. When done well, the 
dip actually fortifies the shoulder joint and prevents injury. Of course 
there are exceptions like if you have a preexisting injury or some sort of 
structural blemish that causes your shoulders to work in a risky way. If 
you’re unsure please ask your doctor or physical therapist. Always 
remember, pain is Nature's way of telling you that something is wrong.  
 

Technical considerations of the dip 

There are many things to consider when doing dips and you can spend a 
lifetime mastering them all. Even so, here is a short list to get you started. 

- Use your lats to pull those shoulders down and keep them tight. One of the 
most common issues is having the shoulders move up and forward as you 
lower yourself down. Not only does this cause far more stress in the 
shoulder and spine, but it also dramatically reduces the amount of tension 
in the chest. The ideal dip should have zero scapular movement from top to 
bottom. 

- When you dip down try to move your elbows backwards as much as 
possible. Many people dip just like they do push ups and bench press, with 
their elbows flaring out to the side. Again, this causes stress in the joints 
and removes tension from key muscles.  

Your elbows don’t need to go straight back and probably shouldn't be 
narrower than your hands on a set of dip bars. However take a video of 
yourself doing dips or do them in front of a mirror. It can be enlightening to 
see where your shoulders and elbows really do go when you lower yourself 
down. 

- Avoid excessive leaning forwards. A lot of folks will actually dip forwards 
rather than dip straight down. Once again, pain and loss of tension can 
result. Some of the best dippers move with their hands running right along 
the sides of their body and coming almost into their arm pit. 

- Work on keeping tension in the chest, triceps and shoulders through the 
full range of motion. I highly recommend what I call air dips which is just 
going through the dip motion while trying to tense your muscles as hard as 
possible. Many people discover they have trouble keeping their triceps, 
deltoids or chest fully engaged all the way from top to bottom. 

- Use what range of motion you prefer. Lots of folks advocate not coming 
down past parallel in a dip. Others can drop their shoulders far past their 
elbows without a problem. I’m a big believer that more range of motion is 
always best, provided the tension on the muscles is fully maintained the 
whole time. So use whatever range you can with full tension and work on it 
over time.  

- Avoid bouncing or swaying out of the bottom position. This is another issue 
that is almost guaranteed to rip your shoulders to shreds. It involves 
dropping down fast and then bouncing or swaying the body to generate 
some momentum out of the bottom position. Besides being hard on the 
joints, momentum robs your muscles of that precious tension which is the 
root cause of growth. So dip down with smooth control, pause a second at 
the bottom, and then push yourself back up without any movement or 
twitching from your legs or torso.  

- Lightly tuck your feet. I like to use dip bars or rings that allow me to start 
off with my feet on the ground. This way, there is no jump or drop from the 
bars which means it’s easier to dial in the tension for that first rep and no 
jarring motion at the end of the set when muscles are spent. When I start a 
set I simply lift my feet up sort of like a plane lifting the landing gear. This 
gives plenty of room for the dip while also placing light tension on the abs. 
When you’re done you simply “land” by placing your feet back on the floor. 

- Start at the bottom. This applies to all pushing bodyweight exercises. I 

place my body in the bottom position for the dip. This is the hardest part of 
the exercise to engage your muscles and position your body. By starting at 
the bottom you can get everything set and perfect rather than trying to 
figure out what needs to happen on the way down.  

Complimentary exercises. 

Dips work a massive amount of muscle, but it might be helpful to shore up 
some weak links by adding in a few sets of the following exercises. 

- Push ups. Some folks enjoy doing classic push ups as a way to add variety 
to their routine. I use push ups to really focus on having control with things 
like the shoulder and back. If you’re struggling to improve your dips, try 
making the improvement happen with push ups and you’ll find the change 
carries over to dips.  

- Triceps extensions. The triceps are a classic weak link in dips. The telltale 
sign is when people struggle to fully straighten their arms at the top. 
Triceps extensions on the straps or rings (refer to video on arm work) will 
strengthen up those triceps and get them strong as iron! 

- Handstand work. Next to the triceps, the shoulders are often a weak point 
for many folks. Simple handstand and shoulder work, like yoga chaturanga, 
will do wonders. There are plenty of videos at ​www.reddeltaproject.com 
for this style of training.  

