01-29-2009, 07:58 PM
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Dexterium Training Protocol
Dexterium Training Protocol
Often we will hear stuff in the gym about what works and what doesn’t. I am sure you have heard something before that pissed you off and you wanted to correct them but you had to keep it to yourself. Anyways, I am here to tell you all how it really is. If you’re a guy that just wants to plain and simple get big and ripped, you need to stick to the basics. There are definitely some good workout plans that you can try but if you haven’t mastered the basics, then you are slowing your overall progress. I hope with this piece you can educate the fools that give you misinformation. Let’s go. THE GYM When you walk into the gym, you’ll see a lot of people on treadmills, stationary bikes, doing machines, lifting free-weights, people on the mats doing abs, and a lot of other stuff. If you’re new, then you will wonder what the hell works for building muscle. Fortunately, you found this article because there is a lot of bullshit in the gym that is an utter waste of your precious time; time that could be used for building muscle and strength. To get the best results for building muscle and size, use primarily free-weights and occasionally machines. Free-weights should be your weapon of choice because they are important for two main reasons: Compound Movements – These are the exercises that get you to use many large muscle groups to execute a movement. For instance, the squat involves the gluteus maximus, quadriceps, abs, hamstrings, and more. Machines can be good, but they do not hit as many muscle groups. By the way, compound movements help to increase your growth hormone and testosterone production. Stabilizer Muscles – The opposite of compound movements are isolated movements. Isolated movements are when you focus on working one muscle group. For instance, biceps curls are isolated because the work is highly focused on the biceps. The reason free-weights are better for isolated movements (and compound movements) is because they have more resistance on stabilizer muscles (the muscles that support you through a movement). In dumbbell biceps curls, the forearms, shoulders, back, abs, triceps are all involved in stabilizing the movement and when you use a machine, such as cables, you will notice that the negative (the part of the exercise where you are lowering the weight back to start position) is much easier and this is because not as much resistance is on the stabilizing muscles. Another perfect example is dumbbell bench press; the machines are much easier to do because there are not as many stabilizing muscles being used in the movement. However, you can use machines for some exercises if you really want to isolate a muscle. TIME AND TRAINING Some people think you have to train 7 days a week to get big; wrong. The reality is that you only need to train 3-4 days per week to get huge. The general rule of thumb is that just as long as you are hitting all your muscle groups once a week you are doing enough. Days that you do not train (off days) are extremely important because they help you recover for the next day; even if you feel like training on an off day, stick to your schedule. Trust me, I want to train all the time but I know that I will see more benefit if I take off days to recover. You should be spending only 45 minutes to an hour in the gym. Any longer than this and you will be risking over-training but most importantly, when you train longer than an hour, cortisol, a catabolic hormone that breaks down your muscles for energy, starts to get produced because you become stressed. DEVELOPING A SCHEDULE You hear people talking about being on a “# day split” but that can be complex. The solution is to keep it simple and just make a schedule that you stick to every week. Like I say, stick with the 3-4 days per week and here is how I suggest you organize the 3-4 days: 3 days: Monday - Train Tuesday - Off Wednesday - Train Thursday – Off Friday – Train Saturday – Off Sunday - Off Now, as you can see, you can play around with this, but just make sure that if you’re going to do 3 days per week that you put a day off between each training day because on 3 days per week you will be compacting your training to hit all the muscle groups each week and you will want to give them time to recover. Here is an example of training 4 days per week, and I personally like this one: 4 days: Monday – Train Tuesday – Train Wednesday – Off Thursday – Train Friday – Train Saturday – Off Sunday – Off WHAT TO TRAIN ON WHAT DAY The goal here is that you hit each muscle group once a week and that you do not over utilize a certain muscle group too close together (for instance, you wouldn’t want to do deadlifts on one day and then do squats the next because this would be too taxing on your lower back and legs). 