For 2Bs the ideal split is as follow:
CHEST/BICEPS
LOWER BODY (quads emphasis)
BACK/TRICEPS
SHOULDERS/TRAPS & REAR DELTS
LOWER BODY (posterior chain emphasis… must include a deadlift variation)
Is there a good way to adapt this to training 4 days a week?
I don’t deadlift due to lower back issue. Would you add some more back work on the second leg day?
Where could loaded carries be included? I often do them in leg days.
They can be done anywhere including leg day. The problem with putting them on leg day is that if your legs are super pumped and tired from the workout, loaded carries will be much more demanding and the performance can be negatively affected.
I personally prefer to do farmers walk on back day and prowler on leg day
A. Main movement (compound lift) done alone, normally type 2B should not go above around 85% of 1RM, but most often in the 70-80% zone (6-10RM)
B1. Main assistance exercise for the “big muscle” of the day
B2. Antagonist/small muscle of the day
C1. Secondary assistance exercise, normally still a multi-joint exercise but lower on the neurological scale (pulley or machine)
C2. Antagonist/small muscle of the day
D1. Isolation exercise for the big muscle of the day (while often use an intensification technique like rest/pause, drop set, etc.)… this is most often an isolation exercise with free-weights
D2. Isolation exercise for the small muscle of the day, also often using intensification technique… more often using free-weights
Sometimes I will add E1 and E2 which are isolation exercises but using pulley or machine. Intensification techniques can also be used.
THIS IS ONLY A SAMPLE TEMPLATE. It works really well for 2Bs, but any type of proven “bodybuilding” set-up will work
CT - How can 2Bs use ramping as an activation/strength component in the beginning of a workout? I have always loved ramping sets of 3s, but get burnt out by them quickly. Thanks again.
A nice little trick is to do one strength lift as “practice” at the beginnig of your workout. So on a leg day, you could start with some bench press for ramping sets of 3, focusing on perofmrance and explosivenss. Then you do your main work for legs.
On upper body day you’d start with a front squat or dl, etc. This one “anccilalry” strength movement lets you rpactice a lift, get some nice activation and also muscle work/higher freq. And it doesn’t detract from your main workouts performance/energy levels (in fact increases activation)!
First off thank you sharing such an detailed workout structure for us 2Bs as I identify as that as well. I did have a question though related to where if possible some different intensity techniques might fit into a 2Bs workout stucture, most specially rest pause reps and myo reps. I see slow eccentrics are in the intensification phase could the rest pause option for one set or myo reps be used in place of the slow eccentrics?
Also should the accumulation phase just be used for volume approaches (like double progression) and stear clear of any of those other intensity techniques? I had good success using your best damn workout and just wanted to see where or if a 2B could fit them into the cycle structure you mentioned above.
I’ve seen a few posts saying I’m a 2B how should I train. I’m not familiar with this terminology, can anyone link an article that explains what these different types are and how to determine yours? Sorry I’ve googled but came up dry.