One of the great things about the Internet is the access it provides to literally thousands of training articles, complete with photos, videos, and of course, workout routines.
While this is great for information junkies infatuated with the "how's and why's" of weight training, all this often conflicting information has led to serious information overload – and as a result, serious paralysis by analysis.
It doesn't need to be this way. Building muscle, losing fat, or increasing strength are all relatively simple endeavors; especially once you've seen it happen a few thousand times. Fact is, most successful coaches, if injected with truth serum, could probably tell you everything you really need to transform your physique in less time than it takes you to scan your favorite fitness websites.
My feeling is this: information is great, provided it helps you reach your goals faster. In this article, I'm going to help you see through all the confusion and conflicting opinions by providing you with what you needto know about building muscle size.
All killer, no filler. Sound good? Here we go!
I'm about to provide you with the exact program design strategies that we use every day at Performance U to help our athletes and bodybuilders gain muscular size (hypertrophy).
That means sets, rep ranges, rest intervals, training splits, and a mother load of program design strategies; everything that we've found to be the absolute best for achieving rapid, scale-tipping gains.
We don't do much tempo training at Performance U, though in the hypertrophy training phase we will use some slower tempos. Shoot for a 3-4 second eccentric phase and a 2-3 second isometric phase. Never slow down the concentric phase – that's always kept the same.
Here are sample three-day, four-day, and five-day hypertrophy training programs. Keep in mind; these programs are NOT designed for the purposes of improving strength or power. These programs are strictly intended to build serious muscle size.
Exercise | Sets | Reps | |
---|---|---|---|
A | Chin Up | 4 | 8-12 |
B1 | Wide Grip lat Pull Down | 3 | 8-15 |
B2 | Shoulders Shrug | 3 | 8-15 |
C | Single Arm Bent Over Row | 3 | 8-12 |
D | Hammer Strength High-Low Row | 3 | 10-15 |
E1 | Rear Deltoid Fly | 3 | 10-15 |
E2 | Biceps Curl | 3 | 10-15 |
Exercise | Sets | Reps | |
---|---|---|---|
A | Back Squat | 4 | 10-15 |
B | Front Squat | 3 | 8-12 |
C | Reverse Lunge (same side) | 3 | 10-12 |
D1 | Hamstring Curl | 3 | 8-12 |
D2 | Leg Extension | 3 | 8-12 |
E1 | Hip Thrust | 3 | 12-15 |
E2 | Calf Raise | 3 | 12-15 |
Exercise | Sets | Reps | |
---|---|---|---|
A | Dumbbell Bench Press or Free Motion Chest | 4 | 8-12 |
B | Hammer Strength Incline Press | 3 | 8-12 |
C | Dumbbell Overhead Press | 4 | 8-12 |
D | Close-Grip Push Up (hands on med ball) | 3 | 12-15 |
E1 | Shoulder Lateral Raise | 3 | 12-15 |
E2 | Triceps Extension | 3 | 12-15 |
Exercise | Sets | Reps | |
---|---|---|---|
A | Wide Grip Lat Pull | 4 | 8-12 |
B | Barbell Bent Over Row | 4 | 8-12 |
C | Seated Row (close grip) | 3 | 8-12 |
D | Dumbbell Chest Press or Free Motion Chest | 3 | 8-12 |
E | Shoulder Overhead Press (single arm) | 3 | 10-15 |
F1 | Biceps Curl | 3 | 8-12 |
F2 | Rear Deltoid Fly | 3 | 10-15 |
Exercise | Sets | Reps | |
---|---|---|---|
A | Back Squat | 4 | 10-15 |
B | Front Squat | 3 | 8-12 |
C | Reverse Lunge (same side) | 3 | 10-12 |
D1 | Hamstring Curl | 3 | 8-12 |
D2 | Leg Extension | 3 | 8-12 |
E | Calf Raise | 3 | 12-15 |
Exercise | Sets | Reps | |
---|---|---|---|
A | Dumbbell Chest Press or Free Motion Chest | 3 | 8-12 |
B | Hammer Strength Incline Press | 3 | 8-12 |
C | Barbell Shoulder Overhead Press | 3 | 10-15 |
D | Seated Row (wide grip) | 3 | 8-12 |
E | Close Grip Lat Pull | 4 | 8-12 |
F1 | Triceps Extension | 3 | 8-12 |
F2 | Lateral Delt Fly | 3 | 10-15 |
Exercise | Sets | Reps | |
---|---|---|---|
A | Deadlift | 4 | 8-10 |
B | Bulgarian Split Squat | 3 | 8-12 |
C | Glute/Ham Raise | 3 | 10-12 |
D1 | Hip Thrust | 3 | 12-15 |
D2 | Calf Raise | 3 | 12-15 |
E | Cosgrove Squat Complex | 1-2 |
Note: Read this article to learn about the Cosgrove Squat Complex.
The five-day split routine is the same as the three-day split, just with more training days through the week (duh!). Here's how it would look...
Ever hear of the expression "giving away the farm?" Well, I've done just that, and thrown in a fleet of John Deere equipment for good measure.
I've just given you the who, what, why, where and how of building muscle size, Performance U style! You now have all the tools you need to successfully get huge, and most importantly – not a single thing you DON'T need.
It's your job now to get in the gym and put these methods & techniques into practice and get after it, cause that's it for my job. (Not literally I hope!)
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