The 6-On/1-Off Power Program

Reimagining a Classic Bodybuilding Method for Strength and Power

     When I first started lifting—not to mention reading bodybuilding magazines—in the mid to late ‘80s, most bodybuilders trained the same way.  By and large, although there were exceptions, mind you, so I don’t mean this as an entirely blanket statement, the majority of bodybuilders trained on either a 6-on, 1-off split, or a 3-on, 1-off split.  The body was split 3 ways.  Typically, one followed either a push (chest, shoulders, triceps)/pull (back and biceps)/legs split or an “antagonistic” split where you trained your chest and back one day, your shoulders, bis and tris the 2nd day, and, finally, your legs on the 3rd day.

     Although this seems as if it’s a lot of volume, especially if you’ve been drinking the Kool-Aid of “high-intensity” training, it was actually less work than bodybuilders from previous eras.  Arnold, for instance, trained on a 6-on, 1-off split, but he trained each muscle group three times per week, upper body on one day, and legs the next.  That was common for, essentially, all bodybuilders of the ‘60s and ‘70s, the advent of Arthur Jones’s training methods in the ‘70s withstanding.

     In the ‘90s, with the rise of Dorian Yates, not to mention extreme drug use among professional bodybuilders (which, I would argue, makes less frequent training all the more effective), the 6-on, 1-off, 3-way splits that were so common before gave way to less and less training.  Four, 5, and even 6-way splits became more and more common all the way until this very day, where it’s not uncommon to find almost every single guy at a gym training on a one-bodypart-per-day split.  There are outliers, of course, but when it comes to strictly hypertrophy training, that does seem to have become the norm.

     Of course, in the lifting community, other methods of training have always been, and are still, considered the norm.  High-frequency training has always been prevalent in the lifting community, especially among Olympic weightlifters.  And with the rise of Crossfit in this century, you most certainly do have less average gym-goers who consider every Monday to be “International Arm Day.”

     Now, back to the ‘80s and the subject that I’m reaching towards.  Even though 3-way splits and 6 days-per-week of training was common for bodybuilders, it was not, nor has it really ever been, common among lifters—be it powerlifters, Olympic lifters, or strongmen.  But I think it actually can be an effective way for lifters of all types to train.

     What follows is a method for transforming this old-school bodybuilding form of training into a new-school strength and power program.  First, I will outline the basic program as I have it in mind.  Then I will follow that up with some variations you could potentially use and some tips to help you out.

The 6-On 1-Off Squat/Push/Pull Power Program

     My suggested program might seem almost too basic, but “basic” is one of the main things that seem to be lacking in many gyms today, along with other notions such as “simple” or “hard.”  Basic, simple, and hard programs will always be the best.

     For this program you will train, yep, 6 days in a row, and take one day off each week.  I think the most ideal off day for the majority of people is going to be Sunday.  For some, this might be because of religious reasons—although my spiritual father, Father Demetrius of blessed memory, always told me that it was better to work on Sundays than just sit around and watch football or drink beer.  “Just do it in service to the Lord,” he would explain.  For others, it might be because Sunday is their day of relaxation, for religious reasons or otherwise, and the day they spend with their family.  The main reason, however, that I think a lot of people take off on Sundays is because this off-day, being the last day of the week, helps to prepare them for Monday by “recharging” their batteries, so to speak.  Folks just like to take off on Sundays.  Personally, I always enjoyed lifting on Sundays.  For one, it always helped prepare me for the coming week.  A hard, long Sunday lifting session always helped to make Mondays, the start of my work week, feel relatively easy after such a hard training bout the day before.  Anyway, if you do like training on the weekends, then you might want to make your off-day in the middle of the work week; Wednesday, for instance, would be my choice if I follow this program.

Day One

     This is going to be your squat day.  The only thing I want you to do this day is, you guessed it, squat.  Perform ramps.  You can either do ramps of 5s, ramps of 5s then triples, or, if you’re more advanced, ramps of 5s, 3s, and then singles.  When progressing in weight for strength training, ramps are always superior to “pyramids” where you add weight and drop reps.  That sort of training simply fatigues your muscles too much, and doesn’t neurally prepare you for the heavier sets the way that ramps do.

     Start with nothing but the Olympic bar and slowly add weight with each set, always doing 5 reps.  Stop once you miss 5 reps.  Take your sweet time in getting up to the 5-rep max.  You may end up doing 10 to 15 sets, the more the better. Do NOT simply do 2 or 3 sets before reaching your 5-rep max.  It's called "ramps" for a reason.

     At your first session, you might want to stop once you reach your 5-rep max.  If you’ve never trained in this manner before, then that’s exactly what you should do.  If you’re conditioned for it however, because you’ve already been training as a power athlete for some time, then go ahead and do triples, or triples then singles.  Follow the same manner of slowly adding weight.  Keep this in mind like a constant mantra on this program: the more sets the better.

     Once you reach your last set—whether it’s 5 reps, 3 reps, or singles—don’t do anything else.  Adding more work for your legs on this day will end up sabotaging the program.  Keep in mind that you will be squatting again in a couple of days, and you’ll be doing two additional pull days during the week.  So you’ll need the rest.

Day Two

     The second day of training will be devoted to the bench press.  (If you decide to select a different movement, make sure that it’s a “horizontal” pressing movement, as you will be doing a vertical movement—overhead pressing—on Day Five.)

