Dorian Yates' Blood And Guts Training System Done Right

Dorian Yates has been one of the most prominent and influential figures in the sport of bodybuilding. He's a 6× Mr. Olympia Champion (1992–1997) responsible for upping the level of Mass Monsters. As if that's not enough, what draws even more attention is his low-volume style of training known as Blood and Guts.

This training system was his interpretation of Arthur Jones' and Mike Mentzer's HIT philosophy, but adapted through years of experimentation. The result was so brutal that it's been known to leave men vomiting in the bathroom.

And this all occurs with just one or two working sets. Here's a look at Dorian Yates' Blood and Guts and how to use his philosophy with your personal needs.

Who Is Dorian Yates?

• Name: Dorian Andrew Mientjez Yates
• Born: April 19, 1962 (age 63 in 2025)
• From: Birmingham, England
• Height: 5'10" (178 cm)
• Weight (competition): ~260 lbs (118 kg)
• Titles: 6× Mr. Olympia (1992–1997)
• Known for: High-Intensity Training (Blood & Guts), revolutionary back development, ushering in bodybuilding's "mass monster" era

Dorian Yates is a force to be reckoned with as he wields a lot of influence, wisdom, and a ton of muscle. Even those who disagree with his training methods still respect what he brings to the table - after all, he won Mr. Olympia six years in a row.

Dorian Yates is a retired English professional bodybuilder, widely regarded as one of the greatest in the sport's history. Winning six consecutive Mr. Olympia titles in the 1990s, he set new standards for muscle size, density, and conditioning.

Nicknamed "The Shadow" for his low-profile lifestyle, Yates' training style is what really made him stand out; he emphasized that intensity, not volume, was more important for hypertrophy.

He laid this out in his book and video, both going by the name Blood And Guts.

Dorian Yates Blood And Guts (HIT Training)

Dorian Yates' Blood and Guts training was ultimately built around maximum effort with minimal volume. 

Inspired by Arthur Jones (Nautilus founder) and Mike Mentzer's HIT Training, Yates focused on taking a small number of sets per exercise to absolute muscular failure and often beyond. To achieve this, he employed techniques such as; 

• Forced reps
• Negatives
• Rest-pause sets 

Yates popularized this approach in the 1990s through his Blood & Guts philosophy, which utilized 1-2 brutally intense sets to stimulate growth more effectively than endless volume.

The goal is to maximize intensity, efficiency, and recovery, forcing the body to adapt with muscle growth while avoiding overtraining.

Core Principles of Dorian Yates' Blood And Guts

Dorian Yates' training evolved throughout his career. During his early and mid-career, he has;

• Used a full body split
• Trained muscles 2 twice a week
• Used 10+ weekly working sets

However, in his autobiography A Warrior's Story (1998), he notes that he became so strong that he was unable to continue performing multiple working sets for a muscle group or train two major muscle groups per session.

This eventually led to his one-set training.

In order to recover appropriately, he moved to hitting one major muscle group per session and using one working set. It's unclear when exactly this shift took place, but it seems to be sometime after his first Mr. Olympia win.

Regardless, the same core principles were used in all of his methodology:

Low Volume, High Effort – Apart from his beginner years, Dorian Yates' training used either one or two all-out working sets.

Training Beyond Failure – After he had trained for 14 months, he began to really increase the intensity and bring his working sets beyond failure, recruiting the maximum number of muscle fibers. This was achieved through the use of forced reps, rest-pause, or negatives.

Progressive Overload – He meticulously tracked weights and aimed to increase loads or reps each session, ensuring continuous progression.

Perfect Form – Yates emphasized controlled reps, no momentum, and constant muscle tension. This was especially true during his early years.

Split Training – Throughout his career, he trained 3-4 days per week on various body-part splits (e.g., Chest/Biceps, Legs, Rest, Shoulders/Triceps, Back). This allowed him to focus on a muscle group and give maximal effort.

Trained A Muscle Once A Week– This varied slightly in his earlier years, but he eventually only trained a muscle once a week. Dorian believed this was needed to allow sufficient recovery. This is in contrast to modern recommendations of training a muscle twice a week (Schofield et. al, 2016)

Warm-up Sets + 1-2 "Working Sets" – While he performed 1-2 working sets, he actually used at least one warm-up set as well, sometimes more. This was especially important for the first exercises of a muscle.

Use Moderate Reps – Like Mike Mentzer, Dorian Yates preferred moderate reps (6-10) for most exercises. However, some leg exercises he did go higher, using 12-15 reps. 

