Years ago, a fool proof method of bulking up was discovered. And yet gaining weight is a major problem with bodybuilders today because the old method somehow got lost in the shuffle. It’s too bad, because gaining weight is really no problem. Bulking up is far and away the easiest part of bodybuilding.

 

If you want to make use of some old gold and really apply yourself, you can gain lots of weight. If you want to quit scratching around for something new for a couple of months, you can get as bulky as you want.

 

Let’s review the old method, and then we’ll outline a program for you. We can sum up the essentials very quickly. Squats and milk. That’s the gist of it. Heavy squats and lots of milk and never mind if the principle is years old. If you’re in doubt, let me tell you this. I get scores of letters from lifters around the country who’ve tried the squats and milk program. They all say the same thing. They gained more weight in a month on the squats and milk than they had in a year or more on other types of programs.Gains of twenty to thirty pounds in a month are not uncommon. If you don’t gain at least ten pounds a month you’re doing something wrong.

 

Lets take it piece by piece. We’ll start with the milk bit. The bodybuilders who don’t gain well on milk usually fail because they misunderstand the instructions to drink a lot of it. I’ve met a few men who thought a couple glasses was a lot. That’s not what I mean. When I say a lot of milk, I’m talking about a gallon or so a day. A gallon of milk a day may sound excessive, and perhaps it is, but it’s a sure guarantee of fast gains.

 

You can even soup up the milk a bit by adding a few items to it; like a day’s supply of protein supplement, some ice cream or maybe some skim milk powder. Either way, just make sure you drink a gallon a day. The other essential to the program is the squat. This, like the milk, is often badly misunderstood. Let’s outline a bulking up routine for you, and discuss the squat in it’s proper place in the program.

 

You should start your program with a brief warmup. Spend about five minutes bending and twisting, doing light repetition snatches or cleans, sit-ups, running in place, and so on. Don’t wear yourself out on the warmup. Just get your blood moving and a good feeling about the whole thing. Your first exercise is the press behind the neck. Do three sets of twelve reps. Don’t be frightened by the relatively high reps, and don’t be stampeded into using low rep stuff. The value of low reps has been greatly exaggerated. Moderately high reps, properly used, provide umpteen times the growth stimulation, and are so much better for your health that comparisons become ridiculous.

 

Do the presses in strict style with a medium width grip. Work hard on them and try to force the poundage way up. There’s no use kidding yourself on this or any other exercise. If you use baby sized weights, then you can expect baby sized muscles. It’s as simple as that and there’s no way out of it. If you want respectable deltoid, trapezius, and triceps development, then you’ve got to work up to about three-quarters of your body weight for the twelve reps. That means around 105 pounds for a 140 pound man, 120 pounds for a 160 pound man, 150 pounds for a 200 pound man, and so on. Nothing less will do. If you think it will, forget it.

 

The biggest fallacy in weight training is the foisted notion that you can build big powerful muscles without hard work on heavy weights. You can’t do it, brothers, and you’re wasting your time trying. If you’re not gaining like you should, give your training poundages a long hard look. The fault may be entirely yours. Take a short rest after the presses. The next exercise is the big one, the key to the whole thing, the squat. You’ll do one set of twenty reps, in puff and pant style, with all the weight you an handle.

 

Twenty rep squats are the solution to everybody’s weight gaining problems. They’ll stimulate growth beyond belief if you work hard enough on them. Warm up your knees with a few free squats and then start right in on the heavy stuff. Take three huge gulping breaths between each rep. Hold the last breath and squat. Blast the air out violently as you come erect. Hold your head up and keep your back as flat as possible. Don’t go below parallel position. You should use a weight so heavy that the last five reps are doubtful. I continually get letters from trainees complaining about their slow gains in bodyweight. Eventually I find out they’re using weights in the squat that an old lady with arthritis could lift. You’ve gotta force the poundage. 150% of your bodyweight for twenty reps is rock bottom minimum. That means 300 pounds for a 200 pound man. And remember, that’s a minimum figure. You should figure on going well above that.

 

As soon as you finish the squats, do twenty pullovers with a light weight. Twenty pounds or so is plenty. All you want to do is give your rib box a good stretch. The next exercise is the bench press. This exercise has been published enough so that you shouldn’t need any special instruction on it. Do three sets in a rather loose style. The next exercise is bent over rowing. Do three sets of fifteen in very strict style. Rest your forehead on a block or lean it against a post or something to make sure you don’t cheat. Use a medium width grip and pull the bar to your lower abdomen.

 

The next exercise is the stiff legged deadlift. One set of fifteen reps. Do the deadlifts standing on a bench or a high block so that you can go all the way down without the plates hitting the floor. Concentrate on a full extension and contraction of your lower back. Don’t set the weight down when you finish the fifteen reps. Stand erect and do shoulder shrugs until you grip gives out. You should be able to get at least a dozen shrugs out of it. Do another set of light pullovers, twenty reps, after the deadlifts and shrugs.

 

That completes the program, and it looks like this:

 

Work hard on all the exercises, and work to your limit on the squats. Drink milk as suggested earlier. Get lots of rest and sleep. Maintain a calm, tranquil mind and start saving your money. You’ll need it to buy bigger clothes. In other articles, John McCullum stressed the importance of forcing the poundage on the squat. He said to add five pounds every workout!

from “Strength & Health“, November 1968. By John McCallum

 

Recommended

 

In my opinion, of all that has ever been written on the topic of weight training, the most comprehensive and most useful overall to the the vast majority of the population comes from Stuart McRobert. His two major works are “Brawn” and “Beyond Brawn”, both of which are essential primers in the basics of weight training, detailing everything you need to know about gaining slabs of solid muscle. His ideas of abbreviated training using basic compound exercises using a few sets per exercise, at most, twice weekly would actually promote muscle growth! The principles found in Brawn and Beyond Brawn are not a fad, gimmick or dogma and don’t pretend to be and easy quick-fix “get ripped in 6 weeks” bs.

Those like myself, who believe that the old maxim “less is more” holds true when it comes to weight training (and many other things), will love the simplicity of the bare-bones minimalist routines laid out in his books as “frameworks”. The reasoning here, is that one seldom needs more than one exercise per bodypart and when using heavy compounds – squat, bench, rows, deadlifts, cleans, press etc. Using these types of movements you actually get the most efficient workout by hitting several muscle groups with one exercise. McRobert’s approach aims at using the most productive movements, using them as the core or your workout routine. The typical routine of his uses 2-3 compounds per workout, along with some “accessory” movements, few overall work sets, and sufficient rest between sessions – fortified with proper rest, nutrition and lifestyle management.

