The Pure Power Split Program

A 2-Way Split Training Regimen for Building Incredible Strength and Power with a Size-Building Side Effect

An East-Meets-West Strength and Power Routine

     In September of last year, I published a training program called The Pure Power Program.  It is a full-body routine that rotates between heavy workouts, light sessions, and “speed” workouts.  Feel free to read that original program if you wish—especially if you are looking for a full-body regimen—but in this article, I want to show how you can use it in a 2-way split program.  I will also review all of the “tenets” that comprises the program, so don’t feel as if you have to be familiar with my original article to continue here.

     This is an “East meets West” program because it utilizes principles from “Eastern” countries (Russian extensively but also Bulgarian to some extent), primarily on the “heavy” training days, along with principles that are borrowed from both Westside and Bill Starr.  The “light” workouts here are almost straight up what you would do on a light day using Starr’s system, and the “speed” workouts are straight out of Westside.  You could also, rather soundly I would say, argue that Westside itself is composed of both Western and Eastern principles.  For instance, you could hardly read a single article written by Louie Simmons, Westside’s mastermind, without him discussing Russian training principles or quoting from Russian strength-training researchers such as Zatsiorsky.

     For the sake of clarity, not to mention brevity, the program that I will outline here will be a powerlifting-centric program.  However, it could also be used for other lifts or goals.  At the end of the article, I will discuss some ways that you can adjust it if you have goals outside of powerlifting.  But if your goal is to just get big and strong, there’s no reason that you have to make any major changes.  You can simply follow it as written—even if you never plan on competing in a powerlifting meet—and achieve some great results in regards to all-around strength, power, and hypertrophy.

The Methods

     First, we will look at each training day before going into details on how to organize them into a cohesive program.  You will have a bench press session (along with other upper body muscles) and a squat/deadlift day (which will also incorporate other lower body, lower back muscles).  We will look at the heavy day first, followed by the light day, and finish off with the speed day.

Heavy Day

     You will start the program with a heavy squat/deadlift day, and then follow it up the very next day with your heavy bench day.  On each heavy day, you will work up to a max (or near max) set of either 5 reps, a set of triples, a set of doubles, or a heavy single.  You will do this by utilizing ramps.  Here are some potential ramps to use on this training day:

The 5-Rep Ramp

     This is the most basic— but don't think that basic means easy.  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 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.  They’re called "ramps" for a reason.

5-3-2 Ramp

     Start with just the Olympic bar and do ramps of 5 reps until you reach a really hard, but not necessarily all-out, set.  At that point, start doing ramps of 3s until you hit a really hard triple.  Then, switch over to sets of 2 reps until you hit your max double.

3-2-1 Ramp

     Perform sets of 3 reps, ramping up until you reach a weight where 3 reps is damn near impossible.  At this point, add weight and do sets of 2 until 2 reps seems impossible.  Then begin doing singles until you miss a rep.  This style of ramps is best for deadlift variations and other pulling movements.

5-4-3-2-1 Ramp

     This is the most intense of the ramps.  Work up in sets of 5 until you can only get 4 reps; continue with 4 until you can only get 3 reps, and so on until you miss for 1 rep.

Other Options

     You can also do more “top end” sets if you wish.  Instead of working up to one all-out (or close to all-out) set, you can work up to a heavy set of 5, 3, or whatnot and do multiple sets at that weight.  This might be a better option for you if you’re after hypertrophy as much as strength and power.

     You can also use the “Hepburn method” on this day of doing multiple sets of either doubles or singles—anywhere between 5 and 10 doubles or singles is ideal.  For more information on Doug Hepburn, do a search for “Doug Hepburn” at the top of the blog and you’ll find multiple articles on how to use his methods.

     If you’re an advanced strength athlete, and you know exactly the kind of heavy training that works well for you, then use whatever that is on this day.

     On your squat/deadlift day, squat on each heavy day.  Whether or not you deadlift at every heavy session will depend on how you respond to deadlift frequency.  At first, I would do both of them.  You may find that you do better, however, by deadlifting at every other heavy session.  When you are finished with your squats and deadlifts, add a couple sets of assistance movements.  Good mornings are a good option, as are hyperextensions or reverse hypers if you have access to a reverse hyper machine.  I also recommend a couple sets of a heavy ab exercise, such as weighted incline sit-ups or the ab wheel.  Your heavy squat/deadlift session might look like this:

• Squats: 5-3-2 ramp

• Deadlifts: 3-2-1 ramp

• Good mornings: 2 sets of 8-10 reps

• Ab wheel: 2 sets of 6-8 reps

     Feel free to add some sort of loaded carry to the end of your day, as well.  You can’t go wrong with sled drags for building up both your squat and your deadlift, along with farmer walks and stone or sandbag carries.

