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.

More thoughts on health and fitness:

Use flat shoes, like Converse All-Stars, or work out barefoot. I like Earth Shoes and Birkenstocks and All-stars out of the gym.

Focus on making weaknesses into strengths: it’s the best bang for your buck whether it’s an old injury or simply a lagging body part, or even a postural issue.

When things get hectic, simplify (Dan John) – this is real wisdom when it comes to working out. Most people just can’t handle 5 days a week working out if they are under lots of stress, even if they have the time.

What you do during the “other 23 hours” is more important than your workout. If you’re not getting enough sleep, don’t worry about whether you should use a 1-second eccentric or a 3-second eccentric. Same goes for diet. And heck, if you’re not wearing a seatbelt or you smoke, don’t tell me doing squats is unsafe (thanks to Dan John for the seatbelt comparison).

More on the lagging body part concept: be honest in your assessment of yourself! Dan John suggests a “Zen” approach to lifting: every 6-12 months or so, do a beginner program and get back to basics. Are you going ass to grass in your squats? Do your curls look like power cleans with a reverse grip? (They shouldn’t)… Are you really “chinning” up? Or is your chinup more of a vertical leap exercise? Does your spotter on the bench have huge traps from deadlifting or upright rowing your misses every workout? Is that 5 pounds you gained last month, bulking, really muscle?

Don’t take fitness/health advice from someone unless they’re in better shape than you. That doctor who is 30 pounds overweight (or weighs 100 pounds soaking wet) and says you need to eat less protein? Don’t listen to him/her.

Do exercises standing up if you can. This goes for curls, presses, shrugs, and everything else. Exercising sitting down is for injured people. Standing up is the best way to improve your core strength and make your abs and lower back work…and it has more real-world carryover than seated behind-the-ear alternating super-slow pink dumbbell presses.

Go for 10-15 servings of fruit/veggies every day (a serving isn’t a whole lot really)…bulking allows for more fruit, and leaning out or dieting down requires fewer fruits, but more green veggies. Prunes are great for leaning out, they are packed with antioxidants.

Absorb what is useful, discard the rest. -Bruce Lee
True words of wisdom, especially when applied to the individual. Just because Mr. Olympia, who takes horse steroids, eats 12,000 kcal a day doesn’t mean you should. And just because some people only need 2500 to bulk doesn’t mean you need that few. Personally, I had to really fiddle with my calories before I understood my body.
For years, just casually exercising, I didn’t get anywhere near enough, nor were my feedings frequent enough. Then I read John Berardi’s Massive Eating and ate everything in sight, going with P+F or P+C meals. That worked to put on weight. But I kept freaking out reading other coaches who said I’d get fat if I ate more than 3000 calories. Guess what? I NEED 4500+ to gain weight! You might need 2000-2500 to gain weight. I don’t know, and I don’t care – figure out what works for you. Same goes for workouts. If your friend can bench press and curl three times a week, and that’s it, and he doesn’t look like a hunchback, fine. He is a freak, and you can’t expect the same results. People are so different that you can’t expect the same exact results as…well…anyone. Also beware of steroid experts…they know how much juice to take, and that’s it. “Sure dude, do some lateral raises, curls, and leg extensions and you’ll be HUUUUGE!!!” If you aren’t juicing, don’t take their advice, either.

Work out for yourself, not for the girls. Sure, they’ll love it if you look good, but you won’t stay motivated if that’s your only goal.

The average adult loses somewhere between 2 and 5 pounds of muscle mass, every decade, on average…many times, more than that. If you’re a bit thin at 20, think where you’ll be in four decades. Lifting weights may not literally add years onto your life in and of itself, but it sure adds quality. And if it encourages you to closely monitor your sleep patterns, nutritional intake, and overall health, I betcha you will increase quantity as well as quality of life.

Don’t be ashamed of stretch marks as long as they aren’t on your stomach. I’m not afraid to admit that I have them on my shoulders/biceps, glutes, and thighs. Why? Because I gained about 60 pounds in a year and a half. But there aren’t any on my stomach.

Use your warmups to hit weak points. Don’t blast your body before you get started, but warm up thoroughly. If you have inflexible hamstrings, do romanian deadlifts during the warmup. If you have a weak posterior chain, do glute bridges. If you have terrible thoracic posture, work on LIGHT overhead presses with good form…from below your chin to lockout without hitting your face!
Personally I like to do a few jumping jacks or running in place to get the blood flowing, some really light weight stuff to get the joints moving, a few light sets of the exercise I will work to get in the groove, and then hit it. But if you have mobility issues, focus on those…if you have, say, super tight wrists, or calves, or traps, feel free to do a little static stretching, but that’s usually best for off days or post-workout.

Never do a painful movement (lactic acid burn not included here). If it hurts, DON’T DO IT. Is there pain? That’s a yes or no question. “A little pain” is a YES, and if you “work through it” you are damaging your body.

Time your rest periods. If you’re taking 5 minutes of rest, you better be moving a lot of damn weight every set.

Read Eric Cressey’s Feel Better for 10 Bucks and Tony Gentilcore’s Soft Tissue Work for Tough Guys. (Google or search on T-nation)
Cressey: “You shouldn’t worry about muscle size, strength, or looking good nekkid until you have good tissue quality!”

Nice quotes (somewhat paraphrased)

Water is the most anabolic substance. -Dan John

“Effort is king of everything. Don’t accept anything but the best workout of your life every time you hit the gym. And if you don’t reach your level of expectations, come back with a vengeance.” -Christian Thibaudeau

Supplements are for health.  In the long term, health equals success in sports and bodybuilding.  -Dan John

Having 100% trust in the efficacy of a program is one of the most important factors in your success with the routine. Your trust in a program will really affect the degree of effort, focus, and dedication that you’ll put into your training. This will obviously jack up your results immensely. Believe in the program and your actual performance in the gym improves, which leads to greater gains. -Christian Thibaudeau