most defintly hook me up with that list. i need new lunches so i can stop starving or ending up eating at burgerking.
i seriously am sick of doing 500 crunches every other night…i need to see some results…i need new foods.
This shit is not conflicting at all. Everybody just wants to follow ancient bodybuilding dogma without first realizing that these guys are on excessive amounts of drugs and they are also “perfect scenarios”…they workout, eat (alot), and rest…you could grow doing just about anything in the gym LOL…also people want to forget about ol’ Lou Ferigno who did full body routines 3x a week when it comes to “empirical evidence”.
It’s easy to fall into training bodyparts instead of movements…once programmed most people become very close minded to different methods of training…especially if they have seen ANY results at all…And yes there are tons of studies…just people disregard them like you are now…The most basic study done states that when you provide stimulus to muscle tissue via resistance training, protein synthesis is elevated for a window of 48 hours…so by targeting a muscle once a week…that muscle is growing 2 days a week out of 7. If you go to T-Nation you can find ALL KINDS of articles written by elite fitness coaches who are completely against body part splits…mike boyle and alwyn cosgrove are two that come to mind…shoot them an email and they will be glad to provide you with all the studies and evidence you can stand.
Yeah, they kinda are. Especially when training for strength…Reidar posted a link to a great article at Westside about that a little while ago…very enlightening indeed.
It’s not though…Oly lifters and powerlifters alike all train certain movements multiple times a week. This comes back to people not wanting to be open minded…well what if I told you that your favorite body part split works shoulders 3 times a week? Chest one day…back another…shoulders on it’s own day…all these days work shoulders, whether you want to admit it or not. Everytime you grab a dumbell or a barbell for a compound lift…you are working your shoulders, if ever so slightly…via shoulder adduction, abduction, or external rotation. This is one of the reasons shoulder injuries/imbalances are so common in the everyday gym.
He briefly mentions “barbell” curls…which are much different than concentration or preacher curls…Just like he says nothing of arnold pressing…but standing push presses…Back raises? If you mean hyper extensions…they are as much an isolation exercise as Stiff Legged Deadlifts…Hypers work the entire posterior chain…grab a plate and let it really stretch you out and you will feel it in ur hams…it falls into the “hip/ham dominant movement” category.
No they aren’t completely useless…but when training movements in a high frequency routine they take up too much time. When using heavy compound lifts as the basis for a workout…isolation work not only takes a back seat, but isn’t as necessary. People also want to fucking DESTROY small muscles like bi’s and tri’s when it just isn’t necessary…At the end of an upper body routine you can superset bi’s and tri’s with one choice exercise for 3-4 sets and get the job done. Most people think more is better, and in the world of bodybuilding, it just isn’t…train smart and hard, not long.
You know what…I’ve seen a lot of results with body part splits…I’ve also had shoulder and back problems too. I just choose not to ignore what’s right in my face with what these fitness and strength coaches have been preaching as long as I’ve been listening. And what they say makes sense. Bottom line is most people are going to do what they want to…or what comes easy or natural to them…what they’re used to…what their dumbass friend swears is the fucking truth…
Interestingly enough…I was talking to a guy the other day in the gym who competes and knows a few of the old school bodybuilders…he swears that ALL these guys are lying about what they did or what they are doing now…what they eat, how they workout, how often they workout…he swears they don’t workout but every other day…eat whatever the fuck they want to…letting the growth hormone keep the fat off…then drop water before competition. Just a little food for thought…
10 Things I’ve Learned
Ramblings From a Mathematically
Challenged Fitness Coach
by Alwyn Cosgrove
Note: T-Nation asked Cosgrove to tell us his top ten tips. He gave us 34.
- In training, the only thing that matters is the result. It doesn’t matter what used to happen, what you think should happen, what a textbook tells you is happening, what the experts say, or what a bunch of borderline-retarded pencildicks on a forum post about.
What matters is actually what happens! Once a coach really understands this and can let go of any preconceived notions of what “should” have happened, he can really get results.
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When designing training programs, resist the pressure to conform to any tradition or system of beliefs, no matter how dogmatically that tradition or those beliefs are presented, or how much you get “slammed” for not conforming. This applies to training and life. It’s also why I stopped wearing kilts when I moved to America.
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Take training advice only from guys who’ve trained themselves to a reasonably high level or make their living from getting results with real people. Be aware though that “doing” and “coaching” don’t always exist in the same person!
The game changes when it’s “put up or shut up” time and you have to actually get a result in order to put food on the table. A lot of people writing and talking about training have never had to do that. The same is true for business and life in general.
