# A long-term training plan



## basskiller (Feb 12, 2013)

This article will outline what I believe is an optimal plan for most trainees to take when starting their training career. It's no secret that most trainees start out doing too much, too frequently and end up stuck for the vast majority of the time they spend training. As most people know, there are a wide variety of training modalities in common use. Perhaps the most popular is the system that most of the pros use, volume training. While there is certainly nothing wrong with volume training, it is something that must be worked into over the long-term, and for most trainees is not the best way to start the training career. Volume training works wonders for the people that it works for, but what many fail to realize is, that even most of the pros got their start on basic power type routines. Most didn't start out doing 16 sets per body part. While volume is absolutely fantastic for size gains, for the vast majority of trainees, is not the best way to go for rapid strength gains.

Being a trainer that runs a clientele list of 50 to 75 people at any one time, I review a lot of training history from people's past. It is very common to have trainees that have spent three to five years in the gym, and still are not benching much past 200 pounds or squatting much more than 250. I don't care how many sets, how many angles you hit the muscle from, nor how much fast-paced pump work that you do, as long as you lift a girl weights, he will have a girl's body.

Volume training (assuming you have the work capacity to do it productively) results in slower strength gains then lower volume power-training, if that were not the case, powerlifters would all be doing high-volume training, they do not. I’ll use Westside Barbell as an example. The rule of thumb at Westside is no more than four or five lifts per training session, not per body part. When you factor in the fact that they split the body only two ways you will see that it is very low volume training indeed. Then when you factor in the fact that it is the system most responsible for the biggest lifts in power lifting today, you will start to get the idea that less is more in strength training.

Understand they could use any system that they want but none of the higher volume systems will get a guy an 800 pound squat, 600 pound bench, and 700 pound deadlift. And quite frankly the numbers I just listed are relatively low numbers in power lifting today. Most top-level meets have thousand pound squats and seven to eight hundred pound benches.

Now I fully understand that many of you at this point are shaking your head's saying I'm a bodybuilder not a powerlifter what the hell does this have to do with me? Well it has everything to do with you because the fastest way to build a solid foundation of strength is to do a power lifting or power-building type bodybuilding routine. Remember the more work you do the more work you have to recover from, and generally the slower strength gains will be. I would much rather see a trainee get to the point where he is benching to 275 to 315, squatting 350-and deadlifting in 400-450 and rowing to 225-300 in a very short period of time as opposed to him taking the long path of doing higher frequency higher workloads that builds strength at a much slower pace. Like taking 6 to 8 years to build your strength level that many will do in two to four years with proper training?

Once the trainee has at least these baseline numbers under his belt he then has the option of doing more volume and frequency to work on detailing the mass that will have been achieved by having those lifts. Remember, you can't detail what you don't have. And most trainees spend far too much time doing three to four lifts per body part, in a never ending attempt at detailing what they don't have. You will search high and low to find a bodybuilder that has any respectable size that is only benching to 250 and squatting 315.

Another thing to take into consideration is that work capacity is slowly built over time. One of the biggest mistakes in bodybuilding today is the notion that beginners can't train very hard because of lack of intensity and therefore a three day a week full body routine, or starting with a lot of volume is just fine for beginner because he won't be pushing that hard, that is plain bullshit! When a trainee starts training, work capacity is at its lowest. If you work into it correctly, work capacity will be built to some degree over time, but does not start high.

A brand-new trainee will do very well indeed if started on a real simple, basic meat and potatoes bodybuilding routine without anything fancy. Here is a good example:

Day One:
Dips or Bench Press 2 x 6-8

Incline Press 2 x 10-12

Military Press, Or Hammer Shoulder Press 2 x 6-8

Tricep (skull crushers) Extensions or Tricep Pushdowns 2 x 10-12


Day Two:

Pull-Up 3 sets to failure

Barbell Row 2 x 8

EZ-Bar Or Dumbell Curl 1 x 10

Heavy Abs 3 x 10


Day Three

Squats 2 x 10

Deadlifts, or Stiff-Legged Deadlift 1 x 10

Pull-Troughs, Glute/Ham Raises, or Reverse Hypers


Here is a rotating style routine with the same basic structure, but having two sets of lifts that rotate every week. This helps keep the trainee from hitting sticking points as fast as on a single rotation format.

