Fortes' POLIQUIN-STYLE powerlifting routine - 24 lbs. in 6 months NATURALLY

[Fortes]

The routine that I have had the BEST success with so far in my 4 year lifting career is a spin-off of the Charles Poliquin 5% solution. It revolves around the bench, squat and deadlift, and though it is specifically meant for PL, you bet yo' ass it'll pack sick amounts of LBM on your body.

In a nutshell:

WEEK 1

Mon: SQUAT - 5X6 @ 80% 1RM

ASSISTS:

ROMANIAN/KEYSTONE DEADS or REVERSE HYPERS 6X6
LEG-CURLS/GLUTE HAM RAISE raises 6X6
CALF RAISES 100 reps total, mix sets of 15 and sets of 30
Nautilus-style crunch machine 5X8 HARD reps

Wed: BENCH - 5X6 @ 80% 1RM

ASSISTS:

SKULL CRUSHERS (ez-curl) 6X6,4 REST-PAUSE method - superset CLOSE GRIP BENCH with the same bar for a set of 10 each set
FRONT PLATE RAISES 5X8-12 with a 25-35-45 pound plate
CUBAN ROTATION with a light barbell, from in front of the face to overhead 5X10-12 reps
Some kind of overhead press if you like (I don't)
CALF RAISES again, sets of 10 and sets of 20, 100 reps

Fri: DEADLIFT 5X6 @ 80% 1RM

ASSISTS:

CHINUPS 50 reps total, or 25 weighted (5X5)
BARBELL ROWS 6X6
DUMBBELL ROWS 3X10 each arm (heavy weight!)
REAR DELT RAISE of some kind 4X12
SHRUGS if your traps aren't sore from Weds. 5X10
CALF RAISES again, sets of 5 and 10 for 100 reps
ABS 5X8-10 (Nautilus Crunches)

WEEK 2:

CORE LIFTS: 5X5, Multiply weight of week X 1.05, round off

WEEK 3:

CORE LIFTS 5X4, Multiply weight of last week X 1.05, round off

WEEK 4:

CORE LIFTS: 5X6 with the SAME WEIGHT as WEEK 2

WEEK 5:

CORE LIFTS: 5X5 with the SAME WEIGHT as WEEK 3

WEEK 6:

CORE LIFTS: 5X4 with LAST WEEKS WEIGHT X 1.05

At the end of 5-6 weeks, you will have gained between 8-10% to all your core lifts! Also, for the routine you can split it so you get 6 days of rest for each muscle group (M-W-F) or 4 by going EOD for every week (M-W-F-SUN-T-Th-S-M-W-F). If you're on the SAUCE, option two is probably better, but not necessarily.

I did this routine back to back for 6 months, adjusting my 1RM every time on a new projected one. You can use any rep range from 10 to 3 in truth, but I think 6-5-4 tends to pack on strength and mass very nicely. I switched 6-5-4 off with 5-4-3, which I like A LOT, but you can burn out easy from staying in those rep ranges constantly.

After 6 months time, I had gone from 210 pounds and 16.7% bodyfat to 228 pounds and 12.8% bodyfat. That's 24 lbs. of LBM with a 9 lb. reduction in BF simultaneously, without juice. I used probably about 10 grams of creatine/day mixed with gatorade powder, ate A LOT of everything, especially protein. My bench went from around 210 for sets of 5 to 275 for sets of 5, my squat from 315 for sets of 5 to 355 for sets of 5, and my deadlift from 405 for a 1RM to 425 for 4. I went from being able to do 6 pullups at the start to 12 at the end.

NOTE: This was after football and wrestling seasons back to back, so I had taken a 20 week layoff (approximately), which in part explains the exceptional results IMO - it should be noted that I partly "regained" previous strength in the bench press (I could max 265 before).

BUT, my faith in this routine is still unshaken to this day. If you are a powerlifter, you'll do well to add rack lockouts @ 120% of your 1RM to this for each lift, 3X20 seconds each at the conclusion of your workout. USE a POWER RACK for crying out loud! Don't hurt yourself. If you are a bodybuilder, keep all the weight/rep ranges the same but substitute the assists mentioned for unilateral ones if you feel necessary. I like to use mostly bilateral movements because I feel the extra loading forces better adaptation, but some people like to mix it up.

At the conclusion of this routine (5-6 weeks) it's best to take a week off, and start up with REASONABLE new 1RM estimates and a changed rep-range.

Good luck! YOU KNOW you'll GROW.

P.S. - POWERLIFTERS - USE CAT on EVERY REP, EVERY SET.
BODYBUILDERS - Switch the tempo up.

And P.S. - if you e-mail me ([email protected]) I'll send you an excel spreadsheet!

 

[Screwball]

Solid Program. I train Westside and it is the single best program I have ever used and I've used them all. I've been lifting on & off for 18 years.

 

[Fortes]

Screwball -

I agree completely. There is NO canned program that can compete with Westside. Why? Because it's all about tailoring the training to STRENGTHEN the trainee's weaknesses, and UTILIZE his/her strengths. In short, it's not canned. Though I like my routine very much, had I the equipment, the time, and the gym I needed to do Westside style training, I would switch in a heartbeat.

However, for your ME days what you might want to consider is using a poliquin 5% solution scheme. Since you switch up ME exercises every couple of weeks it would work well methinks. But maybe for some (or most), using Westside's methods will allow them to add more weight every week to their ME than 5% feasibly.

The routine I posted is good for a bodybuilder who lacks in strength (with the 6-5-4-3 rep ranges) or a bodybuilder who lacks in hypertrophy (10-9-8-7 rep ranges), or powerlifter who, like me, lacks the implements/gym features/time devotion to train Westside to the "T" (i.e., sled dragging EOD, plyometric ball work, GPP stuff etc.)

 

[Fortes]

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