Blueprint for Gains

There will be many times when you decide you want to look a certain way, also you want to make sure that you have a good blueprint for gains.  You have to find out what exercises work best for you and then start progressing on those exercises immediately.  A good example would be a sumo dead-lift vs a conventional dead-lift.  Now, I do conventional dead-lifts, this doesn't mean you should do the same thing.

Here's what you need to do.  Pick 3 exercises for each body part and then rotate them.

Chest: Flat bench press, Incline bench press, Dumbbell incline press

Back:  Dead-lifts, bent over row, weighted chin ups

Legs:  Low bar squat, high bar squat, Front squat

Shoulders:  Standing overhead press, Seated overhead press, seated behind the neck press

Biceps:  Barbell curls, 1 arm preacher curl, Hammer curls

Tricep:  Close grip bench press, reverse grip bench press, ez bar tricep pressdowns

There's a list for every body part.  Pay attention to this list.  For every body part I want you to rotate each compound exercise until you have done it 3 times, then pick your best exercises and do them every week.

Your push day should look similar to this.

Push Day:

Flat bench press: 4 x 6-8 reps

Incline barbell press:  3 x 12 reps

Standing overhead press: 4 x 3-5 reps

Seated dumbbell press: 4 x 12 reps

Ez bar tricep extensions: 3 x 15 reps

Cable overhead tricep extensions:  3 x 15 reps

This push day template is how most push days should work.  Moderate the volume, if you know how to train to failure correctly just do 1 warm up set for each and one working set.

But, if you're not advanced I would stick to the workout as written.  One modification could be to do overhead presses first, this is just because it will be easier this way for some and could save their shoulders. 

A bodybuilding style pull day will look something like this.

Bodybuilding Pull day:

Dead-lift: 3 x 6 reps

Weighted chin ups: 3 x 8 reps

Bent over barbell rows: 4 x 10 reps

Barbell curls: 4 x 10 reps

Preacher curl machine: 3 x 15 reps

If you stick to that pull day as written you will make gains.  Do it exactly as written.  The only thing that you could change is, you can do weighted pull ups instead of chin ups, you can also do 1 arm preacher curls instead of the machine.  This training style will also help you build strength and mass.  Strength and muscle are one in the same, but not always.  Sometimes the strongest guy isn't the biggest guy and vice versa. 

For a power lifter the accessories would be different.

Dead-lift day:

Dead-lifts: 3 x 3-5 reps

Deficit dead-lifts: 4 x 6 reps

Block pulls: 3 x 8 reps

Snatch grip dead-lift: 3 x 6 reps

1 arm dumbbell row: 3 x 15 reps

When you're power lifting the dead-lift needs to be trained at a deficit and the block pulls are to help you increase lockout strength.  Afterwards, the snatch grip dead-lift and 1 arm dumbbell rows will help with adding muscle mass.  Deficit dead-lifts can help with speed at the start of the dead-lift.  For some of you, if the volume is too much, take out the block pulls.  Every other exercise do it exactly as written.  Although you could substitute bent over rows for block pulls.

Just keep in mind that this workout will wear you out and make you hungry.  Eat as many clean calories as you can because that's what's going to help you make gains.  Take your diet just as seriously as you take training.  

How to Make Gains outside of the gym

Eat 1.5g of protein per lb of body weight

Sleep 7-10 hours per day

Meditate

Visualization

Relaxation

The first strategy to make more gains outside of the gym, is to eat 1.5 g of protein per lbs of body weight.  This is because your body needs protein to repair muscle.  Eating this amount of protein will make you strong fast.  The next one is to sleep, 8 hours of sleep is ideal, I do realize this can be a challenge for most people.  Meditation is another way to help calm down and reduce your stress levels.  Staying calm is important for making gains, if you can't relax you will be stressed out and your cortisol increases.  

Visualization is an important tool because a lot of people subconsciously sabotage themselves.  Visualization is important because it will give you an exact picture of how you want to look and how strong you eventually want to be.  This mental rehearsal will help train the subconscious mind to help you achieve and accept success.  

Try all of these tips and try the workout.

Comment below and let me know how the workout felt.

Signing out as usual.

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How To Deal with Setbacks and Stress

Like a lot of people my day to day includes stress and I've had to deal with setbacks this year.  Due to a piriformis injury I have suffered this year, my squats haven't been the same.  I haven't been able to use as much volume or weight that I want.  This means that I haven't been doing as much either.  The point is that when you're dealing with stress and setbacks, you just need to keep showing up.  Keep doing what it takes and keep eating clean.

It's natural for us to run from our responsibilities when we are stressed or dealing with setbacks, but if we don't push forward, we'll never grow or improve.

This is why you need to learn to embrace failure and mistakes.  This is an issue that most people have.  When you start out on your fitness journey, whether that be bodybuilding, power lifting, you will make mistakes and fall flat on your face.  You need to think about what it is that you want to accomplish and do what's necessary to get there.

It will be harder than you expect it to be.  If you can have realistic expectations, you could be more prepared to deal with setbacks and stress.  When you're stressed out, your body begins to produce a stress hormone called cortisol.  This hormone is terrible for building size and making gains.  This means you have to find a way to make your body relax.

How To Relax

• Make sure you're breathing properly:  When you're breathing shallow and through your chest, you are not getting as much oxygen as you need, this will make it hard to relax.  The key here is to breathe through your diaphram.  
• Let go:  I know so many people that worry about useless unnecessary crap.  Cut it out, let go.  If someone cuts you off in traffic let it go.  If someone is gossiping abut u let it go.  This is hard for people.  But when you let things go, you develop control over your emotions.
• Don't overdo caffeine.  This one is as simple as it sounds.

Once you're able to relax, this will lower your cortisol, which in turn will help you make gains.

This way if you have some setbacks in your training you'll be able to understand why the setbacks are happening.  If you get injured, do your best to train around the injury, don't just not train if you can train around it.  Obviously if the injury is too debilitating don't go to the gym.

Thank you for reading.

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