Permabanned
- Joined
- 22 Aug 2004
- Posts
- 9,204
Right its time for a new plan, i knew id be spending a few hours today mulling ideas around my head and thinking of what to do, so instead i thought i'd share with you lovely people.
For a lot of you it will be same old same old since you've seen it all and been there twice (chong, jeff, styles and you others) but im sure for some, the thought processes and decisions that go into devising a plan to suit your needs might be interesting, and it gives me somewhere to spill my verbal and mental diarrhea. So without further ado, its planning time!
So the first thing i must consider is how many days i'll be training. Now this is largely going to be based on my nutrition, and im currently on a cut, so realistically a 4day per week style is out, i simply wont recover fast enough to effectivley train each session. This typically leaves me with a straight 3 day per week split.
So how to split the exercises into 3 days, first take the compounds, these are the be all and end all of mass and strength gainers. Off the top of my head the compounds i will train are:
Squat
Deadlift
Bench press/incline
Chins
Dips
BOR's
SLDL
Shoulder press bar/DB
Arnies
Standing bar curl (added to help the numbers)
Right thats 12 compounds i want in my program before i look at anything else and i need to arrange these over 3 days. Thats never gonna work, compounds wont work if you have too many similar ones in any one session, i dont believe its a good idea to work a compound twice in a session although there are exceptions such as dips and incline bench (working different areas of the pectorals) however the effect on the tries is substantial.
So i need 2 alternating weeks i think, 6 workouts in total covering all those compounds and then adding a few isolation, or more isolated
So (week1/week2)
Monday
Squats/Deadlift
SLDL
Wednesday
Bench/incline bench
incline flyes/dips
Standing bar curl
Friday
Chins/BOR
Sh press bar/DB
arnies
Right thats stage 1. Now looking at that (i've made some deliberate mistakes for the benefit of the post) i can see a couple of issues, if i do all my tricep work wednesday, then my Sh pressing on friday will likely be affected. Also bar curls on wednesday will affect chins and maybe BOR's too (however i dont want them on the same day for the same reason) so its time to swap it all around a bit. The traditional way is to put lower body stuff in the middle, which is what i'll do.
So we now have
Monday
Bench/incline bench
incline flyes/dips
Standing bar curl
Wednesday
Squats/Deadlift
SLDL
Friday
Chins/BOR
Sh press bar/DB
arnies
Some may still ask, "Why standing bar curl on monday? why not in the back/biceps friday?" My answer is, when worked in ascending sets of reducing reps (which this program will be) biceps take a max of 2 days to recoup, they will have next to no use on the wednesday, thus there is no problem working them twice a week with one session at reduced volume.
So i would say thats a great foundation for the program. Next i want to bulk each session to 5 exercises, that will be plenty for a good 45-60 minuites optimum, remember i am basing this on a reduced caloric intake, so im keeping intensity under control.
Monday needs skullcrushers, i would add tricep rope pressdowns too but i dont have the kit, besides i love SC's! Also i want to add flat-bench close grip press and alternate this with flat flyes, obviously i will structure this so that i dont do incline AND flat flyes on the same session, even though they work essentially different muscles, the shoulders take a lot of strain and probably wouldnt help matters.
So monday is now
Bench/incline bench
incline flyes/dips
Standing bar curl
Skullcrushers
Flat bench CG/Flat Flyes
Wednesday is thus far looking sparse, the dreaded leg day!! For me the energy expended in heavy, repped squats is huge, so im not worried about volume (my starting weight will be 115kgx12 ffs lol) however there are a few neglected areas id like to address on leg day. Lower back is one, i want to put good mornings back in my routine (look them up), also the calves must be worked. Anyone else could chuck in ab work too, im not bothering because i have freak strong abs (can sit up with 100kg on my chest) and BF is too high to bother conditioning. Equally im pushing on squats and want solid ab strength. So new exercises will be good mornings, calf raises and close-legged DB hack squats (that may or may not be the official name, meaning feet together holding big DBS and squatting with close knees)
So wednesday is
Wednesday
Squats/Deadlift
SLDL/Good Mornings
Calf Raises
Close Legged DB hack Squats
I woulda bunged in hyperextentions but im yet to invest in a roman chair or similar.
Next comes friday, the horribly painful shoulder day which ive cunningly mixed with the difficult back day too
now with it being a friday, we all want a good blow out before slobbing for the weekend, so i'm going to have more exercises, partly to wipe me out and partly because shoulders are tough to work in individual low volume sessions. So the exercises id like to add are lateral raises (explosive 2 arm raises that engage the back a little too), DB shrugs, upright rows, reverse slightly inclined flyes lying DB curls.
killer workout methinks!!
This is how i would arrange it
Friday
Chins/BOR
Sh press bar/DB
arnies
upright rows/Lateral raises
DB shrugs
reverse i flyes
Lying Db Curls
To compensate for the volume increase i will only do 2 sets of upright rows/lateral raise and shrugs, however shrug reps will be 15 as the traps seem to respond well to heavy/volume.
Also im looking at it and thinking it should be
Chins/Lying DB curls
BOR's
So i think thats what it will be.
Rep structure and other periodical infrastructure.
As a baseline i want to stick to a favourite, ascending weight, decreasing reps. The structure im using is mass oriented using the reps 12-10-8. Others may prefer 10-8-6 or the strength oriented 8-6-4. With each reduction in reps comes an increase in weight. This should be proportional to the exercise, for example in bench press you might do 70kg-75kg-80kg but in reverse flyes you might use 12kg-13kg-14kg.
Each session i will log whether i have been successful and at what weight. If successful the next train i will shift the weight up, so 70-75-80 becomes 75-80-85 etc
Failure. We all hate it, but in weight lifting its inevitable, and with this type of program, completley so. But what do you do when you hit that point? It's a dilemma i've often grappled with, initially when i first used this system i just stopped, stuck on the same weight until my body magically overcame the weight through sheer perciverence, well thats fine when i was a newbie, but i doubt it would work on my new limits, sheer 'practice' wont get me through. So what will i do?
Well the fundemental reason you can say lift 90kg on the bench for 8 is strength, although there are lots of other factors, if you could bench 130 for 1 rep chances are you could bench 90 for 10 or more, simple. If you want to get picky and technical then you can dispute that but im not doing any of this for the benefit of experienced trainers, as far as early limits go in weight lifting terms, strength is the ultimate limiting factor.
So, to limit "random weakness" which hits us all some weeks since we cant all eat sleep and breathe BB'ing 25 hours a day, any failed set is repeated the following due session. If it is failed again it is marked and a strength modification implemented (exciting huh!) Now there are 2 strength staples championed in powerlifting circles, one is the complex TST principle where you take the different sections of the exercise, the eccentric, concentric and complete stages, then the simpler rep speed method.
Now due to the complexity of applying TST (google total-strength-Training) to my plan im sticking with that old skool staple - speed! No not the drug
So when for example my bench press fails for the second time on 8 reps of say 90kg (imagine i only get 6 out) what i will do is the next time i bench i will take 60% of my max + 10kg (5 for a single arm lift) so fortuitously this makes the nice number of 60kg (60% of 100Kg). I perform 3 sets of 3 reps. I use 4 seconds lowering, nice steady pace, the second it touches my chest i attempt to throw it through the roof (please kids keep hold of the bar!) then lower and repeat. The essence being the pure speed of the rep, this should help concentrate your central nervous system and form a better muscle-nerve linkage. I will do this for 2 weeks/ascribed sessions before returning to the original lift. If i lift the weight required i continue to the next weight as before, if not i return to CNS speed training.
Then rinse and repeat and sprinkle a few HST sessions throughout the year.
Thats my plan, go ahead and pick holes, your all bound to
For a lot of you it will be same old same old since you've seen it all and been there twice (chong, jeff, styles and you others) but im sure for some, the thought processes and decisions that go into devising a plan to suit your needs might be interesting, and it gives me somewhere to spill my verbal and mental diarrhea. So without further ado, its planning time!
So the first thing i must consider is how many days i'll be training. Now this is largely going to be based on my nutrition, and im currently on a cut, so realistically a 4day per week style is out, i simply wont recover fast enough to effectivley train each session. This typically leaves me with a straight 3 day per week split.
So how to split the exercises into 3 days, first take the compounds, these are the be all and end all of mass and strength gainers. Off the top of my head the compounds i will train are:
Squat
Deadlift
Bench press/incline
Chins
Dips
BOR's
SLDL
Shoulder press bar/DB
Arnies
Standing bar curl (added to help the numbers)
Right thats 12 compounds i want in my program before i look at anything else and i need to arrange these over 3 days. Thats never gonna work, compounds wont work if you have too many similar ones in any one session, i dont believe its a good idea to work a compound twice in a session although there are exceptions such as dips and incline bench (working different areas of the pectorals) however the effect on the tries is substantial.
So i need 2 alternating weeks i think, 6 workouts in total covering all those compounds and then adding a few isolation, or more isolated
So (week1/week2)
Monday
Squats/Deadlift
SLDL
Wednesday
Bench/incline bench
incline flyes/dips
Standing bar curl
Friday
Chins/BOR
Sh press bar/DB
arnies
Right thats stage 1. Now looking at that (i've made some deliberate mistakes for the benefit of the post) i can see a couple of issues, if i do all my tricep work wednesday, then my Sh pressing on friday will likely be affected. Also bar curls on wednesday will affect chins and maybe BOR's too (however i dont want them on the same day for the same reason) so its time to swap it all around a bit. The traditional way is to put lower body stuff in the middle, which is what i'll do.
So we now have
Monday
Bench/incline bench
incline flyes/dips
Standing bar curl
Wednesday
Squats/Deadlift
SLDL
Friday
Chins/BOR
Sh press bar/DB
arnies
Some may still ask, "Why standing bar curl on monday? why not in the back/biceps friday?" My answer is, when worked in ascending sets of reducing reps (which this program will be) biceps take a max of 2 days to recoup, they will have next to no use on the wednesday, thus there is no problem working them twice a week with one session at reduced volume.
