I’d like to see what types of routines every body uses, as I am looking at starting a new routine. Let me know if your routine is on gear or natural, THANKS
I use a routine specifically designed to prioritize my weaknesses and has my own personal recovery and life situations in mind. You should too… Don’t go for the cookie-cutter program unless you really don’t know what you’re doing.
I agree with Doug, but I like to take his suggestions and put them in the framework of the Westside system.
I’m just finishing a strength program that I put together as follows. Monday: Deadlifts, seated rows, overhead presses, lateral raises. Wednesday: Weighted chins, close-grip benches, clean pulls, additional triceps work. Friday: Front squats followed immediately by back squats, power cleans, biceps.
I was following Poliquin’s 6x2(4) method and made good strength gains. Prior to that, I did a similar split with the same exercises following the 5x5 method. I’m about to take a week off. Then I will resume with Charles Staley’s Convergent Phase Training. I’ll still be lifting Mon, Wed, Fri, but my three main exercises will be barbell rows, deadlifts and close-grip benches. I’ve only made a few minor changes to the other exercises to suit me and my weaknesses. I’ll follow that for three months. Take a week off, regroup and then see what needs to be worked.
It has taken me too damn long to figure out what works best for me. I've made more gains in the last 2-3 months than I have in the last two years. That is what listening to your body and proper nutrition can do for you!
I was using a two-day-per-week routine of (a) pull-ups, squats, dips, crunches; (b) deads, bench press, row, crunches. This was on a Monday/Thursday or Tuesday/Friday split. I’ve recently gone to the same workouts on Monday/Friday with an additional lighter workout on Wednesday of leg extensions, curls, side bends, shrugs, as peripheral stuff. On Tuesday and Thursday I run for about 20 minutes (am working on extending the runs). If I can sqeeze it in, I’ll do a bike ride on the weekends up to an hour. This is natural at an age of 37, and has taken me from 150 to 202 at a height of 5’11".
I do Poliquin’s 6x2-4 with weighted pullups, then Pavel’s Tsatsouline’s ladder and it works like crazy on my back.
Monday- chest, tri’s
Tuesday- back, bi’s
Wednesday- off
Thursday- legs, shoulders
Friday- chest, back
Saturday- bi’s, tri’s
Sunday- off
Cardio- 20mins on workout day, 40mins on off days, ab’s 15min 5x a week after cardio.
-Dozer
My routine varies depending on current goals etc, yet it always stays reasonable low volume (between 10-15 sets maximum per workout) and I try to give equal precedence to both hamstrings/quads as well as both horizontal and vertical push -pull movements (i.e bench/row and pull-up/overhead press movements) so as to maintain as much muscle balance as possible. I have found that by working at around six or so reps has allowed be to build both size and strength as long as my diet was adequate and i didnt go above three resistance sessions a week.
I do one bodypart a day 5 days a week. I change it aorund here and ther and my last split was as follow for alamost 6 weeks according to priorities and the way gyms are set up ie it will be a cold day in hell before I do a chest day on Monday lol.
May-June: Sunday-Arms: Monday-Legs:TUes or Wed-Shoulders,Calves: WEd or Thurs:Back Traps,
Thurs or Friday- Chest,Calves. The reason the last 3 bodyparts (shoulders, back, chest) have an either or day is because I would take a day off in between or go straight thru if up to it
My split after taking a week off until yesterday is as follows(last 6 weeks of cutting) Monday-Shoulders,Light triceps(4x15-20),calves, cardio mins: Tues-Back Traps/low back, Light biceps(4x15-20),Cardio 30 mins: Wed-Quads and Hamstring,30 min cardio: Thurs or friday: Chest, light delts(4x15-20), Calves, 30 mins cardio: Friday or Saturday Biceps,Triceps, Forearms 30 mins cardio.
I am also getting up 3-5 times a week at 430 am to do 30-40 mins of Cardio at 5am and some abs. Soemtimes I go to the gym and do whatever apparatus and on nice mornings I usually powerwalk as I live by a mountain so its up and downhill.
Sets and Reps- 8-16 sets moderate-heavy weights(just short of failure most sets) depending on the bodypart and keeping the rest periods down to a minute or less depending on the exercises.
Seems like alot of work but I have kept the same bodyweight for almost 2 months and I am still losing fat slowly and I get to keep my calories up and have the odd beer night out.
