This routine is a great routine for a more advanced trainer looking to bulk up during the coming winter months. it basically is a 3 day split done over 5 days per week. its slightly complicated so i’ll do my best to explain it now:
workout 1 – chest and triceps
workout 2 – back and shoulders
workout 3 – legs and biceps
The training week will look like this:
monday – W1
tuesday – W2
wednesday off
thursday – W3
Friday – W1
saturday – W2
sunday off
monday – W3
tuesday – W1
……………………….. and so on following that pattern
Wednesday and sunday are rest days. this allows for bodyparts to be trained twice per week. every 3 weeks one of the workouts will only be trained once. as you can see on week 2 W3 will be trained twice but W2 will be only trained once. this allows for maximum muscle stimulation twice per week (every 4 days). this will allow for maximum recovery but muscle stimulus more regularly. if you train a muscle group on a monday, by thursday it will normally be fine to train again, but you dont, you leave it fully recovered and doing nothing for another 4 days. whats the point. that muscle could be growing in those 4 days but its not as its had no stimulus. This plan is the perfect combat to that.
so the workouts must tie in the bodyparts. normally if training a bodypart once per week i would do maybe 5 exercises of 3 sets per bodypart. due to training each part every 4 days this is not necessary. the workout will be as follows:
W1: chest and triceps
flat bench press – 5 x 5
incline dumbell press 3 x 8
cable flyes – 3 x 8
weighted dips – 5 x 5
cable pushdowns – 3 x 8
W2: Back and shoulders
Barbell row – 5 x 5
Chins – 4 x 8
heavy shrugs – 3 x 8
standing barbell press – 5 x 5
heavy lateral raise – 3 x 8
W3: legs and biceps
squats – 5 x 5
smith machine lunges – 3 x 8
leg extensions – 3 x 8
standing barbell curls – 5 x 5
seated hammer curls – 3 x 8
calfs, abs and forearms (if you wish) can be added onto the end of the workout of your choice. i Aim to do calfs twice per week so generally do them on a monday and thursday regardless of what workout falls on that day.
Weights will not be increased each set but rather a weight will be chosen (for example 100kg on bench press), then when 5 sets of 5 reps can be achieved you will increase the weight. then if you fail at say 3 reps on the final set you will stick at that weight until the full 5 x 5 is accomplished. no spotting should be required on any set excpet the last one as you want to be making sure you are doing the reps yourself.
I recommend changing the exercises every 6 weeks but keep the principles the same and keep them heavy compound. for example you could replace squats with hack squats and do deadlifts on back day. You may swap flat bench to incline barbell bench on chest etc.
This routine is fantastic for building overall strength and when combined with a high calorie diet will really help you add some solid pounds over the winter months.
