Thread: What do you guys think of this routine...

Heavy low rep work followed by higher-volume pump training. Yep, it's a good one. It has different names - Poliquin suggests "time under tension", Holman's flavour he calls positions of flexion Health and Exercise: Positions of Flexion by Steve Holman, Thibaudeau refers to it in Three ways to get big TMUSCLE.com | 3 Ways to Get Big!

Obviously i like it, but i am a little biased

Lots of people have written programs along a similar vein, but i really enjoyed this one when i did it. A few guys in my gym have tried it with great results. It hurts like a bitch, though!

Originally Posted by Gazhole

Obviously i like it, but i am a little biased

Lots of people have written programs along a similar vein, but i really enjoyed this one when i did it. A few guys in my gym have tried it with great results. It hurts like a bitch, though!

Yeah looks awsome. The only small concern I have is hitting each major muscle group only once per week. I always found my best results stem from going heavy on each muscle twice per week (especially legs). I was thinking of adding an extra day in there just to come in and do three sets of heavy squats in addition to the program. Ofcourse, I'm getting ahead of myself because I have a feeling that I might be cutting myself short on recovery so I would have to see how my body reacts to the routine.

But I have no reason to question your workouts. I'm almost finished the 20 rep squat program I found on your site and I can honestly tell you that it was one of the best routines I have ever done. My squatting strength shot up by 30% and I gained some good weight on it. Given that I'm getting back into it after major surgery over a year ago my squatting has never been that impressive yet, but prior to this routine I was able to squat 185lbs for 6 reps with good form and now I can squat 225lbs for 14 reps with better form. I haven't went for my max yet. That's next week.

Originally Posted by CaptainNapalm

The only small concern I have is hitting each major muscle group only once per week. I always found my best results stem from going heavy on each muscle twice per week (especially legs).

Then why not simply do this routine with no days in between workouts? I've take a 3 a week program and made it to a 5 (or 6) a week program plenty of times.

I just listen to my body. If I've worked x number of days in a row and I start to feel beat, I take a day off.

Originally Posted by DOMS

Then why not simply do this routine with no days in between workouts? I've take a 3 a week program and made it to a 5 (or 6) a week program plenty of times.

I just listen to my body. If I've worked x number of days in a row and I start to feel beat, I take a day off.

Overtraining is a real concern for me. From past experience I don't do too well on anything that doesn't involve 3 rest days per week. Given that this program is suppose to "kick your ass" as it is, reducing rest days to 1 or 2 per week might be a bit overwhelming for me but I might give it a go. Thank you.

Originally Posted by CaptainNapalm

But I have no reason to question your workouts. I'm almost finished the 20 rep squat program I found on your site and I can honestly tell you that it was one of the best routines I have ever done. My squatting strength shot up by 30% and I gained some good weight on it. Given that I'm getting back into it after major surgery over a year ago my squatting has never been that impressive yet, but prior to this routine I was able to squat 185lbs for 6 reps with good form and now I can squat 225lbs for 14 reps with better form. I haven't went for my max yet. That's next week.

The 20 rep squat program is one of the best programs ever, it really is. It's also one of the simplest which is great because basically anybody can go in and give it a try.

Those are great results though, man, nice work!

As for the D+F, i would start out with the program as it is for a week, and if you feel you should add more by all means increase the frequency like DOMS says - just be aware of your limits and recovery ability.

Okay guys. I've made some modifications to Gaz's D+F program which addresses my concerns for both frequency of muscle group training as well as overtraining factor. Basically, the program is set up into an upper body and lower body split with 1 day rest in between. I have always found 1 day rest for every day of lifting (1:1) to be my optimum time for recovery while still making good progress. So basically I will train lower body with shoulders followed by a day rest and then upper body followed by one day rest and so on. This will allow me to train each major muscle group almost twice per week and still give me adequate recovery time. To achieve this, I have removed the independent shoulder day and added a shoulder exercise to leg day. What do you guys think of this? Comments would be much appreciated.

DESTROY & FLOOD (Modified)

Day 1: Lower Body / Shoulders

Squats (Destroy) + Leg Extensions (Flood): 3 sets, 3-4 reps (D) + 20 reps (F) per set
Deadlifts (Destroy) + Leg Curls (Flood): 3 sets, 3-4 reps (D) + 20 reps (F) per set
Leg Press (Destroy) + Lunges (Flood): 2 sets, 3-4 reps (D) + 20 reps (F) per set
Shoulder Press (Destroy) + Lateral Raises (Flood) 3 sets, 3-4 reps (D) + 20 reps (F)/set

Day 2: Rest

Day 3: Upper Body

Bench Press (Destroy) + Cable Flys (Flood): 3 sets, 3-4 reps (D) + 20 reps (F) per set
Dips (Destroy) + Tricep Pushdowns (Flood): 3 sets, 3-4 reps (D) + 20 reps (F) per set
Pull-ups (Destroy) + Straight Arm Pulldowns (Flood): 3 sets, 3 reps (D) + 20 reps (F)/set
Barbell Rows (Destroy) + Cable Curls (Flood): 3 sets, 3-4 reps (D) + 20 reps (F) per set