I have lost well over 50lbs since last year and I can say for the first time I hae been enjoying my workouts the past year compared to to a couple years previous. Thats the most important thing like I remember John Berardi saying in his excellent article last week. I am also looking at this long term and even though short term results with high intensity may e great, I would like to still be enjoying and doing this 20-40 years from now.
train HIT, doesn’t it seem funny that you asked people to say if they are on “gear” or not and no one that trains w/volume said if they are on “gear” or not. 3x’s a week 1 set to failure per body part, if you stop growing go to 2 workouts per week. I’m nat and just went from 258 to 227 in 6wks. while I gained 25-30lbs muscle. it DOES work
Hey Brider! Just wondering what sort of set/rep scheme you have going on? I do a similar routine during my rugby season and seems to work quite well. If you can, post your training poundages as well…just out of interest. thanks bro 
Um I am not on gear heytey.
But funny how you can say “I train HIT and went from 258-227 while gaining 25-30 lbs of muscle in a matter of weeks” yet you are natural. Gimme a break. If you made those kind of gains over a matter of weeks you must have trained in the past and are experiencing “muscle memory” .
Other than that to do that in a matter of weeks is totol bullshit eeven with drugs on any kind of program.
If you make gains like that you should go for the Mr Olympia as you have better genetics then Ronnie Coleman, Dorian Yates, Lee Priest, Kevin Levrone, Sergio Olivia, Lee Haney and Arnold Schwarzenegger combined.
I didn’t feel to respond at first but it seems like all your posts are slamming anyone who doesn’t do HIT. If it works for you fine, but stop making assumptions about those of us who do things differently then you.
Finally ask yourself a question. 10 years from now us people who train differently from you and don't burn out our adrenals will probably still be training.You will probably be burned out or injured if you train like that long term.
Don’t believe me? Well ask yourself a question, how come Mike Mentzer didn’t even train for many years like he preached to everyone else? Because his body could not take the long term punishment of doing HIT year after year, decade after decade.
HIT like all programs has a use,but it is only as good for as long as it keeps you progressing and consistent in the gym.
Anyways post some before and after pics of how well your system works.I am not doubting you are a big guy, but I would like to see a before and after pic to confirm your miraculous transformation. Hey speaking of transformations, maybe you should enter body for life with your bullshit story, maybe you will win. At the rate you are going you could be 350lbs of muscle by the end of the year.
And while we are at it maybe we should call people like Bill Pearl and all the other old timers and tell him he is been training wrong all these years even though at age 70 he probably has better muscle conditioning and mass then most guys in thier 20’s and 30’s.
It’s also interesting that all the HIT proponents claim incredibly insane things, just as their founder always did. (Like gaining 25lbs of muscle and losing 55lbs of fat in six weeks). Let’s be honest with ourselves here for a second Hetyeh. You did NOT gain 25lbs of muscle and lose 55lbs of fat as your message suggested in six weeks. Not even a complete beginner who has never touched a weight, using a gram of gear a week could expect 25lbs of raw muscle in six weeks, much less with a concurrent 55lb fat loss. You’re just as much of a blowhard as every other 140lb, 20% bodyfat HIT proponent I’ve met. It does NOT work. Myself, every one of my trainees, every one of my gym buddies, and every decorated strength coach I’ve encountered has used planned variations in volume and intensity (%1RM) with proper nutrition and no steroids and made excellent progress. Apparently we’re wrong though since we don’t add 30lbs to our benches every time we go to the gym or gain 5lbs of muscle per week.
Poundages are rather paltry, but considering where I started, they’re okay. I do a double progression, so the reps aren’t constant, but I’ll try to give you an idea of what I do. Monday – Pull-ups, three sets of 5 for pronated grip, first set without added weight, then the rest with +30 lbs, then as many sets of 5 with a neutral grip @+30 lbs as I can do, then a set or two of supinated grip as many as I can do, no added weight. Squats, 5x120 for warm-up, 4x170, 3x210, 220 as many times as I can keep form (currently 12), then a second set @220 around 7 reps. Dips, one set of 3 no added weight, as many as possible with +30 lbs (now at 13 reps), then another set to failure (around 8 reps), then another set without the added weight. Crunches, about 30-40 reps holding 2 10 lb plates. Friday – Deads, 5x120 warm-up, 4x170, 3x210, 230 as many as possible holding form (now at 10 reps), second set @230 (about 7 reps). Dumbell bench press, recently did away with the warm-up, but I think I’ll put it back in, 60 lb for 12 reps (current failure rep), second set to failure (about 6 reps). Then do 2 sets of 1-arm rows with 60lb dumbell. Then crunches again same as Monday. Like I said, the weights are pretty paltry considering I’m 5’11" and 202 lb. But considering two years ago I was only doing 150 lb squats and the same for deads, I think I’m doing okay. I don’t claim that my training routine is the most effective, but it fits into my life and has brought me up from 150lbs during my endurance training days (past triathlete and cyclist).