The approach presented by McRobert is contrary to the “conventional wisdom” promoted by routines in the major muscle magazines on shelves today: the obligatory 6 day per week “muscle building” workout. The training reality for the vast majority of the public is about as far as you can get from these sorts of workout routines. Sadly, go into any gym and you can see the vast majority of trainers who never progress from year to year, all because they are to afraid to go against this conventional thinking of the “bodypart-a-day” 5-6-7 day a week routines. They are slowly running their growth potential into the ground by following the advice of steroid flooded, genetically gifted bodybuilders. Sure, there are those who might benefit from a high volume, high frequency routine for a limited period of time – everything “works” for a while. And these routines might initially look like they work for a beginner, for whom, everything works due to their disuse atrophy, but even this progress will be short lived as the body adapts to the stress. Too many trainers have succumbed to the “more is better” propaganda that typifies so much of our culture today.

And don’t take it from me, listen to what some of the most knowledgeable experts in the field have to say about McRoberts books:

“According to the information in the back, writing BEYOND BRAWN took almost five years of Stuart’s life to complete. All I can say, as a general comment, is that the time invested certainly shows. At just under 500 pages [512 pages in the revised edition], BB may be the most comprehensive book on weight-training/bodybuilding for the genetically average individual EVER written. In fact, I’ll qualify that statement and say, bar none, it’s THE most comprehensive book I’ve ever read on the topic of bodybuilding, and I’ve read several hundred books.

BB is not filled with scientific explanations, information or lots of technical graphs and charts (there are a few) or many pictures (again, there are a few). For the most part, in fact, it’s written in very non-technical language. With 22 total chapters [23 in the revised edition], no aspect of productive weight-training has been overlooked. As an example, when discussing training at home, Stuart makes the (entirely logical but usually overlooked) suggestion to make sure that you’re lifting on a level surface. It’s the little details like this that make BB such a great book.

BB is divided into three primary sections. Section 1 is entitled “Establishing a secure foundation” and discusses general information of value for those who are embarking upon the goal of adding muscle mass.

Section 2 is the real meat of the book and is entitled “How to train.” At almost 200 pages, Stuart has left no topic uncovered with regards to safe and productive training. Topics include setting up a training cycle, exercise intensity, exercise selection and technique, intensity cycling, personalizing your program, overtraining, and others.

Section 3 is entitled “Special issues” and includes a discussion of a real-life cycle (chronicling Stuart’s cycle which led to a 400 x 20-rep deadlifting performance), injuries and what to do about them, nutrition, and others.

As stated above, Stuart has truly left no topic uncovered in BB. More importantly, only topics of true importance to the average trainee are discussed in this book. Unlike most bodybuilding books, which are no more than simple fluff, BB actually accomplishes the goal of providing tons (and I do mean TONS) of useful, no-nonsense information for genetically average trainees who want to increase their strength and size.

Having talked about what BB is, let’s talk about what BB is not. First and foremost, it’s not an overly dogmatical tome which espouses a single way of training for everyone. BB presents numerous interpretations in terms of set and rep goals, length of a cycle, training intensity, and exercise selection.

The last topic deserves further comment. In Stuart’s past writings, it’s obvious that he was biased very heavily towards certain movements (namely the squat and deadlift) as the main mass-gaining exercises. This was especially true in BRAWN. I happen to agree with him, in general terms. However, after suffering various injuries, most of which were related to poor exercise form and overtraining in his youth, Stuart can no longer perform certain movements safely or without injury. Instead he had to find suitable replacements which were also safe, effective and productive.

Individuals who want to be handed a one-size-fits-all exercise prescription for strength and mass gains may be put-off by BB, because no such prescription is forthcoming. By the same token, individuals looking for “get big quick” promises will be let down by this book. While one chapter does discuss a strategy for maximal muscular gains in minimum time, the overall theme of the book is that “slow and steady” wins the race. Put differently, if you’re not willing to put in the time AND hard work to reach your goals, this book may not be for you. However, if you want to know the best way to reach your goals of increased and strength and mass, BB is a book that trainees MUST have on their shelves.

I could probably keep writing about BB for pages and pages, doing a chapter by chapter review of it. But that would be overkill, I think. Ultimately, I guess the best thing I can say about it, repeating from above, is this: “BEYOND BRAWN is, without a doubt, THE most comprehensive book ever written on the topic of strength training and bodybuilding for the genetically average individual.” And, again, keep in mind that that statement comes from a guy who’s read several hundred books on the topic of strength training in the past ten years. So my endorsement does not come lightly.”

Lyle McDonald – Bodyrecomposition

“BEYOND BRAWN is an encyclopedia of information, detail upon detail, of all of the subtopics related to weight training. It is not a powerlifting or weightlifting “book.” This is the book that remains on the floor next to the bed or on the night table which can and should be looked at nightly. It should be brought into the gym and reviewed prior to training, as a reminder to do things correctly and well, and for motivation. This is a book that can serve as a reference for those who seek factual, useable, effective, practical and applicable training information that can make a difference in one’s quest for muscular size and strength. It is information upon information about how to train properly and effectively if you believe in the concept of “basics first” training. I obviously liked it a lot and recommend it highly.
– Dr. Ken E. Leistner, Valley Stream, NY, USA
Publisher of THE STEEL TIP, and co-founder of Iron Island Gym.”

These two are the most honest books on the subject you will find.

 

Brawn – An Abbreviated, Minimalist Training Routine

 

Note: add 2 days a week of GPP, cardio, dynamic mobility, stretching to this and you will be looking at becoming the total package!

 

Recommended

 

By far the most popular way people have split their routines is with a so-called “A/B” split. The most common of these is a classic “upper-lower” split with the shoulder girdle and arms being hit one day and then the lower body the next session. Some of the biggest advantages of training like this are that you have to most balanced routine as far as training the legs as much as the upper body. Even with the fabulous push/pull/legs split, you still devote only 1/3 of your training to legs. Another thing is that you have the option of hitting each bodypart twice a week should you choose to train 4x a week. Two of the most popular upper-lower splits are Lyle McDonald’s ‘Generic Bulking Routine” and Dante Trudel’s ‘Doggcrapp training“.

Lyle McDonald’s “Generic Bulking Routine” is a classic approach that combines strength with hypertrophy, using compound movements with a moderate overall volume per session and reps that fall in the middle between training for strength and for size. According to McDonald, the routine is “trying to strike a volume between the issues of frequency (for gene expression and protein synthesis), recovery (failure training can burn people out) and progression (I want to see the poundages going up consistently over the cycle). ”

 

Lyle McDonald’s ‘Generic Bulking Routine

 

Thu/Fri the workouts are to be repeated with substitutions for some of the exercises. As far as volume, if you are an older trainer or do not have the recovery, he recommends to cut the volume back to 2-3X6-8 and 1-2X10-12, or consider making this a 3 day a week routine, M/W/F: week 1 (upper Mon+Fri, lower Wed) and week 2 (lower Mon+Fri, upper Wed), thus A-B-A, B-A-B etc. One thing that McDonald argues that makes this routine so effective for both gene expression and protein synthesis is that each muscle group is hit every 5th day, which is optimum. The big advantage that this routine over the one below is that it is a heck of a lot easier on the nervous system and also, the idea of training the biceps with upper body makes more sense than it does in DC training, where he has you do biceps with lower body. Problem with that is that when you add in all the rowing and chins/pulldowns on upper day, and then factor in hitting biceps on legs day, those little bicep muscles get pounded 4x a week. Not good for my epicondylitis!

