4 week muscle, strength and power training program on jimstoppani PDF

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4 week muscle, strength and power training program on jimstoppani.com

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Training

Complex Training Program Overview

Complex Training Program Overview This 4-week t raining plan will boost your muscles in all areas – power, st rength, and size – wit h one scientifically proven technique.

By Jim Stoppani, PhD Updated November 15, 2020

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A more powerful muscle is a stronger muscle, and a stronger muscle is a bigger muscle. Combine these three elements – power, strength, size – intelligently into one workout and you get my exclusive 4-week Complex Training Program. In just four weekly workouts, you’ll have a physique that not only looks leaner and more muscular, but that also performs better in the gym and at virtually any sport.

Why Complex Training Works Although the name implies otherwise, Complex Training is quite simple once you understand the science behind it. The “complex” portion comes from stacking, or supersetting, two exercises back-to-back to improve strength and power on the second move. (I also discuss Complex Training in this article.) The reason for the improvement on the second exercise is known as Postactivation Potentiation (PAP). Simply put, PAP "charges" your nervous system so that on successive sets, you can lift more weight, jump higher, or complete more reps. (More on PAP below.) During the 4-week program, the complex sets in each workout will help you first build explosive power in the upper and lower body (both pushing and pulling muscles). Then, you’ll use more weight on heavy low-rep sets (5 reps, 4 reps, 3 reps, 2 reps) to promote gains in pure strength, not to mention athletic power improvements that will carry over into all aspects of life. Finally, the workout ends with compound sets with higher rep counts to build lean muscle mass.

The Science Behind PAP

https://www.jimstoppani.com/training/complex-training-program-overview

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4 week muscle, strength and power training program on jimstoppani.com

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Let’s be clear, complex training isn’t some bro-science nonsense. Numerous studies done over the past 20 years support the effectiveness of PAP for improving power and strength. In fact, a 2019 published review of over 30 studies using complex training confirmed that it’s quite effective for boosting 1-rep-max (1RM) strength and increasing power to allow athletes to jump higher and sprint faster. The way PAP works, in simple terms, is that it primes the nervous system to fire with more force and power. Think about a baseball or softball player warming up to bat. Often, the athlete will swing with several bats for added weight or use a weighted “donut” on the bat while in the on deck circle. Doing this primes the nervous system to move a heavier bat. Then, when the athlete is batting for real with a lighter bat, the nervous system fires with the force and power to move the heavier bat. The stronger nerve impulse causes the athlete to swing the bat with more force than he or she normally would. This results in a more powerful swing to hit the ball farther. PAP also works the other way around – using a light weight before lifting a heavy weight. The trick here is to lift a very light weight as explosively as possible before the heavy load. For example, if you do a few medicine ball chest throws before a heavy set of bench press, the fast and explosive med ball reps will prime the nervous system to explode with more power. Then, when you attempt the heavy bench press, your starting strength (where you explode the bar off the chest) will be greater, thus allowing you to bench press more weight.

Complex Training Rundown: Power + Strength + Muscle As I mentioned above, during the 4-week program you’ll be working on three main goals: 1. Power 2. Strength 3. Muscle Building (hypertrophy) All workouts focus on all three areas via exercise pairs – a.k.a., a “complex.” The order of exercise pairings (complexes) in each workout will be as follows:

Exercise Pair #1: Power Complex Every workout in the program will start with a power complex exercise pairing. This means that the exercises you do and the order in which you’ll do them are designed to develop explosive power. It’s important to do this exercise pairing first in the workout when the fasttwitch muscle fibers are at their strongest and freshest (i.e., not fatigued from previous sets). Once the fast-twitch muscle fibers become fatigued (and believe me, they fatigue fast), they’ll no longer produce power. So, do this power complex first for each major muscle group. Note: The power complex applies to chest, back, shoulders, legs, calves, and abs. For triceps, biceps, and traps, you won’t do a power complex; rather, you’ll start with a strength complex pairing. Why? Because the triceps assist on the pushing power moves (chest and shoulder exercises), the biceps assist on upper-body pulling moves (back), and the traps assist on shoulder moves. In other words, the triceps, biceps, and traps will have already gotten their power complex work in for the day and will be somewhat fatigued. With forearms, which assist on biceps moves, you’ll skip power and strength complexes and only do hypertrophy complexes. To do a power complex, you’ll pair a strength move with a power move, in that order. Here are some examples, all of which are shown in the below workout charts… Workout 1: For chest, the heavy bench press (done short of failure) will provide more explosiveness to your power push-up. This will allow you to explode higher up on each rep. That means greater power development, which carries over into greater strength on chest press movements like the bench press. Even abs get a power set with weighted crunches to prime the midsection for more power on medicine ball crunch throws. Workout 2: For back, you’ll pair heavy rows with explosive power rows. Building more pulling power in your back muscles carries over to more pulling strength on pull-ups, lat pulldowns, and rows. Workout 3: For shoulders, heavy shoulder presses prime the shoulders to explode the weight overhead with more power on the shoulder press throws directly following. Workout 4: For legs, the deadlift primes the legs to jump higher on jump squats.

