Transcription
All right, this is my all-time favorite training split for building incredibly dense muscle tissue and strength at the same time. So, you know, there's many training splits out there that work, um, many training splits that work for hypertrophy and building muscle, many, um, splits that work for, you know, gaining strength, and there's splits that, um, do a pretty decent job at doing both at the same time.
But in all my years of competing as a pro bodybuilder, um, I tested just about any training split I could think of. Any training split I saw. I tested, you know, the bro split. I tested push-pull-legs variation splits. I tested upper-lower splits. I tested full-body splits. Literally doing one or two working sets per body part every day of the week. Um, I tested all different kinds of volume layouts. Um, you name it. I tested about everything out there. Um, and this is by far the split that gave me the most success, um, for putting on very, very dense, mature muscle tissue, um, while putting on strength at the same time.
The beautiful thing with this is not only is that what worked, um, incredibly well when I was, um, you know, competing as a pro bodybuilder on PEDs, but since I've come off PEDs, retired from pro bodybuilding, and now even completely off TRT, any peptides, anything like that, um, this is still the split that's giving me the most success. Which, by the way, guys, I know a lot of y'all are asking for an update on my journey coming off TRT. I've got blood work, um, scheduled for this next week. So, um, I'll have an update for y'all, uh, probably in the next couple weeks on, um, you know, where I'm sitting, where with the blood work and all of that.
But with that being said, this is the split that, you know, since I've even come off, um, and I'm completely natural now, um, this is the split that's one, helping me hold, you know, a decent amount of density, muscle maturity, and even strength, um, way better than anything else. You know, I've tested upper-lower splits since coming off. I've tested, um, lower frequency splits, um, and now I'm back to doing this and still progressing back on numbers, um, with this. The whole point is, is out of every split I've tested, this has given me by far the most amounts of success with putting on, uh, very, very dense muscle tissue while really, really increasing strength as well. So, it's not just show muscles. These aren't just pump workouts. Um, and that's the whole point, guys.
You know, this is gonna be very person-dependent. So, you know, someone with, um, lower, um, training experience, you know, more of a beginner to the gym that's under lighter loads, they're probably going to have a different volume layout than this. They're probably going to be able to handle more volume than this. Um, but someone, you know, that's got more experience already under heavy loads, this might be right about the volume you need. It all comes down to, you know, the individual person, you know, what your recovery demands are, you know, how dialed in are you on nutrition? Um, all of that, because obviously all of that, um, is very, very, very important and, and definitely dictates a lot of, you know, the, the, the split and what a person can handle.
Now, with that too, um, this is all with high-intensity bodybuilding and powerbuilding. So, you know, the, the typical way people lift is, um, they'll go in and let's say they've got three sets on, um, incline press. So, their first set might be, um, you know, 12 reps at 225. Then they will add a little bit of weight to the bar and do 10 reps at 245. And then their third set, their top set, their heaviest set ends up being maybe eight reps at 265. So, they're pyramiding up in weight. Um, I do things the reverse, and this is why I did the majority of the time me competing as a pro bodybuilder, and it's the way in which you can be a lot stronger. Um, and in my opinion, it is a way more efficient way at, you know, putting on muscle mass.
So, now with incline press, what you'll do is you'll do non-fatiguing warming warm-up sets, meaning you are going to do warm-up sets that safely build you to your first working set, which is your top set, your heaviest set. So, now instead of with the, the previous style, which most people do, where their third set, their heaviest set is eight reps at 265, now you're going into this fresh. So, your first set, your first working set, your top set, um, could be, you know, 12 reps with 285, 295, and then you'll do a back-off set from there. Maybe depending on the movement, um, you know, a third set, a second back-off set. But a lot of movements you'll see on this, um, it's actually only going to be, you know, maybe two sets, two working sets, 'cause you're going to have a top set, your all-out heavier set, you're now under heavier loads than you would have been with the very, very common training style. Um, and then you're gonna go ahead and drop a tad bit of weight to keep you in the same rep range. Um, and do that.
So, and then the other thing, guys, is the rep ranges for this is going to depend on whether you're skewing more towards wanting to put on muscle, um, or if you're wanting to to put on strength or balance up. So, you know, if you're wanting to really, really maximize hypertrophy, you might be more in the 8 to 12 rep range. You're wanting to kind of combine the two, 6 to 10. You know, I do 6 to 10 rep range on a lot of my top sets. Um, and then back-off sets, I'll end up doing, you know, maybe 8 to 12, sometimes even 10 to 15 rep range. Um, this all depends on kind of the individual goals. But today, I'm going to give you the split layout and then y'all can kind of use this as a framework if you want to, uh, to kind of, you know, make it yours from there.
But the whole point is, is you want to take all of your working sets all out to failure. Meaning, it literally, if your life depended on it, you could not get another rep. Um, if you do that every single time and then you use a logbook and you progress week after week within your logbook, you're going to be stacking muscle tissue each week. Um, and with that, you're going to be, you know, having, you know, incredible strength gains as well. And that's where then too, it becomes very easy to to maintain once you've got it as well. Um, so let's get into it.
So, this is a 5-day split. So, you know, I've tested, you know, 4-day splits, I've tested 3-day splits, I've tested 6-day splits. Um, you know, one thing that's popular right now is guys doing, you know, three or four-day splits. I see upper-lower, upper-lower a lot. Um, and guys, that's that's going to work. Um, but you know, the split I'm laying out today is for guys that want to work in the gym. You want to, you know, you love to lift weights. Um, it's not just something you're just doing just to get a little pump, all that. This is, you know, for people that actually really thoroughly enjoy that. So, 5 days a week, it's going to be very taxing, very demanding. Um, but you're going to get, um, you know, incredible results with that.
So, day one, day one is going to be a push day. Now, by the way, the way I've got this split laid out, you could change it. If you want more of an upper focus, um, you'll have day one be a push day. If you want more of a lower focus, you need more leg work, you could have, um, day one be a leg day. So, let's actually start with that. We'll start with day one being a leg day.
So, day one being a leg day, go in there. Usually, I like to warm up, um, with leg extensions. Some people like to do walking lunges. Do a warm-up that gets some blood flow into the muscle, but we're not going to count that as the first movement. The first movement is going to be a squat variation. So, this is going to be, um, either half squat for me or safety bar squat. And I do three working sets on this. So, this is going to be top set is going to be rep range of 6 to 10. Um, and then the, the two back-off sets from there is going to be rep range of 8 to 12. Second movement is going to be leg press. I'm going to do two working sets there. Top set and a back-off set. Third movement is hip adduction machine. That's going to be a top set and a back-off set. Two working sets. Um, uh, the fourth movement is leg extension. That's going to be three working sets. Top set, two back-off sets. And then we've got standing calf raise. Four sets. Um, one top set, three back-off sets.
Then from there, we've got day two, which is going to be our push A. Um, so this is going to be chest, shoulders, and triceps. Movement number one is going to be an incline press variation. Some people like to do, um, actual barbell incline press. You know, for many years, I built my base with Smith machine, um, barbell incline press. Lately now, what I'm doing a lot of is a plate-loaded, um, incline press machine. So, I do three working sets on this. I do top set. First one is 6 to 10 rep range, and then two back-off sets, 8 to 12 rep range.
Um, second movement is going to be a laterals machine. So, side laterals machine. Um, guys, laterals is one that I see so many people leaving so much on the table. I get asked all the time, you know, how do I have such wide shoulders? Literally is because I just progress up, you know, focus on progressing week after week. I see so many guys that have been in the gym for years and they're still stuck on 25 lb dumbbells and laterals. It should be like any other movement that you get incredibly strong. At my peak when I was 260 lbs bodybuilding, I was doing 75 lb dumbbell laterals, strict and slow. Um, this is when one thing you should be able to build up incredible amounts of strength on. But now I do a laterals machine, seated laterals machine. I'm able to get incredible control, all that. So, I do four working sets of this. I do a top set and then three back-off sets, all in the rep range of 8 to 12. And guys, another tip, you know, once you build up all this strength for all these, um, weight-stacked, um, machines, you know, probably get, get yourself a gym pin. I personally use a gym pin on this because, you know, you want to go ahead and be able to add more weight than whatever the stack is once you max it out.
Um, third movement is going to be a flat press. Um, I do a, um, a machine flat press with this. Um, it's plate-loaded. Um, but you can do, I'm not a big fan of bench press, but you could do, um, you know, there's tons of flat press, um, machines out there. So, find one you connect really well with. The whole point, guys, with everything we do is having max tension on the muscle, the targeted muscle, through the entire rep, through the entire set. So, you know, that means, you know, the concentric part, you have max tension on the, on the pec, and then you're actually squeezing the pec on the way down. If you have max tension, um, that's where you're getting that time under tension and also this is going to build a lot of density and you're going to be able to really, really bump up weights over time. Um, so, that was the third movement. Um, we do two sets there, 8 to 12 rep range.
Fourth movement is going to be dumbbell front raises. Um, so, that's with, you know, dumbbell doing front raises. Got two, two, uh, two working sets here. Top set, back-off set. Um, rep range of 8 to 12. Um, fifth movement is going to be our first tricep movement. That's going to be three working sets of tricep pushdown on cables. Um, and we do, um, a top set, two back-off sets in the rep range of 8 to 12 or 10 to 15. Um, then the, the sixth movement is going to be a dip machine, plate-loaded dip machine. It's going to be a top set and a back-off set. So, two working sets, um, rep range of 8 to 12.
