Just thought I'd share this program which I designed with the help of Chicanerous. The principles of this program were taken from Chad Waterbury's program called "Waterbury Method" however I customized the program a bit and modified it to revolve around the "Big Three". Any comments are appreciated.

Monday

BB Back Squats 10x3
DB Lunges 4x6 (Quad Dominant Exercise)
A1 Standing BB Military Press 4x6 (Vertical Push)
A2 Chin-Ups 4x6 (Vertical Pull)
B1 Standing BB Curls 4x6 (Elbow Flexion)
B2 Lying BB Tricep Extensions 4x6 (Elbow Extension)

Wednesday

BB Flat Bench Press 10x3
A1 Incline DB Bench Press 4x6 (Horizontal Push)
A2 Bent-Over BB Rows 4x6 (Horizontal Pull)
B1 Seated DB Military Press 4x6 (Vertical Push)
B2 Wide-Grip Lat. Pulldowns 4x6 (Vertical Pull)
C1 Calf Raises
C2 Tibialis Raises

Friday

BB Conventional Deadlift 10x3
DB Romanian Deadlift 4x6 (Hip Dominant)
A1 Standing DB Military Press 4x6 (Vertical Push)
A2 Pull-Ups 4x6 (Vertical Pull)
B1 Preacher Curls 4x6 (Elbow Flexion)
B2 Tricep Pressdowns 4x6 (Elbow Extension)

"This would emphasize vertical movement. You could also emphasize horizontal movement (by swapping terms) if you feel you have a weakness there or that your vertical plane is doing exceptionally well."

- Chicanerous

Rests: 60 second rests between pairings. 60 seconds between regular sets.
None of these sets are to failure, however you should come 'close' to failure on the last rep on the last set of each exercise.

Single leg DB SLDL if you want to minimize compounded stress on your lower back after conventional deadlifts, which you said you were worried about.

If your calves are a weak point and your arms are a strong point of your physique, you could also easily switch the arm isolation and lower leg isolation so that you do arms once on Wednesday and calves twice on Monday and Friday.

Are those rest periods right, BTW? That gives you a much longer rest period on pairings than it does on straight sets.

Single leg DB SLDL if you want to minimize compounded stress on your lower back after conventional deadlifts.

Good advice. I'm going to just stick to DB Romanian Deadlifts and try to put most of the emphasis on my glutes/hams and try to minimize the back involvement. However if I feel the stress is too much I will give those a shot instead.

Interesting. Chad just recommended WM to me after my two sessions through TBT. He recommended I follow up on WM with Art of Waterbury. What I'm going to miss in these two programs are the dead emphasis I've been doing in TBT. I've improved the most in deads, but maybe just following the programs for awhile and seeing what is happening will work. I like the thought process in your variant, though. I'll keep it in mind in the future. Let us know how you think it goes.

Are those rest periods right, BTW? That gives you a much longer rest period on pairings than it does on straight sets.

I understood WM as having supersetted antagonistic pairs, vs TBT just having antagonistic pairs every other week. I'm taking the "superset" description as meaning to immediately do the second exercise in the pair followed by a 60 second rest. I think that is why he uses a 70 second rest in the 10x3 part and a 60 second in the 4x6, figuring the two sets will almost make both types of sets end up being 70-75 seconds apart when you figure in actual work time (factoring in the explosive lifts he recommends, not slow lifts).

Just my interpretation, though. I'm likely wrong, but I'm doing them this way anyway :)

Upon reflection I realized that the regular sets (squat, bench press, and deadlift, etc; ie, the non paired exercises) use a rest of 70 seconds. And then for paired exercises it's 60 seconds. So, A1, rest 60, A2, rest 60, A1, etc.

If your calves are a weak point and your arms are a strong point of your physique, you could also easily switch the arm isolation and lower leg isolation so that you do arms once on Wednesday and calves twice on Monday and Friday.

My calves are my strong point. Right now they're 17 inches cold, my quads around 23 inches cold, and my arms, a measly 13.5 inches cold. Like I said, my lower body is my stronger point. That being said, how many sets do you think I should perform for the calf exercises.

My calves are my strong point. Right now they're 17 inches cold, my quads around 23 inches cold, and my arms, a measly 13.5 inches cold. Like I said, my lower body is my stronger point. That being said, how many sets do you think I should perform for the calf exercises.3-4 x 6, perhaps. What does WB recommend for calves?