- My favorite Bruce Lee quote is: “Absorb what is useful, reject what is useless.” The full quote finishes with “… add what is specifically your own.”
So just make sure you take any advice and tweak it based on your own experiences. A good coach will use all his knowledge and experience to help you; when you add in your ownknowledge and experience, then you’ve got something.
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A good program performed poorly is worthless. A shitty program done with a ton of effort is worth a lot. But when you get a good program and a ton of effort, the results can be amazing.
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Keep your own personal attitude pendulum in the center. In training, nutrition, and pretty much everything, we always see an overreaction to anything new in the short term and an under-reaction in the long term. Smart people do neither and take the information for what it is. We went through a massive overreaction and are currently under-reacting to static stretching, stability ball training, aerobic training, and overtraining. In other words:
Swiss balls are a useful tool. Don’t ignore them.
Kettlebells are a useful tool. Don’t ignore everything else.
Mr. Spielberg, Tom Cruise is a moderately competent actor. Don’t put him in every damn film.
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If your training is perfect, your nutrition is perfect, and your supplementation is perfect, and you still aren’t making progress, it’s likely your pickle consumption that’s holding you back.
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Research in training can only be used as a guide. Research is a perfectly controlled situation; the real world is different.
The best you can take from the research is that with group A for B weeks under C conditions, we experience D results to E stimulus. So under the exact same A, B, C, D, and E conditions, you might have something you can use. Otherwise it’s more of a guide.
And, in any effect, research is typically playing catch up studying (or trying to disprove) what coaches are already doing. Only a combination of the research and the real world will be useful.
- A complete training program has to include movement preparation, flexibility work, injury prevention work, core work, cardiovascular work, strength training, and recovery/regeneration. Most programs cover, at best, two of those.
A lot of training programs only cover the strength training portion. Be well rounded; address everything. Adding in one stretching session per week and developing your own good warm-up routine will go a long way in helping your results.
- “Methods are many, principles are few
Methods may change, but principles never do.”
Keep this in your head when evaluating programs. The principles of boxing are pretty much written in stone, but the methods that Muhammad Ali and Mike Tyson used are different. If your program violates the simple principles of training (such as overload) it doesn’t matter how cool it looks, it won’t work.
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Regardless of pesticides, fructose levels, etc., people who eat the most fruits and vegetables are healthier than those who eat the least. You’re going to have a hard time convincing me that the current obesity epidemic is a result of people eating too many apples!
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Get a foam roller and use it. Don’t worry about the strength, size, or flexibility of your muscles until you work on the quality of the tissue.
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I’ve never gotten dumber from reading any book (with the possible exception of “My Life: The Paris Hilton Story”). It always makes me smile when I hear people asking, “Is this book worth it?” I can honestly say I’ve never read anything that didn’t enhance my knowledge in some way. Knowledge is the only guaranteed slump-buster in any field.
Charlie Jones once said, “Five years from now, you will be exactly the same, apart from the people you meet and the books you’ve read.” Read a book a week. Elite coach Mike Boyle once told me though, “Don’t believe everything you read. But definitely don’t just read what you believe.”
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Most beginners need to train more on a regular basis. Advanced guys need to train less but train harder.
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No one ever improved from just training; they improved from recovering from training. Training plus recovery = results. Pay as much attention to both to really reap the rewards.
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I got punched in the spine once in a Taekwon-Do match. Interesting thing is, my opponent went through my stomach and ribcage to do it. I got real interested in core training after that.
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Your body can’t differentiate between stressors. Stress is like water from hundreds of taps flowing into a bathtub. Financial stress, relationships, health, and training stress are all different taps. When all the other taps are flowing full blast, turn down the training tap a little bit so your tub doesn’t overflow.
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Ninety percent of all supplements out there don’t do shit.
There are very few supplements that’ll do anything. Supplements are what I consider “progress accelerators.” If your current training and diet isn’t getting you bigger or leaner or whatever your goal is, then adding a supplement won’t help you. Supplements help to speed up the results you’re already getting.
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If you train lower body twice a week, unloading the spine in the second workout and doing dumbbell step-ups, split squats, glute-ham raises, etc. will make a big difference to your overall strength and recovery.
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Most athletes and people in general need to focus more on unilateral (single leg) lower body work than bilateral (both legs) lower body work. For non-powerlifters, most of life occurs on one leg. As a result, the single leg versions are more muscularly specific. In addition, by loading only one leg, the load on the back is decreased by 50%, another huge advantage.
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In training for power, there are two main sides to the debate. Komi suggests using sub-maximal load with fast repetitions. Schmidtbleicher suggests the intent to move the bar fast is more important than the actual bar speed. Both are probably right.
