Basic Movements, Quick Gains

Just the Basics for Fast Muscle Gains

     There are a number of reasons why modern trainees don’t get good results in the gym.  I write a lot about programming, workout ideas, and whatnot, and the fact that most lifters would be better off training with more frequency, using full-body workouts, and stop treating every single workout session as if it’s an all-out onslaught where they have to storm the muscle-building Bastille.  I suppose when it comes right down to it, however, the first culprit for lack of gains is just not doing the right movements in the first place.  Do your workouts consist of these movements (with free weights, I must add)?

• Vertical press (overhead work)

• Horizontal press

• Squat

• Upper body pull

• Lower body pull

• Loaded carry

     If they do, you’re probably getting decent results even without proper programming.  If, on the other hand, the majority of your sessions consist of pumping up your chest and biceps muscles (probably with machines or cable movements) then it’s likely that you haven't seen results after you moved past the “newbie” stage.

     Yep, exercise selection really is that important.  Now, ideally, you would also combine the correct movements with good programming.  If you’re new to training—or, heck, if you’ve been training half your life—you just can’t go wrong with old-fashioned full-body workouts done 3 days per week.  It’s been around for a long time because it’s worked for a long time.  You can’t find a single great bodybuilder from the “silver” or “golden” eras of bodybuilding’s yesteryear that didn’t start their journey to muscle-building immortality with full-body workouts.  Some of them—Clancy Ross, Steve Reeves, John Grimek, Reg Park—trained their entire career with little (or nothing) else.

     In addition to the correct movements and full-body workouts, use a set/rep combination that has proven successful.  For each lift, if you’ll do somewhere between 15 and 25 reps, you’ll get great results.  This means you just can’t go wrong with these:

• 3 sets of 5

• 5 sets of 3

• 3 sets of 8

• 5 sets of 5

     Some lifters will do better at the lower end of the spectrum by sticking with 15 reps (3x5, 5x3) and others at the higher end (3x8, 5x5).  That will take a little bit of experimenting.  Start with the 15-rep combinations to begin with.  After a month or so of training, if you think you might need it, move closer to 25.

     Here’s a good full-body program that you can start with:

1. Squats: 5x3

2. Military presses: 5x3

3. Stiff-legged deadlifts: 5x3

4. Bench presses: 3x5

5. One-arm dumbbell rows: 3x5 (each arm)

6. Farmer walks: 2 to 3 sets, hard but not all-out

     Train Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays or any other 3 non-consecutive days per week.  Use a weight on each movement where the last set or two are “hard” but you can still get all of your reps on each set.  Stick with that weight until the workouts start to feel “easy” and then, and only then, add some weight.  This is what I often call the “everything moderate” approach and it works better for almost any lifter out there than the train-as-hard-as-you-can until you’re blue-in-the-face model.  It’s what all those aforementioned old-school bodybuilders did.  It worked then.  It works now.

     If you’re more advanced, and have already been doing workouts like that, and you want to get really big and strong then you can do more sets of roughly the same reps.  In this case, move your total reps per lift to between 30 and 40.  6 to 8 sets of 5 reps is a game changer for most lifters in search of a combination of size and strength.  10 sets of 3 works well, too.

     If you reach the point in your training that you’re ready for this more advanced route, you might want to consider a “full-body split.”  Do 2 different workouts and rotate back and forth between the two, training every-other-day.  Here are the kind of sessions I have in mind:

Workout A

1. Squats: 8x5

2. Military presses: 8x5

3. Wide-grip weighted chins: 10x3

Workout B

1. Sumo deficit deadlifts: 10x3

2. Bench presses: 8x5

3. Farmer walks: 3 to 4 sets, once again hard, but leave a little something “in the tank.”

     When doing 8 to 10 sets on a movement, select a weight where you could get double the reps if you were going for 1 all-out, hard-as-heck set.  So, for 8 sets of 5 reps, select a weight where you could get 10 reps.  For 10x3, select a weight where you would get 6 reps.  Once again, stick with that weight until all of your sets feel easy (the last couple of sets for each movement will probably be hard when starting out; this indicates you selected the correct poundage), and then add weight.  It’s adding weight naturally, and it’s another key to long-term progress.

     What if, for some reason, you can only use 3 movements for a program?  Perhaps you’re short on time or you’re an athlete who invests a lot of energy in another sport, such as a football player or a fighter.  In this case, I don’t think you can go wrong with these 3 movements:

• Vertical press

• Squat

• Quick lift

     The quick lift is good because it’s both a lower and an upper body pull.  (It’s also just great for athletes in general.)  It’s also a lot easier on your nervous system than deadlift variations, and your lower back recovers from it much faster, whether its power cleans, power snatches, or high pulls.  The squat is always good for everyone.  And if you have to choose between the two different upper body presses (horizontal or vertical), go with the vertical.  For athletes it’s superior because you’re doing it standing.  Standing movements, even for casual gym-goers, are almost always better than ones performed sitting or lying down.

     It might seem almost too basic for a lot of trainees, but to give you an example, an MMA fighter simply couldn’t go wrong with this workout performed 3 (or perhaps just 2) days per week:

• Squats: 5x3

• One-arm dumbbell overhead presses: 5x3 (each arm)

• Power cleans: 5x3

     You can also apply all of these fundamental movements to your workouts even if you’re an older lifter, are only interested in “getting in shape,” or train at home with minimal equipment.  Let’s say that you have a couple pairs of kettlebells (perhaps a pair of 30s and a pair of 50s) and nothing else.  Fine.  Good, in fact.  Sometimes, as I’ve pointed out elsewhere, the more options that you have—such as the plethora of machines and other equipment at a commercial gym—the worse your results.  There are just too many choices in that instance, and lifters don’t know where to even start.  (Or they don’t know if they haven’t read, and applied, the information here.)  In this case, you might do a workout like this with said kettlebells:

• Double kettlebell front squats: 30 to 50 reps total (something such as 3 to 5 sets of 10 reps or 2 sets of 20)

• Double kettlebell overhead presses: 30 to 50 reps total

• Double kettlebell cleans: 30 to 50 reps total

• Push-ups: 30 to 50 reps total

• Chins: 30 to 50 reps total

• Double kettlebell farmer walks: 2 to 3 longer distance sets  (These are more “corrective” than anything else, unless you’re going to buy a pair of “monster” ‘bells.  Still, a long stroll with a pair of 50s—or even just 30s—will do the body some “good.”)

     If anyone reading this doesn’t get good results from the workouts—assuming they do them as written—then it’s probably for one reason.  But this is one of those “big” reasons for not getting results out of any program.  Lifters that don’t see results don’t strive to master these basic lifts.  Your squats should be deep—ass-to-the-grass, as I like to say.  Your bench presses should involve your butt and your head staying on the bench.  Your presses—benching movements and overhead presses—should press up in a straight line and seamlessly.  If one arm locks out before the other, then it’s not seamless, folks.  Your grip should stay strong on your deadlifts and other pulls, and you should never drop the bar at any point.  No one likes that jackass in the gym that drops the weights—usually while screaming and grunting in an attempt to “impress the ladies.”  Sorry, they’re not impressed.  Nope.  They think that person is worse than my words of “jackass”.  More like a total ass.  Don’t be one of “those” guys.  Master the lifts instead.  Your muscles will thank you.

     If you enjoyed this essay, then you will probably like my book Ultimate Mass and Power Essays.  You can find more information about it, and all my other books, at the My Books page of the blog.

     As always, if there are any questions or comments about the subjects discussed here, leave them in the “comments” section below.  You can also send me an email if you prefer private correspondence.  I usually get around to answering my emails within a couple of days.