8 weeks of hypertrophy/volume work

[DieTrying]

Hey fellas-
I sat down for about 2 hrs today and figured out my next 8 weeks. I'm pumped b/c I've taken the 5 days off from the gym and I'll be trying out HMB (6 g ed) stacked with creatine monohydrate (10 g ed). Its been a LONG time since I've used any supps, and been ALONG time since I've concentrated on building LBM. Here is what I have planned out:

Tues- Chest/Delts/Calves
Wed- Legs/Abs
Thur- Biceps (they need help)
Saturday- Triceps/Calves
Sunday- Back/Abs/Biceps (#2)

Weeks with rotate 1,3,5,7, etc.

Tuesday #1
Dips 3x8
Incline barbell 4x8
Arnold Presses 4x10
Decline Flys 3x10
Seated calf raises 4x12
Tuesday #2
DB bench 4x10
Decline bench press 3x12
Arnold Presses 4x10
Lateral Raises 3x10 RP 15 seconds>15
Standing calf raises 4x12

Wed #1
Squats 4x12
Leg Press 4x10
Leg Exten. 3x12
DB lunges 4x12
Weighted crunches 4x12
Wed #2
Deadlift 3x7
Hack Squats 3x8
Leg Curls 4x10
Cable crunches 4x12

Thursday #1
DB curls 3x12
Standing EZ-bar curls 3x10
Spider-preacher Hammer curls 3x10
Cable curls 3x14
Thursday #2
Barbell curls 3x10
Concentration curls 3x8
Hammer curls 3x 8
Cable curls 3x12

Saturday #1
Cable tri pushdown 3x10
Skullz 3x10
Bench dips 3x15
Overhead DB press 3x8
Cable crunches 4x12

Saturday #2
Close-grip bench 3x8
Skullz 3x8
One-armed reverse cable PD 3x10
Bench dips (SLOW) 3x8
Weighted crunches 4x12

Sunday#1
Wide-grip Lat PD 4X12
Close-grip Lat PD 3X12
Cable close-grip rows 3x10
DB rows 3x12
Barbell shoulder shrugs 4x15
Seated calf raises 4x12


Sunday #2
Wide grip T-bar rows 3x8
Cable close-grip rows 3x8
Wide grip pull-ups 3x8
Close-grip pull-ups 4x10
Extra bicep work on Sunday #2
Barbell curls 3x10
Hammer DB curls 3x8
*Each exercise will be performed with a different eccentric/concentric speed. Rest periods will also be adjusted based on the muscle group/rep cadence (yes, I do use a stop-watch). I will not be going to failure on any set (2 reps short).

I'm GOING to get at least 8-9 hrs of sleep now that I have afternoon classes. Diet is well planned and will range from 3200 cals to 3900 based on the workout that day.

 

[exnihilo]

Man, that is a very high workload. I would start with a lower workload and work it up slowly over the course of 8 weeks, then drop the workload down a bit to deload then start loading again.

I also think you don't place enough focus on the basic core exercises, you are doing a lot of funky exercises, I think if I were you I'd progressively increase volume (slowly now) in a wave like pattern as indicated above, and start out with just the very most basic core exercises, and add in the weird **** little by little as a garnish to the hardcore exercises.

That kind of volume must be worked up to in order to be productive for any reasonable length of time. Since you are probably nowhere near your natural potential you might even make progress on a routine like this for a while, but I am pretty sure you would make faster progress working up to that sort of volume. Give it a try though bro, if your progress starts off pretty fast then really levels off after ~5-8 weeks I'd say take ~7-9 days off, cut the volume and work back up to it over the course of a year or so.

 

[DieTrying]

Thanx for the suggestions Ex...
Actually I sort of have worked my way up from this. The routine I've been doing was a bit similiar but not quite as much volume.

In the past I've spent a lot of time concentrating on bench, dead, and squat, doing PLing type WOs but I wasn't happy with the results. I guess I just like high volume, bodybuilding type workouts. I still don't know what works best for me :rofl: , but after this I'll have a better idea. I just figure this would be a good time to try this b/c the next 8 weeks should be pretty stress free with lots of sleep.

 

[ryansm]

It's familiar

I think it looks good for what you are wanting from it. Keep us updated on progress. After so long on cutting, and maintenance cals it will be nice I bet to finally add some more.

 

[ryansm]

and add in the weird **** little by little as a garnish to the hardcore exercises.

That had me going, lol.:rofl:

 

[exnihilo]

Thanx for the suggestions Ex...
Actually I sort of have worked my way up from this. The routine I've been doing was a bit similiar but not quite as much volume.

In the past I've spent a lot of time concentrating on bench, dead, and squat, doing PLing type WOs but I wasn't happy with the results. I guess I just like high volume, bodybuilding type workouts. I still don't know what works best for me :rofl: , but after this I'll have a better idea. I just figure this would be a good time to try this b/c the next 8 weeks should be pretty stress free with lots of sleep.

If you make fairly steady and continuous progress over the next 8+ weeks, that is a pretty good indicator that your body is capable of handling the volume of work you're doing. I would say, using this as a test run, if you are able to handle it, start incorporating progressive loading, add an extra set every two weeks to each workout, then after 8 weeks drop two sets a workout and start working back up. After a year that'll put you up 6 sets per workout, which will be a significant increase in your work capacity.

As for the whole weirdo exercises, by that I mean isolation exercises or compound exercises that are just weird (arnold presses, flyes, leg extensions and leg curls, and why bother with the leg presses?). I know you wanna jump the guns so to speak, but I think the volume of biceps work you're doing is probably going to be counter productive, since this is a test run for you keep track of all your measurement changes and see how things work for you there, though.

I know I pimp the PL workouts I do so not just because I really love powerlifting, but because I spun my wheels for over 4 years with a fairly traditional bodybuilding routine training each bodypart once a week with 12-15 total sets using the classical 4 eccentric 2 concentric tempo for 10-12 reps and had reached a plateau, at about 230/14% bodyfat with a max bench of like 290 and a max squat of maybe 365. Within 6 months of lowering my volume and doing core compound exercise only PL workouts I had put on about 20lbs of muscle and was up to 260. Now I'm just shy of 2 years in the PL game and I'm sitting at about 296 with about 17% bodyfat, and my strength over 50% higher in almost every lift, so for me the difference in results is night and day.

 

[DieTrying]

Ya this is test run, not only for the volume, but also the HMB.
The reason why I am trying the extra work for my biceps is b/c they are without a doubt my worst area. And at one point I tried decreasing the volume on biceps and concentrating on the big lifts. Whats weird about it is that my back/lats are my best, but the progression hasn't carried over to my biceps at all. :frustrate

I've tried the PLing-type WOs and I didn't really feel that I was making big size gains. I did get a bit stronger, but thats not really what I'm after.

Thanx for your help Ex, if this doesn't work I'm gonna take up ballet.