Bodybuilding

When programming for bodybuilding, the most important thing is adding muscle mass to your frame also known as hypertrophy.

The optimal approach is hotly debated. But the principles remain the same—enough stimulus to elicit muscle growth. The factor that differs is intensity over volume. They are really two ends of a spectrum and as one goes up the other must go down. Which is better comes down to genetic predisposition to training primarily derived from muscle fiber type. As well as general preference, or which one you find more fun, and are therefore more likely to stick to/give more effort to.

The programs below are my interpretation of different programming types and how they could work for you. In each of the four focuses are a 3 day, 4 day and 5 day program that have the same style.

Some of these programs have top sets. This is not typical in bodybuilding-style programming. But it is a style choice in my programming and I believe you can develop higher rates of progress when you benchmark your sets and have goals to aim for.

Technique focus

Technique focus is much more obvious in other strength sports. For bodybuilding, I decided to focus on a limited selection of compound lifts where you will do multiple sets and intensities before moving on to a different exercise. This can be reminiscent of some powerlifting programs where you have a top set and multiple back-offs.

Strength focus

Strength is not a primary focus of hypertrophy training. But many people respond well to heavy compound lifts. I believe this is has a lot to do with it being more enjoyable and therefore more intensity is brought to these lifts. The more days there are the more body part focussed these sessions become.

Volume focus

All bodybuilding training should be focused on volume training. What I have done here, is take the focus away from heavy compounds and put more emphasis on high stimulus, low fatigue exercises. Choose exercises that do not beat up your joints and you get a crazy pump off very little effort.

Balance focus

What the heck does balance mean in hypertrophy training? What I did was create a program that would have a good mix of exercises with a high raw stimulus magnitude and high stimulus-to-fatigue ratio lifts. Aka, I had some fun writing programs that I would enjoy.