Mass Builder Routine

[wil]

I came across this routine a while back. I found it in my saved documents and after reading it I decided to give it a shot.

I was wondering what you all think about this plan...

A No-Nonsense Muscle Mass Building Routine
By Junaid Gamieldien Ph.D.


When I first started weight training in 1988, it took me about 2 years to finally have some idea of what works in a muscle mass building routine and what doesn't. While I don't consider myself a bodybuilder, I have been training with weights for over 20 years. I can say that I really know mass building now.

At my peak, I was a fairly lean 125kg/275 pounds at only 1.8m/5ft11in tall. Completely drug free...

Right at the start, I was one of those highly-disciplined and motivated people that have what it takes to gain quality muscle mass, but at some point fell into the trap of following the 'pro' routines they see in the bodybuilding rags. I didn't realize that the superstar bodybuilder in most cases didn't even write the article at all! And if they did (and actually trains that way), then it will not work for people like us with 'normal' genetics. Let's not forget the tens of thousands of dollars worth of steroids that Mr. and Ms. Genetic Freak take every year to be able to endure those ridiculous workouts.

This article will give you an excellent muscle mass building routine that I give to anyone that wants to build quality mass without overtraining and spending hours in the gym (which you shouldn't do anyway).

OK, Let's get real...

If you're following a routine you got out of a bodybuilding mag, then there is a 99% chance that it's crap! Unfortunately, most people don't want to follow the more time tested workouts for building muscle. Probably since they don't seem as 'sexy' or 'hardcore'?

Well, let me give you a simple workout for building muscle that should take you no more than 30 minutes to complete - including warmups! If you've been on a routine that's been leaving your muscles over-depleted yet understimulated, then this routine is the most simple cure. If you're a beginner, then this routine will build an excellent foundation of mass and strength that 99% of trainees will never reach because they believe the hype in the magazines.

In a nutshell:

* Train only 3 non-consecutive days a week
* Do at most 2 exercises per day. Don't worry, they'll be the absolute best of the best.
* Don't fret about doing exercises that focus on the small 'show' muscles like biceps, triceps, forearms. You'll be growing those bigger and faster than the 'biceps and chest' gang you see in every gym.
* Don't train for longer than 30-40 minutes per day. If you need more than that, then you're resting too long between your sets

Do this simple warmup:

* 5 minutes at a very brisk pace on some cardio equipment, or if you can skip easily, then that's good too
* some basic stretches
* 1-2 very light sets of the actual exercise you're going to focus on

Let's look at a day by day breakdown:

Day 1

* Power clean and push press (check Crossfit.com's website for free 'how-to' videos)
* Do 20 sets of 2 reps each
* Choose a weight that you can do 5 reps with
* Keep your rest between sets fairly short in the beginning, and then rest a bit more as you get closer to set 20

That's it for day 1! Trust me, you don't need to go train biceps afterward, or to 'work on the inner head of your triceps'. This will get you big all over!

Day 2

* Barbell squat - 20 sets of 2 reps
* Again choose a weight that you can do 5 reps with
* Make the rest between sets short in the beginning, and rest slightly longer and longer as you get closer to the last sets

That's it! Nothing else for day 2. You've just done the king of all muscle building exercises. An exercise that most people unfortunately avoid.

Day 3

* Parallel Bar Dips (strap on some weight if you have to) OR Barbell/Dumbell Bench Presses - 5 sets of 5 reps
* Deadlift - 1 heavy set of 5-6 reps, and then 1 lighter set of 15-20 reps

That's all there is to this workout. It's simple, but not easy (if you push yourself as you should). No forced reps, negatives and any other 'advanced' nonsense!

Use this routine for 4 weeks and then take a few days completely off before coming back to this excellent workout for building muscle. (Don't worry, you'll even keep growing on your break).

Just remember to eat well and you'll grow a lot of new muscle very fast! Remember, training hard is only one part of the muscle building puzzle.

What you need is a complete muscle mass building system. Unfortunately, most muscle mass building courses are not very good.

I've reviewed eleven and only THREE made the cut. Go to my webpage to see my independent review of the 3 best muscle mass building routines. Each of the TOP-3 go into great detail on muscle building workout plans, mass building nutrition, and smart supplementation.

Choose the ONE that suits the LOOK you want in the end and IGNORE all other programs for at least 6 months. You'll build a lot of quality muscle mass very quickly if you just stick to one good plan.

Article Source: A No-Nonsense Muscle Mass Building Routine .

