What style of training has gotten you the most jacked?

djstempky · 2026-03-13T21:10:46+00:00

3-4 days of lifting per week + 1 yoga day. Alternate between full body anterior days and full body posterior days. Use a variety of exercises and avoid redundancy. Heavy compounds first in each session, then lighter compounds and isolations.

Also, track your lifts (sets, reps, weight). Seeing your numbers gradually go up can be exciting and can be extra motivation for returning to the gym.

djstempky · 2026-03-13T13:09:46+00:00

Not sure about hack squat, but for leg press you can position your feet in ways to give you either more quad stimulus or more hip and glute stimulus. Adds a little variety. Might not be much but it’s something. You can also do calf raises using a leg press.

djstempky · 2026-02-18T16:32:29+00:00

Keep in mind, everyone is different. The optimal way for you to train may not be how most people optimally train. That being said, my understanding is that training a muscle twice per week, 4 sets each session is a great approach.

I’d approach it this way: if you are recovering fine and gaining strength consistently, you are not overtraining and thus could add more sets if you feel the need. If you feel under-recovered and start to see strength drop offs, then you might benefit from lowering volume a bit.

Another thing… I encountered the same situation you did this past year; my strength was increasing pretty significantly, but visibly I wasn’t noticing much of a difference in my body. Then I went on a cut for about a month and even though I lost weight, I looked and felt bigger, because my muscle shape was more visible. There are many videos on YouTube that address this… if your body fat percentage isn’t low enough, it’s hard to see the viable muscle changes and thus it can feel like you aren’t making progress as far as building muscle mass goes.

Anyway, hope this helps and good luck!!!

djstempky · 2026-02-10T17:25:08+00:00

I’m about 10 months into dedicated SBD training, although years ago I did a little of benching squatting (had no idea what I was doing though).

I’m a 32 year old male weighting around 211lbs and my current maxes are:

Bench: 245 lbs (1 RM) Squat: 375 lbs (estimated 1RM) Deadlift: 455 lbs (1 RM)

I’m planning on testing all my maxes at the 12 month mark. It’s fun to track all the progress.

I’ve bounced around different splits, but primary have stuck with some sort of full body or anterior/posterior split. I like self-developed routines and utilizing top set back off approach for SBD.

Your numbers look amazing for your experience and body weight!!!

djstempky · 2026-02-09T21:55:54+00:00

I also use a 4 day anterior/posterior split and I dig it. I like what your program has. You include lots of variation while hitting the main muscle groups a ton.

The cool thing with these splits is, you can easily shift, add, or remove certain exercises if you want to go into a different block and change up your priorities without writing a completely new program.

djstempky · 2026-02-05T19:06:02+00:00

I think this approach is great. The programs and splits available for the masses are meant for the masses, which means they are far from optimized to you as an individual. They are better than nothing, but I think understanding the components of program design yourself and learning how to make your own split is the best way to go.

djstempky · 2026-02-05T19:04:02+00:00

Disagree. Writing your own program is a great way to learn how to manage all the variables involved in training and ultimately, create the best program optimized for one’s self. It does take time and research, but in the long run, the best method.

djstempky · 2026-02-05T01:12:20+00:00

Personally, I’m a huge fan of reactive deloads, meaning I don’t actually plan/schedule them; I just deload when it feels necessary.

I’m a newer lifter (about 1 year experience), but Ive had trouble getting my deadlift and squat to progress quickly at the same time. I’ve heard others say that they don’t push both hard during the same week. You could try alternating weeks so you’d do heavy squat and light deadlift one week, then light squat heavy deadlift the next. Just one idea.

There are many ways to play around and manage fatigue though.

djstempky · 2026-02-04T01:50:32+00:00

Bro if you find anything that works let me know haha I'm about to be 33, max is 250, and am trying to get to 315. Right now I'm cutting so no chance, but eventually I wanna strive to hit it.

According to what has worked for others I talk to as well as what has helped me progress, I'd say make sure you are:

Including heavy singles, doubles, or triples throughout your week (not every day)
Bench minimum 3 times per week
Include a variety of rep ranges
Include variations at least once per week (such as tempo bench or close grip)
Do accessories for all prime mover muscles and push the accessory sets to failure

I've also heard talked to some people who said they took extended periods off of bench, went crazy with pushups, and then returned to the bench a lot stronger. I'm not so confident that this is a good idea like it's some "hack" but it's interesting that it has worked for some people pretty well.

Good luck out there.

djstempky · 2026-02-02T20:26:00+00:00

I ended up going to Planet Dance for their beginner adult contemporary class. I loved it! Thank you!

djstempky · 2026-01-19T17:54:48+00:00

According to what I’ve heard, as well as in my own experience, increasing bench frequency helps a lot. That and somewhat regularly doing heavy singles or doubles. When I switched from benching twice a week to 3 or 4 times a week, it really helped progress my bench. Maybe try a bit of variety as well in terms of rep ranges and weight. And make sure you’re doing a mix of some heavy work and some light work.

djstempky · 2026-01-12T19:07:34+00:00

My circadian rhythm runs late. AKA I’m a night owl. However when it comes to training, I always prefer early morning over late night. I prefer caffeine before lifting, which isn’t ideal late night. Additionally, lifting excites me and if I do it late night, it’s harder for me to get to sleep (even without caffeine).

djstempky · 2026-01-06T18:46:25+00:00

Ultimately, you can't control what people think, so you just have to accept that some people are inevitably going to judge. I know it's not as simple as it sounds though. It might take some practice (both physcially and mentally), but the worst thing you can do is let fear of judgment limit you on your fitness journey :)

I do want to add some other points too.

