How do you get big and retain it?
This is a question I get asked a lot and my simple reply is remember the big three! These being the the Deadlift,Squat and Bench press. Yes I use other exercises to supplement my training but these three always take the biggest president in my program. My training split is built around these three, beginning my week with the Deadlift, followed by Bench on a Tuesday and Squats on a Wednesday. I put Bench in the middle of the two big lifts in order to take the shift away from my legs and lower back ensuring after heavy deadlifts on Monday all is ready to go Wednesday. Second to that I always rest on Sunday meaning when it comes to heavy Deadlifts on Monday I'm all ready to go and if I'm struggling I have no excuse as I'm rested from the day before.
Deadlifts in my opinion is an exercise you can never not include in your programme. It's such an all over body exercise recruiting near enough all muscle groups, this is however often what it's been criticised on because why do people want to train legs on a back day, to which I disagree. I just treat it as another leg day in my programme. Be careful however that you don't do too much volume as this will one take up a lot of your gym sessions and second to that will end up causing fatigue for the remainder of the workout. Plenty of warm up sets, no more than 5 reps, just get a feel for the weight. Than 3-4 sets at your top working set weight. Hit it hard and move on. Then isolate the back through further exercises.
Bench Press more and more people are shying away from including in their programme. Many believe it recruits too much shoulder and especially when going heavier puts a lot of pressure on this area. Now yes a lot of shoulder is going to be included when bench pressing as its an anterior muscle so is a muscle which will be used when pushing but secondly it's a stabilising muscle so will always be engaged in any pushing based movement. People see this as a negative but I see it as a positive. As long as you're doing the exercise correctly then not only are you working your Chest but also the stabilising muscle, ligaments and tendons around those areas. This can only mean one thing, you're going to get stronger. Yes don't always just go heavy and include further isolation exercises into your workout but if your doing the exercises right, with tempo and the correct weight then you will push the muscle to exhaustion and see growth, along with a strength increase. Much like the deadlift not to many working sets, with a strip set on the last set always pushing you that little further. Focus on tempo along with power with further isolation exercises through the workout.
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Lastly the Squat, my favourite of all. Your legs are the biggest muscle group so you've got to train them hard. This could be through lots of volume, heavy weight or both all in one. I always begin with heavy back squats, it's the King of leg exercises. Ensure a good warm up, particular attention to the hamstrings. Warm up to your max weight for the reps and sets you're aiming for. I like to use either 10x3 or 7x4 as the programming, all about power. Before weight must come form and confidence to go heavy. The core must always remain tight, straight back, heels planted, below parallel at the knee and power injected through the legs. Once you have this you're ready to add weight through intervals over a prolonged period. No one can just load the bar with 5 plates and expect to be able to squat it, it takes time. Then exhaust the muscle group through high reps front squats and remainder of the exercises. This is another back workout as it will get smashed if you're going heavy, hence the day's rest. Tempo is still included through the actual lowering into the squat should be done under control, then the power comes. This is out of the three where you will see the most improvement and shall boast most certainly you're deadlifting.
So there you have it. These are the three exercises I do to ensure I retain size and strength. If you keep working on them you may be able to join the likes of Hugh Jackman in the 1000lb Club.
Jack
