Elite Physique The New Science of Building a Better Body

214 Elite Physique
If you choose an upper and lower split, training each twice throughout a seven-day
cycle, you have a few options. Since a lower body workout is more taxing
than an upper body workout, plan your rest days after the lower body workout.
If you prefer to have the weekends off, plan your schedule as shown in table 8.7.
Beyond that, any structure will work well as long as the lower body workout is
followed by a day or two of rest.
TABLE 8.7 Seven-Day Cycle for Two Upper and Lower Body Workouts
Day 1 Day 2 Day 3 Day 4 Day 5 Day 6 Day 7
UB LB Rest UB LB Rest Rest
UB = upper body; LB = lower body
The general programming structure for full-body training that I’ve found
most beneficial for managing fatigue is to alternate between upper body movement
planes and hip- or quad-emphasis exercises from workout to workout. For
example, if I program a bench press and deadlift on Monday, I’ll program an
overhead press and squat or lunge variation on Wednesday. For an upper and
lower split, you can program horizontal and vertical plane upper body movements
in the same workout, and hip- and quad-emphasis exercises in the lower
body workouts. To manage fatigue and build structural balance, adhere to these
two programming guidelines:
• Have an equal number of sets and repetitions for all upper body vertical
plane movements and an equal number between horizontal plane movements
at the end of the seven- or eight-day cycle. The solution here is as
simple as programming the same parameters for the horizontal plane and
the same parameters for the vertical. For example, Monday’s upper body
workout could be 5 × 5 for the bench press and row and 4 × 6 for the pull-up
and overhead press.
• Avoid programming double-leg hip- and quad-emphasis exercises in the
same workout. For example, on Tuesday you could program a sumo deadlift
and a lunge or a front squat and a one-leg deadlift.
Sample Muscle-Building Programs
The following programs use a wide variety of equipment from an elaborate gym
to a single kettlebell and are designed to build a balance of strength and muscle
throughout the body without emphasizing any specific area. High frequency
training (HFT) for developing specific muscle groups that are lagging behind,
which will be added into these programs, is covered in chapter 10. There are three
12-week muscle-building programs presented here: Muscle Builder 1 (MB1),
Muscle Builder 2 (MB2), and Muscle Builder 3 (MB3). These three programs are
not arranged in any particular order. The purpose of three different plans is to
give you a variety of choices based on your available equipment. They are all
equally effective for building muscle and strength.
These three muscle-building programs follow a daily undulating periodization
(DUP) structure, one I have used for most of my career. There is no doubt that
your muscles and nervous system like variety in the gym, and this is especially