 

DoggCrapp Training

Dante Trudel’s routine uses a similar split, with some differences, the key ones being extreme fascial stretching and using rest-pause. It is really a program for advanced trainers. Beginners and intermediates will do better on Lyle McDonald’s generic bulking routine. DC training hits each bodypart with more frequency than the average once a week bodypart split, but uses less volume, with only one max set per each exercise.

The key principles of DC training are

• Maximal weights
• Multiple set rest pausing, with 2-3 drop sets on the final, heavy set per bodypart
• Low volume higher frequency, hitting each bodypart every fifth day
• Extreme fascial stretching
• Carb restriction
• Low intensity cardio
• High protein diet with between 1.5 to 2.0 grams per pound of body weight
• Dual factor “blasting” and “cruising” phases

 

Dual factor cycling is also built into the routine with “blast” (intensification for 6-12 weeks) and “cruise” (accumulation for 7-14 days) phases. In the first phase you essentially go all out, which is very hard on the nervous system and then deload for two weeks to allow for recovery. Trudel has you pick three of your best compound exercises for each bodypart and cycle between them through each workout, doing a different one of each of the 3 exercises you’ve chosen per workout. Workout three times a week in A-B-A, B-A-B fashion. The structure of the split is:

 

 

Rest-Pause Training

“Rest-pause” training is a brutal method of training to failure popularized my the late Mike Mentzer 25 years or so ago (FWIW, Mentzer wasn’t the first to speak of rest-pause, Peary Rader talked about rest pause training in one of his Iron Man editorials in the late 40s). it is essentially a way of training beyond failure with weights about 85% 1RM like this

Set 1 x 6 reps
Rack the weight or lockout and rest 15-30 seconds, breathe deeply and slowly
Set 2 x 4 reps
Rack the weight or lockout and rest 15-30 seconds, breathe deeply and slowly
Set 3 x 3 reps

 

Extreme Stretching

After each rest pause set you perform a weighted stretch for each muscle group with resistance for a minute or so, ie, using a heavy dumbbell held behind the head in the bottom position of a dumbbell extension, after doing triceps – or holding a heavy pair of dumbbells in a flye position after hitting chest. It hurts and its brutally effective for recovery and stretching the thick fascia that surrounds the muscle, arguably allowing it more room to grow inside it.

 

For What its Worth

I have made the best gains on these sorts of upper-lower splits, going back and forth between them 4x a week and push-pull-legs 3-4x a week. The routine below is the one that has always worked best for me:

The parameters I use which suit my recovery best at the moment are (not counting warmup sets, which total about 3 progressive ones on each exercise): 2-3X6-8/3′

 

 

Recommended

 

Even before Stuart McRobert, there was physcial culture writer Anthony Ditillo, who was most known for his articles in Peary Rader’s original Ironman magazine from 1968 to 1985. More proof that there is nothing new under the sun is to be found in his sagely writings, things like the importance of high fat diets in cutting, the dangers of overtraining, using compound muti-joint exercises etc. Charles Poliquin, one of the world’s premier strength coaches, from testosterone claimed the book, ‘The Development of Physical Strength’, (a classic that was published in 1982) “I bought it from Iron Man magazine after reading several of his articles. I thought his approach was logical and full of common sense; and more importantly, it worked! It is the only book I have read more than once, and I actually bought a second copy after I misplaced my original one. I always tell my interns to get their own copy. It is a gem.” And this is coming from one of the greatest trainers around today!

Sadly, Anthony Ditillo passed away almost a decade ago, but his writings and routines live on. A few of them have been collected below.

 

 

Anthony Ditillo Training Routines

Routine #1
This full schedule should be repeated 2 times per week. However, if you want, you could increase it to three times per week, but this is up to your ability to handle work.

 

Routine No. 2.
This kind of training routine is more severe and that is why you only do 2 movements per training day. You will be working these 2 movements quite hard and this will cause you to gain.

 

Routine No. 3.
This would be he ordinary every other day schedule for the ambitious, underweight trainee.

 

Routine No. 4.
This type of routine would enable you to concentrate on one movement per workout for power and the other two for added muscular bulk. However, you will positively have to be sure to eat enough of the complete protein foods and get more than enough calories in order to grow.

 

Bulk And Power Routine No. 1
In this routine you will be performing the three basic power lifts. In it you use both low and high repetitions. This will allow you to gain in both muscular power and muscular size.

 

Bulk And Power Routine No.2
In this routine I have you working for bulk in the upper body while you are specializing on the lower body for power. The sets and reps are well suited to gaining in both and I have even broken down the workouts themselves into three distinct sections. I have you working the chest and shoulders on Monday and the back and arms on Wednesday (rowing and cleans work the arms quite hard!). Then on Friday I have you really work your thighs and hips and back.

 

Bulk And Power Routine No. 3
This routine has you training for power on the bench press and the seated press while your leg and back work aids in gaining size.
Monday:

 

Bulk And Power Routine No. 4

 

Bulk And Power Routine No. 5

 

Intermediate Mass Program
The intermediate mass program is NOT for the advanced man. He would never respond to the amount of work I’m going to advise herein. Being advanced necessitates diversity in performance and volume of work as well as tightening up the dietary schedule, since continued weight gain would NOT be desirable for the truly advanced man who has already gained sufficiently in basic bodyweight. For the majority of beginners and intermediates, three total body workouts per week seems to be just about right. You will have two heavy days and one medium day, for variety and recuperation. On you two heavy days the movements are heavy and basic. The repetitions are kept low to enable you to use truly heavy weights to ensure mass gains. The first and second sets should be warmup sets. Sets three, four and five are to be performed with all the weight possible for the required reps. Rest no longer than one minute between sets. When sets three, four and five can be done fairly easily, add ten pounds to your upper body movements and twenty pounds to the lower body movements. The entire schedule consists of between twenty-five and thirty sets. Surely this much work can be finished within ninety minutes.

 

 

Recommended

 

Before Stuart McRobert and ken Leistner, there were pioneers of physical culture like Peary Rader, John McCallum and Bradley J. Steiner. All of these men advocated basically the same ideas about correct training methods – weight training is not an endurance sport and should be brief and intense and full body workouts should be the mainstay of the majority of natural trainers. This is the beginning of the so-called “hardgainer” or abbreviated routines. These workouts were the sort of routines that the bodybuilders of the 1940s, 50s and 60s used to build their physiques, hitting the sort of full body routine below three times a week. I remember this book as a teenager, and at the time most guys I knew that worked out were doing this sort of program. For a teenager looking to pack on pounds quickly and build a solid base, this is still an excellent routine today nearly 40 years later for those interested in being strong, rather than looking strong.

 

Bradley J. Steiner’s Hardgainer Routine

 

excerpted from the early 1970s classic “The Hardgainers Bible” by Bradley J. Steiner (long out of print)

 

Recommended

 

One of the reasons the name Vince Gironda is as popular as ever in bodybuilding articles is that the man had ideas that were truly revolutionary and way ahead of their time. 50 years before Charles Poliquin wrote about “German volume training” and new workout templates such as “FST-7″ appeared on the scene, Vince was advocating the benefits of volume training for maximum hypertrophy.

