2 Month Strength/Size Program

In my time of going to the gym and training clients I’ve realized that 90% of the people I work with share the same goal: they want to look good. While that’s obviously not something I can disagree with (who doesn’t want to catch strangers staring?) there’s a whole other world of lifting out there that most people seem to ignore. 

Strength training. 

Now I know what you’re thinking. Isn’t going to the gym and lifting weights already strength training? Wrong. Well, you’re right, but you’re still wrong. Strength training is coming to the gym with the mindset of lifting massive amounts of weights and strategically designing your program to eliminate any and all weak spots. Let’s say you have a low deadlift - better yet, low squat (since legs are the most overlooked of all areas) - and can’t seem to get out of the hole. Do you really think that doing some leg extensions and half rep leg presses on a smith machine are going to help that? 

Nope. 

That’s where STRATEGY comes to play. If you can’t get out of the hole, add some paused rep squats into your training. Boom, problem solved. A common misconception in regards to strength training is it’s almost always confused with “not getting bigger”, that’s a real quote I’ve heard plenty of times. A proper program, again a little strategy can go a long way, takes care of this easily. Adding high rep hypertrophy work after low rep strength work can go a long way in terms of size. You don’t need to do an arm circuit where you curl from 6 different positions to get bigger, you’d be amazed by how adding in heavy compound lifts and lowering the amount of direct bicep training will contribute to arm size. Now before I get into the program itself I want to share an analogy: 

Picture 2 different cars. One of them will be a junkyard sleeper Honda Civic, turbo’d out and everything but ugly on the outside. The next will be a brand new Mercedes. The Mercedes is obviously going to draw more attraction, it’s shiny and new with all sorts of perks. However if the owner of the Civic decided to run a quarter mile with the Mercedes, the Mercedes owner would be embarrassed that such an ugly car can beat his brand new whip. The Honda Civic, in this case, is a powerlifter. Not always the most attractive on the outside, may not look as big as a bodybuilder or cut as a physique competitor, but he has enough power to embarrass the pretty boys. The Mercedes as you guessed is the bodybuilder, who gets all the looks. Now let’s add a 3^rd car to the mix, a twin turbo Chevy Camaro. Beautiful on the outside, powerful on the inside, it’ll draw as much attention as the Mercedes while being able to hold it’s own against the Civic.

This is what we’re looking for: Enough power to deadlift 500lbs for fun without sacrificing that precious physique all the “bros” are looking for. 

The Program

       This is the part you need to read. I might’ve bored you with the intro but if you’ve made it this far: congrats. I just need to add a few notes before I write the program or else you may not understand what exactly I’m saying.

 Anyone can do this program. If you're cutting just lower the calories and do more cardio, if you're bulking raise the calories and cut the calories. I'll touch on this later, but it really is something everyone can do.

The program is based off a 6-day cycle. Off  days are to be taken off after days 3 and 6. If you feel that you need another day off during a cycle, feel free to take one, however try not to make a habit of it.

Easily the most confusing part of the program is exercise selection. I leave a lot of that up to the individual athlete because every one of us has different strengths/weaknesses/equipment to work with. My prior example of paused squats reflects this but I’ll use a different example. If you have a strong shoulders and can get the weight up during a push press but can’t lock it out you need to work on triceps, so top-range shoulder press will be used. But not everybody has that problem.

Rep ranges are another thing I leave up to the individual. If you’re goal is to gain mass, go with higher rep ranges. If you want more strength, stick with the low end. Do not go out of the confines I’ve given you, however. They are spread out to give you that option.

If you are having a problem with a lift, take a video of you performing it and either send it to me or post it online. Ultimately you want to be able to dissect your own form and prescribe assistance work for yourself, but that’s difficult for most gym goer’s. I’ll include a few options you can use for your assistance lifts in the program, but the internet has plenty of strong people that have posted what they found out works for them.

Rest periods are however long you need them to be, just don’t be stupid. If you’re isolating lats with pulldowns you shouldn’t need more than 45 seconds to get the next set going. If you’re deadlift a few hundred pounds, you shouldn’t need less than 2mins for another set.

Oh and knowing, or estimating, your 1RM’s can come in handy just so you can see how much you’ve improved on them. Maxes are tested after every 2 cycles.

