This routine is suitable for anyone past the beginner stage that KNOWS THEY TOLERATE FOUR DAY A WEEK TRAINING WELL. If you do not, do NOT USE THIS ROUTINE. This is nothing new and the concept has been used for at least 40 years. It is just my slight twist on it.
Day One:
Bench Press, Incline, Decline Bench 3 x 3, or 3 x 5. If you cannot barbell bench use DB’s 3 x 5
Dips, Dumbell Incline/Decline 2 x 8
Military, Dumbell Shoulder Press, or Machine Press 2 x 8
Skull Crushers, Dumbbell Skull Crushers, or Tricep PD 2 x 8
Abs, Weighted Situps, Wheel of Death, Hanging Leg Raises, or ab Machine 2 x 10
3 Minutes Rest between all work sets
Day Two: Rest
Day Three:
Chins or Pull-Downs 3 x 6
Barbell, Dumbbell, or Chest Supported Row 3 x 5
Curl—take your pick 2 x 6
Squat, Box Squat, or Front Squat 3 x 3, or 3 x 5
Stiff-Legged Deadlift, Good-Morning, or Reverse Hyper/Hyper 2 x 6 NOT all out. You CANNOT DO REGULAR DEADLIFTS ON THIS DAY UNLESS YOU WANT TO SUBSTITUTE THEM FOR THE SQUATTING.
3 Minutes Rest between all work sets, 4 minutes for Squats. For the squats you should ramp to a top max set.
Day Four: Rest
Day Five:
Bench Press, Incline Bench Press, Decline Bench Press, or Dumbbell Flat/Incline/Decline 3 x 10
Dips 3 x 10, if you can’t Dip, do a Close Grip Bench Press Variation with a barbell or Hammer DB Press 3 x 12
Fly, Incline or Decline 3 x 12
Tricep Pushdown or Skull Crusher 5 x 10
Lateral Raise or Upright Row 5 x 10
Abs, Weighted Situps, Wheel of Death, Hanging Leg Raises, or ab Machine 2 x 20
All sets done with 60 seconds rest between sets with a static weight, if you do not get all your reps that is fine, keep the weight the same until you do before going up in weight. If your last set is under 6 reps the weight is too heavy. This day should not be super taxing or you are either out of shape, or the weights are too high.
Day Six:
Chins or Lat Pull-Downs, grip of your choice 3 x 10
Barbell, Dumbbell, or Chest Supported Row 3 x 15
Face Pulls or Band Pull-Aparts 3 x 10, if you can’t or won’t do one of these lifts, add one set to lat movements listed above.
Curl—take your pick 3 x 12
Reverse Curl 2 x 15, if you can’t or don’t want to do reverse curls do another bicep curl variation for 2 sets of 15
Squat variation or Leg Press 3 x 20 using 80-90-100% the 100% is 100% or your TWENTY REP MAX
Pull-through, Glute/Ham Raise, or leg Curl 2 x 15
All sets done with 60 seconds rest between sets with a static weight, if you do not get all your reps that is fine, keep the weight the same until you do before going up in weight. If your last set is under 6 reps the weight is too heavy. The exception are the squats/leg presses, use however many minutes/seconds rest you need.
Day Seven: Rest
Repeat
Deload every 4th week by missing one of the weeks workouts (your pick on what days) and by cutting the volume on ALL LIFTS by 1.
Only the last set on all lifts are taken one rep short of failure. On the 60 second rest days you will likely lose reps as the sets go on, that is fine, just stop the sets before you actually fail.
IF YOU CAN’T OR DON’T WANT TO DO ANY OF THE LIFT, DON’T ASK FOR SUBSTITUTES, FIGURE IT OUT YOURSELF. DON’T CHANGE THE REP RANGES ON THE FIRST TWO TRAINING DAYS. ON THE LIGHT DAYS YOU CAN INCREASE THE REP RANGES, BUT YOU CANNOT LOWER THEM.
Feel free to NOT DO the isolation lifts like curls and tricep push-downs, BUT DO NOT ADD ANY LIFTS. FOR THE READING CHALLENGED, THIS MEANS YOU CAN ELIMINATE THE:
Skull Crushers, Dumbbell Skull Crushers, or Tricep PD 2 x 8
Fly, Incline or Decline 3 x 12
Tricep Pushdown or Skull Crusher 5 x 10
Curl—take your pick 3 x 12
Reverse Curl 2 x 15