Third day is going to be our pull day. Um, so it's going to be really back, back, and biceps focus. So, first movement is going to be lat pulldown. Um, I actually do, um, you know, two cables at the same time with handles. So, I'm coming down here so I can get it deep into the pocket. Um, and that's going to be three working sets, a top set and two back-off sets. Um, rep range 8 to 12. Then we've got a, um, row machine. I like a row machine with a, um, chest support so I can get a really, really deep stretch and then pull through. Um, we've got three working sets on that. Top set, two back-off sets, rep range 8 to 12.
Third movement is going to be cable pullovers. So, with a, a bar rope is coming and pulling all the way through. Um, this builds great density in the lats, guys, and really helps from your, your, your front shot, your, your lat pose. It's going to really, really accentuate your lats from, from your front shot. The cable pullovers are great for this. So, two working sets on this. Um, top set, back-off set, rep range 8 to 12. Um, our fourth movement is shrugs, guys. Shrugs are so incredibly important for, um, a really, really well-rounded, um, physique and also, um, it's going to help you on a lot of your, your kind of heavy pulls and all that. So, um, we got two, two working sets here. A top set and a back-off set. Rep range 8 to 12. I like using a plate-loaded shrug machine. Um, and really jacking the weight up. I'm, I'm, you know, this week I did 10 reps with 500 lb. And that's getting a full, full squeeze at the top, um, and all the way down.
Um, fifth movement is going to be rear dumbbell flies. I'm doing these, um, with dumbbells right now. You can use a reverse pec deck. Um, that's going to be two working sets. Top set, back-off set, rep range to 12. Sixth movement is going to be, um, dumbbell incline curls or an incline curl variation or frankly just a bicep curl variation, um, where you're getting good supination at the top when you get, you know, once, one thing I see a lot of guys doing now is they're just kind of curling like this. You want to make sure you're curling to where you're getting full supination at the top. Um, so, got three working sets with that. Top set, two back-off sets, rep range 8 to 12. Our last movement of the day is going to be dumbbell hammer curls. This is one you should be able to get a lot of weight on, but take out the momentum. Everybody's swinging when they're doing dumbbell hammer curls. Really do these extremely strict, squeezing all the way through. Two working sets, top set, back-off set, rep range, 8 to 12.
So, then, um, we have a push B. So, typically what I do is I'll do a legs day, push A, pull day, rest, and then now we've got the next two days and then rest. So, I usually do three on, rest, two on, rest, repeat. Um, so, then now we've got push B. This is going to be chest, shoulders, triceps. It's going to be very similar to push A. So, I'm just going to say the differences. Movement one, we've got, um, an incline press, three sets. Um, movement two, we've got, um, laterals, uh, variation, four sets. Movement three, this is going to be variation. So, instead of a flat press, we have a fly. Now, um, we do two working sets, top set, back-off set, rep range 8 to 12. That can be pec deck, that can be cable flies. Um, but do, do a fly variation here. Uh, movement four is going to be the dumbbell front raises again. And guys, by the way, you know, for a lot of clients' plans, I have shoulder press, um, put into their splits. I did shoulder press for years. Um, now I'm kind of having to work around, you know, some rotator cuff stuff and front raises end up being better for me. And, you know, I do such heavy work on incline press that, um, it just becomes a lot of, you know, somewhat overhead in that overhead plane becomes a lot of work. So, for me personally right now, I don't have an overhead press, um, in my split. That's something that hopefully here in the, the near, near future I'm going to be able to add back that back end. But, um, fourth movement is going to be those dumbbell front raises. Two working sets. Then we do the same, um, two tricep movements. So, three working sets on a tricep pushdown and then, um, two working sets on dip machine.
So, then our last, um, training day, our, our fifth training day is going to be our posterior day. So, we have a push A, a pull A, which is back and biceps, a legs day, a push B, and a posterior day, which is literally hamstrings all the way up. Um, so, with this, um, start with two working sets on hip thrust. Um, so, these are heavy weighted hip thrusts. Really, really doing a lot of glute work here. Um, and we do two working sets. Top set, back-off sets, rep range 8 to 12. Um, then we do a hamstring curl variation. Um, I personally like, um, single leg standing ham curls at the moment, but you can do seated, um, hamstring curls, lying. Um, and I do three working sets. Top set, two back-off sets, rep range of 8 to 12.