The exercise you were built for: Pull ups 

The pull up is a minor miracle in the world of strength. No other back 

exercise works as much muscle through as much of a range of motion with 
the level of safety and comfort as the pull up.  

It places a lot of mass building tension through every muscle in your back 
while also hitting your biceps better than curls. Even your forearms become 
fantastically strong. Unlike free weights, and even weight machines it 
places all of this tension on your muscles without any stress on your lower 
back and spine. You don’t have to balance the risk to your back with how 
hard you can work your muscles. Now you can work your muscles with as 
much intensity as they can stand.  

Reaching up and hanging is a natural trait we primates have in common. 

Just looking at the way the back muscles are designed is testament to this 
fact. The majority of back muscles run from the shoulders down towards 
the lower back. There are relatively few back muscles that pull the 
shoulder straight back or even upwards. The design of your shoulders, arms 
and even your hands is such that you can easily reach up and grab 
something and then hang with a high degree of comfort. No other form of 
back training can make such claims. 

Unfortunately, our modern society doesn’t require us to reach up and hang 

very often. As a result most folks never develop even a fraction of their 
pulling potential. The good news is that all of that power and muscle 
evolution had bestowed you with is just lying within you, waiting to be 
unleashed. 

Myths: 

The pull up also has a lot of myths surrounding it. The first being that 
different grips and hand positions specifically target different muscles. 
While this might be true to some degree, your mission is to ensure an equal 
application of tension from your hands to your lower back. Your biceps, 
lats, grip and shoulders should be pretty blasted no matter how you do 
them. 

Another myth that drives me crazy is this debate between the term chin up 
and pull ups. People swear that a certain grip is a chin up and a different 
grip is the pull up. Problem is, no one can ever agree which is which and as 
far as I know there is no definitive pull up guru sitting on a mountain top 
setting the record straight.  

I just keep it simple. Anything that involves grabbing onto something and 
pulling yourself up is a pull up. After all anything with your hands on the 
floor and pushing up is a push up. It’s not like keeping your hands wide is a 
push up but a narrow hand placement is a “chest up.” Besides, I don’t like 
the idea of a “chin up.” It conveys the idea that the goal is to bring your 
chin over the bar, which is just cutting the range of motion a few inches 
short. 

 
  

A “chin up” on top and a “pull up” on the bottom. Also note the ability to 
further pull the elbows back against the torso which results in more muscle 
engagement through the upper back.  

Technical considerations: 

- Keep your elbows from flaring out to the side. Again with the flaring! It’s 
popular because it’s easier to do than trying to pull your elbows in. Even 
with a wide grip, bringing in your elbows an inch or two will do wonders. 

- Keep those legs down! Many folks kick their legs up as they pull up. This 
isn’t bad it’s just that it makes the move easier. I’ll allow many people to 
start lifting their legs if they are just starting. Once they break into the 
double digits those legs are down and locked. If you really want to ramp 
things up use the muscles in your butt and hamstrings to pull your legs 
down. You’ll be amazed how much harder this makes the pull up.  

- Aim for a slight arch in the back. Just as people lift their legs up they also 
often round their back forwards. There are some cases where this is a good 
idea like when doing muscle ups, but I find that the muscle activation is just 
much more complete over the whole back (even the upper traps) when 
those shoulders are down and tight.  
 

- Use a full range of motion. Ah yes, the bane of pull ups everywhere. 
Almost everyone and their mom can do a ton of pull ups......as long as they 
don’t go all the way down or up. A full range of motion is simply the biggest 
range you can move in while applying tension to the muscles. Things like 
“dead hangs” are discouraged because they require muscular relaxation to 
achieve that last inch of motion at the bottom. Plus it places needless 
tension on the joints.  

A good range to aim for is where you come down to fully strait (but still 
tense) arms but your shoulders are still down and tight. At the top you want 
to aim to bring at least the top of your chest to the same height as your 
hands kind of like the position you would have at the top of a biceps curl. 
This sort of range will bring far more tension to your muscles and build 
fantastic upper body control as well. 

