Please Critique 3 Week Program

Bigger Stronger Leaner Competitive Bodybuilding
1

This is the 3 week program i came up with that i’m now in week 2 of. Its heavily influenced by Chad Waterbury’s ideas, total body (although i have a slight traps/deltoid emphasis), use of 10 x 3, and one high rep day for active recovery.

Monday:
Deadlift 10 x 3
Chin up 4 x 6
front squat 4 x 6
incline bench 4 x 6
barbell shrug 4 x 6

Tuesday:
bench press 10 x 3
bent over bb row 4 x 6
dumbell lunges 4 x 6
reverse hyper (with dbs in hands) 4 x 6
lateral raises 4 x 6

Wednesday:
DB bench press 2 x 18
Seated cable row 2 x 18
leg extension 2 x 18
leg curl 2 x 18
DB military press 2 x 18

thursday:
BB back squat 10 x 3
wide grip bench press to neck 4 x 6
lat pulldown 4 x 6
good morning 4 x 6
DB shrugs 4 x 6

Friday:
Hang clean 10 x 3
decline bench press 4 x 6
leg press 4 x 6
leg curl 4 x 6
Military press (DB or BB) 4 x 6

Each week, i try to increase the reps on the 10 sets exercises and will end the routine after week 3 (10 x 5) and then will do a back-off week of light training. All other exercises, i just increase the weight when possible.

Ideally, i wouldn’t do the 5 days in a row, but it fits my schedule nicely so i put the 2 x 18 day in the middle for active recovery. I will probably do CW’s QD program after this but will probably revisit this program at some point (the last exercise each day would probably be changed to emphasize something different though), and i would like suggestions for the next time around.

p.s. And yes, i’m eating at least 300 calories over every day (usually closer to 500) and am trying to get in naps to compensate for when i don’t sleep as well.

2

I like a lot of it. I’m still doing 10x3 on deadlifts and starting up 20-rep squats again. Brutal, but effective.

Suggestion: on friday replace leg curl and leg extention with sumo deadlift or romanian deadlift? You have 2 days of recovery so you could just make it your mission to destroy your body and crawl out of the gym.

maybe move military press with decline press since you usually put chest as a priority. But then again you have wide-grip neck press 2nd on thursday…I don’t know it’s not a big deal. I did something similiar to this on a long-term scale and it worked fine for me (weekends were different though). I’ll look forward to your results.

3

It’s definitely a lot of volume, so I sure wouldn’t do it more than a few weeks, especially if you’re upping reps. My initial reaction is you are trying to do too many good things and you should maybe take the same workout and spread it out over 8-10 days rather than 5-7. What kind of weight are you using? When I ask that I mean in terms of % of your max?

It will be interesting to see the results. Good luck

4

Well, maybe i should have mentioned first, i started lifting again in september after a summer of excessive work with a weight of around 163. I was one of those people that didn’t realize the value of eating more to grow, until i, gasp, actually gave it a try. I spent these first two months getting used to training full body 4 days a week, (looked similiar to a 4-day tbt program).

As a result, half of these lifts, i am quickly increasing my weight on them as i am getting more used to them, so my intensity has been determined by form more than muscular limits for some of these exercises (like good mornings, if used to them, i know i’d be able to do more weight).

The exercises i am familiar with, i try to pick a weight that leaves me with 2-3 reps in the hole from my starting set. (so 4 x 6 is 8rm and 10 x 3 is 6rm, although i still use is 6rm on my 10 sets exercises as i progress). For all exercises though, i have been intense enough to feel myself exerting on all exercises, and it has not been uncommon to have a mild soreness the day after (except for my lats and deltoids, which rarely ever get sore, even if i do constant failure).

Now that i’m getting used to this routine, its not so bad. When i started it, the monday was hell. The 10 sets are starting to fly by, and after that i can normally manage on the rest of the routine.

Onlydifficulties i’ve had are that

  1. my grip strength is the limiting deadlift factor (just trying to tough that out and give extra rest times to finish outlined reps for the day)
  2. getting enough protein (have been managing over 180g a day most days, i weigh 176 though, so i’ve been ok here for the most part)
  3. getting enough sleep. naps are the only reason i can keep up with this as i have.

results have been fairly good so far. although i over ate a lil last week and my gut shows it some, i have already gotten comments on mild trap and shoulder improvement. I’ve gained 6-7 pounds so far with a loss of leanness i can notice, but nothing too bad. after tomorrow, i only have a week to go (and by then i’ll be ready for the back-off week).

i’ll keep everyone posted.

5

[quote]maverick_ace wrote:

although i over ate a lil last week and my gut shows it some,

i’ll keep everyone posted.[/quote]

I would of thought you could eat a horse and the jockey on this program. Brutal! Good stuff!

6

grip used to be my weakpoint in dl as well. I’m anti-straps and braces because I’d rather improve the weak links in my body…but anyway, at the end of a workout I rack up a thick barbell and do a 1rep rack pull and just hold the weight for as long as possible.

If I can hold out for 10seconds I add 10lbs to the bar (this weight is significantly lower on dl days). This works much better than anything grippers ever did for my hand strength. I’d much rather do farmer’s walks, but with the limited space in the gym it’s really not feasible.

7

First question: what were your goals going into this?

Second question: What have you gained in these two weeks?

Second question: If your trying to give special attention to delts and traps why do they have so few exercises always done at the end of the workout? By this I mean you bench press 5/5 days and its the 1st or 2nd exercise on 4 of those, yet you have only 2 direct shoulder exercises and 2 direct trap exercises always done last.

8

I had said “slight” emphasis on the traps. Its a total body program with room for a slight emphasis through use of one assistance exercise at the end of each workout. Also, given the stimulus that my traps and delts receive over the course of my compounds, just one assistance exercise has been proving effective. I have 3 goals on this program:

  1. overall size increase

  2. overall strength increase

  3. increase in work capacity

As mentioned in my 2nd post in this thread, size gains thus far i’m overall liking. Strength gains, i’m noticing some in the progression of my workouts, but i’ll know more when i test my rep maxes after my back-off week. The 3rd goal is where i have made the most noticeable progress so far.

I’ve also learned how to schedule the exercises. Monday on week 1 made me almost sick. But this week by gradually working from the harder exercises to the easier exercises (chin ups and front squats before benching) monday went much smoother this week, even with my grip giving me hell on the deadlift.

P.S. I wish i could eat the horse on this program. But i’m a FFB and am therefore prone to fat gain. Its all good though :slight_smile: