Day 118

A. Bench

Bench Press (10-8-6-4-2-5-10)

B. Strength Superset

Four sets of,

DB Single Arm Row x 10
Band Pull Apart x 15 (2 sets overhead, 2 sets underhand)

C. Vanity Work

Three sets of,

Barbell Curl x 10
Stationary Dips x 15 (Sub bench dips)

Day 105

A. Strength

Bench Press - work up to 6RM

B. Strength Superset

1. Chin-up (8-6-6-6-6-6)
2. Dips (10-8-8-8-8-8)

C. Accessory Work

Strict Press (4 x 10, across)

D. Vanity Work

Barbell Curls (4 x 10, across)

Day 42

A. Bench

Bench Press (10-8-6-4-2-2)

- Build up in weight each set

B. Superset

Four sets of,

Strict Chin-Up x 8
Face Pull x 12

C. Superset

Three sets of,

Strict Stationary Dips x 12
BB Curls x 12

Day 75

A. Squat

1 Pause Front squat + 1 Regular Front Squat - Work up to a heavy set 

B. Bench

DB Bench Press (4 x 12-15)

C. Horizontal Pull/Rear Delt Superset

4 sets of,

Neutral Grip Lat Pull-Down x 8-12
TRX Scarecrow x 8-12

D. Medial Delts

4 sets of,

L-Seated DB Press x 8-12

E. Traps/Arms Tri-set

DB Shrugs x 25
Barbell Curls x 8-12
Straight Bar Push-Downs x 15-25

Day 68

A. Squat

Pause Front Squat - Heavy single

- Hold bottom position for 5 seconds

B. Pulls

Weighted Chin Up (10-6-4-2-1)

In 5 sets, work up to today's 1RM.

C. Density

In 5 Minutes, accumulate 50 reps of Seated Rows

D. AMRAP x 15

15 Single Arm DB Row (each arm)
Max Strict Pull-Ups
15 Seated Row

E. Vanity

Accumulate 100 reps of Barbell Curls

Day 63

A. Bench

Fat Bar Bench Press -  (5RM) 

B. Accessory Work

DB Floor Press (2 x max) 

Perform 2 sets of max reps (Choose a weight you can perform for 15-20 reps on the 1st set. Use the same weight for both sets and rest 3-4 minutes between sets). 

C. Horizontal pulling/Rear Delt superset: 

Bent Over Barbell Row (Underhand) 3 x 10 

Rest 30s 

TRX Scarecrow 3 x 12 

Rest 60s 

D. Superset

Dumbbell Shrugs (3 x 12-15) – Shrug up and back, not up and forward. 

Rest 30s

Bulgarian Split Squat (Goblet hold) - 3 x 8

Rest 60s

E. Vanity Work

Barbell Curls (3 x 8-15) 

Day 151

Max-Effort Upper Body

"Not much about the max-effort movement has changed since my original article was published. I still prefer a 3-5 rep max (RM) - as opposed to a 1RM - for my skinny bastards. The one thing that has changed – you’ll notice this later on in this article - is the second movement on max-effort upper body day. We recently started having our athletes perform two high-rep sets of an exercise immediately following the max-effort movement.

This high-rep movement is usually an exercise that’s closely related to the max-effort movement. For example, if our athletes performed a 3RM in the bench press, their second exercise may be two sets of dumbbell benches. We don’t do this all the time, but it’s a new “twist” in our templates that wasn’t covered in previous articles." 

- Joe Defranco

A.) Max-Effort Exercise – work up to a max set of 3-5 reps in one of the following exercises:

• Thick bar or regular barbell bench press
• Barbell floor press
• Rack lockouts / Suspended chain lockouts
• Incline barbell bench press (regular grip or close grip)
• Close-grip bench press (index finger on smooth part of bar)
• Weighted chin-ups
• Board presses or foam presses
• Chain bench press (*recommended for not-so-skinny bastards)
• Band bench press (*recommended for not-so-skinny bastards)
• Reverse band bench press (*recommended for not-so-skinny bastards)

B.) Supplemental Exercise – perform 2 sets of max reps in one of the following exercises. 

(Choose a weight you can perform for 15-20 reps on the 1st set. Use the same weight for both sets and rest 3-4 minutes between sets).

• Flat DB bench press (palms in or out)
• Incline DB bench press (palms in or out)
• DB floor press (palms in)
• Barbell push-ups (wearing weighted vest)
• Blast strap push-ups (wearing weighted vest)
• “Criss-cross” chain push-ups
• “Triceps death”
• Chin-ups (don’t perform these if you chose to do weighted chin-ups for your first exercise)

C.) Horizontal pulling / Rear delt superset - Superset one exercise from “Group 1” with one exercise from “Group 2.” Perform 3-4 supersets of 8-12 reps of each exercise.

Group 1

• DB rows
• Barbell rows
• Seated cable rows (various bars)
• T-bar rows
• Chest supported rows

Group 2

• Rear delt flyes
• Scarecrows
• Face pulls
• Seated DB “power cleans”
• Band pull-aparts

D.) Traps – Perform 3 – 4 sets of 8-15 reps of one of the following exercises:

• DB shrugs
• Barbell shrugs
• Safety squat bar shrugs
• Behind the back barbell shrugs

E.) Elbow flexor exercise - Perform 3-4 sets of 8-15 reps of one of the following exercises:

• Barbell curls (regular or thick bar)
• DB curls (standing)
• Seated Incline DB curls
• Hammer curls
• Zottmann curls
• Iso-hold DB curls

Here's what we did:

A.) Thick Bar Bench Press (Fat Gripz)

- Work up to 5RM

B.) Incline DB  Bench Press (2 x max)

C1.) Seated Row 4 x 12

C2.) TRX Scarecrow 4 x 12

D.) DB Shrugs 3 x 10

D1.) Barbell Curls 3 x 10

D2.) Rope Tricep Push-Down 3 x 15

Day 142

A.) Bench Press (10-8-6-4)

Set 1: 10 @ 60%
Set 2: 8 @ 70%
Set 3: 6 @ 75%
Set 4: 4 @ 80%

Rest 2-3 minutes between sets

B.) Weighted Chin-up

• Warm-up set of 8 reps

• perform 4 sets of 6, across

C.) Weighted Dips

• Warm-up set of 10 reps

• perform 4 sets of 8, across

D.) Seated DB Overhead Press

• Perform 4 sets of 10, across

E.) Barbell Curls

• Perform 4 sets of 10 , across

F.) Three rounds, for quality

25 AbMat Sit-Ups

20 MB Slams

40 Cross Body Mountain Climbers