Literally millions of people have completed my Shortcut To Size program and
gained significant amounts of lean muscle mass while getting stronger and
even leaner.
Now, I’m taking the S2S template and turning it into a 5-days-a-week program
to promote even greater fat-burning, while taking nothing away in terms of
building muscle size and strength.
It’s still Shortcut to Size – just with the added element of full-body training to
help take your get-lean efforts to the next level.
S2S Split Differences
While my original body part-split version of Shortcut to Size trains each
muscle group once a week via four workouts, my full-body version, as the
name implies, hits each major muscle group five times weekly – every body
part trained in every workout, five times a week.
That said, within the full-body scheme, certain muscle groups will receive
greater focus over others in each workout. To be more specific, each training
session will include a “focus” on two body parts, where you’ll do 2-5 exercises
for each of the two muscle groups (four or five exercises for large body parts,
2-3 for smaller ones); all other muscle groups in the workout will get only one
exercise per.
Here’s how the muscle group focuses will go day-to-day in all four weeks of
the program:
Workout 1: Chest and Calves Focus (4 chest exercises, 2 calf exercises)
Workout 2: Back and Abs Focus (4 back exercises, 2 ab exercises)
Workout 3: Shoulders and Traps Focus (4 shoulders exercises, 2 trap
exercises)
Workout 4: Triceps and Biceps Focus (3 triceps exercises, 3 biceps
exercises)
Workout 5: Legs and Calves Focus (5 leg exercises, 2 calf exercises)
With this format, you can focus on each major muscle group once per week
with higher volume and intensity techniques but still hit all muscle groups in
every workout to keep the metabolic and anabolic genes activated throughout
the entire body to maximize fat loss while adding size and strength. The only
exceptions to this rule concern calves and forearms. Calves actually receive
focus twice per week, since most people can probably use the extra calf work;
and forearms don't get any extra attention, since they get plenty of stimulation
through one isolation exercise per workout, plus biceps work.
The muscle pairings are slightly different in the full-body version versus the
original Shortcut to Size, which had you training chest and triceps together in
Workout 1, back and biceps in Workout 2, shoulders in Workout 3, and legs in
Workout 4. Here, I separated triceps from chest and biceps from back and
added a separate arm-focused day (Workout 4) before the legs-focused
routine (Workout 5). This way, the workouts are shorter and the muscle
groups are split up more over the course of the week.
S2S Set Counts
On the first exercise for each major muscle group on the focus day, you’ll do 3
sets total. For all other exercises for that muscle group, as well as all nonfocus muscle groups, you’ll have the option of doing 2 or 3 sets. If you’re still
relatively new to training (at a beginner or intermediate level) err on the side of
fewer sets.
Likewise, if you’re experienced but would prefer to keep the workouts shorter
or are feeling fatigued on a given day, go with 2 sets instead of 3. For those
with a lot of training experience who want to really push the results forward,
aim for 3 sets on all exercises.
S2S Periodization
As with the original Shortcut to Size, this program uses linear periodization,
meaning the weight progressively gets heavier each “microcycle” – which in
this case is every week.
Week 1 starts with 12-15 reps per set, then in Week 2 the weight increases to
drop the rep range to 9-11 per set. In Weeks 1 and 2, you’ll also add a restpause set after reaching muscle failure on the last set of each exercise, be
that set #2 or set #3.
In Week 3, the weight increases again to limit reps to 6-8 per set, followed by
another weight increase in Week 4 to lower the reps to 3-5 per set. In Weeks
3 and 4, you’ll do one drop set on the last set of each exercise.
Throughout the four weeks, you’ll get the benefit of all rep ranges – high to
low. The first two weeks focus more on muscle growth and strength
endurance, whereas the final two weeks focus more on strength gains. This
constant change of weight and rep ranges helps prevent stagnation.
Once you’ve completed Week 4, you have the option of returning to Week 1
and repeating from 12-15 reps. However, you’ll be able to use significantly
more weight to complete the same number of reps. Feel free to repeat the 4week program one or two more consecutively.
S2S Exercises
I made a few minor exercises changes from the original Shortcut to Size for
the full-body version – for example, reverse-grip bench press for upper chest
instead of incline bench press, and bent-over barbell rows instead of dumbbell
rows.
But where exercises are concerned, feel free to substitute in comparable
movements for those listed. As you’ll see in the workouts below, the exercises
remain the same in all four weeks. If you want to change things up, feel free.
Do dumbbells instead of cables, or swap in a machine move in place of a
barbell. Just do your best to mimic the movement listed; for instance, if you
want to do cable crossovers instead of dumbbell incline flyes, put the cable
pulleys on the low setting to mimic the incline and target the upper pecs.
S2S Rest Periods
How long you should rest between sets depends on your goal. If your primary
objective is strength, rest 2-3 minutes tops between sets. If fat loss is the goal,
rest 1 minute or less between all sets; better yet, superset your exercises. I
recommend doing the first exercise for the focus muscle group on its own for
three straight sets. After that, you can start supersetting.
For example, in Workout 2, do bent-over rows on its own, then superset
opposing muscle groups after that – wide-grip pulldowns with dumbbell bench
press; standing pulldowns with step-ups; straight-arm pulldowns with rear delt
raises; shrugs with toe raises; concentration curls with overhead extensions;
the two ab exercises paired together (hip thrusts and crunches); and forearms
on their own or included with abs.
With the addition of full-body training to S2S, while staying true to the massbuilding periodization of the original, you can think of this program as a
Shortcut to Size and Leanness!