Starting TBT

Bigger Stronger Leaner Competitive Bodybuilding
1

I am starting TBT next week. I have been sitting here during some free time trying to make out a schedule that I can follow. Please let me know what you think about it. I’m just not sure about the exercises I picked. All the rests and set/rep ratios all came from CW. Those I am going to leave. Did I incorporate biceps and triceps enough? And where in the hell do I throw in my calves? Can I do more than six sets or will I burn out?

It’s Week 1-8, and on the even weeks, I will do antagonist training.

Week 1 & 2
Workout 1 (12-4)(12-11)
60s rests
Flat Barbell Bench(3x5)
Seated Rows (3x5)
Pulldowns(3x5)
Barbell Military Presses(3x5)
Hack Squats (3x5)
Leg Curls(3x5)

Workout 2 (12-6)(12-13)
90s rests
Hack Squats(3x8)
Leg Curls(3x8)
Flat Barbell Bench(3x8)
Seated Rows (3x8)
Bicep Curls(3x8)
Tricep Pulldowns(3x8)

Workout 3 (12-8)(12-15)
120s rests
Pulldowns(2x15)
Barbell Military Presses(2x15)
Hack Squats(2x15)
Leg Curls(2x15)
Flat Barbell Bench(2x15)
Seated Rows (2x15)

Week 3 & 4
Workout 1 (12-18)(12-25)
60s rests
Barbell Deadlift(4x5)
Barbell Squats(4x5)
Dumbbell Tricep Extensions(4x5)
Dumbbell Hammer Curls(4x5)
Bent Barbell Rows(4x5)
Incline Barbell Bench(4x5)

Workout 2(12-20)(12-27)
90s rests
Bent Barbell Rows(4x8)
Incline Barbell Bench(4x8)
Barbell Deadlift(4x8)
Barbell Squats(4x8)
Dumbbell Military Presses(4x8)
Pulldowns(4x8)
Workout 3(12-22)(12-29)
120s rests
Dumbbell Military Presses(3x15)
Pulldowns(3x15)
Bent Barbell Rows(3x15)
Incline Barbell Bench(3x15)
Barbell Deadlift(3x15)
Barbell Squats(3x15)

Week 5 & 6
Workout 1 (1-1)(1-8)
120s rests
Dumbbell Bench(2x18)
Dumbbell Bent Row(2x18)
Barbell Split Squat (2x18)
Goodmorning(2x18)
Pulldowns(2x18)
Front Military Presses(2x18)

Workout 2 (1-3)(1-10)
60s rests
Barbell Split Squat (2x8)
Goodmorning(2x8)
Front Military Presses(2x8)
Pulldowns(2x8)
Dumbbell Bent Row(2x8)
Dumbbell Bench(2x8)

Workout 3 (1-5)(1-12)
90s rests
Pulldowns(2x12)
Front Military Presses(2x12)
Dumbbell Bench(2x12)
Dumbbell Bent Row(2x12)
Barbell Split Squat (2x12)
Goodmorning(2x12)

Week 7 & 8
Workout 1 (1-15)(1-22)
120s rests
Flat Barbell Bench(3x18)
Seated Rows (3x18)
Pulldowns(3x18)
Barbell Military Presses(3x18)
Hack Squats (3x18)
Leg Curls(3x18)
Workout 2(1-17)(1-24)
60s rests
Hack Squats(3x8)
Leg Curls(3x8)
Flat Barbell Bench(3x8)
Seated Rows (3x8)
Bicep Curls(3x8)
Tricep Pulldowns(3x8)

Workout 3(1-19)(1-26)
90s rests
Pulldowns(3x12)
Barbell Military Presses(3x12)
Hack Squats(3x12)
Leg Curls(3x12)
Flat Barbell Bench(3x12)
Seated Rows (3x12)

2

Good start is to base each day on one, ONE!!! of each big compund push pull and legs. then tack on an ab move and an iso. or two thats it. in the end of the week you will ahve hit everything multiple times from the over lap.

Your tacking on to many big exercises many times multilpe compound pushes and pulls. Not so much legs of course.

Use the above as an outline and you cant miss.

Phill

3

I just started Week 5 this morning. Yeah, varying the exercises is the challenge. That having been said…you really need to change “Flat Bench Press” in two-thirds of your workouts to alternatives like DB Incline, Decline, DB Flat Bench, etc. Seriously, take his advice and vary each workout completely. And make sure pulldowns are being done with different grips at least. Change it up every single time.

And if you look at your Week 1, Day 1, you’ll see that your first 4 moves work the triceps twice and the biceps twice with heavy weight. So don’t worry about getting arm work in–it’s already there–and you can do some calf work any time you like in place of a single-joint arm exercise.

