The mass training program for men implies, firstly, the presence of a certain foundation that was laid earlier, and secondly, a certain experience that a person gained by laying it. Thus, an athlete burdened with training experience has the opportunity, as well as the need, to engage in a more advanced training program, which we will consider today.
This article is a logical continuation of the difficult path of a beginner in the gym. In it, we talked about which training program to start with and what to strive for. Well, now, as promised, we move on to split workouts. And by tradition, we will explain what this means. And this means that it will be possible to train not the whole body for a workout, but specific muscle groups. This will allow you to give them a varied load and increase the stimulation of different muscle fibers within the same group.
What is considered the basis for building a training program according to the split scheme? Split, translated from English means "separation". This is how we will do it. We will build mass gain for men based on the fact that we train six muscle groups (let me remind you: legs, back, chest, deltas, arms, abs), and training takes place three times a week, we will divide them in this way: we will train two muscle groups in day. Exercises on the abdominal muscles, as before, will be present all the time.
The duration of the second stage will be 6 months. We will change the program every month, we will give priority to basic exercises with the inclusion of additional ones for this muscle group. We will work mainly in the range of 10 repetitions. Training time - up to 1.5 hours, rest between moderate sets - a minute / one and a half, rest between heavy sets - 2 minutes, or until full recovery, as discussed in previous articles. We still continue to do hyperextensions at the beginning of each workout, and do ab exercises at the end of the workout. Also, deadlift appears in our program. But before we start, let's go back to three old questions.
First- Is the training program given here aimed at gaining muscle mass or total body mass? The program below is a training program for gaining muscle mass for a man. We have in our arsenal the skills of the technique of performing exercises built during the first stage and the laid foundations for the formation of a neuromuscular connection. This is already a great help in the process of building muscles.
Second- can less experienced and more experienced athletes train according to the split scheme? It is highly recommended for a beginner to train according to the “fullbody” principle, if you start training with a split scheme from scratch, then only under the guidance of a personal trainer. More experienced athletes not only can, but often use the split scheme as a fundamental principle of building training programs.
So. Stage two. Duration: 6 months. Purpose: building muscle. Change of training cycle: every 4 weeks.
Men's Muscle Gain Program: 1st Cycle
We will build training in the first month in this way. Day one: chest/shoulders. Second day: biceps / triceps. Third day: legs / back.
Comments. 1st day: hyperextensions will be written separately below. Bench press - on a horizontal bench, dumbbell press and breeding as well. Seated dumbbell press, chin row and reverse dilutions according to the technique. 2nd day: straight barbell lift, dumbbell lift and standing hammers, according to technique. Push-ups will also be discussed separately. French bench press and extension from behind the head according to the technique. 3rd day: barbell squats, leg extensions and lunges according to technique. About pull-ups also at the end, the barbell row in the slope - with a direct grip, the dumbbell pull to the belt according to the technique.
Men's Muscle Gain Program: Cycle 2
We will build the second month of training in this way. Day one: back/triceps. Second day: legs/shoulders. Third day: chest / biceps.
Comments. 1st day: barbell row in the slope - reverse grip. The deadlift will be discussed below. The thrust of the horizontal block according to the technique. Close grip press, dumbbell french press and arm extension according to technique. 2nd day: squats - with a barbell on the chest. Romanian deadlift and calf raises according to technique. Standing barbell press is performed from the chest. Breeding dumbbells in an incline and shrugs with dumbbells - according to the technique. 3rd day: bench press lying - on a bench with an upward slope. Chest press in the simulator and butterfly according to the technique. Lifting the barbell in the Scott bench is performed with the EZ bar, lifting the dumbbells in the Scott bench and concentrated lifting - according to the technique.
Men's Muscle Gain Program: Cycle 3
The third month we will train as follows. Day one: legs/biceps. Second day: chest / back. Third day: shoulders/triceps.
Comments. 1st day: we perform standard squats. Leg press and leg curl according to technique. Lifting the barbell - with a straight neck, hammers according to the technique - sitting, lifting in the block also according to the technique. 2nd day: barbell bench press - on a horizontal bench, dumbbell bench press as well, information in a crossover - from the upper blocks. Pull-ups and deadlifts are performed according to the technique, the T-bar row in the station with emphasis on the chest. 3rd day: Arnold press, standing dumbbell raises and shrugs with dumbbells are performed according to the technique. Push-ups on the uneven bars according to the technique, sitting French press - with a barbell, extension of the arms in an inclination - simultaneously with both hands.
Men's Muscle Gain Program: Cycle 4
For the fourth month, we will compose the training in this way. Day 1: chest/triceps. Second day: back/shoulders. Third day: legs / biceps.
Comments. 1st day: barbell bench press is performed on a bench with a downward slope, dumbbell bench press as well. Butterfly in the simulator - according to the technique. Reverse push-ups from the bench - with weights, extension from behind the head and in an inclination according to the technique. 2nd day: Bent-over barbell row - with a direct grip, deadlift - according to the technique, vertical thrust - to the chest. Bench press while sitting we perform behind the head. Breeding in the slope and thrust of the bar to the chin - according to the technique. 3rd day: squats - with a barbell on the chest. Romanian deadlift and leg extension - by technique. Biceps curls in the Scott bench - EZ-bar. Lifting dumbbells for biceps and hammers - according to the technique.
Men's Muscle Gain Program: Cycle 5
Let's designate the fifth month as such a training split. Day one: back/biceps. Second day: legs/triceps. Third day: chest/shoulders.