3 days: Monday – Shoulders, Traps, Back, Biceps Wednesday – Chest and Triceps Friday – Legs, Calves and Abs 4 days (I highly suggest using this one): Monday – Shoulders and Traps Tuesday – Back and Biceps Thursday – Chest and Triceps Friday – Legs, Calves and Abs By setting up our schedules like this, we have achieved not training the same muscle groups too close together. WHAT EXERCISES TO DO ON WHAT DAYS The easy way to do this is to pick from a list of exercises provided here and to be applied to each body area. Make sure that you have the necessary equipment in your gym and that someone will show you exactly how to perform the exercise with perfect form. Remember: It is important to note that you might not be able to do all the exercises in a certain category because you are only supposed to be working out for 45 minutes to 1 hour. This provides you the opportunity to be mixing up your workout program; something that is extremely important in achieving results; never letting your body be able to predict its future workouts / become too use to the same thing. Shoulders Seated Military Press Seated Dumbbell Shoulder Presses Side Dumbbell Raises Front Dumbbell Raises Upright Rows Rear Deltoid Rows Rear Deltoid Flies Traps Dumbbell Shoulder Shrugs Barbell Shrugs Back Bent-over Barbell Rows Chin Ups Pull Ups One Arm Dumbbell Rows Deadlifts Biceps Dumbbell Biceps Curls Hammer Curls Barbell Biceps Curls Preacher Curls Chest Bench press Dumbbell Bench Press Incline Bench Press Incline Dumbbell Bench Press Dumbbell Flies Push Ups Close Grip Bench Press Triceps All exercises in the Chest category, to the exception of Dumbbell Flies, hit triceps Skull Crushers Legs Squats Lunges Leg Extensions Leg Curls Calves Barbell Calve Raises Abs Lying Leg Lifts Crunches The Bicycle The Plank REPS AND SETS The amount of reps and sets you should do is something that is questioned often. Once again, keeping it simple and basic is the most effective thing. The goal of most people who lift weights is to gain muscle and gain strength and if you want to do this you should first warm up with a lighter weight doing about 4-10 reps and progressively increasing the weight to the heaviest weight you can lift for 6-8 reps; this is called the work set: the set where you lift your heaviest for size and strength. You should do 2-3 work sets. Here is an example: Bench Press Warm up: 90 lbs x 10 reps x 1 set Warm up: 120 lbs x 6 reps x 1 set Warm up: 160 lbs x 6 reps x 1 set Warm up: 180 lbs x 4 reps x 1 set Work Set: 200 lbs x 8 reps x 2-3 sets Now, of course as I have said previously, you will want to mix things up to make sure that your body doesn`t get used to the same old thing. That is why I suggest sometimes lowering the weight a bit and going with a higher rep just to shock the muscle. You can also lower the reps to get a higher weight. The general rule is that higher reps build size and lower reps build strength; 6-8 reps is the perfect blend for both strength and size. HOW LONG TO WAIT IN BETWEEN SETS Once again, here is another section that is just to be kept simple. There is no specific time but you should start your next set based on how you feel. That is, go when you feel ready, but don`t wait forever just standing around talking to your friends, and don`t go immediately after you just finished a set; you need to catch your breath. FORM It is extremely important that when you are lifting that you use excellent form. Poor form can result in injuries and a lack of results. I suggest that you get help from an expert in your gym on how to lift properly before doing any exercises. DEADLIFTS AND SQUATS These two are amazing exercises and extremely important in adding strength and size. These are huge compound movements, and require many stabilizer muscles. Squats are amazing for the legs (and more) and deadlifts are excellent for the back, traps, and legs. Want to get bigger arms, bigger traps, etc.? Do these exercises. HOW OFTEN YOU NEED TO WORK ABS TO GET A 6 PACK Too often, I hear people that want to specifically train abs every day in order to get a 6 pack. Well, your abs are a muscle group too, obviously, and they too require time to recover just like all your other muscles. Furthermore, they are a major stabilizer muscle and they get worked in all other exercises. For instance, in deadlifts, the abs and other core muscles are used a lot in order to stabilize the movement. Thus, working the abs specifically once or twice per week is all that is needed. Furthermore, getting a 6 pack is more about nutrition as you must lower your body fat in order to be able to reveal the muscles. Also, if you want to lose your gut and reveal your abs, countless crunches is not the answer; nutrition and cardio and a proper training regime is the answer. DON’T WANT TO GET TOO BIG One of the most ridiculous things I have ever heard is how people don`t want to lift weights because they don`t want to get too big. Trust me, you`re not going to get too big by lifting weights, it`s not like you`re going to get addicted to them; you do have the ability to stop lifting weights when you want. TONE UP This is often involved with the ‘don`t want to get too big statement’; people want to tone up. In basic terms, you want to decrease the fat around your muscle to make it more visible. Well, if you don`t have any muscle there, you`re not going to impress anyone so the best bet is to lift heavy and build the muscle and then lose the fat eventually. NUTRITION Nutrition is the number one factor in getting bigger, stronger and ripped. Make sure you research this before starting your training regime or you will not see the results that you want. SUPPLEMENTS You don’t need supplements but they sure do help. However, you want to stick with the basics such as: Whey Protein Fish Oil Casein Protein Creatine Multivitamin SuperCissus RX (For strong and healthy joints) CARDIO Depending on whether you`re trying to get