Built For Battle strength circuit for high-performance muscles

Look strong and be strong

I want to make you muscular while turning you into a high performance machine. And that's what this plan is all about - getting stronger, more muscular, more powerful and in better shape than ever before.

I'm a big fan of high performance muscle: Any increase in muscle mass must be accompanied by an increase in performance. Even if your goal is to build an impressive body, you should maintain that high-performance mentality. Grow in every way possible so that you can be as powerful as you look. This program will help you achieve that, but first let's take a look at its predecessor, Built For Bad.

Built For Bad Summary

In 2013, I developed a program that helped me get in the best shape of my life: Built For Bad. The concepts of this program were:

• Train hard
• Exercise often
• Focus on 5 exercises
• Train these 5 days a week

It's simple, yet effective. It can transform your body at an intimidating rate. The only problem? Not everyone can handle maximum exercise five days a week. Those who could handle the load made amazing progress. Those who couldn't handle it experienced a slump after 3 to 4 weeks (but still made some gains before that).

Also, Built for Bad did not include training to compensate for weaknesses. If you have balanced development, that's not a problem, but not everyone has balanced body development.

These are two problems that I solved with the Built for Battle program. I've also added a larger exercise selection so you can better tailor the program to your needs.

Built for Battle - Overview

Since this program is meant to work for exercisers at different experience levels with different primary goals, you'll need to customize it. Here's what you need to do, step by step:

1. Choose your conditioning level. This will determine how long you will rest between circuit exercises.
2. Choose your primary goal: achieving a power look, building explosiveness and power or building muscle mass are the options available. This will determine which group of exercises you choose.
3. You will train 5 days a week with training breaks on Thursday and Sunday. On one of these two days you will add a circuit of support exercises.
4. One of these training days will be easy. You will work your way up to your 3RM weight (your maximum weight for 3 reps) for each exercise. Then you use this 3RM weight to choose the weights for the other workouts of the week, which use the 5-4-3-2-1 scheme.
5. Lastly, look at the options and periodization info at the end. This will take some work and brain power on your part, which is good because it means it's not a pre-made "one size fits all" plan.

Step 1: Choose your fitness level

There are three levels to choose from depending on your level of fitness and how fast you normally train. The ultimate goal is to progress to the highest level. However, your progression should be quite slow - perhaps moving up a level every third week.

Level One

Use this level if your fitness is poor or you are used to a very slow training pace with long breaks. You will take 2:00 to 2:30 minutes between exercises.

Level two

Use this level if your fitness level is average. You will take 1:30 to 2:00 minutes between exercises.

Level Three

Use this level if your fitness level is good or you are used to a fast training pace with short breaks. You will take 1:00 to 1:30 minutes between exercises. Do not move up a level if your performance will suffer. Keep in mind that this is not a superset. Your main goal is not to train as fast as possible, although you should try to use a fairly fast training pace to improve your fitness.

Step 2: Choose your goal and your group of exercises

Each training session includes five exercises that cover the entire body. You will repeat these exercises over the five training days, but the intensity will vary. Perform the exercises as a circuit. Do one set of the first exercise, one set of the second exercise, one set of the third exercise, and so on. Do this circuit five times.

There are three main groups of exercises to choose from. Choose the group that best suits your goal or technical capacity.

Group One - For developing the power look

The power look is characterized by a thick trapezius, a broad back and large shoulder muscles. The exercise selection reflects this. If you like a big, powerful trapezius, then this is the group for you.

1. Reposition and press or muscle snatch (snatch from blocks, from a hanging position or from the floor)
2. Zercher squats
3. Snatch-grip high pull from blocks
4. Bench press or incline bench press
5. Seated Row or Pendlay Row

Group Two - For developing explosiveness and power

This group is primarily for athletes who want to improve their explosiveness while getting stronger and building muscle. However, even though this plan will build some muscle, it is the least effective of the three plans if you want to look as muscular as possible. In return, however, you will gain a lot of explosiveness and improve your capacity to absorb force.

1. Power Clean (from blocks, from a hanging position or from the floor)
2. Push Press (standing barbell shoulder press with momentum from the legs)
3. Squats
4. Pull-ups with a neutral grip
5. Bench press

Group Three - For developing mass and strength

This is your big basic plan that will build the most body-wide strength.