     For your bench day, always start with the bench press.  When you are finished with benches, add in 2 or 3 assistance movements.  A good heavy bench day might look like this:

• Bench presses: 5-3-2 ramps

• 2-board presses: 3 sets of 6-8 reps

• Weighted chins: 2 sets of 6-8 reps

• Triceps pushdowns: 2 sets of 10-12 reps

Light Day

     On your light days, you will essentially train the same way that you would on a light day of a Bill Starr system.  Essentially, you would do the same workout that you did on your heavy day, but only work up to between 50-80% of the weights utilized on the heavy day.

     Here are a couple of examples for each training day:

Squat/Deadlift Day

• Squats: 5 sets of 5 reps, work up to around 70% of your 5-rep max, and do that for 2 or 3 sets.  So, you might do 3 progressively heavier sets of 5 reps, followed by 2 sets of 5 at 70%.

• Power cleans: 5 sets of 3 reps.  Take off from deadlifting on this day, and replace it with another pulling movement.  Since you can’t work up to anywhere near 80% of your deadlift weight on this movement, do 5 progressively heavier sets of triples until you work up to a near-max.

• Weighted incline sit-ups: 2 sets of 6-8 reps

Bench Press Day

• Bench presses: 5 sets of 5 reps, following the same method as the squats from the above workout.

• Lat pulldowns: 2 sets of 10-12 reps.  These should be relatively easy.  Leave several reps in the tank for any assistance movements on your light day.

• Rope pushdowns: 2 sets of 10-12 reps

     On the light days, don’t do any loaded carries or anything of a similar nature.  You should feel good after your light workouts, knowing that you could have done a  lot more if you had wanted to.

Speed Day

     On the speed day—also known as the “dynamic effort” day—you will do between 8 to 10 sets of 1 to 3 reps, perhaps less sets on deadlifts, assuming you do some sort of deadlifting at this session.  For each exercise, use a weight that is approximately 60% of your one-rep maximum.  You can go as high as 70% if you know that works well for you—anything higher than 70% will result in too little speed, so that should be your max weight—or as low as 50%.  If you are a lifter that likes to use a form of "accommodating resistance,” via bands and/or chains, then 50% might be best.  However, if you don’t use those “gadgets,” 60% should be your starting point.  (For more information on dynamic effort training, read THIS article.)

     Here are a couple of example sessions:

Squat/Deadlift Day

• Squats: 10 sets of 2 reps, using 60% of your 1-rep maximum.  Make sure each rep of each set is done with perfect form, but move the bar as explosively as possible, especially on the ascent.

• Deadlifts: 8 sets of 1 rep.  This is OPTIONAL.  Some lifters may get great results from deadlifting at every speed session, especially if they don’t deadlift as much on the other days.  Other lifters, however, just as with the heavy day, might do better by only deadlifting at every other speed session or even just once out of every 3 workouts.

• Seated good mornings: 2 sets of 8-10 reps

• Ab wheel: 2 sets of 6-8 reps

     As with the heavy day, feel free to add in some loaded carries.  If you opt for these, use the same methodology as the heavy day, as well.

Bench Press Day

• Bench presses: 10 sets of 3 reps.  Once again, use 60% of your one-rep maximum.  For the bench presses, sets of 3 reps seem to work better than doubles (as with squats) or singles (as with deadlifts).