So Monday I did some Power Cleans to get an idea of what I could do for 5 reps...

95x5, 115x5, 135x5, 155x5, 175x5

The last set was a challenge so I figure I'll start with 165 for the 20 sets of 2 reps.


Tonight I did Squats. I know I can do 325-350 for 5 reps, but I wanted to start a little lower to see how the 20 set thing felt.

So... I did 20 sets of 2 with 295 lbs. The first 10 sets went pretty fast and easy. The next 5 or so were harder and the final sets had me huffing and puffing and when it was all said and done, I felt like this was a very good workout. And it only took me 30 minutes including warmups.


Anyway, I'll give this a shot for the next 4-6 weeks and also up my cardio (which I have wanted to do for a while now but kept using the excuse that I didn't have time).

[tooncesthecat]

Sounds very interesting, Wil. I will be curious to know how you like and respond to this workout. IDK if I can give it a go because I have trouble with lower rep/high weight training any more (knees and elbows).

[tidalwave]

I'm intrigued. It seems to be built on solid principles, so it looks like I might have to give it a try. I've never worked with such a low rep / high set scheme before, but it sounds worthwhile, especially in these strength movements. I'll be very interested in hearing your opinion a few weeks into this.

On the power clean and push press, did you find that one of the two movements was a limiting factor? E.g. you could power clean 175, but could only push press 155, so the 20 sets were performed at 155.

[wildstang]

ive mentioned in previous posts i alternate between your typical split routine then switching things up to power lifting/endurance training routine tweeked 4 my usage and it does work. ive been able to maintane 260 plus off the juice fairly easy.

[wil]

Originally Posted by tidalwave

I'm intrigued. It seems to be built on solid principles, so it looks like I might have to give it a try. I've never worked with such a low rep / high set scheme before, but it sounds worthwhile, especially in these strength movements. I'll be very interested in hearing your opinion a few weeks into this.

On the power clean and push press, did you find that one of the two movements was a limiting factor? E.g. you could power clean 175, but could only push press 155, so the 20 sets were performed at 155.

Well... unfortunately, the low ceiling in my basement prevents me from doing the push press. So I will do the power cleans and then do seated overhead presses separately. I think I will superset them actually.

[msid17]

well it seems quit okay to me..

[Hans_Rachid]

A fairly lean 275 lbs, 5'11" build completely drug free?

When it looks too good to be true, it usually is...

[orientalkid]

sound like a beginer routine or a routine old timers can go back to once in a while. Defintely easy and straihgt forward with just one main excerise per workout with appropriate intensity (doing ur 5 rep max for 40 reps isnt easy).

[wildstang]

Originally Posted by Hans_Rachid

A fairly lean 275 lbs, 5'11" build completely drug free?

When it looks too good to be true, it usually is...

either has some damn good genetics or wont admit to doing juice like 90% of users!

[Hans_Rachid]

Originally Posted by wildstang

either has some damn good genetics or wont admit to doing juice like 90% of users!

Yeah, but he says in his article, referring to the bodybuilding workouts in the muscle magazines : "it will not work for people like us with 'normal' genetics.", so I guess we can rule out option 1

A third option is that he never weighed 275, or that his definition of "fairly lean" is rather generous.

Either way, his claims are dubious.

[Option1]

Originally Posted by Hans_Rachid

Yeah, but he says in his article, referring to the bodybuilding workouts in the muscle magazines : "it will not work for people like us with 'normal' genetics.", so I guess we can rule out option 1
...

Awww, crap. Whaddid I do?

Neil

[tooncesthecat]

Originally Posted by Hans_Rachid

A third option is that he never weighed 275, or that his definition of "fairly lean" is rather generous.

No way is a nattie 275 and LEAN at 5'11"...just sayin'

[mukey]

Damn, I'm 5'11" and 160 at the moment, I couldn't imagine putting on 100lbs of muscle.

[wildstang]

im 6'3" and it took enhancements to break past 260! @ im at 269, otherwise i'd probably be stuck at 245!
regardless switching back 2 powerlifting ecspecialy after a AAS cycle has always helped me maintane my gains.

[page19]

Looks like a really solid routine to me... I might try it out

why does he have to make me choose between dips and bench press.. dips are a favorite of mine but I have a feeling the bench may be more beneficial. What're you doing wil?

[wil]

Originally Posted by page19

Looks like a really solid routine to me... I might try it out

why does he have to make me choose between dips and bench press.. dips are a favorite of mine but I have a feeling the bench may be more beneficial. What're you doing wil?

