Ive had success over the last 6 months with Bill Starr 5X5, and then Waterburys TBT. Quite simply, i have decided my basic lifts need to go up and i plan to return to TBT after i have increased my max’s and do it again with the heavier weights. This is my split routine and any comments are welcome.
Day 1 (Chest/Quads)
Flat Bench
(followed by Incline or decline DB Press same reps)
ATG Squats
Leg Press
Pullups (wide grip)
Triceps
Day 2 (Shoulders, Back/hamstring)
Standing BB Military Press
(followed by couple of sets behind the neck with lighter weight and side raises - 5 reps and 3 sets)
Deadlift
Squats/lunges (2 or 3 sets 10 reps)
Chin ups
Biceps
And thats it. Rotate these days. I will usually workout 5 of 10 days (every other day) and then take 2 full days off and start again. For me, working each body part only once a week doesnt really produce much increase in, well… anything really - for me anyway. As you can see my big lifts are followed by some lighter work on a similar movement to really get some nice burns and pump going. I find this usefull for say, squats - where i have maxed out everything (my legs hurt, my back is done, my ass even hurts and my head is spinning) and i use leg presses or leg extentsions just to really isolate my quads and get 110% out of them. You get the idea.
Then there is the rep/set scheme… this is the part where progression comes in: When i can do 5x5 reps on any of the big lifts i will increase the reps every workout where possible. So after 5x5 bench for instance I will 4 sets 6. Then 3 sets of 7 or 8. When i can do 3 sets of 8 on any weight with perfect form I move the weight up a small percent and go back to 5x5 and repeat the procedure. I might get sets of 7, 6, 5 out on a lift, but i wont increase anything until i hit 8x8. That also seems to benefit my form. 3x8 perfect reps signals time to add more weight.
Any comments welcome!