Sample workout routines for advanced bodybuilder's. Post up your favorite.
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Sample workout routines for advanced bodybuilder's. Post up your favorite.
Matt Reynolds has gone on record in the past saying advanced lifters need only apply: “I don't recommend doing the DFHT training outlined below unless you can at least bench 1.5 times your bodyweight and squat AT LEAST the same, preferably more.” - Reynolds
Dual Factor Hypertrophy Training (DFHT) is a program made by Matt Reynolds. Just as the name implies, it is dual factor. The following is part of the write up that Matt Reynolds wrote for Dual Factor as it pertains to the program.
“The Dual Factor Theory, also called Fitness Fatigue Theory is somewhat more complex than the Supercompensation Theory. The theory is based on the fact that an individual's fitness and fatigue are totally independent of each other. This theory is entirely dependant on one's base conditioning (or physical preparedness or fitness). The thing is, when you have a high level of fitness (or conditioning/ preparedness) this level changes fairly slowly. This is because over the short term fitness does not fluctuate often. (However, fatigue can change (increase or decrease) fairly quickly when compared to fitness).
"The theory works like an equilibrium in that training will have an immediate effect on the body (similar to supercompensation). This effect is the combination of fatigue and gain (again, remember the equilibrium thing). So after a workout, because of the stimulus that training provides, preparedness/conditioning/fitness increases (gain) but at the same time will decrease due to fatigue from the training."
"So, the outcome of the training session is the result of both the positive and negative consequences of the training session. These two outcomes depend on time. By striking the correct balance, fatigue should be large in extent but short in how long it lasts. Gain on the other hand should be moderate, however, and is longer in duration. Typically the relationship is 1:3; if fatigue lasts x amount of time, then gain lasts 3x amount of time."
"Given the two factor theory, which separates physical fitness or preparedness and fatigue, you see that the timing of individual workouts is unimportant to long term gains (unlike Supercompensation)... in other words regardless of whether or not fatigue is or is not present, fitness can and will still be increased" (which is the goal)...
So what you get concerning the two-factor theory is a period of peaking fatigue (maybe 6 weeks), followed by a period of rest (maybe 2 weeks deloading, then one or two weeks of total rest). You view entire weeks and maybe months as you would have viewed just one workout with the single factor theory. For example, in the single factor theory, one workout represents a period of fatigue. But, in the two-factor theory, 6 weeks would represent a period of fatigue. In the single factor theory, a day or two (up to a week) represents a period of rest. But in the two-factor theory, up to four weeks may represent a period rest.
"What is important to note is there is almost universal agreement among scientists and athletes and coaches in all sports EXCEPT bodybuilding that the two factor theory is correct and the single factor theory is not correct and is in fact suitable only for beginners to follow when planning training."
"It is also important to note that most athletes in most sports are experiencing some level of constant fatigue ALWAYS, except for maybe a couple of weekends a year, when they are peaking. Training takes place daily against a backdrop of fatigue". Therefore, you should be able to see why, concerning the single factor theory, it would be very hard to ever fully recover, unless you sat on your ass for two weeks and did nothing."
Applying it to the real world…
When setting up dual factor periodization for the bodybuilder, it is important to remember to plan for periods of fatigue and periods of rest. During a fatigue period (say, 3 weeks), you slowly build up fatigue, and never fully recover. Then you have a period of recovery (another 1-3 weeks) where you train with reduced frequency, volume, or intensity. (My preference is to keep intensity high, while drastically lowering volume and slightly lowering frequency.) At any rate, the fatiguing and recovery periods most likely won't be as drastic for a bodybuilder as it would for a strength athlete because there will be no peaking phase for performance (at no point are you required as a bodybuilder to perform a competition based on strength). Additionally, bodybuilders need less fatigue and more recovery present at any given time (outside of the actual training sessions) when compared to strength athletes.
