Two-phase training for radical results

Author: Michal Kraml

Training plan Beginners

13.12.2023

10 minut čtení

Want to bulk up alarmingly fast? Do you have a relatively uncommitted daily schedule and want to see how you would look if you pushed a little harder? Do you want friends you haven't seen in a while to stare and ask, "What the hell did you do to yourself?"

Then this is the article for you

Depending on the season, coaches of high-level athletes and teams commonly increase training volume by including two training units per day. Think about any competitive athlete such as weightlifters, swimmers, American football players or track and field athletes - they all train twice a day.

However, when it comes to strength training and bodybuilding, the general rule of thumb tends to be to give the muscles plenty of time to rebuild between workouts. It is even said that the same muscle must not be trained within 48 hours.

Well, we're not beginners. And we're not pussies.

We know what we're doing in the gym, and our goal is to get as big as possible. So we can take a less conservative approach. Some people might even call it crazy.

Let them stay lean and mean. If your goal is to be big and strong, twice a day is the way to go.

That's the way to do it.

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Positives

Training twice a day can break frustrating stagnation, barriers to growth, and allow for more intense workouts whenever you pick up an iron.

If only because shorter training units make it easier to focus on the quality of the exercises and get the most out of each set and repetition. It puts the emphasis on quality, not quantity. The ability to "re-focus" and recharge between training units helps you approach each workout with commitment, instead of stumbling between longer workouts once a day.

If you're losing weight or trying to sculpt, incorporating a two-phase workout (and a clean diet) is like adding gasoline to a raging fire. Research shows that splitting 30 minutes of moderate-intensity cardio into two 15-minute units, with about six hours of rest in between, can burn more calories than slogging through the whole 30 minutes at once (Almuzaini et al., 1998).

Researchers attribute this to increased EPOC (excess post-exercise oxygen consumption) - and it has only been observed during moderate-intensity cycling. Imagine the possible increase in EPOC during two high-intensity training sessions with a load!

Here are the most essential training parameters for maximizing your muscle-building potential (Schoenfeld, 2010):

Mechanical Tension: the external forces of the weights acting on the muscles resulting in muscle contraction.

Metabolic stress:The accumulation of metabolic byproducts, referred to as metabolites (e.g., lactate, hydrogen ions, and inorganic phosphate) that indirectly mediate muscle and cell enlargement, during and after weight training.

Muscle Damage: Refers to microtears resulting from intentional weight lifting, commonly accompanied by muscle soreness.

Rules

You may be familiar with two-phase training protocols targeting a different body part in each workout. However, for hypertrophy purposes, it's better to train the same muscle groups in both morning and evening workouts as described in the Black Book of Training Secrets (Thibaudeau, 2006).

Give the workouts 6-8 hours apart and make sure you get enough nutrients in. A poor diet will directly limit your ability to train at the level this program requires. This is not the time to fast on your new diet. Do it, and you can say goodbye to recovery and progress. Adopt hypertrophy-promoting eating habits, including a diet around training, and prepare for growth.

Do this program for four weeks.

Add weight to the barbell in each workout while keeping other workout parameters constant.

Strictly monitor the length of your breaks. The purpose is to come in, destroy yourself, and leave to recover. Sitting on your butt between sets and updating your Facebook status won't help anything.

Take it easy on week five. This will allow your body to recover to a level higher than before the program started, which is traditionally called supercompensation (Zatsiorsky & Kraemer, 2006).

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Morning workouts

Focusing on complex exercises jump-starts the nervous system. It will also cause associated synergistic muscle contractions, improve structural balance, and reduce the potential for injury associated with constant training in open kinetic chains.

In these morning workouts, use a controlled tempo with extended time under tension - the ideal tempo is 3122*.

The * denotes a repetition cadence where the axis is lowered for 3 seconds, followed by a 1 second pause in the bottom position, a 2 second concentric or ascending phase, and all finished with a 2 second contraction at the top of the movement.

Avoid failure during this workout as you will need some energy for the second workout of the day. At the end of the workout, which should last no more than half an hour, you should feel pumped and stimulated, not tired. If you leave the workout completely drained, you'll need to ease off the gas next time.

Evening workouts

This is where the bodybuilding stuff comes in. Isolated exercises play a bigger role, although the same rules apply - a slow tempo and a hard two-second contraction at the top of each rep.