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My Taekwon-do instructor, Derek Campbell, is in my opinion the single greatest coaching mind on the planet, and by far one of the single biggest influences on my thinking today.
I have no doubt he could’ve coached me for the first half of a fight and had me winning, and switched corners halfway and had the other guy beat me. He took a skinny no-talent kid like myself and turned him into a champion. He’s the kind of person that changed someone’s life for the better. What kind of person are you?
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Skinny guys always think it’s their training. Fat guys always think it’s their diet. Usually skinny guys need a better diet and fat guys need a better training program.
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The recent trend to do low reps for fat loss is interesting. Actually, a lot of coaches seem to recommend low reps for everything: strength, gaining size, gaining strength without size, fat loss… everything!
So basically it’s just one program then, eh? Uh, no.
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In all my years, I’ve never seen anyone lose these massive amounts of muscle that
everyone is talking about when dieting. -
Training a body part once a week is dumb. The body responds better to frequent exposure. You don’t eat once a week, take all your supplements once a week, or train your heart (cardio) once a week, so why treat the rest of your body any different?
You can’t really split up a workout by body part very effectively anyway. For example, a bentover row is a “back” exercise, but a Romanian deadlift is a hamstring exercise, despite the fact that a bentover row involves one long isometric Romanian deadlift hold! So is it really a hamstring exercise instead? Do you see what I mean? The classification is flawed.
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At some point, the time taken and risk involved to improve X lift by Y pounds won’t be worth the benefit for most of us. But you may not be at that point yet.
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Eighty percent of your results come from 20% of your efforts. It’s a clich, and it’s been said a thousand times, but that doesn’t make it any less true.
The real skill however is in finding out what the effective 20% of your efforts is. In training, it’s pretty much squatting and deadlifting. Make sure, regardless of your goals, that your program includes some form of squats or deadlift variations.
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Be real. It doesn’t matter what people think of you. What matters is what you think of you. Of course, if I don’t think much of you, you can pretty much take it to the bank.
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Having cancer changed my attitude on everything. Unfortunately, it took being faced with death before I really appreciated life. As Margaretta Rockefeller said, “Once you’ve been confronted with a life and death situation, trivia no longer matters. Your perspective grows and you live at a deeper level. There is no time for pettiness.”
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Surround yourself with good people. You don’t have to know it all; you just have to know who to ask to find out. I’m in a lucky position in that I can consider some of the best trainers on the planet my friends.
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At some point, your parents will pass away. Treasure the times you have with them. You probably won’t appreciate this advice until it’s too late. So call your Mom on Sunday, you bastard.
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In terms of getting results with people, in a head to head competition I think I could hang with anyone in the field. There are only a few coaches out there that I’d be concerned about. You are not one of them.
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If this article is “exactly what you’re looking for,” then you are a mindless clown.
Good read.
Alright, here’s the diet program created by my former gym teacher (Michael Pollard).
Just some other things to also mention.
-If followed fully without doing any cadio, you lose 1/4 of a pound a day.
-I’m pretty sure 100% all natural fruit juices are acceptable drinks.
-100% whole wheat pancakes might taste like crap at first so start off with 50% regular flour and 50% whole wheat then change the ratio slowly to get use to the taste.
-Remember that all meat can only be prepared by steaming, broiling, and roasting.
-8 eight ounce glasses (64 ounces) of water a day is the minimum; you should really try to drink 1 ounce of water for every pound you weigh. If you have trouble doing that, just do the 8 eight ounce glasses.
That’s all I can think of from the top of my head. I never really needed this (yet), but I did adopt some things from it just to be a healthier. Hope this helps for anyone who needs it. :tup:
here is the thing right, PRIMARILY working out something 4 times a weak for BODYBUILDING is not good, you are talking about powerlifters and olympic lifters who lift for different reasons…
im not disregarding anything, there are a tone of studies done and most of the ones i read said there is nothing wrong with only working out a body part per week…
the thing is, that most of this shit is dependent on the individual, for example you could find a study that says this is most effective but there will be a TONE of people who exist who that shit will not be the most effective for…
im outi
Roberth
ps…i get most of my information from my former boss when i worked at the uofa gym, who trains olympic athletes and has a masters in health sciences, he always gave a the newest articles and journals written about weight training, really interesting shit they find…
Regardless of why they lift, they are still, for the most part, doing the same exercises…and if they were overtraining they wouldn’t keep getting stronger and stronger…they would peak and eventually injure themselves. They just train in different rep schemes to better cause neural adaptations to take place. And they train movements and not bodyparts…like we should…About primarily working a bodypart…if I do full body routines 3x a week, I’m primarily training my entire body 3x a week…are you saying something’s wrong with that??
