Monday - Upper
[progression] - Bench Press
3x6 - Barbell or Cable Row
3x8-10 - Seated Dumbbell Overhead Press
3x8-10 - Wide-Grip Lat Pulldown or Wide-Grip Pull-Up
3x12-15 - Lying Tricep Extension
3x12-15 - Barbell Curl
3x12-15 - Dumbbell Lateral Raise
Tuesday - Lower
[progression] - Squat
3x8-10 - Leg Curl
3x12-15 - Hyperextension
3x8-10 - Standing Calf Raise
3x12-15 - Seated Calf Raise
3x12-15 - Abs
Thursday - Upper
[progression] - Overhead Press
3x6 - Weighted Chin Up
3x8-10 - Flat Dumbbell Bench Press
3x8-10 - Dumbbell Row
3x12-15 - Cable Rope Pushdown
3x12-15 - Cable Rope Curl
3x12-15 - Lateral Raise
Friday - Lower
5x2 - Squat
[progression] - Deadlift
3x8-10 - Standing Calf Raise
3x12-15 - Seated Calf Raise
3x12-15 - Shrug
3x12-15 - Abs
OPTIONAL
Saturday - {any isolation accessory work to bring up lagging upper-body muscle groups}
Example:
3x12-15 - Incline Dumbbell Fly
3x5-15 - Pull ups
3x12-15 - Dumbbell Lateral Raise
3x12-15 - Curl variation
3x12-15 - Tricep extension
Sunday - {any isolation accessory work to bring up lagging lower-body muscle groups}
Example:
3x12-15 - Leg Extension
3x12-15 - Lunges or Single-Leg work
3x12-15 - Shrug
3x12-15 - Abs
3x12-15 - Calf Raise
**feel free to super-set exercises with antagonist muscle groups (ex: chest/back or biceps/triceps)
The Progression:
Use a weight that is 80% of your tested 1RM
Week 1: 5x3
Week 2: 5x4
Week 3: 5x5
Week 4: 5x3 @ 80% (Deload)
Add weight for the next cycle. Intermediate lifters may get away with adding more weight per cycle than advanced lifters.
- Overhead Press: Add 5-10lbs
- Bench Press: Add 10-15lbs
- Squat: Add 15-20lbs
- Deadlift: Add 15-25lbs
For Friday's Squat, use the same weight as you do for your main progression.
Accessory Work
Choose accessory work that helps improve your performance on the main progression lifts, addresses weaker muscle groups, and contributes to aesthetic development. Try to add weight or reps to accessory lifts as often as possible.
One possible progression scheme is to use the same weight through the whole cycle and add 1-2 reps each week. So the first week may be 3x8, the next week would be 3x9, then 3x10 the third week, etc.
Another option is adding weight each workout, but this becomes pretty hard to keep up after a few weeks. However, accessory work can be rotated each cycle. so increasing weight for 4 weeks and then switching to a new variation can work as well.
The Optional Weekend Days
The exercises you choose for these days should directly contribute to your aesthetic goals and nothing heavy or overly fatiguing should be done. Use this time to get a nice pump and address some lagging muscle groups. Avoid heavy compound movements.
The exception to that rule would be bodyweight exercises, like the Lunges and Pull-ups mentioned in the example above, as well as push ups, dips, etc. These would be great choices for the weekend days. Other exercises not listed above that could be done on these days may include the following:
Neck training, grip training, different forms of ab work like planks, or light cardio
So you've run this routine for a few cycles and you have a meet coming up, or just want to test your max for fun. This is how you peak from this cycle. You may skip the deload week and proceed directly from Week 3 into the following "peaking phase" if desired.
Using the same max you used for your last cycle:
Week 1: 4x4 @ 85%
Week 2: 3x3 @ 90%
Week 3: 2x2 @ 95%
Week 4: 1x1 @ 100+%
During the peaking phase, you should gradually reduce the volume your accessory work. For example, if you were doing 3x10 on your 5x5 week, on your 4x4 week, you might do 3x8, then the next week 3x6, etc. You can increase the weight slightly each week as well to taper up just like your main lift progression. Cut out all unnecessary accessory work on your 1x1 week.
One possible progression scheme is to use the same weight through the whole cycle and add 1-2 reps each week. So the first week may be 3x8, the next week would be 3x9, then 3x10 the third week, etc.
Another option is adding weight each workout, but this becomes pretty hard to keep up after a few weeks. However, accessory work can be rotated each cycle. so increasing weight for 4 weeks and then switching to a new variation can work as well.
The Optional Weekend Days
The exercises you choose for these days should directly contribute to your aesthetic goals and nothing heavy or overly fatiguing should be done. Use this time to get a nice pump and address some lagging muscle groups. Avoid heavy compound movements.
The exception to that rule would be bodyweight exercises, like the Lunges and Pull-ups mentioned in the example above, as well as push ups, dips, etc. These would be great choices for the weekend days. Other exercises not listed above that could be done on these days may include the following:
Neck training, grip training, different forms of ab work like planks, or light cardio
Peaking Phase
So you've run this routine for a few cycles and you have a meet coming up, or just want to test your max for fun. This is how you peak from this cycle. You may skip the deload week and proceed directly from Week 3 into the following "peaking phase" if desired.
Using the same max you used for your last cycle:
Week 1: 4x4 @ 85%
Week 2: 3x3 @ 90%
Week 3: 2x2 @ 95%
Week 4: 1x1 @ 100+%
During the peaking phase, you should gradually reduce the volume your accessory work. For example, if you were doing 3x10 on your 5x5 week, on your 4x4 week, you might do 3x8, then the next week 3x6, etc. You can increase the weight slightly each week as well to taper up just like your main lift progression. Cut out all unnecessary accessory work on your 1x1 week.