Complimentary exercises: 

The pull up is the most complete back exercise in existence. Nothing else 
comes close to combining the intensity and range of motion of pull ups. 
Still, it may be a good idea to accessorize your pull up routine with the 
following:  

- Body rows. This is actually a form of pull up but you’re pulling on a 

horizontal rather than vertical plane. Some folks find it can target the 
upper back and shoulders a little easier. I often use this move to teach 
people how to use their shoulders more so that activation can carry over to 
vertical pull ups. 

- Strap curls. Strap curls are one of the best exercises for targeting the 
biceps. They place much more consistent tension on the biceps when 
compared to classic freeweight curls. Beware though to not over do this 
move. I admit I used to spend far too much time doing curls hoping to build 
up my arms. Truth is, too many curls just stresses out the elbow and wrist 
and steals energy from the actual pull up. So limit yourself to just a couple 
of sets. 

-Strap Rear fly. This is a great move to tighten up weaknesses in the 

shoulder and upper back. Just like with curls, the strap version places more 
even tension on the target muscles than freeweight versions.  

See the supplemental moves video for more information.   

Building wheels of steel with lunges 

Squats are often considered the king of lower body exercise and for good 
reason. There’s no doubt they are fantastic and I practice a weekly diet of 
single leg and body weight squats as well. With that said the lunges have 
some great advantages over the squat. 

There are a few reasons for this. The first is the efficiency factor. Big heavy 
squats require a lot of time and energy to prepare for. With lunges most 
folks can just start stepping. Squats also require some serious weight and 
equipment. So you’re either going to a gym or putting a squat rack in your 
home. This was the very reason why I sold my own bed in my apartment 
after college. That squat rack had to go someplace! 

And then there’s the whole natural nature of the lunge. We humans were 
built to squat, but you’re going to spend a lot more time placing one foot in 
front of the other. Squatting also requires that your feet remain underneath 
you which is fine, but human locomotion almost entirely involves having 
your feet either in front of you or behind you. Learning to handle resistance 
with your foot in front or behind you is key in preventing injury and 
building strength you can use in sport.  

Lastly the lunge can become a seriously intense exercise with some light 
dumbbells or even carrying a rock. No rack, barbell, plates or spotter and 
less strain on the lower back, knees and feet required.  

Myths: 

One of the biggest myths surrounding lunges is that they are bad on the 
knees. Like all forms of exercise, stress on any joint can result, but it’s 
often comes from either poor technique or overloading with too much 
weight. Make no mistake, if there is pain in the joint something is off and it 
needs to be corrected ASAP! Once the cause is found and corrected, lunges 
will actually make your knees stronger and more resilient.  

The second myth is the idea that squats build more muscle because they 
can place more tension on the legs. This is simply, not true. Sure, you can 
move more weight with a heavy squat, but that’s because the squat 
technique is mechanically more powerful. So even though you can move 
more weight, the actual tension on the muscle, which is all that matters, is 
actually the same. In some cases it might even be less! 

Lastly, the lunge is often thought of as a move that you can’t really 
progress. I used to believe this for a long time, but there are plenty of ways 
you can progress the simple body weight lunge as I’ll discuss in the video. 

Technical considerations: 

 
- Don’t lunge when you lunge. The lunge is actually more like a big step 
rather than a lunge like what you would see in fencing. Ideally you step 
forwards and then sink your weight down until your back knee is almost as 
the floor or lighting touching. I often see folks step and then their weight 
continues to almost fall forwards with their upper body bending forwards.  

Work towards keeping your shoulders stacked right over your hips through 
each and every step.  

- Keep that front heel down. Along with too much weight moving forward 
the typical lunges also had their heel lift or even “dance” above the floor.  

- Pull with the front leg. The front leg is the primary working leg with 
lunges. It takes the weight of the body when you step down, but it also pulls 
your upper body forwards through using the glutes and hamstrings. 
Sometimes you’ll find folks who push off of their back foot when they step. 
This isn’t bad, but it takes a lot of tension away from the powerful hips and 
hamstrings of the front leg.  

- Keep feet about shoulder width. You don’t need to do lunges with super 
wide stances unless you’re playing with a stretching method or something. 
You also don’t need to keep walking a tightrope as well. Just keep your feet 
at about the width they would be as if you were standing at attention. 

