Here's a short write-up of the PPL that I've been running. It's loosely based off of this reddit post. But you know, I'm not in a gym and I don't have access to all this shit that it mentions. So here we are.
This program goes Push/Pull/Legs, in that order, and then repeats. I've done it anywhere from 3-6 times a week and it's worked out well. As the weight gets heavier, doing some of these (especially legs) twice a week gets pretty brutal.
You'll also notice that the heavy exercises below are 3x5+. This is explained in that reddit post, but essentially it means you go to failure on the last set if you've got more than 5 in the tank. It's a nice way to pick up some extra reps when you're feeling good.
Finally, there's only one "heavy" exercise each day. The other, higher rep exercises are there to be lighter accessories and to balance out the heavy one.
| Exercise | Reps | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Heavy Bench / Heavy OHP (Overhead Press) | 3x5+ | Alternate which of these is heavy each "Push" day. If you did heavy bench last time, it's heavy OHP today. |
| Lite Bench / Lite OHP | 3x8-12 | Do the inverse of whatever was heavy above. |
| Close Grip Bench | 3x8-12 | |
| Landmines | 3x8-12 |
| Exercise | Reps | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Heavy Deadlift / Heavy Row | 1x5+ (DL) / 3x5+ (Row) | Alternate which of these is heavy each "Pull" day. If you did heavy DL last time, it's heavy Row today. |
| Lite Row | 3x8-12 | If I did heavy rows before this set, I'll move to flys and then come back to these. |
| DB Fly | 3x8-12 | |
| Curls | 3x8-12 | Type of curl doesn't matter, just pick one (DB, Hammer, Barbell, EZ bar, etc.) |
| Exercise | Reps | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Heavy Squat | 3x5+ | |
| Romanian Deadlift | 3x8-12 | |
| Front Squat | 3x8-12 | |
| Calves | 3x8-12 | Just hold a barbell or DBs and raise your heels up on a ledge or something. I also seriously never do this b/c I've already got some fatboy calves. |
If you successfully complete at least 3x5 of the heavy exercises, move up 5 lbs. the next workout.
Similarly, if you successfully hit the full reps for a lite exercise of 3x12, add 5 lbs.
If you fail a lift, try it again next time. If you don't hit it after 2 or 3 tries (whatever feels right for you), deload the lift by ~10% next time and work your way back up.
Shit, I don't know. I'm gonna try to ride this until the wheels fall off. I'm thinking I'll probably try to scale back how often I increase weight to try and squeak a bit more out of this setup. I assume something like Madcow's 5x5 will follow for me. Here's a nice calculator for that when the time comes.