1. Deadlift
2. Barbell shoulder press
3. Front squats
4. Seated rowing
5. Bench press

Note: I chose front squats instead of classic squats because front squats put less strain on the lower back if you already have deadlifts in your program.

And yes, you can swap exercises for comparable exercises. Let's say you've chosen the exercises from group 1, but you'd rather do power cleans, which are in group 2. You can swap the snatch grip high pull for power cleans. But please don't swap exercises that target different muscle groups (e.g. Zercher squats for standing shoulder presses).

Step 3: Know your load patterns (sets & reps)

Monday

Day 1 is the day you work your way up to your 3RM weight and then use that 3RM weight to calibrate the weights for the other workouts. In addition to providing a powerful stimulus for gains in strength and muscle mass, this day also allows you to choose the correct weights for the rest of the week and gives you a good idea of your progression.

Work your way up to your 3RM weight on each exercise. These exercises are performed in the form of a circuit. Yes, it is possible that you will reach your 3RM weight on one exercise before the others, especially during the first week. If this happens, then remove that exercise from the circuit while you try to reach your 3RM weight on the other exercises. But after a Monday training session, it will be quite easy to reach your 3RM weight on all exercises at the same time because you will have a good idea of what you can move.

Important: Aim for technically sound repetitions for the 3RM weight. A 3RM weight where the last repetition takes 5 seconds and where the form of the exercise execution drops and compensatory mechanisms come into play will not work because you will overestimate how much weight you should use for the current week. The goal is to perform perfect reps so that the weight is based on near-perfect execution.

Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday, Saturday

The primary scheme will be a 5-4-3-2-1 countdown, meaning that your first set will consist of 5 reps, your second will consist of 4 reps, your third will consist of three reps, etc.

There are several reasons why I love the 5-4-3-2-1 scheme:

• Each set feels easy, even when it's harder. You think "what if I used more weight? After all, I have fewer repetitions to perform." This perception allows you to push yourself harder, which is really important on the heavy days.
• By gradually working up to the heavier sets, you prepare your body and nervous system for maximum effort. This makes it easier for you psychologically, neurologically and physically.
• Even though this is a strength building regimen, it will also build muscle mass with sets of 4 and 5 reps, which is especially true for slightly advanced and more advanced exercisers - and especially if you take into account that you will be training everything five times a week. Even if the amount of protein synthesis initiated per training session may be slightly lower than a more traditional training session, it will probably be higher at the end of the week.

Warm up rounds

When performing the 5-4-3-2-1 training sessions, you should perform 2 to 4 warm-up rounds. Do 2 warm-up rounds if it is a lighter training session, 3 if it is a moderate training session and 4 for your heaviest training sessions.

During these warm-up rounds, gradually increase the weight from round to round. If your goal is to build maximum muscle mass, you should warm up with sets of 5 repetitions. If you are focusing on strength and power, you should warm up with sets of 3 repetitions to avoid excessive fatigue.

Step 3: Know the intensity level (the weight used)

The original Built for Bad program was a program where you pushed yourself to the limit in every training session. Five days in a row of pushing yourself to the limit was too much for many people, especially those with more traditional jobs and more stress in their lives. The Built for Battle plan takes this into account and includes two modifications:

• The five training days are not all in a row. So you get a break earlier in the week.
• The intensity goes up and down over the course of the week. Only two training sessions go to the limit, one is of moderate intensity and two are of lower intensity, but include supportive training.

Monday

Work your way up to your 3 RM weight while maintaining a clean form of exercise execution. Do this in 5 to 6 sets after performing 2 to 3 warm-up sets.

Tuesday

• 1 x 5 @ 80% of your 3RM
• 1 x 4 @ 85% of your 3RM
• 1 x 3 @ 90% of your 3RM
• 1 x 2 @ 95% of your 3RM
• 1 x 1 @ 3RM

Wednesday

• 1 x 5 @ 72.5% of your 3RM
• 1 x 4 @ 77.5% of your 3RM
• 1 x 3 @ 82.5% of your 3RM
• 1 x 2 @ 87.5% of your 3RM
• 1 x 1 @ 92.5% of your 3RM, plus support circuit number 1

Thursday

No training

Friday

• 1 x 5 @ 90% of your 3RM
• 1 x 4 @ 95% of your 3RM
• 1 x 3 @ 100% of your 3RM
• 1 x 2 @ 105% of your 3RM
• 1 x 1 @ 110% (attempt) of your 3RM

Saturday

• 1 x 5 @ 70% of your 3RM
• 1 x 4 @ 75% of your 3RM
• 1 x 3 @ 80% of your 3RM
• 1 x 2 @ 85% of your 3RM
• 1 x 1 @ 90% of your 3RM, plus support circuit number 2

Sunday

No training

Note: Only the work sets are shown above.