So here's what I've come up with…
• The general layout of the program will be to train upper body twice per week and lower body twice per week (so, we'll be providing double the training stimulus of typical one bodypart per day programs). The workouts will be fairly intense, heavy on free weight compound exercises, lower volume (per workout, and drastically lower volume per bodypart), and higher frequency than normal bodybuilding workouts. (Now, again, this is individual). Some of you won't be able to handle this amount of frequency yet, because your fitness level sucks. Some powerlifters, OLY lifters, and other strength athletes train up to 20 or 30 times each week (and most of them a minimum of 10 times per week) because their fitness level is so high. – If you find this level of frequency is too high, shorten the loading period and lengthen the recovery period, at first. Or, reduce the frequency to training three times per week, on a Mon, Wed, Fri, scheme, etc. – until your preparedness is increased, and your body can handle the frequency.)
The real difference is in failure and periodization (this is so each body part can be trained twice per week as opposed to only once)…
• No exercise should be taken to failure when using submaximal reps, however, all exercises should be taken to within one or two reps of failure by the final set of the exercise. If muscular failure is reached, there is no way you can train with an increased frequency without overtraining.
• Periodization will be individual to the lifter. However, for the sake of this program a 3-week period of loading followed by one week of recovery is given. (Additionally, if one isn't fully recovered after the one week recovery period, and fatigue still builds, increase the recovery period to two weeks, or have a "recovery month" every 4 or 5 months where you'll have one week of loading and three weeks of recovery during that month to allow your body to fully recover.)
• Progressive Overload is absolutely imperative in every exercise, making sure that load or reps are increased, or that rest periods are decreased to keep intensity high (during loading phases). (Of course, during the recovery phases, if volume is lowered, and frequency reduced slightly, then intensity can and should still be kept high, although the load should be reduced just slightly (approx. 10%) as there is no reason to attempt to set records through progressive overload during this time of recovery.)
• Many different rep ranges will be used. I am partial to the use of rep ranges in the 3-10 range, as it tends to give the lifter a great balance of extreme muscle thickness (like the look of a bodybuilder with a powerlifting background) as well as great neural efficiency.” - Reynolds
The following is the program outline:
DFHT Training
Upper Body Workout One:
1./// Barbell Bench Press: (flat or incline, primarily wide grip, hypertrophy reps; ex. 4x10 with the same weight for each set)
2./// Dumbell Press (flat, incline, or decline for 3x8-12 same weight)
3./// Horizontal Lat Work (Barbell JS Rows, 5x5)
4./// Shoulders/ Traps (emphasis on medial delts - Shrugs, High Pulls, Dumbell Cleans, Lateral Raises, Shoulder Horn, Face Pulls – pick 1-2 exercises for 4-6 sets total)
5./// Tricep Extension (skull crushers, French presses, JM Presses, rolling dumbbell extensions, Tate Presses, Pushdowns – pick one exercise for 3x10-12)
6./// Biceps (1-2 exercises, 3-5 sets total)
Lower Body Workout One:
1./// Heavy Squats (butt to ankles, 5x5 working up each set to a 5rm, or try for a 3rm or even an occasional 1rm)
2./// Goodmornings (3x5 same weight or work up to 5rm)
3./// Pullthroughs (3-5 sets of 10-12, some arched back, some rounded back)
4./// Glute Ham Raises or Hamstring Curls followed by Leg Extensions (2 sets each)
-or-
4./// Leg Presses (3-4 sets of 10-12) –or- Occasionally a Hack Squat (for 3-4x10-12)
5./// Weighted Abs/ Obliques (5x10 total – weighted situps, ab pulldowns on high cable or with bands, dumbbell side bends, etc.)
6./// Calves (most of you know what works best for your calves)
Upper Body Workout Two:
1./// Flat Barbell Bench Press (close or regular grip – heavy work 1rm, 3rm, 5rm, or 5x5)
2./// Board Press/ Floor Press (5rm usually start where you left off on bench press)
3./// Overhead Press (Standing military press, push press, dumbbell overhead press – various rep schemes – 5rm, 5x5, 4x10)
4./// Dips (2-3 sets)
5./// Vertical Lat Work (Lat Pulldowns or Pullups – 5+ sets – if on lat pulldown use different bars and work different planes)
6./// Tricep Extension ((skull crushers, French presses, JM Presses, rolling dumbbell extensions, Tate Presses, Pushdowns – pick one exercise for 3x10-12)
7./// Biceps (1-2 exercises, 3-5 sets total)
Lower Body Workout Two:
1./// Lighter Squats (back squats or front squats for 5x5 or 4x10 with the same weight)
2./// Deadlifts (conventional deadlifts or deadlifts standing on 2-3” box, mat, or 100lb plate - 1rm, 3rm, 5rm, or 3x5 same weight, )
3./// Pullthroughs (3-5 sets of 10-12, some arched back, some rounded back)
4./// Glute Ham Raises or Hamstring Curls followed by Leg Extensions (2 sets each)
5./// Weighted Hyperextensions (2-3x10-12 )
6./// Weighted Abs/ Obliques (5x10 total – weighted situps, ab pulldowns on high cable or with bands, dumbbell side bends, etc.)
