ULTIMATE TRAINING PROTOCOL....advanced only

[cashrolling]

After more than 12 years of working out I want to share what I think is the best WO protocol.I create this thru all the experiences I had these past few years, where I basically tried everything.This program works best for me, which I used to be a hardgainer(or regular guy), not a nature freak.It consists of 6 different training methods(later will explain the details):
1-Partials
2-rest pause
3-drop set
4-negatives
5-high reps
6-double contraction
Why this work?Simple, your body never adapt to any kind of training, so you keep shocking the body and force it to grow.
All the 6 training methods must be done at a very high level of intensity.
Every training method is used for 2 weeks, than a week of the high reps method, then 2 weeks of another method, then one week of high reps, and so on.I put one high reps week every 2 weeks for 2 reasonsne is to use lighter weights to help avoiding joints pain or injuries, the second is to keep all of the fibers working, including the red ons(fast twich).
Here how it should be planned:
Week 1-2.....Partials
Week 3 .......High reps
Week 4-5.....Rest pause
Week 6........High reps
Week 7-8......Drop sets
Week 9........High reps
Week 10-11...Negatives
Week 12.......High reps
Week 13-14...Double contractions
Week 15 High reps
Then start all over again.
There is also a reason on how it is planned, an heavy training method, like rest pause, is foollowed by a lighter training method, like drop sets, and this also to avoid injuries caused from using heavy loads.
Here are the trainings into details:

PARTIALS
This is how you see most of the pros train: the reps are not complete , but you must let the muscle always working, for example on a chest pres never do the complete movement, go down to 3 inches from your chest and back up , then come down before streching completly your arms, so that the muscle never rest during the set.Resting time from 1min to 1.5min.Here is a sample workout.You can pick the exercises you prefer or you feel like doing that day.
4 Exercises X 4set each( 10-12reps)

REST PAUSE
Warm up very well before starting: 4 X 15-12-10-8(medium intensity)
Exc.1(flat bench press) 2sets X 5(rest 12 seconds) +5(rest 12")+3(rest 6")+1
Your starting weight should be what u would do 8 reps max. with.
Exc.2(incline dumbells) same as above
Exc.3( flyes) 3x12
Between rest pause sets wait 3 min.


DROP SET
Exc.1: 2x10 then 2x6-8 + drop half the weight x max(6 to 12)
Exc.2: same as above
Exc.3: 4x10 + drop half the weight x 5(very slow)
Between sets rest 2-3 min.

NEGATIVES (preferibly done with partner)
Exc.1: 4x8 (partner lift for you, then take 8 sec. for the negative, if no
one to help, explosive going up then 8 sec. for the negative)
Use a weight which allows u to do 4 regular reps max.
Exc.2: same as above
Exc.3: 3x12 concentrate

DOUBLE CONTRACTION
Exc.1: 4x8-10 double contraction( it means that half way the complete
movement you stop and go back down, then up all the way,
thats one rep: EXAMPLE Bench press: Grab the bar, go down to
your chest, then on the way up stop half way, go back down
and finally all the way up, that is one rep.You can also
alternate where to do your half rep, on the negatives or on the
positive, example 2 bench press: Grab the bar, go down half
way to your chest, back up then down all the way then up all
the way, thats one rep.)Apply this to any excersise.
Exc.2: 4x8-10 double contraction
Exc.3: 3x8-10 double contraction
Rest up to 3 min. between sets.

High reps
Exc.1: 5x20
Exc.2: 5x20
Exc.3: 4x20
Exc.4: 4x20
For arms only do the first 3.
Rest 30 sec. between sets. 2 min. between excs.

Here is how I split my workouts:

Monday....triceps and biceps + 20 min. light cardio
Tuesday....legs
Wensday...shoulders, abs(4 sets) + 20 min. light cardio
Thursday.....rest
Friday.......Back + 20 min. light cardio
Saturday....Chest, abs(4 sets)+ 20 min. light cardio

This work pretty good for me, if you have any comments or questions I will be pleased to answer.