Program

	NO	AFTER	TUE	ST	THU	FRI	SO
DOP	Free	Legs	Chest & Triceps	Free	Back & Biceps	Shoulders & Abdominals	Free
ODP	Free	Legs	Chest & Triceps	Free	Back & Biceps	Shoulders & Abdominals	Free

Legs

	Exercise	Series	Repetition	Tempo	Break
A	Back squats	4	6-8	3122	90-120 s.
B	Leg Press	4	8-10	3122	90 s.
C	Romanian deadlifts	4	8-10	3122	90 s.

AVAILABLE

	Exercise	Series	Repetition	Tempo	Break
A	Glute-Ham Raise	3	12-15	4132	60 s.
B	Knee extension	3	12-15	4132	60 s.
C	Hip Thrust	2	20	4132	60 s.
D	Sit-up calf raises	2	20	4132	60 s.

Chest & Triceps

	Exercise	Series	Repetition	Tempo	Break
A	Bench Press	4	6-8	3122	90-120 s.
B	One-arm push-ups (positively inclined bench)	4	8-10	3122	90 s.
C	Barbell push-ups with weights	4	8-10	3122	90 s.

AVAILABLE

	Exercise	Series	Repetition	Tempo	Break
A	Cuts with opposite pulleys from above	3	12-15	4132	60 s.
B	Furnace Dec	3	12-15	4132	60 s.
C	Single arm triceps extension (negative incline bench)	2	20	4132	60 s.
D	Triceps extensions with one arm overhead	2	20	4132	60 s.

Back & Biceps

	Exercise	Series	Repetition	Tempo	Break
A	Overhead Shrugs with weights	4	6-8	3122	90-120 s.
B	Pull-ups with chest support	4	6-8	3122	90 s.
C	Upper pulley retraction (30° tilt)	4	8-10	3122	90 s.

AVAILABLE

	Exercise	Series	Repetition	Tempo	Break
A	Pull over with overhead pulley	3	12-15	4132	60 s.
B	Pull over with bottom pulley on negatively inclined bench	3	12-15	4132	60 s.
C	Biceps single arm lifts with wrist extension (positively inclined bench)	2	20	4132	60 s.
D	EZ axis lifts on Scott bench	2	20	4132	60 s.

Shoulders & Abdominals

	Exercise	Series	Repetition	Tempo	Break
A	Military Press	4	6-8	3122	90-120 s.
B	Arnold's pressures	4	8-10	3122	90 s.
C	Shoulder shrugs with one arm	4	8-10	3122	90 s.

AVAILABLE

	Exercise	Series	Repetition	Tempo	Break
A	Face Pull	3	12-15	4132	60 s.
B	One-armed arm curl with deflection	3	12-15	4132	60 s.
C	External rotation in supine position	2	20	4132	60 s.
D1	Reversed abbreviations	2	20	Checked	60 s.
D2	Farm walk	2	20	no	60 s.

What to expect

The cumulative workload of this program is higher than most others, and your body may show signs of shock after the first week. Remember though, this is not a strength program, it is a volume program.

If you're interested in increasing your squat, press, and deadlift values, move on to the next article. This one deals with increasing muscle size - and that's it.

Now that we're clear on that, focus on stimulating your muscles by following the prescribed tempo and tension in your muscles. Volume programs like this one focus on increasing sarcoplasmic hypertrophy, and although microtrauma plays a role - pumping and time under tension are equally, if not more essential.

Make sure you are mentally prepared before each workout. It takes a lot of concentration to practice all sets and maintain the prescribed pace until the last rep. Be disciplined - it will yield results that we are sure will please you.

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Summary

It's a simple equation - train more often (sensibly) and you'll get better results. Take a page out of the book of great athletes like Michael Phelps, Ledainian Tomlinson and Michael Jordan have already used this method to their athletic advantage, and apply the same mindset to bodybuilding training.

This can be the difference between increments that make people's chins drop and having someone ask you that notoriously hated question: "Do you work out at all?"

This article was written by Jon-Erik Kawamoto and Lee Boyce, translated by Jaromír Uhlíř

Sources
Almuzaini, K.S., Potteiger, J.A., & Green, S.B. (1998). Effects of split exercise sessions on excess post-exercise oxygen consumption and resting metabolic rate. Can J Appl Physiol, 23(5), 433-443.
Schoenfeld, B.J. (2010). The mechanisms of muscle hypertrophy and their application to resistance training. J Strength Cond Res 24(10), 2857-2872.
Thibaudeau, C. (2006). The black book of training secrets. Enhanced Edition. F.Lepine Publishing.
Zatsiorsky, V. & Kraemer, W. (2006). Science and practice of strength training, Second Edition. Human Kinetic

Author: Michal Kraml

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