Power Complex Weight Selection On heavy sets (the first exercise in each power complex), choose a weight that allows you to complete all prescribed reps for all sets. For example, in Week 1 on bench press, you’ll do 3 sets of 5 reps, but you won’t use your true 5-rep max because that wouldn’t allow you to complete all 5 reps on all 3 sets. Instead, use a weight that’s closer to your 6- or 7-rep max. For power exercises (the second exercise in each power complex pairing), use only your body weight on push-ups and jump squats, or about 50% of your 1RM on weighted exercises like power rows.

Power Complex Rest Periods https://www.jimstoppani.com/training/complex-training-program-overview

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Between exercises in each power complex, rest 30-60 seconds (these are not technically superset/compound sets). Rest about 2 minutes between complexes (i.e., after the second exercise).

Exercise Pair #2: Strength Complex For each muscle group (other than triceps, biceps, traps, forearms, and calves), you’ll follow the power complex with a strength complex. With the strength complex, you’ll do a power move first, followed by a strength move. Whereas with the power complex, it was the opposite order (strength move first, followed by the power move). Workout 1: For chest, the medicine ball throw will prime the upper body for more pushing strength on the bench press. For triceps, the overhead medicine ball throw primes the triceps for more strength on the dumbbell overhead extension. And for abs, the cable woodchopper primes the abs for more strength on oblique pushdowns. Workout 2: For back, the dumbbell power row primes the lats for more strength on dumbbell bent-over rows. Then, the medicine ball curl throw primes the biceps for more strength on the barbell curl. Workout 3: The high pull primes the shoulders for more strength on upright rows. Then, the power shrug helps to boost strength on the barbell shrug. Workout 4: The depth jump primes the legs for more strength on squats. You won’t do a strength complex for calves.

Strength Complex Weight Selection For power moves, again choose a weight that’s around 50% of your 1RM for that exercise. For strength moves, choose a weight that represents your true 5RM (Week 1), 4RM (Week 2), 3RM (Week 3), or 2RM (Week 4). The goal is to complete as many reps as you can with the weight. Keep the weight the same on all sets.

Strength Complex Rest Periods Between exercises in each strength complex, rest 1-2 minutes (these are not technically superset/compound sets). And again, rest 2 minutes between complexes (i.e., after the second exercise).

Exercise Pair 3: Muscle Complex In all workouts, each muscle group finishes with one or two exercise pairings performed ascompound sets to drive hypertrophy (muscle building). A compound set is a type of superset where two exercises for the same muscle group are done back-to-back with no rest between exercises. (A traditional superset, by contrast, pairs exercise for opposing muscle groups.) Workout 1: For chest, you’ll do two muscle complex pairings. For triceps, you’ll also do two pairings, since you didn’t do a power complex here. For abs, you’ll do only one pairing Workout 2: For back and biceps, you’ll do two pairings each. After biceps, you’ll do one complex/pairing for forearms; this will be your only isolated forearm work since no power or strength complexes were performed. Workout 3: For shoulders, you’ll do two muscle complexes. For traps, you’ll do only one (coming after the traps strength complex). Workout 4: For legs (quads/glutes/hamstrings), you’ll do two pairings. You’ll also do two pairings for calves since you’re not doing a strength complex here.

Muscle Complex Weight Selection This is the finisher for each muscle group, so take your intensity up a notch, The objective with the muscle complexes is to complete as many reps as possible until hitting muscle failure. Your goal is to hit the prescribed rep range on the first set of each exercise in these complexes; on the next two sets, just complete as many reps as you can (to failure), even if you don’t hit the prescribed rep range. Keep the weight the same on all sets.