Complimentary exercises: 

There is really no need for a “leg day” with a plethora of leg exercises to 
work every conceivable motion. Just adding in one or two of these moves to 
fill in any cracks will be more than enough to turn your legs into stone. 

- Squats. Squats and lunges go together like chocolate and peanut butter. I 
often have clients start a set by doing 10-20 squats at one end of the room 
and then lunge to the other end. Once they are at the other end they do 
another set of squats before lunging back. This workout is great because the 
two exercises build off of each other for a more intense workout. 

- Calf raises. Lunges already work the calves, especially when going uphill. 
Still, some folks like a little extra calf work to give their legs that finishing 
touch for the beach. They don’t hurt with explosive leg power either. 

Calf training is an art unto itself but simply standing on the floor and rising 
up on the balls of the feet for a minute or two will be enough for most folks.  

- Hip circles. Your legs are only as strong as your hips, just as your upper 
body is only as strong as your shoulders. These hip circles are a simple way 
to hit your hips from a variety of angles and promote balance and flexibility 
as well. Those Thighmaster style machines you see at the gym have nothing 
on these which will have your hips screaming in no time! 

Bonus exercise to unlock your muscle building potential.  

Wouldn’t it be great if there was just a switch you could throw to make 
every exercise you do more effective for building muscle?  

Well there is just such a switch! When you throw it, you’ll potentially put 
more tension through every muscle in your upper body and also remove 
loads of stress from your joints and back. It also eases tension from all of 
that sitting that’s so common in modern society.  
 

This “switch” is simply thrown by engaging your lats to pull your shoulders 
down and back. The opposite is the classic kyphotic posture or “slouch.” 
There’s a good reason why your mother always told you to sit up straight. It 
wasn’t just proper manners. It was all about teaching you how to be jacked 
as hell! 

When your shoulders are forwards almost everything in your upper body 
essentially turns off. This is why I call it the “off posture”. The muscles in 
your lats, chest, shoulders core and even your legs have considerably less 
tension running through them. However, stress that’s not running through 
your muscles still has to go someplace so it usually ends up in your joints 
including your shoulders, spine, hips and lower back.  

Once you get into hold the “on position” the situation is reversed. All of 
that tension goes into your muscles and relieves stress from your joints.  

The “off” position on the left vs the “on” posture on the right. Note the 
relationship of the head and the top of the shoulders. “Cheek bones over 
collar bones” as they say. 

The only problem is the on position is not the easiest to learn. Just trying 
to sit up straight only works as long as you concentrate on it. So unless 
you’re willing to focus on your posture all day little will improve. That’s 
why I created a simple exercise known as the lat bridge.  

The lat bridge is an easy, low stress exercise that trains the muscles in your 
back to pull your shoulders and spine in to that on position. Once you get 
the hang of it, you’ll be able to hit that position during any exercise making 
it much safer and far more effective. As a side benefit you’ll also strengthen 
the muscles to work more against gravity so they don’t work as hard to 
maintain the on posture when standing upright.  

Here’s how it works. 

Step 1. Lay down on your back on the floor with your arms down by your 
sides as relaxed as possible.  

Step 2. Circle your shoulders forwards and up towards your ears kind of like 
what you're trying to prevent during a dip.  

 
  

Step 3. Continue circling your shoulders down and back while tucking your 
shoulder blades under you as much as possible while also bringing them 
together. Think of your shoulders as tucking your t-shirt down towards your 
lower back and spine. Hold this position for a few seconds turning on the 
tension with your entire back from your shoulders to your tailbone.  

Step 4. Relax and let your shoulders reset and then repeat.  

Once you get the idea, you can also do this standing throughout the day. 
WIthin a week you'll have a much better command of your entire back and 
spine allowing you to get into the on position for any exercise.  

I know it might not seem like much, but trust me. If you make a habit of 
doing this you’ll bring every exercise you do to a whole new level and your 
physique will do likewise.  

A few words on loaded body weight exercise 

As I mentioned earlier, these three moves are really easy to load with extra 
weight. Just holding something heavy will work for lunges and a simple rope 
or chain will serve as a dip belt for the pull ups and dips. If you’re using 
straps or rings you’ll find you don’t need very much weight thus bringing a 
lot of tension to your muscles but less stress to your joints.  