6./// Calves (most of you know what works best for your calves)
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What works extremely well with DFHT is to precede it with one of Starr's 5x5 programs. They're both dual factor programs and are very complimentary of each other. I ran both and it worked out terrific. I gained some mass and a lot of strength working only the core lifts themselves with the 5x5. By the final intensity week, I was nearly at the end of my rope in poundages. The DFHT really addressed my weaknesses that the 5x5 doesn't do. For example, all the pullthroughs, goodmornings, hypers, ect really continued to increase my squatting numbers with DFHT. Bench continued increasing because of the board/floor presses, and the repetition effort for my delts/triceps.
"You can begin to think about longer programs and structures to address specific needs. The 5x5 is basically 2 mesocycles (4 weeks each but they can range from 3-6 weeks). For reference a microcycle is 1-2 weeks (or look at a macrocycle as 4 semirelated microcycles although this is unnecessary for the 5x5 program or anything that general) and a Macrocycle is closer to a year and this is what I'm getting at although for a non-competitive lifter it's unnecessary to plan to that degree. Anyway, you are looking at stringing together a series of meso/micro cycles into an abbreviated macrocycle (yeah a lot of bull**** terms but you'll see the sense).
So, assuming you wanted to run 2 5x5s back to back (we'll just assume you will deload a week and start at the next one) and then continue into the other dual factor program (DFHT) and for the sake of fun you wanted to run a two week specialty program to address something else before beginning the core 5x5 again you'd have something like this:
Mesocycle 1:........................5x5 Loading
Mesocycle 2: Microcycle 1:.....5x5 Deload Week
Mesocycle 2: Microcycles 2-5:.5x5 Intensity Weeks
Microcycle 1 (separate):.........Deloading - 1 week
Mesocycle 3: Microcycles 1-3:.DFHT Loading
Mesocycle 3: Micocycle 4:.......DFHT Deloading
Microcycle 2 (separate):..........Specialty work - 2 weeks
Repeat
This is roughly 4 months or 16 weeks" - Madcow
MAX-OT
The training system Max-OT: http://www.freedomfly.net/Documents/MAX-OT.pdf
The Nuts and Bolts:
1. Each workout should last approximately 30 to 40 minutes.
2. Train only 1 or 2 muscle groups per workout/day.
3. Do 6 to 9 total heavy sets per muscle group.
4. Do 4 to 6 reps per set to failure.
5. Rest 2 to 3 minutes between sets.
6. Train each muscle group once every 5 to 7 days.
7. Take a 1 week break from training every 8 to 10 weeks.
Pros:
- Workouts are quick to avoid elevating cortisol.
- Easier progressively loading 4-6 reps than 10-15.
- Increased neural efficiency (great strength gains).
- Increased muscle gain right out the chute.
- Increased familiarity with compound exercises.
Cons:
- Plateaus might come fast if too aggressive with your weight selection.
- Perpetually staying in the 4-6 rep range could result in diminished returns over a long period of time.
- Strength and muscle gains are almost never linear to each other.
- High potential for muscle tears or injuries.
- Not recommended for beginners who have not developed proper techniques with compound exercises.
- Not recommended for most isolation exercises.
Frequency:
Traditionally, Max-OT is promoted as a five day split. They also have a few examples of three day splits for trainees who simply cannot make it more than three days to the gym. What the website does not do is account for overlapping, which could, in essence, allow for a higher frequency than once every six to seven days. An example of overlapping could include doing weighted dips and close grip bench on “arms day” for triceps that also heavily stimulates the pecs. Another example would be doing some underhanded chins and pulldowns for “back day” which also works the biceps. Both of these examples would work provided the trainee sets aside a single day to work his arms.