bigger or lose fat and whether or not you`re training for a sport is the determining factor of whether you do or do not do cardio. When trying to get big, you need all your nutrients and energy going to building muscle and you don`t want those energy and nutrients being expended for energy during cardio. If you are trying to get bigger, cardio is not necessary but if you want to do it, do it only 1-2 times per week. If you are trying to cut, cardio is a need and do it as much as you want, just as long as it does not interfere with your exercise movements that require strength in your legs. Basically, don`t run, make your legs sore and not be able to perform your best during squats, deadlifts, etc. If you`re playing sports, and you have to do cardio, and you want to get bigger, compensate for the energy lost during cardio by consuming more calories. TRAINING UNTIL FAILURE Many people are always out talking about how you should or should not train until failure. First off, training until failure happens during your work set when you have pushed all you can and cannot perform another rep. Let this be the definitive answer to whether or not you should train until failure. I believe that training until failure should be included in everyone`s regimen for certain exercises and under certain conditions. Training until failure, in my opinion, should not be done on exercises such as squats and deadlifts because you don`t want to fail on a deadlift when you have the weight just hovering with your lower back taking all the static stress and during a squat, you don`t want to fail at the bottom and not be able to get the bar re-racked. Thus, with extreme compound movements such as power cleans, deadlifts, and squats, you want to make sure that you don`t perform a rep with insufficient energy which could lead to poor form or injury. Training to failure can be beneficial on a lot of exercises, however. For instance, on biceps curls, you might only be able to get the dumbbell up half way and then you have failed, safely. Bench press is another exercise where you can fail but just as long as you have a spotter. Training with intensity is extremely important and in my opinion, if you`re not failing on some exercises, you`re not giving everything you have. Lastly, you do not want to fail on every work set; failing on the last work set is preferred. THE PSYCHOLOGY 1. When you walk into that gym, you need to realize that you’re there to work and to have fun; not to socialize and give a half assed job. Give it everything you have and that will make the difference. 2. Constantly remind yourself why you are lifting weights and that should help you stay motivated. 3. It is you against you. Don’t try and lift weights that are too heavy for you just to impress other people. Never ever worry about how you look or whether or not you’re weak; all that matters is that if you’re trying your best and that you’re competing against yourself and no one else. 4. The only person that is in your way of achieving greatness is yourself. 5. A lot of the time, people talk about how they are going to eventually start training or losing weight / building muscle etc. The real question here is: If not now, when? Really think about that. 6. Never give up; Rome was not built in a day. You must stick to your protocol and give it time. If you’re not getting any results after a few months, you might want to change up your protocol. SAMPLE WORKOUT Monday: Shoulders and Traps Military Press Lateral Dumbbell Raises Dumbbell Shrugs Dumbbell Shoulder Press Front Dumbbell Raises Rear Deltoid Rows Tuesday: Back and Biceps Deadlifts Chin Ups Pull Ups Barbell Biceps Curls Bent Over Barbell Rows Dumbbell Biceps Curls Thursday: Chest and Triceps Bench Press Close Grip Bench Skull Crushers Incline Dumbbell Bench Press Flat Dumbbell Bench Press Friday: Legs, Calves and Abs Squats Lying Leg Lifts Lying Leg Curl Calve Raises Weighted Crunches CONCLUSION In conclusion to this article, everything recommended here is the basics but it is the most effective and best way of building slabs of rock hard muscle. Remember, free weights are better than machines, compound movements like deadlifts and squats are the real muscle builders, always train with intensity and never give up on your dreams and goals; they are achievable with nutrition, training, and time.
__________________
-=USPlabs Representative=- The strong will stand. The weak will fall. 
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05-19-2009, 07:59 PM
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I had been working shoulders chest and triceps in the same w/o but twelve muscle groups in one w/o is just too much(for me anyway). Now I work shoulders/tris on Monday and chest on Wednesday and switch every other week with tris. I also work back and biceps on different days. This four-day schedule also allows me to do cardio every w/o. I think the lighter weight workouts will be better for my age as well.
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11-12-2009, 09:07 PM
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I currently use the 4 day program, i find that on thurs i feel great after the one day rest. what do you think of doing only one warm up set for 10 reps at about 50-60%1RM then doing 3x6 85-90%1RM (or whatever i can lift for 6 reps)?
Any comments anyone?
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