abbreviated training

[SteamroD]

looking to start abbreviated training split when I come back from holiday.

train 2x a week. 

thinking like

sunday.

squat 1X20

incline BB 3X8

triecp dip 3X8

calves+abs

thursday

Deadlift 3X10

weighted chin 3X8

DB curl 3X10

calves+abs

I have the brawn book I am following going to give this a shot in the new year see if I can free up some time and still make gains. 

 

[Gator]

I've always been a fan of abbreviated training...trims a lot of the unessessary stuff out.  If you have 5 exercises to get through all for 4 or 5 sets each, then I've always questioned how much effort you can physically and mentally put into that.

I don't like ultra low volume or ultra abbreviated training as I'm someone who enjoys training and I think you still need to be doing a certain amount of total work, but I definitely think that a lot of people would probably make better progress by putting more effort into less and focusing on progressive overload, which is the basis behind this type of training.

 

[SteamroD]

I've ran abbreviated training before and always make really good strength gains. I am hoping this year to really make leaps and bounds in my pressing and with it increase the overall mass on my upper body.

if I can return my working sets of squats and deadlift back up to 4 plates I will be most pleased. 

my training presently is body part per day 5 days a week lots of pre exhausting and ultra low rest times 2 warm up and 1 all out work set. The transition to abbreviated training will be good I feel as I remember I was always well enough rested for each training session and very motivatred.

My only worry is the weight gain which I am sure to encounter I am coming out of the back of a show so the diet I will be running will be TKD so keto except 2-300g of carbs around training 2 times a week.

 

[SteamroD]

split will be as follows

Day 1

Squat  1X20

Inc BB Press

DB Curl

Tricep Dip

abs and calves

Day 2

stiff leg deadlift possibly 1X20

Chin 3X5

Seated OHP

OH Tri Extension

abs and calves

going to run for 12 weeks

1st period 3 sets 15 reps

2nd period 3 sets 12 reps

3rd period 2 sets 8 reps

each period is 4 weeks each week will get progressively harder  weeks 1 and 2 will be consolidation, 3rd week will be 90-95% effort and the last week will be beyond failure training and PBs

weights will increase every session through microloading.

then it will be into a new period were it will get easier again.

Ive never bother being this anal with my training. so here goes

 

[Rentaghost]

How did the show go mate? Enjoy yourself?

 

[Arterial Dan]

abbreviated routine has worked for me, abbreviated split not so much.

 i.e. keeping it to 4/5 days per week, but eliminate all the 'extras', and basically having 2 warm up, 1 work set for compound & 1 warm up, 1 work set for isolation stuff

If you are lucky and are always on point for the 2 days, that can work too, but maybe keep the other protocol in the back of your head if it's not working out.

 

[SteamroD]

How did the show go mate? Enjoy yourself?

yea sound mate in my journal pics and shit

http://www.ugm.org.uk/topic/24696-make-me-wee/?page=4 

abbreviated routine has worked for me, abbreviated split not so much.

 i.e. keeping it to 4/5 days per week, but eliminate all the 'extras', and basically having 2 warm up, 1 work set for compound & 1 warm up, 1 work set for isolation stuff

If you are lucky and are always on point for the 2 days, that can work too, but maybe keep the other protocol in the back of your head if it's not working out.

ok sound.

how did you go about the weights did you always go all out on the work sets?

From the brawn books he seems to really make a big deal about having periods of varying intensity to keep progress going.

for for example my 15 rep incline bench is perhaps 80kg. but this week I will start at 72.5kg so that at the end of the 4 week period (if I add 2.5kg each time) I will have added  2.5 kg to my 15 rep max. 

 

[Arterial Dan]

yea sound mate in my journal pics and shit

http://www.ugm.org.uk/topic/24696-make-me-wee/?page=4 

ok sound.

how did you go about the weights did you always go all out on the work sets?

From the brawn books he seems to really make a big deal about having periods of varying intensity to keep progress going.

for for example my 15 rep incline bench is perhaps 80kg. but this week I will start at 72.5kg so that at the end of the 4 week period (if I add 2.5kg each time) I will have added  2.5 kg to my 15 rep max. 

[SIZE= 13px]I'm not saying this is the way to go, but it might give you some idea of constructing a routine suited to you personally.[/SIZE]

[SIZE= 13px] I was frustrated with getting injured when lifting heavy, so I[/SIZE][SIZE= 13px] made my own system based on a lot of stuff picked up over the years. There are other ways to get stronger or bigger, at a faster rate, but I was just trying to have a reasonable combination of both without getting injured, plus I needed a routine that didn't swallow up so much time, since i have less of it these days and wouldn't want to spend half as much of it as I used to in the gym![/SIZE]

Training 2 days isn't ideal because A) it doesn't rev metabolism enough for most people, B) You can be sick or tired or busy and 50% of your training wasted per week, C) You can start to dread these big ass sessions, D) You just can't handle the same intensity on your second exercise as your can on your first, so forget about doing 5 compounds in 1 day!

