Hypertrophy/Bodybuilding Routine

[BulkedSpotter]

Would this routine work for me if I'm an intermediate who isn't on dat dere? thanks

[jmmainvi]

Would this routine work for me if I'm an intermediate who isn't on dat dere? thanks

Probably. What's your definition of intermediate?

[BulkedSpotter]

Probably. What's your definition of intermediate?

My lifts are 1/2/3/4 and I have been lifting seriously for about a year and a half.

[liamhendy]

ah...didnt know you were already doing them. no, probably wouldnt advise OH press as the front delts get a decent enough workout with what youre doing anyway. if you do flat bench, dips, incline press, flyes, rope pressdowns and lat raise, with the ab and calf work too thats a decent workout.

30 reps is fine. the more volume the better but 30 is good enough. takes me a good hour for my workout at 30 reps, then add stretches, thats enough for me :-)

Ok mate brilliant, thanks. That's what I'll do!

[icedawg]

i feel for you mate, and almost felt like i was reading my own story there. i too have spent a few years with hypertrophy as my goal, wanting to put a stone of muscle on, but at 51 yrs old and 'skinny fat' too, i just seem to either gain weight that isnt muscle (so fat then) or lose those love handles/muffin tops to get back to where i was before for the beach :-)

im sure diets the key, as i believe pretty much any half decent routine would add muscle with the right diet, just that keleis routines are as well-balanced as anything out there.

FWIW looking at your routine, id stick legs back in there, either on a dedicated legs day or added to your 'full body' workouts. i dont like legs day either but you just got to do it mate! :-) and id ditch one of the rows each day, no need for 2 rowing exercises. also ditch the kickbacks, not much bang for buck there. ditching those will allow better exercises to be included.

might be worth you posting up your diet, that will probably hold the key......

Thanks for your response.

I don't explicitly track diet, although I eat very healthy, with a lot of protein and carbs. I feel diet isn't the problem, because I never feel burnt out or worn down like I'm not getting enough carbs, even towards the end of my training sessions. Plus I've tried bulking several times in succession, and it just never seemed to make a difference.

I hear what you're saying about legs, but I haven't the time anymore and need to focus on what's important to me.

I'll lose the kickbacks. I think I need the rows though because I'm doing the inverted rows/chest-supported dumbbell rows to target my midback, and the wide grip upright rows to target my lateral delts.

Otherwise I'm not sure what else to try. It just seems like 40-44 reps/day x 5 days should be more than enough volume for me at my level, but maybe I need to try increasing it. Or, maybe for whatever reason, I'd respond better to the split here that Kelei suggested, instead of full body 5 days a week.

[liamhendy]

Would really appreciate help with this question:

I am doing 6x a week so do workout AB+C twice per week. When I'm doing workout A(push) would it be ok to do barbell bench press on a Monday and dumbbell bench press on a Thursday? Or is the whole point in this program to increase strength and reps doing exactly the same exercises and movements
Thanks in advance

[davo26]

Would really appreciate help with this question:

I am doing 6x a week so do workout AB+C twice per week. When I'm doing workout A(push) would it be ok to do barbell bench press on a Monday and dumbbell bench press on a Thursday? Or is the whole point in this program to increase strength and reps doing exactly the same exercises and movements
Thanks in advance

itll be fine, just log your weight/reps the same.

[gesler0811]

So, I haven't checked in on this thread in a while (I'll catch up soon) because I've just been doing the program and logging results, seen some amazing progress in just over the six months I've been on the program. But I've hit a crossroads... I don't exactly want to jump ship and change programs, but the workouts seem to be getting longer and longer and I seem to be having trouble fitting in all the exercises I want to do, so I am seriously considering switching it up and doing straight sets instead of rest pause, to see if that saves time. I know in the past this has been discussed, and the consensus seems to be that the straight sets aren't that much inferior, but I guess I'm just looking for a little guidance and oversight to make sure I don't mess this up.

Currently, I define rest-pause as minimum rest to hit 3 reps, but no more than 5 reps on next set. Some exercises, such as bench and squat, this means I rest about a minute between sets, other exercises as little as 30 seconds. Most of my lifts I am aiming for 30 total reps.

I would then plan on doing 3 sets of 8-12 reps on most of these exercises, resting about 3 minutes between sets to make sure I can at least do 8 reps on the subsequent sets. I would still plan on increasing working weight if I can hit 12 reps on the first set.

Does that seem about right? This just makes me so nervous because I'm so used to the rest-pause and the higher volume, and on some deep level I'm scared I'll stop making progress.

