What Routine Has Given You the Best Results?

Training Bodybuilding
21

[quote]David1991 wrote:
Its always like this with westside, even when i get a link i still dont know what the hell the routine is lol, all of the links posted are pages to articles or other links

Sagat wrote:
jstreet0204 wrote:
I think the single most important element to any program is the intensity you bring to it. Most people have no idea how to push themselves. The people you see making big gains on any program are the ones that do.

I agree… avoiding train failure is one of the most unproductive things i’ve tried, not that i go always to failure, starting easy is as much important as pushing hard, but you should bring a lot intensity in the right time.

i agree i think u should go to failure all the time but i also think it’s important to start short of failure and build ur way up to it, not avoiding it entirely

[/quote]

That is pretty much what I have alsways done. I don’t try to go to failure on every set. I use failure as a guage to determine if I need to move the weight up the next week. When starting a new program I will start somewhere close to where I think I’ll go to failure and then adjust it the next week.

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the p-rr-s system

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I think everyone gets their best result on whatever first serious routine they go through.

For me it was HIT believe it or not. I did not use machines but I focused on all the big compound exercises: bench press, pulldowns or chins, rows, leg press, squat, sldl. 1 or 2 really hard sets with a heavy weight that allowed around 6 reps for upper body, 12-15 for lower body.

I gained like 20 pounds (from around 160 to 180) in less than a year. That was 8 years ago. After that the gains where much harder to come by but still coming REGARDLESS of routine.

Now I just focus on strength progression. My only advice is beware of programs that don’t have a prescription for progression. You should know exactly when to add more weight. If you are not consistently adding weight, you will stagnate.

My favorite approach so far has been micro loading i.e. small 1 or 2 pound increments via fractional plates. You always know you are going to make the target reps while maintaining high level of intensity. And I always end up adding a ton of weight over a moderate amount of time.

24

[quote]David1991 wrote:
Ok i know this is a really general question but i’ve been reading a lot of T-Nation and wow there are so many damn routines and articles being made every week!

There are of course all of the basics and personally i think diet is probably the most important aspects of getting results, basically it could be the best routine ever but without enough quality food nothings gonna happen. that being said when i see all these different routines i want to try them so badly, mainly these arm and calf ones lol.

then i read the forums and its like “Chad Waterbury is amazing” “chad’s principles suck” “this program worked amazingly” “this program sucked”…lol.

so although the same thing doesnt work for everyone i’m just wondering, what has personally worked best for u? it could be a certain split, a certain training principle (HIT, HVT, HST, etc…). i’d like to see the answer from all different members so it’s not so biased[/quote]

Now i realized that i commented on jstreet post but not ansewered the question… The routines i found that worked best for me for hypertrophy were fullbody 3x a week(sometimes 4x) week using low(4-6) or medium reps(8-12) in each workout, and not a lot of sets.

I found alternating 2 workouts better than 3 or 4(doing each exercise more frequently). For strength, fullbody 3x a week or upper/lower 3-4x with lower reps and a little higher rep mixed. As far as “workouts with name” i liked HST a lot and plan to go back to it making some adjustments.

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The best routine for me is the one I am on now and have been on for a year and half with minor adjustments along the way.

All exercises get 1 to 2 main sets of 6 to 8 or 8 - 10 reps with negatives and static holds used on exercises that allow them. I include necessary warmups before and during the workout.

Each workout begins with five minutes of slow cardio and static stretching of the muscles groups to be trained (yeah, functional dickheads, I said I do slow cardio and STATIC stretching beforehand).

I do glute activation and mobility drills on leg and back day (ie: fire hydrants, bird dogs, butt kicks, shoulder dislocations with a light bar, etc. a la Eric Cressey and Mike Robertson). I have been heavily influenced by Dorian Yates, Trevor Smith, Mike Mentzer, Marc Dugdale, and all the other high intensity, low volume proponents.

Day 1
CHEST (pre exhaust routine)
Incline flies
Incline dumbbell press
Pec deck (+ static holds)
Flat bench dumbbell press
BIS
Reverse curls (+ negatives)
Incline hammer curls (+ negatives)
Machine preacher curls (+ static holds)

Day 2
CALVES
Donkey calf raises
Seated calf raises
HAMSTRINGS (pre exhaust)
Leg curl (+ negatives)
High and wide stance leg press
Single leg curl (+static holds)
QUADS
Squats or Smith machine squats
Walking lunges
Leg extensions

Day 3
SHOULDERS AND TRAPS
Overhead standing press (end with two push presses and negatives)
Seated dumbbell lateral raises
Cable lateral raises (+ static holds)
Dumbbell shrugs
TRICEPS
Close grip bench press
1/4 triceps dips (body kept upright as possible while still dipping down)
Lying dumbbell extensions (+negs)

Day 4
BACK (pre-exhaust)
Stiff arm cable pulldown
Pullups (30 second negative on last rep)
Bent over lateral raises
Dumbbell rows
Reverse pec deck
Seated rows (+ static holds)
Deadlifts

The static holds, negatives, and going to failure or near failure is taken about 5 to 6 weeks in a row. Then I take one week stopping 1 to 2 reps short of failure to avoid losing my mind and body perhaps.

Pre exhaust has helped bring up my lagging hamstrings and has caught my torso, chest and back, up to my arms and shoulders which used to overpower my torso aesthetically and during certain exercises for my chest and back.

I do not give a shit what anyone says to discredit this method for mass building as my chest and back have caught up quite nicely, mass wise. I am currently 225# at 5’10" and the proudest I have ever been in my life physique wise.

Even a woman the other night on the town thought I was a doorman of a bar. This was a huge compliment and an indication of progress for me. I would like to do my first show next year in a natural federation, perhasp OCB or INBF.

