Your Recipe for Building MASSIVE Strength and Muscle

Hard work, patience, consistency, discipline. Those are the four main ingredients to achieve any goal, in fitness and in life.

This is especially true when it comes to building lean, functional muscle. The problem for most, is that they are usually lacking one of the ingredients.

For example, some guys will work their ass off but don’t have the patience to stick to a program long enough for it to work. So they switch up program after program and never benefit from any of them.

Or, some may have patience and work hard when they’re in the gym, but aren’t nearly consistent enough.

The point is these four key ingredients need to be executed on all cylinders in order to see the gains you want in the gym. If they are, then the only thing left to do is eliminate confusion. With all the shit on the internet you can see how easy it is to get confused on what to do.

What I want to do is totally rid you of any confusion and give you an 8 week program that I have used for myself and my athletes and have seen amazing results. If executed properly you will sure be on your way to getting jacked!

I want to add that to optimize any training program, your nutrition needs to be dialed in. You can’t eat like shit and expect to feel and look great. That said you need to follow the Tutela diet principles to maximize your growth potential. In a nutshell, you should be eating six meals per day, consisting of real, earth grown foods. Lean meats, fruits, vegetables, nuts and nut butters, unprocessed carbohydrates like potatoes, rice, quinoa, and oatmeal. You can also add a high quality whey protein with no artificial sweeteners, fillers, sugar and other crap. One I can recommend is the 100% natural whey protein by Nutrabio.

It should also be known that you must have a post workout meal within 30 minutes of training. That would be the perfect time for whey protein and a carbohydrate source. I prefer a sugary fruit like a banana.

Now that we got that out of the way, let’s get to the program!

Disclaimer: If you choose to utilize this program please understand that you are advised to be cleared by your healthcare practitioner before starting any training program, including this one. Please be sure that you are healthy enough to workout prior to commencing this program.

So the way this is going to work is you are going to weight train 3 days per week. The first phase is an upper/lower split. What I like to do is start with day 1 on Monday, day 2 on Wednesday and day 3 on Friday. Since this is a 4 day routine trained over a 3 day training week, your next week is going to look like this… Monday day 4, Wednesday day 1 and Friday day 2.

This way one week you will have two upper body days and one lower body day, and the following week will be the opposite. In my opinion this is a great way to stay fresh during a training week.

You are going to stick to this program until you complete each day 3 times. That will take you 4 weeks to complete the first phase.

Once the first phase is completed, you can move to phase 2. Phase 2 consists of 3 full body training days per week. You can certainly stick to the Monday, Wednesday, Friday training week to keep things structured. I have found that I feel my best when I follow a training cycle like this. Keep in mind that this program can be used for athletes or anyone that is looking to pack on some serious size and strength! Now that you know exactly when to do it, let’s get to what to do!

Note: When two or more exercises are labeled with the same number that means that those exercises are meant to be done in circuit fashion. For example, if three exercises are labeled 1a. 1b. and 1c, you should perform 1a-1c then rest 60-90 seconds and then repeat for the prescribed number of sets.

Phase 1

Day 1/ Upper Body

1. Plyo Push-up 3 x 3

2a. Flat neutral grip DB press 3 x 6-8

2b. 1 arm DB row 3 x 8-10 each

3a. 1 arm incline DB press with rotation 2 x 8-10

3b. Seated neutral grip cable row 2 x 10-12

3c. Incline hammer curl 2 x 8-10

4. Finisher: Jump rope 5 x 60 sec on 30 sec. off

Day 2/ Lower Body

1. DB jump squat 3 x 3

2. Squat 3 x 6-8, 1 x 10-12 (Back off set)

3a. DB split squat 2 x 10-12 each

3b. Romanian Deadlift (RDL) 2x 10-12

4. BB shrug (overhand grip) 3 x 8-10

5. Tutela Torture Circuit:

1a. Sit-ups 1 x 15-20

1b. Russian twist 1 x 15-20 each way

1c. Ab plank 1 x max time

Day 3/ Upper Body

1. Medicine ball slam 5x5

2a. Standing neutral grip DB press 3 x 6-8

2b. Supinated grip (palms facing you) pulldown 3 x 8-10

3a. Standing 1 arm neutral grip DB press 2 x 8-10

3b. Neutral grip pulldown 2 x 10-12

3c. Lying DB tricep extension 2 x 8-10

4. Finisher: Mountain climbers 3-5 x 30 sec on 60 sec off

Day 4/ Lower Body

1. Broad jump 5 x 1

2. Deadlift 3 x 6-8, 1 x 10-12 (back off set)

3a. 45 degree back extension 2 x 10-12

3b. DB step-ups 2 x 10-12 each

4. Farmer’s Carry 3 x 30 sec on 60 sec off

5a. Hanging knee raise 3 x 10-20

5b. Squat thrust 3 x 30 sec.

