This intermediate workout program is ideal for your experience and lifestyle if you have had at least 12 months experience with significant progress in strength and stability. If you have consistently performed a structured, consistent and progressive workout program for at least a year, then this program is for you.
Intermediate Guide
Outcomes and Results
Don’t expect to gain strength and power at the same rate as you did in the beginners program, those “Newbie gains” days are over I’m afraid to say, but that’s just because your body is becoming more efficient and you are getting some serious strength and size by now.
This program will allow you to gain maximum progress at the fastest rate given your current experience level. This probably the most popular weight training program in use today by George Health members. It’s ideal for intermediate bodybuilders and lifters of a good experience level because you can get very good results with only a 4 days a week of training.
This program gets you fit, healthy, lean and looking good on the beach, and once you attain this level, you could probably stay with this program indefinitely.
However, as you progress to the advanced level and want to put on some serious muscle mass or compete in a physique competition, you’ll definitely need to move up to the advanced program eventually.
Advantages
This program builds on the previous program. Each workout will have more exercises per muscle and we will train your entire body twice per week instead of three times to compensate and allow for recovery.
Once you’ve trained for at least a year, you’ll be sorry to hear that your newbie gains are slowing and your full body workouts are becoming less effective. But don’t worry, it’s a good thing as it means you’re making progress towards your genetic limit of physical attainment.
Remember when you started taking coffee for the first time? You got a massive buzz out of one cup, and now you need multiple cups to get the same effect. The same principle applies here where we need to increase the number of exercises and volume per muscle group in order to get the same effect that we had before.
So we are going to add more exercises to big muscles like chest, back and legs, and train the whole body twice instead of three times to allow the body to rest between workouts.
The problem with Conventional Programs
Most lifters at this experience level will train one muscle group per day over 5 days. For example they will do chest on Monday, back on Tuesday, shoulders Wednesday etc. But there are problems with this:
- Too much volume per muscle means they can’t hit the muscle with enough intensity.
- If they do train at a high intensity they will result in overtraining, poor results and a risk of injury.
- They only train each muscle group once per week.
I did this program myself for almost a year. Yes, it gave me some progress, but as soon as I switched to this program I’m about to show you, I swear my results doubled in speed and halved in my time spent in the gym.
Benefits of this program
This program is therefore perfect for the experienced lifter. By training with intensity and using exercise volume I’ve set here, you can trigger massive muscle growth using just a couple of effective exercises. Then your body spends the next 72 hours recovering and growing the muscle, just in time for you to hit it again and build the momentum of growth.
This workout is therefore extremely efficient as it won’t have you doing endless workouts for hours on end, leading to overtraining, poor recovery or slow results. You’ll get faster results in less time.
We are also going to alternate exercises for different muscle groups during each workouts. So for example, you will do a chest exercise, then do a back exercise while allowing your chest to recover a little before doing another chest exercise.
Duration
The benefit of this program is the efficiency of it. You will get all your exercises done pretty quickly if you get on with it.
The optimal workout duration is probably around 45 minutes. Overly long workouts exhaust your nervous and endocrine system, decrease your levels of growth hormone and testosterone (anabolic hormones) and increase your level of cortisol (a catabolic hormone that breaks down muscle).
Program Progression
Progression is the single most important part of any weight training program. Progression means that you must challenge yourself to improve at every workout.
IMPORTANT – Make sure you keep a journal or log of your workout sets, reps and weights each week.
Compound exercises (C)
These are exercises that utilise multiple muscle groups such as bench press, barbell rows, squats etc. Compound exercises in this program are marked with a (C).
- Each week we are going to increase weight and decrease reps.
- This will let your body experience the stress of higher weights without overtraining.
- We include De-load weeks (see tab below) to manage recovery and ensure maximum muscle growth continues.
- Each 5 weeks, we step up the weight by 5-10%.
Example exercise (Squats)
- Week 1 – 3 sets of 100kg x 9 reps
- Week 2 – 3 sets of 105kg x 8 reps
- Week 3 – 3 sets of 110kg x 7 reps
- Week 4 – DELOAD WEEK with 2 sets of 100kg x 7 reps.