Day one, week one

Dips 3 x 10

Incline Bench Press 3 x 6

Lateral Raise 4 x 10

Laying Tricep Extensions 3 x 8-10


Day two, week one

Wide Grip Pull-Down/Up 3 x 8

Chest Supported Row, or Barbell Row 3 x 8-10

Barbell Curl 3 x 10

Resistance Abs 3 x 10


Day three, week one

Squat 3 x 6-10

Leg Press 2 x 15

Good-Morning or Stiff-Legged Deadlift 2 x 8

Calf Raise RP 2 x 15/30


Day one, week two

Bench Press 3 x 6-10

Incline DB Press 2 x 10-12

Military Press 3 x 10

Tricep Pus-Downs 3 x 8-10


Day two, week two

Supinated Grip Pull-Down/Up 4 x 8

Dumbbell Row 3 x 10

Dumbbell Curl 3 x 8

Reverse Curl 2 x 10

Hanging Leg Raises

Day three, week two

Deadlift 1 x 8

Safety Squat, or hack squat, 2 x 6-10

Glute/Ham Raise 3 x 8

Leg Press Calf Raise 3 x 15

Not enough work? TRY IT!! Almost anyone to make solid gains on a routine like this, now it likely will not be optimal if you are very advanced and especially it won't be a very productive if you aren't volume responder and well advanced, but how many people truly fit in this category? I have truly seen people that failed at volume and high-capacity workloads add 40 to 50 pounds to their bench press and 75 to 125 pounds to their squat and deadlift and 40 to 50 pounds to the pulldown's or rows, in a short matter of months on a routine like this. Is the kind of progress you currently making now on your routine? And no, that type of progress doesn't last forever, but if you have never done a strength based low were volume retain a very might likely happen to you the first few months you attempt it.

That is a good way to get started, and for many a good way you continue to train for quite a long time. After a reasonable time on a routine like this, say six months to a year or two you can progress to a more power oriented routine. A very solid way to train for this is DC’s system. I have used this system a lot with training clients of mine and use it on myself at times with great success. Here is an example of DC’s system:

DC’s routines are setup a variety of ways, with perhaps the most popular and applicable being splitting the body up like this:

a)
Chest
Shoulders
Triceps
Back width
Back thickness

b)
biceps
forearms
calves
hams
quads

Three lifts are picked for each bodypart, and each training day you do ONE of the lifts in either rest-pause, or strait set fashion. That means after warm-ups, you do ONE lift per body-part for a total of 5 sets per workout. If you are not familiar with the details of this system do NOT attempt it based only on the routines presented here. The extreme stretching and other details are part and parcel of the system and must be used as a whole.

Here is a list of DC approved lifts. I do NOT approve of all of the lifts myself, but know they work well for many people:

CHEST
incline smythe
decline smythe
hammer strength press (incline and decline)
other good machine press
incline barbell
decline barbell
incline dumbbell press
flat dumbbell press
decline dumbbell press

SHOULDERS
smythe presses to front
smythe presses to back of head
hammer strength press
other good machine press
barbell press to front
barbell press to back of head
dumbbell shoulder press

TRICEPS
close grip bench in smythe
reverse grip bench in smythe
skull crushers
dips (in upright position)

BACK WIDTH
rack chins to front
rack chins to back of head
reverse grip rack chins (close grip)
assisted pullups
hammer strength "pulldown" machines
other good "pulldown" machines
pull downs to front
pull downs to back of head

BACK THICKNESS
deadlift
rack deadlift
T-bar rows
smythe rows
barbell rows

BICEPS
barbell curls
alternate dumbbell curls
barbell preacher curls
hammer strength machine curls
other good machine curls
cable curls
incline db curls
close grip ez-bar preacher curls
standing medium grip ez-bar curls

FOREARMS
hammer curls (alternated)
pinwheel curls (alternated)
reverse grip one arm cable curls

CALVES
calves on a leg press
standing calf raises
calves in hack squat
seating calf raises
any calf machine with a good range of motion

HAMSTRINGS
seating leg curls
standing leg curls
lying leg curls
stiff leg deadlift
sumo presses

QUADS
squats
smythe squats
hack squat
leg press

Here is a sample routine:

Monday
Hammer Bench Press x 1 set 8/15 Rest-Pause
Military Press in Rack x 1 set 8/15 Rest-Pause
Skull Crushers x 1 set 8/15 Rest-Pause
Wide Grip Pull-Down x 1 set 8/15 Rest-Pause
Bent Row x 1 set 8/15 Rest-Pause

Wednesday
Barbell Curl x 1 set 8/15 Rest-Pause
Hammer Curl x 1 set 8/15 Rest-Pause
Leg Press Calf Raise x 1 set 8/15 Rest-Pause
Glute/Ham Raise x 1 set 8/15 Rest-Pause
Leg Press x 1 set 10/20 Rest-Pause

