How I Approach My Training For Optimal CONSISTENT Gains
There are so many different ways to train, so the first step to any plan is to identify your goal. Are you looking to lose weight and slim up for a holiday, vacation, or to fit in your favorite clothes again? Maybe you want to start growing your chest and shoulders so you can be more confident in the office, bar, or beach? You could also just want to increase your athleticism so you can destroy the competition or keep up with your grandkids! Or maybe you’re just trying to be built like a rugby player.
Whatever the goal is, be clear about what you want and how long it will take you to get there. Looking to lose weight? Then expect roughly 1 to 2 lbs of weight loss per week or 4-8 lbs per month. Or on the flip side; trying to gain weight? Then you’re looking at 0.5 to 1 lb of gain per week or 2-4 lbs per month.
Either way, this article isn’t looking to help define your goals. We’ll touch on that topic later! But for now, how do we get to where we want to go?
For myself, my goals have shifted based on what my current sport is. When I was an ultra-endurance athlete, I lost weight to lean up and run more efficiently, getting down to about 180 lbs. Currently, however, I’m in a bulking phase to gain weight and become a professional in Natural Body Building. Starting at 180 lbs of body weight, and 225 lbs is my goal weight, means I need to build a total of 45 lbs of muscle. Using the reference above, this should take me about 10-11 months.
I’ve made it to a consistent 205 lbs after recovering from a broken clavicle within my first 1.5 years of training. So that leaves about 20 lbs for me to gain at the time of writing this. So anywhere between 5-10 months of training and gaining. 💪🏼
So how do we split up training? We’re gonna look at this in 3 lenses: Microcycle, Mesocycle, Macrocycle. The Macrocycle is a year at a glance. Think of this as a 12-month plan, like a preseason, in-season, and off-season. The Mesocycle is a 1-2 month view. This can help at training different stages in your development. An example of this would be training heavy one week and light the next. Lastly, the Microcycle is a 7-day plan that expresses which muscle groups you’ll be training on which days. So what do you do weekly?
There are many different “splits” out there. A Split is how you break down your weekly training plan and which muscles you train on which days. Some common splits are 2 Upper Body/2 Lower Body, Push-Pull-Legs, Chest and Triceps/Back and Biceps/Legs, and more. It’s important to give each muscle group an adequate amount of rest after training them so they can recover! This is roughly 24-36 hours depending on the person. You also want to target each muscle group for about 12 working sets per week, usually dividing that up throughout the week.
My personal routine is currently a-synchronistic, meaning it doesn’t line up with the 7-day calendar week. I like a Push-Pull-Leg Split, but will add a rest day or two afterward. Here’s how a week might look for me:
Monday-Wednesday: Push/Pull/Leg Thursday: Rest Friday-Sunday: Push Pull Legs Monday: Rest, etc.
For me, I find I can usually recover in about 2 days for each muscle group, so this gives me ample time to feel nice and fresh for the next day. But I suggest finding what works best for you, physically, mentally, or emotionally (yeah it can sometimes get to that level too!).
Now it’s your turn. Set aside 5-10 minutes, and decide on what your goals are, when you want your “season” to be, and how you can optimize your schedule according to YOUR goals. Get out there, have fun, stay strong. 💪🏼 If you’d like to skip this step and have a custom plan fit for you specifically, contact me at benstampercoaching@gmail.com or here on the site!