Step 4: Add the support circuits

Regardless of the group you've chosen for your main exercises, all your muscles will be covered to some degree, but for maximum muscle growth you'll need to add some higher repetition training. This is the role of the assistance cycles, which you will perform twice a week on the lighter days.

It should be noted that the exercise selection here is far less important than with the main exercises. You can swap the exercises listed for exercises that you find more effective or use the circuits to work on weak points. Keep in mind that on Wednesday you will perform medium-weight exercises in the medium repetition range and on Saturday you will concentrate more on isolation exercises or less strenuous exercises with high repetition numbers.

Wednesday circuit

• Dumbbell incline bench press, followed by 30 to 45 seconds rest
• Rowing bent over with dumbbells, then rest for 30 to 45 seconds
• Bulgarian split squats with the weaker leg, then rest for 30 to 45 seconds
• Bulgarian split squats with the stronger leg, then rest for 30 to 45 seconds
• Romanian deadlift, then rest for 2 to 3 minutes

Perform 2 warm-up rounds and then three rounds of work sets. Use a weight that is challenging but still allows you to complete all your planned repetitions (not to the point of muscle failure, but close to muscle failure).

• First round: 10 repetitions
• Second round: 8 repetitions
• Third round: 6 repetitions

Saturday circuit

• Barbell curls, then 30 to 45 seconds rest
• Lying tricep presses with dumbbells, then rest for 30 to 45 seconds
• Side raises with dumbbells, then 30 to 45 seconds rest
• Dumbbell hammer curl, then rest for 1 to 2 minutes

Perform 2 warm-up rounds and then three rounds of work sets. For these exercises, you should go to muscle failure on the work sets. Try to reach muscle failure in the specified repetition range.

• First round: 12 to 15 repetitions
• Second round: 10 to 12 repetitions
• Third round: 8 to 10 repetitions

Questions and answers

Why does Built for Battle Work work so well?

This program is unconventional and unlike most other programs you'll see in the gym. It's designed to increase strength and mass quickly while improving your conditioning and helping you burn fat. Sounds too good to be true? Well, here's the explanation...

Strength gains

The strength gains come from the rapid improvements in neurological efficiency. The more often you perform a particular exercise, the better your nervous system becomes at performing that exercise in the most effective way possible.

And when it comes to neural efficiency, frequency of execution (not quantity) is key. The more often you "practice" performing an exercise (with good form), the faster you will improve. A very high frequency of execution like this will therefore give you rapid gains in performance within 3 to 4 weeks.

Practicing an exercise more frequently will improve intra- and inter-muscular coordination and make your nervous system more efficient in executing that specific motor program.

The 5-4-3-2-1 scheme uses a low volume per exercise and the circuit form allows for ample rest between sets of the same exercise, minimizing movement-specific fatigue and optimizing motor learning.

Muscle mass

There are many ways to stimulate muscle growth:

• A generation of muscle damage, which is best achieved with moderate volume and fairly heavy weight using exercises where the main muscle undergoes some stretching.
• An accumulation of local growth factors, which is best achieved with longer duration sets where the muscles are under load for 45 to 75 seconds.
• A production of lactate (lactic acid) which has been shown to have a direct effect on muscle growth. This also requires sets of longer duration in the range of 30 to 60 seconds.
• Maximizing mTOR activation, which is best achieved by emphasizing the eccentric or negative phase of the movement.
• Exhausting as many muscle fibers as possible. This usually requires a higher volume either in the form of more repetitions or more sets.

Apart from the first trigger, none of this really applies to what we do during strength circuits. But growth does occur. This is related to the frequency of the training. Even though each individual training session may not increase protein synthesis as much as a traditional training session, the fact that you are doing the same exercises five days a week compensates for the smaller increase in protein synthesis rate per training session.

