Bodybuilding Workout Plans

While some people have a naturally larger, more muscular physique without working out, to be a successful bodybuilder, you have to have a workout program. There are various programs available for bodybuilders that work well for different people. If you are unsure about which program will best benefit your own bodybuilding goals, talk to a personal trainer to gain insight.

Escalating Density Training

Charles Staley, an experienced bodybuilding coach and competitive Olympic-style weightlifter at the Master's level, developed the Escalating Density Training program (EDT). It is based on increasing the volume or intensity of stress that your muscles are placed under, over a set amount of time. The program uses standard bodybuilding exercises, of any type the athlete prefers. All that is modified is the repetition and set schemes and rest intervals. Staley claims that effective muscle-building workouts on EDT can be accomplished in as little as three 15-minute long sessions per week. He published his manual on EDT in 2005, called simply "Escalating Density Training."

5X5

The 5X5 programs for bodybuilding have been around for a long time. They involve performing five repetitions of an exercise for five sets. Any exercise can be performed using the 5X5 program. The most famous advocate of 5X5 bodybuilding workout programs is seven-time Mr. Olympia champion Arnold Schwarzenegger. The movie star and California governor wrote in his 1987 book "The Encyclopedia of Modern Bodybuilding," that he used 5X5 programs to build the physique that won him the seven Sandow trophies for Mr. Olympia, four Mr. Universe titles, and landed him the role of Conan in his first movies. Today, several coaches have explored the use of 5X5s for strength and muscle building, including strength coach Mark Rippetoe, author of "Practical Programming for Strength Training."

Brawn

In 1991, a little-known bodybuilder and coach from England named Stuart McRoberts took the physique world by storm. Then living in Cyprus, McRoberts was the publisher of "Hardgainer" magazine. A magazine devoted to old-fashioned bodybuilding methods that would help the genetically average bodybuilder gain mass without the use of steroids, "Hardgainer" was little known outside of serious black-iron gyms. McRoberts published "Brawn" in 1991, a synthesis of the methods he had learned and developed while editing "Hardgainer." The Brawn program rebelled against the standard bodybuilding dogma of isolated bodypart training and two-a-day workouts. McRoberts claimed that using multi-joint, compound movement barbell exercises, in short workouts no more often than two or three times per week, would allow athletes to lift more weight, thus inducing an endocrine system response that would produce more testosterone, thus increasing muscle mass without drugs. The program proved so effective that the book is still in print today.