Frankie NY's Mass Building Program

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Shrugs??????? Remember we're focusing on heavy compound movements and not wasting time and energy on isolation exercises for now. Your traps will get hit plenty hard with heavy deadlifts, trust me.

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Okay I'll trust u!
I'm gonna got with bb rows for the first twelve weeks too!

Thanks for all your help frankie, you seem to be full of good advice! and a worthy addition to the muscletalk team!

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Originally posted by Genon

I think I will try this for at least a month and see what it does... If I enjoy it I'll do a full 12 week cycle. I just have one question...
Should we use this routine like a normal 5x5 strength routine and add weight whenever possible? Like... Atleast add 2 pounds per week. Or should we add weight only when on our 4th and 5th sets we can pump out 7-10 reps when we should only be able to do 5?

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You need at least 3 months to evaluate any program. One month is too short to make an informed decision.

Yes, use 5x5 like a normal strength routine and add weight when you can get 5 reps on your last set. Even if you can get 6, 7, or 8 reps on the fifth set, stop at 5 and increase the weight the following week.

Yo Frankie, I've just started this routine, its a million times better than my previous efforts. I've learnt so much from this forum its excellent !
Im going to post my results from the start, middle and end - I PRAY that by the end i can lift more than 40kgs on my bench press - lol
:D

Thanks in advance for taking the time to read this. I'm in a pickle, and would appreciate your thought as to whether I should choose option A or option B. Apologies if this seems like a trivial question

The last week and a half I have done:


Sat: Pull

Mon: Push

Wed: Legs


Sat: Pull

Mon (last night): Push


and here's the snag (plans for the rest of the week):

Wed: Comedy Club

Sat: Watching Rugby @ Twickenham

Sun: Working all day


SO.. - shall i


A:

Tues (tonight): Legs

Thurs: Pull

Mon: Push

Wed: Legs

This would enable me to carry on with my weekly routine as planned, but I would be sacrificing my rest day.


Or B:

Thurs: Legs

Mon: Pull

Wed: Push

etc etc

I'd get my rest day, but I would carry on in the weeks to come one day behind schedule.


Considerations:

Option A: I feel fresh enough today, even though I done "Push" yesterday, and obviously I will be concentrating on completely different bodyparts tonight.

Option B: I'll be giving myself more rest, but I'll behind on my schedule by one day.

[?]

Cheers

It's always better to undertrain than overtrain, but if you feel up to it, go for it.

Hi guys,
new here and I must say this topic is very interesting and I think I will give it a try.
Just one question: do you guys believe that there is a best time for working out? I workout in the morning (literally 1 and a half hour after waking up and a protein shake) and was wondering if it would be better to swap to a late afternoon one 3 times a week following Frankie's advices.
Obviously I'm more interested in raw mass rather than muscles definition.
Cheers

Nick

Frankie, great post man ... a week in and I feel great!
With regard to the deadlifts, can someone break down (as best as possible) the differences between the form for deadlifts that hit the back more and lifts that work the legs? A trainer at my gym mentioned that starting the lift from the waist (using a rack) worked the back a bit more. Anyone know anything about this?

Hey, the routine and all the info in these posts is great. I will b estarting this routine soon , after my soccer season is over in the fall. I was wondering if you reccomend any cardio during thsi routine and if so how much. I am always scared of totally droppoing cardio , because im scared of gaining too much fat. thanks

msclgut - you maybe interested in this thread:

http://www.muscletalk.co.uk/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=58277

blacklab - check this out:

http://www.muscletalk.co.uk/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=9197&SearchTerms=+safe+operation

Frankie,

Any suggestions on incorporating forearm or grip work into this routine?

Thanks

Just dont wear wrist straps. That will work your forearms and grip hard enough

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Originally posted by Mighty306

Any suggestions on incorporating forearm or grip work into this routine?

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Shreklikedave said exactly what I would have told you. Deadlifts, stiff leg deadlifts, curls, rows, and if you do them, chins, should give you all the grip and forearm work you need for now.

If you want to incorporate some CoCs into your routine, that's fine. I would do CoCs on your cardio days.

Frankie,
I have been looking everywhere for a routine that is going to help me gain muscle mass. Now I don't know much about body building, but everyone seems to love the routine you posted. So are you saying the routine I am currently doing isn't going to get me anywhere?

