I made an intermediate routine with a focus on building muscle

darciam

New member
I’ve designed an intermediate upper/lower split routine with a hypertrophy focus and I thought I’d share it with you guys. I’ve seen other intermediate routines on this sub, but a lot of them seem to focus pretty heavily on skill work/gymnastics. That’s great if that’s what interests you, but if you’re someone who primarily wants to look good naked then it’s not necessarily the most efficient use of your time (though any quality routine will get you there eventually).

The routine looks pretty similar to other intermediate lifting routines out there (e.g. Lyle McDonald’s generic bulking routine or A Workout Routine’s intermediate routine), but obviously uses bodyweight progressions instead of weights.



Suggested Warmup 5-10 mins

Do 30-60 seconds of each of the following movements

Forward leg swings

Lateral leg swings

Fire hydrants

Squat hold

Forward arm circles

Backward arm circles

Scapular wall slides

Band dislocates



THE ROUTINE 30-60 minutes

4x6-10 pushup4x6-10+ pistol squat4x6-10 handstand pushup4x6-10 Russian curl
4x6-10 row3x10-15 Russian curl4x6-10 pullup3x10-15+ pistol squat
3x11-15 handstand pushup3x10-15+ glute3x11-15 dip3x10-15+ glute
3x11-15 pullup2x10-20 calf raises* (optional)3x11-15 row2x10-20 calf raises* (optional)
2x10-20 superman*2x30sec L-sit2x15 superman*2x30sec plank

Upper A
Lower A
Upper B
Lower B

*Note that everything without a * next to it is a progression

**superman can be substituted for any posterior chain exercise, e.g. reverse plank

Rest times

6-102:30+
11-151:30 - 2:00
15+1:00-1:30

Reps
Rest time

If you’re strapped for time (or just bored) you can speed things up by doing supersets, much like in the recommended routine. Just cut the rest time in half and alternate between push/pull exercises each set.

Schedule

Ideally, this should be done on a 4 days/week schedule but you can also do 3 days/week and alternate if that suits you better.

Picking specific exercises from the progressions

You’ll need to figure out which level of each progression is appropriate for the given rep range. If you follow the links in the table, you’ll see that I’ve made videos of each level (that I’m capable of doing) of each progression so it shouldn’t be too hard to go in and pick what feels right.

As a rule of thumb it should be moderately difficult for you to do the high end of the rep range and you should start at the low end. So for a 6-10 rep range pick the exercise that feels challenging to do 10 reps and start off your work sets at 6 reps.

Also note that most of the progressions have a different rep range depending on the workout, so you’ll be doing a different exercise for each progression depending on whether you’re doing an A workout or B workout. The reason for this is that there’s some evidence that a greater variety of rep ranges is beneficial for intermediate to advanced trainees.

P.S. If none of the exercises are difficult enough you can either (a) just do enough reps that it is challenging, or (b) use a weighted exercise (recommended). If you advance enough you will probably have to switch to weighted exercises (e.g. squat, deadlift) to continue seeing lower body progress.

Progressing

Add reps as you’re able until you’re strong enough to advance to the next progression level. Keep in mind progressive overload (i.e. adding reps or moving to more difficult exercises) is the number one thing that stimulates muscle growth, so continual progression is key.

Deloading

If you completely stop progressing for 2-3 weeks, drop back to the previous exercise in each progression and start progressing from there again.



Suggested Cooldown 10 mins

Do ~90 seconds of each of the following stretches

Prayer stretch

Rear clasp stretch

Couch stretch

Hamstring stretch

Glute stretch



DIET

Not going to say much here except that it’s pretty difficult to build muscle unless you’re eating at a caloric surplus, and it becomes increasingly difficult the more advanced you get. But also don’t go overboard. As a general rule of thumb pretty much anything you eat beyond a 250 calorie surplus (i.e. ~2 lbs of weight gain per month) will just be stored as fat (unless you’re using steroids).



TL;DR Kind of hard to tldr this… but if you’re interested in an idiot-proof, easy-to-follow version of this routine (+ a meal plan to match) you can join the beta of a web app I’m getting ready to release.

EDIT: forgot to include dips
 
@darciam Cool, just some thoughts outloud:
  • It says Routine 30-60minutes. I'm not sure how this could take 30 minutes when rest time alone is 20-22 minutes if you calculate 1.5-2 minutes between each set though not including the actual exercising? (Especially with a unilateral movement like the uneven row or one arm push up which requires double the sets, which isn't inherently bad, just not accurate to say 30-60minutes.)
  • Aren't the russian curls and bridge progressions a bit redundant to do one after another? They're very similar exercises. It's not bad per-se but leg day seems much more focused on the glutes and hammies rather than equal with the quads, it seems. (Was Glutes for the sloots the primary reason?)
  • Seems strange to end the workout with supermans and planks. Just seems out of place. Why wouldn't that be part of the warm up to fire up the core instead?
  • Your pistol squat progressions seem quite a bit more convoluted than necessary. I don't like the "assisted" route much at all. I much prefer the route that goes: Chair Pistols -> Box Pistols (Variable) -> Full Pistols with a Counterweight. The other progressions look detailed and all right except for...
  • The pike push up progression demos are just overall wrong and bad. Your head shouldn't be going straight down between the hands with the elbows flaring out wildly. That doesn't mimic any HSPU at all. It should be going ahead of the hands a bit and the elbows don't flare out so much.
  • I don't like the presence of knee push ups in your push up progression. It really shouldn't be there at all as incline push ups (variable) should take care of those early stages on its own.
  • It says anything without a * next to it is a progression, but why dont calf raises have progressions? (Calf Raises -> Single Leg Calf Raises, for example)
  • Last but not least, your cool down and warm up links are le broken.
 