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Diet along with it…

Meal 1
Two huge pancakes made of 6 to 8 egg whites, two yolks, one banana, and a cup of oatmeal (put in a blender, blend, pour on skillet)

Meal 2
Cottage cheese
Peanut butter
Whole wheat bread

Meal 3
Large salad with flax and olive oil and balsamic vinegar
6 to 8 oz chicken, beef, or fish
Potatoes or brown rice
Piece of fruit

Meal 4
Same salad as above with same dressing
6 to 8 oz of pro as above
Same starchy carbs

Mid workout: 1 scoop waxy maize, 1 scoop Gatorade powder, 1 scoop pro powder
Post workout: same

Meal 5
Same as meal 3 or cheat meal when allowed (four times per week (90/10% of meals a la John Berardi and Joy Bauer))
Cheat meal is usually Burger King as I have a HUGE weakness for Double Whoppers with cheese and fries

Meal 6
8 egg whites with two yolks
Some cheese

Probably about 4,000 kcals per day and 300 grams of protein.

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so bricknyce ur basically following HIT principles right? from everyone else i’ve seen post about it except one other they said it sucked. that seems like more volume that a traditional HIT workout but im not too familiar with HIT in general.
that leg day looks like it would suck, doing squats at the end of the workout lol

as far as diet i wish i could have 4 cheat meals a week without issues haha, i put on fat so easily

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deadlifts and pull ups… and sometimes rows

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[quote]1morerep wrote:
the p-rr-s system[/quote]

Hah. Is that a specific system, or just setting PR’s day in day out? I totally agreee with it if it’s the latter.

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Superhero program from CT.

http://www.T-Nation.com/portal_includes/articles/2006/06-021B-training.html

following the ‘diet’ John Berardi mentions in that article.

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[quote]David1991 wrote:
so bricknyce ur basically following HIT principles right? from everyone else i’ve seen post about it except one other they said it sucked. that seems like more volume that a traditional HIT workout but im not too familiar with HIT in general.
that leg day looks like it would suck, doing squats at the end of the workout lol

as far as diet i wish i could have 4 cheat meals a week without issues haha, i put on fat so easily[/quote]

I work quads after calves and hamstrings because I am prioritizing my calves and hamstrings. My quads are monstrous compared to my calves and hamstrings. It does suck doing squats at that time of the workout but I endure it.

I have been INFLUENCED by some HIT proponents, Ellington Darden, Mike Mentzer, and Arthur Jones. However, I do not utilize a HIT routine in the strictest sense. This is a low volume, highly intensive routine. Its the way I love training and it gives me the best results I could ever have, in my opinion. I do not do volume for volume’s sake and cannot see the reasoning behind favoring volume over intensiveness. Some say that a high volume routine can give you a break by taking stress off the body.

I do this simply by backing off every 5 to 6 weeks by stopping a rep or two short of failure and not using any intensive techniques. I do a total of 4 to 8 sets per bodypart, except back, which gets a total of 14 being that I cover vertical and horizontal pulling exercises, rear delts, and erectors in one workout. In addition, I have never saw one guy with a huge back that did not do many exercises for it. Higher volume is needed for back in my bias.

32

im surprised u can get good results from only 4-8 sets once a week with u training experience. i would generally expect more frequency or higher volume as u gained training experience but i guess thats not the case here

jw what is ur avatar a pic of?

33

I did far more volume when I first started and a higher frequency of training as well. As I became more advanced, I split my bodyparts up in four workouts as you can see and decreased my amount of sets for exercises. I train to failure and sometimes beyond failure on some exercises and short of failure during backoff weeks.

I am unsure what JW stands for. My avatar is a pic of an icon that a well known dead graffiti writer from my area of Queens, NYC, used to paint instead of his tag name or in addition to it. His name was Mirage, but was also known as “The Feet” and Mac. He was up all over the subways and highways when I was a little kid (8 to 13 years old). I used to read his stuff when I was bored out of my mind traveling to Manhattan, the Bronx, and New Jersey. He was part of one of the most notorious graffiti crews of NYC, TMR (The Mighty Rebels aka The Mob Rules aka The Master Race). Here is a picture of his work from 1987. I was 8 years old when I first noticed this piece on the Clearview Expressway.

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Mirage TMR, Clearview Expressway, late 1980s.

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Notice the feet icon on the right again.

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TMR, Clearview Expressway, early '90s.

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[quote]Bricknyce wrote:

I have been heavily influenced by Dorian Yates, Trevor Smith, Mike Mentzer, Marc Dugdale, and all the other high intensity, low volume proponents.

[/quote]

While my training doesnt look much “bodybuilding style” or anything i really like the training philosophy of this guys. And makes me think: if this guys doesnt needed that much volume to build that level of size and strength (usually the low volume guys are among the strongest BBs) why the average gym guys think they need 67 sets for bodypart? I discovered that lowering the volume made a lot of difference…

38

low is pretty relative, how low are u talking about. What I do is probably considered low for most bodybuilding routines

39

[quote]David1991 wrote:
low is pretty relative, how low are u talking about. What I do is probably considered low for most bodybuilding routines[/quote]

As you said its relative, i dont go very low on sets but many of this sets arent very hard (the weights increase each set for the same reps for example) so i think it isnt considered work sets. I think that anything less than 6-8 work sets for a muscle group can be considered low volume.

40

The perfect pushup and perfect pull-up program.

lol seriously, strength wise, it has to be Starr’s 5x5.
Size I’m still experimenting with workouts, but I’ll tell you one thing (which I’m sure you know) no workout for size goes far without eating plenty. I’ve learned the hard way :frowning: