T Nation

Question on Ian King's Bulk Routine

Bodybuilding
#1

Hello. I have a quick question on Ian King’s Bulk-Building workout. Would it be alright to take out workouts 2 and 4 and just stick with workouts 1 and 3 every other day alternating? The only other upper body exercise I would do are Hise Shrug, Pullups and Overhead Presses, and I’d just split those up with the other 2 workouts.

Workout 1 was:
Squats supersetted with Pullovers
Dynamic Lunges
1-leg squat

Workout 3 was:
Deadlift
Lower Back Combo
King Deadlift

Workout 2 was:

Benchpress, row and dip

Workout 4 was:

BTNPress, Chinup, and Curl

So practically, can I just do workouts 1 and 3 alternating, so 3 or 4 workouts a week like MWF? Thanks in advance to any responses.

-ton

#2

Is that enough time for your muscles to rest? Why are you changing the program?>

#3

Nono, im not changing it. I’m trying to find out if it’s ok to change it because personally I feel fine after a day or 2 from one of those workouts and it feels like my muscles aren’t getting enough work. I make sure to eat alot and get as much sleep as I can. Also, i make sure I go balls out on my workouts, which leaves me feeling like i had a great workout. I’m just wondering if just alternating workouts 1 and 3 will be more beneficial in terms of mass gains.

#4

What’s wrong with workouts 2 and 4? Deadlifting and squatting in the same week can be fairly taxing on your CNS as it is, let alone doing them both twice a week.

Just stick with how the program is written.

#5

If you’re familiar with Ian’s style you’ll know that he cares tremendously about overtraining. Just because you can work out a muscle group two times per week doesn’t mean you should. This is not to say that it can’t be done, but I find it hard to believe you don’t need any extra mass on your upper body anyway. Everyone needs to maintain BALANCE.

In short, do the program as it is shown.