Dorian Yates Full Advanced and Mr. Olympia Training Program 

Below, we're going to list both Dorian Yates' advanced training split and his Mr. Olympia training program, which he used from 1995 to the end of his career. 

Dorian Yates Advanced Training Split Workout Program

Here is Dorian Yates' lesser-known advanced training split. He used it, or a slight variation, from around 1986-1992. One of the biggest differences is that he used two all-out working sets for each exercise.

After a few warm-up sets, he used the following scheme;

• Set 1: Perform to failure
• Set 2: Drop 10% and perform to failure

One thing you'll notice with this training split is that it's relatively similar to "normal" workout programs. The biggest difference is simply using 2 working sets instead of the usual 3 or 4.

Dorian Yates Advanced Training Split 

Week One

• Monday – Workout One
• Tuesday – Workout Two
• Wednesday – Rest
• Thursday – Workout Three
• Friday – Rest
• Saturday – Workout One
• Sunday – Workout Two

Week Two

• Monday – Rest
• Tuesday – Workout Three
• Wednesday – Rest
• Thursday – Workout One
• Friday – Workout Two
• Saturday – Rest
• Sunday – Workout Three

Workout 1: Chest, Arms, Abs

• Chest
  • Bench Presses — 3 × 6–8
  • Incline Barbell Presses — 2 × 6–8
  • Dumbbell Flyes — 2 × 6–8
• Biceps
  • Barbell Curls — 3 × 6–8
  • One-Arm Preacher Curls — 2 × 6–8
• Triceps
  • Triceps Pushdowns — 3 × 6–8
  • Lying Extensions — 2 × 6–8
• Abs
  • Hanging Leg Raises — 2 × 15–20
  • Crunches (with weight) — 2 × 15–20

Workout 2: Legs

• Legs (Quads)
  • Leg Extensions — 3 × 12–15
  • Barbell Squats — 2 × 12–15
  • Leg Presses — 2 × 12–15
• Hamstrings
  • Leg Curls — 2 × 8–12
• Calves
  • Standing Calf Raises — 2 × 8–10

Workout 3: Back, Shoulders

• Back
  • Weighted chins – 2 x 6-8 (use lat pulldowns for warm-up)
  • Barbell rows – 2 x 6-8 
  • Cable pulley rows –  2 x 6-8 
• Delts 
  • Bent laterals – 2 x 6-8
  • Barbell shrugs – 2 x 6-8 
  • Behind-the-neck presses – 3 x 6-8 
  • Side laterals – 2 x 6-8

Dorian Yates Mr. Olympia Training Program

This is the program that Dorian Yates is most known for. However, he actually didn't start running this split until around 1995 or so. It's the accumulation of his training career.

You will notice that many of the exercises have multiple sets with different rep schemes. The first set(s) are warm-ups or "ramp-ups". Only the last set is an all-out brutal set. 

It should be noted that these sets aren't normal sets. Claiming, "he only used one set," is a bit of an understatement. One "working set" usually consisted of;

• Training to failure
• Performing 2-4 forced reps
• Finishing with rest pause or negatives

Mr. Olympia Training Split

Day 1: Delts, Traps, Triceps, Abs

Day 2: Back, Rear Delts

Day 3: Rest

Day 4: Chest, Biceps, Abs

Day 5: Rest

Day 6: Quads, Hamstrings, Calves

Day 7: Rest

Workout 1: Delts, Traps, Triceps, Abs

• Delts
  • Smith machine presses – 1 x 15 / 1 x 12 / 1×8–10
  • Seated dumbbell laterals – 1 x 12 /1 x 8–10
  • One-arm cable laterals – 1 x 20 / 1 x 8–10
• Traps
  • Dumbbell shrugs – 1× 12 / 1 x 10-12
• Triceps
  • Triceps pushdowns – 1 x 15 / 1 x 12 / 1 x 8–10
  • Lying EZ-bar extensions – 1 x 12 / 1 x 8–10
  • One-arm pushdowns or Nautilus extensions – 1 x 8–10
• Abs
  • Forward crunches – 3 x 20–25
  • Reverse crunches – 3×12–15

Workout 2: Back, Rear Delts

• Lats / Upper Back
  • Hammer Strength pulldowns (alternated grips) – 1 x 15 / 1 x 12 / 1×8–10
  • Barbell rows – 1 x 12 / 1 x 8–10
  • One-arm Hammer Strength rows – 1 x 8–10
  • Cable rows (overhand grip) – 1 x 8–10
• Rear Delts
  • Rear-delt Hammer Strength – 1 x 8–10
  • Bent-over dumbbell raises – 1 x 8–10
• Lower Back
  • Hyperextensions – 1 x 10–12
  • Deadlifts – 1 x 8, 1 x 8

