Ultimate strength training program

In fact, for beginners and intermediate lifters, 4 workout days per week is actually the most ideal for building muscle and strength. It allows you to keep the intensity of your workouts high and get adequate recovery in-between sessions, which is the perfect recipe for building muscle and strength. People who train too frequently end up getting burned out and they don't even realize it.

As just mentioned, there are numerous ways that you can run a 4-day split depending on your specific needs and goals. Performing full-body workouts 4 days a week can work, but it can be a little tricky. It will require even more attention to recovery and monitoring load used. This type of workout is more likely to benefit the person who is more interested in maintaining overall fitness levels rather than pushing it hard during the session. Some of the benefits are:. While being 5-days, the best example of a program which follows this idea is Dr.

This is actually great program for those who want to train for both strength and hypertrophy. A program like this has you training specifically for strength on two days and then running a routine more similar to bodybuilding for the other two days. Some of the benefits include:. It divides movements into three days:.

The first thing to note is that a PPL split cycles through 3 workout sessions. To work this into a 4-day workout program, you simply just cycle through the sessions. This will result in your sessions changing order every week. Some may still prefer to us a bodybuilding split and hit every muscle hard once a week. To do this, bodybuilders will usually train maybe 5 days or even 6 days a week.

The easiest way to do this would be as follow:. The benefits of training like this are mainly geared towards the bodybuilder. Using a split like this allows to you to cause maximal damage to a muscle in the belief that it will grow more. It just so happens that the optimal frequency of training a specific muscle group seems to be twice a week. Studies show training a muscle twice a week was sufficiently better than training once a week, with questionable benefits coming from training three times a week.

Basically, training twice a week is definitely better than once, but may or may not be better than training three times a week. There is no guessing of what you need to do. For example, you may only work your quads on a lower day or your back on an upper day. So to be clear, when running this program, you want to train every muscle of the lower body during that session and every muscle of the upper body for that particular session.

One common question that constantly plagues trainers and trainees is, is the deadlift an upper-body exercise of a lower-body exercise. That depends on who you ask i. Now for the critical part. One of the best ways to divide your exercises is into pushing movements and pulling movements of both the upper and lower body.

For example:. Lower Body Pushing: These movements are primarily going be your quad-dominant movements and calf exercises. Lower Body Pulling: These movements are going to target your glutes and hamstrings. Upper Body Pushing: These movements will train your chest, shoulders, and triceps. Exercises include the Bench Press, shoulder press, dips , and skull crushers. Upper Body Pulling: These movements will train your entire back, posterior deltoids the shoulder muscle on the back , and biceps.

These exercises include rows, chin-ups, and bicep curls. This is important to understand the difference between these movements as it will help you plan your days. Basically, what you will do is divide each day into your primary movements done with heavier loads and accessory movements performed with lighter loads.

These will be divided by using the categories above. Then the next training session, you will swap which movements are primary and which movements are accessory. This will look like this. This is especially true when performing squats and deadlifts on the same day.

Some advanced lifters will do this, but it can often be too much for your general trainees. This split will allow you to focus on only a couple main lifts for one movement group with a heavy load. Then, you can move onto the other group of muscles and perform your smaller accessory movements that focus more on volume rather than working with heavier loads.

This is going to be your basic layout for the session. While it looks like a lot, realize that after your main lifts, you will want to move pretty quickly through the rest of the movements. It may take minutes for the strength movements and just minutes for the remainder. Now, there are a few different ways that you can plan them during the week. Exercise 17 of 5. Exercise 18 of 5. Exercise 19 of 5. Exercise 20 of 5. Exercise 21 of 5. Exercise 22 of 5.

Exercise 23 of 5. Do 10 pushups in each of three positions: hand facing straight ahead, hands pointing inside at a degree angle, and hands facing out at a degree angle. Keep your body straight from ear to ankle. Exercise 24 of 5. Exercise 25 of 5. Stand on one leg, grasping a stable surface in front of you such as a dumbbell rack. After 10 reps on one side, repeat with the opposite arm and leg. Exercise 26 of 5. Exercise 27 of 5. Written by Pete Williams, C.

Also by Pete Williams, C. Thank you for signing up. Leaving the bottom arm in place, move the top arm along the floor up and over your head and to your left side. As you circle that arm, let your shoulder and chest move with it. Let your eyes and head follow your moving arm. Circle the arm back to start.

Do this for 30 seconds, the switch sides and repeat. Stand with feet shoulder-width apart holding a pair of medium-to-heavy dumbbells in your hands at shoulder height. Push your hips back and bend at the knees to do a squat. Let your butt go lower than your knees, or as low as you can. Keep your chest lifted and core tight. Push through your heels and squeeze your but to stand up and return to start.

Do 10 reps. Start in a high plank position with your hands flat on the floor about shoulder-width apart. Keeping your body in one long line, bend your arms and lower yourself as close to the floor as you can. Push back up to a plank. If this is too challenging, modify the push-up by dropping to your knees. Make sure to still keep your core tight and back straight as you move. Do 10 push-ups. Hold a pair of dumbbells at your sides, palms facing in. Bend your knees slightly and bring your torso forward toward the ground.

Keep your back flat. Keep your torso stationary as you lift the weights toward your waist. Keep your elbows close to your body throughout the movement. At the top, focus on squeezing your back muscles and hold briefly. Lower back to start. Stand with your feet about hip-width apart.

Step your left foot out behind you and lower down into a lunge. At the bottom of the lunge, you should have both knees bent so that your front thigh is parallel to the floor and the back knee is about two inches off the floor. Keep your core tight and chest up. Drive through your front heel to stand back up and return your legs to start. Do 20 reps, alternating sides. Stand with your feet together, holding a dumbbell in each hand by your sides.

Shift your weight to your right leg. Bend your right knee slightly. Raise your left leg straight behind your body, hinge at the hips to bring your torso parallel to the floor, and lower the weights toward the floor. Keeping your core tight, push through your right heel to stand up straight. As you do, keep your left leg straight and bring it back to start.

Slide the weights back to start. Pause at the top and squeeze your butt, then slowly lower the weights back to the floor. Then, do 10 on the other leg. Start on your hands and knees, with knees under your hips and hands wider than your shoulders.

Lift your knees so that they're hovering about 2 inches off the ground. Keep them directly under your hips. Take three shuffle steps to the right with your hands and feet, and then three steps back to the left. Maintain a flat back the entire time, and look down at the ground to keep your head in line with your spine.

Three steps in each direction six steps total is one set. Do five sets. Start in high plank, holding a set of dumbbells in your hands. Row your right arm back to pull the weight toward your chest, keeping your elbow close to your body.

Bring your right arm back to the starting position. Repeat the row with your left arm. Do 20 reps, alternating sides each time. Stand with feet hip-width apart, knees slightly bent and a dumbbell in each hand. Hinge at your hips, push your butt back, and bend your knees as you lower your body toward the floor. At the same time, slide the weights down along the outside of each leg, keeping your arms straight. With your core tight, push through your heels to stand up straight.

Keep the weights close to your legs as you stand up. Pause at the top and squeeze your butt. Stand with your feet hip-width apart. Step forward with your left foot into a lunge with both knees bent so that your front thigh is parallel to the floor and the back knee is about two inches from the floor.

As you step forward, raise your arms straight overhead. Keep your core engaged and chest up. Stand with feet wider than shoulder-width apart. Lower into a squat and reach your fingertips toward the ground, keeping your chest lifted.

Stand up straight and jump your feet together.