Hatfield’s ABC Approach?

Bigger Stronger Leaner Competitive Bodybuilding
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I read a lot in general, but enjoy reading about weight training in particular since it is “news I can use”. Accordingly, I recently started Fred Hatfield’s Hardcore Bodybuilding: A Scientific Approach, purchased off a used book website for just a few dollars.

Hatfield’s approach revolves around a 31 day template where Sundays are the only off day. Workouts are divided into A, B and C intensities, each body part is listed and the ideal number of recovery days for each body part is assumed but varies by intensity. Sample splits are given assuming one or two workouts per day, but who has time for the latter? The issue is always not “time spent in the gym” but getting there in the first place.

For example, calves/forearms/core prescribes 1 recovery day for an A intensity workout, 2 for B, 3 for C. Legs and back prescribe 3 recovery days for an A workout, 4 for B, 5 for C.

Chest/shoulders/biceps/triceps are in between with 2 recovery days for A, 3 for B and 4 for C.

So, what exactly is the definition of an

  • low intense workout (A)
  • moderately intense workout (B)
  • high intense workout? (C)

First, C is basically the same exercises as B but in a giant set.

So A, a low intensity workout, about 10 sets, 10 reps @ 60% for “speed”, 12 reps, 8 sets @ 70% “speed and strength”, then 8 reps, 5 sets @ 80% max for “limit strength”. The eccentric portion of the movement is eliminated as far as possible.with ample rest (2-3 mins?). between sets.

B: a moderately intense workout: 3 exercises per muscle group, 2-3 mins. rest between sets.

First exercise, 5 reps/ 3 sets / 85% max., explosive
Second, 12 reps/ 3 sets/ 70% max., rhythmic cadence
Third, 40 reps/3 sets/ 40% max., slow, continuous tension

As I said, C is the same exercises as B, but in one long giant set (he calls the combination of two exercises “holistic”); no rest, same rep numbers, same style of movement for “maximum intensity”. But changing between heavy explosive movements and light, slow continuous tension movements.

The theory here is that when you move from heavy explosive movements to a more rhythmic cadence for more reps, or to very high reps, you’re using different muscle fibers, and that’s what makes it possible to do such a high number of reps.

Hatfield doesn’t say anything about partials, negatives, drops, etc. His aim is to hit every type of fiber in many types of ways to force adaptation and growth.

I’d like to try it, because the idea of being able to train each muscle group as soon as it’s ready, and before it becomes detrained, seems totally reasonable. What doesn’t seem reasonable is the amount of time I’d be spending in the gym to do it. I don’t think a lot of people should do that many sets, over fifty sets in some workouts. As a volume junkie, I often do over thirty sets and have done many fifty set workouts, but I find I cannot recover from them as quickly as I did fifteen years ago.

You can make anything needlessly complicated. There is no point in doing so unless there are benefits.

So it is probably good to have a workout where each part is trained after an optimal rest. But I don’t know if this takes “systemic fatigue” into reasonable account. I am a powerlifter at heart; I like strength and don’t care that much about appearances. But Hatfield’s approach here has been around since 1993 so I am wondering if anyone more into bodybuilding than me has tried it. If so, what points about it are good, bad and ugly?

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See, it is just this easy.

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Here is a link on Scribd to the whole book. You can read it, a tough read, for free (?). I think you likely have to pay to download it, but am unsure how this site works. I don’t know if a Kindle exists, or how much that is if it does. (Please remove this link if it violates anything.)

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if you lay out mon-sat for me I’ll run it, log it, and report back.

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The “Good” is having all the different stuff in one routine. Heavy lifting with max force, moderate bodybuilding work and high reps for the soft tissue are all Important. 30 years later, lots of systems still incorporate all those.

The “Bad” is definitely that schedule! Looking at at just makes my eyes cross. I can’t ever get the days to make sense in my head. Some workouts are huge and crazy, and others are like a couple dumb parts. Coaches influenced by Hatfield putting out routines today usually use a more “regular” weekly set up.

The “Ugly” is the recommendation to do the moderate bodybuilding work with no eccentric. Like I gotta have my partner lower the dumbbells for me on 8 sets of 10 DB inclines?

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I’d say the ugly is that schedule. I can see making ample use of machines (especially the Smith), and bumper plates to minimize eccentrics given the likely lack of training partners willing to plow through so many exercises….

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Yeah. I’m dumbfounded.
Interesting but confusing.

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No. Looking at the table, day #1 is A for chest and biceps, B for midsection and calves, and C for back. How do you program this? Not completely sure. You could pick a high bang for buck exercise for each part and modify % but it must take hours to do all those sets.

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The time element is what I was thinking. The chart is tiny and blurry on my phone so I was having difficulty making it out but I did end up seeing more than one lift per session. Doing “A” alone with the multiple body parts would take three hours. That’s insane.

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Leaving aside the insane loading, is there any science or benefit behind just the way the body parts are scheduled? You could come up with different ways to express low, medium or high intensity for each part that may make more sense for the common lifter…

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Here’s a TNation article where an author shows how the system can boiled down to make it more “regular.”

Hatfield, Lee Haney and Josh Bryant kick it around for awhile.

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Thanks for that, @FlatsFarmer. Looks like a very solid program. Not much benching, but maybe presses are better anyway. Might give it a try and report back.

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Check out this Poliquin 6-12-25 method that’s similar to a “C” workout.

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Joe DeFranco 3-6-12 Tri Set.