Intermediate Bodybuilding
Intermediate bodybuilding is most likely where you'll make most of your muscle-building gains. This is where a lot of people really figure it all out! You've been training for anywhere from 3 to 6 months on the Bodybuilding for Beginners program, and you've learned a lot about your body, what exercises work for you, how your body responds to weight training and diet, and how much sleep you need to grow, among many other things.
Now, you're going to up the volume (more sets per bodypart), and you'll also break up how you exercise your complete body, by following a split system of training. Split training is simply divying up your bodyparts into two and training each half on alternating workout days, like so:
Monday and Thursday
Upper body
Tuesday and Friday
Lower body
The core of your exercise plan will consist of the exercises you used in the Beginning Bodybuilding program: Squats, lat pull-downs, bench presses, military presses, calf presses, bicep curls, tricep extensions, and cruches. In this Intermediate phase, you'll add in more exercises to round out your training regimen.
You will also incorporate a few High Intensity Training (HIT) methods, like super-sets and pre-exhaust.
A typical routine looks like this:
Monday — Upper body
- Lat pull-downs, 3 sets of 6-10 reps.
- Bench presses, 3 sets of 6-10 reps.
- Military presses, 3 sets of 6-10 reps.
- Barbell curls, 2 sets of 6-10 reps.
- Tricep extensions, 2 sets of 6-10 reps.
- Crunches, 1 set of 30 reps.
Tuesday — Lower body
- Squats, 3 sets of 12-15 reps.
- Calf presses, 3 sets of 20 reps.
- Leg curls, 2 sets of 12-15 reps.
- Leg raises, 1 set of 30 reps.
Wednesday — cardio
Thursday — Upper body (same set and rep scheme as Monday)
- Bent-over rows.
- Parallel bar dips.
- Upright rows.
- Tricep push-downs.
- Dumbbell curls (supinate the wrists).
- Twists.
Friday — Lower body (same set and rep scheme as Tuesday)
- Squats.
- Seated calf presses.
- Stiff-legged deadlifts.
- Side bends.
Saturday and Sunday — cardio and rest
Add in a daily anabolic mega-pak and protein shakes before and after your weight workouts to accelerate your muscle-building gains. Do some moderate exercise on your off days, like cycling, running, or playing basketball. Something that elevates your pulse and makes you breathe.
Stay in this phase for 6 to 9 months. If you're still making gains, there's really no need to change much (“If it's not broke, don't fix it!”) — you'll be intermediate bodybuilding in name only. However, if you've leveled off, go ahead and make the switch to the Advanced Bodybuilding phase, where you'll learn a whole lot more about training and dieting techniques that supercharge your muscle building efforts!
Stay tuned for an exclusive eCourse on Intermediate Bodybuilding that I'm putting together to deliver directly to your email inbox in the near future. To get notification of the availability of the eCourse, come back here often, or — BETTER YET — subscribe to the Muscle-Build.com Newsletter.
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