Day 1

Deadlift 5RM Build (Up To 3 attempts at new 5RM)

Deadlift Variation (Sumo/RDL/Snatch/Rack/DB/Deficit) 3x5-10

Row (Pendlay/Barbell/Kroc/DB/Yates) 3x8-12

Trap/Grip Work (Shrugs/Clean Pull/Suitcase Shrug/Farmer’s Carry) 3-4xVaried Reps

Bicep Curl (Any) 3x6

Bicep Curl (Any) 3x10-12

Bicep Curl (Any) 3sets

Day 2

Bench 5RM (Same rules as prior day)

Bench Variation (Incline/DB/Rev Grip/Paused) 3-4x4-12

Chest Iso 2-3x12-15

DB Shoulder Press Variation (Normal/Hammer/Arnold) 4x12

Push Press 3x6>

Shoulder Iso 2-3x10-15

Skullcrushers 3x8

2-Hand DB OVHD Ext 3x8 superset w/

Tricep Iso (Pulldowns/Cable Work) 3x10+

Day 3

Back Squat 5RM Build (Same rules)

Squat Variation (Anderson/Front/Paused/Goblet) 3x3-12

 Compound Leg Lift (GH Thrusts/Step Ups/GH Raise/Lunge/Goodmorning) 3x8-12

Hamstring Lift (Goodmorning/DB RDL/Plate Drags) 3x6-12

Calves 3-5x8-15

Abs (Ab Wheel/Plank/Cable AB Crunch) Low Volume

Day 4

Speed Deadlift 8x3@65%1RM 30sec rest in between

Deadlift Variation 3-4 Heavy sets

Pullup (Widegrip/Chin) 3-4xAMRAP

Row 2-3x6-12

Traps 2-3x6-15

Same Curl setup as Day 1

Day 5

Push Press 5RM Build

Barbell OVHD Press Variation (Normal/Axle/Z-Press/Jerk) 3-4x5-12

Shoulder Iso 3x12-15

DB Bench Variation 3-4x5-12

Pushup Variation 3xamrap superset w/

Chest Iso 3x10+

Close Grip-Bench 3x5-12 superset w/

Dips3xamrap

1-Arm DB OVHD Ext 2-3x8+

Day 6

Speed Squats 8x3@65%1RM 30sec rest

Front Squat 4-5 Heavy Sets

Compound Leg Lift (Like Day 3) 3-4x5-12

Hamstrings 2-3 Light Setsx8-15

Calves 3x12-15

Abs

MOBILITY

Before Deadlift/Leg Workouts: “Limber 11”

Foam Roll IT Band 10-15, Foam Roll Adductors 10-15, SMR Gluts Lax Ball 30sec-1min, Bent Knee Iron Cross 5-10ea side, Rollover into V-Sit 10, Rocking Frog Stretch 10, Fire Hydrant Circles 10fwd 10bwd, Mountain Climbers 10ea leg, Cossack Squats 5-10ea side, Seat Piriformis Stretch 30+sec ea side, Bulgarian Squat Hold 5-10 3sec hold

Before Back/Push Workouts: “LBEB”

Arm Circles (Small/Large) 10ea way, Should Internal/Ext. Rotation 10, Back Rollout, Roller Ext. Rotations 10, Pullup Dead Hang 2x10-15sec, Stab. Ball Pec Stretch 3x3 5sec ea side, Wall Press 2x10, Shoul Dislocations 10, Rotator Extensions 10ea, Band Pull Aparts 50, Thoracic Bridges

Feel free to cross-polinate the mobility. Try not to spend more than 10ish minutes on mobility. Find what you like best, but never EVER skip it.

CARDIO

This is another reason why the workout is for everyone. If your goal is to cut, add some HIIT cardio or LIIT on days that you didn’t do legs (don’t do HIIT day before leg day either). If your goal is to maintain or bulk, lower the cardio. I’m a fan of conditioning work, meaning I’ll do a bodyweight exercise for 12-15 reps (pylometrics such as box jumps, split squats, etc) and superset it with 30-45seconds of aerobic work at about 80% of max effort.

PROGRESSION

We aren’t going to get where we want living off of 5RM’s. That’s just the first cycle of the whole thing. The rest follow the same set up with changes to the first few lifts of the workout.

Cycle 2: 5RMaxes change to 3RM

Cycle 3: Take 5% off both 5RM/3RM and do that weight for 4 total sets, 5/3/5/3

Cycle 4: Work up to 2RM, subtract 5% for another double, repeat 2x more

Cycle 5: Days 1/2/3/5 start with a 4x8 for the big lifts, allowing for more growth

Cycle 6: Increase weight if you can

Cycle 7: Deload however you like, just remember it’s a deload for a reason

Cycle 8: Start over from cycle 1, crush a new 5RM and thank me later

Progression on the speed work is easy. Add about 10lbs every workout, but remember the point is speed. Don’t let it get too too heavy.

I think that covers just about everything. Literally everyone (within a relevant experience level) can do this regardless of what their goals are. Give it a shot, run it a couple cycles and test out your new 1RM. I guarantee you’ll be significantly stronger than you were when you started, and you can still have your pretty boy abs too.

Any questions contact me at ejfritzy@sbcglobal.net or if you know me in real life get in touch. This was also converted to blogger from word so it may look weird in some spots.