The Two Exercise Program

I have, for a long time now, been a proponent of one-exercise-per-bodypart routines. I think this kind of training is effective for building muscle, building strength, or just getting in great strength.

Bodybuilders of old would use this form of training in the off-season, where they would train one (or at the most, two) exercises for each of their muscle groups. In general, most "old-timers" thought this was the best form of training for growing muscle, not to mention becoming bigger, stronger, thicker lifters. It wasn't until a couple of months from a contest that they would switch over to a multi-angular approach. They (rightfully, I might add) believed that multi-angular training splits were best done for "shaping" and "detailing" the muscles, but NOT for building big muscles in the first place.

Not only, however, is it good to limit the number of exercises performed for each bodypart, but it's also wise to limit the number of exercises per workout.

Enter the "Two Exercise Program."

This program is great for building muscle mass. If you used this program for the majority of the training for the rest of your life, then you would end up with a lifetime of great workouts, and plenty of good training experience.

Don't worry, there's also plenty of variety inherently built into this program.

First, I'm going to outline this program's parameters, then I'll give you an example of an actual training program. Here's the parameters:

1. Use only two exercises at each workout.

2. Pick exercises that use a lot of muscle groups at one time.

3. Use a (fairly) high amount of volume for each muscle group.

4. For the most part, alternate exercises from workout to workout.

5. For the most part, alternate set/rep ranges from workout to workout.

6. Train 3 days per week.

Here's what an example program (one week of training) might look like:

Monday:

squats: 100 reps using the 2, 3, 5, 10 workout plan

dumbbell bench presses: 100 reps using the 2, 3, 5, 10 workout plan

Wednesday:

snatch-grip deadlifts: 10 sets of 3 reps

barbell curls: 10 sets of 3 reps

Friday:

dips: 5 sets of 5 reps

chins: 5 sets of 5 reps

Above all, have fun and be innovative with this program. It looks simple, but it's also highly rewarding.

Marvin Eder’s Mass-Building Methods

The Many and Varied Mass-Building Methods of Power Bodybuilding’s G.O.A.T. Eder as he appeared in my article "Full Body Workouts" for IronMan magazine. In many ways, the essay you are now reading is the one that has had the “longest time coming.” I have no clue why it has taken me this long to write an article specifically on Marvin Eder, especially considering the fact that I have long considered him the greatest bodybuilder cum strength athlete of all friggin’ time . In fact, over 20 years ago, I wrote this in the pages of IronMan magazine: In my opinion, the greatest all-around bodybuilder, powerlifter and strength athlete ever to walk the planet, Eder had 19-inch arms at a bodyweight of 198. He could bench 510, squat 550 for 10 reps and do a barbell press with 365. He was reported to have achieved the amazing feat of cranking out 1,000 dips in only 17 minutes. Imagine doing a dip a second for 17 minutes. As Gene Mozee once put ...

Everything Moderate

An Effective Training Approach for Muscle Growth I write a lot about high-frequency training (HFT). I think it’s one of the most effective methods of training. One of the main reasons that I write about it is because I believe it’s underused. At least, it is among modern trainees in most gyms throughout the land. Because it is a really popular way to train among modern lifters, I also write quite a bit about low-frequency programs, but ones that use high-volume and high-intensity. Since it is so popular, I figure I might as well write about good programs that use that methodology. But there is another way to train that can be highly effective for a lot of lifters. It’s not flashy. It’s not “sexy.” And it’s without a doubt nothing new. You might call it the everything moderate approach. Moderate frequency. Moderate volume. Moderate...

Tough and Easy

Some Thoughts on Attaining Your Training Goals It won’t be long—about a month and a half—and the gyms will be filled with new members, intent to get in shape or lose weight as part of their New Year’s resolutions. They’ll probably quit sometime in February. I have long believed that the reason for this—well, outside of the fact that it’s not something they really want to do in the first place—is because the approach they take, at least here in America, is wrong. We live in a culture—at least, a gym culture; I suppose this applies to other areas, too—that is all or nothing . You either train all-out, balls-to-the-wall, foot-to-the-floor (use whatever pithy little slogans you can think of) or you don’t train at all. And to get in shape, it’s not just weights, either. Nope, you gotta start running 5 miles a day, and throwing a medicine ball against a wall hundreds of times in a session, then battling...

C.S. Sloan's Integral Strength

Search This Blog