• Weighted chins: 2 sets of 6-8 reps

• Weighted dips: 2 sets of 6-8 reps

The Training Split

     Above are the types of sessions that you will utilize.  However, you will not follow them in a linear fashion.  Instead, you will follow this rotation: heavy-light-speed-light… repeat.  And each training day will follow this schedule: 1-on, 1-off, 1-on, 2-off.  Since you are following a 2-way split, however, this also means you will constantly be training on a 4-on, 1-off split.  To help you get a better visual understanding of what I’m discussing, your program should look like this:

Day One: heavy squat/deadlift

Day Two: heavy bench

Day Three: light squat/deadlift

Day Four: light bench

Day Five: OFF

Day Six: speed squat/deadlift

Day Seven: speed bench

Day Eight: light squat/deadlift

Day Nine: light bench

Day Ten: OFF

Day Eleven: Repeat

     The training is frequent, yes, but you have a full 10 days off between each heavy session.  So, if you start the program on a Monday, you won’t do another heavy squat/deadlift session until Thursday of the following week.  To give you an even better understanding, here is what three weeks of workouts could potentially look like.  Keep in mind, as with most of my programs (there are exceptions), that what follows is an example of training, not necessarily what you should do.  A more advanced lifter might need even more variety, and, conversely, a more intermediate lifter might need less.  Even some advanced lifters do well with less variety.  This is NOT a program for outright beginners.  It helps if you know your body at least fairly well before starting such a routine.  With that written, and out of the way, here is our example:

Week One

Monday - heavy squat/deadlift

• Squats: 5-3-2 ramp

• Deadlifts: 3-2-1 ramp

• Good mornings: 2 sets of 8-10 reps

• Ab wheel: 2 sets of 6-8 reps

• Farmer walks: 1-2 sets

Tuesday - heavy bench

• Bench presses: 5-3-2 ramps

• 2-board presses: 3 sets of 6-8 reps

• Weighted chins: 2 sets of 6-8 reps

• Triceps pushdowns: 2 sets of 10-12 reps

Wednesday - light squat/deadlift

• Squats: 5 sets of 5 reps, work up to around 70% of your 5-rep max.  Use this technique for ALL light days below

• Power cleans: 5 sets of 3 reps.  5 progressively heavier sets of triples until you work up to a near-max.

• Weighted incline sit-ups: 2 sets of 6-8 reps

Thursday - light bench

• Bench presses: 5 sets of 5 reps

• Lat pulldowns: 2 sets of 10-12 reps

• Rope pushdowns: 2 sets of 10-12 reps

Friday - OFF

Saturday - speed squat/deadlift

• Squats: 10 sets of 2 reps, using 60% of your 1-rep maximum.

• Deadlifts: 8 sets of 1 rep.  Use 60% of your 1-rep max.

• Seated good mornings: 2 sets of 8-10 reps

• Ab wheel: 2 sets of 6-8 reps

Sunday - speed bench

• Bench presses: 10 sets of 3 reps.  Once again, use 60% of your one-rep max.

