A Year’s Worth Of Workouts: Building Up One Month At A Time!
By: Todd Opheim
MONTH #8 - Taking Strength Gains And Making Some Muscles.
OK, so you made it through the holidays and the Month 6 and 7 workout. You should
have increased your strength on all of your lifts, particularly on the BIG 3 (squats,
deadlifts, and bench press). We are now going to take your increased strength and apply
it to a hypertrophy program that should lead to even greater amounts of muscular gains.
If you followed the last workout to a "T", you are aware that the program was extremely
taxing on your system. The loads being placed on your body were maximal, and the
results were a bigger and better body. However, you also noticed that your body was
constantly broken down and that as the weeks progressed your joints began to speak to
you. Rather than trying to push your body even further, with greater amounts of weight,
we will now step back a little, and increase your variety, increase your repetitions, and
decrease your rest intervals. This month will look a lot like Month 4, but with the
additional strength you have, you should be able to apply greater resistance at this point
which will allow you to keep growing. We will take out the Big 3 to let your body
recover, and re-introduce some lifts you are already familiar with from prior months. It
breaks down like this:
1. You will continue on a 3 day split system. Back and Bis on Day#1, Chest, Shoulders,
and Tris on Day #2, Legs, Calves, and Abs on Day #3.
2. You will now increase your workouts to 4 times per week rather than 3. The optimal
split would be Monday on, Tuesday on, Wednesday off, Thursday on, Friday on, and
Saturday and Sunday off. You can manipulate this somewhat, but the goal is to try to
workout no more than two days in a row. The following is a sample schedule.
Monday - Back/Bis
Tuesday - Chest/Shoulders/Tris
Wednesday - off
Thursday - Legs, Calves, and Abs
Friday - Back/Bis
Saturday and Sunday - off
Monday - Chest/Shoulders/Tris
Tuesday - Legs, Calves, and Abs
Wednesday - off
Thursday - Back/Bis
Friday - Chest/Shoulders/Tris
Saturday and Sunday - off
Monday - Legs, Calves, and Abs
Tuesday - Back/Bis
Wednesday - off
Thursday - Chest/Shoulders/Tris
Friday - Legs, Calves, and Abs.
Saturday and Sunday - off
3. Rest intervals will be decreased to 60 seconds your first time through the program
(first three days) and then you can increase rest intervals to 60-90 seconds. This
decreased rest should allow you to quickly build up any muscular endurance you lost in
your last few weeks of the Month 6 and 7 workout.
4. Repetitions should be 10-15 for your first time through the program (first three days)
and then decrease to 8-12. You will notice that the increased reps. and decreased reps
will result in significant lactic acid buildup around reps 8-10, but you must push thorough
this to allow for increased blood flow and subsequent increased nutrients being shuttled
to the muscle. You will also notice that your will be using about 60 % of you max.
weight for the first three days, and you will still feel very taxed. Not to worry, simply try
to increase to 65 % the next time through, 70 % the next time, 75% the next time, and
ultimately to 80 % by the end of the month.
5. Since you have probably put on a little bit of bodyfat following the Month 6 and 7
program, it is ok to add a little this month. I would suggest 3-4 times per week at 30
minutes per session at a moderate intensity. This will further enhance your strength
training, and should not be so intense that it sacrifices mass gains.
6. Continue to follow my diet suggestions from month 2.
CHOOSE YOUR FORMAT BELOW TO VIEW THE WORKOUT!
View Month 8 In Your Browser - Recommended
Microsoft Works Spreadsheet
Microsoft Excel Spreadsheet
Good luck and train hard. Let me know if you have any questions. Please contact me if you have any questions at OPT4FIT@OPT4FIT.com.
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Todd Opheim
opt4fit@opt4fit.com
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