Mass/Strength Routine II

The Basic Formula is:

• SQUAT
• PUSH
• PULL
  
• over time, add a COMPLEX TOTAL BODY MOVEMENT

Here is an example of a Monday Wednesday Friday Schedule

Monday:

• Squat 5×5
• Weighted Pull-ups 5x5
• Weighted Dips 5×5
• Deadlift 3x5 (Complex Total Body Movement)
  

Wednesday:

• Squat 5×5
• Hanging Rows on Rings 5x5
• Bench Press 5×5
• Cleans 3x5 (Complex Total Body Movement)

Friday:

• Squat 2×5, 1x3, 3x1 (1 extra for fun...or a record)
  
• Pull-ups 2×5, 1x3, 2x1
• Weighted Dips 2×5, 1x3, 2x1
• Snatch 3x5 (Complex Total Body Movement)

NOTE: Make sure you do a proper Warm-up, even more important on Friday.

This routine utilizes the popular 5×5 method – a method popularized by programs like Starting Strength by Mark Rippetoe, that involves doing compound lifts for 5 sets of 5 reps, which allows you to strike a balance between strength building and superficial muscle hypertrophy. Done this way, your hypertrophy won’t be purely sarcoplasmic, which results in fluid-filled muscles that look big but don’t see a corresponding increase in actual strength. Instead, the 5×5 method promotes myofibrillar hypertrophy: hard, dense muscle fibers that increase strength and size (with no puffiness). In other words: Real Muscle!

This routine is based on lifting heavy & hard, and keeping the workouts spaced at least a day apart for a total of 3x/week. 3 sessions/week is plenty if you do it right. This is all about doing big compound movements that will really shock your central nervous system thus eliciting a Mammoth Nueroendocrine Response (release of anabolic hormones). The emphasis is on intensity and power.

This routine also prevents you from overworking yourself, thereby minimizing the release of catabolic (muscle wasting) hormones like cortisol.

Squats and Deadlifts are absolutely required. They engage the most muscles and produce the most testosterone, GH, and IGF-1. They will be the bedrock of this mass building campaign. Most elite programs recommend doing squats every session, and I tend to agree.

Deadlifts are a bit more taxing and so I relegated them to once per week.

Also note that Friday is the most demanding of the 3 routines, and it can be since there is an extra day of rest. It is also where you go for your 1-rep max every week

I have also supercharged each workout with a Total Body Olympic Lift. These complex movements will really maximum the effect!

For more mass, more lactic “burn” (and more GH secretion), super-set the exercises.

Metabolic Pairings can also be used here to change things up, and really pack on the mass: maximum muscle recruitment!

Refrain from any additional workouts throughout the week. The key is conserving strength and giving your body time to rest and recover for the next round of squats, deads, and presses.

Finally, the routines listed above are merely examples. They need not be performed exactly as shown. If your upper back is bothering you and Presses aggravate it, substitute another move. If you want to do Snatches instead of Push Jerks, go for it!