12 Weeks to Super Strength T Nation Reviews

I desire to brand you jacked while likewise turning you lot into a high performance machine. And that's what this plan is all about – getting you lot bigger, stronger, more powerful, and improve conditioned than y'all've been in a long time.

I'one thousand all well-nigh loftier-performance muscle: Any increase in size must come with at to the lowest degree every bit much improvement in functioning. Even if your goal is just to build an awesome looking body, you should maintain this high performance mentality.

Abound in every way possible so that you lot tin can actually BE as powerful as you await. This program will help you get there, but first let's revisit its predecessor, Built For Bad.

Congenital For Bad Recap

In 2013 I came out with a program which led to my best physique ever: Congenital for Bad. The core concepts were:

• Lift heavy
• Lift often
• Focus on 5 lifts
• Do them five days a calendar week

It'due south uncomplicated notwithstanding constructive. It can transform your physique at a frightening stride. The only problem? Not everybody could handle the maximal lifting five days a calendar week. Those who could handle the loading made phenomenal progress. Those who couldn't crashed after 3-4 weeks (but still made gains beforehand).

Also, Built for Bad didn't include any piece of work to set up weaknesses. If you lot were balanced that wasn't an effect. But not everybody has perfect structural musculus balance.

These are the ii issues that I fixed with the Congenital for Battle program. I too included more practice choices so that yous can meliorate tailor the program to your needs.

Built for Boxing – Overview

Because this program works for lifters at dissimilar levels of experience with different main goals, you'll need to customize information technology. So here'due south what you'll do, stride by step:

1. Choose your conditioning level. This will determine how long yous rest between exercises in the circuits.
2. Cull your master goal: getting the power look, building explosiveness and performance, or size gains. This will make up one's mind which grouping of exercises y'all choose.
3. You'll train 5 days per week with Thursday and Sunday off. On two of those training days, you'll add in an help exercise circuit.
4. One of those training days will be simple. Yous'll only ramp upwards to your 3RM (3-rep max) for each practise. You'll and so use that 3RM to choose the weights for the other workouts in the week, which will use the proven five-4-3-2-1 scheme.
5. Lastly, yous'll review the options and periodization info at the end.

This takes a trivial work and thought on your part. That's good. It ways this isn't some cookie-cutter plan!

Pace 1: Choose Your Workout Level

There are iii levels to choose from depending on your level of conditioning and how fast yous normally train. The goal is to eventually build up to the first level. Simply your progression should be fairly slow, maybe trying to motility upward a level every third calendar week.

Level 1

Use this if your conditioning is poor or you're used to a very slow workout pace. You'll take 2:00 to ii:thirty minutes between exercises.

Level 2

Use this if your conditioning is about boilerplate. Have about one:30 to ii:00 minutes between exercises.

Level 3

Use this if your workout is good or you're used to a fast training pace. Take nearly 1:00 to 1:30 minutes between exercises.

Don't go upwards a level if it makes your performance suffer. Keep in mind, it's not a superset. The main goal is Non to go every bit fast as possible, although you lot do want a adequately rapid pace to get some conditioning furnishings.

Step ii: ▶️ Cull Your Goal and Group of Exercises

Each workout includes v exercises covering the whole body. You'll repeat these on the five training days, but the intensity will vary. Exercise the movements equally a circuit: Practice one set of the first drill, one set of the second, i set of the third, etc. You'll get through the circuit five times full.

In that location are iii main groups of exercises to choose from. Option the group that best fits your goal or technical capacity.

Grouping One – For Developing the Power Look

The power look is characterized by thick traps, upper dorsum, and shoulders. The do selections reflect this and will really jack your "yoke" up. If you like big powerful traps, this is the group for yous!

1. Continuous Clean & Press or Musculus Snatch (From Blocks, Hang, or Floor)







2. Zercher Squat




3. Snatch-Grip High Pull From Blocks




4. Bench Printing or Incline Bench Press
5. Seated Row or Pendlay Row

Group Two – For Developing Explosiveness and Performance

This is mostly for athletes wanting to meliorate explosiveness while getting stronger and building musculus. Now, fifty-fifty though the plan will build some muscle, it's the least effective of the 3 groups to get you looking jacked. But the trade-off is that you'll gain a lot of explosiveness and ameliorate your capacity to absorb force.

1. Power Make clean (From Blocks, Hang, or Flooring)







2. Push Press
3. Back Squat
4. Neutral Grip Pull-Upwardly
5. Bench Press

Grouping Three – For Developing Size and Force

This is your large basic program. It'll build the most overall strength.

1. Deadlift
2. Armed forces Printing
3. Front Squat
4. Seated Row
5. Demote Printing

Note: I selected the front squat instead of the back squat because the forepart squat is less taxing on the lower dorsum when you lot likewise take a deadlift in the plan.

And yes, y'all tin bandy some comparable exercises. Let'southward say you lot choice the Group i lifts, but you lot really want to do a ability make clean which is in Group 2. You can swap the snatch-grip high pull for the ability clean. Merely don't bandy exercises that target different patterns (similar swapping the Zercher squat for a armed services press).

Step three: Know the Loading Schemes (Sets & Reps)

Monday

Day 1 is where y'all ramp up to your 3RM and utilize that 3RM to calibrate the loads for the other workouts. On top of being a powerful growth and strength gain stimulus, this day allows us to properly select the weights for the rest of the week and besides give united states of america an idea of progression.

Work up to a 3RM in every lift. These are performed in a circuit format. Yes, it's quite possible that you reach your 3RM on i lift earlier the others, specially the kickoff week. When that happens, drib that elevator from the excursion while you're reaching your 3RM on the other ones. But after one Monday conditioning it'll be pretty easy to hit your 3RM at the aforementioned time on all lifts because you'll have a good idea of what y'all can elevator.

Important: Shoot for a technically solid 3RM. A 3RM where that concluding rep takes v seconds – with grade breaking downwardly and using compensatory mechanisms – won't work because information technology will overestimate how much weight you need to use during the week. The goal is to perform all perfect reps, so the weights need to be based on a near perfect performance.

Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday, Saturday

The principal scheme will be a 5-4-3-2-1 countdown, meaning your first set will be 5 reps, your second fix four reps, your third set iii reps, and so on.

There are several reasons why I love the five-four-3-2-ane scheme:

• Every fix feels easier, even though it's harder. Y'all think, "So what if I'm adding weight, I take fewer reps to exercise." That perception allows you to push harder, which is really of import on the heavy days.
• Past gradually working toward the heavier sets, you lot prepare your body and nervous arrangement for the all-out attempt. This makes it easier psychologically, neurologically, and physically.
• While information technology's a strength-building scheme, it'll also build muscle mass with the sets of 4 and 5 reps, particularly in intermediate and advanced lifters, and specially considering that you lot'll striking everything v times a week. Then even if the amount of poly peptide synthesis triggered in a workout may be lower than it would in a more traditional workout, at the end of the week it'southward likely greater.

Warm-Upwardly Rounds

When you practise the v-4-3-2-one workouts exercise 2-4 warm-up rounds. Do 2 warm-up rounds when it's an like shooting fish in a barrel conditioning, 3 when it's moderate, and 4 on the hardest session. On those warm-up rounds, gradually add weight from circular to round. If your goal is maximum size, warm-up with sets of v. If y'all're focusing more on strength and performance, warm-up with sets of iii to avoid excessive fatigue.

Pace 4: Know the Intensity Level (Weights Used)

The original Congenital for Bad programme was a blitz plan. Every conditioning was a limit workout. Five days in a row of all-out lifting was as well much for many people, especially those with more traditional jobs and more than stress in their lives. The schedule for the Congenital for Battle plan takes that into consideration and two modifications are included:

• The five training days aren't all consecutive. You can become a break sooner in the week.
• The intensity waves up and down during the calendar week. Only two sessions are all-out, one is moderate intensity, and ii are lower in intensity but include assistance piece of work.

Monday

Ramp up to a 3RM with good form. Practise it in 5-6 sets after you've washed 2-3 warm-upward sets.

Tuesday

• 1 ten 5 @ lxxx% of 3RM
• 1 x 4 @ 85% of 3RM
• 1 x iii @ 90% of 3RM
• i x 2 @ 95% of 3RM
• 1 ten 1 @ 3RM

Wednesday

• 1 x 5 @ 72.v% of 3RM
• ane 10 4 @ 77.5% of 3RM
• 1 x 3 @ 82.5% of 3RM
• 1 x 2 @ 87.5% of 3RM
• one x 1 @ 92.5% of 3RM, plus assistance excursion number one

Thursday

OFF

Friday

• i x five @ 90% of 3RM
• ane 10 iv @ 95% of 3RM
• 1 x 3 @ 3RM
• i x ii @ 105% of 3RM
• 1 10 1 @ 110% (effort) of 3RM

Saturday

• 1 x 5 @ 70% of 3RM
• one x 4 @ 75% of 3RM
• 1 10 iii @ 80% of 3RM
• 1 10 2 @ 85% of 3RM
• one 10 1 @ xc% of 3RM, plus aid circuit number 2

Sunday

OFF

Note: But the work sets are outlined to a higher place.

