Your New Program Split

Today we'll discuss the split that is to be followed for this program.

The program, as well as being based around accumulating more and more volume but without exceeding your recovery abilities, also has a few "sub' principles.

They are:

• frequency
• concentrated loading
• neural charge workouts
• eccentric less training

Frequency

As a general training rule, the higher the intensity you work at, the less frequent you can do such as back squat 1 rep max attempts. On the flip side though the less intensity you work at, the more frequently you can do it such as walking.

The High Performance Mass program relies on using a lot of volume at high intensity with high frequency. Normally one might use 1 of these principles and not do it right so it's a delicate set of scales to balance.

Initially the program prescribes you to train most 4 of your 5 lifts 3/week using a load that is about 80% of your max for 11 - 16 sets per exercise per workout. In week 3 you get all the way up to 38 sets per session and couple that with assistance work (which we haven't touched on yet) and you could be looking at 70 odd sets (which I did!!) per workout.

Here's the proposed schedule:

Mon - Upper Body Pressing x 3 exercises, Lower Body Pressing x 1 exercise

Tue - Upper Body Pressing x 3 exercises, Lower Body Pressing x 1 exercise

Wed - Neural Charge Workout / Eccentric Less Training

Thu - Lower Body Pressing x 3 exercises, Upper Body Pressing x 1 exercise

Fri - Lower Body Pressing x 2 exercises, Upper Body Pressing x 1 exercise

Sat - Lats and Biceps (again not touched on yet)

Sun - Neural Charge Workout / Eccentric Less Training

Concentrated Loading

You'll see that on Mon and Tue you do all 3 upper body pressing exercises 2 days in a row but settle down, we're not going over train here! The focus of the concentrated loading is to really up the volume for the upper body pressing exercises early in the week and then drop it back later in the week. For the lower body we use the concentrated loading in the second part of the week with lower volume early in the week.

The frequency and concentrated loading principles are the wheels that make this program go around so it is ESSENTIAL that you choose the right wt or you won't even make week 3. And through all of this, you've still got to remember that you HAVE to avoid any grinding reps!!

Now just quickly on exercise selection, for upper body pressing you want to use 1 shoulder press movement, 1 incline or flat bench press movement and 1 flat or decline bench press movement for a total of 3 upper body pressing movements. For lower body you basically want to choose 1 squat and 1 deadlift variation and you'll stick with those exercise for as many cycles as you can.

So now your week might look like this:

Mon - Military Press, Incline Press, Bench Press, Back Squat

Tue - Military Press, Incline Press, Bench Press, Deadlifts

Wed - Neural Charge / Eccentric Less Training

Thu - Back Squats, Deadlifts, Military Press

Fri - Back Squats, Deadlifts, Incline Press

Sat - Lats and Biceps

Now depending on you past training methods and experience you may need to work up to this exact split and I have even tinkered with it to fit my schedule and limitations better.

Neural Charge Workouts

The central nervous system is what puts the breaks on your training. When you do that last bench press rep and its taking 10secs to reach lockout, that's the nervous system failing you right there. This is one of the reasons why training to failure is not a good idea. If you do it on your 1st exercise then the rest of your workout will suffer, especially as you push to use heavier weights for the other exercises.

Neural Charge workouts are simply 3 - 5 exercises circuits that use fast, explosive movements or exercises performed explosively for 3 - 5 reps specifically aimed at ramping up your nervous system when it feel a little drained, so filling up your petrol tank so to speak. These can be used at anytime you like - before workouts as a warm up when you feel sluggish, on off days to prepare the nervous system for the next days workout and even in the am before a pm training session.

A sample workout may be:

Supine Medicine Ball Toss x 5 reps

Tuck Jump x 5 reps

Inverted Row for speed x 5 reps

Plyometric Push Up on a bench x 5 reps

10m Sprint

x 4 - 6 circuits

10mins and you're done!

Eccentric Less Training

For those with ectomorphic body types, this could be your holy grail. Each exercise has a concentric / muscle shortening contraction and an eccentric / muscle lengthening contraction. It's the eccentric contractions that make you sore and run down so to keep accumulating volume we need to use that exercises that eliminate it and thus eccentric less training is born!

What this also needs is that you need to get your innovative hat on and find something that you can use as a sled which will enable you drag weights. I use a milk crate or 2 connected by chain and filled with weights for the sled with a TRX attached for the handles and it works a treat. It can also act as a prowler but it's nowhere near as good as a proper one like the picture at the top of this post.

I will try and post a video of my make shift crate sled too.

Eccentric Less Training can also be used at any time as they are very easy on the nervous system and thus won't tap into your recovery abilities. A stated for those with skinner body types who have a hard time increasing and maintaining muscle mass, this should be a staple of your training as usually it's these same people whose recovery abilities aren't as great.

Remember to leave a comment to go into the running to win a copy of the Aussie Rules Training Off Season Training Manual for the month of January.