BASE BUILDING SPLITS (PART 2)

BASE BUILDING SPLITS (PART 2)

MONDAY- BENCH/INCLINE/OVERHEAD
Bench - BBM
PEC Deck/Incline Fly/Side Laterals - 4x10
Tricep Overhead - 4x10
Curl - 4x10

WEDNESDAY - SQUAT/PULL
Squat - BBM
Deficit Deadlift - BBM
Leg Press or Stiff Legs - 2x20

SATURDAY - BACK 
Barbell Row - 4x8
Lat Pulldowns/Chins - 4x8 / 4 X AMAP
Shrug - 5x20
Good Mornings - 4x10
Let me add a caveat to this. I can train 6 days a week, and sometimes even twice a day. IF the other workouts are “small sessions, (support or accessory work) things like upright rows, curls, triceps, calves, ABS, etc. If one were so inclined they could drop the support work on bench day, and move those types of movements to 2 or 3 other days a week. This works well for almost anyone, and these “small sessions” are obviously not hard to recover from.

day 1 - am 
• Lower body support
• Adductor machine - 4x10
• Abs - 4x20 • Calves - 4x10

day 1 - pm. 
• Heavy Bench - 3x3, 5x5
• Incline DB Press - 4x10

day 2 - a.m. UPPER BODY SUPPORT 
• Upright rows - 4x20
• Rope pushdowns - 4x20
• Curls - 1 x 100

day 3 - SQUAT AN DEADLIFTIFT ONLY

day 4 - am. LOWER BODY SUPPORT
• Leg curls - 4x10
• Leg Extension - 4x20
• Abductor machine - 4x10

day 4 - pm 
• Upper body support
• Side laterals - 4x10
• Bent laterals - 4x10
• Front raises - 1x100

day 5 - HEAVY BACK WORK 
• Barbell Rows - 4x8
• Shrugs - 5x10
• Good Mornings - 4x10 light

One of the things I like about this split is that you can follow up a brutally hard lower body session with some support work, and recover a bit faster. Same for the upper body.
This also allows you to fill in the muscular gaps a bit better than limiting yourself to just the big movements. It is very similar to how I structure training that is built around the mass gain. Both tend to have similar ideas in mind. And that is, train your big stuff in one session, and all of the smaller components in another that is not as taxing.

THE ZENITH – THE ULTIMATE BASE BUILDING SPLIT
One of the issues with traditional splits is that they generally have you trained the lifts and body parts equally across the week. When in reality, localized and movement recovery needs to be taken into account for optimal progress. Across the span of multiple weeks, everything should be getting equal attention. On just a week to week basis, there should be more of an emphasis on some things, while other movements and muscle groups get a break.
With the Zenith, I addressed these issues by giving attention to certain movements and muscle groups one week, then a different movement or muscle group the next week. I’ve done rotational splits before. This one is a little different in that I woke up to the fact that your upper back should be treated with equal importance as anything in your training. Your bench foundation sits on your back and is supported by yours. Your back supports weight in heavy squats, and of course, the back is primarily involved in the deadlift.
Giving the upper back and as much attention as possible is paramount. To echo a common quote about building a big back, “I’ve seen weak guys with big chests, big arms, big shoulders, and big legs. I’ve never seen a weak guy that had a big back.”
To add to that is the need for big arms. This is not just because curls are for the girls, but also because virtually every big bencher I’ve ever known had serious pipes. If you want to press big, well, the arms need some attention as well. The bicep is also responsible for stabilizing the shoulder and elbow joint in benching, so it is a good idea to have strong biceps as part of the support structure in your pressing.

day 1 - BENCH
Bench - BBM
Incline - 350 method
Dips - 5x AMAP

day 2 - SQUAT/PULL 
Squat - BBM
Deadlift - BBM
Front Squat/Stiff Leg (alternate week to week) - 5x5 / 4x8

day 3 - OVERHEAD/SHOULDERS/TRICEPS 
Press Behind the neck/Military - 4x8
Bent Laterals/Rear Delts - 5x20
Upright Rows - 4x12-15
Triceps - 4x25

day 4 - Back/BICEPS 
Barbell Rows - 4x8
Shrugs - 4x20
Chins/Wide Grip Pulldowns - 4 X A MAP/4x8-10
Curls - 1x100
As you can see, on the first two days, it is the big-3 plus incline, fronts, and stiff legs. The way I generally work this out is, one week you do two squats (backs and fronts) with one deadlift, and then the next week you just back squat, and then do dead-lifts with stiff legs. One week is a little more squat dominant, and the next week deadlift dominant. A great way for an advanced guy to work this along with the BBM for those pulling over 600, is to make sure to base the weeks you don’t pull around squatting twice.

• Week 1 - squat, front squat, deadlift
• Week 2 - squat, deadlift heavy, stiff legs
• Week 3 - squat, front squat, (optional leg press or split squats), no dead-lifts

If I were going to train 4 days a week, this would absolutely be how I would do it.
This allows you to essentially pour all of your energy into the main lifts on one day, then situate all of the supportive work on the other days. For guys who really lack shoulder and back development, which are both critical in support the squat, bench, and deadlift, this is a great way to spend the off-season essentially cruising on the big lifts, and bringing the lagging areas up to speed.
Don’t mistake my term there “cruising” as taking it easy. Often times guys find when they back off of going heavy, and work to “maintain” (as I’ve already written about) they actually end up getting stronger. This is VERY common.
This is a great split for guys who really need to bring up their upper body, the extra back work will also carry over to the squat and pull as well. Make no mistake, the back is the most important part of the entire body in my opinion, in terms of lifting big weights in every facet. If you believe your back strength is not up to par, you need to place a strong emphasis on it (yes, this is a repeating theme here).