Most effective strength training program

How Madcow Works. This is followed by a light back-off set of 8 reps. Remember starting too light is better than too heavy — let it be easy the first weeks, focus on technique and speed, and only aim to break PRs starting week 4. Madcow Success Stories.

James Deadlifts lb today. Vlad Deadlifts lb today. His gains the 2nd round…. Just click here. Join , StrongLifters today, and receive several welcome gifts. Enter your email below and tap the button. Similar to the 5 x 5, if you're planning on doing a lot of additional activity with this program - sports training, cardio , or otherwise, you may run into some problems.

Typically you will need to reduce everything else you're doing so the body can have enough time to recover and progress The other con of this program is that if you are interested in maximum strength development, it may not be the absolute best idea either. The reason for this is that pure strength gains typically require you to lift in a lower rep range, while this program pushes it a bit further.

There are advanced variations with German Volume Training that bring the rep range lower to allow for more weight. If this is an important issue for you, think about looking into that. For this workout protocol, you are to select one compound exercise for each muscle group and hit it hard with ten sets of ten reps.

Once those have been completed, then you can add a few isolation exercises if you wish but bring them down to only sets of reps. Aim to keep up the pace of the workout by keeping your rest to seconds. Remember that since you are shooting for the higher rep range of 10 reps, you will not be using as high of a weight as you would on a rep protocol, so be sure you adjust your load accordingly. The workout is broken up into three different days: chest and back, legs and abs, and then shoulders and arms.

Take one day off between workouts and have the full weekend for solid recuperation. The third type of volume training program that's catching on rather rapidly is the FST-7 Training Program. The FST-7 name stands for Fascial Stretch Training, which indicates that one of the primary objectives this program attempts to achieve is to stretch the fascia tissue, which is the soft connective tissue that is found surrounding your muscles as well as throughout the rest of the body.

It is primarily responsible for helping to maintain the structural integrity of the body, provide support and protection, as well as work as a shock absorber when you perform activity throughout the day, both in the gym and out.

When this tissue is stretched you will see increases in muscle growth. There will be a higher deliverance of minerals, amino acids and oxygen to the tissues.

With this set-up, perform seven sets of 15 reps for the last exercise you do for each muscle group. It's important to keep your rest periods between these sets shorter - right around 30 seconds total. Note: it will be common to adjust the weight downward from what you'd normally use for this particular exercise due to the fact that you are using a much higher total number of sets and the longer rep range will demand that you're not lifting as heavy.

The pros to this program beside the obvious better fascia health are that it still allows for a great deal of flexibility on your part with overall structural design. If you want to specialize in certain body parts you can definitely do so or if you prefer to keep the rest of the program lower in total volume because you don't have the best of recovery rate, you can certainly do that as well.

Another pro to this approach is that the higher rep and set range for that one exercise will stimulate the metabolic rate considerably, so whether your goal is muscle building or fat loss, provided you're eating the correct accompanying diet, you can see a boost in results through that manner as well.

Potentially the one con you may see with this approach is, if you struggle with recovery, you may not be able to work out as frequently as you're accustomed after performing this protocol. After time you will likely find that your body adapts, so try not to abandon the program too quickly if this is in fact what you find. Stick with it and make sure you eat properly and stretching in between sessions without adding too much cardio training to the week overall and you'll likely start seeing results and improvements with the level of fatigue you feel.

This is another extremely intense training program so you must always monitor recovery between sessions. Some people may choose to only employ the FST-7 principle in one of their workouts for a particularly lagging muscle group, while others may try it through all workouts during the week. Do expect more soreness from this program than you may have experienced before and be prepared to adjust and adapt your own schedule based on this. Here's a sample FST-7 program that you could use that applies the principle to all muscle groups.

Note that you're best off doing an isolated exercise for your set of 7, which is why the exercises are chosen as such. Take between 60 and seconds of rest on the exercises apart from the exercise where you are to perform seven sets. Here the rest period needs to be shorter and kept around 30 seconds for maximum muscle pump. This set-up is typically performed on a two on, one off schedule and allows you to hit each muscle group twice per week.

The pro to this type of workout program is that it is a good option for beginners weight lifters looking to build mass. Since it still allows enough rest over the entire week and breaks the body up so each workout is slightly less stressful, it's a good place to start.

Advanced trainees can also intensify the workout through the total set number, exercise selection, and rest periods used, allowing for increased muscle gains at any level.

Another big advantage to this type of set-up is the fact that it will allow you to include more isolated exercises. If you want to specifically target one of the smaller muscle groups biceps, triceps, lateral deltoid, etc , you can do so more easily. Because this type of bodybuilding program is so versatile, there really aren't a great deal of cons with it. You can change it around a great deal to meet whatever your individual needs are, making sure you get what you're looking for from your workout program.