[SIZE= 13px]The routine is basically HIT, but the fundamental flaw in HIT routines is that you go all out in the working set, in reality you only actually need to do 1 rep more than last week to make consistent progress. The solution to this problem is to have concrete upper and lower thresholds in your rep scheme.[/SIZE]

Rep Scheme:

[SIZE= 13px]Isolation[/SIZE]

[SIZE= 13px]Warm up 1 - 10 reps of 50% of your working set[/SIZE]

[SIZE= 13px]Working set - 6-10 reps of your working set [/SIZE]

[SIZE= 13px]Compound[/SIZE]

[SIZE= 13px]Warm up 1 - 10 reps of 33% of your working set (these numbers are ranges, not precise, e.g. you could go with 30% or 40%)[/SIZE]

[SIZE= 13px]Warm up 2 - 10 reps of 66% of your working set[/SIZE]

[SIZE= 13px]Working set - 6 to 10 reps of your working set [/SIZE]

[SIZE= 13px]Thresholds[/SIZE]

• [SIZE= 13px]Always aim for 10 reps on a working set[/SIZE]
• [SIZE= 13px]If you can't do 6 reps minimum of your working set weight on any week, then the following week you have to drop down by 10kg on a compound ex or 5kg on an isolation ex (in your case, better to go with 5kg on a compound and 2.5kg on an isolation)[/SIZE]
• If you can do 12 reps of your working set, then the following week you should increase the weight.
• Never do more than 12 reps of your working weight, even if you can. Stop at 12 reps and next week increase the weight. You will make faster progress doing this and reduce chances of injury.

Written out a sample of what this looks like in practise

Obviously you need to be writing down your workout every session, or this system is going to utterly fail.

[SIZE= 13px]e.g. Week 5 - you only manage 5/10 reps of 150k, [/SIZE]

[SIZE= 13px]so your working set weight on Week 6 drops to 140k, but you get 12/10 reps of 140k, [/SIZE]

[SIZE= 13px]so on Week 7 you go back up to 150k and now you get 6/10 reps [/SIZE]

[SIZE= 13px]so your working set weight on week 8 stays 150k and you get 7/10 reps, [/SIZE]

[SIZE= 13px]week 9 you get 8/10 reps of 150k , [/SIZE]

[SIZE= 13px]week 10 you get 10/10 reps of 150k, [/SIZE]

[SIZE= 13px]week 14 you get 12/10 reps of 150k, [/SIZE]

[SIZE= 13px]so week 15 you increase to 160k and get 6/10 reps, [/SIZE]

[SIZE= 13px]so week 16 you working set weight stays at 160k but you only get 5/10 reps[/SIZE]

[SIZE= 13px]so week 17 you drop back to 150k but you get 12/10 reps,[/SIZE]

so week 18 you increase back to 160k and you get 6/10 reps etc. etc.

[SIZE= 13px]Split [/SIZE]

[SIZE= 13px]Mon - Chest, Tues - Back, Wed - Legs, Thurs - Sho, Fri - Arms[/SIZE]

[SIZE= 13px]Or[/SIZE]

[SIZE= 13px]Mon - Chest, Tues - Back, Wed - Off, Thurs - Sho, Fri - Arms, Sat - Legs[/SIZE]

Don't do cardio after weights, don't do extra sets - no matter how tempting. You actually go backwards (or I do at least, verified from my logs)

Session should take about 35-45mins. If you there longer than that, you're probably overtraining.

Sample workout

Mon - Chest

Flat Bench

Warm Up 1 - 10 reps of 33kg

Warm Up 2 - 10 reps of 66kg

Working Set - 7 reps of 100k

Incline Bench

Warm Up 1 - 10 reps of 40k

Working set - 9 reps of 80k

Incline Flyes

Warm up 1 - 10 reps of 20k

Working Set - 8 reps of 40k

DB Pullover

Warm up 1 - 10 reps of 30k

Working set - 11 reps of 50k 

Seems like fuck all, but I put 50kg back on my bench in a few short months doing that. Pretty much the opposite of the way I had always trained, so it was a leap of faith. But it paid off.

Not saying any of this is right for you, but might give you some ideas 

 

[SteamroD]

ok cool Dan that is some good info!

cheers for taking the time it has gave me something to think about.

however the main reason for me going abbreviated is due to other commitments training 2x a week is very appealing I will do cardio 2 mornings a week to try and stop me getting to soft.

I trained last night first session since my show  feel it today for sure. split was

squat 50x10, 80x20

incline press 40x15 45x15 45x15

db curl 10kg 2X15

tri dip bw 2X15

standing calve raise superset with 30 sec plank 3 sets.

I'm just breaking in easy I am still somewhat fatigued and also coming off all the stims from the comp. Im looking forward to some monster calve workouts again get the size on them again this year. 

incline press was just ok I like using the light weight and more reps it gives me more time to try and isolate my chest during the exercise. takes a few reps to find my groove but when I get there its good contraction just on the chest. 

 

[Arterial Dan]

ok cool Dan that is some good info!

cheers for taking the time it has gave me something to think about.

however the main reason for me going abbreviated is due to other commitments training 2x a week is very appealing I will do cardio 2 mornings a week to try and stop me getting to soft.

I trained last night first session since my show  feel it today for sure. split was

squat 50x10, 80x20

incline press 40x15 45x15 45x15

db curl 10kg 2X15

tri dip bw 2X15

standing calve raise superset with 30 sec plank 3 sets.

I'm just breaking in easy I am still somewhat fatigued and also coming off all the stims from the comp. Im looking forward to some monster calve workouts again get the size on them again this year. 

incline press was just ok I like using the light weight and more reps it gives me more time to try and isolate my chest during the exercise. takes a few reps to find my groove but when I get there its good contraction just on the chest. 

I would say try whatever you feel like and then reasses tbh. Plenty of ways to approach it, everything works some of the time, nothing works all the time!

 

[SteamroD]

I would say try whatever you feel like and then reasses tbh. Plenty of ways to approach it, everything works some of the time, nothing works all the time!

yea for sure I am writing everything down again so it should be easy to judge how things are going. I will update this thread when it needs it!

cheers!!