With that said, there is a risk to weighted, or loaded calisthenics that I must 
mention.  

It can be easy to get sucked into that idea of technical divergence with 
loaded calisthenics. With pure body weight training, extra tension on the 
muscle is generated by an improvement in technique. When you start 
adding weight, it can be easy to start sacrificing technique in the name of 
adding more weight or reps.  

The key thing you want to focus on is always your technique. Technique 
isn’t everything, ​it’s the only thing​. It doesn’t matter if you’re adding 
weight or reps. If they come at the cost of your technique then you’re going 
backwards.  

Weight doesn’t create tension in your muscles, only your mind and the 
quality of your technique can do that.  

The entire purpose of adding weight, or pushing your repetitions is to 

challenge your technique. For example, say you can do 10 pull ups with a 
full range of motion with bringing your chest right to your hands. By adding 
an extra bit of weight you’re further challenging your ability to bring your 
chest to your hands. The more you strive to maintain the best technique 
possible the more strength and muscle you’ll build. 

Sample workouts 

Okay, now that we’ve gone through the basics, let’s play with a few ways 
you can mix the basic ingredients of the TMR into a recipe for muscle and 
strength.  

I often find people get far too hung on up finding that perfect routine. Every 
day people ask me for the best routine for building muscle or strength. I’ve 
learned that the potency isn’t in the routine, but rather those basic 
principles I discussed earlier. If you do your lunges, dips and pull ups on a 
consistent and progressive manner you will gain results regardless of what 
your routine looks like.  

With that said, part of the allure of a simple program like this is you can use 
the basic exercises so many different ways. There are thousands of ways 
you can use these moves in a consistent and progressive workout. You don’t 
have to stick to the same old 3-sets-of-10 style routine.  

Here are a few examples you can try out: 

-Total reps workout-  

 
This is simple, You just see how many reps you can do for each set. Rest 
periods are freestyle and not structured. 

Example: 

Dips- 13,13,12,11 

Pull ups- 14,12,10.12 

Lunges- .5 round trip up the basketball court X 6 

-Total reps with timed rest periods- 

This the same thing as above but you time how long you rest in between 
each set. You can also shorten the rest time as a way to increase intensity 
without adding extra weight. 

Example: 

Dips- 10,8,7 with 30 second rest periods. 

Pull ups- 12,10,10 “ “ 

Lunges- 1 round trip up back yard with 60 second rest in between each trip. 
(5 rounds total) 

-Volume for time- 

This workout is done with a set time limit and your mission is to see how 
many reps you can get within that time. Common examples include 1,3,5 
and 10 minute sets. Just set the timer and go! 
 

Example: 

Dips- 3MT (3 minute test) 28 

Pull ups- 3MT 17 

Lunges- 5MT (5 minute test) 8.5 round trips up and down the length of the 
classroom. 

This is one of those workouts that can really test your technique. As you 
push against the time limits your technique will naturally erode. Your 
mission is to fight that erosion rather than sacrifice technique for the sake 
of getting more reps during the time.  

-Time for Volume- 

This is a flip from the previous workout. You still race the clock, but now 
you’re looking to see how fast you can do a set volume of work.  

Common examples are how fast you can do 25, 50, 75 and 100 reps. With 
lunges you may look to see how fast you can cover a set distance.  

-Volume for timed rounds- 

This workout is another fun way to race the clock. You’ll need to use a 
clock with a sweeping second hand or an interval timer. There are all sorts 
of smartphone apps that can come in handy for this workout. I recommend, 
and use the gymboss app myself.  

 
In this workout you select a set number of rounds with a consistent time for 
each round. Examples can include 5 X 30 second rounds, 8 X 60 second 
rounds and 10 X 30 second rounds.  

Your mission is to complete a set amount of reps for each round. For 
example, I enjoy setting the timer for 10 X 30 second rounds. My mission is 
to do 5 pull ups during each 30 second round. When the timer beeps that’s 
my signal to jump up and try to do 5 more pull ups before the next round 
starts.  

