The Power of 3 Program

by Ben Bruno | 03/22/12

Some of my best gains in the gym have come during my busiest

and most stressful times.

I distinctly remember hitting two big personal bests on the front

squat and trap bar deadlift during finals week of my junior year
of college. I had low expectations going in because for the three
weeks prior, I'd been forced to pare down my program to the bare
minimum because I was holed up reading and writing papers.

I'd gone from training 4-5 days a week to three. Workouts went
from two hours down to 30-35 minutes tops, including warm-
ups. There was no accessory work. No hitting the muscles from
all angles. Just a few concentrated hard and heavy sets on the
basics.

I wasn't sleeping much, or eating particularly well, and I wasn't

obsessing at all about my workouts. In fact, except for the half-
hour I spent in the gym, I wasn't thinking about lifting at all.

I couldn't for the life of me figure out how I'd managed to get
stronger. Then the same thing happened again during midterms
of my senior year, and that's when it dawned on me.

I was getting stronger because I wasn't obsessing about my

workouts. I'd been spending too much time over-thinking and
over-prioritizing the minutia.

Lifting is tricky because it's not that time consuming. It's not like
video games or chess where you can do it all day every day
because you'll quickly burn out. That leaves a lot of time
unaccounted for to think about lifting – and that can be
dangerous.

The more you think and the more you read, the more you start to
mind-screw yourself and start worrying about the little things
that don't really matter.

To that end, here's a template based around the premise of

getting back to the basics. I'd recommend it for the following
audiences:

Those who've been sputtering with excessively complex

programs and need to get out of their own heads.

Those who are super busy and don't have much time to devote
to the gym.

coming off a high volume training phase that need to get

stronger while giving the body a little break.

It doesn't have to be something you follow for a full 8-10 weeks,

but it certainly could be if you wanted to. I've had success using
it for 2-3 week spurts when particularly swamped with work, or
during times when I feel like I've lost sight of the bigger picture
and need to refocus my training.

The beauty of the program lies in its simplicity. Don't get it

twisted though; this is not a de-load and it's not meant to be
easy. I call it the Power of Three.

Program Overview
The program consists of three workouts: A, B, and C. Try to
spread them out over the course of the week with at least one
day off in between. It doesn't matter if your workouts fall on the
same days each week; just get them done.
Each workout will consist of three main exercises, one from
each of the following categories: lower body, pull, and push.

The actual exercises should be different for each of the three

workouts, but the categories stay the same throughout. That
means you need to pick three lower body exercises, three pulling
exercises, and three pushing exercises.

For each exercise category there will be a heavy day, a medium

day, and a light day. So if you do heavy lower body one day, the
next workout would be medium, then light, etc.

This way, you hit all the major muscle groups three times a week
– giving you the benefit of increased frequency – yet you're
modulating the intensity to avoid crushing yourself.

The weekly split looks like this:

Workout A

Heavy Lower Body

Medium Pull

Light Push

Workout B

Heavy Push

Medium Lower Body

Light Pull

Workout C

Heavy Pull

Medium Push
 Light Lower Body

Note that heavy, medium, and light refers to the rep ranges and
the weight, not the effort. Full effort is expected on everything.

The ideal reps per set will vary slightly depending on which
exercises you choose, but in general:

Heavy = 3-6 reps

Medium = 6-9 reps

Light = 10-15 reps

The heavy exercise of the day will be done for six sets while the
medium and light exercise each get three.

To save time, the entire workout will be performed as paired

sets. I say "paired sets" rather than "supersets" because for
many, a superset implies moving between exercises with no rest.

The primary goal here is strength, so I want you to rest – but I

realize you're also busy and don't have time to sit around the
gym.

With paired sets, you move back and forth between two different
exercises, but you'll take as long as needed in between each set
to fully recover.
The first three sets of the heavy exercise will be paired with three
sets of the medium exercise, while the last three heavy sets will
be paired with the light exercise.

Confused? Here's how it breaks down for Workout A as an

example:

Exercise Sets Reps

A1 Heavy Lower Body 3 3-6

A2 Medium Pull 3 6-9

B1 Heavy Lower Body (A1 continued) 3 3-6

B2 Light Push 3 10-15

Remember, you only get three exercises for each category for
the entire week, so choose them wisely.

For lower body, include at least one knee dominant (squat,

lunge) and one hip dominant pattern (deadlift, hip thruster, etc.).
In addition, include at least one bilateral and one unilateral
exercise.

For your pulling work, include at least one vertical pull (chin-up,
pulldown) and one horizontal pull (row).

For your push exercise, incorporate at least one vertical push

(overhead press variation) and one horizontal push (bench press
variation). Also, make one of your three selections a bodyweight
movement (push-up, dip, etc.).
Picking the Right Exercises
I've provided you with some loose guidelines for exercises, but
I've deliberately left most of the work up to you. Here's why:

There are no "best" exercises for everyone. We're all built

differently, have a different injury history, and have access to
different equipment, all of which play a role in determining which
exercises are optimal.

