The Shut Up Program

A Simple and Effective Split

by Tim Henriques | 02/19/07

This is a "Shut Up and Train" article. What do I

mean by that? Simple. I'm not going to try to
teach you anatomy or physiology, or delve into
some newfangled aspect of nutrition. This is
purely a practical article. I'm going to present
what I believe is a simple and effective workout
for building size and strength. Whether you follow
it or not is entirely up to you, of course.

In fact, I think I'll call it the "Shut Up" program. I

like that.

The Shut Up workout is a split, and again, the

purpose of this article isn't to debate the merits
of a split program or debate TBT vs. Split training
as that's already been done at length. If you are
interested in the pros and cons of both splits and
total body training feel free to check out TBT Vs.
Splits: An Analysis (https://www.t-
nation.com/training/tbt-vs-splits-an-analysis) or
check out the round table discussion.
(https://www.t-nation.com/training/training-split-
roundtable-2)

Who's the Shut Up program for? It's designed for

a non-beginner, someone who's intermediate or
advanced who's primarily interested in gaining
strength and muscle size. My guess is that
description fits a large number of people reading
this article on this site (it is not called Newbie
Nation after all).

I realize that some will want to customize the

program or tailor it more toward size or strength.
Fine. Do it. But if I include a lot of customization
I'd need to provide a lot of explanation and that's
not what this article is about. So let's get to the
specifics.

First, you need to work out with weights 3 or 4

times a week. I think that four times is generally
optimal, so I'm going to start with that. A fifth day
can be added that might include cardio or weak
point training like forearms or something, but
make sure it doesn't interfere with your recovery
from the main stuff.

If you're doing four days a week your split will

look like this:

Four-Day Split

Day 1: Chest and Biceps

Day 2: Legs and Lower Back

Day 3: Off (cardio if desired)

Day 4: Back and Abs

Day 5: Shoulders and Triceps

Day 6 and 7: Off

 DORIAN YATES FOLLOWED A SPLIT NOT
TOO DIFFERENT FROM THIS ONE

This routine works great as Monday-Friday

routine but you don't have to do it like that if you
don't want to. You want a minimum of 2 days rest
between day 5 and day 1. As you can see, each
muscle group is directly targeted once, with the
smaller synergistic muscles (delts, biceps,
triceps) receiving stimulus twice a week. Smaller
muscles usually need less recovery time so this
often works well for them.

If you can't do 4 times a week or you simply

prefer 3 times a week, here's your suggested split
for 3 times a week:
Three-Day Split

Day 1: Chest and Back

Day 2: Off

Day 3: Legs, Lower Back, and Abs

Day 4: Off

Day 5: Shoulders and Arms

Day 6 and 7: Off

Again, you can make this a Monday through

Friday split, as long as you have a day off after
each workout day it really doesn't matter that
much. Pick the days you can most consistently
work out without interruption.

So pick one and get going and don't agonize over

the choice. Obviously, you can design your own
split but the biggest problem most people make
when designing their own split routines is they
don't provide for adequate muscle recovery for
the smaller muscle groups (doing shoulders the
day after chest, for example).
I'm not going to get into exactly how a split
should be designed but rest assured both of
these plans have adequate recovery built in for
the vast majority of people.

On to the Exercises
The exercises for these programs have been
selected to match the goals of increased size and
strength. If you wish to substitute in your own
exercises, go ahead. Just try to avoid switching in
an easy exercise and taking out a hard one. I tried
to choose exercises that give good results to the
majority of people.

