Training Goals

Bigger Stronger Leaner Competitive Bodybuilding
21

The BFS program goes like this
Week 1: 3X3
Mon: Towel Bench (you have a towel on you chest and bring the bar down to that)
Squat

Wed: Power Cleans, Deadlifts, Incline Bench

Fri: Box Squat, Bench

Week 2:5X5

Mon: Towel Bench, Squat

Wed: Power Cleans, Deadlifts, Incline Bench

Fri: Box Squat, Bench

Week 3: 5/4/3/2/1

Mon: Towel Bench, Squat

Wed: Power Cleans, Deadlifts, Incline Bench

Fri: Box Squat, Bench

Week 4: 10/8/6

Mon: Towel Bench, Squat

Wed: Power Cleans, Deadlifts, Incline Bench

Fri: Box Squat, Bench

Then from there on you fill the rest of your workouts with auxilary lifts that help your sport.

EN

22

I would say it looks good, but I’m not familiar with all of Chad’s stuff; your better off asking him if you have questions. Sorry!

Stay strong
MR

[quote]Soco wrote:
Oh yeah, and while I am cutting I am using TTT. I will then use SFM and transition into the Waterbury method as I go to above maintenance calories. After I get my strength up and rehab my shoulder(impingement) I will start lifting westside style.

yeah/nay

Any comments are greatly appreciated. [/quote]

23

Mike,

Thanks for the reply. Did you get to look at my workout log thread for the finer details? I’m just curious to know what you think of the exercise selections I have made. Of course the second time around I will be changing them for variety. I realised that I left out single leg exercises, would you include these as an accessory or one of the main lifts?

As for backing off weeks I will take a complete week off lifting after the 6 weeks is up. Also, weeks 1-2 are more hypertrophy based being 6-10 reps and use lighter loads, so I am only going VERY heavy for 4 of the 6 weeks. I also put the higher reps in to help with learning oly lift technique with lots of reps and lighter loads.

[quote]Mike Robertson wrote:
BG,

Looks pretty good; don’t forget that you need time of unloading as well to allow your body time to recover. I believe Jack Reape wrote a piece a while back entitled “Back of and Grow.” It’s simple, to the point, and could probably help your training.

Stay strong
MR

bg100 wrote:
G’day Mike,

I’m currently training for strength as well as learning the Olympic lifts (been reading too much of Mr John’s articles and got inspired!)

My program is posted in this forum under “BG100’s Training Log”, I hope it is still on the current pages otherwise you might have to search for it. But in summary it is a 6 week program split into three 2-week blocks of exercises. I thought I might try to “wave-load” my load progression with each cycle, so in weeks 1-2 the reps are about 6-10, weeks 3-4 they are 3-5 and weeks 5-6 they are 1-3.

For each workout I start by doing an oly lift using a two wave load. I then choose two other compound movements to make sure it is a total body workout (weeks 1-2 are 3x8, weeks 3-4 are 3x5 and weeks 5-6 are 5x3), one accessory or prehab lift and then one “normal” and one oblique abdominal movement.

I’ve been meaning to update the training log but haven’t had the time to do so, hopefully I will this weekend but it has been going well, especially on the oly lifts. I might repeat for another 6 weeks after a rest week but already have some ideas for minor changes.

Check the thread for all of the details on lifts I am using.

Cheers,

Ben

[/quote]

24

Hi Mike,

Good topic! My current goals at the moment is to increase both strength and stamina in the old Posterior Chain. It has been a weak spot for some time now due to a ruptured disc (L5-S1), but I’m presently seeing some really good improvements.

I’m doing rack pulls, rack cleans, back extentions and reverse hypers and GHRs. It’s working well at the moment (touch wood).

25

[quote]Mike Robertson wrote:
I would say it looks good, but I’m not familiar with all of Chad’s stuff; your better off asking him if you have questions. Sorry!

Stay strong
MR
[/quote]

I’ll hit him up next time he is on Prime Time.

Thanks!

26

Mike,

Forgot to mention that apart from the planned backoff week a little thing called “life” gets in the way and ensures a lot of “backoff”! LOL!

You can tell I missed this morning’s workout because of a tough workday yesterday (2 hours each way of driving to a project and then running around a construction site with no chance to eat until about 2:30pm!), did not have energy this morning…

[quote]Mike Robertson wrote:
BG,

Looks pretty good; don’t forget that you need time of unloading as well to allow your body time to recover. I believe Jack Reape wrote a piece a while back entitled “Back of and Grow.” It’s simple, to the point, and could probably help your training.

