Powerbuilding Workout Week 1

Last week was a “deload week,” where I only did 6 sets per muscle group. It was a nice break from the high volume, with workouts lasting just 25-30 minutes.

This week, I felt well-rested and super excited to start the new powerbuilding workout. In case you don’t know, I’ve come up with a plan to build strength and size at the same time.

But this isn’t a fool’s errand of trying to accomplish two competing goals simultaneously because I’ve strategically divided my body into separate muscle groups to train in two distinct ways.

I’ll walk you through the workout split to show you how I trained each muscle group and share some of the rationale behind the workouts.

Day 1: Chest & Triceps

1. Incline Bench Press
2. Dumbbell Fly
3. Dips
4. Close Grip Bench Press
5. Dumbbell Skull Crusher
6. Reverse Grip Pressdown

Goals: Chest = strength; Triceps = hypertrophy

I’ll progressively increase weight on the incline bench press in the coming weeks. Conversely, I’ll increase the number of sets each week for the triceps while keeping the weight about the same.

I’ve intentionally overlapped the chest and triceps with dips to save time in future workouts. This week, I completed the entire workout in 44 minutes.

Day 2: Back & Biceps

1. Pull Ups
2. Underhand Barbell Row
3. Reverse Grip Lat Pulldown
4. Dumbbell Alternating Curl
5. Dumbbell Concentration Curl
6. Barbell Reverse Curl

Goals: Back = strength; Biceps = hypertrophy

With this powerbuilding phase, I’ll be trying to get more reps on pull ups and maybe add weight. I’ll also progressively add weight on barbell rows.

Once again, I used a transition compound exercise that targets both the back and the biceps. I hope this helps keep my workout duration down when I add more volume for biceps.

This week, I already targeted 16 sets of biceps in this workout, including the reverse grip pulldown.

Day 3: Legs

1. Heel Elevated Barbell Back Squat
2. Barbell Romanian Deadlift
3. Heel Elevated Goblet Squat
4. Dumbbell Stiff Leg Deadlift
5. Leg Extension
6. Leg Curl

Goals: Quads = strength; Hamstrings = strength

My legs have grown relatively quickly, even when I’m not trying to make them bigger. So, the focus of this leg day will be getting stronger with progressive overload.

Squats and RDLs will be the two exercises I will primarily focus on adding significant weight to build strenght.

I started with 12 sets for quads and 12 for hamstrings, which is on the low end. But I may decrease it even further as this phase goes forward.

Day 4: Shoulders

1. Dumbbell Lateral Raise
2. Dumbbell Rear Delt Fly
3. Barbell Upright Row
4. Rope Face Pull
5. Alternating Lateral/Front Raise

Goals: Side Delts = hypertrophy; Rear Delts = hypertrophy

Regarding shoulder training, I like to segment them into three different heads. Since the front delts ready get a lot of attention on chest day, I’m not focusing on them in this workout routine.

Instead, I will concentrate on bringing up my side and rear delts, which tend to lag. Luckily, there is some overlap with rear and side delt exercises, so I double-counted some sets.

Day 5: Arms

1. Barbell Curl
2. Barbell Skull Crusher
3. Dumbbell Incline Hammer Curl
4. Dumbbell Incline Skull Crusher
5. Cable Preacher Curl
6. Rope Pressdown
7. Dumbbell Curls (down the rack)
8. Dumbbell French Press (down the rack)

Goals: Biceps = hypertrophy; Triceps = hypertrophy

My arms have always been hard to grow, particularly my biceps. So they will get a lot of attention and sets in this phase.

This workout featured 32 sets, so I paired exercises that work well for supersets. I also finished it up with down the rack drop sets.

Minimizing rest periods helped me keep this workout to 48 minutes long. By the end of this powerbuilding phase, I may work up to 52 sets in this workout, if my arms can handle the volume.

Day 6: Calves & Abs

1. Barbell Standing Calf Raise
2. Hanging Leg Raise
3. Barbell Seated Calf Raise
4. Rope Crunch
5. Floor Crunch

Goals: Calves = hypertrophy, Abdominals = strength

The final workout of the week targets two often neglected muscle groups. I feel like isolating them in their own workout is a great way to give them the attention they deserve.

My main focus is trying to grow those stubborn calves. I also want to strengthen my core and see if I can get a little firmer six-pack.

Day 7: Rest

And on the seventh day, I rest.

As you can see, a lot of time and thought went into setting up this powerbuilding routine to be something new and hopefully effective.

Next week, I’ll compile my workout numbers, including weights, reps, sets, and total work done. Then compare week-to-week to determine progress.

This quantitative assessment will be similar to what I did with my progressive volume workout plan.

As the powerbuilding phase goes on, I should be able to see if I’m getting bigger and stronger. So stay tuned for the results!