Routine 1 – This is the four-day split

Day 1 Day 2 Day 4 Day 5

Bench Squats Pull-ups Military

Press Press
Dumbbell Deadlifts 45 1/4 Power
Incline Bent Over Dumbbell
Press Row Lateral
(prefer Raise
supinated)

Dips Front DB Row (1 Lateral

Squats arm) Raise
(str) or Machine
Leg Press
(size)

Cable Leg Curl Shoulder Power DB

Crossover Extension Rear Delt
or Pullover Raise
Machine

EZ Curl Standing Cable Close grip

Calves Crunch Bench

Dumbbell Rotary Hanging Skull

Hammer Calf Leg Raise Crushers
Curl

EZ   Planks Reverse
Reverse Grip
Curl Triceps
Pulldown
Note: Ideally, day 3 is a rest day

HERE IS THE BEGINNING AND END POINT

OF A POWER DUMBBELL LATERAL RAISE

Routine 2 – This is the 3 day split

Day 1 Day 3 Day 5

Bench Press Squats Military Press

DB Incline Deadlifts Power

Press Dumbbell
Lateral Raise
Dips Front Squats Lateral Raise
(str) or Leg Machine
Press (size)

Cable Leg Curl Power

Crossover Dumbbell Rear
Delt Raise

Pull-ups Standing Closegrip

Calves Bench

45 Bent Over Rotary Calf Skull Crushers

Row (prefer
supinated)

Dumbbell Row Cable Crunch Reverse Grip

(1 arm) Triceps
Pulldown

Shoulder Hanging Leg EZ Curl

Extension or Raise
Pullover
Machine

  Planks Dumbbell
Hammer Curl

    EZ Reverse
Curl
Note: Days 2 and 4 are rest days ideally (and 6
and 7)

A few comments on the exercises: I tried to use

the most common names of exercises and I tried
to choose exercises or machines that weren't too
gym specific.

A cable crossover is where you grab the cables at

shoulder height and bring them down in front of
you, at waist level, as opposed to a cable fly
where you bring them out in front of you as if you
were hugging someone.

If you don't like front squats or prefer 1 legged

versions of exercises, substitute in step-ups or
lunges.

For calves I chose two straight legged exercises

to emphasize the gastroc, the more noticeable of
the two main calf muscles. If you want, you can
do 3 calf exercises – this isn't an article about the
finer points of calf development.

Regarding lats, a "shoulder extension" is

sometimes referred to as a straight arm lat
pulldown, which is an isolation exercise for the
lats. If you don't like that movement and don't
have a pull-over machine, do another row instead
but don't substitute in regular pull-overs.

And if you really love doing shrugs you can add

them in, but I find that deadlifting heavy usually
takes care of the traps.

For abs you can do any exercises you like, I

merely chose 3 that I like. The leg raise can be
performed with legs straight or knees bent. The
planks I like are: elbows or hands on the ball; toes
on the ball; 1 arm planks (like a 1 arm push-up
with no movement), and a spread eagle plank
where your arms and feet are spread wide apart
as you hold yourself in position.

Pick something you can hold at least 15 seconds

and work up from there. Once you can do 2
minutes, make it harder.

You can do either a standing or seated military

press. Choose standing if you're training for
strength. Power raises involve bending the
elbows to 90 degrees so you can lift more weight.

Skull crushers are sometimes referred to as lying

triceps extensions. Use an EZ bar for them.
Important – these exercises are listed in a
specific order. Don't change the order unless you
really have to.

As you can see with Routine 2, it has the exact

same exercises as Routine 1. This does make for
some long days and the chest/back day is pretty
brutal. If you don't have the time (or the energy),
you can drop 1 exercise for chest and back each,
1 exercise for middle delts, and 1 exercise for
biceps and triceps each.

Sets, Reps, etc.

I'm going to give you a 3-week set/rep scheme
which can then be repeated – not quite
indefinitely, but you should be able to do this
routine for 2-4 months without major
adjustments. The way I've set it up, there are,
depending on the sets and reps performed, two
programs, one planned out for strength and the
other for size. It's possible to do the size program
for three weeks and the strength program for
three weeks if you want.

