A SIMPLE Power Based Routine

[_Wolf_]

Here is a routine a LARGE percentage of the lifters here could make great gains doing.

Monday
Squat or box squat 2 x 5
Glute/Ham Raises or pullthroughs 3 x 10
Bent Row or Chest Supported row 4 x 6
Barbell or Dumbbell Curl 3 x 8
Calf Raises 3 x 15

Wednesday
Bench Press or low board press 3 x 5, or 3 x 3
Incline Dumbbell Bench Press 4 x 8
Military or Dumbbell Shoulder Press 3 x 8
Skull Crushers 3 x 10
Ab work 3 x 10

Friday
Deadlift or rack deadlift 2 x 5
Leg press 2 x 10
Chin or lat pull-down 4 x 6
Barbell or Dumbbell Curl 3 x 8
Calf Raises 3 x 15

Monday
Incline bench press or Incline Dumbbell Press 3 x 5, or 3 x 3
Dumbbell Bench Press 4 x 8
Military or Dumbbell Shoulder Press 3 x 8
Tricep pushdowns 3 x 10
Ab work 3 x 10 Monday

Wednesday
Squat or box squat 2 x 5
Glute/Ham Raises or pullthroughs 3 x 10
Bent Row or Chest Supported row 4 x 6
Barbell or Dumbbell Curl 3 x 8
Calf Raises 3 x 15

Friday
Bench Press or low board press 3 x 5, or 3 x 3
Incline Dumbbell Bench Press 4 x 8
Military or Dumbbell Shoulder Press 3 x 8
Skull Crushers 3 x 10
Ab work 3 x 10

Sets are NOT taken to failure, at least 1 rep short, or to the point RIGHT before form starts to break down. If you do not recover well, reduce 1 set from each of the lifts.

Rotate the lifts to something else every 4-8 weeks or whenever a lift stalls.

Iron Addict

[fz1]

Ive seen that on his site it looks like a good program. Has anyone used it??

[_Wolf_]

^^^

no....but i will....

see, i am going to be rotatng the follwing programs:
1.) HST
2.) Bill Starr 5x5 which should later become hybrib5x5/wsb
3.) Fortified Irons's Hypertrophy Program or Iron Addicts Power Building Program

lets see what happens now..

Anuj

ps: best of luck

[fz1]

Originally Posted by anuj247

^^^

no....but i will....

see, i am going to be rotatng the follwing programs:
1.) HST
2.) Bill Starr 5x5 which should later become hybrib5x5/wsb
3.) Fortified Irons's Hypertrophy Program or Iron Addicts Power Building Program

lets see what happens now..

Anuj

ps: best of luck

Thats a good plan best of luck to you, let us know how it turns out.

[Darkhorse]

Looks like a good beginner program who has below average recovery and needs more days off.

[Finafreak]

Originally Posted by 0311

Looks like a good beginner program who has below average recovery and needs more days off.

Which makes up 90% of the bodybuilding population. The 3 day split is one of the most effective splits out there for the majority of lifters. Very few people are gifted enoughto have the recovery of a ronnie coleman.

[Eric3237]

Originally Posted by Finafreak

Which makes up 90% of the bodybuilding population. The 3 day split is one of the most effective splits out there for the majority of lifters. Very few people are gifted enoughto have the recovery of a ronnie coleman

Originally Posted by Finafreak

Which makes up 90% of the bodybuilding population. The 3 day split is one of the most effective splits out there for the majority of lifters. Very few people are gifted enoughto have the recovery of a ronnie coleman

Well I agree wholeheartedly in terms of 3 day FULLBODY but this is a little different...a little conservative. I have noticed that Iron Addict tends to underestimate recovery thinking that the reason so many people he deals with are on bodypart splits is because their recovery sucks when in fact their recovery sucks BECAUSE they've always been on bodypart splits.

The second day Wednesday is upper body only. Then Monday AND Frifday of the second week is upper body only. It's assuming that a beginner can only squat once a week. You deadlift once in two entire weeks. If you practice things more often your recovery improves. Now I know he's calling this a "power" based routine but in terms of overall strength development for a beginner many people do quite well on programs that have them squatting 2 or 3 times a week and deadlifting. A beginner's WSB program would have you squatting twice a week. One day may be speed day but a beginner is gonna feel that...

[Darkhorse]

Well I agree wholeheartedly in terms of 3 day FULLBODY but this is a little different...a little conservative. I have noticed that Iron Addict tends to underestimate recovery thinking that the reason so many people he deals with are on bodypart splits is because their recovery sucks when in fact their recovery sucks BECAUSE they've always been on bodypart splits.

Exactly. I'm not saying that you NEED the recovery of Ronnie Coleman to do more..I'm saying it's on the lower echelon of volume. Most people I've seen can more than handle an upper/lower split without even bothering with a deload. Shit, almost everyone here can more than handle three FULLBODY's using twice that amount of volume and progress easily for 6-8 weeks before deloading!

I guess it's offensive to name something a "beginner" program. My bad..I personally see it as a lowered volume for hardgainers...I don't personally believe 90% of the populace need something that's low volume. It's NOT a three day split neither..It's an upper lower split, but has a lot more days off.. (week 1: upper, lower, upper...week 2: L, U, L) DC uses that split as well, BUT, using rest/pausing requires more days off.

Recovery is based on a lot of other aspects aside from genetics. Maybe I speak for myself when I say I need more than 2 sets of 5 reps squatting? But, it's only a GENERAL program.

[Eric3237]

Yeah you're right. Theres no need to call it a beginner's program.

Originally Posted by 0311

Actually, a lot of his programs he personally says are for people with below average recovery. (as per his website)

Yep. If you ask me it's defeatist thinking. If you say to yourself "I have below average recovery therefore I will always be doomed to doing less, then OF COURSE you'll always be doing less.

Case in point:

If you do not recover well, reduce 1 set from each of the lifts.

There is no way when I firtst started out that I would have been able to handle the workload I do now. And if I had adopted that way of thinking I would still prob be doing the same stuff. Now I certainly don't think you should get carried away overdoing it and end up missing too much time and setting yourself back. But if you want your recovery to improve then "doing less" for any given frequency/volume is not going to help you.

[Darkhorse]

Hope noone reads me wrong either. IA is one of the best personal trainer's I have read about. Lots of results. But, I will say that THIS program is low volume, lower frequency (muscles are hit twice every 8 days).

From my experience, I've seen soo many people thrive on something like Bill Starr's 5x5 which has a lot more volume, and three times the frequency.

Bodybuilders as a whole seem to freak out when they feel a little lactic acid buildup during their sets and drop the weights and go straight home to their protein shakes for fear of overtraining...

The 5X5:

Monday:

Olympic Squats 5x5 (same weight)
Benching 5x5 (flat, close grip or regular)(same weight)
JS Rows 5x5 (same weight)
Accessory (low volume triceps and abs)

Wednesday:

Olympic Squats 5x5 (reduced 15-20% from Monday) or Front Squats 5x5
Standing Military Press 5x5 (same weight)
Deadlifts 5x5 (same weight) (if you pull 2.5x bodyweight do 3x5)
Pull ups 5x5 (use weight if you need it)
Accessory (biceps and abs)

Friday:

Olympic Squats 5x5 (working up each set)
Benching 5x5 (flat or incline)(same weight)
Rows 5x5 (same weight)
Accessory (low volume triceps and abs)

Big difference in frequency and volume, yet I've never seen anyone overtrain. That's the only point I'm making. Not a beginner program per say, although I would recommend it for beginners to get their feet wet so to speak with the incorperation of "powerlifting movements" such as low box squatting.