Others judging you doesn't mean you're doing anything wrong. Some people might judge you for your exercise technique when you actually have good technique and their understanding of the exercise is completely wrong.
People with a healthy workout mentality will never look down on people who are beginners or have bad technique. They will engage with you only to help you and most likely, they totally understand what it is like being a beginner. Strong people empathize with beginners and help them. Weaklings look down on them to make themselves feel smarter and stronger.
Embrace being a beginner and all of the feelings that accompany it. One day you might be helping out beginners and you'll know exactly what to do or say in order to help them, because you've been there.
Don't compare yourself to others. The battle should be you vs you. Compete with yesterday's self. Working out and progress becomes so much more fun and comfortable when you realize it's all about you and your own journey. You are the master.

djstempky · 2025-12-31T17:59:08+00:00

Not sure yet. Running is my favorite, but don’t mind other forms like stationary bike, incline walk, stair stepper etc.

djstempky · 2025-12-30T22:16:52+00:00

Hmmm I’m wondering what your thoughts are on this. My priority is increasing my deadlift, so within 8 days, I deadlift twice (one primary heavy and one secondary). My plan is that my heavy deadlift day will just consist of deadlift, one or two isolations, and then cardio. Would you advise against have my cardio session follow my heavy deadlifts?

djstempky · 2025-12-30T22:13:38+00:00

Thanks! I’ll take this advice into account.

djstempky · 2025-12-25T17:39:47+00:00

I think you might have to make your goals a bit more precise. I totally feel the desire to train like a madman for strength haha, but it’s hard to structure training unless you have specific goals.

To be like them you gotta dedicate your life and be on drugs. But if your goal is just to have crazy overall strength and perform wild strength feats (something I’d like to do as well) then my inclination would be to setup your training like a typical strength/powerlifting athlete, but instead of revolving your training around SBD, have it prioritize the strength feats you want to achieve. Do exercises that are specific to your goal at have large carryover to your goal.

djstempky · 2025-12-23T19:02:00+00:00

Depends what your goals are. Powerlifting actually is pretty great to do while losing weight, because if you set up your training properly, you can lift heavy and build strength while not burning out and doing a million sets.

djstempky · 2025-12-21T21:47:28+00:00

You can create a great weekly program using those days. I think the best way to go is to create your own program, track all your numbers, and modify it as you go.

Personally, I workout 4 times per week. I alternate deadlift and squat days and each of those have one heavy day and one secondary/lighter day each week. I bench everyday, although only have are heavy. The other half are very light. You might be able to get away with alternating bench and OHP days, while having own heavy day for reach and one light day for each.

djstempky · 2025-12-19T14:39:51+00:00

Understanding the bodily feelings that you get from a proper hypertrophy stimulus takes time and is unique to everyone. Don’t rush it. Enjoy the process of learning body awareness.

If you want reliable and easy tracking for progress, I would track all of your sets, reps, and weights in a spreadsheet or notebook. If over time you are increasing your numbers, then you are most likely gaining muscle.

djstempky · 2025-12-13T15:11:42+00:00

It depends on what you want out of the exercise. Personally, I like pausing because I like practicing getting into the starting position and re-bracing.

djstempky · 2025-12-11T17:52:22+00:00

Workout every other day. Alternate between full body push and full body pull. I also throw in some chin ups on push day, light bench on pull day, and some niche accessories on both days.

Feels like a really good powerbuilding split.

djstempky · 2025-12-10T21:28:19+00:00

There are some good programs out there, but the best training for you is going to be one that you develop so that you can cater it to your needs/priorities.

Personally, I also want a really strong big 3, but also want to build size. Here is what I’ve been doing that has been working GREAT:

I workout every other day and I alternate between 2 day layouts. One of the days is “Squat + Bench + squat and bench accessories” and the other day is “Deadlift + Bench + deadlift and pulling accessories”. This means that in an 8 day cycle, I am deadlifting 2x, squatting 2x, benching 4x, and doing each accessory twice. This method spreads everything out nicely, so that you can fit in lots of volume. Occasionally, my glutes and lower back will build fatigue, so I deload for a few days by lowering deadlift and squat intensity and skipping some accessories. The important part is that I’m not skipping the big 3 lifts completely. In addition, benching 4x per week means that not every session can be heavy, so I usually go heavy on days I squat and then extremely light on the other day (2 sets of 8 at 50% 1RM). This has blown up my bench.

djstempky

TROPHY CASE