Strength Program
 Week 1: 3 sets of 10 reps; rest 2-3 minutes in
between each work set

Week 2: 4 sets of 5 reps; rest 3-4 minutes in

between each work set

Week 3: 5 sets of 3 reps; rest 3-5+ minutes in

between each work set

I would suggest you do 2-3 warm-up sets for the

first exercise of the day, and then at least 1 warm-
up set for each exercise thereafter. The heavier
you lift, the more warm-ups you need.

On week 1, it's more of a conditioning workout so

try to keep the rest under 3 minutes.

On the subsequent weeks we'll be training for

strength, so go for performance first and make
rest time a secondary priority. That means if you
need more rest on something like squats or
deads or whatever, rest away.

If you're advanced and want to do fewer working

sets for the squat or deadlift (or perhaps bench),
that's okay, do extra warm-ups instead.
Also if you want to do more reps on the smaller
muscles like delts, biceps, and triceps, use the
size program for them outlined below. I would,
however, still use the outlined set/rep scheme
above for the primary exercises for the arms (EZ
Curl and Closegrip).

On week 4, simply repeat week 1 but use slightly

heavier weight (5 lbs is probably fine). Do this
entire 3-week routine 3-6 times, but at a
minimum, incorporate a deloading week at least
every 3 rounds (9 weeks). Feel free to change the
last exercise listed for each muscle group as
often as you want, but changing it every 32 weeks
is my recommendation.

Change the middle exercises listed every 6 weeks

or so depending on how you feel, and keep the
first exercise listed the same throughout the
program.

Size Program

Week 1: 2 sets of 12 reps, resting 1-2 minutes

in between each work set
 Week 2: 3 sets of 8 reps, resting 1-3 minutes
in between each work set

Week 3: 4 sets of 5 reps, resting 1-4 minutes

in between each work set

LEE HANEY FOLLOWED A SPLIT OR TWO

IN HIS DAY

Follow the warm-up guideline as listed in the

strength program. For size you want to be in a
slightly fatigued state during your training so
stick with the rest guidelines, using the higher
end for the bigger exercises and the lower end for
the smaller exercises.
If you're on the size program combined with the
3-day program (Routine 2), you may choose to
superset the days, particularly days 1 and 5, on
both week 1 of the program and maybe week 2.
Don't superset week 3 as the emphasis for that
week is on heavier weights.

As I mentioned earlier, the exercises chosen for

this program were selected for their ability to
increase both size and strength. I could write an
entire article about how to select exercises for
either of those goals (and I am, in fact, in the
process of doing so), so they're not the only
choices possible but they seem to work well. The
specific exercises in this workout are perhaps a
bit more slanted to strength than size.

On week 4 you can choose to repeat the program,

either adding 5 lbs to the sets or 1-2 reps per set,
or if you choose you can introduce a "shock"
week where you do something different for a
week, perhaps drop sets or HIT training or volume
training (or even a rest week if you need it), and
then get back on schedule the following week.
I recommend stretching dynamically and
statically at the end of the workout, particularly
focusing on any problem areas you have.

I'd also suggest that you make every effort to

train with a good training partner as they're
invaluable.

Training partners are invaluable, and the gym

relationship can lead to a beautiful friendship
outside the gym.

Of course eat well, try to get some sleep, take

your supplements, and remember training
intensity is the single most important variable in
any training program. If you do follow a split, you
have to make up for the low frequency with a high
intensity. There's no way around it. Think about it
this way: you only have 50 or so days a year to
get your chest bigger and/or stronger so you had
better make the most of those days.

That's it. Now Shut Up and hit the gym hard with
whatever program you're currently doing. If you
decide to try this one, please post your results
when you're done, good or bad.
Tim Henriques
Tim Henriques has been a competition
powerlifter for over 20 years. He was a
collegiate All American Powerlifter with USA
Powerlifting. In 2003 Tim deadlifted 700
pounds (at 198), setting the Virginia State
Record.
(https://facebook.com/tim.henriques.1)

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02/19/07