Sunday, June 14, 2009

Upper #1 - And new summer training plan

Well, because of my crappy grades this year, restrictions have been put into effect - one of which is less gym time/no Diablo. With this in mind, I decided to do an upper/lower split training 3 days a week with a focus on gaining mass. I'm tired of being skinny. It needs to change. I am starting this program at a BW of 220lbs.

Here is the Program:

Upper #1/Upper #2/Upper #3:
Incline BB Bench/Seated Overhead Press/Bench Press
Dips/DB Bench Press/Pin Press
T-Bar Row/BB Row/Chin-up
HS Row/DB Row/HS High Row
Skull Crushers Off Floor/Parallel Bar Extensions/Barbell Curls

Lower #1/Lower #2/Lower #3:
Back Squat/Front Squat/Box Squat
Good Morning/Sumo Deadlift/Conventional Deadlift
Incline Sit-ups/Pulldown Abs/Sit-ups on Floor
Standing Calf Raises/Seated Calf Raises/Leg Press Calf Raises

Everything for upper (except arm work) is 3-5 sets x 5-8 reps, and every thing for lower (except abs and calves) is 5 sets x 3-5 reps. Arms, Abs, and Calves are 2-3 sets x 8-12 reps. Over the 2 years of real training I have done, I have noticed that it is these rep ranges that work the best for adding muscle.

Today's Workout was Upper #1. I had to feel it out, so some rep/sets may be off.

Incline Bench (Medium Grip): 135x5
165x5, 3, 2

Dips: BWx8
+45x8, 7, 7

T-Bar Row: 3px5
4px5x5

HS Row: 3px5x5

Skull Crushers off Floor: 75x12, 11

3 comments:

Juggernaut, the said...

If you're only going 3 days a week, why not try a Sheiko cycle? You're not going to be able to get in a much volume anyway, so given your current level of skill I think it would be very beneficial to keep a large emphasis on the major movements.

Example:
basic 3-day program

advanced 3 day program


Eric Talmant has a ton of these on his Sheiko page, and could probably help tailor one just to you if you contacted him. Nathans could also provide some good advices in this area as well.

Also, you are not skinny, nor were you at the beginning of the year. Mass comes with time and harrrd training, so I would focus on getting strong and eating a ton and let gaining mass worry about itself for now.

Nathan Beckmann said...

Here is a better program.

I think this could work really well. Sheiko is great for when you don't have a good training environment to push you, because it tells you exactly what weights you need to do so you can't take "days off". I have had very good results on it, and Dean did too when he did it.

I think Sheiko is a great bet to maximize what you can get out of 3 days per week. It also helps a lot with form if you do it right because there are so many reps around 70-80% not to failure.

Some tips:

- Perform each lift competition style. I.e., pause your benches, don't bounce your deadlifts, etc. Focus on form.

- Don't be too ambitious with picking your maxes. Your max is what you can do, not what you wish you could do.

- Follow the program. It will seem very easy at first, but after 8 weeks or so it will catch up with you.

- Other stuff (cardio, upper back work, etc) can be done on off days, but it shouldn't be extremely stressful. Think GPP work.

Feel free to ask any other questions.

Jake Ceccarelli said...

I agree with them. Sheiko = best.