Day 4: Rest

Day 5: Lower Body / Shoulders

Squats (Destroy) + Leg Extensions (Flood): 3 sets, 3-4 reps (D) + 20 reps (F) per set
Deadlifts (Destroy) + Leg Curls (Flood): 3 sets, 3-4 reps (D) + 20 reps (F) per set
Leg Press (Destroy) + Lunges (Flood): 2 sets, 3-4 reps (D) + 20 reps (F) per set
Military Press (Destroy) + Reverse Flys (Flood) 3 sets, 3-4 reps (D) + 20 reps (F)/set

Day 6: Rest

Day 7: Upper Body

Bench Press (Destroy) + Cable Flys (Flood): 3 sets, 3-4 reps (D) + 20 reps (F) per set
Dips (Destroy) + Tricep Pushdowns (Flood): 3 sets, 3-4 reps (D) + 20 reps (F) per set
Pull-ups (Destroy) + Straight Arm Pulldowns (Flood): 3 sets, 3 reps (D) + 20 reps (F)/set
Barbell Rows (Destroy) + Cable Curls (Flood): 3 sets, 3-4 reps (D) + 20 reps (F) per set

Day 8: Rest

REPEAT…

I've had good luck with similar plans. I think I first read Poliquin's program and it was very effective. I think DOMS makes a good point about listening to your body. You can "overtrain" for a period of time, and make tremendous gains. Especially while running AAS. Your body will let you know when enough is enough. I start to have joint pain and overall tiredness among other symptoms. Nothing wrong with taking a day off when you need to. Good luck with your training!

I have to admit, I kinda like it.

Me too, nice work! Should be a very challenging program, but i like that you've 'made it your own' so to speak.

Looks good

I have a few suggestions:

Alternate the pull-ups with chin-ups.
Alternate the Cable Curls(Flood) with Hammer Curls(Flood).
Not sure if Leg Curls(Flood) are the same as hamstring curls, but if they're not, I would replace them with hamstring curls or at the very least alternate them.
Not sure if you have naturally big calves and that's why you don't train them? If that's not the case I would add something for them.

It seems like the pressing movements outweigh the pulling movements in this program. Is this not a concern, or does the overall program and exercise selections take this into account?

Originally Posted by PushAndPull

I have a few suggestions:

Alternate the pull-ups with chin-ups.
Alternate the Cable Curls(Flood) with Hammer Curls(Flood).
Not sure if Leg Curls(Flood) are the same as hamstring curls, but if they're not, I would replace them with hamstring curls or at the very least alternate them.
Not sure if you have naturally big calves and that's why you don't train them? If that's not the case I would add something for them.

Thanks for the tips. I'll alternate pull-ups with chins. I was definately considering the Hammer curl option so I think alternating it will work well. Leg curls aka reverse curls is what I mean for hamstring curls. I don't train calves because I do have naturally big calves. There was a period of time when I started training them directly and noticed them actually getting dinkier and smaller so I just leave them alone. I appreciate the help.

Originally Posted by sakbar

It seems like the pressing movements outweigh the pulling movements in this program. Is this not a concern, or does the overall program and exercise selections take this into account?

Hmmm. Upperbody looks fairly even, pull=push. I'll re-evaluate it again though. Thanks for the observation.

i love the concept, just going to tweek it a little to my liking. imo

ive just read up on the destroy and flood routine, looks very interesting and challenging, is it 3 sets with the destroy exercises and 3 sets with the flood exercises?

Originally Posted by dsc123

ive just read up on the destroy and flood routine, looks very interesting and challenging, is it 3 sets with the destroy exercises and 3 sets with the flood exercises?

Yup, they're supersets. So you'll do:

Destroy Exercise (E.g. Squats) immediately followed by Flood Exercise (E.g. Leg Extensions) then rest.

In the basic routine you'll repeat this 2 more times, then move onto the next exercise pair and do another 3 supersets, and so on through the workout.

great thankyou, looks like a routine i would enjoy

Looking forward to it. I think it will be a bit tricky in the first week trying to establish an appropriate weight for the 20-30 rep exercises. Guess it will take a bit of experimenting since I never come near that high of a rep range but I'll start off consirvetively light and see what adjustments need to be made.

Looks pretty sweet, Napalm.

Personally, another overhead press would be ideal, but then again dips are technically a vertical push, so you're still getting plenty of delt/tri stimulation.

I like that legs aren't split into push/pull days. That will keep the quality on your squats and deads up (until you get to those supersets, that is, lol).

Keep us posted.

You made me create one of these myself. Very very interesting programs. Thanks to Gaz and Built for pointing out some programs I would have missed!

i am interested i giving this routine a try, it say do just 1-3 reps? is that all u need to do for the destroy portion?

sorry wrong thread!