How to stimulate mass gains with every training session

An advanced full body workout plan

Here's what you need to know...

1. Three things cause muscle growth: mechanical tension, metabolic stress and muscle damage. You need all three to build muscle optimally.
2. Perform only three major multi-joint exercises per training session. For each exercise, you will perform strength-focused work (5 x 5), mass-focused work (4 x 10) and pump training (3 x 20). During the second half of the plan, you will change the set/repetition scheme to train heavier.
3. This is a 4 week program split into two week cycles. It can be done again after an off-load week.

The 3 mechanisms of muscle growth

Three things cause muscle growth. The problem is that most people leave at least one of these out, leading to slow gains and frustration.

To maximize muscle growth, the three key mechanisms that set the stage for hypertrophy are: mechanical tension, metabolic stress, and what most people would call "muscle damage". If you really want to build muscle, then you need to stimulate all three mechanisms.

Progressive full body training - an overview:

This training plan takes care of all three muscle growth mechanisms on every single training day.

1. You will train the whole body in every training session. Each day will include one lower body exercise, one upper body press exercise and one upper body pull exercise. You will therefore only perform three exercises per training session.
2. For each exercise, you will use three different repetition ranges to fully exhaust the motor units you are targeting. For example, with squats you will use 5 x 5 for pure strength, 4 x 10 for hypertrophy and then 3 x 20 as pump training. This will cover all three mechanisms of muscle growth.
3. For each exercise, you will perform all the heavy strength sets first. So you will do 5 x 5 (5 sets of 5 reps) for the lower body exercise, then for the upper body push exercise and finally for the upper body pull exercise.
4. During the next round, you will perform 4 x 10 for the same exercises, completing all four sets before moving on to the next exercise.
5. During the last round, you will perform 3 x 20 for all three exercises.

For each round, the weight will be reduced to use the appropriate higher repetition ranges. This ensures that the muscles targeted in each workout session experience sufficient tension, metabolic stress and structural damage - all combined with ample volume to induce maximum muscle growth.

Yes, this is tough, but keep in mind that this program is intended as short-term hypertrophy intensive training. In addition to this, you will have a non-training day after each training session as you only train every other day. Obviously, your diet, recovery and training nutrition must fit.

The exercises

Day 1

• A1 - Squats (classic squats, box squats or front squats)
• A2 - Incline bench press (dumbbells, barbell, wide grip or close grip)
• A3 - Pull-ups (regular grip, neutral grip or wide grip)

Day 2

• A1 - Deadlift (conventional, trap bar or sumo)
• A2 - Flat bench press (barbell, dumbbells or floor press)
• A3 - Inverted Row (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1G28qN9FCKE)

Day 3

• A1 - Reverse lunges (barbell front squat or dumbbells)
• A2 - Overhead press (barbell, dumbbells or landmine press(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1G28qN9FCKE))
• A3 - Pull-ups (regular, close grip or rings)

Split cycle

The weeks are split into two phases to ensure that you use progressively heavier weights over the course of the four weeks.

Week 1-2

	Exercise	Sets
A1	Squats	5, 4, 3	5, 10, 20
A2	Incline bench press	5, 4, 3	5, 10, 20
A3	Pull-ups	5, 4, 3	5, 10, 20

Remember that you perform 5 sets of 5 repetitions of squats, then 5 sets of 5 repetitions of incline bench presses and then 5 sets of 5 repetitions of pull-ups. Then repeat the sequence with the last repetition pattern (4 x 10) and finally with the last repetition pattern (3 x 20).

Week 3-4

	Exercise	Sets
A1	Squats	6, 4, 3	3, 8, 15
A2	Incline bench press	6, 4, 3	3, 8, 15
A3	Pull-ups	6, 4, 3	3, 8, 15

Now we will change the set and repetition ranges. First, perform 6 sets of 3 repetitions for exercises A1, A2 and A3. This is followed by 4 sets of 8 repetitions for each exercise. Complete the training session with 3 sets of 15 repetitions for each exercise.

How long can you use this program?

The four-week cycle can be performed twice for a total duration of 8 weeks.

Unload for one week after the first four week cycle. Also, choose other exercises for the second four-week cycle, such as front squats instead of classic squats. After 8 weeks, it is advisable to switch to a more traditional approach for at least 6 to 8 weeks before doing another round of this plan.

By Kyle Arsenault | 09/18/15

Source: https://www.t-nation.com/workouts/how-to-trigger-size-gains-every-workout