Main

Goal: Hypertrophy/ Strength (Hypertrophy Focus)

Training Level: Beginner
Split: 3 day full body
Time:1 hour to 1:15

Week One
Day 1: Workout A
Rest
Day 2: Workout B
Res
Day 3: Workout A
Rest
Rest

Week two
Day 1: Workout B
Rest
Day 2: Workout A
Res
Day 3: Workout B
Rest
Rest

Workout A (sets, reps)
Squats 5x5
Barbell Bench press 5x5
Barbell Row 5x5
Hamstring Curls 3x8
Facepulls 3x8
Skullcrushers (with shoulder extension) 3x8
Dumbbell Curls 3x8
Cable Laterals 3x10
Calves (Optional) 3x10
Core (weighted cable crunches/ or weighted planks)

Workout B (sets, reps)
Pause Squats 5x5
Incline Barbell Press 5x5
Deadlift 1x5
Pull-Up/ Pulldown 3x8
Shrugs 3x8-10
Face Pulls 3x8
Core (weighted cable crunches/ or weighted planks)

* Rotator Cuff Work and Mobility Work




Other Things:

Starting Out: Do not start too heavy. You will simply plateau and probably injure yourself
trying to progress. Start out with weights that you can do approximately 8 reps with. This
allows for greater progression for longer periods of time.

Things You will Need: The only thing you need for this program is a journal to track your
progress. You must track your progress. Other than a journal anything else is optional.

Progression: Each week you add 5 lbs to upper body lifts, and 10 to lower body lifts. If you
find you cannot do this then your either not sleeping, not eating enough, or you went to heavy
to being with. Do not worry about adding weight to the accessory/isolation lifts. Add weight
to those when you can, this may take a while say a month or two.

Rest time: Given the heavy loads you are required to use, rest periods should be in-between
3- 5 minutes. Yes, this may seem like a long time but you will need it.

Form: Everyone thinks they have good form. However, the truth is very few do. There is an
overwhelming amount of myths and misunderstandings regarding form. Truth is you do not
know how to perform most of the compounds correctly.(i.e. Bench, Squat, Deadlift, Press, and
Row) And this is not a judgment just the truth. If you do not know how to properly execute a
one of the main movements (i.e Squat, Deadlift, Bench press, Overhead Press, Pullup, Row) do
not attempt it. Do your research. It is best to learn something correct from the beginning,
rather than have to go back and relearn a movement. If your form is less than optimal take
two weeks, and do 3 sets of 10 reps with
lightweight perfecting your form. This
way you will not get injured when you go
heavy.
Some VERY GENERAL guidelines to form:

Bench: Have a small arch in your lower
back. Squeeze your shoulder blades
together. Do not flare your elbows, they
should be at a slight angle. Touch your
chest, and explode up. Do not bounce the
weight, bouncing=cracked ribs.

Squat: Upper back tight, shoulder blades
retracted. Chest up, head looking forward.
Initiate with a break at the knees and then sit back open your hips. Do not let your knees
buckle in. Try to remain as upright as possible. Do not squat above parallel, and do not put the
bar on your neck. It should rest on your trapezius.

Deadlift: Cut feet in half. Reach down grab the bar. Lock your arms. Bend your knees until
they touch the bar. Chest and head up. Brace your core, drive through the heels, and push your
hips through. Never allow your lumbar spine to round.


*These are just guidelines. Obviously everyone has anatomical differences (i.e. limb
length) This is something you must research for yourself. A great website to start
looking for information on proper technique is:
http://www.exrx.net/Lists/Directory.html

Warming Up: An adequate number of warm up sets should be performed before the main
movements are executed. Warming up allows you to prepare the muscles about to be used,
prepare the nervous system, and prepare your joints and mind.

Is there an order to doing the lifts: If you have exercises that you are particularly bad at,
start with that. However, never deadlift and
then squat, this puts your lower back in an
extremely compromised position and you
will probably get hurt. Otherwise you should
follow the order I have provided.

Failing on a Lift: You should be able to get
every set of every rep. If you cannot, once
again you went to heavy. If this happens
decrease the weight by 10% and restart.

This is a real squat BTW

Deloads: What is s deload? A deload simply
is a systematic break in training, where you
reduce the volume and load of your workouts by up to 50%. This allows your tendons and
ligaments, along with your Nervous system to recover. As a beginner deloads are not
necessary typically. However, if you stall for more than two weeks on a lift and your rest and
nutrition is in place you may need a deload. The more advanced you become the more often
you need to deload. As stated before beginners may not need to deload until they reach the
intermediate level, from then on a deload every four weeks while sufficiently allow for
recovery and allow for more linear progress. Advanced trainees may need deloads even more
often, i.e every two weeks.