This is a great workout to progress gradually. When I first started doing it, I 
could get 5 reps for the first 7 rounds but only 4 reps during the last 3 
rounds. Then I was able to get 5 reps in 8 rounds, 9 rounds and then up to 
10. Once I was able to get 5 pull ups for all 10 rounds then I added a 6th rep 
to the first round and so on.  

Again, be creative and play around with the number of rounds and the time 
during each round. 

- Increasing volume for timed rounds- 

You set up this workout just like before only this time you don’t have a set 
number of rounds. Instead the rounds just keep counting up until you can’t 
take it anymore. With each round you add one more rep so the volume 
keeps growing within the dedicated time limit of each round. So you do one 
rep during the first round, 2 reps during the 2nd and so on. In the Crossfit 
community they often call this “death by pull ups, dips, ect.” 

Rounds usually last anywhere from 30-60 seconds. 45 and 60 second rounds 
are very popular.  

I like this kind of workout because it has a built in warm up. The first few 
rounds are a breeze as you do little exercise with plenty of rest time. 
However, as the rounds click by you’re asked to do more work with less rest 
and you’ll soon be pushed to your limit. 

-Tech workouts- 

Tech workouts are a different animal altogether. The entire goal of a tech, 
or technique, workout is to keep the volume and intensity relatively low so 
you can really focus on dialing in your technique. Rep ranges are usually 
around 3-5 reps. 6-8 for walking lunges. Sets are usually pretty high, around 
5-10 or until your technique starts to erode due to fatigue. This sort of 
workout is good to do every 2 weeks and as a “light” workout when you’re 
feeling like scaling back a bit. When you demand a higher level of technique 
during these workouts, you can then demand that same level of technique 
when you’re applying more frequency and intensity in your other workouts.  

- Speed workouts- 

These workouts take advantage of large changes in speed. Most people tend 
to use a moderate speed when doing their exercise. Not too fast, not too 
slow, just right. The goal of these workouts is to purposely move really slow 
or really fast to use your muscles in a new way. 

There’s some debate over whether fast or slow exercise is best, but both 
have their advantages. Slow exercises are great for generating a lot of time 
under tension. Moving slow is also a great way to dial in your technique and 
to strengthen weak areas in your range of motion. Moving fast is a great way 
to generate more intensity or tension within the muscle. It’s also beneficial 
for building explosive power for sports.  

You can do speed workouts in a number of ways. One of which is to use a 

dedicated speed for a single workout.  

Example: 
 

Slow (3 seconds down, pause 1 second, 3 seconds up) 

Dips- 6.6.9 

Pull ups- 8,8,8 

Lunges .5 round trips up and down the gym floor.  

Fast as possible 

Dips- 11,10,8 

Pull ups- 9,9,7 

Lunges- 1 round trip 

The key is to use a speed that is slow or fast ​to you​. Don’t get too caught up 
in how long a slow rep or how quick a fast rep should be. Slow might be a 3 
second rep or a 6 second rep. Just move at a speed that challenges you.  

You can also vary the speed in between sets so you do one set fast and then 
one set slow. Be aware that the slow set is usually half as many reps as the 
fast set. 

Example: 

Dips- slow/fast 5/9, 5/8 

Pull ups- Slow/fast 4/8,4/8,4/7 

Lunges- Fast up, slow down trips of the weight room X 4 

 
Lastly, you can even change the speed of an exercise during the same set. 
This is done simply by going one speed for a few reps and then changing 
right over to the other without resting.  

Example: 

Single set fast and then slow 

Dips- 5-4, 5-4, 6-4 

Pull ups- 3-4, 3-3, 3-3 

Lunges- 10 steps fast- 10 steps slow X4 

Again, you can be creative. You can do the fast reps first and then the slow 
reps second or you can switch it around. You can also alternate back and 
forth so you do a couple of reps fast, then slow, then fast again. You can 
also play a game where you do one slow rep followed by a fast rep. Rest 15 
seconds and then do 2 slow reps and 2 fast. See how many rounds you can 
do. 

There is no limit to how many mini workout you can create. You can adjust 
time, load, speed and rest periods in any number of these combinations as 
you wish. Don’t be afraid to be creative and use your imagination. As long 
as you progress your workouts in Frequency, Intensity and Technique you’ll 
build muscle and strength.  

