POWER-

BUILDING
COMBINE THE BEST
OF POWERLIFTING
AND BODYBUILDING
SCIENCE TO BUILD
DENSE MUSCLE AND
FREAK STRENGTH
IN SIX WEEKS
BY DON SALADINO
PHOTOGRAPHS BY JASON ELLIS

68 M U S C L E & F I T N E S S M AY 2 0 1 5
68 FLEX | SEPTEMBER 2017
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trains your nervous system to
recruit the biggest, strongest
muscle fibres, and it helps you
overcome sticking points. If
your bench press usually stalls
midway through a rep with a
heavy weight, DE can help you
develop the speed off your chest
When you’ve been in the to blast through.
iron game awhile, you
begin to ask yourself some
LIFTING FOR LIFE
Of course, building muscle and
tough questions: How do setting PRs isn’t much fun if it
I maximize size without wrecks your body in the process.
sacrificing strength? How Heavy training is hard on the
do I get stronger without joints, but by rotating your main
lifts and generally changing up
getting injured? In short, the workouts on a weekly basis,
how can a lifter have it you can avoid the overuse and
all—muscle, power, and overtraining injuries that plague
pain-free joints—to enjoy the so many lifters. The main lift in
benefits? The answer is a each max-effort workout should
be switched every week. In fact,
combination of powerlifting you can switch out practically
and bodybuilding every exercise in the programme
programming, colloquially week to week if you like—just
known as powerbuilding, follow the basic template we set
blended in the formula we up here. (It includes two weeks of
sample workouts.)
offer here. See results in On the first max-effort day, for
six weeks! Seriously. instance, when you’ll train your
chest and biceps, stick to three
THE DYNAMIC DUO to four chest exercises and three
Our programme is a mix of the biceps lifts per session; the exact
Westside Barbell powerlifting exercises you pick are up to
template and old-school high- you. The main lift can be a bench
volume bodybuilding. The press one week, an incline press
Westside Conjugate Method, the next, then a floor press
as it’s known, is a system that after that if you like. Feel free to
alternates heavy workouts and experiment and find exercises
lighter ones. The heavy days that work best for you and keep
are called max-effort sessions the workouts fun.
because you work up to a max,
the heaviest weight you can
use for reps in the one to five Directions
range. The lighter days can
be done in two different ways.
Most lifters who powerbuild
along the lines of a Westside
THE SCHEDULE
programme do the lighter You’ll perform two triceps.
workouts exclusively with higher max-effort and will take
reps and go for the pump, and two dynamic-effort to work
that works fine to build muscle. workouts per week, part wit
Our routine includes plenty of rotating through a max- an
pump work, but we’re also making body-part split of effort m
use of the dynamic effort method chest and biceps, follow t
(DE)—a technique whereby you lift back, legs, and for how
light weights explosively. Even shoulders and togethe
though the weight may not feel
challenging, moving it as quickly
(and as violently) as you can

70 FLEX | SEPTEMBER 2017

 BACK EXTENSION
Be sure to hinge at the
hips when you perform
each rep. Your lower
back shouldn’t round
over on the descent.
Always squeeze your
glutes as you extend
your hips to come up.

SHOT ON LOCATION AT METROFLEX GYM, LONG BEACH, CA

 1

MACHINE FLYE
Don’t let your arms
extend behind you.
Protect your shoulders.

PULLOVER
Lower the weight
until you feel a stretch
in your lats, then pull it
back over your face,
not your chest.

72 FLEX | SEPTEMBER 2017

DAY 1
CHEST,
BICEPS
(MAX EFFORT)
EXERCISE SETS REPS

4 8

5
4 8

2
4

DAY 2
BACK
(DYNAMIC EFFORT)
EXERCISE SETS REPS
8

Strength

MAX-EFFORT
TRAINING
Max-effort workouts focus on
improving one main lift. To do that,
you need to train heavy. Warm up
thoroughly, then choose a variant
of whatever the main exercise is
(some type of squat, bench press,
deadlift, or overhead press) and
begin working up in weight slowly. REVERSE-GRIP
Add weight in small increments and PULLDOWN
keep your reps to five or fewer until Pull the bar down to your
you reach a load that allows you collarbone. The palms-
only three to five reps. When you’ve toward-you grip hits the
maxed out those reps, move on to biceps more directly than
the next exercise. conventional pulldowns.

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 1
DAY 3
CARDIO
Use the exercise of your choice
to raise your heart rate to a moderate
level (120 to 140 beats per minute)
and keep it there for 30 to 60 minutes.
Afterward, foam-roll and stretch.

DAY 4
LEGS
(MAX EFFORT)
EXERCISE SETS REPS

2
3 8
4

**
3

DAY 5
SHOULDERS,
TRICEPS
(DYNAMIC EFFORT)
EXERCISE SETS REPS
DIP 8 3*
Try to get your
upper arms
parallel to the
floor on each rep. 4
You can lean
forward to
emphasize the
pecs, or try 4
to stay perfectly
upright to
emphasize the 4
triceps.
4

74 FLEX | SEPTEMBER 2017

 GOBLET
SQUAT
Focus on sitting
back with your
hips and opening
your knees to
Speed achieve depth.

DYNAMIC-
EFFORT
TRAINING
The goal of dynamic-
effort work is to
move a weight as fast
as possible. (Note
that when doing DE
pullups on back
day, you’ll be lifting
your body weight.)
Aim for 60 to 70% of
your max on these
exercises and keep
the reps to three. If
that feels too heavy,
or if your latter few
sets get sluggish,
reduce the weight.
The point is to be as
explosive as possible
while maintaining
perfect form, so
don’t get eager to
add weight.

OVERHEAD
PRESS
Keep your
forearms
vertical as you
press. The bar
should be in
line with the
back of your
head in the
end position.

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 2
HAMMER
CURL
Keep your upper
arms at your
sides so your
elbows don’t
drift forward.
Your palms face
each other.
DAY 1 DAY 3
CHEST, CARDIO
Use the exercise of your choice to
BICEPS
(DYNAMIC EFFORT)
raise your heart rate to a moderate
level (120 to 140 beats per minute)
and keep it there for 30 to 60 minutes.
EXERCISE SETS REPS Afterward, foam-roll and stretch.

8 3*

DAY 4
4
LEGS
(DYNAMIC EFFORT)
3
EXERCISE SETS REPS
3*
3 8
4
4 8
3
2
3
4

4
DAY 2
DAY 5
BACK
(MAX EFFORT) SHOULDERS,
EXERCISE SETS REPS
TRICEPS
(MAX EFFORT)
EXERCISE SETS REPS

4 4

4 4
4
2
4

ABOUT *For pullups, simply perform reps as

explosively as possible on both the positive
THE and negative phases. On the unilateral leg
TRAINER press, choose a moderate weight that you
Don Saladino is can move explosively with one leg. (Perform
a trainer of three reps on one leg, switch legs and do
celebrities and three, then rest.) For the other exercises that
athletes. He are done with dynamic effort, choose a load
owns Drive495 in that is 60 to 70% of your one-rep max. Rest
New York City. 60 seconds between all dynamic-effort sets.
[Link] **If you don’t have a glute-ham bench, try a
weighted back extension or a Romanian
deadlift for sets of 15.

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