Fazlifts Upper Lower (The Barbarian)

This routine is the correct way to program an Upper/Lower for beginners and early intermediates primarily interested in hypertrophy, with a secondary focus on strength. The core principle of hypertrophy is progressive poundages, in standardised form for medium to high reps. That is the basis by which all my routines are written, and that is the key to hypertrophy.

Upper Days - These days will cover the chest, upper back, delts, biceps and triceps. I show you how best to program this to accomplish the core principles we follow for increased muscle mass. At this stage volume should remain low to moderate and effort should be encouraged. Direct volume for the biceps and triceps is lower, as they will receive indirect loading from the heavy chest and back work. Too much can be not only detrimental for growth at this stage, but can also lead to tendinitis in some. Additional work for neck/forearms is not included, as experience has shown me their inclusion is unneccessary in most people, however that can be added per preference.

Lower Days - These days will cover the quads, hamstrings, glutes and calves. These days also follow the core principles, and I include a reasonable degree of variety within that framework for balance. Programmed correctly the volume on this day should perfectly mirror that of the upper days.

Progression

At this stage, it is super simple and you should expect to make progress every single time you come to repeat a session, that is assuming two major things:

1. You actually trained hard enough the previous session

2. You ate and rested well

That’s your first point of call, if you ever feel progression has stalled. It’s not a routine change or moving to stage 2, no if you didn’t progress at this stage it’s more than likely an effort or R&R and nutrition issue. So sort that out first or no routine will ever work. Eventually of course you will outgrow this basic stage, but it’s unlikely that will be the first resort. Or even the second, or third. You are going to progress with either weight or reps using a very simple double progression scheme. This means adding reps until you hit the top of the rep range, and then adding weight. For example:

Session 1: 60 x 5, 4

(This means you performed a set of 5 and a set of 4 with 60kg)

Session 2: 60 x 6, 5

Session 3: 60 x 6, 6

(You hit the top of the rep range for both sets and that only took 2 weeks, nice. Go up next time)

Session 4: 65 x 5, 4

(You added 5kg and your reps dropped, so now build this back up)

Session 5: 65 x 6, 5

And so on…

Very simple.

For more information

To get indepth more about the routine, get Fazlifts' The Barbarian ebook here.

To inquire online personalized coaching from Fazlifts, apply here.