There isn’t anything WRONG per say, with working a bodypart once a week…but it’s far from the best thing for a bodybuilder to be doing now…show me studies that show conclusively that less hypertrophy is better for optimal growth…
There are certain genetic factors and medical issues to be taken into consideration when training someone or training yourself…but we are not THAT much different…we all have chests and biceps…we should all be squatting and deadlifting our way to reaching our goals.
Olympic LIFTERS?? Or olympic athletes?? There’s a difference…and if he has oly lifters training body parts and not movements…then he is a hack and I will tell him that to his face.
im outi
here’s another article I found on t nation supporting high frequency routines for accelerated growth…see guys…this shit is not controversial…It’s actually a pretty popular way of training among people in the know.
Perfect 10 Training
High Frequency Training for Hypertrophy
by Chad Waterbury
More is Better
As a former bouncer, I’ve encountered many esoteric individuals in my life. I guess anyone could say the same, but those who choose to spend the better part of their lives as bouncers are a bit abnormal. Moreover, I can honestly say that the bouncers I’ve worked with have given me some of the best (and worst) advice I’ve ever heard.
One of the more memorable axioms I’ve been told was from a bouncer in Chicago. He said, “CW, fighting ain’t cool. Just remember, two wrongs don’t make a right. Therefore, you should always hit 'em three times.” That advice came in rather handy on an occasion or two, but honestly, I’m glad those days are long gone.
Since I now spend my days writing articles, I’ve found it useful to devise my own maxims. A well-designed program is useful, but general rules and philosophies will help readers more than any conglomeration of sets and reps. So what’s my maxim? It’s this:
If you seek hypertrophy (size gains) at the fastest possible rate, the more often you can train a muscle group the better.
I’ve made that statement on a few occasions, but I doubt most readers have made a diligent effort to apply and understand the veracity of it. Indeed, a properly periodized, high-frequency training plan will cause the fastest level of hypertrophy bar none.
What High Frequency Training Means
The term “high frequency” is very vague. For some, this would probably mean that they should bump up their frequency of training each body part to three times per week. For others, high frequency training would mean nothing short of training each body part twice each day for six days a week.
Well, both parties are correct because everything in life (and training) is relative. If you’ve only been training each body part once every 5-7 days, then training every body part for three sessions each week would create an appreciable stimulus for hypertrophy.
On the other hand, those who currently train each body part for 3-4 sessions per week are advised to focus on multiple daily training sessions.
What’s the point of this talk? The points are given in an effort to help you understand how complex this issue is to tackle since I must cater to thousands of readers (i.e. thousands of fitness levels). Indeed, the Perfect 10 program has been nothing short of an extraordinary undertaking. Before we get to the parameters, let me explain the genesis of this program.
The Cirque du Soleil Factor
As a physiologist, 2001 turned out to be a profoundly influential year in my life. Specifically, that was the year that I first attended the Cirque du Soleil show called Mystere. The show opened up my mind to accept training methodologies that I’d never previously considered. And it subsequently led to many of my most effective training regimes regimes that I’ve never written about, until now.
I heard about the show through various clients of mine, but I never would’ve guessed what I was about to see. For those of you who aren’t familiar with Cirque shows, I can tell you that they’re some of the most invigorating, inspirational, and mind-blowing displays of physical prowess that you’ll ever encounter. Not only do these performers possess remarkable levels of strength and flexibility, but they also have some of the most extraordinarily-developed bodies that you’ll ever see.
As I sat through the show, I thought about their training regimens. I thought, how in the hell did these guys build such proportionally huge lats, delts, and upper arms? Was it Mentzer’s Ayn Rand infused ranting that led them to this physique? Well, since their schedule consisted of up to twelve shows each week, I found it easy to dissolve that line of thinking.
Was it the incredible levels of training intensity with a primary focus on the eccentric muscle actions? After all, numerous skeletal muscle research studies have demonstrated the notion that the eccentric phase of training (the negative or lowering part of an exercise) leads to the most damage, thus the most perceived muscle growth. Nope, couldn’t be since such training methods would leave them in a state of stiffness, soreness, and poor athletic performance (during the recovery phase).
Instead, they must have found a “sweet spot” within their training parameters that allowed them to induce a stimulus sufficient for muscle growth without burning out their skeletal and neural systems. Based on what virtually every strength coach, fitness writer, and muscle magazine recommended, such a training regime just didn’t seem possible.
Hmmm, it seemed I’d stumbled upon a puzzle that had many missing pieces.