Sample 5 Day Schedule:
Monday – Legs
Tuesday – Chest
Wednesday – Back
Thursday – Shoulders
Friday – Arms
Sample Workout:
Flat Bench: 3 x 4-6
Incline DB Press: 3 x 4-6
Weighted Dips: 2 x 4-6
Max-OT is a good program that should suit anyone’s needs for the short term. Increases in size and strength are best during the initial three to four weeks. Long term usage could really take its toll on the joints. One of the most prevalent injuries many trainees complain about is a pain that runs along the bone in the forearms. This is no doubt partially due to using a lot of straight bar curling with a weight heavy enough to only get 4-6 reps in with. According to a sports medicine physician, it's called ulnar stress syndrome and it's due to extreme supination of the forearms and undue stress placed on the ulna secondary to weak forearm musculature. On their website, they approve using “a little English” on lifts such as barbell curling. “English” to them means throwing your back into the lift in order to use maximum poundages. Again, I wouldn’t recommend adopting that technique too much. Especially when in the latter weeks of the program.
The key to making this program work is to adopt all recommendations. A lot of trainees used to a lot of volume might find themselves adding in more exercises or sets than is needed. An example of this would be doing 3 x 4-6 flat bench instead of 2 x 4-6. If the lifter is really pushing his or herself, then two sets to positive failure is enough, especially if that third set only gets 2-3 reps without a spot. Another key is tempo. It’s important to maintain a good tempo without trying to “rapid fire” a set just to get the required reps in. So if a lifter starts off the program with 4 seconds of TUT (3-0-1), and after a few weeks starts doing 2 or 3 seconds bouncing the weight all over the place, you will effectively remove the stimulus off of the targeted muscles in favor of beating the log book.
Try it out for a month before moving on. With enough overlapping and rest, this program will provide a nice stimulus for growth and especially strength. Max-OT may not be a “cornerstone” for year around training, but it does hold its merit for a few months spread out over the course of a year.
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Max-OT is a favored of mine. I recommend periodization training with it as it does cause problems with joints in the long run. Learned the hard way on that one.
The 5/3/1 Philosophy
The 5/3/1 philosophy is more important than the sets and reps. Whenever I feel like I’m getting sidetracked or want to try something different, I revisit these rules to make sure I’m doing things the right way. Even if you decide this program isn’t for you, these basic tenets have stood the test of tim
Emphasize Big, Multi-Joint Movements
This really isn’t any secret. Beginners have been told to do this for years, and advanced lifters swear by these movements. Multi-joint lifts are lifts that involve more than one muscle – i.e., not an isolation exercise like leg extensions – and allow you to build the most muscle. These lifts are the most efficient for building muscle and strength. Examples are the squat, deadlift, bench press and power clean.
Start Too Light
My coaches emphasized this to me when I was in high school, but unfortunately, I didn’t listen. Hopefully you will. Starting too light allows for more time for you to progress forward. It’s easy for anyone – beginner or advanced – to want to get ahead of themselves. Your lifts will go up for a few months, but then they’ll stall – and stall, and stall some more. Lifters get frustrated and don’t understand that the way around this is to prolong the time it takes to get to the goal. You have to keep inching forward. This is a very hard pill to swallow for most lifters. They want to start heavy, and they want to start now. This is nothing more than ego, and nothing will destroy a lifter faster, or for longer, than ego.
Progress Slowly
This goes hand in hand with starting light. Slow progress might not get you the best rewards today, but it will tomorrow. The longer you can progress, even if it’s by one rep or 2.5 pounds, the more it means that you’re actually making progress. People always scoff when I want their bench to go up by 20-25 pounds their first year. They want the program that will put 40 pounds on their bench in 8 weeks. When they say this, I ask them how much their bench went up in the last year, and they hang their heads in shame. I can’t understand why someone wouldn’t want progress – even it’s just 5 pounds. It’s better than nothing. It’s progress.