Then here's going to be our hip hinge variation. So, this is all going to depend on what your goals are, what your physique, um, needs work on, um, what type of strength you're trying to build, but this is typically for me either going to be Romanian deadlifts, um, or rack pulls. Um, and I do two working sets, a top set and a back-off set. And the rep range here really does depend on the movement and what the goals are. So, it's either going to be 6 to 10 or 8 to 12. And these guys, these are what you should really, really be, um, you trying to drive up that weight. You know, I've gone through many times also when I was competing where I did stiff leg deadlift. Um, but for me, um, I found the most success with either rack pulls, trying to build that just incredible density throughout the entire back, or RDL's, which really do a great job for hamstrings and glutes. Um, so, then from there, we've got a row variation. This can be cable rows, it can be a, um, row machine. Do two sets, top set, back-off set. Um, rep range 8 to 12. Then we've got a, a lat pulldown variation. This can be a machine. Um, it can be a mid-grip, or it can be those, um, two cables at the same time. You're going to do a top set and a back-off set, rep range 8 to 12. Um, I also like the mag grip. Um, so, M, um, and really pulling those deep into the pocket as well. I don't like wide grips and I don't like super close grips. I like one that is about neutral to allow me to get as deep into the pocket, get full range of motion as much as possible.
Um, sixth, uh, movement here is going to be preacher curl. So, the other day I did, um, incline curl. Um, now it's going to be a preacher curl machine. Three working sets, top set, two back-off sets, um, rep range 8 to 12, and then we finish off with two working sets on dumbbell hammer curls. Again, um, now with that, you guys also know I like to add in, um, my own strongman, um, stuff and kind of accessory work. So, I do on Thursdays, which is going to be the rest day. Um, typically I'll do either zero squats, farmers carries, um, kind of stuff like that. Now, that's very recovery dependent. I've had a killer three days and then it usually ends up becoming a very dedicated rest day, but that would be the day that you could add in some accessory work if you've got some strongman lifts in, in, um, your plan or, you know, anything like that. But, you have some room here to build some other things in.
Now, like I said, guys, this is a very, very demanding split if you're doing this right. Um, you should be trying to drive progression. Um, and, and, you know, you should be, you should be taxed leaving the gym every day. I mean, me personally, and I get asked the question all the time about rest periods. Um, rest as long as you need on upper body movements. Typically, I'd say I'm resting between two to three movements, um, or two to three minutes. Leg day, you know, I could be resting five minutes, um, between sets. You know, the whole point is, is you want to get max intensity for each working set. Um, so don't kind of don't, don't try to shorten your rest periods. Um, and then cut into what you would be able to lift. Um, and with that, you should be very taxed. These, these workouts typically take me anywhere from two to two and a half hours. Um, sometimes, frankly, guys, even a little bit longer. Um, and that, that's that's what it takes, guys. If you want to, you really want to pack on dense muscle tissue with incredible amounts of strength, you got to outwork people. Um, and like you, you should see here, it's not insane amounts of volume. Um, but this is going to be very taxing. So, you've got to have diet, um, nailed down. You've got to have recovery nailed down. Um, and this is something to build to as well. You know, if you are new to the gym, um, you know, your volume layout probably is going to look different. Your movement layout's probably going to look different. Um, so keep all that in mind as well.
But guys, if you want help building your own training split, I, you know, with my coaching clients, I literally build a custom split for each individual client based off of what they need, what their goals are, what their training experience is, the loads they're under. Um, I tailor exactly to them and then the volume changes over time, um, depending on what they need. The movements change over time depending on what they need. Um, and then of course, you know, you get a full custom diet plan with weekly check-ins with myself, um, to where I can really, really help you maximize the amount of muscle tissue you're putting on, the amount of strength you're putting on, or whatever, um, your goal is. And you have access to my, my personal phone number as well to text me literally any time of the day. Um, I'm extremely hands-on with my clients.
But the whole point is, is, um, if you guys want me to help, um, build a custom plan for you, um, I can do that as well. Um, but, um, if you want to go on your own too, completely understand. Give this training split a try. Um, guys, don't, don't, you know, right now there's such an attitude of, um, you know, try to get away with the least amount of work possible. And, you know, if, if you are kind of just more of a, you know, hobbyist with this and you just want to put on a little bit of muscle, that's fine. But if you are trying to put on serious muscle tissue and strength, it's going to take work. Um, but, you know, in my opinion, it's incredibly fun work. I, you know, I've been doing this for years and years now, and I still love it and still itch to get in the gym every single day. Um, so let me know if you guys have any questions. I hope this works out for you guys. Um, keep me posted on this. Um, but if you could, please go ahead and smash that like button, hit subscribe if you haven't already, leave any comments or questions down below. All glory to God. God bless you and have a great rest of your day.