Don't forget that every time you train hard, you increase protein synthesis in the trained muscle (this accelerates muscle repair and building). This increase in local protein synthesis lasts for about 24 hours.

If you train a muscle once a week, you may stimulate a large increase in protein synthesis, but it won't last long. If you train the same muscle five days a week, protein synthesis will remain elevated for pretty much the whole week. So these strength cycles keep your body anabolic all the time.

In addition, the more often you train a muscle, the better you get at contracting that muscle and recruiting the higher threshold muscle fibers. When this happens, it becomes easier to grow a muscle. By training everything five days a week, you improve your capacity to recruit all the big muscles, which is an investment in future gains.

Fat loss

This program is primarily a strength and mass plan, but it can also have positive effects on fat loss.

First of all, the circuit nature of the workout allows you to have a higher work-to-rest ratio, which is especially true once you reach Level 3, where the rest periods between sets are shorter. This keeps your energy expenditure high.

Using the heavier basic exercises helps both from a hormonal perspective (growth hormone release) and from a calorie expenditure perspective - multi-joint exercises with heavier weights mean higher energy expenditure.

The nature of the program (especially groups 1 and 2) has a large impact on insulin sensitivity, which improves nutrient partitioning - more nutrients are sent to the muscles and fewer nutrients are sent to the fat cells. While this is not the primary goal of the program, it is a nice side effect.

Condition

The circuit structure and full-body nature of the workouts will have a positive impact on anaerobic power and capacity, two important energy systems for sport. And since your heart rate will remain elevated for the entire 45 to 60 minutes, this workout will also have a positive impact on cardiac contractile strength, which will improve aerobic capacity.

Of course, we use low repetitions, so I won't claim that this program is the most effective way to improve your fitness, but it will have a positive effect.

Can you periodize the groups?

You may be wondering if you can combine the groups. The answer is yes and no. During a phase (which is 3 to 4 weeks long) you have to stay with one group. The whole system is built on maximizing neurological efficiency to achieve rapid gains in strength with a selection of exercises. Therefore, you cannot use Group 1 on Monday and Group 2 on Tuesday and so on. With the way the load patterns are organized, this wouldn't work anyway.

What you can do, however, is to periodize all 3 groups in a 9 to 12 week training cycle. In this case, I would recommend the following order:

• Week 1-3: Group 3
• Week 4-6: Group 1
• Week 7-9: Group 2

You can even extend each phase to 4 weeks if you prefer to stick with the same exercises for longer. This will make you super muscular, strong and powerful.

The original Built for Bad could not be used for longer than 9 to 12 weeks. Some exercisers couldn't even keep it up for more than 3 to 4 weeks. Since the intensity undulates with this plan, this won't be a problem.

Can you add Loaded Carries?

If you want to add exercises like the Farmer Walk, training with a weight sled or sprints to this program, feel free to do so. And this addition will make the program a very complete program for body-wide performance. However, you can't just add these exercises randomly to this plan, as this would make recovery too difficult.

What you can do, however, is replace one or both support cycles (Wednesday and Saturday) with Loaded Carries and Sprints. Depending on what you want to emphasize, here are some options:

Emphasize strength

• Farmers Walk: Work your way up to the heaviest weight you can carry for 30 meters. Allow yourself 3 minutes rest.
• Heavy weight sled push: 5 x 30 meters. Allow yourself 3 minutes rest. Emphasis on muscle mass
• A1. Barbell curls: 3 x 8-10 reps, then rest for 15-30 seconds.
• A2. Tire flip: (as many repetitions as you can do in 30 seconds) or Zercher carry (30 meters). Perform 3 sets of work.
• B1. Dumbbell row with supported chest: 8-10 reps, then rest for 15-30 seconds.
• B2. Farmers Walk: (30 meters). Perform 3 work sets.

Emphasis on fitness

• A1. Sprint with weight sled: (light weight for 30 meters). Pause for 15 seconds afterwards.
• A2. Slowly pushing a weight sled: (same weight for 30 meters). Then pause for 2 minutes. Perform 3 passes.
• B. Farmers Walk: Maximum distance in 60 seconds (use grip aids) Perform 5 sets with 1 minute rest between sets.

Source: https://www.t-nation.com/workouts/built-for-battle

By Christian Thibaudeau