Comments. 1st day: pull-ups, deadlifts and horizontal block pulls are performed according to technique. Lifting the barbell for biceps - straight neck. Concentrated biceps curl and biceps curl in the block - according to the technique. 2nd day: squats are standard. Hack squats and calf raises while standing - according to the technique. Bench press with narrow grip and French bench press - according to the technique. Reverse push-ups - with additional weights. 3rd day: bench press is performed on a horizontal bench, breeding dumbbells as well. Information in the crossover is from the lower blocks according to the technique. Seated dumbbell bench press, sitting dumbbell raises and reverse breedings - according to the technique.
Men's Muscle Gain Program: Cycle 6
For the sixth month we will train in such a split. First day: chest/legs. Second day: back/shoulders. Third day: triceps / biceps.
Comments. 1st day: bench press is performed on a bench with an upward slope. Chest press in the simulator and butterfly information - according to the technique. Squats - with a barbell on the chest. Leg press and barbell lunges according to technique. 2nd day: T-bar thrust in the simulator with an emphasis on the chest. Deadlift and dumbbell pull to the belt - according to the technique. Bench press standing - from the chest. Breeding in the slope - according to the technique. Shrugs are performed with a barbell behind the back. 3rd day: push-ups on the uneven bars and a sitting dumbbell french press - according to the technique. Extension of the arms in the block - with a rope. Lifting the barbell in the Scott bench - with a straight neck. Lifting the bar with a direct grip and hammers - according to the technique.
Notes
Hyperextensions. Earlier, for two months of the first stage, we performed this exercise without weights. The muscles of the lower back have already become accustomed to such a load and, most likely, they practically do not react to it. This suggests that it is time to use additional weight in the exercise. The most convenient for this purpose is a disc for the barbell, which must be thrown over the head and held on the shoulder blades.
Bars. Everything is purely individual here, but if you can do push-ups on the uneven bars more than 10 times, it makes no sense to do it 15, 20, or more times, since you will train endurance, and mass gain for men involves slightly different manipulations. What to do? Take a belt, a chain, and do push-ups with weights, but as before - no more than 8-10 times. Where to begin? Hang a 2.5 kg disc on your belt. Still doing more than 10 times? Hang 5 kg. Pick up the weight for 8-10 reps.
Pull-ups. The same story as with push-ups on the uneven bars. If you can pull up more than 10 times, hang weights on your belt. Start the same way, for example with 2.5 kg. Adapt the weight according to the same principle - select the weight for a given number of repetitions. In this case, it is necessary to choose the weight so that at the 8th, 9th repetition you already feel fatigue and tension, and the final repetition goes through strength.
Deadlift. As you noticed, it is absent in the first cycle, since we shake our back on the same day with our legs and it is undesirable to perform two heavy basic exercises on the same day. Moreover, during the first cycle, on hyperextensions, you will sufficiently work out the lumbar muscles that are involved in the deadlift, without which, in turn, the training program for gaining muscle mass for a man would be incomplete.
Afterword
As for the number of approaches: while the weights are small, you can perform one warm-up approach before working weight. A working weight is a weight with which you can perform a given number of repetitions. For example, if in the bench press you have to perform 3 sets of 8 repetitions according to the program, and for this number of repetitions you can squeeze out, say, 40 kg, then it will be enough to complete one warm-up approach with a weight of 20 kg, and then three workers with a weight of 40 kg. Warm-up sets do not count. When you reach a weight of, say, 80 kg, you can perform two warm-up approaches, the first with a weight of 40 kg, the second with a weight of 60 kg, and then proceed to working approaches. The warm-up rule applies to all exercises. We have already said that the warm-up is necessary.
Globally, the approach to the training process described in this article is called the linear progression method. The weight training program for men, in the context of this method, provides for the following basic conditions. The first is the constant increase in working weights (we have already talked about this). And the second, which follows from the first, is that every week is hard, that is, every next week you try to take more weight than the previous one. This is the principle of linear progression.
MYTH. There is an opinion that some exercises can be put in a split, some cannot. The very concept of weight training debunks this myth. The essence of the training is to create the maximum traumatic effect for the muscles, which will give them an incentive to heal and grow. It is the quality of the workout that matters, not the split itself. For this reason, the definition of "correct split" or "incorrect split" is inherently completely untenable.
EXPERIENCE. You can often hear the question - why do several exercises for one muscle group? The answer is extremely simple. Each muscle group needs to be worked out comprehensively, to give a load to each of its sections (external, internal, lower, upper, peak part), then you will get the result. Whatever muscle group you work on, a prerequisite is the implementation of basic exercises, as well as a variety of loads due to various exercises on the target muscle group.
ADVICE. Most beginners who just come to the gym either copy the training programs of famous athletes, or start training according to the same programs as their more experienced friends. Both cases, for obvious reasons, exclude the period of laying the foundation. Such a course of events is a significant omission, like trying to build a house not on a solid foundation, but on soft ground, which in the future will either lead to injuries, or stagnation in training, or a lack of desire and refusal to train. Don't neglect
Exercises
You can find a full illustrated description of the exercises given in this program, the technique for their implementation and tips by clicking on the links to the articles with the corresponding title:
Conclusion
At this point, the six-month mass gain phase for men ends. During this phase, we worked hard on each muscle group and strengthened the foundation laid during the first phase. Performing the second is just as important because in these half a year you have tried all the exercises for each muscle group. Of course, we did them not thoughtlessly, but listened to our body and determined which of them it responds best to. In the future, this will help us adjust the training program so that it consists for the most part of exactly those exercises that give your muscles (in your individual case) the best stimulus for growth. If you have reached this point and you are not tired of the gym yet, and the results in measurements and in the mirror motivate you to further exercise, then you are ready to move on to the next level, where the muscle gain program for men will be presented in a completely new, more complex and varied form.