Please keep in mind that this program was designed for people that have a general foundation and have some experience weight training. This is not intended for seriously deconditioned beginners or anyone with severe health issues or injuries. However, if you are healthy enough to train, but cannot perform certain exercises for whatever reason, have no fear! Here are a few alternative exercises for people with some common concerns.

Squat- Goblet squat

Supinated pulldown- neutral or pronated pulldown

Deadlift- Kettlebell deadlift

Before we move on to phase two, I’d like to give you a quick general idea of why I chose to rotate from an upper/lower split to full body.

I believe that a full body program elicits an incredible muscular growth response due to the physical demands on the body. Which is great for obvious reasons. However, because of those physical demands full body workouts can take their toll on you. So I believe you’ll get the biggest bang for your buck when you rotate between full body and upper/lower splits. This will keep you feeling strong, healthy and feeling awesome.

Now back to the program…

Phase 2

Day 1/ Full Body

1. Vertical jump 5 x 1

2a. Squat 3 x 4-6

2b. Chin-up 3 x 4-6

note: add weight if 4-6 is too easy with bodyweight

3a. DB Russian step-up 3 x 8-10

3b. Standing BB curl 3 x 8-10

3c. Hanging knee raise 3 x 12-20

Day 2/ Full Body

1. Neutral grip DB push press 3 x 5

2a. Incline BB press 3 x 4-6

2b. DB RDL 3 x 8-10

2c. Bent over BB row with supine grip 3 x 6-8

3a. Standing neutral grip DB press 3 x 4-6

3b. Wrist to knee sit-up 3 x 12-20

4. Finisher: Mountain climbers 3-5 x 30 sec on 60 sec off

Day 3/ Full Body

1. Seated medicine ball side throw 3 x 5 each side

2a. Deadlift 3 x 4-6

2b. Parallel bar dips 3 x 6-8

3a. Seated cable row with neutral grip 3 x 6-8

3b. Seated DB press 3 x 4-6

3c. Neutral grip pulldown 3 x 6-8

4a. Rope pushdown 2 x 8-10

4b. Single arm farmer’s carry 2 x 30 sec each side

If you are unsure on how to do any of these exercises just check them out on YouTube. I wanted to get this program out there for you guys ASAP so I didn’t get a chance to shoot a video for every exercise. I will do my best to put them up on my YouTube channel as soon as possible, but if you have any questions please email me right away and I will give you the best description possible.

Now if you do the math you will realize that this is only 7 total weeks. That’s because we need to reduce the intensity/volume and deload for one week to finish off the program. A deload week will give your body the recovery it needs to grow. I like to do a deload week every 4-8 weeks. To keep it simple, only use 85% of the weights you used on week 3 of your program (by week 3 I mean the 3rd week of phase 2). This will help you avoid CNS fatigue and also give your joints a breather.

Now keep in mind that before beginning any training program, you should take a dynamic warm-up to reduce the risk of injury and for several other reasons. A dynamic warm-up is a series of bodyweight exercises done in circuit fashion. An example would be something like this.

Jumping jacks x 30

BW squats x 20

Frankenstein’s x 10 each

Lunges x 8 each

Mountain climbers x 20 each

Push-ups x 8

Ab Plank x 30 sec.

Hip circles x 10 each

Band pull-aparts x 10

Sprint in place x 5 sec

That’s just a quick sample but you can use that to start. Then add some exercises you feel you may need to use to address some potential issues. It should take about 8-15 minutes to complete a good warm-up.

After you’ve completed that be sure to warm-up for each exercise you do. For example, if you are going to squat with 315 lbs for your set of 6-8, your warm-up sets would look something like this..

Bar x 6

135 x 6

185 x 4

225 x 3

275 x 2

305 x 1

That may look like a lot but it should be done quickly. Obviously if you aren’t using 315 you won’t be warming up like that, but follow the same principle and work up to your work weight. Just don’t go too heavy and don’t do more than 6 reps.

As I spoke of in previous posts, please make sure that your technique is damn near flawless. For instance, if you cannot perform a squat to parallel, the weight is too heavy. Leave your ego at the door, and back down the weight.

A good way to select a weight on week one is to pick a weight that you can accomplish with good form, for 2-3 reps more than the prescribed rep range.

Our goal is to increase either weight or reps for the prescribed rep range each week! If you go too heavy on week one your results will be sub-par.

Also keep in mind that you should include speed and conditioning into your program as well. In previous posts, I have given you guys tons of info on how to get quality work done. Check them out and do them 2-3 days a week. If fat loss is a primary goal then stick to 3 speed/conditioning days. Just do them in between your weight training days. Just make sure that you take one day a week completely off and do some recovery work.

So there you have it guys, I hope that you learned a lot and start implementing this program right away. I am excited to hear the feedback on your results! Keep me posted on your progress by commenting below or tagging me in your photos on social media.

As I said earlier, stay consistent, disciplined, patient and work your ass off. Execute this program including EVERYTHING I said and you will be well on your way to getting JACKED!

Until next time,

Train your ass off!