The one con you may find with this workout is due to the fact that since it is made to be a 4-day program, it should be performed four days of the week. If you have scheduling conflicts, that may be a problem for you. Even this could be overcome by doing one week of lower, upper, lower training and the next week of upper, lower, upper training—and continually alternating as such.

There is an endless amount of exercise-selection choices for this type of workout plan and you should format the program according to how much volume you can handle, any muscle groups you want to focus on and whether you primarily focus on strength or size. The following sample program is a good combination of compound and isolation exercises. It will target both the strength and size aspects of your fitness level.

Aim to take about one minute of rest between the first group of exercises and then shorten the rest period to seconds for the second. While this is light, you are going to use low reps. If you are fatigued, creating maximum power will be impossible, making the training useless. Every exercise is going to use a 6X3 rep scheme with rest.

You can add a very small amount to the bar each week for progressive overload, such as 5lbs. However, the progressive overload from here will ideally come from faster barbell speed. You can also videotape yourself to see how you look. The strength day is to build strength in the competition movement. On this day, you are going to perform the traditional movements as is with some small caveats.

For the squat and bench press, you will give a full 1-second pause at the bottom. This serves two purposes:. What this means is that the first week you will train with 5 reps, the second week you will use 3 reps, the third week you will use 1 rep, and the fourth week will be a deload.

In total, the rep scheme with load will look like this:. The main purpose of this day is merely to get in some high-volume work. These lifts will be slight variations in an attempt to target a primary mover. RPE is a form of auto-regulation that uses a scale of to guide your lifting based on how hard it feels. An RPE 7 means that something is getting hard but you could easily do more. The best way to explain it is to imagine lifting you 10RM seven times. Again, the purpose of this day is just to get volume in, not exhaust you.

Progressive overload from here will simply come from ideally adding more reps. You only have the yellow bands which add up to 70lbs so you would just use that. Therefore, you would use 50lbs of resistance from bars and plates and 70lbs of resistance from the bands. The purpose of this day, other than obviously get better at squats, is to optimize the training from the other two sessions.

Therefore, this is an important session as this will allow you to maximize your potential. Using an SSB is a great option to add in volume while saving your back. The SSB will allow you to still get in volume with similar body mechanics while saving your back. After unracking the SSB, you will grab the barbell and use it for support as you perform your lifts.

Related: The Complete Guide to Squatting. The board press is a variation where a board of desired height is placed on the chest, thus limiting the range of motion. Because you are not coming down to a full stretch, the advantage of the stretch-shortening cycle will be limited. You will be required to generate enough force to get through the sticking point in limited space. One common sticking point is a few inches off the chest and this is the area that this movement will address.

Doing so is going to teach you to generate enough force to be able to push through this point. You are also going to implement the bands as well. Therefore, the same rules are going to apply as when the barbell hits your chest, you will pause for 1 second before pushing. For the bench press hypertrophy session, you are going to use the triceps board press or close grip bench press, and utilize bands again and board again.

While everyone associates the bench press with the chest, the triceps actually play a significant role as they are the primary movers from midway to lockout. When you choose a board, you want to use one that places the bar just below midway of the lift.

As mentioned above, this is where the triceps start to become a major mover. Being a little bit higher will alter the biomechanics and lengthen the range of motion, both of which will make the movement harder. However, harder is a good thing as it will require much more effort to get the weight off the ground. Then when you return to the ground, the weight is going to feel easier.

One major benefit of the deficit deadlift is that it addresses the hardest part of the lift for most people; getting the weight off the ground. Another bonus is the deficit deadlift is going to train you to use leg drive. A common error in beginner errors is they pull too much and neglect to push. This means that they neglect to use their quads to push down into the ground when they pull the weight off the floor.

However, as the deficit deadlift will require higher flexion in the hips and knees, the contribution of the posterior muscles will be lessened.

This leaves the quads to pick up the slack. The traditional deadlift. Nothing fancy here. Just the king of exercises. This is awesome as the deadlift obviously depends on these muscles for maximum strength. When compared to the deadlift, the Romanian deadlift tends to be a much better option for muscle hypertrophy regardless. This is mainly attributed to the range of motion, increased muscle tension, and ability to perform higher volumes. Find a weight that you can do times. For all three sessions, you are going to train your core with barbell rollouts at the end of the session.

The barbell rollout is the single greatest exercise to strengthen your core study. Every muscle in the core is activated to a significant degree to brace the spine and torso during the movement. As the core is heavily engaged in all of the above movements, you need to be sure yours can take the beating. Therefore, perform the barbell rollout after each exercise.

The fourth session will be smaller exercises and some isolation work to hit some specific areas, improve mobility, and provide an effective all-around program.