[Uncle Fotze]

Very interesting post... thanks for taking the time.

How long have you been training in this manner, and what gains pre and post this training have you acheived?

[RIPT]

Also forced negatives, where someone helps you get the weight to the contracted position. On chins you can try and pull someone down from the contracted position too.I also do pre-exhaust, sometimes as a superset with a compound movement.ie leg extensions then leg press............

[cashrolling]

Originally Posted by Uncle Fotze

Very interesting post... thanks for taking the time.

How long have you been training in this manner, and what gains pre and post this training have you acheived?

I have been following this routine for about 8 months, and I feel very good about it, the only thing I change is that when on cycle I do 1 or 2 extra sets here and there, but overall, has been helping be a lot, I also feel motivated all the time and its not boring, and as natural I was able to keep most of the gains from a cycle.Expecially during the high reps week you can feel the muscles recovering from the prior 2 weeks, and start the next 2 weeks pretty fresh.

[indrid_cold17]

sounds good to me,might give it a try ..

[evilh666]

Interesting ideas might give some of it a try

[RIPT]

Also change up the excercises and the order you do them in.

[cashrolling]

Originally Posted by RIPT

Also change up the excercises and the order you do them in.

Right.

[RIPT]

Of course.............

[Uncle Paul]

Looks like it was limited only by your creative writing skills.

Unfortunately, it isn't based on anything like, well, physiology. I suggest learning a little about programming training for your goals.

[Antihero]

Originally Posted by Uncle Paul

Looks like it was limited only by your creative writing skills.

Unfortunately, it isn't based on anything like, well, physiology. I suggest learning a little about programming training for your goals.

I’m sorry but I have to agree. This isn’t a "TRAINING PROTOCOL" nor for anyone who is advanced. IMO its nothing more than different training techniques used for intensity or simple training principals. You also are making things too complicated.

Two weeks isn’t enough time for your body to make adaptations to a stimulus, so why would you change your training principal to high reps at two weeks? Tell me what happens at two weeks for you to do this? Does you body say hey I’m not making progress anymore lets do a shit load of reps now for no reason.
Try something simple like progressive overload, with rest paused sets (ieC training principals) but log your performance so you know when its time to take a cruise(de-load the weight for 7-14 days)

Also you said " This program works best for me, which I used to be a hardgainer(or regular guy), not a nature freak" How did a program not make you a hardgainer anymore I don’t understand?

One last point and back to what I quoted Uncle Paul on, how is this program going to help someone that has the goal of being a fighter, bber, or sumo wrestler? Each person is different and that something people need to take into account, something that works well for me isn’t going to do the same for the next person.
Training programs are similar to diets as they should be very individualized to one persons training goals. If I were to tailor this program for someone who has an extremely ectomorphic body composition and has an extremely hard time gaining muscle more than likely 5 days in the gym isn’t ideal. There are also factors such as weak/strong body parts that need to be considered and will affect someone’s training split. I could go on but I think you get the point; there is no one size fits all training modality.

[trapz]

antihero took the words out of my mouth.

there is no ULTIMATE TRAINING ROUTINE.... the most effective training routine is one you havent been doing for the last 8-12 weeks most likely! and thats not getting into progressive overload periodization, deloading etc.

[trapz]

and high reps every 2 weeks i dont really understand, unless you were overtraining purposefully to overload your system and then give your body an "active rest" break by doign high reps, they are way too frequent.... i would say less intense high reps for a few weeks should be thrown in after you've blasted in the gym hard for 6-10 weeks or anytime in that period that your starting to plateau and feeling burnt out and overtrained. then do your 2-3 weeks of active rest "high rep" workouts going at like 50% and just getting a pump and blood flowing in the muscles but dont go hard enough that its taxing your CNS which is one of the main components that needs to recover after hitting it hard heavy and intense for 6-8 or even 10 weeks, like i said whenever yuo feel like your peaking and not progressing anymore... pretty simple KISS method of periodization and deloading that works well.