Once you have a menu of mini workouts, you can arrange them in a general 
order or structure for a weekly routine.  

Here are a few common examples:  

-The 3 day plan- 

 

This workout is popular for those looking for a general level of strength and 
muscle over time. It’s also popular with the weekend warrior.  

This workout is done with all three exercises in the same workout and the 
workout itself is done 3 days a week on nonconsecutive days. A Monday, 
Wednesday, Friday schedule is pretty popular.  

You can do this workout in a few ways. You can do one exercise thoroughly 
and then move onto the next, or you can build a circuit with one set of each 
exercise done one right after the other.  

A popular example would be to do a 3 minute test for each exercise on 

Monday, a loaded version on Wednesday and then a tech workout on friday.  

-The push/ pull/ legs plan- 

This is my current workout plan which uses a 3 day split that’s done twice a 
week. On day one you do pushing (dips), day 2 is pulling (pull ups) and day 3 
is legs (lunges.) You rotate this workout twice through each week which 
leaves you with one rest day. It can take a lot of energy since you’re 
working out almost everyday, so be sure your recovery is just as much of a 
priority as the workouts themselves.  

-The light / heavy plan- 

This is a new style I’ve been playing with and it make great use of the TMR 
freestyle programing.  

The general idea is simple. You dedicate a workout to lifting heavy with low 
reps and then a separate workout to light loads with high reps. You can 
alternate the heavy/ light workout on a daily, weekly or even monthly basis. 
 

Example: 

Monday: Dip/ pull-up heavy. 

Tuesday: Lunges heavy 

Wed. Rest. 

Thursday: Dip pull up light 

Friday: Lunges light.  

The above example is done using the push/ pull split but you can apply this 
to any of the workouts. The key is to use a similar strategy to the speed 
training where you go from one extreme to the next. Don’t go “heavy” with 
8 rep sets and then “light” with 12 rep sets. Throw the pendulum from one 
side to the next so heavy is 3-5 reps and light is 15-20 or even 30 if you’re 
up for it.  

Keep in mind that heavy and light is relative. What’s light for one person 
might be heavy for another. It’s also important to know that the rep range 
you use don’t make an exercise heavy or light. The loads or intensity are 
what make it such and the lower and higher reps are reflective of the load. 
So doing a set of dips for 5 reps means you use a load that you can only lift 
5 times.  

-Fast / slow plan- 

This workout is just like the heavy/light workout only this time you’re 
alternating between the speed at which you move rather than the load. 
Again you can alternate the speeds on a day to day, week to week or month 
to month schedule.  

Example: 

Monday- slow dips 

Tuesday- Slow pull ups 

Wednesday- Slow lunges 

Thursday- Fast dips 

Friday- Fast pull ups 

Saturday- fast lunges 

Sunday- Rest  

Above all, be flexible with what sort of workouts you select. Sometimes life 
isn’t so predictable and it might make sense to change things up. In my 
case, I like to use the 3 day split, but that only works best when I know I 
have time and energy almost every day to workout. When I recently moved 
out west I found my time and energy was largely taken up by the move. This 
made it much more difficult to stick to the 3 days split so I changed gear to 
the full body workout plan. By doing all 3 exercises in a workout, I could 
keep my bases covered when I did get the chance to workout rather than 
hit one muscle group hard and neglect the others. All workouts are 
effective when done with progression and consistency. The one’s that work 
best are the ones that work best for your tastes and resources.  

Basic lifestyle rules for muscle growth 

Your workouts are only part of the picture. Your progress also depends on 
your habits outside of the training hall. Be sure to pay attention to these. 
Many folks train their tail off only to shoot themselves in the foot with 
detrimental lifestyle habits.  

#1- The better you recover, the harder you can train.  

Diet and sleep doesn’t actually build muscle, that’s what exercise is for, but 
they do make or break your recovery. In turn, when your recovery is 
compromised then so is your workout and hence your muscle building 
potential. 

#2- Sleep is a necessity, not a luxury.  

The whole point of a healthy and strong lifestyle is to make you feel good 
and healthy. Constantly feeling stressed and tired are not the 
characteristics of a muscle building lifestyle. Sleep is one of the most 
effective ways to ensure your stress levels stay low and your energy levels 
are high. Don’t play the game of “who’s tougher” by going with less sleep. 
Sleep is just as important to muscle building as your very workout. There’s 
nothing wimpy about getting a good night’s sleep.  

