I am a 20 year old college football player. I’m 6’5", 250 lbs and train year round (lifting as well as speed and quickness). My friends and I are interested in gaining mass as well as increases in strength and power. We are concerned that our current lifting program is not helping us achieve optimal gains.
The program is a four day a week program. Monday’s consist of Heavy Legs, Back and Bi’s; Tuesday’s is Heavy Chest, Shoulders and Tri’s; Wednesday is off with 25 minutes of cardio. Thursday and Friday are light days of Monday and Tuesday. Saturday and Sunday are off, with cardio on Saturday.
Our program is very basic. Monday: freeweight squat, deadlift and powercleans, pullups to failure, one major back exercise (i.e. bentover rows), straight bar curls and hammer curls. Tuesday: Bench press, incline press, push press, dumbbell military, close grip bench, upright rows, dips. Abdominals are done every lifting day, 5 x 50. Thursday and Friday are the same as Monday and Tuesday, but with lighter weight and some variation in auxiliary exercises. (ex. 2-way shoulders instead of dumbell military press)
All workouts are supposed to be completed in under 1 hour. 2-3 min rest between major lifts and 30 secs in between auxiliary lifts. The program is split into three phases. The first (foundation) is a high rep phase - 3 sets of 10 reps for most exercises. The second phase consists of 5 sets of 5 reps for major lifts usually, slightly less reps in auxiliary exercises (3 x 8). The final phase is a pyramid, 8 x 6 x 4 x 2 x 2, for major lifts and the usual for auxiliary (3 x 6-8).
We are interested in your thoughts on this program, and what you would recommend for athletes like us. We have read many of your articles and training ideas, but are unsure how to implement them into our workout, or which we should utilize.
Finally, what are you’re thoughts for supplements? We try to eat five meals a day, high in protein, moderate carbs and low fat. We’ve tried protein shakes, creatine, and amino acids. I’ve also read an article where you proposed colostrum and protein digestion supplements. What would you suggest? Also what are your feelings on androsol?
Thank you very much for your time. We are interested in your thoughts. If you have any questions you can email me.