The lean bulk (training - phase 1)

1 week down 9 to go!...its been a tough week training wise and the workouts have been hurting good, but overall I’ve been really pleased with the sessions and the weights I’ve been lifting. From now on over the next 3 weeks I will be aiming to increase the reps/weight progressively each workout. In this post I’ll go through the workouts and exercises I’ll be using over the next 3 weeks during phase 1 of the plan.

Firstly each workout is warmed-up with the ‘barbell warm-up complex’ and mobility drills, which I presented in a previous blog post back in September. The warm-up should not be overlooked if you want to get your body prepared for the work about to come and reduce chance of injury. I’m using a 4 days a week, body part split which is as follows:

·         Chest, calves

·         Back, hamstrings

·         Shoulders, triceps, abs

·         quadriceps, biceps

Day 1: chest, calves

exercise	sets	reps	notes
Incline smith machine press	4	10-12	High incline to really hit the upper part of my chest (an area I think I need to work on )
Fat gripz dumbbell bench press	4	10-12	Using a thick grip implement increases total muscle recruitment and neural activation
TRX flye	4	10-12
Calf press	3	10-20
Seated calf raise	3	10-20	This seated variation targets the soleus muscle

Day 2: back, hamstrings

exercise	sets	reps	notes
Weighted pull-up	4	10-12
Machine row	4	10-12
Straight arm lat. pull-down	4	10-12	I like to bend the torso forward slightly on this exercise to increase range of motion.
(Behind back) smith machine shrug	3	10-12
Seated leg curl	4	10-12
Supine hip extension	3	10-12	Squeeze glutes hard to activate them during this exercise

Day 3: shoulders, triceps, abs

exercise	sets	reps	notes
Smith shoulder press	4	10-12
DB lateral raise	4	10-12
TRX rear delt fyle	3	10-12
Fat gripz close grip smith machine bench press	3	10-12	Using a thick grip implement increases total muscle recruitment and neural activation
1 arm DB overhead extension	3	10-12
Hanging leg raise	2	10-20	Bend your knees, if you cant perform the straight leg variation
Crunch on swiss ball	2	10-20
Swiss ball side crunch and twist	2	10-20	Great for hitting the obliques and working on those ‘finger like’ muscles either side of the torso

Day 4: quads, biceps

exercise	sets	reps	notes
Smith machine top squat	4	10-12	Use just the top quarter of range of motion to really focus on the vastus medialis (tear drop muscle) An area I want to bring up.
Leg press	4	10-12	I like to put my feet low on the plate to shift the emphasis onto the qauds
Uni-lateral Leg extension	3	10-12	Performing this one leg at a time will balance out any weakness’s you may have developed in your quads
Fat gripz barbell curl	3	10-12	Using a thick grip implement increases total muscle recruitment and neural activation. Really good for working on your forearms with this exercise too.
High pulley cable curl	3	10-12

If you’re familiar with a typical body part split and exercise selection there should be no surprises here. The workouts start with the ‘big’ compound, multi joint exercises and move onto the single joint, isolation exercises towards the end of the session to really home in and finish off the targeted muscle group.

In my next blog post I’ll present a typical ‘day in the life’ of my diet for adding muscle whilst minimising fat gain.