The game of lifting isn’t an 8-week pursuit. It doesn’t last as long as your latest program does. Rather, it’s a lifetime pursuit. If you understand this, then progressing slowly isn’t a big deal. In fact, this can be a huge weight lifted off your back. Now you can focus on getting those 5 extra pounds rather than 50. It’s always been one of my goals to standing press 300 pounds. In the summer of 2008, I did just that. When someone asked me what my next goal was, my response was simple: “305 pounds.” If you bench press 225 pounds and want to get 275, you have to bench 230 first.e. Take these things to heart, and you’ll be greatly rewarded.
The 5/3/1 Program
This is a very easy program to work with. The following is a general outline of the training I suggest. I’ll go into detail on each point in the chapters to follow.
• You will train 3-4 days per week (this will be up to you).
• One day will be devoted to the standing military press, one day to the parallel squat, one day to the deadlift and one day to the bench press.
• Each training cycle lasts 4 weeks.
• The first week you will do 3 sets of 5 reps (3x5).
• The second week you will do 3 sets of 3 reps (3x3).
• The third week you will do 1 set of 5 reps, 1 set of 3 reps and 1 set of 1 rep (5/3/1).
• The fourth week you will do 3 sets of 5 reps (3x5). This is an easy deload week.
• After the fourth week, you begin again with 3 sets of 5 reps.
• Each week and each set has a percentage to follow, so you won’t be guessing what to do anymore.
As you can see, there’s nothing fancy to this program. I believe in big compound lifts, keeping the set and rep schemes simple, and deloading every fourth week. These concepts are nothing new, and I admit that. The beauty of this program, however, is how you begin. If you begin correctly, you’ll end correctly.
Possible Training Days:
• Monday/Tuesday/Thursday/Friday
• Sunday/Monday/Wednesday/Friday
• Sunday/Monday/Wednesday/Thursday
You can train on any days you’d like, obviously, and there are many possibilities. Just be sure to give yourself appropriate rest between training days. If you don’t know what “appropriate rest” is, ask yourself this question: Did I get enough rest after my last session to have an optimal training session today?
Beginning the Program
First, know your maxes for the four lifts (squat, bench, deadlift and standing military press). These are not maxes you think you can do, maxes you’ve done, or maxes you think you might be able to do. These are maxes you can do RIGHT NOW. This is not the time to be a braggart lifter. If you overestimate your maxes, you’ll be in for a rude awakening. If you don’t know your maxes for any of the lifts, you can take a few days and see where you’re at, or you can take a rep max. This is a good way to get an idea of your strength without loading the bar for a maximal attempt. Here’s how to do it:
• Estimate your 1RM for the lift. If you can’t even do this, you probably shouldn’t be doing this program.
• Take 80% or 85% of your supposed max and perform as many reps as possible.
• Plug the reps and the weight into this formula to get your estimated 1RM:
Weight x Reps x .0333 + Weight = Estimated 1RM
Once you have your maxes for each lift (bench, squat, deadlift and standing military press), I want you to take 90% of this number and use this as your “max” for the first 4 weeks of the training cycle. The easiest way to do this is to take your max and multiply it by .9 (that’s “point” 9). For example, let’s say you have a 400 deadlift, 385 squat, 190 military press, and a 295 bench press. Your numbers would look like this:
• Deadlift: 400 x .9 = 360
• Squat: 385 x .9 = 345
• Military: 190 x .9 = 170
• Bench Press: 295 x .9 = 265
You would then begin the 5/3/1 program using the above numbers (360, 345, 170, 265) as your starting “maxes.” This will allow you to use sub-maximal weights to get stronger, and since you won’t be handling heavy weights all the time, it’ll keep your body fresh and you won’t plateau or regress. If you decide you don’t want to do this, don’t do this program. I’ve gotten a lot of questions about why this must be done, and the answer is simple: by starting out at 10% less than your max, you won’t burn out, and you won’t plateau. So, leave your ego at the door and do it correctly. You don’t need to operate at your real max to make gains with this program.
Sample:
Monday
• Military Press: 100 for 5 reps, 115 for 5 reps and 130 for 10 reps. Notice that this last set is done for as many reps as possible. The lifter will keep track of the weight and the reps on the last set.
