My goal is to bulk up to 250lbs, I am currently at 185, 44lbs heavier than I was when I started. Since I started I have mainly been using bodypart splits, and while I have gained a large amount of size and strength, I want more. I have never tried a pure strength and power routine, and I feel that I should as my bench press is downright pathetic, 145 x 5 reps, my squat is weak but not too bad, 240 x 5 reps, and my deadlift is also kinda weak, 250 x 5.
Anyways I own Keys to Progess by John McCallum and I read a program in it called “The Power Look” and it intrigued me. Basically you focus on the squat, bench, bent-over row, power cleans and deadlift. With each exercise except the row, you do a quck warm-up then jump to a heavier weight, and do 3 reps, on each set you go up in weight until you can’t get 3 reps, then you do a couple singles and move on to the next exercise. You do this 3 times a week.
Needless to say I will be eating enough for an elephant on this program. I wanted to get other lifters opinions on this, and as I trust many of the opinions on this site I figured it was the best place to go. Thanks in advance.
I have never tried something like this before. I most i have done is to go for 5 reps atleast. May be for smaller muscles try less reps but for bigger muscles you should do reps, but, again everyone’s body responds to diffrent things, may be this works for you so stick to it but be careful of any injuries.
If size is your main goal then maybe this program isnt optimal for you. Hypertrophy is often a function of tension (think load), volume (sets x reps x load) and density (work performed per given period of time). Now a routine such as the one you mentioned would get you stronger, provided you worked hard, for a small period of time. However, if no deload is provided (usually 40% drop in volume every 3-4th week) your CNS will eventually not respond to the training anymore and you may over-reach. This is because heavy loads (above 90% 1 RM) are incredibly demanding on your CNS (nervous system) so you need down time from them regularly. Now although you would see some short-term strength gains, the volume that such a routine would provide wouldnt be sufficient to cause a large amount of muscle growth. In order to make a muscle grow you need to maximise the amount of time that it is spent under tension (performing work)- to a degree!
So you want size and strength? the key is wave periods of high volume (high time under tension, for muscle growth) and high intensity (for strength / power). Give yourslef 8 weeks. First 4 weeks dedicate this time to lots of sets and reps with modertae to high loads. To maximise time under tension perform controlled neagtives (eccentric portions) on each lift and maintain a peak contraction (contract muscles as hard as possible) at the end of each rep. Try to limit rest periods. A split routine would be adequate for this period. Next, after the first 4 weeks, redcue your volume, perform all exercises FAST, and concentrate on both slow, heavy compound lifts (such as becnh squat etc) and faster, but still heavy, compound lifts (such as clean, etc). A whole body approach or movement focused split would be more appropriate for this one.
Then all you have to do in the future is alternate perids of high volume reduced load with periods of lower volume higher load.
Good luck.
IMO you should get good results from this as long as you deload every 4 weeks or so. Those criticising the program probably haven’t tried anything like it.
How well you do depends to a large extent on your fast twitch/slow twitch muscle fiber proportion. The more towards the fast twitch end you are, the better you will do.
BTW, if you play any sport where moving fast is important, don’t stay on this program too long. Lifting close to your limit all the time DOES make you slower.
When you have added a decent amount of strength and size on this program, I suggest you look at a conjugate powerlifting approach such as Westside. This will mix up limit lifting with a variety of lifts with speed work.
[quote]sharetrader wrote:
IMO you should get good results from this as long as you deload every 4 weeks or so. Those criticising the program probably haven’t tried anything like it.
How well you do depends to a large extent on your fast twitch/slow twitch muscle fiber proportion. The more towards the fast twitch end you are, the better you will do.
BTW, if you play any sport where moving fast is important, don’t stay on this program too long. Lifting close to your limit all the time DOES make you slower.
When you have added a decent amount of strength and size on this program, I suggest you look at a conjugate powerlifting approach such as Westside. This will mix up limit lifting with a variety of lifts with speed work.[/quote]
I was thinking of doing this for 4 weeks and then moving to a different strength program. Speed isn’t really important to me, as I don’t play any sports and mainly I am trying to gain strength simply to become more effective when I move back to body part splits.
Plus from what I have read it seems that a strength program will work for hypertrophy if you eat enough to gain weight. Is there any program/s you would recommend after this one that I could cycle for the 4-6 months? Thanks everyone for your input.
Dug out my copy of keys to progress. McCallum recommends three months. Four weeks isn’t enough time. The routine looks pretty cool, especially the progressive pulls.
[quote]BackInAction wrote:
Dug out my copy of keys to progress. McCallum recommends three months. Four weeks isn’t enough time. The routine looks pretty cool, especially the progressive pulls. [/quote]
Yeah the progressive pulls really intrigued me, hmm I might as well put in the 3 months then, and deload every 4 weeks.