My routine:

Day 1 (Chest and triceps)
Benchpress 3x8
Decline Benchpress 3x8
Incline dumbbell flies 2x10
Incline dumbbell press 2x10
Skull crushers 3x8
cable push downs 2x10
close grip bench 2x10
db kickbacks 2x10

Day 2 (Back and biceps)
deadlifts 3x8
seated rows 3x8
lat pull downs 2x10
bb rows 2x10
bb curls 3x8
hammer curls 2x10
45 degree db curls 2x10

Day 3 (shoulders and legs)
military press 3x8
shrugs 3x8
upright rows 2x10
db lateral raises 2x10
squats 4x6
sldls 2x10
weighted calve raises 2x10

I designed this routine through this website and when I posted it everyone told me it was good and I should see very nice gains. Obvoisly it is much different than the one you posted, so it has made me confused. If you could please give me some of your insight, it would be greatly apreciated.

HCTPF5

Here...P5, now I'm guessing, but I think Frankie may well say that if you have enough strength left to do all those exercises then you are not working hard enough on the first ones. If you *are* working hard enough - then the rest are not necessary and in fact, could cause injury.

Also, you are leaving very little recovery time for things like shoulders - which will get HAMMERED on each of your workout days if you are going to full intensity.

I've banged my head against this one too matey and have spent the last few sessions moving slowly from my 4 day split of 3x8 to this 3 day split of 5x5 - starting tomorrow.

Frankie - I'm making great progress with the flat db press and don't have a spotter for bb press so am thinking of this for chest day:

Flat db press
inclined flies (or should I do dips instead??)

Also, for shoulders, I can do standing bb millitary press to failure - but am still able then to lift the same weight in dumbells for more reps in seated press. How come - and should I stick to the seated db press for shoulder mass in this case? Or should I do both as I now do?

Finally (sorry to go on!) what do you think of progressively heavier deadlifts as opposed to 5x5?

thanks muchly mate - I'm converted btw. Hey, I even did squats without a belt last week - didn't even notice :-)

I think Dips would be better for adding mass

Im currently doing this great routine from frankie but have replaced barbel curls with close grip chins and put them before barbell rows now which are now last on pull day.

Ive been doing this routine using 4x6 set/rep range rather than the more popular 5x5 due to time constraints and was wondering if doing 4x6 is any less productive in terms of mass building than 5x5??

cheers

Can somebody explain to me exactly how doing 3 lifts a day with high intensity is going to get you huge? I'm just really confused, because i have constructed my routine using this website, and everyone says its good for gaining great mass.. and now i see this post, and ALL the coments? i would just like for someone to explain

thanks
f5

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Originally posted by HerecomesthePainF5

Frankie,
I have been looking everywhere for a routine that is going to help me gain muscle mass. Now I don't know much about body building, but everyone seems to love the routine you posted. So are you saying the routine I am currently doing isn't going to get me anywhere?

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You're doing too many exercises and your reps are way to high. Obviously, you can make gains on the routine you're doing, but could you be making more and faster gains doing something else? YES !!!

I wouldn't do more than 3 or 4 exercises per workout, and I would use reps in the 5-6 range for adding maximum size and strength. This is the scheme that is the most productive for the drug-free weight lifter looking to add size and strength. When you work with heavy weights and maximum intensity it's difficult and unnecessary to do more than 3 or 4 exercises per workout. It's also difficult and unproductive to work out more than 3 days a week.

Try the routine for 3 months. I guarantee you that you'll see better gains than what you're doing now.

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Originally posted by Sword

(or should I do dips instead??)

Also, for shoulders, I can do standing bb millitary press to failure - but am still able then to lift the same weight in dumbells for more reps in seated press. How come - and should I stick to the seated db press for shoulder mass in this case? Or should I do both as I now do?

Finally (sorry to go on!) what do you think of progressively heavier deadlifts as opposed to 5x5?

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Do dips. Dips and barbell benches should be the core of your chest program. Flys are now where near as effective at adding mass.

Always do your shoulder presses standing. It's a more intense workout for your shoulders, and it helps strengthen your trunk and stabilizing muscles, which will help you in other lifts.

You can do only barbell shoulder presses for one cycle and then only dumbbell shoulder presses for the next cycle or you can alternate from week to week. It doesn't matter. Just because you can lift more with the dumbbells you still need to do the barbell shoulder presses too. They work the shoulder in slightly different and useful ways.

For your first 5x5 cycle I wouldn't do progressively heavier deadlifts like a 5/4/3/2/1 scheme. Just do 2-3 progressively heavier warmup sets and then your 5 work sets. After a cycle or two, you can go down to 4 or 3 work sets. But for now, stick with 5 work sets. It will help you have a good, solid base.