Vince was known for his unusual training methods. Some of his unique exercises included the bench press to the neck, the sternum chin up (touching the chest to the bar), “drag” curls and sissy squats with what he called a “Burlesque Bump.” His training systems included 15 sets of 4, 3 sets of 12, 6 sets of 6, 10 sets of 10 and 4 exercises in a giant set – one for each “side” of the muscle.  Of all Vince’s techniques, the 8 sets of 8 program was his favorite for the advanced bodybuilder. “I have a definite preference for the 8 X 8 system of sets and reps,” wrote Vince. “I come back to this high intensity “honest workout” more often than any other for maximizing muscle fiber growth in the quickest possible time for the advanced bodybuilder.”

8 sets of 8 might be the most effective set and rep combination ever developed for rapidly building muscle fiber size while simultaneously shedding body fat. Vince called it the “honest workout ” because of the pure muscle fiber size that can be achieved on it. “Keep to 8 X 8 and your muscle fiber will plump out, giving you a solid mass of muscle density as a result,” promised Vince.  8 sets of 8 is so effective that as a 20 year old novice competitive bodybuilder, I was able to gain 17 pounds of muscle drug-free (contest weight from one show to the next) in under nine months using this system. To this day, I still use the 8 sets of 8 system whenever I need a “shock program” to bring up a lagging body part. Vince warned that this set and rep combination is not for beginners: “You have to build up to the stage where you can benefit from this extremely advanced form of training. I doubt if anyone with less than two years of training experience could benefit from this method.”

How it Works

8 sets of 8 is a high volume, fast tempo, size building workout. It is not designed for strength development – it’s purely for bodybuilding or “cosmetic” improvements. 8 sets of 8 will also help you get leaner. The short rest intervals stress the cardiovascular system to the point where calories are burned, the metabolism is stimulated, hormones are stirred up and fat is melted away.  Here’s how it works: You will select three or four exercises per muscle group and perform 8 sets of 8 on each exercise. Yes – that’s 24 to 32 sets per body part! You will work two or three muscle groups per session and rest only 15 to 30 seconds between sets. Each workout will be completed in approximately 45 minutes and never more than 60 minutes.

Although this apparently excessive volume might seem reminiscent of the Steve Michalik and John Defendis “Intensity or Insanity” style of training – it’s NOT the same thing. These are not two or three hour marathon workouts. You are completing this routine in under an hour. The reason this doesn’t constitute overtraining is because you’re not exceeding the workout duration that begins having a negative effect on recovery and anabolic hormones. You are simply overloading the muscles by condensing more training into less time.  Why it works: More work in less time = higher intensity and bigger muscles

Many people are under the impression that the only way to make a muscle larger is to increase the amount of weight you use. This is not true. Overload is an absolute requirement to build muscle, but the overload can come in more ways than one. Progressively adding weight may be one of the best ways to provide an overload, but it’s not the only way. Vince was all in favor of adding weight to the bar, (provided good form was maintained), but he believed that performing more work in less time was a better method of overload. The Iron Guru’s advice: “To acquire larger muscles you must increase the intensity of work done within a given time. This means minimum rest between sets.  Push yourself. I feel workouts should be timed and you should constantly strive to shorten the time it takes to get through your routine. This is another form of progressive resistance, and is more important than raising your weights. This principle of overload explains why sprinters have bigger muscles than distance runners. Although it’s more work to run a mile than it is to run 100 yards, the sprinter is doing more work per second. Consequently, his muscles will become larger.”

Why Use 8 Sets Of 8 Instead Of “Conventional” Training?

The most popular method of training for advanced bodybuilders is to choose between two and four exercises per muscle group and perform three or four sets of 6-12 reps on each exercise. The rest intervals range from 60 seconds to four minutes, depending on the goal. So why bother with such an “outrageous” program as 8 sets of 8?

The answer is because this type of “honest,” high volume, fast tempo training will be a complete shock to your body, especially in the beginning when you are unaccustomed to it. An advanced bodybuilder will adapt to any training program within a matter of months and often within just weeks. Once adaptation occurs, you must seek out new types of stress to coax your muscles into continued growth.  Although Vince did not advocate over-training in any way, shape or form, he did advocate using “muscle confusion” for stimulating gains, even if this meant, “temporarily overtraining.” 8 sets of 8 is simply an unusual and effective method of overload and muscle confusion. Obviously, this program is not intended for constant use. It’s a “shock routine” you can use for brief periods to kick-start a new growth spurt when you need it most. After completing a cycle of 8 sets of 8, you can go back to more conventional methods.

How long should you use 8 sets of 8? As long as it keeps working.  Another advantage of 8 sets of 8 is that it can be used to work around an injury. Heavy training with 5-6 rep maxes is impossible when you’re babying a strain, pull or soft tissue injury. But you can do 8 sets of 8 because you get such an “honest” workout with a fraction of your usual weight.  8 sets of 8 is a fantastic method for pre-contest definition training because 50-60 sets in under an hour is decidedly aerobic. You can easily count each
weight training session as a cardio workout. Fast-metabolism types may not even need any other aerobic work while using 8 sets of 8.

How much rest between sets?

Vince advocated “a very businesslike approach towards tempo.” He said that using the 8 sets of 8 format is not enough to ensure muscle gains. What’s more important is the speed with which you get through the program. “Minimum rest between sets is a must,” said the master. When Vince was training Mohammed Makkawy for the Olympia, he had Mohammed conditioned to the point of doing 8 sets in as little as 5 minutes or less.  Your goal is to reduce your rest intervals to 30 seconds or less, ultimately cutting them down to just 15-20 seconds between each set. Once your conditioning has adjusted to the demands, you’ll need just five to ten deep breaths between each set, then it’s on to the next set. If your tempo on each exercise is 2-0-2-0 (2 second eccentric, no pauses and two second concentric), then each rep will take you four seconds. Eight reps per set means that each set will take you 32 seconds. With a 15-20 second rest interval, 24 sets will take only 18 to 21 minutes to complete and 32 sets will take 25 to 28 minutes to complete.

Tempo tips

The proper tempo combined with the correct resistance is the key to the success of this program. Vince defined optimal tempo as “the evenly spaced sets (time-wise) without any distractions and complete concentration on when to pick up the next weight and do the next set.”  This means no magazine reading, no walking around the gym, no gossiping, no changing the CD in your Walkman, and no – not even going to the bathroom. This program requires 100% total concentration. If you get interrupted or distracted, you might as well pack up your gym bag and go home.  Do not put the dumbbells down between sets. Rest them on your knees, but don’t put them down or re-rack them. Also, don’t release the bar between sets; rack it, but keep your hands on it. If you’re using straps, don’t unwrap them. Stay on the bench or machine until all 8 sets of 8 are completed. Take no rest between body parts. When you finish the last exercise for the first muscle group, move directly into the first exercise for the next muscle group.  By the way, to follow these tempo guidelines means you’ll have to ditch your training partner. This program must be done alone.