[davo26]

So, I haven't checked in on this thread in a while (I'll catch up soon) because I've just been doing the program and logging results, seen some amazing progress in just over the six months I've been on the program. But I've hit a crossroads... I don't exactly want to jump ship and change programs, but the workouts seem to be getting longer and longer and I seem to be having trouble fitting in all the exercises I want to do, so I am seriously considering switching it up and doing straight sets instead of rest pause, to see if that saves time. I know in the past this has been discussed, and the consensus seems to be that the straight sets aren't that much inferior, but I guess I'm just looking for a little guidance and oversight to make sure I don't mess this up.

Currently, I define rest-pause as minimum rest to hit 3 reps, but no more than 5 reps on next set. Some exercises, such as bench and squat, this means I rest about a minute between sets, other exercises as little as 30 seconds. Most of my lifts I am aiming for 30 total reps.

I would then plan on doing 3 sets of 8-12 reps on most of these exercises, resting about 3 minutes between sets to make sure I can at least do 8 reps on the subsequent sets. I would still plan on increasing working weight if I can hit 12 reps on the first set.

Does that seem about right? This just makes me so nervous because I'm so used to the rest-pause and the higher volume, and on some deep level I'm scared I'll stop making progress.

nah youll be fine mate. i seem to remember kelei saying rest pause optimal, straight sets less so, and then theres the 'in-between the two' thats er..... in between the two :-) thats what i do, just a shortish rest, not timed, and just aim for a total amount of reps. so bench could be 12/8/6/5/4 and isolation exercise i do slightly more reps so maybe 15/10/8/7.
do whatever you prefer tho, it wont make a noticeable difference im sure. dont really see how itd save time tho if youre doing the same exercises for the same amount of reps. id have thought timing would be roughly the same.....

bottom line tho is try it, see how you go.

[gesler0811]

nah youll be fine mate. i seem to remember kelei saying rest pause optimal, straight sets less so, and then theres the 'in-between the two' thats er..... in between the two :-) thats what i do, just a shortish rest, not timed, and just aim for a total amount of reps. so bench could be 12/8/6/5/4 and isolation exercise i do slightly more reps so maybe 15/10/8/7.
do whatever you prefer tho, it wont make a noticeable difference im sure. dont really see how itd save time tho if youre doing the same exercises for the same amount of reps. id have thought timing would be roughly the same.....

bottom line tho is try it, see how you go.

My rationale was if I did fewer sets overall, even with the slightly longer rest periods, I would save a lot of time. It takes me as many as 8 sets to hit 30 reps on squats rest-pause style, versus the 3 sets of 8-12 I would be doing with straight sets.

But you are right in that it didn't make a huge difference in my overall length of time in the gym. On the flipside, I was able to squeeze in three sets of dumbbell side lateral raises, which I usually have to skip on leg day. My workout was about the same as usual, albeit with the additional exercise. Perhaps I'm just trying to do too much and need to cut something out. Currently I'm hitting quads twice and hamstrings twice, in addition to calves, abs, and side lats. Maybe I could drop one of the auxiliary quad or hamstring exercise. I don't know.

Leg day looks like this right now:

Squats (165 lbs)
RDL (160 lbs)
Leg Press (305 lbs)
Leg Curl (45 lbs)
Superset: Seated Calf Raise (105 lbs) / Weighted Descending Situps
Dumbbell Side Lateral Raises (20 lb dumbbells)

[davo26]

My rationale was if I did fewer sets overall, even with the slightly longer rest periods, I would save a lot of time. It takes me as many as 8 sets to hit 30 reps on squats rest-pause style, versus the 3 sets of 8-12 I would be doing with straight sets.

But you are right in that it didn't make a huge difference in my overall length of time in the gym. On the flipside, I was able to squeeze in three sets of dumbbell side lateral raises, which I usually have to skip on leg day. My workout was about the same as usual, albeit with the additional exercise. Perhaps I'm just trying to do too much and need to cut something out. Currently I'm hitting quads twice and hamstrings twice, in addition to calves, abs, and side lats. Maybe I could drop one of the auxiliary quad or hamstring exercise. I don't know.

Leg day looks like this right now:

Squats (165 lbs)
RDL (160 lbs)
Leg Press (305 lbs)
Leg Curl (45 lbs)
Superset: Seated Calf Raise (105 lbs) / Weighted Descending Situps
Dumbbell Side Lateral Raises (20 lb dumbbells)

no, id stick with the accessory exercises too mate, thats a pretty normal legs session. if you really were pushed for time id probably drop the lat raises, it IS a leg day after all :-) lat raise can be done every day quite happily, but if youre pushed for time......

[liamhendy]

itll be fine, just log your weight/reps the same.

Noted.

Appreciate all your help.

[Rebinho]

This is very funny to me, maybe its just because im not intense enough with leg dags.
But when I do front squats, I do like 6 reps to the for reaching my 40 reps. ? What is going on, and is this against this routines program?
And when I do romanian deadlift, i lose grip so fast! ? What to do?


