The Zod Protocol

Program Description

Every hero needs a villain. The Zod Protocol is the counterpart to my 'Kal-El' program. Some of my greatest lifting progress came when running The Zod Protocol for extended periods of time (6+ months) and then interspersing Kal-El once or twice per year. The Zod Protocol builds the base of the pyramid and Kal-El brings you to the peak. The Zod Protocol is perhaps best described as an Upper/Lower powerbuilding program. It's primarily designed to build strength, but has you doing the majority of work in the hypertrophy range (around 70% of 1RM). I'd be remiss if I didn't also give a shout out to The Berserk Method by Bald Omni-Man (Paris Butler). The Zod Protocol is my evolution of this over time. It maintains the core progression methods and adds some twists to them that I found to help with long term use of the program. It's also different in a multitude of ways that made it better suited to me and I believe that nearly anyone can use The Zod Protocol to make steady progress over time. Structure: You'll lift 4 days per week with the following schedule being recommended: - Upper Primary - Lower Primary - Rest - Upper Secondary - Lower Secondary - Rest - Rest Each workout will include 3 lifts which are organized as follows: 1. Primary 3. Accessory 3. Supplemental The second lift of the day (Accessory) allows some rest time between the other two. On upper days this should be an antagonistic (pulling) movement. On lower days it can be for any small muscle group or weak point. Chose an appropriate rep range for the exercise you select. Increase weight on Accessory exercises when you’ve reached your goal number of reps on all sets. Primary days will use this progression method and % of 1RM: Weeks 1-3 - 8,7,7 → 8,8,8 (70%) - 3x85x8 (67%) Weeks 4-6 - 6,5,5 6,6,6 (76%) - 3x6 ⇒ 5x6 (73%) Secondary days will use this progression method and % of 1RM: Weeks 1-3 - 3x8 (67%) → 4x8 (67%) → 3x8 (70%) Weeks 4-6 - 3x6 (73%) → 4x6 (73%) → 3x6 (76%) If you run this program for more than 6 weeks, the % of 1RM should be used ONLY the first time. On the subsequent run through you will add 5 pounds to each of the Primary and Supplemental lifts. Notes: - Exercise selection can be modified as you see fit, but it's strongly recommended that you primarily utilize 'self-limiting' variants (harder than the competition lifts due to changed in range of motion, tempo, grip, bar position, etc.) for all Primary and Supplemental slots. - At times I've included a 'deload' on every 4th week, which consisted of testing my 1RM on Squat, Bench, Deadlift, OHP-1 on each of the 4 training days. I follow up the 1RM attempt with back-off work that consisted of 1-3 sets of 3 at 70-80% of the max I just performed. Though this isn't written into the program here, you can add it in if you're feeling fatigued after any 3-week cycle.

Program Overview