[trapz]

oh BTW hwo do high reps hit the fast twitch muscle fibers??? please explain that to me lol

[cashrolling]

Originally Posted by Antihero

I’m sorry but I have to agree. This isn’t a "TRAINING PROTOCOL" nor for anyone who is advanced. IMO its nothing more than different training techniques used for intensity or simple training principals. You also are making things too complicated.

Two weeks isn’t enough time for your body to make adaptations to a stimulus, so why would you change your training principal to high reps at two weeks? Tell me what happens at two weeks for you to do this? Does you body say hey I’m not making progress anymore lets do a shit load of reps now for no reason.
Try something simple like progressive overload, with rest paused sets (ieC training principals) but log your performance so you know when its time to take a cruise(de-load the weight for 7-14 days)

Also you said " This program works best for me, which I used to be a hardgainer(or regular guy), not a nature freak" How did a program not make you a hardgainer anymore I don’t understand?

One last point and back to what I quoted Uncle Paul on, how is this program going to help someone that has the goal of being a fighter, bber, or sumo wrestler? Each person is different and that something people need to take into account, something that works well for me isn’t going to do the same for the next person.
Training programs are similar to diets as they should be very individualized to one persons training goals. If I were to tailor this program for someone who has an extremely ectomorphic body composition and has an extremely hard time gaining muscle more than likely 5 days in the gym isn’t ideal. There are also factors such as weak/strong body parts that need to be considered and will affect someone’s training split. I could go on but I think you get the point; there is no one size fits all training modality.

I am not arguing with you or trapz, you both have good points, I will try to explain clearer the reasons why I made up this program:

First the reason why I take a light hight reps week after only 2 weeks is because after 2 intense(only experienced lifters know what intesity is) weeks my system is overloaded, so I do need an active break to recover completly from the very intense training, and start fresh again the following week.I also have another reason for this: to avoid injury.I think you know that after 12 years of weight training and steroids use you can get dangerously strong, to a point where your tendons and legaments are in danger of injury if training always with heavy load, so I found out that 2 weeks is not enough to create any pain or a situation leading to an injury, remember after so many years there is no point in getting any stronger, but rather feeling the muscle working with movement perfection and complete control over the weight.So the light week will help to stay far from any problem, from a simple inflamation to more serious injuries.I put staying far from injuries number one priority.
Then again, after so many years it is really hard to keep growing, basically you reach your genetics limits, so it makes no sense to me keeping a routine for so long, the important thing right now is to make the muscles work and keep guessing whats next, also it helps to have more mental motivation and never get bored of working out.

Yes , I said I was a hardgainer, but never said that thanks to this program I am not anymore.I think taking all kind of anabolics for more than 10 years disqualify me from being an hardgainer.

This program is for bodybuilders, not complementary training for any other kind of sport.

I say ADVANCED, because as you said you wouldn't prscribe this to an ectomorph, and I agree.But an ectomorph that has been training and taking drugs for more than a decade I am sure that this program will not hurt him.So it is good for an "advanced ectomorph".

The main reason why someone should try this program is if they did try everything already for several times, and want to be injury free trying to keep and slightly improve what they have gained after many years of hard work.

[MuScLe CeLLs]

i like his come back post, my position is this, or philosophy is, i know the tip of the iceberg so to speak when it comes to training knowledge / sciences, and theres all that other chunk of iceberg or i should say knowledge to go seek out,

to me not one training programme is the ultimate, however i believe in bettering the training programme you try, for instance someone may try this programme and realise say it works better for him or her, if say they throw in circuit style training,

im not knocking this post, for me im still testing / perfecting training methods like H.I.T circuit training mma training techniques etc,

i believe what is key is to not be affriad to try anything new, so you can see / feel how your body reacts to the way the load / tension is presented to it ,

anyways im ranting

M Cells

[Antihero]