- Week 5 – 3 sets of 105kg x 9 reps
Week 5 you start again, with 3 sets of 9 reps, but use the weight from week 2. In this case you would do 3 sets of 105kg x 9 reps.
Make sense? So every 5 weeks, we increase our weight by 5-10%. That adds up to a WHOLE LOT over the course of an entire year.
If you find you aren’t able to get the progression at that speed with the compound progression technique, then switch it to an isolated style progression.
Isolated exercises (I)
With these accessory exercises such as bicep curls, cable exercises, machine exercises etc, we can’t expect to get the same rate of progression compared to compound movements. You can’t expect to add 5% to your dumbbell bicep curls for example in every 5 weeks. It’s not realistic. So with this in mind, we use a different approach. Isolated exercises in this program are marked with an (I).
- Each week, aim to complete 3 sets of the highest end of the rep range. So if the rep range is 8-12 reps, then aim to complete 3 sets of 12 reps.
- Expect gains in strength for exercises to vary and take a while but if you keep working at it and eat right, you will reach your goal.
- Once you have reached 3 sets of the top of the rep range, then next week you can increase the weight by 5-10%.
- Then repeat.
Example exercise (Dumbbell Bicep Curls)
Don’t expect to see a pattern here, I’m just showing you an example of how it might look from week to week.
- Week 1 – 12kg (12 reps, 11 reps, 8 reps)
- Week 2 – 12kg (12 reps, 12 reps, 9 reps)
- Week 3 – 12kg (12 reps, 12 reps, 10 reps)
- Week 4 – DELOAD WEEK with 2 sets of 12kg x 10 reps.
- Week 5 – 12 kg (12 reps, 12 reps, 11 reps)
- Week 6 – 12kg (12 reps, 12 reps, 12 reps)
- Week 7 – 14kg (11 reps, 9 reps, 7 reps)
We are using a “Deload” week for recovery from overtraining.
Over time you will increase the weight you use while keeping within the desired rep range for maximum muscle growth.
The biggest mistake you could ever make, is to repeat the same workout over and over again – this will only maintain the body you currently have, not improve it!
You have to get out of your comfort zone and push yourself. Challenge yourself. Go into every workout with a mindset that you won’t tolerate standing still; that you MUST move forward and make progress above and beyond the previous session. And don’t hope for it – expect it!
I believe in training hard with intensity, and that means sometimes training to failure or just short of failure. I don’t believe in stopping a set when I have three or four reps left in me. Push yourself – but push yourself safely and intelligently (use a spotter where appropriate).
DE-LOADS - Cycling Intensity & Recovery
DE-LOADS – What are they and how do they work?
The way the body adapts to overcome stress and achieve a state where it will become bigger, stronger and more comfortable handling more weight in the future is called recovery and leads to muscle growth if done correctly.
Through weight training, our muscles adapt by growing larger and stronger as a way of handling the stress. Muscle growth does not occur during the workout, however. During the workout, you are stressing your muscles so they will get the message: “Get bigger and stronger (adapt) so you will be able to handle the stress of your next workout.” Muscle growth actually occurs after your workout is completed.
For maximum muscle growth, you want to train with enough intensity to signal maximum muscle growth, but not too much that you result in overtraining and injury.
If you train with maximum intensity and a high volume over a sustained period, it leads to your body getting stressed beyond its ability to recover. Your body would be stressed again before it fully recovered from the last workout. If this occurs on a continual basis your muscle growth is halted and you risk losing some of the growth you previously experienced. It can also set you up for injury and illness. This program progression structure will ramp up your intensity week by week and building toward the peak of your growth ability.
Then just before you get to the point of overtraining, I want to back you off for a week, let your body take a breath and recovery, and let the momentum of your previous weeks workouts, keep your body building muscle during that de-load week before you go at it again for the next week.
You can think of it like speeding up in a car through the gears from first to sixth. You start speeding up in first gear, and then press in the clutch to change up to the next gear. While you have the clutch in, your car continues to move under inertia and momentum, progress continues, and then your car can go again even harder as it changes into the next gear up.
