Workout
routine for men
WEEK 1:
WHOLE IN ONE
You’ll begin the program with a full-body training
split, meaning you’ll train all major body parts in each workout (as opposed to
“splitting up” your training). Train three days this first week , performing
just one exercise per body part in each session. It’s important that you have a
day of rest between each workout to allow your body to recover; this makes
training Monday, Wednesday and Friday—with Saturday and Sunday being rest
days—a good approach.
The exercises listed in Week 1 are a collection of basic
moves that, while also used by advanced lifters, we feel are suitable for the
beginner as well. Notice we’re not starting you off with only machine
exercises; a handful of free-weight movements are present right off the bat.
Reason being, these are the exercises you need to master for long-term gains in
muscular size and strength, so you may as well start learning them now.
Carefully read all exercise descriptions, starting on page, before attempting
them yourself.
In Week 1 you’ll perform three sets of every exercise
per workout, which over the course of the week adds up to nine sets total for
each body part, a good starting volume for your purposes. With the exception of
crunches for abs, you’ll do 8–12 reps per set. This rep scheme is widely
considered ideal for achieving gains in muscle size (the scientific term is
hypertrophy) and is commonly employed by amateur and pro bodybuilders alike.
Notice in the workouts below that your first set calls
for eight reps, your second set 10 reps and your third set 12. This is referred
to in bodybuilding circles as a “reverse pyramid” (a standard pyramid goes from
higher to lower reps), where you decrease the weight each set to complete the
higher rep count. For example, if on your first set of lat pull downs you used
140 pounds for eight reps, try using 120 or 130 pounds on set two and 100–120
pounds on set three.
WEEK 2:
SPLIT DECISION
You’re only a week into the program, yet you’ll begin to
train different bodyparts on different days with a two-day training split (meaning
the entire body is trained over the course of two days, rather than one as in
the first week). You’ll train a total of four days this week; the split
includes two upper-body days (Monday and Thursday) and two lower-body days
(Tuesday and Friday), and each bodypart is trained twice. Wednesday, Saturday
and Sunday will be your recovery days.
Several exercises from Week 1 are carried over to Week
2, but one move is added to each body part routine—with the exception of abs—so
you can train all muscle groups more completely from multiple angles. Chest,
for example, includes two exercises: One is a compound movement (dumbbell bench
press) that involves multiple joints (both the shoulder and elbow) to work the
largest amount of muscle possible, and the other is an isolation exercise
(dumbbell flye) that involves only one joint (shoulder) and targets the pecs to
a greater extent. (When doing presses for chest, the deltoids and triceps are
involved to a degree, meaning presses don’t isolate the pecs as much as flyes
do.)
You’ll again employ a reverse pyramid scheme of reps,
though in Week 2 you’ll go slightly higher in reps (15) on your third set of
each exercise. Fifteen reps may be just outside the ideal muscle-building
range, but these sets will help you increase muscular endurance to provide a
solid foundation on which to build size and strength going forward.
WEEK 3:
THREE ON THREE
In the third week of the program we step it up to a
three-day training split: Train all “pushing” bodyparts (chest, shoulders, triceps)
on Day 1; hit the “pulling” bodyparts (back, biceps) and abs on Day 2; and work
your lower body (quads, glutes, hamstrings, calves) on Day 3. As in Week 2, you
train each bodypart twice a week, so you’ll hit the gym six days this week.
One new exercise is added to each body part routine to
provide even more angles from which to train your target muscles to promote
complete development. You’ll hit each muscle group with two exercises of 3–4
sets each: four sets for large body parts (chest, back, shoulders, quads,
hamstrings) and three sets for smaller body parts (biceps, triceps, abs,
calves). The result is 16 total sets for the week for large body parts and 12
sets total for smaller ones—again, working in the 8–15-rep range—which is a
substantial increase in volume from Week 1.
WEEK 4:
TURNING UP THE VOLUME
In the fourth and final week of the program, you’ll
train four days in a four-way split that hits each body part just once (except
for calves and abs, which are each trained twice). Four-day splits are common
among experienced lifters because they involve training fewer body parts
(typically 2–3) per workout, which gives each muscle group ample attention and
allows you to train with higher volume. As you’ll see, chest and triceps are
paired up, as are back with biceps and quads with hamstrings, each a very
common pairing among novice and advanced bodybuilders. Shoulders are trained
more or less on their own, and you’ll alternate hitting calves and abs—which
respond well to being trained multiple times per week—every other workout. No
new exercises are introduced in Week 4 so that you can focus on intensity in
your workouts instead of learning new movements.
Rep schemes remain in the hypertrophy range this week,
but overall volume increases by adding more sets to individual exercises: up to
five sets per move for larger body parts, and even 10 sets of calf raises on
Thursday. This bump in volume will ensure that your muscles are overloaded
sufficiently to continue the growth they’ve already begun experiencing in the
first three weeks. Completion of this four-week program now entitles you to go
to the next stage.