There's nothing stopping you from doing both presses and dips. I decided to do Incline Barbell Bench Presses.

The thing I like about this routine is that it is simple and fast. Remember... SIMPLE does not mean EASY. Today is Sunday and I am still feeling the squats I did on Thursday night. In fact, my legs and hips were still feeling it yesterday and I think I may have subconsciously over-compensated by using my back more during the deadlifts yesterday. I felt a little pull on my second rep at 415. But it doesn't bother me today so no damage done. My right hip still hurts though (but I have felt this before so it's not something I am worried about).

The reason I like the fast part of it is because... well... if you've seen many of my posts you probably know that I describe my self as a kind of big and slightly chubby guy. My wife always tells me I am exagerating, but I think she is legally bound to say that plus she doesn't spend any time on this board and/or researching fitness to know what someone who is truly in shape looks like. I am 6'0" and hover right around 255-260 lbs (all natural ). My diet habits would most likely be scorned by most of you, but I loooooove to eat. I would also say that I am lazy when it comes to cardio so I wanted to start making it a priority to include it every workout. I know I'll probably never be ripped, but any additional calorie burning will have to help a little, right? . So with the weights done in 30 minutes of solid big compound movements, I have plenty of time to add in 30-40 minutes of some combination of the stationary bike, heavy bag, and abs.

Anyway, that's my story and I'm sticking to it.

[page19]

Hey it's all good man, there's a lot of us that aren't ripped body builders and never will be. I know that if I ever weigh over 200lbs, it'll probably because I let myself go, not because I've been working hard at the gym!

I think I'm gonna dive into this next week.. for now I'm just gonna rest because i have my official fitness assessment on monday, and the last thing I need to to be sore going into that

[page19]

Well, as promised I went for it today. Got my AF fitness test outta the way this morning (got a 92 for those familiar with it )

dove into the power clean / push press.. took my time warming up because I'm really not familiar with the exercise.. I've done push press a couple of times, but never starting from the ground.. cleans haven't been a part of my routine in the past so I hope I was doing them right.. didn't feel any unusual pains at least

looking forward to squats on thursday.. time for some dinner

I went pretty light.. but I'm still sweating even though I've been home for 15 minutes.. Great workout, in the coming weeks I'll get a better idea on what weight I should be at and how long to keep my rests at

[wil]

Originally Posted by page19

Well, as promised I went for it today. Got my AF fitness test outta the way this morning (got a 92 for those familiar with it )

dove into the power clean / push press.. took my time warming up because I'm really not familiar with the exercise.. I've done push press a couple of times, but never starting from the ground.. cleans haven't been a part of my routine in the past so I hope I was doing them right.. didn't feel any unusual pains at least

looking forward to squats on thursday.. time for some dinner

I went pretty light.. but I'm still sweating even though I've been home for 15 minutes.. Great workout, in the coming weeks I'll get a better idea on what weight I should be at and how long to keep my rests at

Cool!

I did the Day 1 workout last night as well. Power cleans 20 sets of 2 reps with 175. They felt good. Next week I'll up it to 185. I have not done these very much at all in the past so I am making sure to get the form right by checking videos at bodybuilding.com and even some youtube. I did the 20x2 for overheads with 145. Next week I'll up it to 155.

It took me about 45 minutes to do the whole workout since I have to move from the cleans over to the seated overheads (dang-nabbit low basement ceiling).


I worked up a really good sweat and I am feeling it (in a good way) all over today. I think I am going to come back to this routine regularly.

[page19]

Originally Posted by wil

Cool!

I did the Day 1 workout last night as well. Power cleans 20 sets of 2 reps with 175. They felt good. Next week I'll up it to 185. I have not done these very much at all in the past so I am making sure to get the form right by checking videos at bodybuilding.com and even some youtube. I did the 20x2 for overheads with 145. Next week I'll up it to 155.

It took me about 45 minutes to do the whole workout since I have to move from the cleans over to the seated overheads (dang-nabbit low basement ceiling).


I worked up a really good sweat and I am feeling it (in a good way) all over today. I think I am going to come back to this routine regularly.

Oh, maybe I misinterpreted the workout--I was doing the clean and push press as a single movement, rather than 40 of each separately.. Or does it not matter, just up to personal preference? I guess it makes sense to do them separately since I'm sure I can clean more than I can press over my head
Needless to say I was going way light today.. I'm down under 150 lbs right now and this was my maiden voyage back into the weight room... I couldn't believe how much weight i've lost when I was weighed this morning