That would be considered the first rotation. Now using a DIFFERENT set of lifts, the next is done. Again, there are three sets of lifts, and after the third rotation, you start again, such as:

Friday
Incline Bench Press x 1 set 8/15 Rest-Pause
Hammer Shoulder Press x 1 set 8/15 Rest-Pause
Dips x 1 set 8/15 Rest-Pause
Supinated Grip Pull-Ups x 1 set 8/15 Rest-Pause
Rack Pull x 1 set 10 reps

Monday
Dumbbell Curl x 1 set 8/15 Rest-Pause
Grip Machine x 1 set 8/15 Rest-Pause
Standing Calf Raise x 1 set 8/15 Rest-Pause
Leg Curl x 1 set 8/15 Rest-Pause
Squat x 1 set 10/20 Rest-Pause

This training system can be modified to suit almost anyone's training needs. The big factors that must be tweaked this is training frequency and the number of rest-pause sets done. I have written articles on DC system so please refer to them for more information.

It's also no secret that I am a huge fan of Westside Barbell training. In my mind is probably the most balanced training system existent. The low rep work gives you a screaming strength gains, and there is also enough higher repetition work to contribute to a large degree of hypertrophy. The big key structuring it to suit your training needs. The standard Westside barbell format is a bit much for most trainees and must be scaled back.

There are a wide variety of ways to do this and I, and many trainers have put together modified versions that work well for the average training. I put them together as 2, 3, or 4 day a week routines, and modify the workload and amount of sets done and rep ranges to suit the individual trainee. I can truly say it is the most productive training system I have ever use for both myself and trainees other then volume training for those that are suited to it. But remember, the volume training is done in its time and place and that is for the trainees that have these aforementioned strength levels. Not rank beginners.

Here is an example of one of my Westside Barbell formats:

The format shown is for guys that have average to above average recovery ability. If you are a hardgainer or extreme hardgainer this is not the format to attempt. What will this type of routine do for many if not most of you? Build strength faster than any BB program you have ever tried by a long shot. Just strength? Nope! For most of you, size will be awesome to. It may be the fastest way for many of you to reach your lifting goals. Whether you are a BB’er or PL’er. I CHALLENGE ANY OF YOU THAT ARE NOT SATISFIED WITH YOUR CURRENT LEVEL OF PROGRESS TO TRY THIS OR THE LOWER VOLME VERSION BELOW FOR 4 WEEKS! If it works, you can do more studying and put together something on your own, or have me design a full routine and diet for you. A few things to keep in mind:

It is only a SAMPLE and is not laid out exactly like I write them for clients for a few reasons. I wanted to make sure EVERYONE had access and ability to do the lifts listed, and everyone that has even a modest gym can do these. I used a 3-week (it ends up being closer to 4 actual weeks because of the rotating format) on the ME lifts for simplicity sake. SOME lifters do get a 3 week rotation on ME lifts and other get 2 weeks, or even one. There is no waving of the weights or volume for either the DE work or the repetition work. Again this was done for simplicity sake, and I also can’t give it all away-lol. And last but not least, not knowing who will be attempting it, it is quite generic. But I will bet that anyone that recovers even remotely well will do extremely well on it. After just 4 weeks you WILL have a higher bench, squat and deadlift.

REMEMBER THIS IS ONLY A PARTIAL SAMPLE OF THE FORMAT, AND YOU CANNOT, I REPEAT CANNOT JUST RUN THIS SAMPLE FOR LONGER THAN THE WEEKS SHOWN. WSB CHANGES THE ME WORK EVERY 1-3 WEEKS, AND THE REST OF THE LIFTS MUST BE CHANGED FREQUENTLY ALSO FOR IT TO WORK. IF YOU NEED MORE INFO ON THIS CONTACT ME.

Monday ME Squat,
Arched Back Good Morning in Rack, 2 inches above parallel, 1 max set of 3 reps
Box Squat 2 x 8 at parallel, should have 2 reps left in you for all sets.
Glute/ham raise 3 x 8 to failure
Barbell Row 3 x 8, NTF
Dumbbell Curl 3 x10, NTF

Tuesday Off

Wednesday ME Bench
CG bench press in rack 4 inches from chest, 1 max set of 1 reps
Skull Crushers, straight bar 3 x 10, only last set to failure
Dumbell bench press 2 x 10, only last set close to failure
Lateral raise 4 x 10, NTF
Abs, HEAVY 3 x 10

