Power Building Workout Program

 In Bodybuilding, Non-member

mind muscle academy, justin woltering

Still looking for an exact routine to combine power and hypertrophy training? Here’s what I’ve found to be ideal for myself and almost all of my clients. Instead of a traditional body part split, you’ll be doing two lower body and two upper days, each with a focus on a particular lift. You’ll work that main lift to death to get stronger AND bigger, and then fill in the gaps with extra movements for each muscle.

Day 1: Squat and Lower Body

squat, lower back

Squats: Work up to a top set of 2-4 reps. Then, do 3 more sets of 4-6, 6-8, and 8-12, respectively, taking a little more weight off the bar each time. Don’t miss any reps, but make sure the last rep of each set is just about all you have left! This set and rep scheme will your bread and butter for your main lift on each day.

Leg Curl: 4 sets of 15 reps to near failure.

Leg Press: 4 sets of 15 to near failure; use a FULL range of motion! There’s no reason to exercise your ego on the leg press.

Weighted Sit-ups: 4 sets of 10 with the weight behind your head.

Standing Calf Raises: 4 sets of 20 with as much weight as possible. Make sure you really bring the pain! Your calves can handle a lot if your mind can handle the burn.

Day 2: Bench Press and Upper Body

bench press

Bench Press: Work up to a top set of 2-4 reps. Then, do 3 more sets of 4-6, 6-8, and 8-12, respectively, taking a little more weight off the bar each time. Don’t miss any reps, but make sure the last rep of each set is just about all you have left!

Close-Grip Pull-ups: 4 sets of 8, adding as much weight as possible. You don’t need to bring your chin all the way over the bar, but do get a full stretch at the bottom, and pull yourself up so your eyes are at least level with the bar.

Incline Dumbbell Bench Press: 4 sets of 10 to near failure, using the same weight for each set. It’s alright if you only get 8 or 9 on the last couple of sets.

Dumbbell Rows: 2 sets of 20 per side. Don’t feel the need to use textbook form, either. A little body English is fine for rows, as long as you get a good stretch at the bottom and feel your lats and traps doing most of the work.

Curls and Rope Pushdown superset: Bring a pair of dumbbells over to the cable stack, and superset 4 sets of 15 dumbbell curls with 4 sets of 15 rope pushdowns. Use weights that challenge you, but don’t allow yourself much rest in between, either.

Day 3: Deadlift and Lower Body

Conventional Deadlift: Work up to a top set of 2-4 reps. Then, do 3 more sets of 4-6, 6-8, and 8-12, respectively, taking a little more weight off the bar each time. Don’t miss any reps, but make sure the last rep of each set is just about all you have left! Also, a little lower back rounding is okay, but don’t give yourself a hernia trying to handle more weight than you’re really capable of.

Barbell Rows: 4 sets of 12 with as much weight as you can handle with good form. Yea, this is a lower body day, but the bar’s already on the floor, and you can never have too much upper back work!

Hack Squat Machine: 4 sets of 15 to near failure. Wraps your knees up if this exercise aggravates them, or substitute with lunges. For either exercise, make sure you use controlled form with a LONG range of motion.

Standing Pull-down Crunches: 4 sets of 20 to near failure.

Seated Calf Raises: 4 sets of 30, squeezing each rep at the top and holding each stretch at the bottom for a 2-count. This will burn, but you can get through it! Calves need some serious pain to grow.

Day 4: Overhead Press and Upper Body

press

Standing Military Press: Work up to a top set of 2-4 reps. Then, do 3 more sets of 4-6, 6-8, and 8-12, respectively, taking a little more weight off the bar each time. Don’t miss any reps, but make sure the last rep of each set is just about all you have left! Don’t use leg drive, either – this is a STRICT military press, not a push-press.

Wide Pull-ups: 4 sets of 8 with as much weight as you can handle. Use the same rules for range of motion as before: Get a full stretch at the bottom of each rep, and at least bring your eyes level to the bar.

Dips: Use a similar progression as you’ve used for your main lifts, but with slightly higher reps. Work up to a top set of 4-6 reps, then drop the weight for 3 more sets of 6-8, 8-10, and 10-12 respectively. You don’t need to go down so far that your shoulders start hurt, but don’t cut your range of motion short, either. Descend until your upper arms are parallel to the floor, and go all the way to lockout on each rep.

Machine Rows: Pick your favorite plate-loaded (not cable) rowing machine and do 4 sets of 15. You can do both arms or one arm at a time – it’s up to you.

Hammer Curls and V-bar Pushdown superset. Just like last time, bring a pair of dumbbells over to the pulley station, but this time set up the V-bar for pushdowns. Do 4 sets of 20 on hammer curls, supersetted with 4 sets of 20 on the pushdowns, using short rest periods of 30-45 seconds.

Progression: More Weight, Reps and Sets

steroids

You’ll only get bigger and stronger on this program by adding more reps, more sets and most importantly – more weight! Each week, try to add 5-10 pounds to the bar and get the same reps or more. Once you start to stall on weight and reps, start adding more sets to the MAIN movement. First do another set in the heaviest and lowest rep range, then keep progressing by adding sets in the lighter rep ranges. Eventually you’ll get to the point where you’re doing 8 total work sets for the main movement rather than 4. At that point, you should be strong enough to start adding weight to the bar once more!

mind muscle academy, justin woltering

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