I’ve been through this program before, but this is the first time I followed it strictly by changing moves every single day and through the week. I believe I wasted some time previously by sticking to the same moves and thinking the change in set/rep scheme was sufficient to stimulate growth. I’m getting much more out of it now.

And IF AT ALL POSSIBLE, get a partner, or have someone nearby who can spot you for some of these. If you do Flat Bench for 3x5 and have to stick with a weight that you KNOW you can handle for all those reps, you’re missing out on that little bit of extra intensity that can make a difference. Remember that Chad says it’s okay to be unable to make the last rep of the last set. That “just barely handle-able” weight is what you are looking for, but hard to achieve on your own.

And the big mistake my buddy and I made? Picking a weight for 12 reps that it turns out we can really only handle for 9-10, and then feeling obligated to raise it the following week and therefore killing ourselves or not getting through a set without significant pauses. As of today (2x18) we’re being much smarter–still tough to get through but not pushing us to where form truly suffers and we feel pain.

Now, with all those caveats out of the way, I’ll tell you that 4 weeks in and my wife (not a totally objective observer, but she is a little more objective than me, I think) says she can see the difference in size and definition gains. AND I was about 185-6 when I started; without consciously changing my eating habits, I found yesterday that I was 191.

I definitely come away from a workout feeling the need to stretch and rest more, but this program is worth it.

4

[quote]Phill wrote:
Good start is to base each day on one, ONE!!! of each big compund push pull and legs. then tack on an ab move and an iso. or two thats it. in the end of the week you will ahve hit everything multiple times from the over lap.

Your tacking on to many big exercises many times multilpe compound pushes and pulls. Not so much legs of course.

Use the above as an outline and you cant miss.

Phill[/quote]

So are you saying to do something like this as an example for week 1:

Week 1 & 2
Workout 1 (12-4)(12-11)
60s rests
Flat Barbell Bench(3x5)
Seated Rows (3x5)
Hack Squats (3x5)
Leg Curls(3x5)
Ab workout(3x5)
Calf Raises(3x5)

Workout 2 (12-6)(12-13)
90s rests
Hack Squats(3x8)
Leg Curls(3x8)
Pulldowns(3x8)
Military Presses(3x8)
Bicep Curls(3x8)
Tricep Pulldowns(3x8)

Workout 3 (12-8)(12-15)
120s rests
Bentover Barbell Rows(2x15)
Flat Barbell Bench(2x15)
Hack Squats(2x15)
Leg Curls(2x15)
Ab workout(2x15)
Calf Raises(2x15)

***I can, of course, have more variation to the exercises, but this is just a quick change…what do you think?

5

[quote]TShaw wrote:
I just started Week 5 this morning. Yeah, varying the exercises is the challenge. That having been said…you really need to change “Flat Bench Press” in two-thirds of your workouts to alternatives like DB Incline, Decline, DB Flat Bench, etc. Seriously, take his advice and vary each workout completely. And make sure pulldowns are being done with different grips at least. Change it up every single time.

And if you look at your Week 1, Day 1, you’ll see that your first 4 moves work the triceps twice and the biceps twice with heavy weight. So don’t worry about getting arm work in–it’s already there–and you can do some calf work any time you like in place of a single-joint arm exercise.

I’ve been through this program before, but this is the first time I followed it strictly by changing moves every single day and through the week. I believe I wasted some time previously by sticking to the same moves and thinking the change in set/rep scheme was sufficient to stimulate growth. I’m getting much more out of it now.

And IF AT ALL POSSIBLE, get a partner, or have someone nearby who can spot you for some of these. If you do Flat Bench for 3x5 and have to stick with a weight that you KNOW you can handle for all those reps, you’re missing out on that little bit of extra intensity that can make a difference. Remember that Chad says it’s okay to be unable to make the last rep of the last set. That “just barely handle-able” weight is what you are looking for, but hard to achieve on your own.

And the big mistake my buddy and I made? Picking a weight for 12 reps that it turns out we can really only handle for 9-10, and then feeling obligated to raise it the following week and therefore killing ourselves or not getting through a set without significant pauses. As of today (2x18) we’re being much smarter–still tough to get through but not pushing us to where form truly suffers and we feel pain.

Now, with all those caveats out of the way, I’ll tell you that 4 weeks in and my wife (not a totally objective observer, but she is a little more objective than me, I think) says she can see the difference in size and definition gains. AND I was about 185-6 when I started; without consciously changing my eating habits, I found yesterday that I was 191.

