Battle For The Britains: Training Split

I have decided upon a 6-8 week bulking phase during which time I have decided to train in a similar manner to a professional weightlifter or powerlifter.

On some days you will notice that I am training multiple times a day, which is why on these days calories are extremely high (even higher than normal, with high fats and even higher carbs).

The aim of this is to hit each muscle group as hard and intensely as possible without overtaxing the nervous sytem, which has been a problem in the past.

Its also so I don't have to go as long without refueling, and according to the research I have done (such as Zatsiorsky, Siff and Simmons) shorter duration multiple workouts in a day yield better results in terms of strength than the single session per day structure I have used in the past.

So I figure that this will be exactly the same for bodybuilding. We shall certainly see.

Monday LEG DAY WITHOUT FAIL (XMAS IS NO EXCUSE, THE ONLY LEG DAY THAT IS MISSED IS THE DAY AFTER A COMPETITION)- Quite simply I believe this is the reason I won the Yorkshire Novices, you have to smash your legs EVERY SINGLE WEEK with correct technique as well, all you half squatters out there!.

AM- Hamstrings and Glutes 30-40mins
Post-workout fruit salad
Protein Smoothie with about 50g Oats Olive Oil and a banana

Early PM- Quads and Adductors 30-40 minutes (Adductors added as mine are weak weak weak, as well as being the weak area of my otherwise strong upper leg shape on stage)
Repeat the same post-workout meal

Late PM Calves and Core Circuit 20-30 minutes
At this point I can throw in any mobility work that I feel I need/ want to experiment with
Another repeat of the post-workout meal (although most weeks this ends up being without another fruit salad)

Tuesday- Rest day. Although restorative techniques, yoga and meditation are allowed. Mobility work, especially if I've been researching and thinking (always dangerous.)

I have changed my rest day to Tuesday as Legs is absolutely brutal on the Central Nervous System and changing it to a Tuesday means I am never training to failure more than 2 days in a row, to me this means I am less likely to overtrain, get injured or prevent muscle growth.

Wednesday- AM- Shoulders 30-40 mins - Post-workout meal

PM- Triceps and Core 30mins(occasionally split into 2 workouts of 20 mins each) - Post- workout meal

Thursday- AM Mult-joint multi-planar Back and Grip work 30-40 mins Massive Post-workout meal

PM- Upper Back, Rear Delts, Core and Traps  (unless overly tight in this case I will add more mobility work) Again huge post-workout meal.

I hate training traps as mine are so overactive and tighten up so quickly it is unbelievable. Up to this point my traps have always grown through the heavy deadlifts and back sessions, but I've thrown it in this time as I'd like them to be slightly better on stage at the Brits

On both leg day and back day (full days quite literally, especially legs!) my calories will be far far higher than on the other days, particularly in terms and high quality fats (very much including saturates and animal fats) in order to deal with the increased energy and recovery demands.

Friday- Any form of training I want, perhaps swimming, perhaps some primal flow, no rules, just have fun.

Or eat more food.

Saturday- Complete day of rest, can eat pretty much what I want (doesn't stray too badly when bulking, funnily enough)

My cheat meals when dieting are famous.

Sunday- AM Chest 30-40 mins- It was in thinking about how to bring up my chest (my weakest muscle group) that I decided upon the multiple workout option. + Post-workout meal

PM- Biceps and Core- I feel this is my second weakest area on stage, but who doesn't want a better gun show? More isolated bicep work for me then (having supersetted biceps with chest for about as long as I remember!)

Although having just referred to my arms as guns, I now, ever so slightly, hate myself.

My aim for this very brief bulking phase is to train like a professional athlete while I have the ability and resources (hopefully) to be able to do so.

Being a Personal Trainer, I'm in a gym literally 12 hours a day, and more if I choose therefore I have plenty of time to train, recover between sessions and eat as much clean foods as I can (literally.)

Not many people are in a position to be able to train like this, so I am very very lucky.

For this reason, the only person to blame if I do not place well in the British Novice Lightwaves final is me.

Because I also have the best support team in the world.

We shall never surrender!

By Chris Kershaw