Stride 5: Add in the Assistance Circuits

Regardless of the grouping you selected for your main exercises, all your muscles will be covered to some extent, but for maximum muscle growth y'all demand to include some work with college reps. That's the role of the assistance circuits, which you'll perform twice a week on the lighter training days.

Note that exercise pick here is much less important as the main lifts. Y'all can swap them for exercises you find more effective, or even use the circuits to piece of work on your weaknesses. Keep in mind that on Wednesday you'll exist using intermediate exercises with medium reps, and on Sabbatum you'll exist focusing more on isolation work or other low-stress exercises and do them for higher reps.

Midweek Circuit

• Incline Dumbbell Press Rest 45-sixty Seconds
• Bent Over Dumbbell Row Remainder 45-60 Seconds
• Bulgarian Split Squat, Weaker Leg Remainder 45-60 Seconds
• Bulgarian Split Squat, Stronger Leg Balance 45-60 Seconds
• Romanian Deadlift Rest 2-3 Minutes

Exercise 2 warm-up rounds, then 3 work-set rounds. Utilize a weight that's challenging, just that'll still allow yous to get all your reps in (not hitting failure, but getting close).

• First round: 10 reps
• 2d round: eight reps
• Third circular: 6 reps

Saturday Circuit

• Barbell Curl Rest 30-45 Seconds
• Lying Dumbbell Triceps Extension Residuum 30-45 Seconds
• Dumbbell Lateral Raise Rest xxx-45 Seconds
• Dumbbell Hammer Whorl Rest 1-2 Minutes

Do 2 warm-up rounds and 3 work-prepare rounds. On these exercises you should accomplish muscle failure on the work sets, which is why I gave you a range. Try to hit failure inside that range.

• First round: 12-15 reps
• Second round: 10-12 reps
• Third round: 8-10 reps

Why Does Built for Battle Piece of work So Well?

This plan is unconventional and unlike nearly of what you see in gyms. So you lot might exist wondering how it tin work. It's supposed to rapidly increase strength and size while also improving conditioning and helping you lose fat. Sounds as well good to be true, right? Well, here's the breakdown...

Strength Gains

The strength gains come from the rapid improvement in neurological efficiency. The more often you practice a certain lift, the improve your nervous system becomes at doing it in the most effective style possible.

And when it comes to neural efficiency, frequency of practice (non quantity) is king. The more often you practice a motility (with expert course) the faster your improvements. A very high frequency practice like this will give you rapid gains in performance within iii-4 weeks for that reason.

Training a elevator more than often will improve intra and intermuscular coordination and brand the nervous system more efficient at executing that specific motor program.

The 5-4-3-2-1 scheme uses a low book per lift, and the circuit format allows yous plenty of residual between sets of the same do so that you minimize movement-specific fatigue and gain optimal motor learning.

Size

In that location are many ways to trigger muscle growth:

• Creating muscle harm, best done with a moderate volume with fairly heavy weight using movements where the main muscle will reach a sure stretch.
• Accumulating local growth factors, best washed with a longer set elapsing – the muscles being under load for 45-70 seconds.
• Producing lactate, which has recently been shown to have a direct touch on on musculus growth. This too requires sets of a longer duration, thirty-60 seconds.
• Maximizing mTOR activation, which is best done when you emphasize the eccentric or negative.
• Fatiguing as many muscle fibers as possible. This normally requires a higher volume of work either in the class of higher reps or more than sets.

Except for the first trigger, none of these really apply to what we're doing during the strength circuits. Notwithstanding the growth is in that location. This is because of the frequency of training. While each session might not trigger every bit much poly peptide synthesis (muscle growth) as a more traditional workout, the fact that you're training the same lifts 5 days a week more than compensates for that.

Don't forget that every time yous train hard y'all increment protein synthesis in the trained muscles (this speeds up musculus repair and building). This increase in local protein synthesis lasts around 24 hours. If you railroad train a musculus once a week y'all might stimulate a large increase in protein synthesis, but it doesn't final long. When you're grooming a muscle 5 days a week your protein synthesis stays elevated pretty much all calendar week. These strength circuits are keeping your body anabolic all the fourth dimension.

