Do This Routine Instead of That Dumb One

Training
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From Jeff Willet (Max-OT trainer):

Day 1 ? Chest, Shoulders & Triceps

Flat Bench Press?.3 sets 4-6 reps
Incline Bench Press?.3 sets 4-6 reps
Dumbbell Presses?.3 sets 4-6 reps
Side Lateral Raises?.2 sets 4-6 reps
Tricep Cable Pushdowns?.2 sets 4-6 reps
Dumbbell Overhead Extensions?.2 sets 4-6 reps

Day 2 ? Back, Biceps & Abs

Deadlifts?.3 sets 4-6 reps
Lat Pulldowns?.3 sets 4-6 reps
Bicep Barbell Curls?.2 sets 4-6 reps
Dumbbell Curls?.2 sets 4-6 reps
Ab Rope Crunches?.3 sets 8-12 reps
Swiss Ball Crunches?.2 sets 8-12 reps

Day 3 ? Legs & Calves

Squats?.3 sets 4-6 reps
Leg Press?.2 sets 4-6 reps
Stiff Leg Deadlifts?2 sets 4-6 reps
Seated Calf Raises?. 2 sets 6-8 reps
Calf Raises On Leg Press?.2 sets 6-8 reps

While this setup will work, I really recommend using the 4 or 5 day splits as they allow for way more focus. After about 6-8 sets of lifting in that rep range it becomes tough to get in “the zone” and prepare to go to war with the weights. Not to mention the total number of working sets for some body parts drops to 1 or 2 for the entire week, and some things get dropped entirely (Traps, Forearms - which I really am looking to grow). Obviously you can sneak them in somewhere, but these workouts are already pretty damn crowded and the intensity will be waning towards the end of them.

Also, if staying lean is a priority (and you are the type of person who needs at least some cardio to stay lean) it becomes difficult to add cardio into these sessions, going 5 days a week shortens the length of each session considerably so you can easily add 15-20 minutes and not be knocking on 90-120 minutes in the gym at a time.

Keep the Questions coming if you have them.

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BTW - Feel free to move the body parts around if you like, these are just basic templates. The general idea is the hit a big muscle group(6-9 work sets), and pair it with one or two smaller ones(4-6 working sets). You can also swap out exercises.

Monday - Chest and Back
Wed - Legs, Calves, abs
Friday - Shoulders, Biceps, Triceps

Or:

Monday - Legs, Calves, Abs
Wed - Back, Biceps, Triceps
Friday - Chest, Shoulders

Back day(just to pick on body part) could be this:

Deadlifts x 3
Pull Downs x 2
BB Rows x 2

Or this:

Lat Pull down x 2
BB Rows x 2
V-Bar pull down x 2
Cable rows x 2

Its also recommended you make SMALL tweaks (swapping out 1 exercise, changing the rotation for the week) every 4 weeks or so, and taking a FULL WEEK OFF every 8 weeks. I generally feel these are good recommendations, but more advanced trainees will be able to judge for themselves if these time frames are appropriate.

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Thanks Lonnie,
Working schedule make it difficult to go to the gym 4 times a week.
I really appreciate your workout suggestion.
Are you using or used this program, if so, for how long, what gain did you make?

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I used it for the first few years of lifting YEARS ago, Stopped using it for a few years to try other stuff and am LOVING being back on it. Currently using it for contest prep and getting STRONGER every week( with Max-OT cardio - 16 minutes of BALLS TO THE WALL effort).

I honestly am kicking myself for not sticking to this program for the years I tried other programs… I know for a fact I would be much, much stronger and a much better body builder.

Its literally my biggest regret as a body builder, not sticking with this program during the last few years of my training… Wow, where could I be by now?

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Synergy,

Lately, when selecting a weight for a given rep range, I choose a weight I can lift explosively (<1s concentric) from a dead stop and hold the peak contraction for 2s. Whatever I can do for about 2 reps beyond the rep range I’m targeting, that’s the weight I’ll use.

I definitely feel the DOMS more this way.

Kingbeef,

Good thread, man.

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Would you consider layne nortons PHAT system as one of the “dumb ones” or a legit one worth trying??