I’ve recently used individualized versions of IK’s Get Buffed and Staley’s CPT. Both programs are effective and a lot of fun. Current goals are building strength and power, while maintaining <10%bf. Not using any gear either.
first I know it is hard for anyone that trains volume style to believe but the fact is the changes I have made are REAL. I don’t realy care if you believe me or not (I’ll sleep fine either way). and NO, I’m not a genetic freek , infact I don’t think have great genetics for gaining muscle at all (although I am geneticaly blessed when it comes to strength). as far as pictures go I will be posting them when I feel like I’ve gotten to where I want to be (real lean @ 225#). as far as mentzer training, he had other problems that had nothing to do with physical burnout.as far as juice, no I don’t take any and have not since I got back in the gym ( I took them 14 yrs ago). my bodywt. (as I’m sure everyones does) moves up and down by about 5# dureing the day, so as I said in an earlier post on another sub. it is possible that in the begining I could have weighed myself at the high point for the day and yesterday I could have weighed myself at the lightest for the day but overall I am sure I am pretty close to accurate. I also am pretty sure about the aprox. muscle gain because I have added well over an inch and a half (right now I think I added almost 1 3/4") to my arms and a pretty conservative est. is that 10lbs of muscle on an average person = about 1" on your arms (keep in mind how much body wt.(fat) I lost at the same time. and yes some of it is muscle memory but I had not worked out in over 3 yrs. and I’m 31 so its not like I’m going thru puberty.
whoa hetyeh, back up here for a second pal. You went from 258 to 227 in six weeks with a gain of 30 lbs of muscle as well? If my numbers are right that means you lost 61 pounds of fat and added 30 pounds of muscle in six weeks!!! I’m not saying that training one set to failure won’t work, but I think you need to be realistic here. Haven’t you ever wondered why Mike could look so awesome in his day (while very much into using steroids), yet when he grew older, he looked absolutely pathetic despite the fact that he had all the available fiber and muscle memory of a former Olympia competitor? And all the while he made outrageous claims that were similar to yours, such as he added 100 lbs to his 10 rep leg extension in 3 months. I’ve never used steroids Hetyeh, and I gave Heavy Duty training an honest shot for about 6 months when I was in highschool (I used the exact program out of Heavy Duty II: Mind and Body, and even decreased my training frequency as he recommended when I noticed no progress). I got smaller and weaker, and when I finally wised up and found some big Canadian guy (yeah, that’s Poliquin) writing for Muscle Media and learned how to cycle my loading and volume, my progress resumed. I’ve been training people for a couple years now, and along the way I’ve met quite a few people who were as mesmerized as you (and me about 6 years back) with the dogmatic confidence of Mike Mentzer. So I don’t blame you at all for following his system. All I can say is that you may want to try a higher volume training system, just as an experiment, and see how it goes. Hell, I’ll even set you up for the next 9 weeks for free, if you’ll agree to take some photos and post them. If you’re too close-minded and afraid that you’ll overtrain (as I may have been), then I guess I can’t help you.
thanks for the info, brider! “them weights ain’t too bad”, and a weight increase like you’ve accomplished is nothing to sneeze at either. 
Are you crazy I don’t have enough time the site her and write my comprehensive program out. But I will tell you this every two months I switch from basic mass builders (bodybuilding type training) to strength training (power lifting type training). Two mouths power lifting then two mouths bodybuilding. It works very well for my particular needs.
Right now I’m using The bring the pain program for legs, and for my upper body I’m using sets of 5’s at 80% of 1RM until I can’t complete 5. Very similar to Pavel’s Russian Bear Program.