Stay strong
MR

bg100 wrote:
G’day Mike,

I’m currently training for strength as well as learning the Olympic lifts (been reading too much of Mr John’s articles and got inspired!)

My program is posted in this forum under “BG100’s Training Log”, I hope it is still on the current pages otherwise you might have to search for it. But in summary it is a 6 week program split into three 2-week blocks of exercises. I thought I might try to “wave-load” my load progression with each cycle, so in weeks 1-2 the reps are about 6-10, weeks 3-4 they are 3-5 and weeks 5-6 they are 1-3.

For each workout I start by doing an oly lift using a two wave load. I then choose two other compound movements to make sure it is a total body workout (weeks 1-2 are 3x8, weeks 3-4 are 3x5 and weeks 5-6 are 5x3), one accessory or prehab lift and then one “normal” and one oblique abdominal movement.

I’ve been meaning to update the training log but haven’t had the time to do so, hopefully I will this weekend but it has been going well, especially on the oly lifts. I might repeat for another 6 weeks after a rest week but already have some ideas for minor changes.

Check the thread for all of the details on lifts I am using.

Cheers,

Ben

[/quote]

27

Eric,

It’s not bad, but it’s not great either. I wrote the article “Designer Athletes” specifically for people like yourself. I’m not saying you have to ditch what you are doing, but you can probably get more out of a better program. Just my .02, FWIW.

Stay strong
MR

[quote]eric486 wrote:
The BFS program goes like this
Week 1: 3X3
Mon: Towel Bench (you have a towel on you chest and bring the bar down to that)
Squat

Wed: Power Cleans, Deadlifts, Incline Bench

Fri: Box Squat, Bench

Week 2:5X5

Mon: Towel Bench, Squat

Wed: Power Cleans, Deadlifts, Incline Bench

Fri: Box Squat, Bench

Week 3: 5/4/3/2/1

Mon: Towel Bench, Squat

Wed: Power Cleans, Deadlifts, Incline Bench

Fri: Box Squat, Bench

Week 4: 10/8/6

Mon: Towel Bench, Squat

Wed: Power Cleans, Deadlifts, Incline Bench

Fri: Box Squat, Bench

Then from there on you fill the rest of your workouts with auxilary lifts that help your sport.

EN[/quote]

28

Post your program here and I’ll give it a look. As far as your questions go:

  • Use single leg exercises as accessory exercises

  • 4 weeks of HEAVY loading can be way too much, dependent upon your strength levels. 6 weeks is the max I would go without unloading, and that’s even for beginners. If you are an intermediate level lifter, you should be taking breaks every 3-4 weeks tops.

Stay strong
MR

[quote]bg100 wrote:
Mike,

Thanks for the reply. Did you get to look at my workout log thread for the finer details? I’m just curious to know what you think of the exercise selections I have made. Of course the second time around I will be changing them for variety. I realised that I left out single leg exercises, would you include these as an accessory or one of the main lifts?

As for backing off weeks I will take a complete week off lifting after the 6 weeks is up. Also, weeks 1-2 are more hypertrophy based being 6-10 reps and use lighter loads, so I am only going VERY heavy for 4 of the 6 weeks. I also put the higher reps in to help with learning oly lift technique with lots of reps and lighter loads.

Mike Robertson wrote:
BG,

Looks pretty good; don’t forget that you need time of unloading as well to allow your body time to recover. I believe Jack Reape wrote a piece a while back entitled “Back of and Grow.” It’s simple, to the point, and could probably help your training.

Stay strong
MR

bg100 wrote:
G’day Mike,

I’m currently training for strength as well as learning the Olympic lifts (been reading too much of Mr John’s articles and got inspired!)

My program is posted in this forum under “BG100’s Training Log”, I hope it is still on the current pages otherwise you might have to search for it. But in summary it is a 6 week program split into three 2-week blocks of exercises. I thought I might try to “wave-load” my load progression with each cycle, so in weeks 1-2 the reps are about 6-10, weeks 3-4 they are 3-5 and weeks 5-6 they are 1-3.

For each workout I start by doing an oly lift using a two wave load. I then choose two other compound movements to make sure it is a total body workout (weeks 1-2 are 3x8, weeks 3-4 are 3x5 and weeks 5-6 are 5x3), one accessory or prehab lift and then one “normal” and one oblique abdominal movement.

I’ve been meaning to update the training log but haven’t had the time to do so, hopefully I will this weekend but it has been going well, especially on the oly lifts. I might repeat for another 6 weeks after a rest week but already have some ideas for minor changes.