Changing Exercises: There really is no need to change the lifts. But if you must you can
change the accessories and isolations.
Here are some suggestions if you MUST change the isolation lifts (but I dont recommend it):
DB curls: Barbell Curls, Incline Curls
Dips: CGBP (Close Grip Bench Press), Overhead Rope Extensions
Laterals: Behind the back laterals
Face pulls: Reverse Flyes, Pec deck reverse Flyes

If you cannot perform a bodyweight movement: If you do not posses the strength to do a
dip or a pull-ups. You have two alternatives: for pull-ups you will do the eccentric (or
negative) portion of the pull-up. Get a stool grab the bar jump up so that youre in the ending
position of the concentric portion of the pull-up with your chin above the bar, Hold this
position and slowly lower yourself in a controlled manner. For Dips Get a Bench and perform
bench dips. When those become easy, put your feet on
another bench and do bench dips. If you do these things
you should be able to do your pull-up and dip after a few
weeks.

Rotator Cuff Work: At least once a week some light
rotator cuff work should be done to strengthen the
muscles that stabilize the shoulder girdle. You can
choose these exercises 3-4 exercises will be sufficient, 2
sets of 6-8 will suffice for each exercise. Do not go heavy.
Bands are optimal.
Recommended exercises:
External rotations
Cuban Press
L Laterals
Dislocates

Mobility and stretching: Also accompanying every work you must stretch. Not for a long
time, ten minutes or so will suffice. But everyday you should stretch. You cannot maximize
strength if you lack flexibility and mobility. In fact you may find that you cannot even perform
some of the lifts correctly because of this. If this is the issue, take two weeks to increase
mobility and flexibility before beginning this program.
The general population typically has issues with the follow
Ankle stiffness
Hamstring tightness
Hip flexor tightness
Look for stretches for three problem areas and you will see almost immediate improvements
in your technique.

Foam Rolling: I would highly recommend utilizing your gyms foam rollers, or investing in
one for yourself. Foam rolling is the poor mans deep tissue massage. Foam rolling helps
flexibility; helps prevent and decrease soreness, and flush out metabolic waste in the muscles
that can accumulate over time from working out.

How long to do this Program: You should at least do this program for 12 weeks if you wish
to see any significant results. 24 weeks is even better and as long until you cannot linearly
progress anymore is best. Truthfully you could run this program indefinitely and continue
getting bigger and stronger.

How fast will I see gains: If you are adequately rested and recovered, and are eating enough
you should be able to see strength gains after the first week. You should expect to see
muscular changes after the first 2-3 initial weeks. From there are on, a natural beginner
trainee can gain approximately 2 lbs of muscle per month. That is if everything is in perfect
order. That means hypothetically, if you do this program exactly, your nutrition is on point,
and your sleep and recovery is on point you could gain a potential 24lbs of muscle after a year
of training with this program. This may not seem like much, with all the false claims of Gain
20lbs in 4 weeks!, but next time you go to the grocery store ask the butcher to see 20+lbs of
meat, and you will see it is quite a significant amount of tissue.

But I dont want to get too big: Although I acknowledge not everyone wants to be a
bodybuilder, the fact is 99.99% of people do not
have the genetics, work ethic, are willing to workout
out long enough, or the financial means to support Mr. Olympia 2011-
the drug bill of most professional bodybuilders. 2013
Naturally, it is just not possible to look like the
Mr.Olympia. Even if you do not want to maximize
your muscular potential, achieving that takes more
than years, it take decades. And truthfully most
people will not consistently and intelligently lift
weights for 20+ years. For the average natural
trainee these are approximately the maximum
amounts of muscle mass you can put on given your
experience level:
1st year: 20-25 lb
2nd Year: 10-12 lb
3rd Year: 5-6 lb
4th Year:2-3 lb
5th Year+: .5 -1 lb