Thursday Off

Friday DE Squat
DE Box squat at parallel 2 reps x 6 sets, 45 TIMED seconds between sets
Pull-Throughs 3 x 10 Only Last set close to Failure
Glute/ham 3 x to failure, or reverse hyper 3 x 8
Lat Pulldown, wide grip 4 x 6, NTF
BB Curl 3 x 6, NTF

Saturday Off

Sunday Off

__________________________________________________ __________

Monday DE Bench
Speed Bench press 3 reps x 6 sets, 45 TIMED seconds between sets
JM Press 3 x 6, NTF
Tricep Pushdowns 3 x 8, NTF
Dumbell Shoulder press 3 x 8 OR lateral raises, NTF
Hanging leg Raises 3x 10

Tuesday Off

Wednesday ME Squat
Arched Back Good Morning in Rack, 2 inches above parallel, 1 max set of 3 reps
Box Squat 2 x 8 at parallel, should have 2 reps left in you for all sets.
Glute/ham raise 3 x 8 to failure
Barbell Row 3 x 8, NTF
Dumbbell Curl 3 x10, NTF

Thursday Off

Friday ME Bench
CG bench press in rack 4 inches from chest, 1 max set of 1 reps
Skull Crushers, straight bar 3 x 10, only last set to failure
Dumbell bench press 2 x 10, only last set close to failure
Lateral raise 4 x 10, NTF
Abs, HEAVY 3 x 10

Saturday Off

Sunday Off

__________________________________________________ __________

Monday DE Squat
DE Box squat at parallel 2 reps x 6 sets, 45 TIMED seconds between sets
Pull-Throughs 3 x 10 Only Last set close to Failure
Glute/ham 3 x to failure, or reverse hyper 3 x 8
Lat pulldown, wide grip 4 x 6, NTF
BB Curl 3 x 6, NTF

Tuesday Off

Wednesday DE Bench
Speed Bench press 3 reps x 6 sets, 45 TIMED seconds between sets
JM Press 3 x 6, NTF
Triceps Pushdowns 3 x 8, NTF
Dumbbell Shoulder press 3 x 8 OR lateral raises, NTF
Hanging leg Raises 3 x 10

Thursday Off

Friday ME Squat
Arched Back Good Morning in Rack, 2 inches above parallel, 1 max set of 3 reps
Box Squat 2 x 8 at parallel, should have 2 reps left in you for all sets.
Glute/ham raise 3 x 8 to failure
Barbell Row 3 x 8, NTF
Dumbbell Curl 3 x10, NTF

Saturday Off

Sunday Off
__________________________________________________ _________________

Monday ME Bench
CG bench press in rack 4 inches from chest, 1 max set of 1 reps
Skull Crushers, straight bar 3 x 10, only last set to failure
Dumbbell bench press 2 x 10, only last set close to failure
Lateral raise 4 x 10, NTF
Abs, HEAVY 3 x 10

Tuesday Off

Wednesday DE Squat
DE Box squat at parallel 2 reps x 6 sets, 45 TIMED seconds between sets
Pull-Throughs 3 x 10 Only Last set close to Failure
Glute/ham 3 x to failure, or reverse hyper 3 x 8
Lat pulldown, wide grip 4 x 6, NTF
BB Curl 3 x 6, NTF

Thursday Off


Friday DE Bench
Speed Bench press 3 reps x 6 sets, 45 TIMED seconds between sets
JM Press 3 x 6, NTF
Tricep Pushdowns 3 x 8, NTF
Dumbbell Shoulder press 3 x 8 OR lateral raises, NTF
Hanging leg Raises 3 x 10

* NTF means NOT to Failure



For those that don't recover that well, a simple two day a week format works absolute WONDERS, here is an example of that:

Monday
Pull-down abs 3 x 10
Lightened BP x 1
Bar Extensions in Rack 3 x 8
DB Bench 4 x 8
Lateral Raise 4 x 8

Tuesday
GPP

Wednesday
Off

Thursday
Weighted Abs 2 x 10
Box Squat x 1
SLDL x 8
Pullthroughs 3 x 8 Dorian Row 4 x 8

Friday
GPP

Saturday
Off

Sunday
Off

Monday
Pull-down abs 3 x 10
GCBP BP x 1
Bar Extensions in Rack 3 x 8
DB Bench 4 x 8
Lateral Raise 4 x 8

Tuesday
GPP

Wednesday
Off

Thursday
Weighted Abs 2 x 10
GM’s x 1
Box Squat 1 x 8
Pullthroughs 3 x 8
Dorian Row 4 x 8

Friday
GPP

Saturday
Off

Sunday
Off

Monday
Pull-down abs 3 x 10
Dumbbell Bench 2 x 6, PUASE EVERY REP
Bar Extensions in Rack 3 x 8
Tricep PD 2 x 10
Lateral Raise 4 x 15

Tuesday
GPP

Wednesday
Off

Thursday
Deadlift x 1
SLDL LIGHT 2 x 10
Glute/ham raise 3 x 8
Dorian Row 4 x 8

Friday
GPP

Saturday
Off

Sunday Off

While the frequency is less then a standard Westside routine, the overall volume is very much like a wide variety of Westside trainees use, and began if you don't think there's enough volume and lifts to be productive TRY it!

