12-Week Cycle Finale

12-Week Size Cycle Wrap Up

It is the end of the 12 weeks. Time to wrap things up.

When I began this cycle my primary lifts were the following:

Squat               245

Deadlift           245

Bench              155

Bodyweight    235

Age                 49

I did have a birthday in there, so that number went up, too. The numbers at the end of the 12-weeks look like this

Squat               350

Deadlift           355

Bench              205

Bodyweight    245

As you can see, I added 105 pounds to my squat, 110 to deadlift, and 50 to my bench press. At the same time, I only added 10 pounds to my overall bodyweight. Not too shabby for 49, 50 years old.

I need to clarify that I am not one to over use supplements. I have a protein mix that I use. There are no bottles of extra pills, creatine mixes, added boosters. I have never used steroids. Never even tried pot, so … I get most of my nutrition through a good diet now. Supplements are just that, supplementing where I fall short.

This routine was originally billed to me, 20-some odd years ago, as a mass building routine. I am a little larger, but massively huge, no. The routine has made it so pants fit tighter and shirts are definitely tighter, yes, but have no misunderstanding. I did not go from that little kid from the Bronx to some hulking mass-monster.  

I do have stronger, thicker thighs, notably bigger arms, broader and thicker back, and am losing my neck to traps.

Overall, this is a cycle worth doing a couple of times a year. I ill certainly keep it in my log books, and I recommend that you do this, too. The way this routine breaks out it can be done on a four day or three-day split. This makes it flexible enough to fit most any schedule.

Here is what it looks like:

PUSH DAY

Squat

Leg Extension

Shoulder Press

Triceps Exercise of Your Choice

Plank for time

Bicycle Crunch

PULL DAY

Deadlift

Leg Curl

Bent Row

Upright Row

Biceps Exercise of your choice

Plank

Bicycle Crunch

The four day split  looks like Monday-Tuesday/Thursday-Friday. Monday and Thursday are push days while Tuesdays and Fridays are pull days. 

The three day splits look different, of course. Monday and Friday of Week 1 may be pull days with Wednesday as a push day. Them Week 2 Monday and Friday are pull days and Wednesday is a push day.

One modification that I made at Week 7 was to add a more exhaustive arm routine. This looks like

Incline Curls

Preacher Curls

Standing Curls

Overhead Triceps Extension

Skull Crushers

Triceps Press Down

The beauty of this arm routine is that both muscle groups get worked through three different positions. These are the extended, contracted, and midrange positions. By working these muscles, or any muscle, throughout these positions you are getting the fullest and most effective workout possible.

Why not do a workout routine based on these three ranges?

That is possible, but requires a five-day split, at minimum, to be done safely. This is not possible for a four or three-day split. Adding this into the 12-week routine makes for awesome arms.

You have noticed that there is leg extension immediately after squats and leg curls also immediately after deadlifts. The specific reason for this is clear. Squats hit quads heavily. You will also feel them deeply in other parts of your glutes and legs when you do them deeply enough. What you may not be fully aware of is that deadlifts hit the hamstrings at least as much as the quads.

This may seem counterintuitive but work with me here. By dropping the weight below and in front of your center of balance the muscles used and in what proportion they are used shifts dramatically. Keeping you hips low and back creates the need for muscles that will pull the weight up. You will also find that the muscles along your spine, from your trapezius down to your coccyx, will be fully engaged. This is part of the pulling machine used to get that bar off the ground. The hamstrings are necessary in that machine.

Doing leg extensions after squats and leg curls after deadlifts allows you to focus on the primary movers for these exercises. It makes it so you can hit those muscles in their contracted states. In this way, you get to two of the three angles straight off.

The crux of ho this mass and strength routine works is by basing the entire thing on compound movements. Compound movements are those that include more than one joint to execute. Think about the squat. To squat, you need to flex your ankle, knee, and hip joints as well as have spinal flexibility. For bench press, you are using shoulder, elbow, and wrist joints.

Using multiple joints requires that several different muscles are engaged in the movement. These muscles are involved for completing the movement. There are, of course, other muscles used to support and stabilize the body during the movement. All of this works together for a combined result of far more muscles engaged in one lift than when doing isolation exercises.

Now you know what and how and why. You make the when happen.