I’ve been around a while just taking information in and I finally decided to post up my training program and see if I can get some advice. I’ve been lifting seriously for about 7 months now and I’ve seen some great results in that time. I’m currently 6’3" and around 245lbs.
Ok, so here’s what I was thinking for my training program. This is designed for the IM bench competition I have coming up and I also play rugby which is in season now. Everything is done 3 set of 8 except for the bench work and calf raises. I also do as many as I can on the chinups. I shortened the work down on Friday because our games are on saturday and I don’t want to exhaust myself before hand. Abs are worked on the days when I can fit them. Plus I have cardio atleast 3 days a week.
Bench (Heavy)
Overhead Tricep extensions
Military Press
Incline/Decline Dumbell Press
Rope Pulldowns
Lateral Raises
Alternating DB Skullcrushers
Front Raises
Cable Flyes
Tuesday
Deads
EZ-bar Curls
Chinups (post exhaust with lat pulldowns)
Alternating DB Curls
T-bar Rows
Reverse Cable Curls
Barbell Rows
Wed
Squats (superset)
Hang Cleans
Lunges
Standing Calf Raises 3x25
Thursday
Bench (speed training)
Overhead Tricep extensions
Military Press
Incline/Decline Dumbell Press
Rope Pulldowns
Lateral Raises
Alternating DB Skullcrushers
Front Raises
Cable Flyes
Friday
Good Mornings
EZ-bar curls
Chinups
Hammer Machine Lat pulls
I concur, that is a shit ton of volume (what exactly is a shit ton?). Let�??s go with your max strength goal here for a little, I am going to assume that when you say:
[quote]rugbyfan wrote:
Everything is done 3 set of 8 except for the bench work and calf raises.[/quote]
You mean that you are going fewer reps but more sets for your bench, which makes sense and is good for max strength gains. The thing being that if you are going to sets in the range of 1-5 reps (yeah I know that is a broad range) then you should not be able to do that many exercises after. Somewhere around 3 or so more exercises sounds about right to me, though I could very well be wrong.
I guess the overall message that I am trying to get across it that you are doing way too much volume.
Thanks for the advice guys. I’ve always been afraid that it was too much, but I’ve also been afraid of doing too little. The bench actually changes from day to day because my coach has me doing different stuff all the time. Some heavy days we do negatives and some heavy days we do low reps with really high weight. I picked the 3x8 because I feel that 3 sets gets me to failure nicely and the 8 reps is a good mix of size and strength.
My questoion is then should I cut come lifts out or just go with a lower rep/set plan?
You need to leave something in the tank at the end of each workout and you should limit your workouts to 4 a week at most, even off season. In season you can probably get by with just Monday and Thursday. Just cut out the accesory stuff and insert deads and squats.
Thanks for all the advice. I guess it just seems so counter intuitive. I think it comes from the mentality that I got from sports. If you don’t leave it all out on the field, or in this case the gym, then you didn’t give it your all.
I’m going to gut a lot of the volume and put something new together when I get done in the gym today. For today I was thinking something like this:
Bench(heavy)
Overhead DB Tricep Extensions 3x5
Barbell Military Press 3x5
Decline DB Bench Press 3x5
Front Raises 3x5
Skip the cardio during the season. If playing rugby isn’t enough cardio, then nothing else will help.
The main purpose of the “in-season” program should be to maintain the strength, speed, endurance, that was built in the off-season.
This can be done with a few heavy, compound lifts week. Actually, read the article that was put up today on T-Nation.
[quote]TNT-CDN wrote:
I assume that is a metric “shit ton” of volume.
Skip the cardio during the season. If playing rugby isn’t enough cardio, then nothing else will help.
The main purpose of the “in-season” program should be to maintain the strength, speed, endurance, that was built in the off-season.
This can be done with a few heavy, compound lifts week. Actually, read the article that was put up today on T-Nation.
TNT[/quote]
Roger on the article. I actually read it right before I took my daily nap. I’ve got most of those lifts incorporated. The only one I would like to add is the snatch, I just need some help getting the form down so I don’t end up killing myself. I’ve tried it with just the bar, but it just feels wrong.
I really shouldn’t be training for 2 things at once, but I’m benching atleast 315-320 now and I would like to improve a little before the IM competition on April 9th. It’s not a huge thing, but it’s been a personal goal of mine to do as well as possible. I’m already up from the 245 I got last year, but I want to really push it this year. That’s why I have the accesory lifts for the shoulders/traps/lats. As for the extra cardio I was dying at the end of my game last Saturday so I figure an extra session in addition to practice once a week and a game on the weekend should help my endurace a little.
I really do appreciate all the advice everyone. I’m trying to incorporate everything so that I can achieve the most out my training. The volume is deffenitly going down.
I wasn’t sure on the weight for the DB decline presses so I went up until I found a good weight to use. I also did some pushups after I was done to loosen up.
My Opinion:
Ditch the Skullcrushers/Rope Pulldowns/Tri Extensions
Add Normal and Reverse Grip, Close Grip Bench Press
Ditch Cable Flyes for one of those days
Add More sets of Bench Press at lower reps
Thanks that sounds great. I’ve been looking for that for a long time, but I didn’t know where to find it. I’ve been doing the heavy bench one day and dynamic bench on another and it’s been working out great.