By giving your body that quick week of breathing space and time to catch up for its recovery, you can maintain progress without overtraining. I call this “Super compensation”
How to do a DE-LOAD
To complete a de-load week, we reduce the volume by 33% (go from 3 sets per exercise, to 2 sets). We also will use the lightest weight and the lowest reps used since the last deload.
Example exercise (Squats)
- Week 1 – 3 sets of 100kg x 9 reps
- Week 2 – 3 sets of 105kg x 8 reps
- Week 3 – 3 sets of 110kg x 7 reps
- Week 4 – DELOAD WEEK with 2 sets of 100kg x 7 reps.
- Week 5 – 3 sets of 105kg x 9 reps
In the first 3 weeks, our lightest weight was 100kg, and the lowest reps we performed was 7. This is what we will use in this example of a de-load.
Program structure
This program is a twice full body workout program. You will workout the entire body twice a week. Why? Because this will signal the body to grow twice as much compared to working the body just once a week. This means twice the growth compared to other workout programs!
Exercises
You will be completing the workouts using compound and isolated exercises. Compound exercises will be used for building solid mass, size and strength. Isolation or accessory exercises will target more specific areas of the muscle and ensure overall development and balance with your body shape and overall physique.
Most people will do the first two workouts on the Monday and Tuesday, use Wednesday as a rest day and then the second two workouts on the Thursday and Friday. Weekend can be rest.
This program is very flexible however. You can do your workouts on any day of the week as long as you ensure a full rest day after every two consecutive workouts.
THE WORKOUT
View on any device, or print yourself.
Instructions
Complete the four workouts each week.
Example: Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday
Recovery: Leave at least one rest day in between each workout.
Workouts 1 and 3:
- CHEST
- Flat Barbell Bench Press (C) (3 sets 7 – 9 reps)
- Cable Cross over (I) (3 sets 10 – 12 reps)
- BACK
- Barbell Bent Over Row (C) (3 sets 7 – 9 reps)
- Cable Lat Pull Down (I) (3 sets 10 – 12 reps)
- ARMS
- Barbell Bicep Curl (I) (2 sets 10 – 12 reps)
- Close Grip Bench Press (I) (2 sets 10 – 12 reps)
Workouts 2 and 4:
- LEGS
- Barbell Squat (C) (3 sets 7 – 9 reps)
- Dumbbell Lunges (C) (3 sets 7 – 9 reps)
- SHOULDERS
- Seated Dumbbell Shoulder Press (C) (3 sets 7 – 9 reps)
- Dumbbell Lateral Raises (I) (2 sets 10 – 12 reps)
- ABS
- Floor Crunches (I) (3 sets 20 – 25 reps)
Workouts 1 and 3
Exercise 1 – Flat Barbell Bench Press (C)
3 sets of 7 – 9 reps
Substitutions: Incline dumbbell bench press, flat or incline barbell bench press, machine chest press.
- Lie on a flat bench with your feet firmly on the ground.
- Dismount barbell from rack over the upper chest.
- Position the bar an inch or two towards the head from the mid chest.
- Use a wide grip.
- Maintain a slight arch in your lower back with chest high and your butt is back on the incline bench.
- Feet are completely solid on the floor for stability.
- Lower the bar to mid chest.
- Ensure the width of your grip ensures your forearms are vertical.
- Your elbows should be directly below your wrists at the bottom of the movement.
- Press bar until arms are extended a few inches from the mid chest.
- Repeat.
- Use a full range of motion to work the entire chest movement.
- Keep your feet fully planted on the floor at all times.
- Remember to breathe and control the motion of the weight up and down.
- Never jerk, swing or drop the weight at any time.
- The barbell should be over your eyes at the top of the motion.
- The barbell should be inline with your nipples (not your shoulders) at the bottom of the motion.
- Maintain a high chest throughout the movement.
- Don’t slide your butt away from the bench at anytime.
Exercise 2 – Barbell Bent Over Row (C)
3 sets of 7 – 9 reps
Substitutions: One arm dumbbell row, machine row.