My Serendipitous Experience
That night I went back to my hotel room and decided to belly-up to the bar for a pre-bedtime toddy (usually I stick with ZMA, but this was Vegas, after all). The bartender opened up a conversation with, “What’d you do tonight?” I told him about the Cirque show and he replied, “Those two dudes who do incredible acrobatic tricks with each other? They’re brothers and they’re neighbors of mine.”
He went on to explain that they spend the better part of their day practicing the Cirque routine. He further expounded on the issue by saying, “Yeah, I often look out my window and see them in their backyard for hours perfecting the routine.” Man, I thought, these guys possess two of the most incredible physiques I’ve ever seen and they’re training with an unbelievable level of frequency a level of frequency that I’ve never read about from any “expert.”
I probably got about three hours of sleep that night. I just couldn’t stop wondering how these performers built up their capacity to withstand such training frequency. Then I started to question myself and thought that it must be genetics, drugs, or a combination of the two. But that line of thinking quickly shifted when I thought about my own experiences.
I thought about the soccer players I’d encountered and the level of calf development they displayed. Then I thought about the mechanics I’d befriended over the years in my hometown all with massive, ripped forearms. I also reminisced about the times I achieved the fastest, most profound levels of hypertrophy in a given muscle group.
In college, I spent the summers working for an apartment complex and one of my primary duties consisted of pulling mattresses up and down stairwells. I’d do this for hours throughout the entire week. I gained an inch of upper arm girth after three weeks of this “mattress labor.” I’d never gained a full inch of arm girth on any training routine in such a short period of time.
Viola! The answer to the puzzle must be hidden within high-frequency training parameters that didn’t annihilate my muscles on a daily basis. I couldn’t wait to get back to Tucson and start my own experimentation.
6 Caveats
Well, that was four years ago, and I must say that it’s taken this long to find an answer. Why so long? Here’s why:
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Hypertrophy Training Dogma First and foremost, the pertinacity of the exercise community is rather large. Therefore, some of my “non-paying” clientele didn’t follow my high-frequency training parameters precisely as I prescribed. As such, I’ve been forced to scrap my data on a number of occasions.
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Training Tenacity This goes along with point #1. You must be persistent with high-frequency training plans in order to reap the benefits. A week or two of high-frequency training won’t give you the results you want. The idea of high-frequency training is to build up your work capacity and specific muscle fitness to levels that the system has yet to encounter.
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Lack of Recovery Aids Stretching and ice massage are mandatory during the initial periods of high-frequency training. Those who didn’t follow my recovery modalities often burned-out in a matter of weeks. On the other hand, those who did perform stretching and ice massage as prescribed excelled and built muscle faster than ever before.
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Lack of Personal Ingenuity The Perfect 10 training plan mandates numerous exercise variations. Since it’s not possible for me to personally train thousands of readers, a little ingenuity is necessary. You must understand that even the slightest variations in hand position, foot placement, one-arm exercises, and switching from dumbbells to barbells for any given exercise is sufficient to be termed a “different exercise.”
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Overzealous Trainees For some, too much just isn’t enough. As such, a few people I worked with took the ball and ran way past the end zone on the first carry. In other words, they tried to do too much too fast, and they burned out.
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Limited Training Schedules Obviously, high-frequency training is only ideal for those who can follow such a schedule. If you’re one of the ones who can make time to train for 2-3 sessions per week, this info isn’t for you. Now, this isn’t to say that we should all quit our jobs and follow Kevin Spacey’s character in American Beauty, but high-frequency training does mandate some lifestyle changes. That’s a big pill to swallow for many weekend warriors.
Now, with those caveats out of the way, I’m here to give you a program that’ll induce hypertrophy at a rate that’s faster than you’ve ever experienced. But, please be diligent with my entire prescription. If you skimp on a single element, you’ll suffer trust me.
Perfect 10 Training Guidelines
- Choose 1-2 body parts that you want to improve the most.
When you embark on a high-frequency training plan, overtraining is always knocking at your door. Therefore, it’s necessary to not bombard your entire body with such parameters. Most people only have a few lagging body parts. If you’re one of those who needs to improve everything, this program isn’t for you, so I suggest you perform my Anti-Bodybuilding Hypertrophy, Total Body Training, Waterbury Method, and the Art of Waterbury programs in order to build up your musculature. This program is for those who need to bring up underdeveloped body parts at the fastest possible rate.
- Perform a different exercise for each session throughout the week.
There are countless different exercises for every body part, so this shouldn’t be too tough to follow. Let’s take chest exercises for example. If you’re attempting to improve your chest development, there are hundreds of exercise variations when you consider: all of the angles between a 30 degree decline and a 45 degree incline, variations in arm/hand position (pronated and semi-supinated), and variations in dumbbells, barbells, and cables.