How much weight?

Using 15-20 second rest intervals will limit the amount of weight you can use, but that’s ok. Initially, there will be a large drop in your normal training poundages. Most people will need to reduce their normal 8 rep max by about 40% to successfully complete 8 sets with such brief rest intervals. For example, if you normally perform dumbbell flyes with 55 pounds for 8 reps with a 60 – 90 second rest interval, you’re going to have to reduce your weight to about 35 pounds to successfully complete 8 sets of 8 with 15-30 second rest intervals.  You become more conditioned, it will amaze you how much weight you will be able to build back up to while maintaining the short rest interval. Amazingly, you may even get close to your original poundage. At this point, some serious growth will begin to occur.  Proper weight selection is critical. The first workout should be made intentionally easy. If you attempt too much weight too quickly, you won’t be able to complete 8 reps on the last several sets nor will you be allowing room for progression over a period of weeks. Vince cautioned that the same weight for all eight sets is imperative. If you fail on the sixth or seventh rep on the last set or two, that’s fine, but if your reps drop below 8 by your 4th or 5th set, the weight you selected is too heavy.

Intensity: “Training Over your head”

Most of your sets will not be taken to failure, and none of them will be taken beyond failure. On your last set or two of each exercise, it’s normal to fail at the 6th or 7th rep. When you can easily complete a full 8 sets of 8 reps, then increase the weight on the next workout. Although you won’t be reaching failure on most of your sets, make no mistake – this is some of the most difficult training you will ever undertake. Training large muscle groups and doing multi-joint free weight exercises are especially difficult. You will face the burn of local muscle fatigue, the challenge of oxygen debt and the difficulty of maintaining mental concentration.  8 sets of 8 is a test of strength, endurance and mental toughness. Gironda called this “training over your head.” At times, you won’t be sure if you can go on, but once you start, you cannot stop.

How Many Sets & Exercises

As a general rule, Vince suggested limiting your total sets to no more than 12-15 per body part. He said that if you can’t get a workout in 12 sets, you’re not concentrating properly. However, he also said there are certain occasions where this rule could be broken. The 8 sets of 8 program for the advanced bodybuilder is one of them. As far as how many exercises, Vince recommend anywhere from one to four exercises per muscle group, depending on the circumstances. For this particular variation of the program, you will perform 8 sets of 8 reps on two to four exercises per body part.  Generally, you will aim for three or four exercises for large muscle groups and two or three exercises for small muscle groups. This is the way Vince had Makkawy do it when he was training for the Olympia. Vince was quick to point out that Mohammed was a “genetic superior,” and that not everyone can handle this kind volume. The optimal number of exercises and total sets per muscle group will depend on your level of training experience, your tolerance to stress, and your recuperative abilities. The number of exercises per body part will also depend on what type of split routine you choose. The most important factor is to do only as many exercises as you can fit into the 45 minute time limit.

What Type of Split Routine?

Vince advocated different types of split routines for various purposes. Sometimes he had his pupils train as often as six days in a row with each muscle group being worked three times per week! More often, Vince was partial to routines split two or three ways so that each muscle group was trained twice per week.  He advised advanced bodybuilders to use a three-day split with 72 hours of recuperation between maximum-intensity workouts. These days it’s more popular to split a routine four or even five ways. With a four or five day split, each muscle group is worked once every five to seven days.  If Vince were around today, he would surely give me a verbal beating for saying this, but I’ve discovered that 8 sets of 8 works with nearly any split routine whether you work each muscle group once a week or twice a week. The important thing is to adjust your volume so you can observe the tempo and time limit rules. If you have a split routine that works well for you, by all means stay with it.  For example, if you’re on the popular four-day split where you train two days on, one day off, you’ll get great results on 8 sets of 8. With this type of split, you can perform seven or eight exercises for 8 sets of 8 reps and fit it all inside of forty-five minutes.  If you are on a two or three day split as Vince often recommended, you may have time for only one or two exercises per muscle group, each performed for 8 sets of 8. The sample routine I’ve outlined is based on a four day split.

 

Sample Routine:

 

In Conclusion

8 sets of 8 is a little known and very misunderstood program. This is partly because Vince never explained it clearly in great detail- not even in his famous mail order courses.  Even when fully understood, most people will never even attempt this type of training because it seems like too much volume and the weights seem too light to get anything out of it. Too bad for them! The real reason most people never finish a full cycle of 8 sets of 8 is because it’s too damn hard! 8 sets of 8 reps performed in five minutes for a large muscle group can test the grit of the toughest bodybuilder.  You don’t have to agree with all of Vince’s teachings to use this program. It’s natural to resist concepts that are so radical. Vince was quite used to it.  Nearly all of Vince’s ideas met with a certain degree of skepticism initially, yet eventually – sometimes two or three decades later – many of his methods became accepted as standard bodybuilding truths.  When questioned, Vince advised, “If in doubt, try these concepts and try others. Results count. Examine. Test. Then make up your own mind. The secret to success is to believe that the course I give will work and it will.  If you have doubts, you will find it won’t work.”  Regardless of whether you think Vince was the greatest trainer of all time or just a crusty old curmudgeon, I urge you to give this “honest workout” an “honest” try.”

Recommended

 

I happen to believe that Reg Park is the best example and single representative of what proper training with weights can do for a man. He’s got everything: huge, almost superhuman muscles, the strength of the most powerful competitive lifter, and the perfect, well-balanced physique that one sees on Greek statues in museums. Whether or not you agree that Park is the Greatest — if you’ve seen him, then you’ve GOT to admit that he’s good, to say the very least. OK. so who cares about my opinion anyway, and what in heck does this have to do with how you can get the Herculean build you’re after?

The best physiques (and Park’s is one of ‘em), were all built by hard work on the basic, heavy duty exercises. There are NO exceptions to this statement. Even easy-gainers who (like Park) build up very easily, never get to the Hercules stage without the ultimate in effort. Park worked up to squats with 600 pounds, behind the neck presses with 300 pounds, and bench presses with 500 pounds! Hereditary advantages or not, Park sweated blood to earn the massive excellent physique that he has. And so did every other human Superman whose muscles aren’t merely bloated, pumped-up tissue. The problem of WHAT these basic exercisers are, and HOW HARD one must work on them for satisfactory, or even startling results, is one that every bodybuilder, at one time or another during his career, is confronted with. This month we’re going to solve the problem.

To begin, let’s sift through the thousands of possible exercises, and variations of exercises that confront every barbell man, and set down a principle by which the trainee can determine the BEST among them; those upon which he should be concentrating his best efforts. Here’s the principle: An exercise is worthwhile if it allows you to use very heavy weights — brings into play the BIG muscle groups — and causes lots of puffing and panting.