I definitely come away from a workout feeling the need to stretch and rest more, but this program is worth it.[/quote]

Well, i’ve got one person saying that I have too many compound exercises in there and you are saying it all looks good except I just need to vary it more(i.e. pronated/supinated/semi-supinated grips, db incline, incline, db decline, etc.). So which is it? Is my first way good, just need more variation, or the second version I posted?

6

[quote]Weakling 8 wrote:
Phill wrote:
Good start is to base each day on one, ONE!!! of each big compund push pull and legs. then tack on an ab move and an iso. or two thats it. in the end of the week you will ahve hit everything multiple times from the over lap.

Your tacking on to many big exercises many times multilpe compound pushes and pulls. Not so much legs of course.

Use the above as an outline and you cant miss.

Phill

So are you saying to do something like this as an example for week 1:

Week 1 & 2
Workout 1 (12-4)(12-11)
60s rests
Flat Barbell Bench(3x5)
Seated Rows (3x5)
Hack Squats (3x5)
Leg Curls(3x5)
Ab workout(3x5)
Calf Raises(3x5)

Workout 2 (12-6)(12-13)
90s rests
Hack Squats(3x8)
Leg Curls(3x8)
Pulldowns(3x8)
Military Presses(3x8)
Bicep Curls(3x8)
Tricep Pulldowns(3x8)

Workout 3 (12-8)(12-15)
120s rests
Bentover Barbell Rows(2x15)
Flat Barbell Bench(2x15)
Hack Squats(2x15)
Leg Curls(2x15)
Ab workout(2x15)
Calf Raises(2x15)

***I can, of course, have more variation to the exercises, but this is just a quick change…what do you think?

[/quote]

Yes not perfect like you said but MUCH better and the general idea. Put the big moves first though. if you give those few the attention they deserve give your all the rest will just be the icing.

Phill

7

[quote]Phill wrote:

Yes not perfect like you said but MUCH better and the general idea. Put the big moves first though. if you give those few the attention they deserve give your all the rest will just be the icing.

Phill[/quote]

Would you or someone else mind posting a workout or a few that would be better to do? I was hoping to start this on Monday, but will probably stick with the program I’m on for another week, so I can make sure I know what I am doing before jumping into TBT. Thanks in advance!

8

I have to respectfully disagree with Phil here. I don’t think it is necessary to change up the workout every time. I don’t think it makes that much difference.

I try and change up the exercises every week.

It makes it much easier to plan out your training, and reduces your chances of analysis paralysis.

One thing I will warn you of is that if you try and do squats and DL’s in the same superset - you had better have a trash can at the ready, because you will need it.

Good luck.

9

[quote]rainjack wrote:
I have to respectfully disagree with Phil here. I don’t think it is necessary to change up the workout every time. I don’t think it makes that much difference.

I try and change up the exercises every week.

It makes it much easier to plan out your training, and reduces your chances of analysis paralysis.

One thing I will warn you of is that if you try and do squats and DL’s in the same superset - you had better have a trash can at the ready, because you will need it.

Good luck. [/quote]

Well I think is over doing it a bit as well what im saying is have three different w/o’s for three different days and stick to those same three for oh 4-8 weeks.

So its pretty simple you get variety but also repetition.

10

[quote]Weakling 8 wrote:
Phill wrote:

Yes not perfect like you said but MUCH better and the general idea. Put the big moves first though. if you give those few the attention they deserve give your all the rest will just be the icing.

Phill

Would you or someone else mind posting a workout or a few that would be better to do? I was hoping to start this on Monday, but will probably stick with the program I’m on for another week, so I can make sure I know what I am doing before jumping into TBT. Thanks in advance![/quote]

sqaut
bench
BO row
abs
accessory or two maybe a pull through and something else

DL
OH press
Chins
abs
acc. maybe a fly for chest and leg extensions

High step ups or lunges
dips
cable, DB, face pulls some row.
abs
acc good day hit the delts

thats just shooting it out in a mintue but would wotrk IMO.

Phill

11

[quote]Phill wrote:

sqaut
bench
BO row
abs
accessory or two maybe a pull through and something else

DL
OH press
Chins
abs
acc. maybe a fly for chest and leg extensions

High step ups or lunges
dips
cable, DB, face pulls some row.
abs
acc good day hit the delts

thats just shooting it out in a mintue but would wotrk IMO.

Phill

[/quote]

Thanks a lot! I will try these out and also work on varying them up.

12

[quote]Weakling 8 wrote:
Thanks a lot! I will try these out and also work on varying them up.[/quote]

Great best of luck hope it goes well.

Phill