Slizzardman I need help

Hey Slizzardman,

I need your expert advice. I am about to start my classes in University and I believe I will not have the time to focus on a comprehensive gymnastic bodies workout nor have the time to program. I thought of just going back to the basics and focusing on making as solid of a foundation as possible using HSPU, Dips and Chins. I can afford an easy program that revolves around these 3 exercises.

My Idea of the program is:

Monday/Wednesday/Friday

-HSPU

-Chin-ups

-Dips

Aiming for 20 sets of 5 reps for all three (building massive volume to promote more hypertrophy), I'll slowly add sets each week/month to build up to this as I probably can't start off with 20x5. When I achieve 20x5 I will then work towards 10x10.

I am wondering:

1. Is M/W/F too much for this workout? Would it be better to do it 2 times a week or is 3 times a week really just fine?

2. I am wondering what a good rest time is. For hypertrophy I understand it is 30-90 seconds, but what would you recommend using your knowledge of the energy systems in the human body? Is 1 minute good enough?

3. Should I super-set the HSPU, Chins and Dips? For example I do a set of HSPU, rest for 30 seconds then do my Chin-up set and then rest 30 seconds followed by a set of Dips, and repeat. Would this be superior to just finishing off the sets of each exercise one at a time?

4. I am looking for hypertrophy which is one of the major reasons I'm doing this, along lack of time to program and the need for simplicity. Would this program be good at that? It's lacking a bit in lower-body but I think I'll get a decent leg workout walking from class to class .

5. Should I possibly remove HSPU and just focus on Dips and Chins (and possibly weight them). I want to build bigger shoulders but I wonder if Dips and Chins are enough, as they may not hit the lateral head of the deltoids hard enough. I need your thought on this.

Thanks in advance

Hi, CC,

I thought it was 10+ x 3? It's 5 reps? Interesting...

Okay, things seem to be all over the place here to me, and I'm not sure this is the smartest programming. I will lay out how I would do what you are trying to do, feel free to do something completely different, I readily admit I am no expert.

I think accumulation/intensification schemes should be used for most people because it is so simple and so powerful. Given your parameters I would do the following.

Day 1: Chins/dips (putting the harder exercise first)

Day 2: HSPU/Jumping squats or SLS (you gotta do SOMETHING for the legs)

I would work through easier variations before as a warmup, and some static holds afterwards in difficult positions (e.g. top of chin)

I would start at an easy level for working sets, say 5x5, and add a set every workout (remembering to cut volume everything third workout) until you are really frying yourself. So you'd go 5x5, 6x5, 3x5, 7x5, 8x5, 4x5, 9x5, and maybe here you only get 9x5 and 1 set at 4. Go another week or two after this point, than start an intensification scheme by doing a harder variation or adding weight to the movements. You should be in the lower reps here, and utilizing higher sets (5, 6, 7, 8,).

This should build size and strength, and hopefully you'll add some prehab so you can keep doing what you're doing.

There is a fairly new Article on T-Nation that promotes a - mostly - BWE Program which looks like it would fit your situation:

http://www.t-nation.com/free_online_art ... hts_needed

The only non-bodyweight Exercise would be the deadlift, however, I think you could just skip this part of the program or replace it with Single Leg Squats.

I think it would be better if you go through all planes of motion for each type (Push/Pull) of upper body exercise and at least 1 core and 1 leg exercise,

Example:

M: Pushup/Rows

W: Dips/Chins(Pullups)

F: HSPU/Inverted Curls (don't know if this is the right name)

+Core/Leg each day

For the volume you can use 3 variations, a)10x10, or maybe even more, b)5x5 and c)a Tempo, like maybe 3-1-3 or so in the rep scheme of maybe 3-5x3-5! Of course you will scale up/down the exercise for each variation to fit the repscheme(e.g. Pushups - XR-PU - PPP - XR-PPP).

I think this is a really simple program, that will give you a good foundation.