Charles poliquin modern trends in strength training download

At 6' 1", Park had inch arms, and his training methods made him as strong as he looked, credited with being the first bodybuilder to bench press pounds. The basic goal of the workout is to perform 5 sets of 5 reps of an exercise, with 2 sets being warm-up sets, and increase the load only when you can complete all 25 reps.

Start with a warm-up of one set of 5 at followed by one set of 5 at Now put pounds on the bar and try to do 3 sets of 5 reps, resting minutes between sets. It consists of two alternating workouts, Workout A and Workout B, with at least one day of rest between training sessions.

Park varied his rest periods depending upon the goal, such that he might prescribe minutes rest between sets for a foundation program focusing on just a few basic exercises such as squats and bench presses, but only prescribe 2 minutes rest for a workout designed more for bodybuilding. Tempo prescriptions were not used at this time, but as a general guideline use for lower body exercises and for upper body exercises.

Again, there are many other variations of the 5x5 program. Another variation that shows how to use this program with supersets is presented in Modern Trends Poliquin Group, Please allow up to 72 hr processing time through the holidays. Expect shipping and delivery delays. Chin ups are a reasonable biceps exercise but when you combine them with an isolation exercise for the biceps with only 10 seconds rest between sets they become a biceps-building superstar! Post-exhaustion supersets for the triceps generally include a compound exercise such as dips or close grip bench presses and an isolation exercise such as overhead rope cable extensions.

You can use any split you want but I highly recommend you give the following Poliquin-style split a shot:. Charles believed that the arms generally grew best on a once-every-five-days training frequency. My experience in working with hundreds of clients is very similar to that of Charles.

Post-Exhaustion Superset Arm Routine 1. Here are the training videos for this workout: exercise A1 , exercise A2 , exercise A3 , exercise A4. The superset for the elbow flexors in this routine is actually geared towards developing the brachialis muscle. If you have been neglecting to train your brachialis for too long then I highly recommend you give the above routine a shot. The second arm routine is much more demanding and should be reserved for more advanced trainees.

You are going to perform a couple of highly effective arm exercises for the elbow flexors and triceps before moving on to your post-exhaustion supersets. If you are someone who grows like a weed on higher-volume training protocols then you will LOVE this routine! Charles was of the opinion that the PJR pullover is actually the single best exercise you can do for developing the long head of the triceps. Here are the training videos for this workout: exercise A1 , exercise A2 , exercise B1 , exercise B2 , exercise B3 , exercise B4.

Once again this second routine is very demanding and should be reserved for more advanced trainees with a high tolerance for training volume. Attempting this routine before you are ready for it would be a complete waste of time! Mechanical advantage drop sets are very similar to supersets , tri-sets , and giant sets. You are going to perform multiple exercises in a row for the same body part with minimal rest between sets.

The unique wrinkle with mechanical advantage drop sets is that each of these exercises will be a variation of the first exercise and you will use the same load from one exercise to the next! For example, you could perform a mechanical advantage drop set with different types of pullups, 3 different types of incline dumbbell presses, 3 different types of incline curls etc.

The key is that you change your grip, stance, or some other variable from one variation to the next. You also want to sequence the exercises so that you are starting with your weakest mechanical position and ending with your strongest mechanical position. One of the biggest advantages of mechanical advantage drop sets is that you can perform them in a busy commerical gym!

Even though you are performing exercises in a row you only need to hog one exercise station at a time. If you want to build slabs of muscle mass in record time then mechanical advantage drop sets are easily one of the best ways to do it. Here are the workouts:. Each of these workouts is formatted slightly differently from each other. This is one of the more difficult aspects of programming mechanical advantage drop sets — you have to be very creative when designing your workouts! If you apply yourself on these workouts then I am confident you will be on your way to some of the best hypertrophy gains of your entire life!

One of my favorite quotes from Charles Poliquin is the following:. When you first learn a new language you start off with some very simple phrases:. However, as you become more comfortable with the language you have to continue to challenge yourself with new words and new sentence structures.

