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The 3 Lift Routine for Size and Strength

Getting bigger and stronger, along with lifting weights, is not as complicated as some make it out to be.

The fundamentals are relatively simple – lift progressively heavier weights (what you can handle), working with compound, multi-joint movements. Lift no more than three days a week to give yourself time to recover. Eat healthy food, drink plenty of water and get a solid 7-9 hours sleep. Pretty much basic, common sense. Exactly what the old-timers did.

Why the confusion today? Bodybuilding that’s why. The magazines of today are nothing more than advertisements for drug companies and so-called nutritional experts who peddle the latest protein powder or super, duper weight gainer. Bullshit is what they peddle. Crap is what they sell.

If the supplements aren’t enough, unsuspecting readers are force-fed Mr. Steroid and his latest workout – a six-day a week, two times a day, upper and lower body split that can’t possibly make anyone, but the drug using bodybuilder bigger. You don’t need that junk. Throw those magazines in the trash and listen.

You can grow and get stronger on just three exercises, provided you lift heavy weights and work the three exercises hard. Don’t believe me? Just follow this program for a month or two, work hard and watch what happens.

Overhead Press 2 x 6-8
Squats 1 x 20 (breathing squat)
Deadlifts 1 x 15-20

Notes: You can try training three days a week if you want, but if you work these lifts hard, you should only be able to work to full capacity twice a week. Don’t be fooled by the simplicity of the program – it’s brutally hard, especially after doing a 20-rep breathing squat and then jumping right into a high rep deadlift. Feel free to play around with the routine. You can use 5 x 5, one set to failure or lower reps on each lift. The choice is yours. Just work hard, eat right, get rest and you’ll blow those steroid boys out of the water with your strength gains.

Understand that to be successful in any weight training program – hard work is a must! Half-hearted effort does nothing for you. If you’re new to weight training or grossly out of shape, consult a physician first. End of disclaimer.

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Tough As Nails Workout – Part 2

This is another old-school workout that can get you big, strong and lifting heavy duty weight.

The program focuses on working brutally hard on a few lifts that can get you size and strength gains that are out of this world – provided you bust your ass and lift heavier poundages the stronger you get.

There is one isolation exercise involved but the rest of the routine is basic compound movements that really stress growth and overall power. This is another workout Mr. Muscle Magazine Steroid Man will avoid like the plague. Why? Because it’s tough and if you do it and keep doing it, you’ll be a tough as nails lifter.

Day One

Deadlifts 5 x 5
Squats 5 x 5
Bench Press 5 x 5
Rows 2 x 8

Day Two

Romanian Deadlifts 5 x 5
Front Squats 5 x 5
Incline Bench Press 5 x 5
Curls 2 x 8

Notes: Train 2-3 days per week. Get plenty of rest, good food and water. This program above uses the old 5 x 5 system advocated by Reg Park and others. If you want to try a different set and rep scheme – feel free to do so. Experiment and use whatever works for you. If doing the deads and squats together is too much, drop deads from day one and squats from day two. You will then be doing squats and deads once a week on a two-day lifting schedule.

Understand that to be successful in any weight training program – hard work is a must! Half-hearted effort does nothing for you. If you’re new to weight training or grossly out of shape, consult a physician first. End of disclaimer.

Tough As Nails Workout

This is a routine used by a lot of the old timers to get big and strong. By no means is it easy, but if you stay consistent and keep working with progressively heavier weight – the size and strength you’ll gain will amaze you.

This is a workout Mr. Muscle Magazine Steroid Man will avoid like the plague. Why? Because it’s tough and if you do it and keep doing it, you’ll be a tough as nails lifter.

As always, the main muscle groups will be worked and isolation exercises forsaken. Don’t worry, you don’t need them in your workouts anyway. This routine works the legs, back and pressing muscles – every area you need to train on to get big and strong.

Squats 5 x 5
Snatches 5 x 3
Bench Press 5 x 5
Clean and Jerk 5 x 5
Chins 2 x 8

Notes: Train 2-3 times per week. You can add grip and ab work if you choose and feel free to change the set and rep schemes to suit your purposes. Like I always preach, eat right, get plenty of rest and follow a consistent workout schedule.

Understand that to be successful in any weight training program – hard work is a must! Half-hearted effort does nothing for you. If you’re new to weight training or grossly out of shape, consult a physician first. End of disclaimer.

Classic Olympic Power Program

Back in the day, Olympic lifts were used by many of the iron greats to build a solid, strength foundation.

Unfortunately, the O-lifts are very demanding exercises and since many people don’t want to work that hard, they fell out of favor by the seventies. Powerlifting soon disappeared as well and now all we have is some glossy bodybuilding magazine giving us steroid boy and his workout of the month. But the workout has no Olympic lifts, squats or even deadlifts in it for that matter. Give me a break!

Weight training is really pretty simple: work hard and lift heavy on basic, compound multi-joint exercises that work the major musculature of the body – back, chest and hips. Keep progressively adding weight to the bar, eat right, get rest, drink plenty of water and before you know it, you’ll be big and strong.

Here’s a routine that brings back the grand, old O-lifts and throws in some nice power lifts as well.

Day One:

Snatch 6-8 singles
Squats 4 x 3
Pulls 4 x 3

Day Two:

Cleans 6-8 singles
Overhead Press 4 x 3
Deadlifts 4 x 3

Notes: Train 2-3 days a week and try to add weight to each lift every week if possible. This is a good routine for building full body strength and stamina. This is by no means an easy workout, but the benefits will last a lifetime if you put forth the effort.

Understand that to be successful in any weight training program – hard work is a must!Half-hearted effort does nothing for you. If you’re new to weight training or grossly out of shape, consult a physician first. End of disclaimer.

Power Training Simplified

For those who don’t like or don’t want to do the Olympic lifts, here is a simple workout guaranteed to pack on size and strength like you wouldn’t believe.

This workout requires hard work and focus. Don’t be fooled by the simplicity of it. You’ll only get results if you work hard with maximum intensity. Half-assed effort will get you half-assed results.

The exercises involved work every major muscle structure in the body. They are the compound, power movements. You don’t need the isolation stuff in this routine. The old saying, “build a bicep muscle first before trying to work it from different angles,” applies here.

Squats 2 x 8-10
Overhead Press 2 x 8-10
Deadlifts 2 x 8-10
Rows 2 x 8-10

Notes: Train 2-3 days per week and get plenty of rest and eat good, healthy food. After 3-6 weeks lower the reps to five or six per set. Low reps with heavy weight builds power. Higher reps build muscular endurance and since this is a power routine, lower the reps after a month or two.

Understand that to be successful in any weight training program – hard work is a must!Half-hearted effort does nothing for you. If you’re new to weight training or grossly out of shape, consult a physician first. End of disclaimer.

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