     Work up over many sets of ramps using the same method as the squats from Day One.  And make sure—since you, in all likelihood, won’t be as strong on bench presses as squats—that you take smaller jumps here than on the squat.  Of course, just what each jump in weight looks like will depend on your strength level.  If you’re strong on the bench, then, by all means, take larger jumps in weight.

     As with Day One, don’t do anything other than the bench press.

Day Three

      Your 3rd day of training will focus on the deadlift or one of its variations.  Select either conventional or sumo deadlifts.  If you want, you could also perform deficit deadlifts, whether sumo or conventional.  Do not select rack pulls—a.ka. partial deadlifts—because you need a fuller range of motion.

     Perform ramps the same as the other days.  The only difference would be that you could, if you so choose, perform ramps of triples and singles, foregoing the ramps of 5s.  Deadlifts and other pulling movements tend to work better using lower reps.  But keep in mind that this is just an option.  Feel free to train the same manner on all days for the sake of simplicity.

Day Four

     On your 4th day of training, you will return to squats.  Do ramps the same as Day One.  And, yes, I know that you’re going to be sore from not just the squats from your first day of training but from the heavy deadlifts yesterday.  That’s okay.  This will make this a natural light or moderate day of training.  Simply work up as heavy as you can on this day.

     One word of caution: the first couple weeks of training, make sure that you don’t overdo this day.  If you’re very sore, then at first work up to no more than half of the weights used on Day One.  Eventually, however, you will adapt, and you’ll probably be surprised how heavy you can train on this day.

Day Five

     For your 2nd pressing day of the week, you will do barbell overhead presses.  Work up in ramps the same manner as all other days.  Since this will probably be, by far, the weakest of your lifts, make sure you really take your time using smaller jumps in weight.

Day Six

     Your 6th, and final day, of the training week will, once again be a pulling movement.  However, I want you to not do a deadlift variation, but, rather, a variation of a quick lift.  The choice is yours.  Select from power cleans, power snatches, or high pulls.  You can do them from the floor or the hang position.  It doesn’t matter.  Whatever exercise you select, use it each and every 6th day of training.  (More below on when to switch out movements.)

     As with all other days, perform ramps.

Some Tips, Pointers, and Variations You Can Try

• Notice that the second half of the week—days 4, 5, and 6—are “light” days in that your workload will always be less than the first half of the week.  This is important.  It’s also the reason you shouldn’t change around the order of the exercises.

• Refrain from taking extra days off.  Your body will adapt to the training, even if you’re sore the second half of the week.  Eventually, however, if you discover that you need extra days off, you can try changing to a 3-on, 1-off program.

• Also, refrain from adding extra movements at first.  One-lift-each-day is plenty.  Eventually, you can add work, however, it takes time building up to it.

• If you stick with the program long enough that you think you could benefit from additional work, then try simply adding more work to the lifts, and not adding additional movements.  The first thing to try would be a few back-off sets.  Try adding two or three, at the most, once you are finished with your ramps.  Drop down in weight and do a few sets of 8 to 10 reps on the same lift.  If you want to stick with lower reps, then you can also drop down in weight and do 5 straight sets of 5 reps.  If you go this latter route, make sure you have built up the work capacity to handle that much volume.

• If you are advanced, then you can try doing double ramps where you do two sets at each jump.  Even if you don’t end up lifting heavier—in fact, at first, this might cause you to have to utilize less weight—your workload will end up being much higher, since you’re doing double the amount of sets.  Another, perhaps even more advanced, option is to repeat the same ramps you just performed, or at least try to.  This should only be reserved, however, for advanced strength athletes.

• And, yes, eventually you can add extra movements, too, but don’t overdo it.  Add some dips or other triceps work on your push days, some chins or curls on your pull day, and perhaps some front squats or lunges to your squat day.

• After 6 to 8 weeks, change exercises.  Just remember the lifter’s motto in these cases: same but different.  Replace squats with front squats, bottom-position squats, or box squats.  Replace bench presses with heavy weighted dips, incline bench presses, or bottom-position benches.  Replace deadlifts with another style of deadlift.  If you did sumo the first 6 to 8 weeks, switch over to conventional.  Or vice versa.  Replace barbell overheads with behind-the-neck presses, dumbbell overhead presses,or one-arm dumbbell overhead presses.  If you go the one-arm route, make sure that you do the same amount of work for each side.  Lastly, replace whatever quick lift you used with another one.  So if you used power cleans, then switch to power snatches or high pulls.  Or, if you did full cleans or snatches, swap over to hang cleans or snatches.

• One important thing is left out of the program: some form of loaded carry (or a similar movement).  At first, stick with the program as-is, however, once you think you can handle the extra work, add something such as sled drags or tire flips to your squat day and farmer walks or sandbag carries to your pull day.  At this point, you’ll be utilizing The Big 4, which is always, I believe, vital for a truly “complete” power program.

Final Thoughts

     When most of my generation (Gen X) remember their youth in the ‘80s, they probably think about big hair, parachute pants, and wanting their MTV.  But I think about Lee Haney, Rich Gaspari, Lee Labrada, the Barbarian Brothers, and old-school 6-on, 1-off bodybuilding.  All those things seem to have faded from popular memory.  But maybe it’s time to bring back the 6-on 1-off approach, albeit in a less conventional, power-centric manner.  Some things do, indeed, deserve a comeback.