I was just pointing that out since you've posted the routine to the board, in case anyone decides to use and wants to customize.

3-4 x 6, perhaps. What does WB recommend for calves?

I was just pointing that out since you've posted the routine to the board, in case anyone decides to use and wants to customize.

In the original Waterbury Method plan he prescribes standing calf raises 4x6. However since I'm doing tibia raises as well, I think I'll do 3 sets of each.

Question: What is the estimated time to completion on these workouts? It seems like ideally it would be about 60 min. Just wondering what sort of window you had in mind. It looks good though, I had been mulling around with something like this: maybe I'll just adopt yours instead :D :tu:

EDIT: Would you consider doing this on a two week pattern every other day instead? Or is the weekend needed for the rest? Bulking, not cutting.

Question: What is the estimated time to completion on these workouts? It seems like ideally it would be about 60 min. Just wondering what sort of window you had in mind. It looks good though, I had been mulling around with something like this: maybe I'll just adopt yours instead :D :tu:

EDIT: Would you consider doing this on a two week pattern every other day instead? Or is the weekend needed for the rest? Bulking, not cutting.

Ideally 45-60 minutes. However if you want to take full 2 minute rests between set it will probably be closer to 60 minutes, maybe a few minutes over, but no big deal.

It's a 3 day split for a reason. The days off are the days where you will grow, rest days are important in a routine like this since it will be pretty taxing on your muscles. So yes I would say the weekends are needed for rest. Feel free to make slight exercise changes if you wish(as long as you stick with the basic pattern - and stick to compound movements), I've picked the ones I personally think will help me the most with my weaker areas.

Edit: Originally Waterbury reccomends to do moderate cardio(but it's optional) on Tuesdays and Thursdays, so if you want to throw in cardio on those days I wouldn't see a problem. I personally am not doing the cardio, at least not for the first month. Maybe the second month in I will consider cardio on those days, but for now I'm going for an all out bulk.

Hi Chang,

If it were me, I would rethink this routine a little more. With the WM (which was a spin off of his TBT), CW constructed routines based on the frequency of each major muscle group (legs, hips/lowerback, back, shoulders, chest) to be worked at least three times per week, with some sort of rest in between built in for recovery.

With your routine, I guess I'm missing the frequency aspect that CW touts. It seems that you tend to overload some bodyparts some days, while leaving others completely out. Why was this designed? I understand the push/pull theories, but yours leaves out major groups, while doubling-up others.



Just thought I'd share this program which I designed with the help of Chicanerous. The principles of this program were taken from Chad Waterbury's program called "Waterbury Method" however I customized the program a bit and modified it to revolve around the "Big Three". Any comments are appreciated.

Monday

BB Back Squats 10x3
DB Lunges 4x6 (Quad Dominant Exercise)
A1 Standing BB Military Press 4x6 (Vertical Push)
A2 Chin-Ups 4x6 (Vertical Pull)
B1 Standing BB Curls 4x6 (Elbow Flexion)
B2 Lying BB Tricep Extensions 4x6 (Elbow Extension)

Wednesday

BB Flat Bench Press 10x3
A1 Incline DB Bench Press 4x6 (Horizontal Push)
A2 Bent-Over BB Rows 4x6 (Horizontal Pull)
B1 Seated DB Military Press 4x6 (Vertical Push)
B2 Wide-Grip Lat. Pulldowns 4x6 (Vertical Pull)
C1 Calf Raises
C2 Tibialis Raises

Friday

BB Conventional Deadlift 10x3
DB Romanian Deadlift 4x6 (Hip Dominant)
A1 Standing DB Military Press 4x6 (Vertical Push)
A2 Pull-Ups 4x6 (Vertical Pull)
B1 Preacher Curls 4x6 (Elbow Flexion)
B2 Tricep Pressdowns 4x6 (Elbow Extension)

"This would emphasize vertical movement. You could also emphasize horizontal movement (by swapping terms) if you feel you have a weakness there or that your vertical plane is doing exceptionally well."

- Chicanerous

Rests: 60 second rests between pairings. 60 seconds between regular sets.
None of these sets are to failure, however you should come 'close' to failure on the last rep on the last set of each exercise.