So i would say thats a great foundation for the program. Next i want to bulk each session to 5 exercises, that will be plenty for a good 45-60 minuites optimum, remember i am basing this on a reduced caloric intake, so im keeping intensity under control.
Monday needs skullcrushers, i would add tricep rope pressdowns too but i dont have the kit, besides i love SC's! Also i want to add flat-bench close grip press and alternate this with flat flyes, obviously i will structure this so that i dont do incline AND flat flyes on the same session, even though they work essentially different muscles, the shoulders take a lot of strain and probably wouldnt help matters.
So monday is now
Bench/incline bench
incline flyes/dips
Standing bar curl
Skullcrushers
Flat bench CG/Flat Flyes
Wednesday is thus far looking sparse, the dreaded leg day!! For me the energy expended in heavy, repped squats is huge, so im not worried about volume (my starting weight will be 115kgx12 ffs lol) however there are a few neglected areas id like to address on leg day. Lower back is one, i want to put good mornings back in my routine (look them up), also the calves must be worked. Anyone else could chuck in ab work too, im not bothering because i have freak strong abs (can sit up with 100kg on my chest) and BF is too high to bother conditioning. Equally im pushing on squats and want solid ab strength. So new exercises will be good mornings, calf raises and close-legged DB hack squats (that may or may not be the official name, meaning feet together holding big DBS and squatting with close knees)
So wednesday is
Wednesday
Squats/Deadlift
SLDL/Good Mornings
Calf Raises
Close Legged DB hack Squats
I woulda bunged in hyperextentions but im yet to invest in a roman chair or similar.
Next comes friday, the horribly painful shoulder day which ive cunningly mixed with the difficult back day too
now with it being a friday, we all want a good blow out before slobbing for the weekend, so i'm going to have more exercises, partly to wipe me out and partly because shoulders are tough to work in individual low volume sessions. So the exercises id like to add are lateral raises (explosive 2 arm raises that engage the back a little too), DB shrugs, upright rows, reverse slightly inclined flyes lying DB curls.killer workout methinks!!
This is how i would arrange it
Friday
Chins/BOR
Sh press bar/DB
arnies
upright rows/Lateral raises
DB shrugs
reverse i flyes
Lying Db Curls
To compensate for the volume increase i will only do 2 sets of upright rows/lateral raise and shrugs, however shrug reps will be 15 as the traps seem to respond well to heavy/volume.
Also im looking at it and thinking it should be
Chins/Lying DB curls
BOR's
So i think thats what it will be.
Rep structure and other periodical infrastructure.
As a baseline i want to stick to a favourite, ascending weight, decreasing reps. The structure im using is mass oriented using the reps 12-10-8. Others may prefer 10-8-6 or the strength oriented 8-6-4. With each reduction in reps comes an increase in weight. This should be proportional to the exercise, for example in bench press you might do 70kg-75kg-80kg but in reverse flyes you might use 12kg-13kg-14kg.
Each session i will log whether i have been successful and at what weight. If successful the next train i will shift the weight up, so 70-75-80 becomes 75-80-85 etc
Failure. We all hate it, but in weight lifting its inevitable, and with this type of program, completley so. But what do you do when you hit that point? It's a dilemma i've often grappled with, initially when i first used this system i just stopped, stuck on the same weight until my body magically overcame the weight through sheer perciverence, well thats fine when i was a newbie, but i doubt it would work on my new limits, sheer 'practice' wont get me through. So what will i do?
Well the fundemental reason you can say lift 90kg on the bench for 8 is strength, although there are lots of other factors, if you could bench 130 for 1 rep chances are you could bench 90 for 10 or more, simple. If you want to get picky and technical then you can dispute that but im not doing any of this for the benefit of experienced trainers, as far as early limits go in weight lifting terms, strength is the ultimate limiting factor.
So, to limit "random weakness" which hits us all some weeks since we cant all eat sleep and breathe BB'ing 25 hours a day, any failed set is repeated the following due session. If it is failed again it is marked and a strength modification implemented (exciting huh!) Now there are 2 strength staples championed in powerlifting circles, one is the complex TST principle where you take the different sections of the exercise, the eccentric, concentric and complete stages, then the simpler rep speed method.
Now due to the complexity of applying TST (google total-strength-Training) to my plan im sticking with that old skool staple - speed! No not the drug
So when for example my bench press fails for the second time on 8 reps of say 90kg (imagine i only get 6 out) what i will do is the next time i bench i will take 60% of my max + 10kg (5 for a single arm lift) so fortuitously this makes the nice number of 60kg (60% of 100Kg). I perform 3 sets of 3 reps. I use 4 seconds lowering, nice steady pace, the second it touches my chest i attempt to throw it through the roof (please kids keep hold of the bar!) then lower and repeat. The essence being the pure speed of the rep, this should help concentrate your central nervous system and form a better muscle-nerve linkage. I will do this for 2 weeks/ascribed sessions before returning to the original lift. If i lift the weight required i continue to the next weight as before, if not i return to CNS speed training.
Then rinse and repeat and sprinkle a few HST sessions throughout the year.
Thats my plan, go ahead and pick holes, your all bound to