• Dips: 5 sets of 10 reps
• Dumbbell Rows: 3 sets of 12 reps
• Shrugs: 3 sets of 15 reps
Tuesday
• Deadlift: 215 for 5 reps, 245 for 5 reps, 280 for 12 reps
• Lunges: 3 sets of 6 reps per leg
• Hanging Ab Raises: 3 sets of 15 reps
Thursday
• Bench Press: 150 for 5 reps, 170 for 5 reps, 195 for 11 reps
Lifter had to get in and out of the weight room on this day because of work commitments, so he didn’t perform any assistance work. This is fine because he accomplished exactly what he needed to do today. He also established a very good rep max to use as a future benchmark.
Friday
• Squat: 190 for 5 reps, 215 for 5 reps, 245 for 9 reps
• Leg Press: 5 sets of 20
• Leg Curls: 3 sets of 10
The first four weeks are also a great way to establish some personal records. Make sure you keep track of these and try to break them. In the second four week phase, the lifter will increase his maxes no more than 5 pounds per upper body lift, and 10 pounds for lower body lifts. These increases are to the max that you’re basing your percentages on. You’re NOT increasing the weight for each set
Stalling in 5/3/1
You’ll eventually come to a point where you can’t make any more progress on a lift. You won’t be able to hit the sets and reps you’re supposed to hit, and the weights will start to get too heavy. When this happens, I simply take 90% of my max (either a 1RM or a rep max) and start all over again.
For example, let’s say I did 205x4 on my military press when I first started the program. Using the rep-max calculator, my estimated max would be 230 pounds. Since I started with 10% less, my beginning max would be 210. Over the course of six months, I worked up to a rep max of 185x10. This puts my estimated max at 245. Now, I’ll take 10% of 245 (220), and begin to work my way up again. This is a matter of taking three steps forward and one step back. You may stall out with one lift before you do with the others. When this happens, you only need to decrease the one stalled lift. If you’re stalling out on multiple lifts, and you feel like everything is catching up with you, take a deload week and recalculate your maxes. If you’re really starting out with 10% less than your actual maxes, you can expect to go through 5-7 cycles at a minimum before you stall out. I’ve gone through 8 before having to back off.
How to Warm-up
Warming up prior to training is important. I usually recommend the following:
• 1x5 @ 40%
• 1x5 @ 50%
• 1x3 @ 60%
• Work sets
The purpose of a warm-up is to prepare yourself for a great day of work sets – not an average one. You really shouldn’t need too many warm-up sets to prepare yourself for your work sets. For a more detailed full body warm-up, see the “Moving North of Vag” section later in this book.
Assistance Exercises
Assistance exercises accomplish four main tasks. In no particular order, they:
• Strengthen weak areas of the body.
• Compliment and help increase the four basic lifts.
• Provide balance and symmetry to your body and your training.
• Build muscle mass.
The biggest problem I’ve seen with this is people doing way too much. They do too many sets, or too many exercises. These lifts should compliment the training, not detract from it. People choose exercises for every body part, train them excessively, then wonder why they’re overtrained and not making any progress. When you’re choosing your assistance exercises, do yourself a favor and justify why you’re doing them. Don’t bullshit yourself. You must have a very strong reason for doing an exercise. If you don’t, scrap it and move on. Sometimes, instead of what you do in the weight room, it’s what you don’t do that will lead to success. You must keep training economy in mind. Training economy means getting the best bang for your buck from each exercise. That’s why squats are always better than leg extensions. There are no right and wrong exercises, per se, but here’s a small list of the movements I feel are best. Please note that this is my list, but you can certainly feel free to copy it. All of these exercises have helped me grow stronger in my four main lifts.
Buy this book . It is well worth the $20 at EFTS and it goes to a great company.
4 day split - Triumvirate and Boring But Big
I put this together this week. If there are any errors pm me and I'll fix it.
I'll likely add the 3 day splits if/when asked for.
With regard to accessory exercises. You are in charge. The point of them is to improve your big lifts. Choose them effectively. 3 exercises per workout and in BBB 2 of them are the same.
As Talo said the book is not a bad buy. It's worth having in your library (IMO)
http://www.zshare.net/download/75720229a8a01002/