[ninja]

Originally Posted by krazyk

Hi guys, I am new to the community and would love to share my newly designed training program with you and get some feedback on it. My goal is to acheive the "Men's Health" or Abercrombie model physique. Names which come to mind are the Carlson twins, Nick Auger, and Alec Musser - all of whom have modeled in some form or another.

Never heard of those dudes. But I have a feeling they have sweet penis lines. Are they the ones on the shopping bags?

A few stats about myself.. I am 6'3", 205 pounds with an estimated body fat % of 18%. Getting this down to around 8-9% is the goal, as that extra body fat is really covering up those shredded muscles laying underneath!

I totally feel you bro! The shredding is there to be shredded!

I am not new to weight training but want to become more disciplined and consistent in trying to get to that level. I have read books such as Body for Life, Built for Show, and just recently Vince Delmonte's No Nonsense Muscle Building. I've found something useful in each one. With my knowledge base, this is what I have put together:

That is such a good idea! I want to be more disciplined too, so I think I'm going to design a program for myself!

12-week phases
take one week break between each phase
each phase would be unique by differentiating one week routine
12 x 4 = 48 weeks
48 + 4 = 52 weeks
one week routine would look like:

Dude, loving it. Not only are you designing your own program, but it's for a year. Think of the progress you'll make!

Mon Strength training
Tues Cardio (HIIT)
Wed Strength training
Thur Cardio (HIIT)
Fri Strength training
Sat Cardio (aerobic)
Sun Off

OR

Mon Cardio (HIIT)
Tues Strength training
Wed Cardio (HIIT)
Thur Strength training
Fri Cardio (aerobic)
Sat Strength training
Sun Off

The split:

Mon upper body, abs
Tues
Wed lower body, abs
Thur
Fri upper body, abs
Sat
Sun

then week after do:

Mon lower body, abs
Tues
Wed upper body, abs
Thur
Fri lower body, abs
Sat
Sun

Upper body: 2 exercises for chest, 2 for back, 1-2 for shoulders, 1 for triceps, 1 for biceps, 2 for abs

Lower body: 1 exercise for quads, 1 for hamstrings, 1 for calves, 2 for abs (obviously with compound movements this will not be exact)

Possible exercises for lower body: squats, deadlifts, lunges, step-ups, clean pulls, calf extensions (several variations for squat and deadlifts)

I totally think you need to lift on Mondays. Studies have shown that lifting on Mondays emits a hormone response that is 0.5% greater than the hormone response from lifting on Tuesdays. That's a lot when you're trying to get ript abz.

As you have seen, you'll be working your abs last on each of your three weight training days. Each day you want to do one exercise that targets the lower abs and one that targets the obliques. Your upper abdominals are the ones that seem to need the least work. Focus on your weaknesses!

Dude, I will totally do this program with you. You want to start a training log together?

Additionally, the reason why I am doing only 1-2 shoulder exercises is because you already work those when doing bench presses and even cable rows. Eric Cressey recommends cutting out shoulder isolation altogether.

Bro, completely with you here. I tried for the Gisele Bundchen look and had to drop shoulder work because my middle deltoids were getting too cannonbally.

Finally, this is what the rep and set combination would look like:

week 1 3x10
week 2 5x5
week 3 3x10
week 4 3x15
week 5 3x10
week 6 pyramid 3 sets going from 12-10-8
then repeat for weeks 7-12

The reason why I did it this way is to have the 3x10 be the foundation of your set-rep combo while including in the 5x5 for strength and the 3x15 for endurance. Then in week 6 you pyramid to mix it up even more. The body is very good at adapting so I want to change things up to keep my body from hitting those plateaus.

Broseph, you're not going to want to go higher than eight reps per set. You're going to lose some muscle mass if you do, and if you're going for the Abercrombie look you don't want that to happen.

So to sum it up, this upper/lower body split would be done for 12 weeks. Then after that, I have another 12-week plan that goes from upper/lower body split to a more isolated phase. If you would like to know more than PM me.

Definitely. Do you have IM? A/S/L?

As far as nutrition, this is probably my weakest link! I have to start getting better at feeding my body with better whole foods rather than processed junk. At the same time, I don't want to go completely OCD with this. I plan to eat 5-6 small meals throughout the day. 3 meals would be pretty substantial while the other 2-3 would comprise of protein shakes and healthy carbs. I will allow myself one cheat day per week so that my metabolism doesn't adapt to my lower caloric intake and start becoming more efficient and storing food energy.

Make sure that you never combine fat with carbs. That's just the insulin spike from hell there. I'd go with about seven-eight small meals over the course of the day. Hell, just eat all day. That way you're always full and you never overeat.

I was doing some research and Greg Plitt (who has an absolutely awesome physique) said he eats 2 large meals a day, sometimes even 1. He says for most people just 3 meals a day is fine, and for a guy who looks like that, I'll take his word for it. This of course means 3 meals with nothing but quality foods. He does take whey protein though. He stays off sugar and does not eat anything 4 hours prior to going to bed. I'm going to try to start incorporating some of those practices into my lifestyle.

I'd even go further and say that you need to stop eating about six hours before bed. Your metabolism just starts crawling when you sleep, and if you have a big meal before bed, a lot of times it's still in your stomach when you wake up but you're still hungry. How freaky is that?

Thanks for reading, this definitely hasn't been one of my shorter posts in any forum. I can already start seeing the "flaming" about to occur - "Abercrombie is ghey!" haha. All I can say is, to each his own. I don't want to become a model (I'm pretty average-looking), I just want to attain that type of physique.

Dude. Hollister is teh ghey. Come on now.