@fromgenesistorevelation Thanks for the feedback man! I love your stuff.

It says Routine 30-60minutes.

If you look underneath the rest times table, I mentioned the possibility of supersetting the exercises, which would cut the rest time roughly in half. Granted, even then 30 minutes might be a stretch, but I was just ballparking it.

Aren't the russian curls and bridge progressions a bit redundant

That's probably a fair criticism. But my thinking was basically pistol squat = quad dominant, russian curl = hamstring dominant, and glute bridge/thrust = glute dominant, so it seemed like a good balance to me. Of course at the lower levels of the Russian curl there's a ton of overlap with the glute bridge, but I think that becomes less the case once you get into the higher levels. You're right though, it would probably be fine to just alternate the two or do one instead of the other.

Seems strange to end the workout with supermans and planks

I guess it's always just been my personal preference to do core work at the end of my workouts. My thinking is that I don't want to fatigue my core, which I'll need to do pretty much everything else. If you look at the plank, I've actually done it as a progression and the higher levels are pretty difficult (at least for me) so I'm not really treating it as a warmup exercise. That being said, you could easily switch it into the warmup and just do easier variations (or fewer seconds/reps) so it's more of a warmup style exercise.

Your pistol squat progressions seem quite a bit more convoluted than necessary.

Let me just say these progressions are still a work in progress, so I'll probably switch it up at some point. But I originally was using a box squat variation. The problem was when I tested it out on people, I found they were frequently using "boxes" that were too high, which made the transition from there to the full pistol really difficult. So I chose this variation because it requires less equipment and I think there's less room to mess it up. Of course, with any self-assisted exercise you run the risk of people using there arms too much, so I might have to look at that again.

The pike push up progression demos are just overall wrong and bad

Yikes... I'll have to redo these at some point. Admittedly not my strong suit, especially since I have terrible hamstring flexibility.

I don't like the presence of knee push ups in your push up progression. It really shouldn't be there at all as incline push ups (variable) should take care of those early stages on its own.

My reasoning here is that I don't think most people have access to a bunch of different objects of varying heights. So I just assumed a counter/waist height object and a coffee table/couch height object, and I think transitioning between those without a knee variation would be difficult.

Last but not least, your cool down and warm up links are le broken.

Oops. Fixed. Thanks for the heads up.
 
@darciam Gotcha. You really need to fix those pike push up vids tho.

But I originally was using a box squat variation. The problem was when I tested it out on people, I found they were frequently using "boxes" that were too high, which made the transition from there to the full pistol really difficult.

Well when you "tested" it out on people, did you not tell them it's a variable progression and they need to use a lower box overtime? And there should be ZERO excuse for not finding the "box" with the right level. (Whether you live in a 1st world or 3rd world country, there will be something people can find to make this work.)
 
@fromgenesistorevelation FYI I edited my above comment to address your edits. Will definitely be fixing those videos.

Well when you "tested" it out on people, did you not tell them it's a variable progression and they need to use a lower box overtime?

So part of this is I wanted to make sure the progressions were clear without a person there guiding you, and just from the videos, since ultimately I'd like this to be delivered in app/website form. I obviously would tell people after the fact that they should have been using a lower object... but people still complained that it wasn't "usable" enough.

And trust me, man, I'm with you... I feel like it's the height of a cop out to say you can't find a box to sit on, but a couple things I've realized in the process of putting this together is that (a) a lot of people don't read (they just watch the video and go), and (b) they want to go out of their way as little as possible. I'm just trying to be as helpful as possible to people so I try not to judge their laziness haha
 
@darciam
My reasoning here is that I don't think most people have access to a bunch of different objects of varying heights. So I just assumed a counter/waist height object and a coffee table/couch height object, and I think transitioning between those without a knee variation would be difficult.

It shouldn't be difficult. If there's a will there's a way, seriously. Why should you or I lower our own standards when people make excuses steeped in bull shit? We shouldn't.
 
@soldado33 I mean you have to experiment over time to make sure you're actually eating at a surplus. Eat X amount of calories for a couple weeks, see where your weight ends up, adjust accordingly. Probably a useful exercise to figure out your TDEE anyway. Alternatively, if you're not worried about the extra fat you can just do the easy thing and eat a ton.
 
@darciam Hey I just got done doing this, it was awesome! Took my time and got through everything in an hour and half with some bonus stretching. I've been at various stages of the recommended beginner routine for just over two years now and have tweaked and added stuff as I've gone on...but have been looking for something more to graduate into. Some of the progressions were new and/or different than I was familiar with which was refreshing. I never thought to do the core work at the end...it was interesting because I felt stronger through the work, but the planks and l sit at the end were brutal! I like it and think it's my go-to blueprint...thank you!
 
@darciam Looks all right, only things I can say is some of the rep ranges look a tiny bit high and I'm curious about the planks being routine and not warm up?
 
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