After having set an all-time PR on my equipped bench press with 457lbs, I'm taking the next 12-16 weeks to focus on hypertrophy training. My wife is beginning to diet to do a show within the next year, so I'm shifting this time to join in her footsteps for support. I'm hoping to compete again before the end of 2019.
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Saturday's training had quite a bit of volume and it was a tough session. A really good chest pump, and the pec flys felt great after having 12 sets of hard pressing before hand. The heavy lateral swings were also a nice change of pace to keep things fresh, but challenging. I always find that shoulder training can get pretty boring since there is only so much you can do from a lateral delt standpoint. Good Saturday nonetheless.
Items Used in this Training Session
Warm Up
Tons of PRI Based Stuff
A1) Incline DB Bench Press
4 sets of max reps with moderate weight (12, 11, 10, 10)
B1) Incline Bench Press
3x6
C1) Reverse Mini Band Swiss Angle Bench Press
4x8
D1) Pec Dec Flys
4x10
E1) Lateral Raises
3x12
F1) Lateral Raise Partials
3x20
*These are basically swings with a bit of a grind to it. Hard after the strict laterals before hand.*
G1) Reverse Pec Dec
3x30
This can be a done a variety of ways. Usually hypertrophy programming tracks total volume of sets for each muscle group. A good hypertrophy program will start with a lower to moderate amount of volume and frequency, and this will ramp up over the course of 3-4 weeks, hold steady or increase slightly for 4-8 weeks, then drop back down to a lower volume and frequency approach for 2-4 weeks.
Progress can be made through total volume, frequency of times trained, decreased rest time (increased training density), and using high intensity techniques.
I thin too many people get caught up in tracking weight on stuff with hypertrophy training versus just working hard and getting after it. Time under tension, stimulus frequency, and effort are the things to really emphasize.
Perhaps I will write a training log on this at some point, as this is a great question.
Hopefully that helps!