#3- Don’t try to eat your way to muscle and strength.  

They say you can’t out -train a poor diet. That may be the case, but you 
also can’t out-diet poor training. Food doesn’t tell your body to build 
muscle,only exercise can do that. A good diet is all about ​supporting ​your 
workouts. That’s the role a healthy diet plays in building muscle.  

WIth that said, don’t get too caught up in all of the dietary dogma floating 
around. You’re dietary mission is to select foods and portion sizes that give 
you energy rather than drain it. If you’re feeling sluggish and tired after a 
meal, something is off. Food is supposed to make you feel good and ready to 
rock and roll.  

Some of the obvious nutrition ideas work well. Focus on nutrient dense 
foods and portion sizes that satisfy you without making you feel full or 
deprived. A diet that leaves you feeling deprived and unsatisfied steals 
energy right from your workout.  

#5- Always, always, always keep a workout log 

Progression can be a slow process. Sometimes it creeps along at less than 1% 
with every workout. This can especially be the case as you gain more 
experience. The best way to ensure you still gain that little tiny bit of 
improvement is to keep a log. In a way your log is an exercise GPS. It tells 
you where you’ve been, what you’re doing and helps immeasurably in 
trying to figure out what to do next. Without that log you’re literally flying 
blind with your workouts.  

#6- Your energy level is your single most important muscle-building asset. 

Anything that drains your energy, outside of your workout, robs you of 
muscle building potential. Your success depends 100% on how much energy 
you bring to every rep and set you do. If you can’t pour more focus and 
tension into an exercise it simply won’t be as effective. 

Making your energy level your highest priority is the best way to guide your 
diet and recovery efforts. The more energy you feel, the better your 
workout. ​Anything that drains your energy is a threat to your muscle 
building potential. ​You won’t be able to rid yourself of all energy draining 
people and events in your life, but by being aware of your energy level can 
do wonders to weed out energy suckers. Common culprits include watching 
too much TV, eating too much, drinking too much alcohol, eating a lot of 
junk food, and negative attitudes from people and the media. It’s amazing 
how people will focus on how they work out but then go home and eat junk 
food until they are stuffed while watching the News for 2 hours. It’s just 
one step forward and 2 steps back.  

 
Lastly, I know you might be wondering where to start. Should you start with 
doing the 3 exercises in each workout, or is a split routine best? 

When people ask me where to start I always give the same answer: 

Start anywhere! 

Like all journeys, building strength and muscle is more about the direction 
you travel rather than where you actually start. In mountain bike racing, 
it’s not uncommon for the beginner to shoot off the start line with 
everything they have. They shove other’s aside and treat that first mile like 
it’s the most important stage in the race.  

The thing is, no one ever won a race in the first mile, but many have lost a 
race in that first mile. They come off the line with so much enthusiasm and 
aggression that they exhaust themselves, crash or even run off trail and get 
lost. 

No one ever won the race to a fit body within the first few months of a new 
workout program, but countless people have lost the race during that time. 
So when starting out, take your time and enjoy yourself. Even scale back a 
bit and don’t work too hard. When I have clients do a 3 minute test for the 
first time, I tell them to take it easy. I might even stop them with 30 
seconds to go. This sets them up to easily beat their record the next time 
they workout and helps to build up progressive momentum. Each time they 
workout they know they can go a little further without killing themselves.  

Start anywhere you like, doing anything at all. Then build on it during the 
next workout. Your success is 1% about where you start and 99% about 
where you go from there. As long as you keep a log and progress you will 
see results.  
 

I wish you all the luck in the world with the Triad Muscle Revolution. If you 
ever have any questions or concerns please don’t hesitate to contact me for 
any reason at all. I also love hearing about the success stories the TMR has 
inspired, so feel free to hit me up and brag about your progress. In my 
mind, building muscle and strength takes an uncommon level of 
commitment and discipline thus you have a right to brag a little about your 
success. 

Be Fit & Live Free, 

-Matt Schifferle 

[email protected] 

www.RedDeltaProject.com