Make a diligent effort to list every possible exercise that your available equipment allows. Both compound and single-joint exercises are fair game in this program. The more variations and options you have, the greater your success will be.
- Don’t worry about the tempo of your muscle actions and don’t accentuate the negative.
Considering how many sets and sessions you’ll be performing each week, you should be ecstatic about this rule. Just lift as fast as possible while maintaining perfect form and controlling the negative portion. Any eccentric portion longer than two seconds is excessive during this program. We aren’t attempting to annihilate the muscles; we’re trying to provide a sufficient stimulus for growth without causing undo strain.
- Perform stretches and ice massage after the prescribed sessions.
There exist a myriad of stretching methods but this program only mandates static stretching. Each prescribed session should consist of four static stretches for the trained muscle group. Hold the muscle in the stretched position for 30 seconds, then rest for 30 seconds before repeating three more times. It’s that simple.
Ice massage should be performed with a Cryocup or a paper cup filled with ice. Use one Cryocup or one paper cup on each side of the body. Once the cup is empty, perform the same technique on the other side of the body. Use long, deep strokes and apply baby oil or olive oil to your skin to avoid ice burn. Perform ice massage within two hours of your training session.
The Cryocup. You can also make your own by freezing a Styrofoam cup and peeling away part of it.
- Learn to train through soreness.
Soreness is your new friend so learn to love it. This program causes continuous soreness for the first few weeks of training (at least). Slowly but surely, over time you’ll find that you become less sore. That’s a good thing! But you must understand that you need to force your muscles to train more often. All of that infrequent training dogma will be run over by your newfound high-frequency karma.
- Train the rest of your body as usual.
You don’t need to alter the rest of your current program. In other words, feel free to train your other muscles groups as usual. If you incorporate Perfect 10 training for chest and triceps, just omit those exercises from your current program. Think of Perfect 10 as an addition to the program you’re following (actually, a supercharger would be more accurate).
The Program
Here’s what you’ve been waiting for! You’re probably wondering why this program is titled Perfect 10 Training. That’s because (surprise!) I’m going to outline a program that leads to training your lagging body parts for ten sessions each week! Think of this program as the antithesis to the mythical Colorado Experiment.
Pull out that Zippo and get ready to light the stick of muscular dynamite!
WEEK 1
Addendum for Weeks 1-4: Perform for one or two body parts. Choose one exercise for each body part, each day. Stretch after each session.
DAY 1
Sets: 6
Reps: 3
Rest: 70s (70 seconds)
Load: 6RM (6 reps max)
DAY 2: Off
DAY 3
Sets: 3
Reps: 10
Rest: 120s
Load: 12RM
DAY 4: Off
DAY 5
Sets: 5
Reps: 5
Rest: 90s
Load: 8RM
DAYS 6 & 7: Off
WEEK 2
DAY 1
Sets: 7
Reps: 3
Rest: 70s
Load: 6RM
DAY 2
Sets: 2
Reps: 25
Rest: 180s
Load: 28RM (~50% of 1RM)
DAY 3
Sets: 4
Reps: 10
Rest: 120s
Load: 12RM
DAY 4: Off
DAY 5
Sets: 6
Reps: 5
Rest: 90s
Load: 8RM
DAYS 6 & 7: Off
WEEK 3
DAY 1
Sets: 8
Reps: 3
Rest: 70s
Load: 6RM
DAY 2
Sets: 2
Reps: 25
Rest: 180s
Load: 28RM (~50% of 1RM)
DAY 3
Sets: 5
Reps: 10
Rest: 120s
Load: 12RM
DAY 4: Off
DAY 5
Sets: 7
Reps: 5
Rest: 90s
Load: 8RM
DAY 6
Sets: 2
Reps: 25
Rest: 180s
Load: 28RM (~50% of 1RM)
DAY 7: Off
WEEK 4
DAY 1
Sets: 3
Reps: 3
Rest: 70s
Load: 5RM
DAY 2: Off
DAY 3
Sets: 3
Reps: 8
Rest: 120s
Load: 12RM
DAY 4: Off
DAY 5
Sets: 2
Reps: 12
Rest: 90s
Load: 15RM
DAYS 6 & 7: Off
WEEK 5
Addendum for Weeks 5-8: Perform for one or two body parts. Choose one exercise for each body part, each day. There must be at least 6 hours between AM/PM sessions. Stretch after each session. Perform ice massage when prescribed.