You will never look like this. Sorry

Diet: This is one of the most aspects to training. If your nutrition sucks, you will not see
optimal progress (if any at all). First let us delve into some basic nutrition. What is a calorie? A
calorie is a basic unit of energy. More specifically a calorie is the energy needed to raise the
temperature of 1 gram of water through 1 C. You may wonder what makes up the calories you eat?
This is where macronutrients come in. There are three macronutrients: Protein, fat, and
carbohydrates. Each macronutrient has an accepted amount of calories per gram. Protein
contains 4 calories per gram, carbohydrates contain 4 calories per gram, and fat contains 9
calories per gram.
Now onto your diet.
First you must, must, must, count calories and track your macronutrients. (*It is actually
more important to hit your daily macros than to hit your daily calories because it will be
almost impossible to fit your given macros into your allotted amount of calories. This is
because the general caloric numbers associated with each macronutrient is a rounded
number. This means that 4 calories per gram of protein is an estimation, it may be more or
less calories in reality depending on what you eat. But do not worry about that, simply make
sure you hit your macros and dont be afraid if youre a little over or a little under your caloric
needs.) I cannot stress this point enough. Almost every person who cannot gain weight or
cannot loose weight either underestimates their caloric needs or overestimates their caloric
needs.
Also, let us get something out of the way now: it is physiologically impossible to loose muscle
and burn fat outside of the initial noob phase which lasts anywhere from 6 months to a year.
After that you MUST put on a small amount of fat to gain any appreciable amount of muscle
mass. This is because your body requires a caloric surplus to gain new muscle tissue that is
eating more calories than your body expends. To loose weight you must be in a caloric deficit,
that is eating less energy than your body expends. Therefore, as you can plainly see it is
impossible to be in a deficit and a surplus at the same time. However, I am not suggesting you
become extremely overweight and eat your self until you cannot move. A small surplus will
suffice, and you will see the same increase in musculature with minimum fat gain.

So here is quick and easy way to calculate your caloric needs:
BW (bodyweight) X 14 = Calories needed to maintain current weight

*The 14 comes from the following: 10% for your BMR(Basic Metabolic Rate)+2% for the
thermic effect of food+2% for the thermic effect of activity.

So for example someone who weight 180lbs would need 2520 calories to maintain their
weight (180x14=2520)

So to be in a sufficient caloric surplus to optimize muscle gains you would take your
maintenance calories and add 10% to them. Sticking with the previous example it would look
like this: 2520+10% of 2520= 2772
Breaking down what these calories should be made up of is quite simple. All food can be
broken down in macronutrients: Proteins, carbohydrates and fat. Each plays a significant role
in optimal health and performance. Therefore no one macronutrient should be neglected.

Breaking down your macronutrients for gaining muscle and strength is simply:
Set your protein intake: Protein intake should be around .8-1 gram /lb. Nothing higher is
necessary.
Next Carbohydrate intake should be around 2- 2.5 grams/lb. This is largely individual; as
some will respond better to higher carbohydrate diets and others will not. But roughly 2
grams/lb should be solid starting place.
Lastly is fat. Do not fear fat. You need it, for health and for gains. Fat intake should be around
.3-.5 grams/lb. Again this is largely individual, but there is no need for fat to be excessively
high in this case (over .6 grams/lb) or excessively low (below .2 grams/lb)
So back to our example taking our 180 lb trainee, the breakdown would be as follows:

BMR: 1800
Maintenance Calories: 2520
Muscle Building (caloric Surplus): 2772
Macronutrient breakdown:
Protein: 144- 180
Carbohydrate: 360-450
Fat: 60- 90

*Side Note: Do not worry about your percentages of macronutrients. There is no need to
follow a %-based diet. This is an outdated and misunderstood theory. Your own percentages
will depend greatly upon what your goals are and will skew your % in a way that most likely
will not fit into the cookie cutter recommendation of eating 60% carbohydrates, 20% protein
and 20% fat.


Other general eating tips:
Drink lots of water
Eat a hearty amount of vegetables and fruit.
Stick primarily to whole foods. I.e. things that come from the earth not a lab.
Do not eat foods that you do not enjoy, or cannot tolerate (i.e. foods you are allergic or
sensitive to)
Do not deprive yourself of foods you enjoy, everything in moderation
Count your damn calories


Best website to track your calories:
http://www.myfitnesspal.com/



*Note: Understand these are just guidelines, I have not written you a custom diet or gotten
into specifics. You may need to adjust to fit your own physiological individuality. For
example if you feel tired and your performance is lacking and you started your
carbohydrates on the lower end try adding more. If you find after 4 weeks you cannot gain
weight with such a small surplus, add another 5% and try for another 4 weeks. Keep
repeating until you gain weight, eventually you will.

Supplements
You do not need any supplements to make gains. None. Supplements are just that,
they are there to supplement your diet. If your diet is made up of protein powder, a
multivitamin, and a fiber supplement your diet sucks.



Final Thoughts
This will not be easy. Handling such heavy loads, especially week after week, month after
month, is something most are not used to. And challenging yourself to complete every set and
rep will be very difficult especially as the weight starts to get heavy. Additionally, constantly
eating and be very particular about your food choices can be annoying. Truthfully, most
people will quit after a few weeks, or a few months. But the few people who stay with this
program for a long duration of time will reap the results. The most important things are
consistency and time. If you only do this once a week, it will not work. If you only come every
other week it will not work. Consistency and time is the key.
Stanley
ILIFTHEREFOREIAM