Here is an excerpt of Travis Mash’s training log. He is truly one of the strongest men in the world and just broke Ed Coans record of 2500 in the 220 lb class with 2508, that number is the total lbs lifted with ONE squat, ONE bench press, and ONE deadlift—WOW!!

Feb. 4th ME Bench
1. Shirt Work 3 board 765/1
2. 2 board 635/3
3. 700/1 Regular Bench
4. Lionox 25 lb. DBs/ 10X4

Feb. 6th Dynamic Squats
1. Box Squats 415 + 100 lb. of wt releasers/2 X 5, 505/2, 615/1 plus 200 lb. of wt releasers
2. DLs up to 750/1 easy, and then 820/1 of 4 inch box easy (weight sitting on box)
3. Rev Hypers 3X 10
4. Ab Work

That is all the work he needs, and you need more!!

One of the mods on my board goes by the name of EXMGQ on my board, and PullinBig on others. He is 46, and a national caliber powerlifter with an 800 lb squat and a 585 pound bench. Here is a routine he recommends for both bodybuilders and powerlifters looking to add mass below are his words:

Here’s a generic routine that is a good starting point. This is a mass building routine. Probably less volume than you are used too but very effective. Three days per week because that’s all most folks can handle if they are training heavy. They key is forced/assisted reps. Painful but very effective if you really want to put on size. This does not include warm ups so that is up to you to make sure you are stretched and plenty warm before performing work sets. A work set is defined as a set that you just barely get all reps or need assistance on one or two reps. If you get all the reps fairly easily then it is a warm up and not a work set. Add abs and cardio on the days off to fit your needs.

Monday:
Squats 2 x 5
Box squats 2 x 4
Leg presses 2 x 5 (pick 2 of the three listed as long as one is squats)
Calves (your choice of exercise) 2 x 10

Tuesday:
Wide grip flat bench 2 x 6 (index fingers on the rings)
Decline medium grip bench 2 x 6 (pinkies on the rings)
Weighted dips 2 x 10
Upright rows or side laterals 1 x 10

Thursday:
Dead lifts (rotate variations each week) 2 x 5
reverse hypers, pull thrus or glute ham raise 1 x 10-15
Bent over rows 2 x 4
Reverse grip narrow grip pull downs 2 x 6
Standing wide grip curls 2 x 8 (or your favorite curl here)

Every one of these movements is a mass building exercise. These are the essential movements for putting on size. Rest and nutrition are just as important as lifting, neglect any one of the three and you will not grow. Juice or no juice all will grow with this routine or a similar one. Consistency is the key. Adding 5 lbs to the bar every other week equals 130lbs/year. Not bad considering many are moving the same weight year in year out. Strength gains are the key to growth, not other way around.

Bear in mind this routine or any other will need some tweaking after several weeks. but if you looking to keep it simple give it 12 weeks and you will be amazed.

And of course I agree with this statement that if you try something like this for 12 weeks you will likely be amazed.

In my mind these are the types of retains that most people should be doing to build their strength base. Once that is accomplished in the training has at least a solid foundation of basic strength levels then it is time to expand and work on detail if that is what is needed. But many will find that unless they are targeting becoming a competitive level bodybuilder they will have all the size and strength that they needed just by these basic style routines and detail will not be needed via training. Just getting body fat levels low is all that will be needed to look like a million bucks!

You will likely cut the time it will take to get to your strength base levels in half compared to a high volume workload.

Starting out with a simple basic routine without any frills and then go into more power style formats is the quickest way to build your base and get on with your training career if ultimate size is what you are trying to achieve and quite frankly most guys will find when they hit the prescribed strength levels mentioned above they will be where they want to be or close to it and without any frilly isolation work. And it's all about the basics baby I love Ronnie Coleman's statement about heavy training! He says: Everybody wanna be a bodybuilder but nobody wants to lift no heavy assed weights!

Iron Addict


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