My New Program

I stumbled across this template, called Designer Athletes, by Mike Robertson on T-nation right as I was about to finish up my fat loss (down 20 lbs from 210! — counting glycogen loss) and decided to give it a go. Here are my exercise selections and rep ranges. My goals for this 4 weeks are to increase strength and create hypertrophy. If you want to give it a go, feel free and report back to me, or check out the template yourself. For next time Chad Waterbury’s new 30 Day Mass Program looks great.

Designer Athletes Template – Mike Robertson
Work out M,T,Th,F | Rest periods: 2 minutes for everything except circuits and supersets

Day 1
A. Anderson Squat 3×8 +2.5%/week ____ lb/_____lb/____lb/____lb
B. Wide-stance Good Mornings 2×6 ____lb +1 rep per set/week
C. Dumbbell Bulgarian Split Squat 3×5 ____ lb +1 set/week
D1. Cable Pull-throughs 3×12 ____lb +1 set/week| No Rest
D2. Machine Calf Raise 2×20 +2.5%/week ____ lb/_____lb/____lb/____lb | Rest 30 seconds
CIRCUIT 2×8 +2 reps/week:
E1. Bridge on bench
E2. Bird dog

Day 2
A. Half bench press in rack 3×5 ____ lb/_____lb/____lb/____lb Progress by lowering pins each week OR adding weight
B. Reverse-grip bent-over barbell row 4×6 ____ lb/_____lb/____lb/____lb +2.5%/week
C1. Single-arm corner barbell press 3×8 ____ lb/_____lb/____lb/____lb +2.5%/week | Rest 60 seconds
C2. Close-grip incline bench press 3×5 ____lb +1 rep per set/week | Rest 60 seconds
CIRCUIT:
D1. Prone cobra for 20 seconds +5 seconds/week
D2. Trap raises 3×9 Add weight ____ lb/_____lb/____lb/____lb
D3. Medicine ball uneven pushups 3×9 +1 rep per set/week
D4. Cable curl 3×9 ____lb +1 rep per set/week

Day 3
A. Rack pull (half deadlift) with straps 5×3 ____ lb/_____lb/____lb/____lb +2.5%/week
B. Barbell Romanian Deadlifts 3×5 ____ lb/_____lb/____lb/____lb +2.5%/week
C. Pistol squats onto low box 3×6 Add weight ____ lb/_____lb/____lb/____lb
D. Glute/hamstring raises (partner-assisted) 3×8 Add resistance via better form each week
E. 15 minutes incline treadmill walking with PVC “walking stick” behind back

Day 4
A. Wide-grip pull-ups 4×6 ____lb Add at least one rep total per week
B1. One-arm dumbbell bench press 3×8 ____ lb/_____lb/____lb/____lb +2.5%/week | Rest 60 seconds
B2. One-arm cable row to neck 3×8 ____ lb/_____lb/____lb/____lb +2.5%/week | Rest 60 seconds
C. Pronated cable triceps pushdown 3×10 ____lb +1 rep per set/week
CIRCUIT 3×10 +1 rep per set/week:
D1. Barbell wrist extension ____lb
D2. Barbell wrist flexion (same weight) ____lb
D3. Gripper work ____ Gripper
D4. Low-pulley external rotation ____lb
D5. “Poor man’s shoulder horn” external rotation ____lb

Exercise clarifications:

Anderson squats are AKA Overcoming Squats, and you simply perform the concentric portion from a rack, power cage, etc, first…so up then down, as opposed to a normal squat: down, then up.

Barbell corner press, trap raises, and cable pullthroughs are all from T-nation: Christian Thibaudeau, Chad Waterbury, and Dave Tate, respectively. Look em up.

“Partner-assisted” glute ham raises means I have no GHR machine and use someone heavy to hold my heels down. I progress them by using more controlled eccentrics each workout, and by coming up higher. There’s some cheating involved.

The PVC walking stick idea you can find in an earlier post, and the incline walking is for the calves – active recovery and increased hypertrophy. I credit Chad Waterbury for both ideas.

The Poor Man’s Shoulder Horn was published by Mike Robertson…one simply sits on a bench with the knee bent and on the bench; the leg is perpendicular to the body and one can do full-range-of-motion external rotations by pushing the elbow back into the knee.

If you wish to print this and use it, simply copy and paste into MSWord or similar and use 12 point Times New Roman.