Some people said I had to reach those 2-3 reps at the end, but It does happen sometimes when i workout on my upper body days, and sometimes i can do like like 6 reps in the end?

What am I doing wrong ? And is this against the program?

[glossin]

This is very funny to me, maybe its just because im not intense enough with leg dags.
But when I do front squats, I do like 6 reps to the for reaching my 40 reps. ? What is going on, and is this against this routines program?
And when I do romanian deadlift, i lose grip so fast! ? What to do?


Some people said I had to reach those 2-3 reps at the end, but It does happen sometimes when i workout on my upper body days, and sometimes i can do like like 6 reps in the end?

What am I doing wrong ? And is this against the program?

Use straps on the RDL

The front squat sounds fine as long as you are reaching the 40 reps. If you're trying to do strict rest-pause, take less rest between your rp sets. All I know is that I like doing the front squats with a strict rest pause because my form breaks down really badly on the high rep sets!

[Kojhab]

So whats the deload week look like? Lighter weight, etc. or just taking the whole week off? I'm at around the 4-5 week mark in my 'program' and have been wondering this.

[davo26]

So whats the deload week look like? Lighter weight, etc. or just taking the whole week off? I'm at around the 4-5 week mark in my 'program' and have been wondering this.

total rest recommended if youve been hitting '6 on/1 off' regularly, altho some prefer light sessions doing something at least. its no biggie whichever you prefer. personally i just let life dictate my days off so dont have deload weeks as such, my rest days are when im away on holiday, ill, or doing family stuff.

[Kelei]

Something I've discovered over the years is that variety over the long term (not the short term) is important for motivation and to help prevent burnout, some of you guys have been training essentially the same way for several years now so I think it's about time I gave you something new and refreshing. Give me a few days to put it together.

[Kojhab]

Sorry if I missed this in the thread:

Whats the consensus on training a weak point within a split like this?

I'm going to work this program into mine slowly -- but as of right now I'm focusing on my arms. So I'm basically hitting bi's/tri's twice a week. One workout is heavy (6-8 reps) and the other is more volume (10-15 reps) with about 2 exercises.

[davo26]

Something I've discovered over the years is that variety over the long term (not the short term) is important for motivation and to help prevent burnout, some of you guys have been training essentially the same way for several years now so I think it's about time I gave you something new and refreshing. Give me a few days to put it together.

yeeee ha, youre back! hope lifes treating you well mate. look forward to it, i suffered with motivation issues a while back but back on it now.

[johnarod1999]

Would this be ok for me to do I'm a beginner

[sonnydfrizzy]

Would this be ok for me to do I'm a beginner

Whatever you do, do NOT read the first page(s) of this thread and only lazily ask here instead.

[crisputer]

Something I've discovered over the years is that variety over the long term (not the short term) is important for motivation and to help prevent burnout, some of you guys have been training essentially the same way for several years now so I think it's about time I gave you something new and refreshing. Give me a few days to put it together.

Alright! Good to see you're back. Can't wait to see what you have in store for us.

[Qxx]

Congratulations K, you made it to T-nation. Without a reference though.

https://www.t-nation.com/training/ti...hod-for-growth

[mzakflip40]

Why did this get un-stickied?

[Kelei]

Why did this get un-stickied?

I requested so, I mostly just come here to chat with old friends via PM these days, having a thread stickied just attracts too much unwanted attention and keeps filling my inbox. I'm retiring from posting so you guys will be on your own from here on out. I've been here since 2007 and it's just time for me to move on, I no longer feel like I have anything to gain or contribute by being here.

[grouchyjarhead]

Why did this get un-stickied?

He made a new routine like he said he would a few days ago.

He apparently deleted it as it was receiving less than stellar reviews. You can see it still mentioned on his Bodyspace.

[wickedsushi]

He made a new routine like he said he would a few days ago.

He apparently deleted it as it was receiving less than stellar reviews. You can see it still mentioned on his Bodyspace.

It's a shame we never got to see his 640 lb front squat ... for 10 reps ...

[bmcblinz]

He made a new routine like he said he would a few days ago.

He apparently deleted it as it was receiving less than stellar reviews. You can see it still mentioned on his Bodyspace.

Wait what? Is there anyway I can see the program anymore? I went to his bodyspace but didn't find any "mentions" of the program other than the post where he announced he would make it.

[grouchyjarhead]

Wait what? Is there anyway I can see the program anymore? I went to his bodyspace but didn't find any "mentions" of the program other than the post where he announced he would make it.

It was a "push/pull powerbuilding" routine that had none of the powerlifts in it and was basically what a beginner lifter would throw together and think was great but was in actuality pretty poorly designed with no mention of modifications or progression whatsoever.

[TX0708]

Has anyone actually run this routine for meaningful time as written? Exercise selection, deloads and nutritional information? How were the results?