From the simple formula stated above, it is quite easy to see that fully eighty or ninety percent of the exercises followed by most barbell trainees do not come up to the standards required for maximum physical development. Concentration curls, Hack squats, lateral raises, thigh extensions, triceps “kickback” movements, etc., all followed slavishly by thousands of misinformed bodybuilders, are a waste of time. My very bitter apologies to the high-pressure ad-men, and the authors of all the super Space-age courses, but their stuff is strictly form hunger. If you’ve been sucked into following any such routines, drop ‘em! In all honesty, fellows, that garbage won’t do a thing for you, aside from bringing discouragement and disillusionment.

Save your time and money, and put your effort into THESE exercises:

In essence, those are the exercises that you ought to be killing yourself on. We’re concerned with the development of SIZE, POWER and SHAPELY BULK, so we’ve eliminated all supplementary abdominal and calf work. This you can do at your leisure, or you can omit it entirely, with no consequences to your overall development. The stuff we’ve enumerated above is what you need in order to turn yourself into a Human Hercules. And, lest you believe that this writer has a vested interest in this, let me say that he HAS. I derive personal, private, selfish satisfaction pushing the truth about sensible barbell training, and seeing those guys who are willing to work for their goals, achieving the builds they desire. The muscle heads, the “muscle-spinners,” the drug-takers, etc, are no concern of mine. They can go their own way; I’m concerned about the rest of you.

Honest muscles, like honest men, are rare. But they can be attained, and the only way to do it is through HARD, HARD work, and an honest approach to training programs. So if you’re willing, you can get the physique you’re after; if you train as I have discussed on the Basic Movements.

There are reasons why these basic exercises are best. Let’s talk about them.

It isn’t generally understood, but the easiest way to build the small muscle groups is by exercise on the big ones! For example, it’s impossible to build a broad, powerful back, and thick pectorals, along with terrific shoulders via the heavy cleaning, pressing, rowing and bench work that I advocate, without building enormous arm size and strength. You couldn’t do it if you wanted to! Yet, aside from weight-gaining, building big arms is a giant headache for most barbell men. How simple a matter it would become if only they would forget about the ridiculous pumping, cramping and spinning-type isolation exercises, and just train hard on the basics! The big arms would come naturally.

John Grimek once had arms that taped close to 19″. They were so big and powerful that they didn’t look real! Grimek at the time was an Olympic weight-lifting contender, and he had trained for a long period without doing a single curl or triceps “pumper.” His big arms got the way they did from the Heavy Lifting Training. You can do the same by working hard and heavy. And you don’t have to enter Olympic competition!

The trapezius and neck muscles are impressive and too often neglected by many weight-trainees. But your traps will grow like crazy if you push your cleans hard, and if you get your presses up to really impressive standards.

Ditto for your neck muscles. The huffing, puffing, and muscular work and exertion caused by ALL heavy work will make your neck muscles grow.

Forearms – “stubborn forearms” will respond like obedient, trained seals to heavy rowing, cleaning and pressing. And just try to keep your grip on a super heavy barbell while doing a set of stiff-leg deadlifts, without forcing the forearm muscles to ache and grow beyond belief!

Heavy squatting will build heavier calves. Sounds impossible? Well, just try working your squats like you’re supposed to, and you’ll see your calves begin to grow no matter how they’ve refused to respond to toe raises.

Power cleans are fine for the calf muscles too. Incredible as this statement may sound, it’s absolutely true. The coordinated effort of leg and back movement in heavy cleaning DOES work the calves! Try it for a few months and find out for yourself.

Nobody wants to be fat around the middle. Yet, unless you’re drastically overweight, you don’t need more than one set of one abdominal exercise (done in high reps, with resistance) to keep a rock-hard, muscular mid-section. The hard work on squatting, cleaning, and ALL heavy exercises will inevitably keep you trim and hard. And make no mistake about this: you are far, far better off with a thick, powerful waist than you are with a “wasp-waist pretty body.” A man should be BIG. He should be strong and powerful. And he can’t be if he tries to blow his biceps up to 20″ and keep his waist down to 30″. Use your head! If there are any real supermen around who have waistlines below 33″ or 34″, then they’ve got ‘em only because they’re SHORT, and, the small waist is proportionate tot he rest of their husky muscles.

Training on the big exercises builds HEALTH and LASTING muscle size. These two factors are very important. Today, men like John Grimek, Reg Park, Bill Pearl, and another lesser-known Hercules, Maurice Hones of Canada, all possess builds and physical power comparable to that which they had during their prime. The reason? They built REAL MUSCLE, Sig Klein must be around seventy, yet he’s got the build of a twenty-five year old athlete. The reason? He built REAL MUSCLE. The same holds for scores of others in the weight game who got their physical development by hard, hard work with heavy weights on the best exercises.

If you’re a young man now, then you’re probably more interested in what you can look like on a posing platform, and in how fast you can get piles of muscle – but don’t, no matter how great the temptation for an “easy way out” via pumping routines or muscle drugs, follow any system of training except the good, heavy, teeth-gritting type routines that build pure, strong, big muscles. I say this as a sincere warning against charlatans who would rob you of your money and your health – and do it gladly – to sell you on their own private “miracle systems’ or methods’. Keep clear of them, and remember, please, that you’ve got a long life ahead of you after any physique competitions you might enter or win within the next few years. You want health, well-being AND big muscles that will stay with you for the rest of your life. You will only get them if you train HARD and HEAVY!

Here’s a sample program that you can follow. It will give you every desirable physical quality. IF you work to your limit on it.

1) Warm up with one set of twenty prone hyperextensions.

2) Do two progressively heavier warm up sets in the squat, using five reps in each set. Then load on weight until the bar bends, and do three sets of five reps each with this limit poundage. Push! Fight! Drive! the SQUAT is THE builder of SUPERMEN!

3) Go to your flat bench and do two warm up sets, as you did for your squats, of five reps each in the bench press. Then do a final 3 sets with all the weight you can properly handle. In this, and in every other exercise in the program, REST WELL BETWEEN SETS!

4) Now do power cleans, stiff–legged dead lifts, or barbell bendovers. Same sets., same reps and the same forced poundage attempts as in the preceding exercises. Your lower back is a vital body area. Turn it into a SUPER POWER ZONE by intensive back work!

5) Do heavy, bent-over barbell rowing. Two warm up sets – then three limit sets – five reps in each set you do. Reg Park (I always seem to come back to mentioning him, don’t I!) used this exercise along with the power clean in order to build the unbelievable back that he possesses. He considers this bent-over rowing exercise the best single upper back movement a man can do.

6) Do some form of HEAVY pressing, If you read my stuff then you already know that I practically sneer at any shoulder exercise but the press behind the neck! But of course you can old military barbell presses, dumbbell presses, or any form of heavy seated pressing with excellent results sure to follow – IF YOU WORK HARD. Same set-rep scheme for your pressing as for the other exercises, and a tip: May guys have complained to me that I don’t understand (a-hem!) their difficulties when it comes to heavy pressing behind the neck. It seems that the effort of cleaning the bar up and behind their necks before each set tires their poor little bodies out. What to do? Do your presses right off the squat racks! Load the bar up. Get set comfortably under it. Get a good, solid grip on the bar and set your feet firmly. Now go to it. Press the weight right off the racks. Then, after each set, return the bar to the squat racks. Simple? you’ll get wonderful results this way – since you’ll be saving your energy and concentration exclusively for the pressing action, and all of the work will be thrown directly on your deltoids…so, better and bigger muscles!

