I’m traveling back to Boston from London today. I’ve been away for two weeks presenting at three different workshops. I’ve had a lovely stay, but am looking forward to heading home and my wife handing Julian over to me as soon as I walk through the door.
Thanks to Boston based personal trainer, George Kalantzis, for contributing today’s guest post.
6 Week MASS Building Routine: Start Here
Labor day has come and gone, the days are shorter, and the nights are colder.
That means it’s bulking season.
But you don’t come to Tony’s website for some cookie-cutter bullshit program. Over the next six weeks, you will craft a new physique using intense workouts, discipline, and commitment to add mass.
Setting the Expectations For A Clean Bulk
Nothing gets me more fired up than people who are not willing to put in the work to get desired results.
When I competed in natural bodybuilding last year, I heard questions like “how do you gain muscle and shred down,” how can I look bigger without gaining fat?” What supplements did you take?
The list goes on.
I hate to burst your bubble, but the universe does not bend at the whims of your desire. Contrary to popular belief, you cannot have your cake and eat it too.
So how do you bulk without gaining excessive weight?
To achieve a clean bulk, you must learn how to gain 2-5 pounds per month with half of that weight being muscle, and half of that weight being fat. This will keep your composition in an ideal state for optimal performance.
So just eat more food, right?
Not quite, too much junk food during a bulk is one of the biggest mistakes you can make. Nutrition does matter, and most people will either eat a surplus of shitty food or not eat enough. That is one of the toughest things about adding solid mass.
You can expect to gain some body fat during a bulk, but not an excessive amount.
We are aiming to build a stronger engine so that you can increase size, which means you’ll need to gain healthy amounts of body fat.
Don’t get discouraged if you see others gain size quickly or achieve different results, gaining mass is about putting in the work, and for some, adding quality size can take time.
Your Blueprint For Success
Life is motion.
The world continues to rotate on the axis, and every day is an opportunity to grow. Your body is the secret to many things. Yet more often, many of us cheat our way through training, going through motions and we never achieve the results we look for.
Today is the day we put an end to all of that.
Very specifically, this template is designed to form the basis of your training to put on size using bodybuilding methods. Because this is a hypertrophy program, it will help with putting on size, but if you are a powerlifter or strong man, this might not be the best program for you.
An additional benefit of this program is that it will help raise your work capacity and thus prepare you even better for the strength phase training you’ll do after.
What’s more, this program will help spare muscle loss when you decide to cut back down.
This will be your blueprint for a six-week mass building phase.
You’ll notice it is broken down into two three-week phases, each phase using a combination of compound exercises and machines to maximize your results. It is these movements where we will construct a blueprint for adding some serious size.
Phase I
Our first phase consists of flooding the muscles by using compound exercises performed in the optimal range to transform your energy into muscle mass.
During the first three weeks, you’ll be training five days a week in a split that is three days of training, with two days off.
You’ll repeat 3/2 for three weeks in the following format: legs, push, pull.
The great thing about a 3/2 cycle is you can alternate it according to your life.
As long as you train three out of every five days, you’ll provide enough stimulus for growth.
At first, you’ll notice that the program does not look lie much, but to prevent overtraining and generate the highest anabolic response, you’ll stick to three working sets, not including your warmup sets.
Phase II
Now that your muscles are primed for growth, this phase makes insane changes to your physique.
You’ll go from training five days to six days, and you’ll do different exercises and reps ranges. As with the first phase, adjust the days according to your lifestyle, but keep the days in order and make sure to train all six days.
Conclusion
It is human nature to fear the unknown, but it would be inhuman to not yearn for something greater. If you want to experience changes in your physique, you must pushup yourself past your comfort zone. This six-week bulk will give you the tools you need to pack on some serious size.
About the Author
George Kalantzis began his career as decorated Marine with over ten years of faithful service and deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan. He’s worked with everyone from professional athletes, celebrities, busy executives, and alongside some of the top strength coaches in the world.
Today he spends most of his time coaching at Equinox in Boston, and outside of work with his gorgeous little daughter. Please feel free to say hi over on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube, as he loves meeting and connecting with new people.
