[quote]juanke wrote:
Strength and mass is best build doing big compound movements such as squat, presses, rows and deadlift. If done properly and with maximum strength those can’t be done more than once a week, maybe twice every two weeks, because of the stress they place on your body.
Now compound movements need to be supported by various muscle groups. Squat works well only if your core works and bench press is done better if your shoulders and triceps don’t lack behind. Deadlift is great when you feel the burn not only in your back but in your hamstrings too.
Chest actually rests on top of the ribcage which can be stretched by doing dumbell pullovers.
Then there are various techniques. You can perform exercises back to back i.e. train biceps one set, triceps one set and again for a total of three times. This is said to have an effect in the agonist and antagonist muscles when trained so that it is more effective than when trained as individual muscles. You could train your back the same day as your chest though this can be difficult if done proper technique and max force.
Cable exercises with machines or so don’t stress stabilizer muscles used when using free weights but I think are good for a soft landing when leaving the gym and in some cases for really focusing on a body part i.e. upper pecs in a smith machine.
When thinking about all this there are some problems in your routine but nothing that can’t be fixed. First you could tell us how long you have trained so that we can evaluate if your nervous system is able to handle big weigths and high volume. Full body training is usually suggested for beginners. Remember also that fast twitch muscle fibers are trained differently than slow twitch fibers. For bodybuilding purposes you should be training both fiber types because mass and strength go hand in hand and a nice muscle separation is always eye pleasing for aesthetic purposes. Strength is nice for beating up people and showing off.[/quote]
How’s this for a more condensed and accurate version of what every damn successful bodybuilder does and has ever done:
2 to 4 exercises per muscle group.
Frequency: 2 to 3 times per week per muscle group.
Body split up over 3 to 6 sessions, depending on frequency and number of muscles trainer per session.
2 to 3 muscles trained at each session.
Sets and reps: Warm up and ramp up to 1 to 2 all-out blast sets of 6 to 15 reps - depending on what you grow best from.
2 to 4 exercises per muscle group, including both compound and isolation exercises. Large muscles usually get 2 compound and 1 or 2 isolation exercises and small ones usually get 1 or 2 compound exercises and 1 or 2 isolation exercises.
STEADY-STATE Cardio as need for in- and off-season for 20 to 60 minutes. YEAH, that’s right - NO fucking intervals, kettlebell complexes, sandbag hauling, or anything else that 240+ pound bodybuilders NEVER do!
That’s. Fucking. It!
Show me one goddamn bodybuilder–including IFBB competitors–that do or even fucking THINK of anything else! Granted this shit ain’t sexy or overly interesting, and I can’t charge 50 to 300 bucks for an article or book because I wrote what everyone does in SIX guidelines!
If newbies and T-tards followed these guidelines, they’d save a whole lot of time and emotional and intellectual energy and would spare themselves from endless meditating and quibbling and writing and talking about the dumbest shit on earth!
It would put a fucking end to dumb threads like:
“I think the key to mass is in drinking a gallon of milk per day. What do you all think?”
“I’m revamping my program”. (There would be no need for revamping if one follows these guidelines - rather they would be ADJUSTING).
“Is this program good for mass?”
“What do you all think of Turkish getups and complexes for bodybuilding?” (We think nothing! Bodybuilders don’t do Turkish getups or complexes, don’t need to, nor should they!)
“I’m thinking of cutting during a 1-week deload phase.” (Have fun trying to get “cut” in one week, sucker!)
“I’m gonna experiment with the Olympic lifts because 1 in every 1,000 O-lifters can win a bodybuilding show. What do you guys think?” (We don’t think about Olympic lifting.)
And so on and so on!
Let’s get back to how to make a goddamn workout. Let’s use chest for example, using some of the guidelines above. It’s a big muscle group. So let’s use 4 exercises - 2 compound and 2 isolation. Watch how I work my magic!
Incline barbell bench press
Flat dumbbell press
Incline flys
Pec-deck flys
(Tell me I’m a fucking genius or what, folks!)
Now I’m going to further show off my genius by showing you how to warm up and ramp up to a working set in a big lift like the incline barbell bench press. We’ll use 300 pounds as the all-out blast set. The workout calls for 4 sets of 6 to 8 reps. If this shit is beyond you people, PM me and I’ll try to help you interpret third-grade-level writing, math, and logic.
Warmup sets
95 x 15 reps
135 x 10 to 12 reps
185 x 6 to 8 reps
205 x 6 to 8 reps
Ramp-up sets
225 x 6 to 8 reps
245 x 6 to 8 reps
275 x 6 to 8 reps
All-out blast set
300 x 6 to 8 reps
Tell me I’m not a fucking genius!