• Weighted chins: 2 sets of 6-8 reps

• Weighted dips: 2 sets of 6-8 reps

Week Two

Monday - light squat/deadlift

• Squats: 5 sets of 5 reps

• Power snatches: 5 sets of 2 reps, working up over 5 progressively heavier sets

• Weighted incline sit-ups: 2 sets of 6-8 reps

Tuesday - light bench

• Bench presses: 5 sets of 5 reps

• Barbell front raises: 2 sets of 10-12 reps

• Skull crushers: 2 sets of 10-12 reps

Wednesday - OFF

Thursday - heavy squat/deadlift

• Squats: 5-4-3-2-1 ramp

• Good morning squats: 2 sets of 8-10 reps

• Ab wheel: 2 sets of 6-8 reps

• Sled drags: 2 sets

Friday - heavy bench

• Bench presses: 5-rep ramps

• 3-board presses: 3 sets of 6-8 reps

• One-arm dumbbell rows: 2 sets of 6-8 reps

• Barbell pullover/presses: 2 sets of 10-12 reps

Saturday - light squat/deadlift

• Squats: 5 sets of 5 reps

• High pulls: 5 sets of 3 reps, progressively heavier

• Weighted incline sit-ups: 2 sets of 6-8 reps

Sunday - light bench

• Bench presses: 5 sets of 5 reps

• Lat pulldowns: 2 sets of 10-12 reps

• Bench dips: 2 sets of 10-12 reps

Week Three

Monday - OFF

Tuesday - speed squat/deadlift

• Squats: 10 sets of 2 reps

• Hyperextensions: 2 sets of 8-10 reps

• Ab wheel: 2 sets of 6-8 reps

• Sandbag carries: 2 sets

Wednesday - speed bench

• Bench presses: 10 sets of 3 reps

• Weighted close-grip chins: 2 sets of 6-8 reps

• Triceps pushdowns: 2 sets of 6-8 reps

Thursday - light squat/deadlift

• Squats: 5 sets of 5 reps

• Power cleans: 5 sets of 3 reps, progressively heavier

• Weighted incline sit-ups: 2 sets of 6-8 reps

Friday - light bench

• Bench presses: 5 sets of 5 reps

• Barbell front raises: 2 sets of 10-12 reps

• Rope pushdowns: 2 sets of 10-12 reps

Saturday - OFF

Sunday - heavy squat/deadlift

• Squats: 5-3-2 ramp

• Seated good mornings: 2 sets of 8-10 reps

• Ab wheel: 2 sets of 6-8 reps

• Farmer walks: 1-2 sets

Week Three

Monday - heavy bench

• Bench presses: 5-3-2 ramps

• Floor presses: 3 sets of 6-8 reps

• T-bar rows: 2 sets of 6-8 reps

• Skull crushers: 2 sets of 10-12 reps

Tuesday - light squat/deadlift

• Squats: 5 sets of 5 reps

• Power snatches: 5 sets of 2 reps, working up over 5 progressively heavier sets

• Weighted incline sit-ups: 2 sets of 6-8 reps

Wednesday - light bench

• Bench presses: 5 sets of 5 reps

• Barbell front raises: 2 sets of 10-12 reps

• Bench dips: 2 sets of 10-12 reps

Thursday - OFF

Friday - speed squat/deadlift

• Squats: 10 sets of 2 reps

• Deadlifts: 8 sets of 1 rep

• Good morning squats: 2 sets of 8-10 reps

• Ab wheel: 2 sets of 6-8 reps

• Farmer walks: 2 sets

Saturday - speed bench

• Bench presses: 10 sets of 3 reps

• Bent-over rows: 2 sets of 6-8 reps

• Triceps pushdowns: 2 sets of 6-8 reps

Sunday - light squat/deadlift

• Squats: 5 sets of 5 reps

• High pulls: 5 sets of 3 reps, progressively heavier

• Weighted incline sit-ups: 2 sets of 6-8 reps

     On Monday (the beginning of your 4th week), you would then do your next light bench workout, take off on Tuesday, and start over again with another heavy squat/deadlift session.

Tips and Pointers

     As you advance, and find that the program is working (if you’re doing essentially what I recommend above), you can also add in some back-off sets at the end of your heavy sets.  For example, on your heavy days, on the squats, deadlifts, and/or bench presses, you can do a few back-off sets of 6 to 10 reps.  Or, if you can handle the workload, you could do something such as 5 straight sets of 5 reps as back-off work.

     You can also add in more assistance work, whether it’s in the form of extra sets on the movements that you are already using or additional exercises altogether.  If your triceps are holding back your bench, for example, add in another exercise or two of direct triceps work.

     Some lifters find that they don’t need any assistance or auxiliary movements.  I have trained, and trained with, powerlifters who got great results from only doing the 3 powerlifts and nothing else.  Most lifters, however, need extra work on something.  Usually, the lifters that can get away with just doing one of the 3 powerlifts are built for those lifts.  I could increase my squat, for example, by just squatting, but I always needed extra work for the muscles used in the bench press since I’m most decidedly not built for bench pressing.

     As I wrote at the outset, you could also use this program to get strong on lifts other than the 3 powerlifts.  For instance, you could use it to get strong on squats, overhead presses, and barbell curls.  Just replace the bench presses with military presses, and the deadlift with the barbell curl.  Those are just 3 examples—you can use it for a wide range of different movements.

Final Thoughts

     I’m sure—as with most of my articles; this is part of the problem with posting an essay as soon as you write it—I will probably think later on about a subject I should have touched upon.  If that’s the case, I will simply add them to the “comments” section below.  If you have your own comments, or questions regarding the program, leave them there, as well.

     If you’re looking for a complete power program, this one might just be it.  It includes a lot of the elements that make up a great program—maximal-effort training, speed work, frequent training, and the ability to increase your workload.  So, if you are looking for all the strength and power your body’s capable of building, give this one a legitimate try.  It’ll make you strong, big, and powerful, pure and simple.

     If you enjoyed this article, then consider purchasing my book “Ultimate Mass and Power.”  It’s packed with multiple programs for building those very elements.  You can find more information about it, and all of my other books, at the My Books page.