- Bend knees slightly and bend over the barbell.
- Keep your back straight and butt sticking out.
- You want your centre of gravity right over your feet.
- Grasp bar with a shoulder width or slightly wider overhand grip.
- Pull the bar up toward and into your lower chest/upper abs as you breathe out.
- As you pull, keep your arms tucked in.
- Focus on bringing your elbows backward to squeeze the back muscles.
- Return until arms are extended and shoulders are stretched forward.
- When the bar is returning to the bottom position make sure the barbell is descending towards the feet in a controlled motion.
- Repeat.
- Use a full range of motion to work the entire movement.
- Keep your feet fully planted on the floor at all times.
- Remember to breathe and control the motion of the weight up and down.
- Never jerk, swing or drop the weight at any time.
- Your upper body should be almost parallel with the floor during the entire movement. Keep your upper body lowered in place as you raise the weight.
- When done correctly this exercise will back on some mass to your back.
- Focus on pulling with your back by bringing your elbows backward instead of pulling with your biceps.
- Train the back not the ego.
- Keep the back flat (not rounded) to better target the upper back muscles and to avoid injury to your low back.
- Do not lock the knees.
Exercise 3 – Cable Crossovers (I)
3 sets of 10 – 12 reps
Substitutions: Machine Fly, dumbbell flat/incline fly, cable high/low crossover.
- Position two cable pulleys at head height.
- Grasp the opposing high pulley cable handles.
- Stand in the middle and perpendicular to both pulleys.
- Bend hips, knees and elbows slightly.
- Internally rotate shoulders so elbows are back initially.
- Lean forwards slightly.
- Optional – Put one foot in front of the other for stability.
- Lean forwards slightly.
- Keep your arms almost fully straight but not locked out.
- Bring cable handles together in front of the chest in a hugging motion.
- Let the cables run down the same angle as your arms.
- Imagine you’re doing a big bear hug.
- Keep elbows in a fixed position as straight as you can.
- Squeeze (contract) the pecs at the bottom position.
- Pause and squeeze the contraction for half a second or so.
- Return to starting position until chest muscles are stretched.
- Repeat.
- Use a full range of motion to work the entire movement.
- Keep your feet fully planted on the floor at all times.
- Remember to breathe and control the motion of the weight up and down.
- Never jerk, swing or drop the weight at any time.
- If the weight is heavy then step forward with one foot in front of the other for a more stable stance.
- Don’t sacrifice slow controlled form for heavier weight.
- This exercise is about feeling and contacting the pectorals major (chest).
- Keep the arm position locked so all the movement is done using the chest only.
Exercise 4 – Cable Lat Pulldown (I)
3 sets of 10 – 12 reps
Substitutions: Lat pull up (weighted optional), cable close grip pulldown, cable seated low row.
- Grasp cable bar with an overhand shoulder width or slightly wider grip.
- Position your wrists wide enough so forearms are perpendicular to the bar.
- Slight bend at the elbows.
- Sit with thighs under supports.
- Pull down cable bar to upper chest.
- Stick the chest out and shoulders back as the bar is being pulled down.
- Ensure your elbows come down and backwards.
- You should be sitting nearly upright during the entire movement
- Keep a solid arch in the lower back.
- Return until arms are almost straight.
- Repeat.
- Never look straight up at the bar.
- Look forward.
- By not locking them out the tension stays on the back muscles.
- Try to squeeze your back—envision you’re pulling your elbows toward each other behind your back.
- Resist the temptation to pull down and lean way back using momentum to get the bar to your upper chest.
- This will lead to injury and also will not train the back effectively.
- A common mistake is to pull downwards in front of you to get the bar down.
- This will cause your back to roll and the weight to transfer onto your arms.
- If this occurs, reduce the weight slightly.
Exercise 5 – Standing Barbell Bicep Curl (I)
2 sets of 10 – 12 reps
Substitutions: Standing alternating dumbbell curl, standing hammer curl, EZ bar curl.
- Your feet should be roughly shoulder-width apart
- Unlock your knees so there is a slight bend at the knees.
