Introduction
Powerbuilding: The abomination that combines brute strength and huge physical size. Except its not much of an abomination. The idea of powerbuilding can be a bit of a misnomer: If you focus on lifting as much weight as possible, you’ll increase your muscle size along the way, and vice versa. Powerbuilding is really just placing an equal emphasis on strength and muscle size, with a bit of additional work to make sure you aren’t ignoring muscle groups that are often neglected with powerlifting.
The program I’ve developed is a four-day novice program. It is ideal for people who are new to the gym, or have been training for a short while. as it is designed for novices, it is just a repeatable one-week cycle. I’d usually recommend intermediates train using 10-12 week programs incorporating some degree of periodization, but this one week cycle would probably work for a few months for intermediate lifters as well.
The Program
(Click to enlarge)
Program Details
The program has heavy sets in the squat, bench, deadlift and the row. These are heavy sets of five, and form the basis for the strength work. They are deliberately completed at the start of the workout when you are most fresh. If your form is at least 80% correct in these lifts, then you should be aiming to add weight to the bar every time you perform them. At first this could be 10lbs (5kg) per week, but later on you will have to reduce this to 5lb (2.5kg) per week.
The program is split into a Upper/Lower four-day split.
The lower body days are setup so on day 1 you perform a quad-dominant movement, followed by a hip-hinge movement; and on day 2 you do the opposite, performing a hip-hinge movement followed by a quad-dominant movement.
The upper body days are split up so on day 2, you perform a horizontal push followed by horizontal pull, and then a vertical push followed by a vertical pull. Day 4 is then the opposite: a horizontal pull followed by a horizontal push, and then a vertical pull followed by a vertical push.
There’s nothing magical about this setup. I find it allows you perform each set at a higher intensity and ‘fresher’, but there would be nothing wrong with grouping all the push exercises together into one day, all the pull exercises together into one day etc., it is mainly a matter of preference. The key is starting with the strength movement, and using these as the benchmark for you progressing.
There is direct bicep work, and if you wanted to add more you could do the pull-ups and lat pull-downs with an underhand grip.
There is no direct tricep work. The triceps are hit pretty heavily already with the benching, pressing and dipping. If you really wanted to, you could add in a few extra sets per week of tricep work, but you really won’t need to.
The exercises that are 8+ reps, are generally following a double-progression scheme. You increase the number of reps each week, and then once you hit the upper-end of the rep range you add weight. For example:
Romanian Deadlift: 3 sets of 8-10 reps
RDL Week 1: 180lb x 8 reps
RDL Week 2: 180lb x 9 reps
RDL Week 3: 180lb x 10 reps
RDL Week 4: 190lb x 8 reps
We added a rep each week until we got to 10 reps. Then we dropped it back down to 8 reps but increased the weight. If the 10 reps at 180lb felt easy, then you could add 10lb. If it was more challenging then just a 5lb.
Expected Results
Ok, so I titled this article “Novice powerbuilding program: get big and strong FAST”. This was a bit of a lie if I am honest. As a novice, you will gain strength pretty fast no matter what program you start on, but these fast gains will only last 6-10 weeks usually. The idea of getting big and strong fast is simply not possible unless you are a genetic god, or on steroids. After 3 months of this program, you’ll look like someone who has lifted for 3 months. The program works. It works well. But it does not work miracles, you won’t be massive and ripped in a few months, this takes years.
However, if you start now, then that end goal will be one day closer, and it will come around a lot faster than you realize!
I missed a day, week or exercise!
If you miss a week, just repeat the last week you did at the same weights.
If you miss a day, next time you go in to that gym start on that day. e.g.:
Monday – Day 1
Tuesday – Day 2
Thursday – Day 3
Friday – Day 4
Monday – Day 1
Tuesday – Missed Workout!
Thursday – Day 2 – we do the Tuesday Workout on Thursday and just knock everything forward a bit.
Friday – Day 3
Monday – Day 4
If you miss or cut short an exercise, then just repeat that exercise at the same load next week.
If you read my article: Volume: How many sets per week? you’ll see that whilst I recommend at least 10 sets per muscle-group / movement per week, you can make real progress with a lot less. Just 3-5 good sets in a movement per week is enough to gain strength and muscle size. Is it optimal? No. Can you gain more strength and size with more sets? Definitely. But, with 3-5 sets you’ll still get stronger and bigger. My point is, if you miss a workout or skip an exercise, it really doesn’t change much, you’ll still have enough volume and intensity to make meaningful progress without worrying. Just carry on and you’ll achieve your goals.