Swtiching from a 4-Day cycle of
Tricep/Shoulder Day
Quad/Calves/Abs Day
Bicep/Chest/Back Day
Off Day
with about 15 minutes of cardio each day. 10 minute mile warmup, and 5 minute sprints at the end of the workout.
I’ve been on that for 2 months now, so I’m planning to change it up now. This is what I’ve got so far courtesy of Waterbury’s TBT. The goal is to just put on as much muscle mass as possible.
Week 1, Day 1
Sets: 3
Reps: 5
Flat DB Bench Press
Cable Rows
Squats
Deadlifts
DB Hammer Curls
Standing Calf Raises
Week 1, Day 3:
Sets: 3
Reps: 8
Incline DB Bench Press
BB Upright Rows
Hack Squats
Deadlifts
BB Bicep Curls
Hang Power Snatch
Dips
Week 1, Day 5:
Sets: 2
Reps: 15
Decline BB Bench Press
Chin-ups
Seated DB Military Press
Deadlifts
Standing Calf Raises
BB Lying Tricep Extensions
Week 2: Same as Week 1 with 1.25-2.5% more weight and superset pairings.
Final note: I have my sleeping/eating patterns set. I eat enough and sleep enough. I just do 15 minutes of cardio (10 minute warm-up, 5 minute HIIT after workout) on workout days. Off days just some basketball or soccer.
I have very weak calves and small arms compared to my chest/shoulder’s, so that is why I have a lot of calf exercises put in the routine compared to other muscle groups, and a decent amount of arm work.
Also, each week on Days 2, 4 and 6, I’m just going to do forearms/abs work.
The only reason I’m hesitant about switching to this workout rather then what I wanted to do (which was traditional body building method of one muscle group a day) is because:
-i hear from everyone at the gym that full body training doesn’t allow you to properly burn out each muscle, so no real growth, at least compared to individual muscle group days
-doing only 6-7 exercises a day, you hit that target muscle only a few sets each workout, and doesnt get into the optimum 9-12 sets range for each muscle group that I am told is what we should aim for.
But, you do hit 8-12 sets over the course of the week. Instead of getting all sets in on “chest day,” that is spread out and you do a few sets on each day.
You can definitely build muscle mass on a total-body workout.
You didn’t list your height, weight, or training experience.
You said your diet was in check. Does this mean you are consistently gaining 3-5lbs every 4 weeks?
Honestly I find programs like this to be detrimental to intensity in the gym, and would recommend you choose a simpler method that revolves around making each muscle group significantly stronger with one or two basic bodybuilding exercises.
Alright, so you’re clearly a beginner, which just reinforces my initial feeling here…
A program like this would probably INHIBIT the growth you could attain both in size and strength of all your muscle groups at this point in time, since you could probably add weight to the bar nearly every workout so long as you’re pushing yourself and eating enough calories.
And adding some exact percentage of load to that huge variety of lifts with each subsequent week is the most ridiculous thing i’ve ever heard. haha
Talk about poorly thought out programming. God I hate Waterbury programs…
that was basically the program that Waterbury posted as a sample to follow in his discussion thread. he must know what he’s talking about…he’s an author here.
anyway, so if i shouldnt switch to TBT, what training type should I be turning to for mass gains, coming off from that split day 4-day cycle I described earlier?
And regardless of where you are, shouldnt you always increase weight/sets/reps every few workouts?
[quote]mr popular wrote:
Alright, so you’re clearly a beginner, which just reinforces my initial feeling here…
A program like this would probably INHIBIT the growth you could attain both in size and strength of all your muscle groups at this point in time, since you could probably add weight to the bar nearly every workout so long as you’re pushing yourself and eating enough calories.
And adding some exact percentage of load to that huge variety of lifts with each subsequent week is the most ridiculous thing i’ve ever heard. haha
Talk about poorly thought out programming. God I hate Waterbury programs…[/quote]
This is why I HATE TBT for beginners. I know I’m a beginner, but one thing I have learnt is that too much variation can be a BAD THING for someone new to lifting. It will just confuse the shit out of a newbie’s CNS (It did mine).
Veterans are different because they will plateau quickly on anything. So it would be more beneficial to switch up often. But I have also heard of people who barely ever change things up and make very good progress.
Like you said, a newbie will do much better on a program where he focusses on 1-2 lifts per muscle group, working on form and getting those damn poundages up.
In fact I would probably wager that you would make more progress for the moment on Rippetoes. The higher frequency.
But they both will work. Just choose one and give it a go.
Monday - Workout A
Squats - 3x5
Bench - 3x5
Deadlift - 1x5
Dips - 2 x 8-15
GHR - 2 x 12-15
Abs
Wednesday - Workout B
Squats - 3x5
Standing Press - 3x5
Pull from floor (rows 3x5 or cleans 5x3)
Pullups/chins - 2 x 8-15
Abs
Friday - Workout A
Squats - 3x5
Bench - 3x5
Deadlift - 1x5
Dips - 2 x 8-15
Curls - 2 x 8-12
TriEx - 2 x 8-12
Week 1:
Monday - Workout A
Wednesday - Workout B
Friday - Workout A
Week 2:
Monday - Workout B
Wednesday - Workout A
Friday - Workout B
How’s that looking instead? I just don’t know anything about the K.I.S.S. program, so after reading up on Rippetoe’s for a long time, this is what I’ve gotten from it.
only problem is that I’m not pretty sure if I can’t steadily add weights every workout, since I’ve been lifting for a few months now seriously. I was thinking instead follow the overall paramets in terms of exercises for this routine, but use Chad Waterbury’s hypertrophy results paramters, which is:
sets and reps
week 1, day 1: 3 x 5
week 1, day 3: 3 x 8
week 1, day 5: 2 x 15
week 2, same as week 1 with 2.5% more weight, and A1/A2 pairings, etc
week 3, day 1: 4 x 5
week 3, day 3: 4 x 8
week 3, day 5: 3 x 15
week 4, same as week 3 with 2.5% more weight and A1/A2 pairings, etc
I just need a program which hits those basics like that Rippetoe program, but where since I can definately add weight week to week, just not workout to workout, and I figured using Chad’s guidelines and the Rippetoe workouts, it’d be the best for me.