TSR: a new routine for muscle and strength gain
All serious lifters find themselves at a crossroads; they just graduated from Starting Strength or 5×5 and are looking for the next challenge. Often they seek to specialize, in hypertrophy, strength, powerlifting or even traditional weightlifting. But what if you didn’t want to be one thing, what if you wanted it all: strong and swole, is it even possible? Well that’s the goal of theSwole routine. It’s a hybrid program that aims to maximize strength and size gains . It borrows the most successful concepts from some of the most successful routines and puts them together to form a super-routine of sorts. Here you will find speed days, circuits, conjugate methods,and still some room for customization. Volume training is periodized with strength training to synergistic effect.
Just like the 5/3/1 program, reviewed in our recent article, TSR uses the concept of ‘waves.’ But that is where the similarities end. Waves in TSR are comprised of volume, speed and max days not weeks. So each training session you are focusing on a different capacity for a different muscle group. This means in a week you are at least having three different training sessions as well as getting stronger, faster, and bigger. This weekly structure helps facilitate recovery by avoiding pitfalls like ‘max week’ where you are facing full-body max-out. In addition, this program is intended for bulking, so trying to do it on a caloric deficitwill be detrimental. You need to eat at maintenance, or preferably at a surplus.
Here is a sample overview of the structure:
Week 1
- Day 1 : Speed Chest
- Day 2 : Volume Back
- Day 3 : Max Legs
Week 2
- Day 1 : Speed Back
- Day 2 : Volume Legs
- Day 3 : Max Chest
Week 3
- Day 1 : Speed Legs
- Day 2 : Volume Chest
- Day 3 : Max Back
Repeat (weeks 4-6)
Week 7
- Deload
The Split
TSR splits muscles into 3 groups. Chest/Shoulders/Triceps (i.e. press), Back/Traps/Biceps (pull) and Quad/Hamstrings/Glutes/Calves (legs). This setup is optimal as it allows for each muscle group to recover before the next training session. To further assist recovery, the program borrows from the conjugate method of rotating movements. This means each week you are training different movements than the week before. The advantage is constant progress and gains while at the same time avoiding specific movement overtraining and stagnation.
Each session consists of three core movements followed by supplemental exercises or a circuit. This allows for added volume while avoiding over-training. High repetition sets are included as another means to encourage hypertrophy and endurance. The aim is to maximize effect by activating all different muscle fibre types. For variation, the volume and length of the supplementary movements can be shortened or skipped on certain days.
Having covered the technical aspects of the program, the philosophy behind TSR is similar to that of Doggcrapp: make strength gains and you will get bigger. And since strength gains are quantifiable we can use them like a meter stick. So the first result to watch for with TSR is increased strength. That said, if you find your results stagnating, take stock of your diet and rest patterns, and if necessary, cut down on supplementary movements. The key to strength gains here lies in exercise rotation. You make small gains on a variety of movements that all add up creating a synergistic effect.
Each cycle lasts 6 weeks, or two rotations, so you’ll have maxed out on everything twice. You will then throw in a week of deloading, pick new movements and start over.
Strong.. yet swole
Approved Exercises
To get started,pick three exercises for each muscle group. For the main group you will pick one exercise for each day. For example, for max chest day, you might choose pin press. For speed chest, let’s say flat bench and hammer strength for volume. These will be the basis of your chest program for the next 6 weeks. The circuits at the end of each session remain the same, i.e. you will do the same legs circuit every legs day whether it is speed, max, or volume day; and the same push circuit every push day, regardless of what was emphasized. Again, if you are having trouble recovering, cut down on supplemental volume.
Chest, Shoulders, Triceps
Note: Notation is always Reps X Sets, so 4 x 9 means 4 reps for 9 sets. The @ symbol signifies the percentage of max weight to use.
Chest:
Speed:
( 4 x 9 )
Flat Bench, Bands/Chains if you have them
Volume:
( 8 – 12 x 4 )
Incline Bench, Flat Bench, Dumbbell Press, Hammer Strength Machines
Max:
( Work up to 1 rep max, do 2 light warm up sets, and 3 warm up sets last one about 95% of your 1RM and then add 10lbs to your last max for the final set)
Flat Bench, Pin Press, Floor Press, Rack Bench
Shoulders:
( 6 – 8 x 4 )
Overhead Pin Press (varying heights), Dumbbell Shoulder Press, Push Press, Military Press
Triceps:
( 6 – 8 x 3-4 )
Close-grip Floor Press, Close-grip Pin Press, JM Press, Reverse-grip Close-grip Bench
Supplemental Circuit x 2 – 3
Side Raises x 20
Front Raises x 15
Tricep Pushdowns x 20
Reverse Flys x 12
Abs x 15-20
Hammer Curls x 12-15
Back, Traps, Biceps
Back:
Speed:
( 3 x 9 )
Deadlifts, chains and bands if available
Max:
( Work up to 1 rep max, do 2 light warm up sets, and 3 warm up sets last one about 95% of your 1RM and then add 20lbs to your last max for the final set)
Deadlifts
Volume:
( 8-12 x 4 )
Bent Over Rows, T-bar Rows, Dumbbell Rows
Second back movement:
( 6 – 8 x 4 )
Pull-ups, Hammer Strength Pull-downs, Assisted Pull-ups, Chin-ups
Third back movement:
( 8 – 12 x 3 )
Close-grip Cable Rows, Dumbbell Rows, Hammer Strength Rows
Supplemental SuperSet x 2 -3:
Barbell Curls x 10 @ 55%
Barbell Shrugs x 20 @ 40%
Dumbbell Curls x 15 @ 45%
Reverse Cable Curls x 10 @ 45%
Legs
Quads
Speed:
( 4 x 9 )
Back Squats, Box squats
Max:
( Work up to 1 rep max, do 2 light warm up sets, and 3 warm up sets last one about 95% of your 1RM and then add 20lbs to your last max for the final set)
Back Squats, Box Squats, Rack Squats
Volume:
( 8 x 4 )
AND
( 20 x 1)
Back Squats, Box Squats, Leg Press
Hamstrings
( 6 – 8 x 4 )
Good Mornings/ Stiff legged Deadlifts / Rack Pulls
Quads
( 8 – 12 x 4 )
Leg Press/Split Squats/Lunges
Supplementary Circuit 3 – 4:
Leg Extensions x 15 @ 40%
Leg Curl x 10 @ 45%
Calf Raise Circuit x 15 @ 40%
Decline Abs
Conclusion
The program may seem overwhelming at first, but its guaranteed to give you some ridiculous results. This program is seriously demanding so only do this if you are eating at maintenance or above, as overtraining can happen very easily. Also make sure to deload after every 6 weeks, that is do a week of light training or don’t train at all. If you have any questions, post them as comments or in the forums and I’ll happily answer them.
Tags: conjugate, Deadlift, Form, hypertrophy, powerlifting, Routine, Swole, volume training
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