Welcome to AES-15, here is a weekly Breakdown
Weekly Training Split:
Sunday: Lower Body
Monday: Upper Push
Wednesday: Upper Pull
Thursday: Lower Body
Friday: Full Upper Body: Pull and Push
Focus Areas and Key Movements:
Bulgarian spilt Squat
Close Grip and 1-1/4 bench press
Sumo Deadlift, 1-1/4 Front Squat
Dumbbell Row
Main strength exercise approach
On Friday, there will be a high number of exercises with Giant Sets. Those will target all upper body pushing and pulling patterns. These will demand a lot of effort because of the multiple movement combination, shorter rest period, therefore the weight will not be super heavy but the intensity demand will be high.
On Thursday you have 2 main strength exercise. It will be hard to keep high level of intensity in both exercise. Focus instead on your range of motion in the squatting exercises. Use less weight and focus more on your form. Same when sumo deadlifting, focus on wider stance. Stretch your hips and inner thighs and building greater position for the lift.
Working sets progress
On Sunday, the Bulgarian split squat is a primary exercise. This six-week progression focuses on the hand-supported suitcase rear foot elevated split squat, gradually increasing intensity and complexity to build lower body muscle. The program begins with a higher rep range and lighter weights, progressively decreasing reps and increasing weights each week. Stability is prioritized by starting with hand-supported versions, allowing for proper form and muscle activation. As the weeks progress, the support is reduced, and a deficit is introduced in the final weeks to increase the range of motion and further challenge the muscles. This methodical increase in difficulty helps build muscle mass and functional strength and stability, which are crucial for overall lower body performance.
There will be several pattern of working sets in this cycle:
1-Descending sets: increasing the weight and decreasing the reps. Last set should have the same weight as set 1 but to performed AMRAP aiming for minimum 10 to 15 reps. Below is an example:
4-5 Working Sets
Dumbbell Bent Over Row
- Working Set 1 – 15 reps – RPE 7
- Working Set 2 – 12 reps – Increase weight
- Working Set 3 – 10 reps – Increase weight
- Working Set 4 – 8 reps – Increase weight
- Working Set 5 – Drop back to your Set 1 weight and perform MAX unbroken reps (aim for 10-15 reps)
2- Descending set: To be reserved for advanced athletes: Decreasing the weight and increasing the reps. First Set will have 3 reps only. Below is an example
3 Working Sets
Sumo Deadlift
- Working Set 1 – 3 reps – RPE 7
- Working Set 2 – 6 reps – Decrease 10% from Set 1
- Working Set 3 – 9 reps – Decrease 10% from Set 2
3-for the bench press, we will target the same number of reps and weights for all sets. Then in the last set, we will aim to the highest possible number of reps we can achieve. Example below:
4 Working Sets
1-1-4 Bench Press
- Working Set 1 – 5 reps – RPE 7
- Working Set 2 – 5 reps – same weight
- Working Set 3 – 5 reps – same weight
- Working Set 4 – MAX unbroken reps – same weight (aim for 5-8 reps)
Difference between a warm up set and a working set
When instructed to do 3 working sets only, meaning you will not start doing them until you are fully comfortable doing heavy and you have a pretty good idea what weight you should start with. A working set should have an RPE of not less than 7
Prior to start your working set, especially if this will be the first station of the workout, few warm up sets are needed: perform 1 to 3 warm up sets at an RPE of 5 to 6.