Ultimately you know you have mastered a language when you are funny in it. Isometronics are roughly the equivalent of learning poetry in a foreign language. It should be reserved for highly advanced trainees who need to bust out the big guns to continue making progress. If this describes you then listen up!

Charles Poliquin first learned about isometronics through the writings of Anthony Ditillo. Isometronics are really a combination of partial range of motion repetitions and full-bore overcoming isometric contractions. The basic idea is to perform partial range of motion repetitions between two sets of safety pins. After completing the last rep you press as hard as you possibly can against the top set of pins for seconds. After the second overcoming isometric rep you lower the weight back down to the bottom set of pins and attempt one final repetition.

This is an absolutely brutal sequence of events. Here is American shotput gold-medalist Adam Nelson giving a picture-perfect demonstration of isometronics on the incline bench press:. All this together constitutes one set of isometronics. A full workout features 9 total sets of isometronics! You are to perform 3 sets in the bottom third of the range of motion, 3 sets in the middle third of the range of motion, and 3 sets in the top third of the range of motion.

Isometronics can be used on any barbell exercises such as bench presses, incline presses, overhead presses, squats, deadlifts, and even barbell curls. In my experience they tend to work best for upper body pressing movements but you can easily design isometronics workouts around any of these exercises. I would like to share with you an upper body isometronics workout featuring the bench press.

If you attempt to perform isometronics every single workout you may find yourself quickly overtraining. On the last rep press into the top set of safety pins for total seconds. You are trying to break the pins in half on this isometric contraction! After seconds lower the weight back down and attempt one more partial rep. I highly recommend you watch the videos for these routines. The workout itself makes a lot more sense once you view them. Basically you are performing 3 sets of isometronics in the bottom, mid-range, and top position of the bench press.

After all 9 sets you perform 1 full range-of-motion set. After the 10 sets of bench presses and chin ups you can perform a little bit of accessory work at the end. Isometronics were a favourite of Charles Poliquin and the played a key role in helping Adam Nelson to realize his goal of becoming an Olympic champion. If you are stuck at a bench press plateau then isometronics is one of the best tools you can use to break new PRs.

If you want to learn more about how to use overcoming isometrics to bust through bench press plateaus then I highly recommend the following article:. Whether you are a powerlifter peaking for your next competition or a bodybuilder looking to beef up your triceps you will find a routine that works awesome for you in the above article! It should be reserved for highly experienced trainees who have extensive experience with various eccentric training protocols. If you have been training for less than 2 years then this program is NOT for you.

No exceptions! The 3 then 1 method is really a form of contrast sets. It looks like this in practice:. You are performing 6 total sets before moving on to accessory work. Here is Charles Poliquin talking to Marc Bell about how to use this routine to boost his bench press strength:. If you perform this training method correctly then you may find that you are able to take some large weight jumps during each wave.

The eccentric-only rep really excites the nervous system and prepares your body to handle much greater loads during your 3-rep set. Start in the top position and lower yourself down over 8 seconds. Perform 2 more eccentric-only reps in this fashion. Stand on a bench or other platform to skip the concentric range of the eccentric range, then lower yourself down over 8 seconds. Repeat for 2 more reps.

If you have the guts to attempt this training protocol then you will be rewarded with some of the best gains of your life. Charles Poliquin was a true genius in the field of strength training. He either invented or popularized more training programs than anyone else in history. I hope these routines serve as inspiration for you to step out of your comfort zone and begin to truly learn the art and science of strength training program design.

I will never get my chance to thank Charles for having such a profoundly positive impact on the direction of my life. I can only hope that this article highlights the genius and generosity of the greatest strength coach that has ever lived. On behalf of the entire strength training universe, thank you for everything Charles!

I will leave you with one more Charles Poliquin quote to help you understand his way of thinking:. Thank you for reading and I wish you the best of luck on your strength training journey! Thanks for checking out my site! My name is Dr. If you want to reach your size and strength goals faster then you've come to the right place. My goal is to make RPD the 1 strength training resource available anywhere in the world.

