Quote (SKCRaynor @ Jan 25 2011 01:43pm)
here is a full weekly plan for hypertrophy along with basic guidelines and supplement explanations.
Supplements:
Multi Vitamins are for overall baseline health and optimal muscular and recovery function.
Vitamin C has anabolic properties as well as antioxidant properties which both assist in hypertrophy
Vitamin D has immense anabolic and immune properties. It's basically a wonder vitamin. People who take 5,000 IU of vitamin D per day see more muscle increases, get sick much less frequently, and recover faster than those who do not take it.
Creatine goes without saying - it assists in muscle growth through saturation (primarily of water and additional nutrients) which swell the muscles and assist in the growth process through increased uptake of nutrition to the muscles as well.
Arginine + Ornithine improves your vascularity by dilating your blood vessels and improving the pump you get with each set. In addition in improves your recovery when you sleep.
ZMA assists in anabolic function and is particularly helpful when taken before going to bed. Athletes who took ZMA regularly saw a big strength increase over the placebo group for a 1 month period.
BCAA's keep the metabolism on track and prevents muscle wasting through extended workout sessions or periods of time without eating. It is best every 45 mins before/during/after training and before bed.
Basic Guidelines:
Get at least 8 hrs of sleep per night
Drink at least 1-1.5 gal of water per day
Eat at least 500 cal more than your basal metabolism needs per day (all from clean sources) - use a BMR calculator to figure out what you need...although hardgainers will need approx 50% more cal intake than others.
Don't get lazy....the more days you take off from the gym, the worse your gains will be. You need a strict routine to follow every week.
Get enough good fats in your diet. Good fat and cholesterol boost testosterone and assist in body fat loss. Get at least 60-80g good fat every day.
Drink casein shake or eat cottage cheese before bed to sustain metabolism throughout the night.
Workout plan for hypertrophy:
[Perform all exercises as follows: 1. Warmup set (15ish reps light weight), 2. First set (wait about 30 seconds after warmup, then do 10-12 reps medium weight), 3. Second set (wait about 30-45 seconds after second set then do 8-10 reps medium/heavy weight), 4. Third Set (wait about 1 minute after second set then do 85% of max weight for as many reps as possible until failure, rack the weight, wait 5-10 seconds and get it again for as many reps as possible until failure), 5. Fourth Set ( wait 1 minute after third set then do the Same as third set), 6. Fifth Set (WITHOUT RESTING after the fourth set, cut the weight in half and immediately go until failure again).
The only exception to these exercises are supersets which will be performed with medium/heavy weight and both exercises done until failure, wait 60 seconds, then repeat the process with a MILD weight increase (5-10% max increase). The key with supersets is just to keep going and fight the burn and get as many reps as possible with medium/heavy weight.
Mon (chest/bis) - Incline Bench Press, Flat Bench Press, Incline DB Flies SUPERSET with Flat DB Flies, Wide-grip Dips (weighted if possible), lying DB pullovers, Low cable crossovers SUPERSET w/ high cable crossovers. Standing olympic bar curls, seated E-Z Bar preacher curls, Standing DB curls SUPERSET w/ seated DB hammer curls, Concentration DB curls, High cable curls (looks like a standing double-bicep pose) SUPERSET w/ low cable bicep curls.
Tues (Back/Tris) - Straight-Leg Deadlifts, Seated Cable Rows, Wide Grip Lat Pulldowns, T-Bar Rows, Bent over DB Rows SUPERSET w/ Lawnmower DB Rows, Good Mornings Superset w/ Lower Back Hyperextensions, Bent Over Barbell Rows. Cable Tricep Pulldowns (Rope or V-Bar), One-Arm tricep cable pulldowns SUPERSET w/ One-Arm tricep cable kickbacks, DB Kickbacks, Seated DB Skullcrushers SUPERSET w/ laying EZ-bar skullcrushers, Close-Grip machine dips.
Weds (Legs/Shoulders) - Barbell Squats (ATG), Plate loaded Leg Press, Leg Extension SUPERSET w/ Leg Curls (laying or seated), DB Lunges, Hip Abductor SUPERSET w/ Hip Adductor, Standing Calf Raise Machine, Donkey Calf Raises SUPERSET w/ Seated Calf-Raises. Seated Military Press, DB Shoulder Press, DB Arnold Press SUPERSET w/ DB Front raises, DB Lat raises (normal 2 arm method) SUPERSET w/ one arm slow-decline lat raises, DB Shrugs, Barbell Shrugs.
Thurs - REST
Fri - Repeat Monday
Sat - Repeat Tuesday
Sun - Repeat Weds
Mon - OFF
Now the only part I didn't mention was abs and cardio. For Abs, you can train them 3-4 times per week (although you only really need 2x per week) on whatever days suit you. Consider ab training on your easier days. So whichever 2 of the 3 days are the easier days, throw ab training on those days. If you can't get abs more than 1-2 days per week, that is fine and shouldn't really matter all that much.
Abs - 30 minutes ab instinct training (yep, just like arnold) - basically you jump from a plethora of ab exercises without stopping in between. You are going to jump from exercise to exercise and perform them all until failure (weighted exercises until failure - for bodyweight ab exercises, just do 20-25 reps). After 30 minutes of ab instinct training is over, hang from a pullup bar for 30-60 seconds to stretch out the abs sufficiently.
For cardio, this is totally optional. If you start detecting fat gains, you can throw in 20 mins of HIIT cardio every morning and 15-20 mins post-workout every day. If you aren't gaining fat, forget cardio all together.
OMG i just fell in love
Will adapt this training method to my current regiment that looks very similar!
My question is with this diet im only gaining like .5 pounds a week and im trying to bulk, I think more or less its water weight from the creatine but cant be sure yet, Im looking at a weight gainer to fill in my 3 oclock timesllot because im on campus and it much easier to break out a shake in class then a plate knife and spoon and a chicken,
This is the wieght gainer im looking at, good/bad/scrap and do something else?
Thanks!
This post was edited by Tracerz on Sep 3 2013 09:20pm