Do you want to gain some lean muscle mass or do you want to get stronger?
Typically you have to choose between these two goals when deciding how to train - but not any more! I’ve designed a program specifically for those of us who want to get both bigger and stronger at the same time.The Size and Strength Conundrum
Conventional training wisdom tells us that training for size and training for strength are two very separate entities. The combination of heavy weight and lower reps (1-5) is unanimously king for producing maximal strength gains. The key here is high tension placed on the muscle.
Getting experts to agree upon what, exactly, is best for inducing hypertrophy (growth) is a bit more elusive. However, it’s fairly well accepted that somewhere between 10 and 20 reps is best for inducing skin-stretching gains in size. The cornerstone of hypertrophy training is to put the muscles through a high volume of training.
Typically, most well-designed routines will have some degree of periodization to them.
I recommended that you train with heavy weight and low reps for a few weeks followed by lighter weight and higher reps for another few weeks.
Though there’s certainly nothing inherently wrong with this, I have found that (though the end result is satisfactory) size doesn’t improve very fast when training for strength; and strength doesn’t improve when training for size, in fact it sometimes goes down a bit. Call me impatient, but I want to improve both at the same time. To appease my impatience, I brainstormed a bit to come up with a workout that implements high tension to optimize strength and high volume to maximize size gains - all within the same week. The program is elegantly simple, but don’t let that fool you. The results you will achieve will be astonishing.
Heavy Day, Light Day
To get your strength on its way up, you’re going to train each body part with one heavy day per week. And, to fill out your shirts better you’re going to train each body part with one high rep day per week. That’s right; you are going to train each body part twice per week. I know this flies in the face of the popular “train each body part once per week” dogma that currently prevails, but oh well.
Without further ado, let’s get right to the program.
Monday: Heavy Upper Body
1a) Barbell Bench Press 6 x 3 (6 sets of 3 reps)
1b) T-bar Row 6 x 3
2a) Standing Barbell Shoulder Press 5 x 5
2b) Pull-ups 5 x 5 (you may use an assisted pull-up machine or do pull-downs if you’re not yet strong enough to do pull-ups with your bodyweight)
3a) Skull Crushers 3 x 5
3b) Barbell Curls 3 x 5
Tuesday: Light Lower Body and Abs
1) Unilateral Leg Press 3 x 15-20
2) Lying Leg Curls 3 x 15-20
3) Dumbbell Walking Lunges 2 x 30
4) Seated Calf Raises 3 x 20
5) Crunches 3 x Failure
Wednesday: Off
Thursday: Light Upper Body
1a) Inclined Barbell Press 3 x 15
1b) DB Rows 3 x 15
2a) DB Lateral Raise 3 x 1
2b) Pull-downs to the front 3 x 15
3a) Preacher Curls 2 x 15
3b) OH DB extensions 2 x 15
Friday: Heavy Lower Body and Abs
1) Barbell Squats 6 x 4
2) Rack Deadlifts 1 x 8, 1 x 6, 1 x 4, 1 x 2
3) Dumbbell Stiff-legged Deadlifts 3 x 6
4) Standing Calf Raises 5 x 5
5) Hanging Leg Raises 3 x 8
Saturday: Off
Sunday: Off
Tying it all Together
The prescribed number of sets does not include warm-up sets. Make sure to warm up properly, but avoid needlessly fatiguing yourself prior to your upcoming work sets. Usually one or two light sets does the trick.
Exercises that are labeled A & B are to be done one after the other. For example, do a set of barbell bench presses, wait about one minute, then do a set of T-bar rows, wait another minute, then do another set of bench presses and so on.
In order to reduce the risk of overtraining, I’ve made it such that you’ll only train four days per week. To further reduce the risk of overdoing it, make sure to not do any forced repetitions (reps that a spotter helps you complete). On the heavy day, you should be able to complete your last repetition with good form. On the light day, stop a rep or two short of failure. Holding back from going absolutely all out is something that’s tough for me to do, and it may be for you, too. But I assure you, your patience will pay off in the way of steady muscle gains.
One of the most important, yet simplest ways to ensure your steady progress is to keep a training log. Keeping meticulous records allows you to intelligently plan the progression in your workout. As a general rule of thumb, try to improve (either five more pounds or one more rep) every other workout for a particular exercise. Trying to improve every workout would soon lead to stagnation and even regression, both of which you want to avoid like a Brittany Spears TV show!
Doing this routine for 12 weeks is sure to give you newfound size and strength. After adhering to the program for three months, take a week off. Then you could repeat the program but with the incorporation of different exercises.
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