Ready to take your fitness routine to the next level and achieve some serious gains? Look no further than this 4-day program designed specifically for intermediate and advanced trainees. With rest-pause sets, drop sets, and negatives, you'll push your muscles to the limit and see real results in both size and strength. Get ready to kick your training into high gear and reach new heights with this challenging yet rewarding regimen!

As summer draws to a close, people are now looking to gain some weight – a healthy amount. You might be ready to devote some time to lifting heavier weights and filling out those t-shirts and hoodies after dedicating months to getting leaner and looking better. If that sounds like I'm talking about you, keep reading because we've got a plan right here to help you.

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In the next eight weeks, you will work out four days a week in order to build muscle and get stronger. If you do these workouts properly, you won't need to double them up or find additional time to train, because they will be intense and challenging. If you don't work out, you should eat, sleep, or live your life outside of the gym.

What is the purpose of this?

Intermediate and advanced trainees will benefit from this program by gaining positive strength and size. If you are a beginner or rookie, this program may be too intense, and you should still learn more about form and execution before taking on such a program. Don’t worry, though. M&S offers plenty of programs for beginners as well.

Program Principles

You need to push yourself beyond what you normally perceive to be "failure" if you want to gain something that you don't have. That's why some intensity boosting techniques are going to be included in this program.

Sets with rest-pauses

As an example, a set of barbell curls would look like this: Push the set to failure within the recommended rep range, rest for 10-15 seconds, and then perform as many reps as you can.

Curls with a barbell - 70 pounds for 8 reps, 15 seconds rest, 70 pounds for 4 reps.

The extra reps you did while resting will help you take your training to the next level.

Drops sets

If you hit failure, you immediately reduce the weight and keep going. A drop set of incline dumbbell presses may look like this:

Dumbbell Press - 10 reps with 60 lb dumbbells, 12 reps with 30 lb dumbbells.

While the weight was reduced, the muscles were still challenged in a safe way, so the goal will still be achieved - you're tearing down muscle fibers so they can grow and recover.

Negatives

As you lower the dumbbell on a curl normally, it can take you as long as five or ten seconds. This is the process of taking the weight slowly from the lifted phase to the stretch phase. This program will include five-second negatives at different points in the workout. The goal is to keep the weight under control while forcing the muscles to work harder.

What is the right amount of weight to use?

This is one of the most common questions we see in the comments section of our articles, so let's address it here. If 10lbs is all you can use for an exercise, use it. If you're capable of using 80lb, use 80lb. The point is that the weight should be challenging enough for you to execute the desired reps within the recommended rep range. If you're supposed to do six to eight reps, but can do 12, it's too light. Conversely, if you can't do more than four, it's too heavy. There is no magic formula to help you figure out the weight you need. It's going to be a matter of trial and error.

Nutrition

Even though you're going to train hard, you'll need food to recover and grow. That doesn't mean you get to eat whatever you want, whenever you want. Having a solid nutrition plan will be very beneficial. There is actually a great nutrition guide from M&S that goes well with this program. It's one of the nutrition programs here that will help you get bigger and stronger. I'll give you two pieces of advice:

Eat protein first - Protein is the nutrient that plays the most significant role in your recovery and growth. If you are full before the meal is complete, you don't want protein left on the plate. This can also help you maintain a healthy blood sugar level.

Take Your Time – It's food, not flavored oxygen. It is important to chew and enjoy your meal in order to digest it properly. Overwhelming your stomach by pounding down a lot of calories at warp speed won't help you, and it will also cause you discomfort.

Calories

In addition to burning calories and increasing metabolism, cardio is good for your heart. Therefore, you should not ignore it completely. You can do three or four sessions a week of moderate level cardio for 20 minutes each. You can do these in the morning or after your workout. If you can, get them in when you have time.

Exercises

Let's talk about the training. This is a four-day routine that you will do once a week. You should follow this split:

• Monday - Chest and side delts
• Tuesday - Upper Back and Rear Delts
• Wednesday - Off
• Thursday - Arms and Abs
• Friday - Legs 
• Saturdays and Sundays - Off 

That would be the best split, but let's face facts. There are a lot of you that have jobs that don't allow this to happen, so here's what you need to know. Do these workouts at times that best suit you. The only rule I suggest you follow is that you don't train for more than three days in a row before taking a day off. Two would be best, but if you must train a third consecutive day, go for it. I don't suggest you do this normally. The recovery is vital for your success. Training four days in a row without the extra rest may affect the results you see from this.

Exercise 1: Chest and Side Delts