IINNTTEERRMMEEDDIIAATTEE--AADDVVAANNCCEEDD PPUUSSHH PPUULLLL LLEEGGSS HHYYPPEERRTTRROOPPHHYY PPRROOGGRRAAMM JJEEFFFF NNIIPPPPAARRDD INTERMEDIATE-ADVANCED PUSH PULL LEGS HYPERTROPHY PROGRAM JEFF NIPPARD TABLE OF CONTENTS ABOUT ME 4 ABOUT THIS PROGRAM 6 KEY TERMS 9 ANATOMY 11 FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS 22 WARM UP 28 PULL /LEGS/PUSH - PROGRAM - BLOCK 1 31 PULL /LEGS/PUSH - PROGRAM - BLOCK 2 55 PROGRAM EXPLAINED 79 TRAINING VARIABLES 87 EXERCISE SUBSTITUTIONS 96 EXERCISE VIDEOS 101 REFERENCES 104 DISCLAIMER 108 ABOUT ME Jeff is a professional drug-free bodybuilder and powerlifter. Through his informative and entertaining Youtube channel which has gathered a fan-base of over 800,000 subscribers, Jeff aims to share the knowledge he has gathered through university education and field experience with others who are passionate about the science behind building muscle, losing fat and getting healthier. He earned the title of Mr. Junior Canada for natural bodybuilding in 2012 and as a powerlifter, Jeff held the Canadian national record for the bench press in 2014. As a powerlifter, Jeff has claimed a 502 lb squat, 336 lb bench press and a 518 lb deadlift with an all time best Wilks score of 446. With a Bachelor of Science degree in biochemistry, Jeff has gathered the requisite scientific knowledge to compliment his practical experience acquired through JEFF NIPPARD - PUSH/PULL/LEGS HYPERTROPHY PROGRAM 4 training and coaching. Jeff has coached women’s bikini and men’s bodybuilding national and provincial champions, professional natural bodybuilders and nationally and IPF Worlds qualified raw powerlifters. He has presented seminars on Block Periodization, concurrent training and nutrition and training for natural bodybuilding in academic settings including the 2014 Online Fitness Summit and at the University of Iowa. He has aspirations of completing a PhD in exercise science or a related field. Jeff currently lives in Kelowna, Canada where he is producing informative YouTube videos and podcasts while preparing for his next competition season in natural bodybuilding in 2019. JEFF NIPPARD - PUSH/PULL/LEGS HYPERTROPHY PROGRAM 5 ABOUT THIS PROGRAM WHAT THIS PROGRAM IS The primary goal of this program is to maximize muscle hypertrophy for individuals in the intermediate-advanced stage of training advancement. The secondary goal of this program is to increase general strength on fundamental compound movements that involve large muscle masses. It’s difficult to pin down exactly what “intermediate- advanced” means in terms of a specific training age due to the fact that training years in the gym are not equal across individuals. For example, some folks may have spent 10 years training in the gym, but that time may only actually be “worth” 1 or 2 years if they’ve spent the majority of their time pumping and going through the motions without focus or direction. But as a general guide, if you’ve been training for roughly 2-5 years, with a generally serious approach toward your training sessions, JEFF NIPPARD - PUSH/PULL/LEGS HYPERTROPHY PROGRAM 6 you will benefit from this program. If you’ve been training without adequate structure for even a few months, it doesn’t matter how long you’ve been in the gym, this program will get you on the right track. Before we dive into the nuts and bolts of the program itself, I want to first make it clear what this training manual is intended to accomplish. As I’ll allude to throughout the document, this program is divided into two 8-week training blocks, each with a specific primary aim. BLOCK 1 BLOCK 1 FOCUSES ON TWO MAIN GOALS: 1. Complete mastery of exercise execution. This not only means performing the exercise with standard and proper technique for safety purposes, but also honing in on the most optimal way to engage the muscles we are targeting. 2. Development of a large work capacity and high volume tolerance. This work capacity will set us up for success in Block 2 of the program, where volume is decreased as intensity (effort) is increased. BLOCK 2 Block 2 begins with a deload week to emphasize recovery leading into the most psychologically and physically demanding phase of the program. Unlike Block 1 (which will require a degree of restraint and special attention to careful execution), the main idea with Block 2 is to apply a high degree of effort, by taking many sets closer to failure. Now that you have mastered technique and built a volume tolerance it is time to lock in mentally and give it your all. JEFF NIPPARD - PUSH/PULL/LEGS HYPERTROPHY PROGRAM 7 WHAT THIS PROGRAM ISN’T If you’ve been in the gym less than 1-2 years, I’d recommend running through my Fundamentals Hypertrophy Program at least once before advancing to this routine to ensure that you have already established an adequate strength and technique base before jumping into the more advanced programming methods used here. This Legs Push Pull Training Program is not intended to be an all-inclusive resource for all things training related. I initially wrote this document as a supplemental resource to my Science Applied YouTube Series and my Fundamentals YouTube Series, meaning that there will be information covered in the series that won’t be recapitulated here. At the time of this writing, I plan to release The Fundamentals Book (title subject to change) later in 2018 or early 2019 which will cover anything and everything training related from A to Z. The main purpose of this program is to provide a tangible, actionable routine that can be executed without having to understand all of the underpinnings of my programming science and philosophy. Be sure to sign up for my mailing list to be the first to get the book when it drops! With that said, there is still plenty to chew on here: just about 110 PAGES in total, including a full blown anatomy section (something I didn’t have the chance to cover in a single YouTube Series in detail), a section explaining the specific programming principles at play (volume, intensity, frequency, etc.), video links for technique demonstration for each exercise and 34 unique scientific references. JEFF NIPPARD - PUSH/PULL/LEGS HYPERTROPHY PROGRAM 8 KEY TERMS DB: Dumbbell LSRPE: Last set RPE PROGRESSIVE OVERLOAD: The gradual increase of stress placed upon the body during exercise training. In training contexts, this generally involves progressively increasing some lifting parameter over time (usually weight or reps) ROM: Range of motion RPE: Rate of perceived exertion. A measure of how difficult a set was on a 1-10 scale, with 10 meaning muscular failure was achieved. TEMPO: The speed at which the lift occurs. ECCENTRIC: The lowering (“negative”) aspect of the lift CONCENTRIC: The contracting (“positive”) aspect of the lift JEFF NIPPARD - PUSH/PULL/LEGS HYPERTROPHY PROGRAM 9 EFFORT: How hard you are pushing the set relative to failure. Measured with RPE or %1RM LOAD: The weight of the external resistance INTENSITY: Effort and load VOLUME: Total amount of work performed. Usually approximated as sets x reps x load FREQUENCY: How often you directly train a given muscle per 7 days HYPERTROPHY: The growth of (muscle) tissue AMRAP: As many reps as possible (with good form). Often performed as a test to determine max strength PRIMARY EXERCISE: Main heavy compound movements that involve a large muscle mass (For Example: squats, bench presses and deadlifts) SECONDARY EXERCISE: Compound exercises which involve less muscle mass (For Example: cable rows, lunges, hip thrusts, military presses, pull-ups, etc.) TERTIARY EXERCISE: Isolation movements involving only one joint and primarily targeting a single muscle – these are usually used to isolate a specific, smaller muscle or to generate metabolic stress PERIODIZATION: The organization of training over time WORK CAPACITY: The ability to recover from a high volume of training JEFF NIPPARD - PUSH/PULL/LEGS HYPERTROPHY PROGRAM 10