DAY 1
AM
Sets: 3
Reps: 3
Rest: 70s
Load: 5RM
PM
Sets: 3
Reps: 8
Rest: 120s
Load: 12RM
Ice Massage
DAY 2: Off
DAY 3
AM
Sets: 2
Reps: 12
Rest: 90s
Load: 15RM
PM
Sets: 3
Reps: 5
Rest: 90s
Load: 8RM
Ice Massage
DAY 4: Off
DAY 5
AM
Sets: 2
Reps: 25
Rest: 180s
Load: 28RM (~50% of 1RM)
PM
Sets: 1
Reps: 12
Rest: NA
Load: 12RM
Note: This set should be taken to concentric failure only.
Ice Massage
DAYS 6 & 7: Off
WEEK 6
DAY 1
AM
Sets: 4
Reps: 3
Rest: 70s
Load: 5RM
PM
Sets: 4
Reps: 8
Rest: 120s
Load: 12RM
Ice Massage
DAY 2
Sets: 2
Reps: 25
Rest: 180s
Load: 28RM (~50% of 1RM)
DAY 3
AM
Sets: 3
Reps: 12
Rest: 90s
Load: 15RM
PM
Sets: 4
Reps: 5
Rest: 90s
Load: 8RM
Ice Massage
DAY 4: Off
DAY 5
AM
Sets: 4
Reps: 3
Rest: 70s
Load: 6RM
PM
Sets: 1
Reps: 15
Rest: NA
Load: 15RM
Note: This set should be taken to concentric failure only.
Ice Massage
DAY 6
Sets: 2
Reps: 25
Rest: 180s
Load: 28RM (~50% of 1RM)
DAY 7: Off
WEEK 7
DAY 1
AM
Sets: 3
Reps: 8
Rest: 90s
Load: 10RM
PM
Sets: 2
Reps: 20
Rest: 180s
Load: 24RM
Ice Massage
DAY 2
Sets: 2
Reps: 25
Rest: 180s
Load: 28RM (~50% of 1RM)
DAY 3
AM
Sets: 3
Reps: 3
Rest: 70s
Load: 5RM
PM
Sets: 3
Reps: 12
Rest: 120s
Load: 15RM
Ice Massage
DAY 4
Set: 2
Reps: 25
Rest: 180s
Load: 28RM (~50% of 1RM)
DAY 5
AM
Sets: 3
Reps: 3
Rest: 70s
Load: 5RM
PM
Sets: 1
Reps: 10
Rest: NA
Load: 10RM
Note: This set should be taken to concentric failure only.
Ice Massage
DAY 6
Sets: 2
Reps: 25
Rest: 180s
Load: 28RM (~50% of 1RM)
DAY 7: Off
WEEK 8
Off completely from training the muscle group(s).
WEEK 9
DAY 1
AM
Sets: 3
Reps: 5
Rest: 70s
Load: 7RM
PM
Sets: 2
Reps: 15
Rest: 120s
Load: 18RM
Ice Massage
DAY 2
Sets: 2
Reps: 25
Rest: 180s
Load: 28RM (~50% of 1RM)
DAY 3
AM
Sets: 3
Reps: 3
Rest: 70s
Load: 5RM
PM
Sets: 2
Reps: 20
Rest: 180s
Load: 22RM
Ice Massage
DAY 4
Set: 2
Reps: 25
Rest: 180s
Load: 28RM (~50% of 1RM)
DAY 5
AM
Sets: 3
Reps: 10
Rest: 120s
Load: 12RM
PM
Sets: 6
Reps: 3
Rest: 90s
Load: 5RM
Ice Massage
DAY 6
AM
Sets: 2
Reps: 25
Rest: 180s
Load: 28RM (~50% of 1RM)
PM
Set: 1
Reps: 50
Load: 50RM (~25% of 1RM)
DAY 7: Off
Once you’ve completed week 9, you’re officially a high-frequency protg! If you follow the program precisely as prescribed, and if you avoid failure (except on the designated days) you’ll have helped to beget a new revolution of hypertrophy training.
Who knows, maybe your newfound hypertrophy from the Perfect 10 program will help you land your own “perfect 10.” I believe that the sublime Marisa Miller is the apotheosis of the other perfect 10!
I find all of this information regarding training approaches interesting. I used to lift every other day with a sort of full body routine, but it just became too much for me. I only lift 3x/week now, like below (all nautilus type machines unless specified). I always do ab work when I lift also. Let me know what you guys think, thanks.