End your workout with an abdominal exercise. Do any one that you happen to like. I prefer leg raises off the end of a flat bench, with iron boots on my feet, but it’s really only a personal preference, and you can work your midsection with any ‘ab” exercise that you happen to like. Just do one set, and run the reps at around twenty or thirty.

Here’s the routine written out:

 

Do that routine – or a similar one – as described in this article, and your muscles will bulge through your clothing after a year or so of training!
The watchwords are BASIC EXERCISES and HARD WORK. Remember them when you walk into the gym next time. You’ll be grateful for the rest of your life that you did,.

source: ‘Hard Work On Basic Exercises’
by Bradley J. Steiner- September, 1971 issue of Iron Man Magazine

 

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The most famous of all old school minimalist bulking routines by far is Randall J. Strossen’s “Super Squats” program with which, it is common to gain 30 pounds of bulk in as little as 6 weeks. The core of this training routine is one 20 rep set of squats,  just one set,supersetted with pullovers. Add to this two to three sets of some bench presses, rows and some overhead presses and the routine is complete. Using these full body compound movements will force your body to use all of its stabilizer muscles and burn calories as well as no other.

Quoting Strossen on diet: “In addition to the 20-rep squats, trainees are advised to eat a lot of wholesome food, drink at least two quarts of milk a day, and to get plenty of rest in between the twice- or thrice-weekly workouts. That’s it: one set of 20-rep squats, a couple of other basic exercises, plenty of good food, milk and rest. But, oh, those squats!”

The routine is performed monday, wednesday and fridays and should take no longer than 30-40 minutes. Start off with full ATG squats and hit a few warm up sets of 10 reps or so. On the one 20 rep squat set, you want to choose a weight that you could do comfortably for about 15 reps. The following five are to be done rest-pause style, doing the first 15 reps, then taking three or so breaths and then another rep, then three or so more breaths and another rep and so forth until all 20 reps are complete. After this, you grab a moderately heavy dumbbell and do one set of cross bench pullovers for 20 reps as well, using a weight that will allow you to complete all 20 reps in good form. Strive to add 5 – 10 pounds a week to the squats, and you will gain some seriousbodyweight. Again quoting Strossen about doing “only” one set of squats, ” Make no mistake about it, however, this one set of 20-rep squats is not your ordinary cup of iron tea: Whatever our recipe might lack in complexity of volume will be more than recouped in intensity. ” What follows is a reworking of the classic routine.

 

The Super Squat Routine – The Original:

 

The above routine is the ultimate ‘hard gainers’ routine and was done 2-3 times a week.

 

The Super Squat Routine – Reloaded:

 

The Diet:

 

Recommended

 

If I told you that it was not only possible for you to make great gains in strength and muscle mass by spending two hours a week in the gym you would probably think I am trying to sell you on the latest fad or gimmick, but in actual fact, that is all the growth stimulation you really need to become larger and stronger – provided it is set up properly and intense. The vast majority of people who wouldn’t believe this is possible have likely been led to believe that on has to be on one of those typical high volume, high frequency routines that we see in every issue of the most popular muscle magazine. The truth is, that the lion’s share of those routines would constitute overtraining for the average trainer with a fair metabolism. The volume and frequency are too much and there are typically too many single joint exercises in them as well. A drug free weight trainer (90%+) cannot cope with the volume laid out in the average routine laid out by pro, non-naturally trained bodybuilders. Consider Arnold Schwarzenegger’s split routine.

What his books and the magazines alike don’t mention is that he (and most other professional bodybuilders like him) were or are on 3-4 drugs at any given time and didn’t have full-time jobs. There is no way that even the average intermediate trainer can recover from this volume. The routine above is stereotypical of the same ones repeated ad nausem in the main “muscle magazines”: too much of everything, too often, too many needless isolation exercises. Most people we see in any gym trying to pack on muscle also have “real lives”. Daily work, activities around the house, other sports etc., all take their toll on the body’s recovery abilities. So does the emotional stresses that today’s working world produces. Most pro bodybuilders do little else other than eat, sleep and train. Add drugs to the mix and it is easy to see how following their advice is a sure-fire way to halt your progress and train yourself into the ground. Even some of the most knowledgeable trainers today spend most of their time working with athletes, and often recommend training regimens that are too much for the average trainer who’s nervous system cannot fully recover from them.

Weight training to achieve optimal growth stimulation for the average trainer must be a) relatively brief, b) intense, and c) infrequent. if you are looking to gain muscle while at the same time priming your metabolism, you must focus on compound multi-joint exercises. Strength training that uses these basic compound exercises is also key to burning body fat and providing the base for “functional strength” that spills over into any athletic activity you do on the side, whether its playing football on the weekends or martial arts. Weight training using heavy compound exercises like squats and deadlifts entails that you need to exercise less frequently because when you increase strength and size, your recovery ability (neurological adaptation) does not increase at quite the same rate, so one needs to keep in mind that proper recovery entails resting the nervous system fully more than it does resting the soft tissues. The maxim “less is more” applies to many things, especially weight training. it is a myth that you need more than one exercise per bodypart, if you are training heavy with enough intensity.

Focusing on progressing your strength on the basic exercises, using compound movements with proper form, eating a slight surplus of calories and protein while limiting ‘empty calories” and refined foods, finding time to rest properly, getting enough sleep, being consistent and believing in yourself, coupled with the routine below is all you need to grow and get stronger more than you ever thought possible. I firmly believe that besides the excellent “push/pull/legs” routine, this routine, is the most productive one I have ever used. It is also a perfect program for someone doing another activity on the side, be it cycling, climbing, MMA or whatever.

 

The 2 Day a Week Minimalist Power and Bulking Routine:

 

The Parameters:

• The routine is to be done with a minimum of 2 days off in between sessions, on a one on, two off rotation.
• 3 sets (so called “working sets”) of 5 reps are to be done, not counting warm-up sets!
• When it is possible to do a 7th rep on the last set, raise the weight
• Strive to raise the weight regularly
• Schedule a “deloading week” every 4th – 6th week, where the weight is dropped 20-25% on every exercise for that week
• Throw in 2 days a week of energy systems training and some GPP

What to Avoid:

• Adding exercises. Believe me, there is more than enough work here to build big arms!
• Adding extra sets and reps. Ditto. There is more than enough here with 3×5 on all the exercises.
• Not resting enough in between sessions. This routine will work best for most people done on a one on, two off rotation. Especially for us old guys!

