The Two Barbell Rule

 

Minimalist Training for Maximum Gains

     I made the mistake today of reading one of the popular bodybuilding websites.  Occasionally I do this, but almost always regret it shortly after.  Today was no different.  I write that it was a “mistake” only because reading these online “rags”—I suppose that’s the best term, though perhaps “zine” might be more apropos—almost always makes me want to beat my head into the wall of my dungeonous garage gym until I black out and (hopefully) forget everything I just read.

     I always make my way to one of these websites in the hope, faint though it may be, that I might actually stumble upon an article or two with good training advice.  But, alas, to no avail.

     I suppose you could argue that I’m being a bit too curmudgeonly.  Heck, you might be right.  Well, partially right.  Because, if I’m honest, there are some decent training articles on most of these sites.  But it’s pretty much the same old thing.  Stuff like multi-bodypart split programs, the latest “cutting edge” supplements (typically promoted and sold on the website), standard bodybuilding diets that haven’t changed since I first started writing for bodybuilding magazines in the early ‘90s, and, well, the list could go on and on.

     Today, however, I probably got more annoyed than usual after reading about the “genius” of Charles Poliquin’s so-called “German Volume Training.”  I was always fond of Poliquin—may his memory be eternal—but GVT wasn’t anything new when he wrote it, not to mention the fact that the German weightlifting team never trained in such a manner.  It’s just standard one-exercise-per-bodypart training using a 10 sets of 10 reps workout.  Besides, I wrote about that method of training (a year or two before Poliquin) in the pages of IronMan magazine.  If anything, Poliquin should have titled it “American Volume Training,” as Vince Gironda had been touting it for decades, and it was oft used by many American bodybuilders in the ‘60s and ‘70s, and I (probably) first read about it from one of Greg Zulak’s articles in MuscleMag International, as he wrote about it long before Poliquin.

     Maybe I should stop complaining.  After all, this particular site might want me to write a truly effective workout program for them at some point.  But I doubt it.  For one, most of my programs go against the popular workouts performed by the average gym-goer.  For another, most of my programs also go against the grain of current training fads promoted by this company.  Full-body workouts, high-frequency training, and old-school powerlifting programs aren’t what this site is selling.  (Oh, and by the way, there are good sites out there such as Dragon Door and Strong First, along with a host of others—I’m not talking about them.)

     I just don’t think the average reader of these “average” sites has much interest in the sort of workouts I promote.  But maybe I’m wrong.

     Anyway, my whole excursion onto this website sort of got me thinking.  Mainly about some workout principles that I haven’t written about as much lately; workout programs that would be more beneficial for modern bodybuilders than what most bodybuilding sites promote.  One of those principles is the “two barbell rule.”

     I first wrote about the two barbell rule over a decade ago, and I may have mentioned it here or there in various articles, but not lately, so I figure it’s time to dust it off[1].  The premise is simple.  At each and every training session, do two barbell exercises before you do anything else.  The premise, in fact, is so simple that I think folks are too easy to dismiss it.  “Well, of course I should start my workouts with a couple of barbell exercises,” you might be saying to yourself.  But how many trainees actually do that?

     Most gym-goers start with exercises using machines, bands, cables, or light dumbbells that my grandma would have been capable of lifting when she was in her 90s (God rest her beautiful soul).  And if they do start with barbell exercises, the choices seem limited to bench presses or barbell curls.  Now, I like both benches and barbell curls, I really do, and I’ve certainly written programs before that start with those two movements.  I probably will in the future.  But, ideally, you want to pick two barbell exercises that are more “bang for your buck” affairs.

     A good idea is to write down a list of around 20 barbell movements.  Over the course of the next year, try to get strong on all of them.  A good list might look something like this: back squats, front squats, bottom-position squats, bench presses, incline presses, close-grip bench presses, board presses, overhead presses, behind-the-neck presses, push presses, high pulls, power snatches, power cleans, conventional deadlifts, sumo deadlifts, deficit deadlifts, stiff-legged deadlifts, bent-over rows, pullovers, and barbell curls.  Now, don’t try to get strong on all of them at once.  Pick two, four, or six (groups of two, in other words) and get strong on those for 6 weeks or so before moving onto some other movements.  And don’t select all squatting movements or all pressing movements (etc.) to get strong on at once.  For the first 6 weeks, you might choose back squats, military presses, bench presses, power cleans, pullovers, and barbell curls.  At the following 6 weeks, it might be front squats, behind-the-neck presses, incline presses, power snatches, bent-over rows, and stiff-legged deadlifts.  The 6 weeks after that, either pick another group of dozen or return to the movements utilized in the first 6 weeks and see how much stronger you are.

     Heck, if you still want to do a laundry list of machine and cable movements or isolation exercises, then go ahead and do them.  Just do them after you’ve finished with your two barbell lifts.  Of course, if you work the two barbell movements hard—and this is the beauty of using this method—you probably won’t end up doing too many cable flyes or one-legged machine what-the-hell ever.  You might find—and I believe this is what most lifters gravitate toward after a few sessions—that all you need are the two barbell movements and nothing else.  A two-lifts-a-day program cuts out all the superfluous nonsense and yields tremendous mass-building, strength-gaining results.

     Another great thing about this “rule” is that it’s applicable across multiple kinds of programs.  You can use it on an “easy strength” high-frequency program, a 3 days a week full-body regimen, a one-bodypart-per-day routine, and everything in between.

     Here are a few program examples to give you an idea of the kind of training that I have in mind.

3 Days Per Week, 10 sets of 3 Reps Program

Monday:

Squats: 10x3

Bench presses: 10x3

Wednesday:

Power cleans: 10x3

Overhead presses: 10x3

Friday:

Deadlifts: 10x3

Incline bench presses: 10x3

·         On each movement, use a weight where you could get 6 reps for one all-out set.  Now, attempt to get 3 reps on all 10 sets.  If you manage 3 reps on all sets, then add weight at the next session.

 

Upper/Lower Split Program

Monday:

Squats: 5x5

Stiff-legged deadlifts: 5x3

Tuesday:

Incline bench presses: 5x5

Barbell curls: 5x5

Thursday:

Bottom-position squats: 5x5

Sumo deficit deadlifts: 5x3

Friday:

Bench presses: 5x5

Bent-over rows: 5x5

 

10 Sets of 10 Reps Hypertrophy Program (Don’t call it German Volume Training)

 Day One:

Bench presses: 10x10

Barbell curls: 10x10

Day Two:

Front squats: 10x10

Stiff-legged deadlifts: 10x10

Day Three: OFF

Day Four:

Bent-over rows: 10x10

Behind-the-neck presses: 10x10

Day Five: OFF

Day Six: REPEAT

·         On each exercise, use a weight where you could do 20 reps for one all-out set.  Rest about one minute between sets.  Whatever rest time you utilize, use that same rest time between each set.

     Before wrapping this thing up, it must be noted that you could do a program where you started each and every workout with either a dumbbell or kettlebell version of all of the above exercises.  However, I find that, unless one is already advanced and disciplined enough, lifters tend to start sliding in exercises that they have no business doing.  Compound barbell movements simply don’t offer that alternative.

     The two-barbell rule is a simple, fool-proof way to ensure you are on a good program.  It produces maximum gains with minimal training.  What could be any better?

---

[1] I believe it was Jim Wendler who coined the term “the two barbell rule.”  Wendler is best known as the creator of the “5/3/1 Program.”