Hi Chang,

If it were me, I would rethink this routine a little more. With the WM (which was a spin off of his TBT), CW constructed routines based on the frequency of each major muscle group (legs, hips/lowerback, back, shoulders, chest) to be worked at least three times per week, with some sort of rest in between built in for recovery.

With your routine, I guess I'm missing the frequency aspect that CW touts. It seems that you tend to overload some bodyparts some days, while leaving others completely out. Why was this designed? I understand the push/pull theories, but yours leaves out major groups, while doubling-up others.

The main ideas taken were the 10x3 on the main lifts on then 4x6 for the rest. I decided that I wanted to use 10x3 on the "Big Three", hence the name "Big Three Workout". I then thought of which of my body parts were lagging behind the rest, and for my, it's my shoulders. So to try to work around my weak areas I came up with a plan that would emphasize vertical pushing and pulling. So with the help of Chic, it was designed to emphasize my weak areas. However, as stated, you can modify it to emphasize your horizontal plane if you're lacking in that area. That's pretty much why it's the way it is, and not the typical TBT way of doing things. However that's not to say you can't take the basic idea from this routine and customize it to a more TBT like program.

Sounds good. Try it out, and get back to us!



The main ideas taken were the 10x3 on the main lifts on then 4x6 for the rest. I decided that I wanted to use 10x3 on the "Big Three", hence the name "Big Three Workout". I then thought of which of my body parts were lagging behind the rest, and for my, it's my shoulders. So to try to work around my weak areas I came up with a plan that would emphasize vertical pushing and pulling. So with the help of Chic, it was designed to emphasize my weak areas. However, as stated, you can modify it to emphasize your horizontal plane if you're lacking in that area. That's pretty much why it's the way it is, and not the typical TBT way of doing things. However that's not to say you can't take the basic idea from this routine and customize it to a more TBT like program.

wow, I think my shoulders would fall off with doing them 3 times a week! I guess just make sure you have plenty of warm up, cause shoulder injuries as you know take a LONG time to heal, and they effect so many other exercises (deads, bench press and squats most importantly).

Good luck !!!

MIKE

wow, I think my shoulders would fall off with doing them 3 times a week! I guess just make sure you have plenty of warm up, cause shoulder injuries as you know take a LONG time to heal, and they effect so many other exercises (deads, bench press and squats most importantly).

Good luck !!!

MIKE

Thanks!

Yeah the plan is high frequency, the weak area: shoulders. The fact that you don't train to failure on a high frequency program allows you to train body parts more than 1/2 times a week. I've been doing high frequency type training for the past month or so and I've been seeing great results. I personally am enjoying it more than splits.

wow, I think my shoulders would fall off with doing them 3 times a week! I guess just make sure you have plenty of warm up, cause shoulder injuries as you know take a LONG time to heal, and they effect so many other exercises (deads, bench press and squats most importantly).

Good luck !!!

MIKE


As he says above, doing full body routines and hitting a body part 3x a week when you don't go to failure can work with good results. I've been doing Waterbury's TBT for several months, and hitting some form of squat and some form of dead 2-3 times a week. My DL gains have been very good, squats average.

You're body can handle it and get used to it if you don't annihilate a body part. Since you're not doing a ton exercises in a workout for one area, it works.

Chang- how much do you currently weigh?

Chang- how much do you currently weigh?

176lbs, why do you ask?

What are your goals with this program?

What are your goals with this program?

Currently Bulking.

My goals are to gain mass all around, however with this program I am focusing on my vertical push and pull because I feel my shoulders are lagging.

I guess I've not done a high rep frequency program to know what I'm talking about, so I stand corrected. I just know after my workouts I would need a good 5 days off... No one can say what's right or wrong for someone else really... so whatever works for you, right?

All the best of luck!!

Cheers,
MIKE

I guess I've not done a high rep frequency program to know what I'm talking about, so I stand corrected. I just know after my workouts I would need a good 5 days off... No one can say what's right or wrong for someone else really... so whatever works for you, right?

All the best of luck!!

Cheers,
MIKE

It's all good brotha, I used to think the same way. Previously when I did split training I would also need more than 48 hours off. I used to train to maximal failure on every exercise I did. Now I train completely different and I actually have been making better gains this way. You should give high frequency training a shot some day. :tu:

I might try this :) Just because my body seems to respond better to this type of training.. What I've found for myself that supersetting works well but tri-Quad setting is better.. and I've saw some good progress going from 4 days a week lifting to 3 days a week..