First off if you’re system is so overloaded after 2 weeks of training that you need to take two weeks off and do light high rep work you either have the worst CNS in all of man kind or you just might want to get checked for aids. My question to you is what are you’re stats? You say you have been doing this for 12 years w/ anabolics but if that’s true and your becoming that overtrained your doing something wrong…especially on gear!
Yes, I understand that aas will make you strong…but dangerously strong? Not sure about that one…I would have to question your training (ie: rep cadence, form, and ROM) and say that it’s probably haphazard if two weeks is the magic number to not cause any pain or injury. With training, diet, bodybuilding, life…etc there is no one way to do it correctly…its progressive, things change; many different factors come into play. To say that two weeks is when you know to stop pushing it, I question you why? What happens at the two week mark? I know you said drugs make you stronger but they don’t make you injury prone. A lot of steroids increase collagen synthesis and make tendons and ligaments stronger. I’m guessing your either short changing yourself in the gains department by cutting your progression time down to two weeks, or your doing something so completely wrong in that two week time frame to have to stop at two weeks.
I could not disagree more with your statement that “after so many years there is no point in getting any stronger, but rather feeling the muscle working with movement perfection and complete control over the weight”
A stronger muscle will ALWAYS be a larger muscle!!! Just because your improving in strength doesn’t mean you don’t feel the muscle working and shouldn’t have complete control over the weight. If you’re lifting heavy you better damn well have complete control over that weight or you’re asking for an injury. Being stronger in a lift doesn’t necessarily mean you have to stay in low rep ranges and get joint pain especially with older trainees’, it simply means periodization. Constantly making progress in all your lifts, and as soon as you don’t change that out for a similar exercise for said trained muscle group and smash it until you stop making progress again and repeat.
Now don’t get me wrong I do think trainees should use a period of 7-14 days of deloading to help the CNS recover and give your joints a break I just don’t think that after two weeks of balls to the walls training your going to need that deloading period.
About the part you wrote about “after so many years its hard to keep growing”, someone that’s been training for 12 years and using anabolics should know you don’t grow in the gym you grow at the dinner table. Yes, its hard to keep making progress in this sport but you still see guys do it, the ones that aren’t are the ones that don’t have a solid plan. Oh and you can throw genetic limits out the window were using drugs here, they help you get past that remember?
I makes perfect sence to keep a program for “so long” as you said because if you don’t and are changing ever two weeks how the hell do you know what is working for you and what isn’t. The thing is you have to find one that works and produces results THEN you stick with it.
You don’t need to keep muscles guessing they don’t know what’s going on anyways. All you have to do is provide a stimulus and make progression you body wants to adapt to that stimulus so you keep making progress in weights and reps until you don’t then change the exercise. If you need mental stimulation from changing your workouts every two weeks to keep you motivated its best to find another sport, bodybuilding is monotonous. Its really is simple it just takes a long time to build the body you want, I tell people time and again this sport is a marathon not a sprint.
I understand you said this program is for bodybuilders, but what I’m saying is when designing a program for training you have to understand there are things you have to consider such as the individual, that’s persons goals, and weak areas that need improvement.
Not only would I not prescribe this program to an ectomorph I wouldn’t recommend it to anyone, no offence. Just because an ectomorph has been training and taking drugs for more than a decade doesn’t make this program acceptable for them. Will it hurt them? I don’t see how a program could hurt someone unless there training was causing problems, will it help them…probably not.
My big qualm is that there is no one cookie cutter plan for everyone and that’s what this came off as. If it works for you great keep doing it. If you’re stagnant with gains and on the crux of an injury every two weeks I would look into something else however. I just feel there are much better training programs out there suitable for a broader spectrum of people especially advanced bodybuilders. Also just because someone does drugs and has been training for a while doesn’t make them advanced.

[RIPT]

I always thought partials were more like, when you can't do anymore full R.O.M. reps, you do 3/4s, 1/2s and so on until full failure????