Today I thought I’d write a body building programme for you all to use, the purpose of this programme is for aesthetics. This programme has been designed by me and I use it myself every week. You can use it to bulk up or to tone and get cut. To use it to bulk up follow the programme and continuously increase your food intake, to use it to cut up gradually cut back on the amount you are eating while using it.
I have avoided using barbell exercises because I feel that they have a limited ranged of motion compared to dumbbell exercises. Dumbbells also force you to coordinate your muscles more and work them more thoroughly.
How heavy the weights should be will vary considerably between individuals but follow these guidelines to get it right:
You should be able to complete the full set with good technique on all the reps, if half way through the set your only doing half reps then the weight is too heavy. Make sure you can do the full range of motion for the exercise for the whole set.
Make the weight heavy enough so that the last few reps of a set are a struggle and you should only just squeeze them out.
Only increase the weights when you can do the amount of reps required and still feel like you could do a few more.
Keep the rest between your sets and 1min maximum. You can gradually reduce this and it will improve your fitness. Try not to sit there staring into space for 5mins between each set. You will give your muscles a much better workout if you keep the rest time between sets under 1min.
This is a five day programme and each day you will be working a different body part. I highly recommend that you incorporate some cardio work into this programme as it will improve your general health and fitness (see my other articles for advice on cardio training).
Day One Shoulders and Legs
I personally want my shoulders to grow the most so I do them at the beginning of the week. I don’t like working my legs much so I do them at the start of the week to get them out of the way.
Dumbbell Shoulder Press, 4 Sets, 10-12 reps.
Dumbbell Front Raise, 4 Sets, 10-12 reps.
Dumbbell Lateral Raise, 4 Sets, 10-12 reps.
Smith Machine Shoulder Press, 3 Sets, 10-12 reps.
Bent Over Dumbbell Lateral Raise, 4 Sets, 10-12 reps.
Lunges on the Smith Machine, 10 Sets, 10-12 reps. Alternate Legs
Squats , 4 Sets, 10-12 reps.
Calf Raises , 6 Sets, 10-12 reps.
Day Two Chest
Dumbbell Chest Press, 4 Sets, 10-12 reps.
Incline Dumbbell Chest Press, 6 Sets, 10-12 reps.
Dumbbell Flies, 4 Sets, 10-12 reps.
Cable Pulley Flies, 4 Sets, 10-12 reps.
Day Three Arms
Tricep Cable Pushdown with straight bar, 4 Sets, 10-12 reps.
Lying Tricep Extension with barbell, 4 Sets, 10-12 reps.
Tricep dips, 4 Sets, 10-12 reps.
Tricep Rope Pulldown, 4 Sets, 10-12 reps.
Bicep EZ Bar Curls, 4 Sets, 10-12 reps.
Dumbbell Bicep Curls on Incline Bench, 4 Sets, 10-12 reps.
Lying Bicep Cable Pulley Curls, 4 Sets, 10-12 reps.
Day Four Back
Chin-ups, 4 Sets, As many reps as you can on each set.
Dumbbell Shrugs, 4 Sets, 10-12 reps.
Lat Pulldown Machine, 4 Sets, 10-12 reps.
One Arm Dumbbell Row, 4 Sets, 10-12 reps, each side.
Day five Abs
Hanging Leg Raises, 4 Sets, 10-12 reps.
Hanging Knee Raises, 2 Sets, 10-12 reps.
Abdominal Crunch using the rope and cable pulley, 4 Sets, 10-12 reps.
Plank, 4 Sets, 30 seconds.
Ab Crunches on Abs Machine, 4 Sets, 10-12 reps.
Cable pulley wood chop, 3 Sets, 10-12 reps, each side, (for obliques)
Day Six Rest
Day Seven Rest
Back to day one
I highly recommend that you keep a training diary to write down all the exercises you do, how many sets and reps you do on each on and what weight you use on each set. Doing this helps you to make big improvements because each week you can look back at what you did for a particular exercise last week and try and do a bit better this week and push yourself a bit harder. You can try and push out a few more reps than you did last week or try a bigger weight.
This programme is for completely healthy people only; please get an all clear from either a personal trainer, fitness consultant or your doctor before trying this.
Make sure that you do a proper warm up before doing any weights of at least 5-10mins. This will dramatically lower the risk of injury. Drink plenty of water throughout each workout to prevent dehydration.
To book a session or for comments and questions call or e-mail me:
E-mail: pete@petegriggs.com. Phone: 07947 049889
Please Read Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in the above articles are those of the authors and theirs alone. Information in the articles is not to be taken as medical advice, please consult you doctor before undertaking any type of exercise programme especially if you have any medical conditions.