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[quote]Lonnie123 wrote:

Monday - Chest and Back
Wed - Legs, Calves, abs
Friday - Shoulders, Biceps, Triceps

[/quote]

Personally, I’d do something more like

Mon - Back and Biceps
Wed - Chest, Shoulders, Triceps
Fri - Legs, Calves, abs

That way ^ gives lower back more rest/recovery

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[quote]its_just_me wrote:

[quote]Lonnie123 wrote:

Monday - Chest and Back
Wed - Legs, Calves, abs
Friday - Shoulders, Biceps, Triceps

[/quote]

Personally, I’d do something more like

Mon - Back and Biceps
Wed - Chest, Shoulders, Triceps
Fri - Legs, Calves, abs

That way ^ gives lower back more rest/recovery[/quote]

Sounds good. I wans’t really thinking about that kind of stuff when I wrote that out, just a “here’s another way to do it” kind of example… But you are 100% right that those things need to be considered when designing ones program.

The Max-OT split I’m on is going to be different than someone elses because we all have unique body mechanics, respond to different exercises better (I dont ever use the flat BB Bench Press for example) and have injuries that we need to consider (Jeff Rodriguez has not done overhead pressing in his mostly-max ot routine for over 2 years r/t shoulder issues when pressing and has made great progress)

THESE are the types of “advanced” programing techniques that most people need to focus on, but often times you see them focuses on undulating periodization and crazy splits/frequency/weird variations of basic movements.

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Agreed ^

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for the push/pull/legs routine, on the first back day would it be possible to substitute the weighted pull ups for the “50 pull ups or as many as possible in 10 minutes” from the 5 day split?

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[quote]ja1991 wrote:
for the push/pull/legs routine, on the first back day would it be possible to substitute the weighted pull ups for the “50 pull ups or as many as possible in 10 minutes” from the 5 day split? [/quote]

Yes, sir. Just giving different examples of things you can do.

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(updated 4/8/12)

zomg a new routine… Kinda… This is actually just what I’m doing now, but I figured I’d post it here because I really like it.

I do 1 set to failure for each exercise except where otherwise noted.

Monday - Chest/Upper Back/Abs

Low Incline Dumbbell - 4 x 8
Seated wide grip chest supported Rows - 4 x 8

Incline barbell - 4 x 8
Seated wide neutral grip rows - 4 x 8

Flat hammerstrength press - 4 x 8
Hammerstrength High rows - 4 x 8

Rope Crunches - 4 x 12
Weighted leg raises - 4 x 15
Decline sit ups - 4 sets to failure

Tuesday - Hams/Calves

Seated Leg curls - 4 x 8
Lying Leg curls - 4 x 8
RDL’s - 4 x 8

Seated Calf Raises - 4 x 10
Leg press calf raises - 4 x 10

Wednesday - Arms

Seated hammer curls - 4 x 8
Decline CGBP - 4 x 8

Machine preacher curls - 4 x 10
Rope Pushdowns - 4 x 10

Incline curls - 4 x 10
Cordova extensions - 4 x 10

French Press - 5 x 30, 20, 15, 12, 8-10 (harsh on elbows)

Fat grip curls - 7 x 10 (30 sec rest)

Thursday - Quads

Leg Extensions - 6 x 15
Squats - 4 x 8
Hack Squats - 4 x 8
Leg Press - 4 x 10, 1 x 15-20

Friday - Shoulders/Lats/Calves

Seated Barbell Press - 4 x 8
Pull Ups - 50

Cable laterals - 4 x 10
Close neutral grip pulldowns - 3 x 8

Machine laterals - 4 x 10, 1 x 10-15
Seated close neutral grip rows - 3 x 8

Shrugs - 5 x 10
Donkey calf raises - 4 x 10
Standing calf raises - 4 x 10

Sat/Sun - off

1 Like
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Looking pretty awesome in your avatar, you really should look happier than you do!

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[quote]kingbeef323 wrote:
Edit: My personal routine on page 7

The amount of ridulous “critique my routine” threads is getting silly. Usually how it goes is I open up one of those threads, read it, smack my palm against my forehead and then sign off. I figure a thread with some good well designed preset BB routines should help a lot of these misguided individuals. I’ll start with 1 routine for now and add to it as I see fit (diff frequencies/splits/etc) if people like it.

