So let's assume a common case. The individual is a theoretical, based on many newbies I've coached at Eclipse.
The session would take 1.5-2 hours of instruction to get the top 5 for bench press, squat, and rows. Most of this time would be spent critiquing form, and correcting common mistakes. Most guys can get their top 5 in 15-20 minutes for bench press, 30-40 minutes for squats, and about one HOUR is commonly spent teaching dynamic rows. Why do most guys have a hard time learning dynamic rows? Because they are a skilled movement that requires coordination. With athletes or guys who grew up playing a sport on a regular basis (and NO BADMINTON DOESN'T COUNT...since, in my opinion, badminton is for fat/lazy people who don't want to do actual work in the gym....and causes obscene numbers of injuries to non-prepared individuals, i.e. most of the population) I find that they have developed a reasonable amount of hand-eye coordination which allows us to quickly teach the dynamic row. So for all of you who choose to read this thread and learn dynamic rows at another gym, again, you are at your own risk. They are very technical and require quite a bit of coaching with an experienced trainer. I will follow this "how-to" section with a discussion on the finer points of dynamic rows.
So let's say that we got the following top 5 for said newbie. This top 5 was performed ideally over 5 sets or less, to avoid excessive soreness after this initial session. For example, this individual did the following sets:
Bench: 45x5, 55x5, 65x5, 75x3. Here the individual failed at 75 for three reps while 65 was not too difficult. It's therefore safe to assume that his top 5 for bench is 70lbsx5.
- I must say this AGAIN since so many MORONS here force reps like it's something about to go out of style so they must get the most out of it: WHEN SOMEONE GETS STUCK, PULL UP THE FU$KING BAR AND RACK IT. DON'T
FORCE THE REP. IT IS NOT A
SPOT!!!!!
I'm so tired of these guys who think that a "spot" means that they are supposed to touch the bar even if it isn't to jerk it off of someone who has failed a rep. If I ask for a spot and someone touches the bar during my set at any time other than the lift-off OR IF it gets stuck (where, again, he should grab it and pull it off me), or to guide it back to the rack, I swear I'll THROW HIM THROUGH A MIRROR. Then I'm going to find out what ass taught him this stupidity and I'll throw him out of a 5 story window. THEN, I'm going to track down whoever initiated this stupid concept of
spot here in Manila and I'll invite him to fly to Boracay with me sometime, and I'll throw him out of the plane. IS IT CLEAR?!? DON'T TOUCH THE BAR DURING THE SET!!!! AAARRGGGHHH!!!!! NEVER FORCE REPS!!!! IT'S NOT CALLED A 'SPOT' YOU MOMO!!!
Ok...I'm calm...sort of
For me to totally calm down is a stretch. Anyway, if someone gets stuck, don't help them force the rep. Grab the weight and rack it immediately. If you fail the set, deal with it. It's how you'll adjust your program. And another thing: If you can get 5 reps but feel like you can do 8, stop at 5. The whole reason strength training is effective is because training to failure is probably the biggest blunder someone can make. Training to failure is exactly why I can walk into any gym and outlift even the biggest guy there with probably only a few exceptions in the country, and they (those stronger than me) all train like I do. The reason we are big and strong is because we don't train until failure.
Squat: 45x5, 65x5, 85x5, 95x5. 95 was tough so we stopped.
Dynamic rows: his form was atrocious, so we just decided to use the 90lbs bumper plates as the "Day 0" weight at move up 5lbs per session to ensure that we follow the proper form. It's better to get the form right than get injured.
DAY 2 aka DAY 0 - B
Most people prefer to split up the 5x5 Day Zero into two sessions since it often takes so much time to give instruction on squats and dynamic rows. Military press is relatively straightforward and most guys will crap out at about 55-65lbs on their day Zero if they are newbies.
So let's assume that:
Military Press top 5 = 60lbs
Deadlift top 5 = 155lbs
Pullups = 3 reps. With pullups, don't be concerned about it. If your gym has a gravitron or pull-up assistance device, that is ok. Avoid pulldowns since they don't really translate into pullup strength. They also don't develop the abs like pullups do. I'll save the "why" pullups develop the abs for the pullup discussion later. My best advice is to just try to do 5 sets of pullups, even if you can only do a negative rep or 1-2 reps per set. Many of my first trainees upon the opening of Eclipse couldn't even do a half-rep when they started. These same guys can now perform as much as 60lbs strapped to their waist for 5 reps. This is 6 months later, and their V-shaped backs and defined biceps are the envy of their friends who train elsewhere.
So now you have your top 5 weights that you got over the 2 days. It's probably best to take 2-3 days off before starting the program.
