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Bigger Stronger Leaner Competitive Bodybuilding
1

I’m a high school football player heading in to his first year of varsity next year. I’m skinny but athletic, the kind of player who is one of the best players on his J.V. team but is just hoping to contribute at all on varsity.

My main goal is obviously to get bigger since I’m at 5’11’’ and 150 right now. This wasn’t too much of a problem during basketball season; I could lift before practice or games, down a post-workout shake, and be on with it.

However, track season starts Monday and with it comes some serious mass-building problems, the biggest of which is that every single practice and meet starts directly after school. This means if I follow a 3-day per week schedule I’ll have to train in the morning twice a week (the school weight room is open on Sunday nights). I can’t get the weight room opened in the morning, so I’m going to have to make due with what I have; a barbell and a bench.

The plan is to wake up about 45 minutes earlier than normal on Tuesdays and Thursdays to fit in a basic workout. But, because I lack experience, I’m not sure how to set it up. I want to gain mass and explosiveness but I want to do it 1) without a squat rack, dumbbells, trap bars, and other good equipment most of the time, 2) without taking so long that I have to go to sleep at 8:00 every night just to get up early enough to workout, and 3) without causing excessive soreness or CNS fatigue that would inhibit my track performance.

Here’s my (rough) plan so far.

TUESDAY (in garage, morning)
Traditional Deadlift 8x3
a1.Flat Barbell Bench Press 5-4-3-2
a2.Bent-Over Barbell Rows 4x6
Push Press 4x5

Thursday (in garage, morning)
Tricep Press** 6x3
Good Mornings 3x8
Overhead Squats 2x10
Power Snatch 4x3
Military Press 3x8
Chin-Ups (off tree branch) 2xalmost failure

Sunday Night (at weight room) (I have more time here)
Flat Barbell Bench Press 4x6
Barbell Back Squat 5x5
Weighted Chin-Ups 5x3
Incline Dumbbell Press 2x8
Leg Curls 2x8
Lateral Raises 2x10
Neck Flexion Machine 2x10 (per side of neck)
Decline Russian Twists 5x5

**Triceps Press refers to any heavy triceps movement, I will change it every 3 weeks. These include Close-Grip Bench Presses, Floor Presses, and Dips.

I’m using the Sunday workout to work on any thing I can’t do in my garage (dumbbell work, leg curls, neck flexions).

This is simply a rough plan from someone who has little experience designing his own programs, and I want to make the best gains possible. I know that there are much better minds here than myself, and I know that these minds know how to get strong a lot better than a skinny high school kid.

How would you guys go about designing a program for someone under my conditions? Size is my priority in the upper body and power is my priority in the lower body.

2

Is that the Brighton Bulldogs? If so, I am from Pinckney and there is know way I am helping you get huge. Just Kidding.

First off, what events do you compete in for track? If it is distance running, this is counterproductive for gaining size. You need to focus on explosive movements such as sprinting to increase size and power.

One last thing, which is your priority track or football?

3

I run the 110 hurdles, 300 hurdles, 100 m dash, and either the 200 m dash or 4x100 relay. I’m not a distance runner.
My priority is DEFINITELY football, track is just something I’m doing because our track coach (also the football coach) really wants me to run because we only have one other good hurdler. Track is a tool to help me for football, I’m not quite good enough for it to be a priority.

For the record, nope I have no clue who the Brighton Bulldogs are.

4

How about training from 9 or 10 at night? Personally, I’m weak as a kitten first thing in the morning. After your afternoon sports practice, get a couple of meals and a couple of cups of coffee in, weight train , slam a monster shake,then sleep. You will be a bit tired from football, but probably stronger than at 6 in the morning. I would try both methods, and discover what suits your bodyclock.

The workout program you submitted is okay and better than what most of your buddies are probably doing (bench and preacher curls,probably). But I have 3 suggestions:

  1. You do a few exercises twice a week eg bench but most only once. Try to find different ways of hitting that bodypart, or rest it.

  2. You use a mixture of set-rep schemes but most of the writers and readers on this site would advise to only use a few schemes for each cycle. eg 10x3 with a few exercises done at 4x6, or a 5x5 day and a higher rep day. If I was you I would simplify your progam a little but do more sets for each exercise. You don’t have to do every exercise available to you in every program. Read CW’s stuff to get some ideas.

  3. Only use whatever workout you go with for a short period of time. Most people would say from 3-6 weeks. As you are a beginner you can probably make progress at the upper end of this scale.

At your age you are going to respond to all but the shittiest training,but who wants average results? When I was your age I didn’t have access to a great site like this one. Read and learn, young padwan.

5

Talk to your coach. Maybe he can work some lifting into your track practices. It will make you a better sprinter as well as a better football player.
Another good time to work out is after a meet. Go out with your team-mates and get some food and celebrate but then go home and hit the iron hard.

6

Can you elaborate on what you mean by that?

I’ve considered lifting after practice or meets, and I’m going to try it out. However, I’ve found that my body is completely fried after both and I need rest badly. My muscles are weak after practice (though I honestly haven’t considered 9-10:00, that might work) and after meets (I get home around 7) I feel what I can only describe as an “adreneline crash” that makes me feel extremely tired.
Plus, it would be pretty cool to be able to tell my friends “I get up at 5:00 in the morning to lift weights in my garage, what’s your excuse?”.

7

You got to much volume in there. Go for 4 excersies for upper body, and go for 2 or 3 for legs, and split the leg work up over the days. Make sure you hit OL in the morn working hamstrings and glutes alot with deads and SLDL.

8

I would look for anything written by Dan John. he has a ton of good stuff that seems perfect for your situation. Try complex lifts for example: 1 Power snatch+ 3 OH squats or 1 PC+ 3FS + 1PP.
You have too much going on just do something simple like:

  1. Quick lift
  2. Traditional Powerlift
  3. Upperbody push
  4. Upper body pull

also read:
http://www.t-nation.com/readTopic.do?id=487636
it’s not all stuff you can do at home but will give you the right path to setup a program on your own.

9

Bulldawgcountry,
Routine looks pretty good considering your time constraints.

One suggestion I would have would be to change your exercise order on Thursday so that the power snatch is performed first, as this is the most complex movement. Follow this with your compound lifts and then finish (time permitting) with any isolation type stuff you want to throw in. Just a suggestion.

Good luck with the training.