Check the thread for all of the details on lifts I am using.

Cheers,

Ben

[/quote]

29

Massif,

Sounds good buddy; make sure you are doing lots of static work for the core as well. I would suggest static back extensions, side and front pillar bridges for time to improve endurance.

As well, make sure your hips are loose and doing their job. I can’t explain how many back injuries I see because people are so damn tight in their hips! The “Get Your Butt in Gear” series could be very beneficial for you.

Good luck!

Stay strong
MR

[quote]Massif wrote:
Hi Mike,

Good topic! My current goals at the moment is to increase both strength and stamina in the old Posterior Chain. It has been a weak spot for some time now due to a ruptured disc (L5-S1), but I’m presently seeing some really good improvements.

I’m doing rack pulls, rack cleans, back extentions and reverse hypers and GHRs. It’s working well at the moment (touch wood).[/quote]

30

I’m training for point sparring (yeah, I know what T-Nation-ites think of it… fag tag).
But anyway, my routine is
Monday, Wednesday: 4k runs.
Tuesday, Thursday: 100 meter sprints OR if the weather is bad outside, I’ll stay in, and do bag work.

In addition to that, I go to the dojo on Tuesdays and Thursdays for an hour, and Saturdays for 5 hours.

31

Ok people, I’m out of here. See you for Prime Time next Tuesday!

Stay strong
MR

32

My goal is to get to 250lbs @ less than 10% bodyfat.

If I get stronger - great. If I look good Nekkid - great. I want to be huge and lean - by any means necessary.

33

Mike,
I was looking at your designer athlete before and was wondering if there was a way to work it into a 3-day a week program. I have very limited access to a gym over the summer, since i lift at my old highschool and i can only get in when the coaches open it up. That and also i have a full-time job over the summer that the schedule changes very often.

Thanks
EN

[quote]Mike Robertson wrote:
Eric,

It’s not bad, but it’s not great either. I wrote the article “Designer Athletes” specifically for people like yourself. I’m not saying you have to ditch what you are doing, but you can probably get more out of a better program. Just my .02, FWIW.

Stay strong
MR

eric486 wrote:
The BFS program goes like this
Week 1: 3X3
Mon: Towel Bench (you have a towel on you chest and bring the bar down to that)
Squat

Wed: Power Cleans, Deadlifts, Incline Bench

Fri: Box Squat, Bench

Week 2:5X5

Mon: Towel Bench, Squat

Wed: Power Cleans, Deadlifts, Incline Bench

Fri: Box Squat, Bench

Week 3: 5/4/3/2/1

Mon: Towel Bench, Squat

Wed: Power Cleans, Deadlifts, Incline Bench

Fri: Box Squat, Bench

Week 4: 10/8/6

Mon: Towel Bench, Squat

Wed: Power Cleans, Deadlifts, Incline Bench

Fri: Box Squat, Bench

Then from there on you fill the rest of your workouts with auxilary lifts that help your sport.

EN

[/quote]

34

My goal is to look like Jay Cutler. I do all his programs from ‘Flex’. My question is, how do I train my jaw and brow ridges? They seem heavily hypertrophied but aren’t mentioned in any of his programs.

35

Hey Mike,

Thanks for asking.

My goals are to be incredibly srong and outrageously thick yet conditioned. I intend to compete in strongman and powerlifting within the next year or two.

I’m currently training with my own hybrid westside template. I typically train upper body on Monday, Lower Body on Thursday, and do events or olympic lifting on Saturday with a little sled dragging during the week. I break my training into 3 week blocks and train ME on week 1, DE on week 2, and endurance on week 3, then I start over. I actually came up with this program after following some recommednations you gave me last summer about getting into strongman training. You suggested that the strongmen you knew typically trained their whole body twice a week with event training one day per week. I followed your suggestions with great results last summer and decided I would modify it to fit my needs better by stealing some ideas from Thibaudeau’s pendulum training while utilizing some westside principles. I’ve only been training this way for a few weeks so we’ll see how it goes.

During the winter I developed a severe case of brochitis and then just recently had to have my wisdom teeth removed so I have been slacking the past few months.

Anyway, I’ll probaly stick with this through the summer and then switch to a more traditional powerlifting program in the fall.

In addition to my training, Cressey just gave me some good nutrition tips for strength and power athletes so I’m pretty pumped. I don’t like traditional bodybuilding diets but I am interested in anything that will help my performance.

Thanks for all of your help. Take care.