- Grab the bar with your shoulders squared and your chest up.
- Grasp bar with a shoulder width underhand grip.
- The barbell is resting on the thighs.
- Raise bar until forearms are almost vertical as you breathe out.
- Take a short moment to squeeze your biceps at the top of the movement.
- Keep your elbows stationary at your sides.
- Lower until arms are fully extended.
- Repeat.
- Use a full range of motion to work the entire movement.
- Keep your feet fully planted on the floor at all times.
- Remember to breathe and control the motion of the weight up and down.
- Never jerk, swing or drop the weight at any time.
- Work the muscle not the ego.
- When elbows are fully flexed, elbows should not travel forward.
- Don’t lean backwards during the movement.
- Stand with your back against a wall if you want to ensure good form.
- Don’t round the shoulders during the weight lifting exercise as this takes emphasis off the biceps.
- You can also use an EZ Bar if your wrists hurt using a straight bar.
Exercise 6 – Close Grip Tricep Bench Press (I)
2 sets of 10 – 12 reps
Substitutions: Dips (weighted optional), cable bar/rope pushdown, tricep extension machine.
- Lie on bench and grasp barbell from rack with a close grip.
- Grip should be very slightly inside of shoulder width. (hands 10-12 inches apart)
- Press the bar upwards while keeping elbows tucked in.
- Breathe out as you press up.
- Squeeze the triceps at full extension (top or the movement).
- Lower the bar to low chest with elbows close to body.
- Repeat.
- Use a full range of motion to work the entire movement.
- Keep your feet fully planted on the floor at all times.
- Remember to breathe and control the motion of the weight up and down.
- Never jerk, swing or drop the weight at any time.
- Make sure your grip isn’t too close, otherwise you can injure your wrists.
Workouts 2 and 4
Exercise 1 – Barbell Squat (C)
3 sets of 7 – 9 reps
Substitutions: Machine squat, hack squat, box jumps, leg press.
- Using a safety rack or similar, set up the bar at upper chest height.
- Step under the bar and let the bar rest on your upper back (traps).
- Grasp the bar on either side.
- Dismount the bar from rack.
- Place feet a comfortable width apart, around shoulder width or slightly wider.
- Toes pointed straight or slightly outward.
- Allow your hips to go backwards as if you were sitting down on a chair behind you.
- Descend until knees and hips are fully bent.
- Maintain your shoulders, knees and toes all in a vertical line.
- Keep equal distribution of weight through fore foot and heel.
- When descending bend as deep (low) as you feel is comfortable for your body.
- Aim for having your upper thighs near parallel to the floor.
- From the bottom drive your body back to the top position through your heels.
- Do not lock the knees out at the top.
- Repeat.
- Use a full range of motion to work the entire movement.
- Keep your feet fully planted on the floor at all times.
- Remember to breathe and control the motion of the weight up and down.
- Never jerk, swing or drop the weight at any time.
- Keep head forward, chest high, abdominals tight and feet flat on the floor.
- Don’t let your heels come off the floor at the bottom of the rep.
- Weight on the heels.
- If you have knee and low back problems that are aggravated by this exercise try another exercise such as ‘dumbbell squats.’
- Make sure your knees do not fall in towards the centre.
- Keep your knees in the same direction as your toes at all times.
- Work up slowly to heavier weights.
- Everyone has a different bone structure. Position your feet and toes as is comfortable for you.
- Also only lower yourself as far as is comfortable for your body.
- Start with a light weight to get the form and technique correct.
- Use a buddy to spot you.
- Use a mirror to check your form and technique.
- Train your legs not your ego.
Exercise 2 – Seated Dumbbell Shoulder Press (C)
3 sets of 7 – 9 reps
Substitutions: Military press, machine shoulder press, standing dumbbell shoulder press.
- Sit on a bench with a low back support.
- Sit with feet flat on the floor and the lower back firmly against the back support.
- Pick up a pair of dumbbells and rest them vertically on your knees.
- Use your knees to kick the dumbbells up and into the starting position and hold them at shoulder height.
- Elbows out completely to the sides and palms facing forward.