So grab a seat, kick back and relax. There's never been a better time to lift weights or to learn the art and science of strength training program design. Jujimufu is a bodybuilder, acrobatist and one of the most famous fitness influencers in the world. He is known for his crazy hair and his even crazier training program. If you want to train like Brian Alsruhe is an amateur strongman competitor and the owner of the internet-famous Never Sate strongman gym. Brian Alsruhe uses a unique giant sets training program to build muscle mass, get Skip to content.

Before you go, check this out! For example: Charles Poliquin Cluster Sets Step 1: Perform your 1st rep, then rest seconds Step 2: Perform your 2nd rep, then rest seconds Step 3: Perform your 3rd rep, then rest seconds Step 4: Perform your 4th rep, then rest seconds Step 5: Perform your 5th rep, then rest minutes, repeat! Here is a perfect demonstration of Poliquin style cluster sets on the bench press and preacher curls: Cluster sets are so effective because they let you perform a large number of reps with a heavier than normal weight.

Here are 5 reasons why Charles used cluster sets with all of his athletes who needed to get stronger: Reason 1: Clusters maximize the amount of force you produce on every rep during a set Reason 2: Clusters let you train at a higher percentage of your 1-rep max for a given number of reps Reason 3: Clusters improve your exercise technique by letting you focus on perfect single reps Reason 4: Clusters speed up your recovery by preventing excessive fatigue build-up in your muscles Reason 5: Clusters increase your training density and let you perform more quality work in less time In other words cluster sets make you stronger, more explosive, improve your technique, improve your recovery time and improve your workout density so you get more work done in less time.

There is no other training method in the world that can match the power of cluster sets. Alternating back-and-forth between antagonistic exercises has many advantages: Advantage 1: You can recruit more muscle fibers in the target muscle groups Advantage 2: You have better muscular endurance over the course of the workout Advantage 3: You can perform twice as much work in a given period of time Charles believed so strongly in antagonistic body part supersets that he designed the vast majority of his hypertrophy and strength routines to include them.

Unfortunately the original German Volume Training program does not work for everyone. Every time you decrease the number of reps your training weights should increase. Here are some sample Doug Hepburn training routines.

Set lbs x 3 reps crushing! Here is the experienced DC trainee Dusty Hanshaw giving a perfect demonstration of a rest-pause set: As you can see Dusty Hanshaw trains to failure three times in a row with seconds in between each attempt.

Step 2: Perform 1 more rep with the same weight, then rest 15 seconds. Step 3: Perform 1 more rep with the same weight, then rest 15 seconds. Step 4: Perform 1 more rep with the same weight, done! With the 5 to 8 method you are performing 8 reps with a weight you can lift 5 times. Part 7: Contrast Sets The contrast set method is a very powerful training program. However, I can still remember the exact workout where I hit this lift like it was yesterday… The contrast set method is another awesome way to train for absolute strength and functional hypertrophy.

Part 8: Giant Sets And now for something completely different! Part 9: Yielding Isometrics There are three different types of muscle contractions: Type 1: Concentric muscle contractions Type 2: Eccentric muscle contractions Type 3: Isometric muscle contractions Concentric muscular contractions occur when a muscle contracts while shortening. For example: Charles Poliquin used two types of isometric training methods with his athletes: overcoming isometrics and yielding isometrics. Part Wave Loading Charles Poliquin was first introduced to wave loading through the legendary Olympic weightlifting coach Pierre Roy.

Step 2: Without racking the weight your training partners will place eccentric hooks on either end of the barbell. Step 3: Lower the weight over 10 seconds. Once the weight releasers hit the ground your partners will provide generous assistance to lift the weight back to lockout Step 4: Your partners will once again add the eccentric hooks onto either side of the barbell.

Step 5: You will complete one more eccentric-only repetition over 10 seconds. Once the weight releasers hit the floor your training partners will lift the weight to lockout and help you rack the weight.

I recommend you use the following training split: Monday: Upper Body eccentric work Wednesday: Lower Body eccentric work Friday: Upper Body regular lifting Saturday: Lower Body regular lifting The eccentric-only reps are only going to be performed on Monday and Wednesday. Part Post-Exhaustion Supersets Post-exhaustion supersets are a very simple but effective training method.