Workout 3: Chest, Biceps, Abs

• Chest
  • Incline barbell presses – 1 x 12 / 1 x 10 / 1 x 8 / 1 x 8
  • Hammer Strength bench press – 1 x 10 / 1 x 6-8
  • Incline dumbbell flyes – 1 x 10 / 1 x 8
  • Cable crossovers – 1 x 10–12
• Biceps
  • Incline dumbbell curls – 1 x 10 /  1 x 6–8
  • EZ-bar curls – 1 x 10 / 1 x 6–8
  • Nautilus curls – 1 x 6–8
• Abs
  • Forward crunches – 3 x 20–25
  • Reverse crunches – 3 x 12–15

Workout 4:  Quads, Hamstrings, Calves

• Quads
  • Leg extensions (pre-exhaust) – 1 x 15 / 1 x 12 / 1 x 10-12
  • Leg press – 1 x 12 / 1 x 12 / 1 x 10-12
  • Hack squats – 1 x 12 / 1 x 8-10
• Hamstrings
  • Lying leg curls (pre-exhaust) – 1 x 8-10 / 1 x 8-10
  • Stiff-leg deadlifts – 1 x 10
  • Single-leg curls – 1 x 8–10
• Calves
  • Standing calf raises – 1 x 10–12 / 1 x 10-12
  • Seated calf raises – 1 x 10–12

How To Set Up A Blood And Guts Training Workout 

Above, we went over the principles of Blood and Guts, including two of Dorian Yates' training programs. This doesn't mean you have to follow his exact program, but you can use his methodology with what works for you.

1. Decide on training 3-Days A Week or 4-Days A Week. Either one will work, so be honest with yourself and other time commitments you have. If you start with the program, stick with it.

2. Depending on your training frequency, use the appropriate split. You're only training a muscle once a week, so be sure to separate your largest muscles.

3. Choose the exercises that work for you. Looking at his programs, they generally consist of the following exercise variation.

• Chest - 2 Compound Exercises & 2 Isolations 
• Shoulders/Traps - 1 Compound Exercises & 2-3 Isolations (including shrugs)
• Back - 4 Compound Exercises
• Quads - 2 Compound Exercises & 1-2 Isolations 
• Hamstrings - 1 Compound Exercises & 2-3 Isolations
• Calves - 1-2 Isolations
• Arms - 2-3 Biceps Isolations, 2-3 Triceps Isolations
• Abs - 2 Ab Exercises

4. Decide if you want to use 1 or 2 working sets. One tactic that works well for average lifters is using 2 working sets for compound exercises and 1 working set for isolations.

5. Find an intensity technique that works best for you to push beyond failure.

• Forced reps - Have a partner helps you grind 2-3 more reps
• Rest-pause - Put the weight down and rest for 10-15s, then perform another mini-set to failure. Repeat 1-2 more times.
• Negatives - Have a partner help you lift the weight and then lower it slowly under control. Aim for 5–8 seconds.
• Partials - Instead of using the full ROM, squeeze out half-reps until your muscle is done.

6. Be prepared to make any alterations if you need.

Example Of Blood And Guts Training (Barbell Row, Yates-Style):

Here's an example of how HIT Training might look when performing the barbell row.

1. Warm up with 2 lighter sets, crisp form.
2. Load heavy for your all-out set. Perform until your form breaks at ~6–8 reps.
3. At failure, use 1-2 failure training methods
   • Forced reps
   • Rest-pause
   • Negatives
   • Partials

This Is Dorian's Blood And Guts

While it sounds intimidating, once you see his Dorians training routine, you realize that it's actually pretty basic in terms of the programming. There are no fancy exercises or exotic training methods. If we explained Blood and Guts in one sentence, it would be: Pick the most effective exercises for you and train them with intensity. 

References

1. Schoenfeld, B.J., Ogborn, D. & Krieger, J.W. Effects of Resistance Training Frequency on Measures of Muscle Hypertrophy: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis. Sports Med 46, 1689–1697 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40279-016-0543-8
2. Yates, D., & Miller, P. (1998). A Warrior's story: The life and training philosophy of the world's best bodybuilder. Dorian Yates Enterprises. https://archive.org/details/dorian-yates-warrior-s-story 
3. Yates, D., & Wolff, B. (1993). Blood and guts: The ultimate approach to building maximum muscle mass. Weider Publishing Ltd.