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If you’re going to train 4 days per week, use the following template: Day 1: Chest & Triceps & Calves Day 2: Back & Biceps & Abs Day 3: Upper Body & Calves Day 4: Legs & Abs In this template, your “Upper Body” day consists of 3 sets for the chest performed in the 8- to 10-rep range followed by shoulders training. Here’s an example of a 4-day week on the program: DAY 1 CHEST & TRICEPS & CALVES Incline Barbell Bench Press – Warm-up sets and then 3 working sets Flat Barbell Bench Press – 3 working sets Dip (Chest Variation, weighted if possible) – 3 working sets Seated Triceps Press – 3 working
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If you’re going to train three days per week, you have two templates to choose from: OPTION A: Day 1: Back & Biceps & Abs Day 2: Chest & Triceps & Calves Day 3: Legs & Shoulders
In your first warm-up set, you want to do 12 reps with about 50 percent of your heavy, 4- to 6-rep set weight and then rest for 1 minute. This set should feel very light and easy. For instance, if you did 3 sets of 5 reps with 225 pounds on the bench last week, you would start your warm-up with about 110 pounds and do 12 reps, followed by 1 minute of rest.
In your second warm-up set, you use the same weight as the first and do 10 reps, this time at a little faster pace. Then rest for 1 minute.
Your third warm-up set is 4 reps with about 70 percent of your heavy weight, and it should be done at a moderate pace. This set and the following one are done to acclimate your muscles to the heavy weights that are about to come. Once again, you follow this set with a 1-minute rest. With a working set weight of 225, this would be about 155 to 160 pounds.
The fourth warm-up set is the final one, and it’s simple: 1 rep with about 90 percent of your heavy weight. Rest 2 to 3 minutes after this final warm-up set. This would be about 200 pounds if your heavy weight were 225.
These are your working sets performed in the 4- to 6-rep range with about 85 percent of your 1RM.
Generally speaking, you don’t need to perform more warm-up sets in a workout beyond the four laid out above. For instance, if you start your workout with the flat bench press and then move to the incline press, you don’t have to do a new round of warm-up sets.
There’s a method to proper exercise rotation, though. Namely, there are two types of exercises: The “nonnegotiables,” which are exercises you should do every week, without fail. These are the big compound lifts vital for building a strong, muscular physique: the squat, deadlift, bench press, and military press. The “negotiables,” which can be seen as “accessory” work done in addition to the above. These are mostly compound exercises like the dumbbell press, barbell row, and dip, but they also include isolation exercises like the side lateral raise, face pull, and dumbbell curl.
An easy, effective way to program a workout is to do 3 to 6 sets of your “nonnegotiable” exercises followed by 3 to 6 sets of your “negotiable” exercises and to change the “negotiables” every eight to ten weeks, after your rest or deload weeks.
As mentioned earlier, make every fourth training week a Strength Week. I say fourth training week because this doesn’t include rest or deload weeks. Here’s how most people like to do it: 3 weeks of normal workouts 1 Strength Week (A) 3 weeks of normal workouts 1 Strength Week (B) 1 Rest/Deload week Repeat
(Remember that regardless of your rest/deload schedule, you never do the same Strength Week twice in a row—you always alternate between A and B.)
Sir William Thomson, also known as Lord Kelvin, was an ingenious physicist and engineer, and he said that when you can measure something and express it in numbers, you know something about it, but when you can’t, your knowledge is lacking.
This might be obvious, but many people don’t quite get it: if you experience pain, stop your set. If an exercise always bothers you, do something else.
If you’re wondering how companies can even get away with such an egregious scam, it’s simple: the supplement industry is completely unregulated. You don’t have to submit products to the FDA to start selling—you just whip something together, say whatever you want in your advertising, and voilà, you’re now in the supplement business. Watch the documentary Bigger Stronger Faster if you want to see how hilariously easy this is.
A high-quality whey protein is easy to spot: whey concentrate, isolate, or hydrolysate will be listed as the first ingredient(s) and the scoop size will be relatively close to the amount of protein per scoop. (It’ll never match because there is at least sweetener and flavoring along with the protein powder in every serving.)