The Benefits:

• You can expect increase in your basal metabolic rate
• You will loose bodyfat, getting leaner you gain muscle
• You will have more free time, literally gaining slabs of muscle as you play World of Warcraft!
• You will notice improved energy levels
• You will have more time on your off days to pursue other activities, like energy systems training, GPP, MMA, sports etc. Imagine the shape you would be in doing MMA or other martial arts/boxing 2-3 times a week and hitting the weights with this routine twice a week!

 

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One of the most enduring types of split routines is the so-called “Push Pull Legs” splits for many good reasons. Functionally, it is a logical way to split one’s muscle groups and physiologically, it might well be the routine that allows for the best recovery as well. When looking at designing any workout routine, one has to keep in mind several things, including consistent overall volume between days, balance between amount of time spent on each bodypart and also the synergy and overlap that the sessions contribute to overall training volume. The push-pull-legs routine is perhaps the most balanced routine out there, as the body is split in terms of type of movement pushing, pulling and leg work – and the muscle groups get an overall benefit from the overlap. For example, when I am pounding out heavy sets of bench presses for five sets, I have been stressing the heck out of my anterior delts and triceps too, so that when it is time to do a both a shoulder and tricep exercise after bench presses, they are lending the overall stress to each other in terms of overlap. It is the most efficient split, in my opinion.

Your body is essentially split into three parts, in terms of “movement”:

1. a) upper body movements that move resistance away from the center of your body
2. b) upper body movements that move resistance towards the center of your body
3. c) movements which target the muscles of the legs

The reasoning behind this is that there is so much overlap in these natural muscle groupings that one can deploy relatively few overall exercises and maintain maximal growth stimulation. And since the legs comprise 1/2 of the body’s musculature, they require at least one day of dedicated training. This overlap creates a “spillover effect” between the muscles involved in the heavy compound movements. After hitting chin and rows, your biceps will already be warmed up and will benefit from the extra stimulation. I have also found that this is the routine that tends to cause the least training injuries.

Training the chest, shoulders and triceps together gives the tendons in your elbows, and the front delts more recovery time than would say splitting them into separate days of the week, where you may find yourself doing triceps or shoulders just 48 hours after a heavy chest workout. Again, same goes for the bicep tendons after all the pulling on back day. Training 3 days a week on this sort of split will achieve better gains than those who split their body into 5 separate parts because of the extra recovery. This version of Push Pull Legs has a twist – it includes “Rest Pause” training as well!

 

The Push Pull Legs Routine:

 

Exercise Selection: Use only the compound, multi-joint movements described above. Heavy bench presses and weighted pullups are in and cable crossovers and concentration curls are out! A simple way to remember this routine: its three days a week, three exercises a day (not counting a touch of accessory movements you want to throw in, one or two after each workout, ie., neck work, rotator cuff, grip work etc.)

The Parameters: As far as sets and reps, a classic “5×5″ protocol ( five “working” sets of five reps, not counting warmups) which has, over the years, proved to be the best middle of the road compromise between hypertrophy and strength is used. The most famous of the 5×5 implementations is the classic Bill Starr 3-day full body routine from 40 years ago. Since then programs like Mark Rippetoe’s, Madcow’s and Stronglifts have also popularized 5×5 routines to pack insane amounts of muscle on trainees in a relatively short period of time. For most people, the Push Pull Legs split should be done 3-4 days a week, and at best on a one on, one off perpetual cycle, thus hitting each muscle group once every five days.

Training a bodypart or muscle group every 5-7 days is the best balance between volume and frequency. (Volume and frequency have an inverse relationship. What I mean by this is that as the overall volume in a given training session goes up, the frequency of the sessions have to be adjusted (lowered) to accommodate for the extra inroad into your recovery ability the increased volume has made. The opposite is true for increasing frequency, as this happens, the volume has to be decreased)

For example, the Push Pull Legs can be done every 3 (to train every bodypart once every 7 days) or by juggling them around by doubling them up on a 4 day rotation (training them once every 5 days) :

 

More thoughts on parameters: If you are an older trainer or have a fair recovery ability, then you could try to adjust the volume of the routine down to 3×5 and work up from there. This might also me something you may have to do from time to time given the amount of external stress factors in your life at a given time, ie., job stress, periods of insomnia, etc.. The main point I am trying to make here is that there are no set-in-stone 100% “right” parameters as far as volume or frequency go, as they are not only individual specific, but also very greatly in the individual over time. There are only generalizations and guidelines when dealing with setting optimum frequency and volume. You could also use the 8×8 parameters of German Volume Training with the Push-Pull-Legs split as well. By using a weight that is around 70-75% of your one rep max for 8 sets of 8 reps. So, if you can bench press 300 pounds for one rep, you would use 225 pounds for that exercise for a full 8×8. This is a killer way to pack on size and give your nervous system time to get a break after a stretch of heavy training. Alternating between 5×5 using 85% 1RM and GVT 8×8 with 70% 1RM for stretches of 6 weeks at a time might be a great idea to keep gains coming year round.

 

Customizing Things: As with frequency, there are no set-in-stone rules about exercise selection other than using compound exercises. if you cannot squat, there is no rule that says you cant use leg press, hack squat or Hammer V-Squats. There have been times where I have been injured and couldn’t do bench press with the bar, so my push day was comprised of either dumbbell bench press or Hammer Strength iso-lateral chest press. The vital thing here is not to add any extra exercises to the template – keep it one compound movement per bodypart. For a trainer with some issues in multiple bodyparts, you could either use all dumbbells or machines if you feel that best suits your situation. Remember – this is not an athletic program or powerlifting routine – the Push-Pull-Legs split is aimed at hypertrophy. The exercise selection used as an example above is a purist, barbell-only approach which might appeal to some folks, but is not for everybody, but that’s ok as the Push-Pull-Legs split is a template, and not a “routine”.

 

Make it even more brutal! – Rest Pause Training: To make this routine extra effective, we are going to employ another old school technique, popularized by Mike Mentzer: “Rest Pause Training” on the last set of every exercise. What rest pause is, in a nutshell is going to near failure on the last rep, then either locking out the weight or racking it, and then taking 3-5 breaths and then cranking out another rep, racking or locking out again for another rest of 3-5 breaths and hitting another rep. This is done 3-4 times after the end of the last straight set on every exercise! Rest pause is what makes another great routine “DC Training” so effective as well.

 

Caveats:

• There is plenty of work per muscle group, do not add anything. I know, you are thinking “why can’t I add incline bench presses or tricep pushdowns”?  Trust me, there is more than enough with the rest pause set at the end of every bodypart. Done right, this is brutal and efficient.
• You also need to add some accessories to the workouts to cover small parts, specifically grip work, neck work, rotator cuff work and core work. 15 minutes of this at the end of the three sessions will suffice.
• After about 6-10 weeks you will plateau if you do not schedule one “deloading” week. Deloading, sometimes called “strategic deconditioning” involves reducing the intensity via reducing load by 25% and not doing the rest pause. The key here is not so much about giving the muscles a break as it is about preventing saturation of the adrenals.
• Change exercises regularly. After the week of deloading, it is a good idea to change the exercises; change from flat to decline bench presses, from barbell to dumbbell shoulder presses, etc.

 

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