*All exercises are ramped
*Numbers at end in parentheses are how many sets to failure to do on that exercise
*Rest 90-120 secs between sets, 2-3 mins if you did a set to failure on a compound movement and are about to do another set to failure on the same movement
*Should be able to finish these workouts in an hour or less

5 day split, 1x a week frequency

Monday- Chest/Calves

Incline Dumbbell Press - 4x 6-10 (2)
Flat Barbell Press - 3x 6-10 (1)
Decline Dumbbell press - 3x 6-10 (2)
Standing calf raises - 4x 8-10 (2) (1-2 mins rest for calves)
Seated calf raises - 3x 8-10 (2)
Leg press Calf raises - 3 x 12-15 (2)

Tuesday- Back

Pull ups - 50 or as many as you can do in 10 minutes
Barbell Rows - (torso at 45ish degree angle) 4x 8-10 (1)
Close neutral grip pulldowns - 3x 8-10 (2) (really like 3 sec negatives on these)
Seated straight bar rows - 3x 8-10 (2)

Wednesday- Legs (2-3 second negatives recommended on all exercises)

Lying leg curls - 4x 6-8 (2)
RDL’s - 4x 8-10 (1)
Leg press - 4x8-10 (I like doing these before squats to help loosen up the hips) (2)
Squats or Front squats - 3x 8-10 (1)
Hack Squats (close stance) - 3x 8-10 (2)

Thursday- Arms/Abs Supersets for arms

Pinwheel Curls - 4x 6-10 (1)
Decline Elbows flared CGBP - 4x 6-10 (1)

Preacher curls on vertical side (spider curls) - 3x 8-10 (2)
Lying Behind the head extensions - 3x 8-10 (2)

Alternating Dumbbell curls - 3x 8-10 (2)
French Presses - 3x 8-10 (2)

Cable rope crunches - 3x 12-15 (2) (1-2 mins rest for abs)
Weighted Leg Raises - 3x 12-15 (2)

Friday - Shoulders/Traps

Seated Overhead Dumbbell Press - 4x 6-10 (2)
Cable lateral raises - 3x 8-12 (2)
Seated Dumbbell lateral raises - 3x 8-12 (2)
Incline Bench Rear delt raises - 3x 12-15 (2)
Standing cable X’s - 3x 20-30 (3)
Shrugs - 4x 8-10 (2)

Sample workout for those not familiar with how ramping works. I’ll use chest/calves:

  • (f) indicates failure

Inc Dumb - Warmup (20x25’s x2, 10x40’s, 8x55’s) 10x70’s, 10x80’s, 9x90’s(f), 6x100’s(f)
Flat Bar - 10x185, 10x205, 8x225(f)
Dec Dumb - 10x85’s, 8x90’s(f), 6x95’s(f)
Standing - warmup (20x50 x2, 15x100) 10x150, 10x180, 10x210(f), 9x220(f)
Seated - 10x90, 10x135(f), 8x145(f)
LP calf - 15x270, 13x360(f), 12x400(f)

Edit: Eat a lot of freaking protein.[/quote]

gunna give your routine a whirl starting fresh off of the weekend man. just curious and idk if somebody asked in the comments prior but didn’t feel like searching thru all of them, did you record your results through any particular time period as in strength & weight gain? any insight and info shared would be appreciated ! sweet thread btw man, nice idea…

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one more question! would it be possible/beneficial to organize the push/pull/legs schedule so that the first 3 days are lower rep (heavier) days while the second 3 days are higher rep days?

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[quote]diamonddelts59 wrote:

gunna give your routine a whirl starting fresh off of the weekend man. just curious and idk if somebody asked in the comments prior but didn’t feel like searching thru all of them, did you record your results through any particular time period as in strength & weight gain? any insight and info shared would be appreciated ! sweet thread btw man, nice idea…
[/quote]

Yes, I have all my records as far as how I ate/strength gained going back to the beginning of '07. Right now, with my current routine and diet I’m making making my best gains ever. Been setting pr’s on every exercise at every workout for the past 5 weeks or so and am steadily gaining weight. Maybe a half pound every week and a half - 2 weeks or so.

[quote]ja1991 wrote:
one more question! would it be possible/beneficial to organize the push/pull/legs schedule so that the first 3 days are lower rep (heavier) days while the second 3 days are higher rep days?[/quote]

That’s fine, I wouldn’t go lower than 4-6 reps on the heavy day tho. Unless you wanted to do some C.T. style force spectrum ramping, which works great for increasing strength on pressing movements.

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[quote]kingbeef323 wrote:

Yes, I have all my records as far as how I ate/strength gained going back to the beginning of '07. Right now, with my current routine and diet I’m making making my best gains ever. Been setting pr’s on every exercise at every workout for the past 5 weeks or so and am steadily gaining weight. Maybe a half pound every week and a half - 2 weeks or so.
[/quote]

This is probably the most important thing written in this whole thread, I hope it doesn’t go unnoticed…

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Hey Lonnie which 5 day max IT routine do you prefer?

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Hey Lonnie which 5 day max OT routine do you prefer?

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Quality thread. I like, I can relate to the first lines of this thread (smack my forehead, sign off)