Ab Stuff:
Leg Raises 3x20
Crunches 1x100
Weighted Crunches 3x40
Sunday: Chest and Biceps
Incline Bench 3x8
Biangular Incline Bench 3x8
Pec Flys 3x8
Curls 3x8
DB Curls 3x8
Monday: Cardio (usually an hour or so intense jogging or equivalent)
Tuesday: Back and Triceps
Shoulder Press 3x8
Biangular Should Press 3x8
Rowing 3x8
Biangular Rowing 3x8
Lat Pulldown 3x8
Wide-Grip Pullups 3x5
Reverse Curls 3x8
Tricep Type Pulldown 3x8
Wednesday: Cardio (usually an hour or so intense jogging or equivalent)
Thursday: Legs
Glute Extensions 6x8
Squats 6x8
Leg Extensions (Hamstrings) 6x8
Leg Extensions (Quads) 3x8
Leg Curls (Calves) 6x8
Friday: Cardio (usually an hour or so intense jogging or equivalent)
Saturday: Cardio (usually an hour or so intense jogging or equivalent)
Jim
This is fine…alot of people do chest and tri’s together, since they work together so much already, but I have no problems with chest and bi’s
Ok, you are actually doing back, tri’s AND shoulders…you got too much going on this day…over 24 sets not counting the ab work that you say you do with it…the volume is VERY high, ESPECIALLY in comparison with ur chest/bi workout which is only 15 sets…and reverse curls is more for bi’s and forearms…so you can drop that altogether on this day.
I don’t know if you meant to hit “6x8” cuz that puts the volume on this day even higher than the last at 27 sets before ab work…Some squats…Leg extensions and leg curls are pretty much enough for legs…All I did today was Squats, SLDL’s and Lunges, then calf raises and some ab work…I was done in less than an hour…
Yesterday went to GNC to check the price of my protein shake there, it was $50. :rolleyes: Overpriced bastards.
Ordered it online for $25 + $5 s&h.
Anyone here cook with fish oil? How’s overall taste? Is it expensive?
I guess they’re not really reverse curls, that’s just what it made me think of. It’s a nautilus machine that’s for triceps, just a different kind of motion. What if I move the shoulder press sets to my Chest/Bis day?
Yeah, I did mean 6x8, I guess that’s too much. So if I go to 3x8 for each, that’s better?
Thanks for the reply.
Jim
I do those and the hamstring curls.
How do I get rid of the cottage cheese in my groin area? That junk is pretty flabby. 
from what I been reading/doing myself, cardio is king to burning fat, especially in the abdominal area.
I want to gain muscle and lose weight so is it a good idea to eat just 2 small meals a day. Thanks
Working out something 4 times a week doesn’t really trip me out that much.
The part that messes my head up is that you aren’t actually ‘killing’ the muscle and yet there’s still growth?
I guess my ‘dogmatic’ thinking is in the idea that in order to grow you have to AT LEAST get to the threshold if not surpass it.
Cardio will burn fat, but it will also burn muscle if your not smart about it! Just eat clean and you won’t have to do that much cardio.
Hell if your diet is clean enough you will see your abs even without doing any type of ab exercises, or you can eat junk and fast food, do 500 reps of abs a day and still never see you abs!:wgrin:
That’s a horrible idea.
The old dogma is by killing a muscle it will grow back bigger and stronger right?? Well it’s in fact hypertrophy that should be our goal and this can be achieved without destroying one muscle group at a time. Completely killing a muscle just causes more micro trauma, thereby slowing recovery and potentially burning out your CNS in the process.
A good point I don’t know if you guys saw in an earlier post of mine…
“skinny guys think it’s their training, fat guys think it’s their diet…when skinny guys need a better a diet and fat guys probably need a better program.”
Alot of people get stuck in a rut because in the never ending quest for size and strength, they think more is better. If gains stagnate, they add reps and sets…begin to flirt with overtraining…sometimes overtraining and not even knowing it…start losing a little sleep at night, begin to be more tired during the day, not seeing gains in the gym from week to week…start losing interest in weightlifting altogether and now they are losing weight because they haven’t been in the gym in 2 months and they’re not eating near what they should be.
yo perry when we gonna hit up legs im going to do my old routine tonight but friday i want to work out with you also do me a favor write me up a routine to give me next time and good luck with the personal training…
hrm I work out about 5x a day, take my protein about 2-3x a day an eat healthy, lots of fish an greens, anyhow Im also takin a creatine supplement. My question is Im doing about 15-30 min of cardio on my workout and non workout days, Ill switch it up going one day for 15 an the next for 30, I know everyones body is different but does that plan sit well with some of you?
Also is it a good idea to add more glutamine to my protein/flax shake? Considering my protein mix already has glutamine I hear/been reading that its good to have more of it.
thanks