And I see myself as always being on fire. As long as the mind can envision the fact that you can do something, you can do it, as long as you really believe percent. Here is American shotput gold-medalist Adam Nelson giving a picture-perfect demonstration of isometronics on the incline bench press: Again the sequence goes like this: Perform partial range of motion reps in between 2 sets of safety pins On the last rep perform an 8-second overcoming isometric against the top pins Lower the weight and attempt one final partial range-of-motion rep All this together constitutes one set of isometronics.

If you want to learn more about how to use overcoming isometrics to bust through bench press plateaus then I highly recommend the following article: 3 Isometric Bench Press Routines! It looks like this in practice: Step 1: Perform 3 reps, rest minutes Step 2: Perform 1 supra-maximal eccentric rep, rest minutes Step 3: Perform 3 reps, rest minutes Step 4: Perform 1 supra-maximal eccentric rep, rest minutes Step 5: Perform 3 reps, rest minutes Step 6: Perform 1 supra-maximal eccentric rep, rest minutes You are performing 6 total sets before moving on to accessory work.

And we were good again. Since he was my biggest influence, I decided to share some of the things I learned from him. Some of these things might seem basic now, but they truly changed the game years ago.

Almost 20 years ago, I was at a seminar given by Charles. I was still an Olympic lifter or trying to be one at the time, and I asked him what was the best way to rapidly gain strength. Okkkkaaayyy… how do I do that exactly? When I started using clusters I was using up to 5 work sets. It worked because I was young and had a very resilient nervous system. But most people should likely start at work sets.

The only other loading parameter that gave me and my clients similar strength gains as clusters are waves. After you completed your 3 sets in a series, you started a new, heavier wave I normally start the new wave with the weight I used for the second set of the preceding wave. You kept going until you could complete all the sets in a wave.

In any given workout you would complete 2 to 4 waves depending on your recovery and performance state. If you complete 4 waves you either are in splendid form and beat a PR or you started too light.

If in a workout you complete 3 waves, at the next session you start with your second wave weights. If you completed 4 waves at the next session you start with your third wave weights. If you only complete 2 waves you stay at the same starting weights. Of course, because of the high volume of sets and neurological stress, you reduce the amount of work for the rest of the session.

This is another great strength method aimed at maximizing neural adaptations on one specific lift. Many great programs use that approach. In my layer system, you only do one main exercise using 4 different methods, really piling on the sets. But this works mostly through the shear accumulation of volume and fatigue. One thing I noticed from teaching the Olympic lifts is that there comes a point where when you do so many sets of a same exercise, technique starts to breakdown.

But if you split the sets into two sections you will greatly improve technical efficiency. Remember: the key to motor learning is NOT the quantity of practice but rather the frequency of practice. You know what they say about learning: you must learn something, forget some parts, and then learn it again to make it permanent.

Tempo refers to the speed at which you perform each rep of an exercise. It is generally prescribed in the form of a 4-digit number. Something like:. The second digit 0 is the transition time before the lowering and lifting phase time spent in the stretched position. The fourth digit 2 is the transition time between the lifting phase and the next rep time spent in the contracted position. However, what it did teach me was the importance of varying the type of repetitions you do.

And that lowering or lifting a weight slowly or fast will have a different training effect. Doing 8 reps with a tempo will have a completely different training effect than doing the same 8 reps with a tempo.

In one case, you will create more muscle fatigue, activate mTOR more and accumulate more lactic acid, while in the other one you will use bigger weights and cause more muscle damage. Playing with the type of muscle contraction is important not only to progress faster, for longer but also to develop your capacity to produce force under different conditions.

I always was a low reps guy. I started training for football and was trained by a good strength coach from the start. The highest we would go as far as reps are concerned was 8 and most of our work was spent doing sets of When I was done with Olympic lifting and wanted to do bodybuilding, I still wanted to do low reps but every bodybuilder in the gym told me that I needed to do sets of or more to grow.