You need a certain degree of autonomy. The best program is

one that garners enthusiasm. If I give you a bunch of exercises
that you hate, you're less likely to bust your balls – and without
full-unbridled effort it just won't work, no matter how good the
program looks on paper.

You should learn the principles of exercise selection. Being

spoon fed a program won't benefit you long term. Those who
prefer having everything laid out for them usually hop to the next
new program in a week or two.

If you learn how to choose your own exercises effectively,

however, you'll be able to take that and apply it to whatever
program you decide on, both now and in the future. If you only
get one thing from this article, I hope it's this.

Pick exercises based on your needs, not wants. Put another

way, pick exercises that improve your weaknesses, not just ones
you like doing. It's natural to like what you're best at, but you'll
always be limited by your weaknesses. If you are really only as
strong as your weakest link, then if you avoid what you suck at,
you'll always suck. Don't suck.

That means if your posterior is comparatively weaker than

your quads, you might want to pick two hip dominant
movements for your lower body exercises and only one
squatting or lunging variation.

Or if you have noticeable size and/or strength discrepancies

between limbs, you may want to include more unilateral work. If
you're especially bad at chin-ups, do more chin-ups. You get the
idea.

Try to choose exercises that best match the intended rep

range. Certain exercises are best suited to lower reps, while
others tend to jive better in higher rep ranges.

Generally, your heavy exercises are best done with barbells

while your moderate and light exercises may be better suited for
dumbbells, kettlebells, rings, bodyweight, etc.

The one exception is your pulling work. I'm not a fan of low-rep
barbell rows because form often deteriorates into something
resembling a monkey humping a football. For your heavy pull, I'd
rather have you do weighted chin-ups or dumbbell rows and save
barbell rows or other rowing variations for moderate and light
work.

Pick exercise pairings with the least amount of overlap

possible. This is especially important when pairing a lower body
exercise and a pull. For example, if you're deadlifting, avoid
pairing it with rowing variations like barbell and T-bar rows that
are also lower back intensive.

Also avoid pairing exercises that are highly grip-intensive,

though this can be tricky when using deadlifting variations or
single-leg work with heavy dumbbells. In those cases, you may
need to use straps.

Here's a sample workout. This should give you an idea of the

framework of the program, but feel free to plug in different
exercises as you see fit.

Workout A

Exercise Sets Reps

A1 Deadlift 3 3-6

A2 Dumbbell row 3 6-9

B1 Deadlift 3 3-6

B2 Ring push-ups 3 10-15

Workout B

Exercise Sets Reps

A1 Bench press 3 3-6

A2 Front squat 3 6-9

B1 Bench press 3 3-6

B2 Inverted row (weighted if necessary) 3 10-15

Workout C

Exercise Sets Reps

A1 Chin-up (weighted if necessary) 3 3-6

A2 Alternating overhead dumbbell press 3 6-9

(neutral grip)

B1 Chin-up 3 3-6
B2 Walking lunge 3 10-15

Miscellaneous

All sets listed are working sets only. Start off with a few warm
up sets for your heavy and medium exercises before the first
pairing. Before you start the second pairing, you may need to do
one or two warm-up sets for your light exercise too, but since
your body is already warmed up and the weight is light, you won't
need much.

For each exercise, ramp up to a top set where you reach

technical failure – the point where you can no longer complete
another rep with good form. No sloppy reps, but push yourself.

Only the last set of each exercise should reach technical

failure, but all work sets should still be relatively challenging.
Start with about 75% of the weight you plan to use for your final
set and ramp up from there.

For all unilateral work, rest 45-60 seconds between limbs. If

you're pushing yourself like you should be, you'll need every last
bit of it.

If you have some extra time and want to tack on some core
and/or arm work, that's cool, just don't go overboard. It's not
required.

Keep a logbook and try to increase each week. Your first

choice should always be to increase the weight. However, if you
fall short of the given rep range one week, maintain the weight
and try to increase the reps back into the rep range, at which
point you'll increase the weight the next time.

Don't make this overly complicated. There's no need for

calculators or complex equations.

Final Words
Your success (or lack thereof) with this template will hinge on
two things: wise exercise selection, and brutal effort. I hope I've
given you an idea of how to pick the best exercises to suit your
needs. The effort part has to come from you.

Remember, there's a reason that the big and strong dudes are
labeled "meatheads" and skinny guys are called "geeks." It
doesn't take a whole lot of brainpower and fancy programming
to get strong. What it does take is persistence, a tenacious work
ethic, time, and a brass set of balls.

Get er' done!

Ben Bruno
(https://facebook.com/Ben-Bruno-
282118145176459)

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03/22/12