Workout of the Week 91

Welcome to Workout of the Week, number 91. This time we have a three-day mixed method strength and muscle building workout.

So what’s the training goal? As usual, as the title suggests, we want to build strength and muscle mass.

What are the training variables? We train with 65% to 90% of the one-rep max. The repetitions are 3 to 10.

But another question is: where are the mixed methods? Well, basically we have three schemes. Scheme number one is focused on strength development: three reps at 85% to 90% of the one-rep max. Scheme two: six reps at 75% to 80% of the one-rep max. And scheme three: 10 reps at 65% to 70% of the one-rep max.

So what’s the mixed method? If it’s not clear by now, we have the so-called maximum strength development in scheme one. Then we look more at the functional hypertrophy, myofibrillar hypertrophy, in scheme two. And scheme three is targeted at the non-functional, sarcoplasmic hypertrophy. So we’re trying to target all areas of the strength and muscle building continuum. You could argue that you can also target higher repetitions. Fair argument. For now, we focus on these three schemes.

Training exertion: hard to near maximum. The effort is a maximum effort for the maximum strength and a repeated effort for the hypertrophy efforts.

If we look at the exercises, you will see once we jump into it, it’s a fairly simple, straightforward training program. But the basics always work very well, right? So we have one exercise focused on the squat movement, bilateral, double-legged. We have one exercise focused on the squat movement, single-legged. Then we have a hinge, we have a push, and we have a pull. The exercises are ordered from most complex to least complex.

If we look at more training variables, it’s a station training. The training split is a full body split, and the training frequency is three days a week. But we only have two different workouts.

So how does that look? Imagine here we have week one and week two. You’ll have Workout One in Session One, Workout Two in Session Two, and in Session Three you have Workout One again. So in a two-week span, every workout is performed three times.

And then if we look at our rep ranges and schemes: if we add our schemes, you can see we have targeted each scheme for each workout across the two weeks. So let’s go through it, and I hope I’m not making any mistakes.

Week one, Session One: Workout One, focused on maximum strength. Week one, Session Two: Workout Two, focused on functional hypertrophy. Week one, Session Three: Workout One again, focused on non-functional hypertrophy. Then we go to week two. Session One is Workout Two, focused on maximum strength. Week two, Session Two: Workout One, focused on functional hypertrophy. Week two, Session Three is Workout Two again, where we focus on the non-functional hypertrophy. Yeah, you can see how we now target each of the three schemes for each workout across the two weeks.

So how does it look? Let’s jump into it and look at how it looks in detail.

Here we are inside the Workout of the Week, and you get an overview of this workout, then the table of contents, and then the weekly overview. Yeah, so this is what we have discussed previously. Week number one: Workout 1-1 on a Monday, Workout 2-1 on a Wednesday, Workout 1-2 on a Friday. And in the next week, we flip it around. Week number two starts with Workout 2-2. Then on Wednesday, Workout 1-3, so the third workout of Workout Number One. And then on a Friday, Workout 2-3.

Workout One. You will see now we take this first workout, and then the next ones we’ll go through a bit more quickly. You’ll see the workout structure in terms of exercises is the same. What changes is the set and rep scheme. Yeah. So we start with a back squat, then an RDL, then a bench press, a bench row, and a split squat. Remember I said: bilateral squat, double-legged squat, number one. Then we have a hinge: that’s the RDL. Then we have a push: that’s the bench press, a horizontal upper body push. Then we have a pull: the bench row, which is an upper body horizontal pull. And then the single-leg squat, which is the split squat.

And then we can see up here: three sets of three at 85% of the one-rep max, which equates to an RPE of 7. And this is the same for all exercises.

Then we go to Workout Two. Again, the workout structure is the same. Front squat as a bilateral, double-legged squat. Then we have the deadlift, which is a hinge. Then we have the shoulder press, which is an upper body vertical push. Then we have the pull-up, which is an upper body vertical pull. And then we have the forward lunge and return, which is technically a lunge, not a split squat, but I made it easy for myself and called it a single-leg squat. Anyway, here we see scheme number two. There we have three sets of six at 75% of the one-rep max, which equates to an RPE of 7, and that is the same for all exercises. I have to make it bigger because my eyes are so bad.

And then we go to Workout 1-2. This time you get more than you usually get. Here we have the next workout. So again: back squat, RDL, bench press, bench row, split squat. And then we have three sets of 10 at 65% of the one-rep max, which equates to an RPE of 7.

Next one: Workout 2-2. Here now we have again our front squat, deadlift, shoulder press, pull-ups, forward lunge and return. This is where we focus on the maximum strength. And again, three sets of three at 85% of the one-rep max.

And then Workout 1-3. What’s missing for Workout Number One is the functional hypertrophy. Yeah. So we do three sets of six at 75% of the one-rep max, again equating to an RPE of 7. And again, the exercises are the same: back squat, RDL, bench press, bench row, split squat.

And then Workout 2-3. Here we have again our front squat, deadlift, shoulder press, pull-ups, forward lunge and return. And then we do three sets of 10 at 65% of the one-rep max, which equates to an RPE of 7. I know it is very, very debatable whether you should do that many repetitions in the front squat. I would not always plan it like this. Yeah, so most often I focus on lower repetitions for the front squat anyway. For this program, you have to get through it and do it. So anyway, that concludes the workout.

Here you can see a glossary explaining the terms. You can read a bit about myself if you’d like to. There are testimonials of my athletes. [Note: last night he won his 18th world championship title, so we have to adjust that. Also, Roy is now not a five-time but a six-time world champion. That has to be adjusted.] Anyway, you can read what other people have to say about me, my former colleagues, my mentees. And last but certainly not least, this is the membership. You can enroll in the membership. In there, you get the full four-week periodized program.

So now let’s move back and finish it. What are the next steps?

Download the PDF, then join the membership. Inside the membership, you get the full four-week periodized program plus another 90 four-week programs. And you like and subscribe. You get the chance to grab all free workouts here. If you haven’t already, you subscribe, or you watch the previous workout.

I’ll see you next week with the next Workout of the Week.