After years of dedicated reading at my favorite body building website, T-Nation, I’ve decided to give bodybuilding.com a fair dive. To be honest, I Googled “are there any bodybuilding sites as good as t-nation” and was linked to a ridiculous post on bodybuilding.com’s forums. After stomaching a dozen replies, I stumbled across mention of Universal Torrent, an alternative to my long-loved Biotest Surge. Despite the childish seed post, the majority of the replies seemed to come from reasonable guys who had some useful experience so I started digging around the site. Fittingly, I found a beautifully constructed “Muscle Building Workout Plan” and have decided to talk about their Day 1: Training Plan.
First, their choice of exercises are all minor variations on the suggested primary, secondary and tertiary leg movements that I suggested in my Push, Pull and Legs post. You’ll notice in my suggested adjustments below that I’ve skewed their workout plan in favor of my suggested primary movements and away from the secondary and tertiary movements. I’ve adjusted their plan specifically to increase benefits to functionality, power, strength, health and body composition. Wow, that sounds like everything; what good is the one from bodybuilding.com? Their plan is great for body building, hypertrophy training and anyone who thinks their calves are too small in comparison to their thighs (body builders). It’s a great program for someone looking to their first body building competition a year or two down the line. My variation is adjusted for people who want to feel strong and powerful, and consequently also burn more fat. So, without further ado, here’s the adjusted workout:
3 minute Bike (warm up)
2 x 10-20 Leg Extensions (easy, warm up for VMO)
3 x 15 Jump Squats (increasing height and intensity)
8 x 5-12 Barbell Squats (any variation)
2 x 8-20 Leg Press (any variation)
4 x 6-20 Deadlift (first two sets easy, third set heavy low reps, fourth set high reps)
3 x 8-20 Calf Press (use three different weight and rep ranges, ex: med x med, heavy x low, light x high)
20 minute Cardio (if maximizing fat loss, will decrease size and strength gains)
Stretch!
80% of your capacity for physical work should be exhausted by the time you finish the Barbell Squats. The remaining 30% should be exhausted before you begin your cardio. The rest should be enough to carry you through stretching and home for your protein shake. I never did finish my math degree.
Please check out the original article at bodybuilding.com!
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