Muscle Complex Rest Periods Because these are compound sets (a type of superset), don’t rest between exercises in the pairings – do the second exercise immediately after finishing reps on the first. Rest 1-2 minutes between compound sets (i.e., after the second exercise).

Complex Training Split My Complex plan follows a 4-day split, with 3 days left for active rest day routines like my Weider System Full-Body Builder, Lucky 13 Circuit, and the routines from the Chopped Challenge. Do the Complex Training workouts any four days of the week you want – i.e., Monday through Thursday, Mon/Wed/Fri/Sat, etc.

https://www.jimstoppani.com/training/complex-training-program-overview

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Workout 1 is mainly an upper-body push day, hitting chest, triceps, and abs. Workout 2 focuses on upper-body pulling with back, biceps, and forearms. Workout 3 is both an upper-body push day, as it hits shoulders, and an upper-body pull day when hitting traps. Workout 4 trains the entire lower body with legs (quadriceps, hamstrings, glutes) and calves. The way this is laid out, each major muscle group is maximally trained for more power, strength, and muscle size once per week over a 4day split. This provides each muscle group plenty of rest before being trained again. Plus, it provides the body three full days of rest away from the program to fully recover.

Training Split Workout

Muscle Groups Trained

1

Chest, triceps, abs

2

Back, biceps, forearms

3

Shoulders, traps

4

Legs, calves

5

Off

6

Off

7

Off

Complex Training Periodization Over the course of the 4-week plan, your weight and goal rep range will change week to week. For power exercises, the weight stays the same (about 50% of 1RM), but the reps increase each week. Reps start at 3 per set in Week 1, then increase to 4 reps in Week 2, 5 reps in Week 3, then 6 reps per set in Week 4. Remember that this is your goal rep range. If you can’t complete all the prescribed reps for a power exercise (i.e., power push-up), complete as many as you can with the goal of increasing reps over the four weeks. For the strength exercises, sets start at 5 reps in Week 1, then decrease to 4 reps in Week 2, 3 reps in Week 3, and finally, 2 reps in Week 4. Of course, decreasing reps means increasing loads. Your weights during these sets will be your 5RM, 4RM, 3RM, and 2RM, respectively. These are heavy sets, for sure. Note: If you don’t have all of the equipment for the power exercises, you can mimic the movement with my JYM Strength Bands, which are perfect for building power due to linear variable resistance. For the compound sets in the Muscle Complexes, sets will consist of 6-8 reps in Week 1, then increase to 9-11 reps in Week 2, 12-15 reps in Week 3, and end at 16-20 reps in Week 4. This way, you’re getting the full spectrum of hypertrophy-friendly rep counts – 6 reps all the way up to 20. Note: Due to the intensity of the compound sets, there’s little need to add any more intensity boosters like drop sets or rest pause. Let the compound sets serve as your intensity boosters for these next four weeks. Save the additional intensity techniques for a future program.

Complex Training Reps Week-to-Week Week

Reps per set: Power

Reps per set: Strength

Reps per set: Muscle

1

3

5

6-8

2

4

4

9-11

3

5

3

12-15

4

6

2

16-20

Cardio Training with Complex Training You can include cardio in numerous ways while following the Complex Training program. Cardioacceleration will fit in nicely between exercise pairings.

https://www.jimstoppani.com/training/complex-training-program-overview

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For example, in Workout 1, after completing each compound set of bench press and power push-up, do 60 seconds of bench step-ups (or another cardio move). Repeat this technique with all other exercise pairings in the workout, using as many different cardio moves as you want throughout. Or, add Tabatas or other HIIT cardio to the end of each workout or at a separate time of day.

What Diet to Follow With Complex Training Your diet will depend on your primary goal. If you want to maximize size and strength, I recommend following the guidelines and sample meal plans in my Muscle-Building Rules article. However, if there's another particular diet on JimStoppani.com that you prefer to follow when training for size and/or strength, go for it. Such diets could include Down and Up Mass, Super-Man Diet, or the 5,3,2 Strength Diet. If fat loss is your primary goal, Dieting 101 is always a great choice for your nutrition, but my Intermittent Fasting Carb Cycle Diet is also available for those who prefer IF.

Complex Training Workouts Download All Workouts Here Week 1

https://www.jimstoppani.com/training/complex-training-program-overview

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Week 2

https://www.jimstoppani.com/training/complex-training-program-overview

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Week 3

https://www.jimstoppani.com/training/complex-training-program-overview

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Week 4

https://www.jimstoppani.com/training/complex-training-program-overview

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