- Forearms vertical with weight directly over your elbows.
- Press the dumbbells until arms are extended overhead as you breathe out.
- Keep your wrists above your elbows (forearms vertical) as you press the weight.
- The dumbbells come together slightly at the top.
- Dumbbells should almost touch at the top right above the crown of the head.
- Now, slowly lower the dumbbells, keeping the weight balanced over your elbows.
- Breathe in as you lower the weight.
- Stop when your elbows are just below parallel with your shoulder joints (fists at the same height as ear lobs).
- Repeat.
- Use a full range of motion to work the entire movement.
- Keep your feet fully planted on the floor at all times.
- Remember to breathe and control the motion of the weight up and down.
- Never jerk, swing or drop the weight at any time.
- Do not allow your hips to move forward during the lift.
- Keep your back against the pad.
- Keep your ass against the back of the seat.
- Keep your feet firmly planted on the floor.
Exercise 3 – Dumbbell Lunges (C)
3 sets of 7 – 9 reps
Substitutions: Barbell static lunges, Romanian deadlift, Bulgarian split squats, machine leg extensions/curls.
- Stand with dumbbells grasped to sides.
- Place feet a comfortable width apart, around shoulder width or slightly wider.
- Toes pointed straight.
- Lunge forward with first leg.
- Land on heal then forefoot.
- Lunge down so that your front leg is bent to about 90 degrees and your back knee nearly touches the floor.
- Return to original standing position by forcibly pushing off.
- Repeat by alternating lunge with opposite leg.
- Keep your head up and abdominals contracted during the lunge.
- Your front knee should not extend in front of your toes
- It should not bend more than 90 degrees.
- If you find this puts strain on your knees, then remain in the stance and simply perform reps vertically without stepping each time
- (e.g. static lunges on one leg and then the other)
Exercise 4 – Dumbbell Lateral Raises (I)
2 sets of 10 – 12 reps
Substitutions: Machine/cable lateral raises, cable/machine rear delt flyes, face pulls.
- Position two dumbbells to sides
- Palms facing in
- Arms straight.
- With elbows slightly bent
- Raise upper arms to sides until elbows are parallel with your shoulders.
- Keep elbows higher than wrists with thumbs turned down slightly.
- Maintain elbows’ height above or equal to wrists.
- Lower using controlled form and repeat.
- Maintain fixed elbow position (10° to 30° angle) throughout exercise.
- As the elbows drop higher than the wrists.
- Palms face downward throughout the movement.
- No swinging of the weight.
Exercise 5 – Abdominal Crunch (I)
3 sets of 20 – 25 reps
Substitutions: Superset all your lower, oblique and upper abs. (e.g. hanging leg raises, medicine ball twists, cable crunches.)
- Lie on your back on the floor.
- Have your knees bent about 90 degrees.
- Keep your feet at the same width apart as your hips.
- Have your hands behind your head or cross them across your chest.
- Contract your abs by reducing the distance between your shoulders and your hips.
- Breathe out as you crunch.
- Curl up and forward so that your head, neck and shoulder blades lift off the floor.
- Make sure you’re not pulling your head forward with your hands.
- Keep your neck straight and neutral.
- Squeeze your abs tight at the top of the set.
- Don’t come up too high or let your back come off the floor.
- Lower yourself slowly to the floor as you breathe in.
- Use a full range of motion to work the entire movement.
- Keep your feet fully planted on the floor at all times.
- Remember to breathe and control the motion of the weight up and down.
- Never jerk, swing or drop the weight at any time.
- If your chin is making contact with your chest, the abdominal muscles aren’t being used in the exercise.
- Do not just drop back to the ground. The negative portion of this exercise is extremely effective.
- The difficulty of this exercise depends on where you place your hands.
- The hardest position is above your head at arms-length, then beside your head, then across your chest, then straight down between your legs or at your sides.
- Start with the easiest first then progress to the other positions, as you get stronger.
- Breathing is vital when it comes to working the abs. Breathe out so that there is no air in your lungs at the top of the rep. This allows you to get a deeper contraction.