Furthermore, the more ofttimes you train a muscle, the ameliorate you go at contracting information technology and recruiting its college threshold fibers. When that happens it becomes easier to arrive abound. By grooming everything five days a week you lot improve your capacity to recruit all the big muscles which is an investment in futurity gains.

Fat Loss

This program is beginning and foremost a nasty strength and size plan, but it tin also accept a positive touch on fat loss.

Get-go, the excursion nature of the workout allows you to have a loftier work-to-rest ratio, especially one time you get to Level 3 where you're taking shorter rests between exercises. This keeps you in sympathetic mode and keeps your energy expenditure loftier.

The utilise of big lifts also helps both from a hormonal perspective (growth hormone release) and caloric expenditure standpoint – bigger lifts use more than muscle, which means more fuel burned.

The nature of the plan (especially groups 1 and 2) have a huge touch on insulin sensitivity, which will meliorate nutrient partition – sending more nutrients to the muscles, less to the fat cells. It'due south not the primary goal of the program, just it'due south a nice perk.

Conditioning

The circuit construction and the whole-torso nature of the workouts will take a positive effect on anaerobic power and capacity, two of import energy systems for sports. And since your centre rate will stay elevated during the whole 45-60 minutes, it'll too take a positive impact on heart contractile force which will improve aerobic capacities a bit.

Of class, nosotros're doing depression reps, so I won't claim that this program will be the nigh effective manner to improve your conditioning, but it will have a positive effect.

Can You Periodize the Groups?

Y'all might inquire if you lot can combine groups. Yep and no. During a stage (lasting 3-4 weeks) you demand to stick to one group only. The whole system is built on maximizing neurological efficiency to have a very rapid proceeds in strength on a select few exercises. So y'all can't do grouping 1 on Monday, group two on Tuesday, etc. With the way the loading schemes are organized, that wouldn't work anyway.

However, what you tin practise is to periodize all three groups into a 9-12 calendar week grooming cycle. In which example I'd recommend doing information technology in this order:

• Weeks 1-iii: Group 3
• Weeks iv-6: Grouping 1
• Weeks 7-9: Grouping 2

You can even extend each phase to iv weeks if you like to stick to the aforementioned movements for longer. This volition get you super jacked, strong, and powerful.

The original Built for Bad program couldn't have been washed for 9-12 weeks. Few people could sustain it longer than iii-4 weeks. Only because of the "intensity waving" in this program, information technology won't be a trouble.

Tin You Add Loaded Carries?

If you're wanting to add together farmer walks, Prowler pushing, or sprints to this programme, you can. And that addition would make this a very consummate program for total body operation. Nevertheless, you can't simply toss them into the plan, information technology would be too much to recover from.

But what you Tin can exercise is replace one or both of the assistance circuits (Wednesday or Saturday) with loaded carries or sprints. Depending on what you desire to emphasize, here are some options:

Forcefulness Accent

• A. Farmer'south walk: Piece of work up to the heaviest weight you tin can behave for thirty meters. Take three minutes of rest.
• B. Heavy Prowler Pushing: 5 ten 30 meters. Take 3 minutes of rest.

Size Accent

• A1. Barbell Curl: three x 8-x reps. Take xv-30 seconds of rest.
• A2. Tire Flip: (as much as you can do in 30 seconds) or Zercher bear (30 meters). Practise 3 work sets.
• B1. Chest-Supported Dumbbell Row: for 8-10 reps. Take fifteen-xxx seconds of residual.
• B2. Farmer'south Walk: (30 meters). Practice 3 piece of work sets.

Conditioning Emphasis

• A1. Prowler Sprint: (light weight for thirty meters). Rest 15 seconds.
• A2. Prowler Slow Button: (same weight for 30 meters). Rest 2 minutes. Exercise 5 sets.
• B. Farmer's Walk: max distance in 60 seconds (wear straps)
  Do 5 sets. Residue 1 infinitesimal betwixt them.

What Supplements Practice You Recommend?

For maximum results, I propose...

• Plazma™ Utilize before and during workouts, per label directions.
• Mag-x® Utilize afterward workouts.
• Finibar™ Have one or two an hour before preparation or any time later in the solar day.

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Source: https://www.t-nation.com/workouts/built-for-battle/

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