HOW TO BUILD
A BALANCED
AND
EFFECTIVE
PROGRAM
THE MASSIVE IRON WAY
MASSIVE IRON
Make sure to target all the major
movement planes and patterns...
+ Horizontal press - Bench press, incline dumbbell
bench press, etc.
+ Horizontal pull - Barbell row, dumbbell row, seated
cable row, etc.
+ Vertical press - Overhead barbell press, overhead
dumbbell press, etc.
+ Vertical pull - Pull ups, lat pulldowns, etc.
+ Squat - Squats, leg press, hack squats, etc.
+ Hip hinge - Deadlifts, stiff leg deadlifts, hip thrusts,
etc.
+ Lunge - (optional) Lunges, Bulgarian split squats
+ Holds and carries - (optional) Shrugs, farmer’s walk
MASSIVE IRON
Target major muscle groups with a
quality variety of exercises that have
a decent progression opportunity...
+ Barbell movements
+ Dumbbell movements
+ Machine exercises
+ Body weight movements
+ Cable exercises
+ Smith machine
+ Kettlebells
MASSIVE IRON
Determine the number of days you
can train per week...
+ 2 days - Program 36 hard sets
+ 3 days - Program 54 hard sets
+ 3.5 days (EOD) - Program 63 hard
sets
+ 4 days - Program 72 hard sets
+ 5 days - Program 90 hard sets
Understand that this amount of volume is just a
reasonable starting point with the goal of keeping
each workout about 75 minutes.
MASSIVE IRON
Pencil in sets for major areas of
focus first...
+ Chest - 1/6th of total sets
+ Back - 1/6th of total sets
+ Quads - 1/6th of total sets
+ Delts - 1/6th of total sets
Avoid panic if things don't balance out perfectly. We
can adjust as needed, as long as the overall program
looks reasonable.
MASSIVE IRON
Distribute remaining sets for the
following body parts, as preferred...
+ Biceps (priority)
+ Triceps (priority)
+ Hamstrings (priority)
+ Traps (optional)
+ Abs (optional)
+ Calves (optional)
+ Forearms (optional)
MASSIVE IRON
Determine a rep range and
progression strategy for each
exercise...
Remember, the demands of each exercise are different.
Specific rep ranges do not matter as long as they are
reasonable, and make sense for you with regards to a
specific exercise.
You must have a defined progression strategy for each
movement. This provides you with a goal; a means to
focus your hard training and move it past simple junk or
under-effective volume.
MASSIVE IRON
Distribute exercises into your
program structure so that it is
balanced and makes sense...
Initially, is best to put the big hitting or most challenging
or taxing exercises to lead off the day. You can always
adjust or move things around as needed.
If you are using a full body workout or upper/posterior,
do your best to balance overall workout intensity, body
part and/or movement pattern focus, and movement type
relative to equipment used.
Place the most challenging exercises into your program
first, and continue down the list distributing each of the
movements until each training day is full.
MASSIVE IRON
Adjust exercise order based on
preferences...
Understand it's okay to move exercises around to fit your
preferences and needs. It's also okay at this point to add
or remove sets for each exercise if you believe a training
day will allow you to do so.
At this point you could also add in an exercise each day
if you feel you're going to have time, or if you feel your
program is unbalanced in any way.
MASSIVE IRON
Now it's time to train.
Hit the gym and test out your new workout. Understand,
it's perfectly okay to make adjustments based on what is
happening in the gym. In the Massive Iron world we call
this evolving your training based on needs.
If a training day is too long or physically demanding,
move exercises around from day to day, or adjust
volume.
The worst thing you can do is get frustrated because one
small piece of your program isn't working perfectly, and
use this as an excuse to hop to a new program.
Need help? DM me. Or join teammassiveiron.com