But here is the program with weeks, sets, and reps:
WEEK 1
Format - Weights x reps x sets
Workout 1 (monday) rest at least 5 min in-between squat and row sets.
Bench: 45x5, 50x5, 55x5, 60x5, 65x5
Squat: 80x5x5 (warmup 45x5)
Row: 90x5x5 (no warmup since rows follow squats) - again, we are practicing form here
Workout 2 (wednesday)
Deadlift: 140x5x5
Squat: 65x5x5
Military press: 55x5x4 (4 sets)
Pullups: Bodyweight x5x5
Workout 3 (friday)
Bench: 60x5x5
Squat: 45x5, 55x5, 65x5, 75x5, 95x5
Row: 95x5x5 (again no warmup) - here we just added 5lbs since we are practicing the form with rubber bumper plates. If your gym doesn't have these, you are already fighting an uphill battle as a newbie.
WEEK 2
Workout 1 (monday) rest at least 5 min in-between squat and row sets.
Bench: 45x5, 50x5, 55x5, 60x5, 70x5
Squat: 90x5x5 (warmup 45x5)
Row: 100x5x5 (no warmup since rows follow squats) - again, we are practicing form here
Workout 2 (wednesday)
Deadlift: 150x5x5
Squat: 75x5x5
Military press: 60x5x4 (4 sets)
Pullups: Bodyweight x5x5
Workout 3 (friday)
Bench: 65x5x5
Squat: 45x5, 55x5, 65x5, 85x5, 105x5
Row: 105x5x5 (again no warmup)
WEEK 3
Workout 1 (monday) rest at least 5 min in-between squat and row sets.
Bench: 45x5, 50x5, 55x5, 60x5, 75x5
Squat: 100x5x5 (warmup 65x5)
Row: 110x5x5 (no warmup since rows follow squats) - again, we are practicing form here
Workout 2 (wednesday)
Deadlift: 160x5x5
Squat: 80x5x5
Military press: 65x5x4 (4 sets)
Pullups: Bodyweight +5lbs x5x5
Workout 3 (friday)
Bench: 70x5x5
Squat: 45x5, 65x5, 75x5, 95x5, 115x5
Row: 115x5x5 (again no warmup)
WEEK 4
Workout 1 (monday) rest at least 5 min in-between squat and row sets.
Bench: 45x5, 50x5, 55x5, 65x5, 80x5
Squat: 110x5x5 (warmup 65x5)
Row: 120x5x5 (no warmup since rows follow squats) - again, we are practicing form here
Workout 2 (wednesday)
Deadlift: 170x5x5
Squat: 90x5x5
Military press: 70x5x4 (4 sets)
Pullups: Bodyweight +10lbs x5x5
Workout 3 (friday)
Bench: 75x5x5
Squat: 45x5, 65x5, 75x5, 95x5, 125x5
Row: 125x5x5 (again no warmup)
WEEK 5 - There is a week 5 because this individual is a newbie or relative newbie (meaning not much progress). More advanced lifters will often stop at the 4th week for the de-load week.
Workout 1 (monday) rest at least 5 min in-between squat and row sets.
Bench: 45x5, 55x5, 60x5, 70x5, 85x5
Squat: 120x5x5 (warmup 65x5, 95x2)
Row: 130x5x5 (no warmup since rows follow squats) - again, we are practicing form here
Workout 2 (wednesday)
Deadlift: 180x5x5
Squat: 100x5x5
Military press: 75x5x4 (4 sets)
Pullups: Bodyweight +15lbs x5x5
Workout 3 (friday)
Bench: 80x5x5
Squat: 45x5, 65x5, 85x5, 105x5, 135x5
Row: 135x5x5 (again no warmup)
DELOAD - WEEK 6 - This week is here to allow your nervous system to take a break since you have been increasing (loading) the weights on your body for 5 weeks straight. After this, you'll begin the simple intensity phase, or Phase 2. Note this Phase 2 is based upon the original Bill Starr program. Eclipse has a special (and
much more effective) Phase 2 that is for members only since it must be customized and updated on a daily basis
But the Phase 2 we'll give here is pretty effective as well. It
Workout 1 (monday) rest at least 5 min in-between squat and row sets.
Bench: 45x5, 50x5, 55x5, 70x5, 85x5
Squat: 120x5x5 (warmup 65x5)
Row: 130x5x5 (no warmup since rows follow squats) - again, we are practicing form here
2 DAY REST
Workout 2 (THURSDAY)
Deadlift: 180x5x5
Squat: 100x5x5
Military press: 75x5x4 (4 sets)
Pullups: Bodyweight +15lbs x5x5
3 DAY REST
PHASE 2