Workout: Shoulders and The Unique Structure of the Workout I Am Writing

            Power: Power pulls 3x3 (moderate)

-          Barbell Military press 5x5        !-1-2

o   Superset w/ weightless military presses on wall x5      3-1-3

-  Press buttocks, back and shoulders flat against wall and raise open hands overhead keeping them touching wall. Press upwards and then return to beginning while keeping body flush to the wall.

-          BB upright rows 4x6    1-1-3

-          Single Arm DB Press 3x8        2-1-3

o   Superset chin ups x8

I always include at least one corrective or strengthening postural exercise in my shoulder workouts, generally two or three though. Having Proper posture is critical for healthy shoulder function, spinal health and overall strength.

The Unique Structure of the Workout I Am Writing

At first glance, anybody can see that the workouts I write are not typical. In my own experience, and as with everybody who has tried my workouts, it is always found that they are very difficult but if done properly, there can be massive results. There are four basic principles that my workout is built around, that when combined, make for a very effective explosive-strength and mass building program.

1. Muscle Confusion
2. Daily Power Training
3. Supersets
4. Consistent Stabilization Training for Legs

1. Muscle Confusion
In my experience, the worst thing that a workout can be built around is a strict routine. There is a reason why someone's muscles will get their sorest when they've just done a new exercise, or an exercise they do rarely. The reason your body gets sore from this is because it is a surprise to the nervous system; it is forced to adapt to something new. If the same thing is done every day, or week to week, the nervous system will become accustomed to the routine and will no longer be challenged. If the exercises are different every day and week then the nervous system will be forced to adapt to something new everyday, which leads to constant growth and strengthening.

There is a certain amount of structure to my workout, however. As a whole, it is a 15 week program that consists of three "on" cycles of 4 weeks, and 3 "off" weeks. So there is 4 weeks of constant training, then 1 week off, then back to four weeks again. The days are:

• Monday: chest and back (horizontal upper body)
• Tuesday: legs
• Wednesday: shoulders (vertical upper body)
• Thursday: legs again
• Friday-Sunday: off

Some people prefer to take Wednesday off halfway through the week and train on Friday, and that's great. Personally I like to take a long weekend because then I am never still sore when Monday rolls around, and it can also be difficult to be motivated to workout on Friday.

The down week is critical. This particular work out is very taxing on both the muscles and nervous system. Without the down week it is very hard to not become overly catabolic and overtrain. The goal of the down week is to restore catabolic-anabolic balance, which leads to being totally recovered and energetic for the next four week cycle.

2. Daily Power Training
Everyday, even on upper body days, there will be some form of explosive leg training. The idea is to everyday be doing some form of explosive hip extension. Chest and Back days will usually be either hang cleans, snatch grip squats, olympic snatches or DB snatches. Shoulder day will include some form of power movement associated with the shoulders, such as olympic jerks, snatches, thrusters, or power pulls. The body will adapt to training like this and the use of varied hip explosion training every day will result in overall strength and power gains in the hips. And the hips are the source of all power in the body.

3. Supersets
There is always some form of antagonistic superset (when a movement, like a push up, is superset with an opposite movement, like an inverted row) or complimentary superset(when a movement, like a pull up, is superset with a different exercise that works the same muscle group, like a lawnmower pull) are included with nearly every primary upper body movement, and with most auxillary upper body movements. You'll notice that every primary movement I have in my workout is low volume, high intensity. This is in order to build strength and explosiveness. This form of training does not lend itself well to building muscle, however. That is why I have included supersets with them. The superset transforms the lift from being low volume-high intensity to moderate volume-high intensity. So when done with good tempo, they then become high-volume and high-intensity. With those parameters, the workout becomes very difficult and taxing, but extremely beneficial.

Legs are supersetted differently than the upper body. Because typical leg lifts (front squats, deadlifts, lunges, step ups, etc) all work slow twitch muscles, it is very beneficial for speed and explosiveness to perform all leg lifts with some form of explosive jumping. So nearly every primary leg lift is superset with fast twitch muscle training to improve speed and explosiveness as well as strength.

4. Consistent Stabilization Training for Legs
In every four week cycle, the lower body training will include four leg stabilization exercises that will be performed progressively every leg day. I know that earlier I said that strict routine is not good for building muscle and strength because the nervous system becomes too accustomed to the movements. In this particular situation however, we actually do want the nervous system to become accustomed to the movements because then it will be able to easily stabilize when put into that position in a competitive setting, which will help to prevent injury. So in the case of leg stabilization, consistent and routine progressive training is actually beneficial.

I know this was a long blog, but I think it shows the philosophy behind my workout and why I am writing it the way I am. Currently, I'm writing the last cycle of the program and then I will do it and revise it. Then I'll share the entire program to Facebook and on this blog.

Thank you.