Week 12 Hypertrophy I - Finish line reached!

Weight 14st 3.5lbs which has increased slightly over the last week but nothing to get too hung up about.

Having completed the Hypertrophy I sessions over a 12 week period of 2 sessions per week I thought that I’d look back over any improvements within the workouts that I’ve made. So lets start with workout A which is effectively what you would call the upper body session of a traditional split programme. It consists of Dumb-bell incline bench press (approx 45 degrees) superset paired with Cable seated row, Dumb-bell shoulder press superset paired with Widegrip lat-pulldown and Barbell close grip bench press superset paired with High pulls.
With NROL Hypertrophy I the difficulty comes in the form of changing rep ranges and the number of sets. The rest periods between sets are also adjusted as well. So in order to illustrate what happened over the twelve weeks I’ll have to identify the set and rep range being discussed. The best way to do this I think is to simply list the exercises and any increases achieved, so here goes;

Workout A:
For 5 sets of 5 reps
Dumb-bell incline bench press – weight increased by 10KG
Cable seated row – weight increased by 1 plate
Dumb-bell shoulder press – overall weight increased 5KG (that’s 2KG/side)
Widegrip lat-pulldown – weight stayed the same
Barbell close grip bench press – slight increase of 2.5KG (that’s only 1.25KG/side)
High pull – weight increased by 7.5KG (that’s 3.75KG/side)

For 3 sets of 15 reps
Dumb-bell incline bench press – weight increased by 5KG
Cable seated row – weight increased by 1 plate
Dumb-bell shoulder press – overall weight increased 5KG (that’s 2KG/side)
Widegrip lat-pulldown – weight increased by 1 plate
Barbell close grip bench press – weight stayed the same
High pull – weight stayed the same

For 4 sets of 10 reps
Dumb-bell incline bench press – weight increased by 5KG
Cable seated row – weight increased by 1 plate
Dumb-bell shoulder press – weight stayed the same
Widegrip lat-pulldown – weight stayed the same
Barbell close grip bench press – weight stayed the same
High pull – weight stayed the same

Clearly from the above we can see that for workout A the best improvements were achieved within the 5 sets of 5 reps range. The two largest improvements of 10KG and 7.5KG respectively were achieved here. The least productive range for workout A was the 4 sets of 10 reps range where the majority of the exercises remained at the same weight. I did experience some problems within this workout for about 2 to 3 weeks in I was struggling with the Widegrip lat-pulldowns as I was experiencing a sharp nipping in my right shoulder. That aside this workout was enjoyable.

Moving on to workout B, the lower body portion of a traditional split programme approach. This encompassed the Squat superset paired with the Deadlift with shrug and the Bulgarian split squat superset paired with the Step-up. As with workout A these were also dealt the changing rep and set ranges so I’ll list the exercises and any improvements under the appropriate approaches;

Workout B:
For 5 sets of 5 reps
Squat – weight increased by a fantastic 27.5KG (that’s 13.75KG/side)
Deadlift with shrug – weight increased by 22.5KG (that’s 11.25KG/side)
Bulgarian split squat – increased by 5KG (that’s 2.5KG/ dumb bell)
Step-up – increased by 5KG (that’s 2.5KG/ dumb bell)

For 4 sets of 10 reps
Squat – weight increased by 10KG (that’s 5KG/side)
Deadlift with shrug – weight increased by 5KG (that’s 2.5KG/side)
Bulgarian split squat – increased by 5KG (that’s 2.5KG/ dumb bell)
Step-up – increased by 5KG (that’s 2.5KG/ dumb bell)

For 3 sets of 15 reps
Squat – weight increased by a mere 2.5KG (that’s 13.75KG/side)
Deadlift with shrug – weight increased by 5KG (that’s 2.5KG/side)
Bulgarian split squat – increased by 5KG (that’s 2.5KG/ dumb bell)
Step-up – increased by 5KG (that’s 2.5KG/ dumb bell)

From these results we can see that the two largest increases appear within the 5 sets of 5 reps range for the Squat and Deadlift with shrug respectively. At 27.5KG, the squat holds the record for the biggest improvement during the Hypertrophy I sessions over the 12 weeks. It’s interesting to note that the third largest increase for workout B, 10KG also appeared within the Squat for the 4 sets of 10 reps range. The Bulgarian split squat and the Step-up experienced a consistent 5KG increase across the board of rep and set ranges.

Not to neglect the Core work the Slant board crunch (that I substituted for the swiss ball crunch) in workout A and the Reverse crunch of workout B were performed consistently over the 12 week period at 3 sets of 20 reps.

So that about wraps up this quick evaluation. I hope people find this useful and encouraging that improvements can be made over a relatively short period of time. I am sure others can and will experience better improvements that I have. Just stick with it!

Cheers, BustaGut!