All Pro Intermediate 4: 636

pandorakick

Besides the Simple Beginners Routine (SBR) All Pro also posted a series of 4 intermediate workout routines. The original thread can be found here:
http://forum.bodybuilding.com/showthread.php?t=135025731&page=1

Regarding progression or cycling of these set ups All Pro mentioned the below:

The first one is the easiest to set up. It's just straight line linear progression. When it stops working or you get tired of it.....and you will try the next one. You could probably run a few cycles of #1, then a few of #2 then a few of #3 and then come back to number 1. Number 4 is for the truly insane. If you're playing football, flag foot ball, hockey, rugby or any other heavy contact speed, strength power sport that is the program for you.......provided of course you've already run the other 5x5s.
And it ain't to shabby at packing on mass and strength. It just might not look to pretty but then that's what the other programs are for.

For clarity's sake I will post separate threads for each of the Intermediate routines

All Pro Intermediate 4

Athletic performance and mass and strength gain, two work outs per week. 
The first work out is based on Bill Starr's infamous 636 NFL program:

The heart and soul of this program is 3 sets of 3 followed by 3 sets of 6. It starts with 3, 6 rep warm up sets, hence the name 636.
The weight does not change for 3 weeks. Week 4 is a deload week. This set up slowly grinds you into powder!

Three core lifts. Squat, bench press and rows.
Set 1 at 25% of your 5 rep max for 6 reps.
Set 2 at 50% of your 5 rep max for 6 reps.
Set 3 at 75% of your 5 rep max for 6 reps.
Sets 4-5-6 at 100% of your 5 rep max for 3 reps.
Sets 7-8-9 at 90% of your 5 rep max for 6 reps.
On week four do just the first 3 sets! That's your deload. DO IT!

Workout 2
Week one. 75%, 1x15
Week two 85%, 2x10
Week three 95%, 3x5
Week four, 105%, 1x5

All assistance work goes on work out two. Percentages are based on your current 10 rep max.
Week 1 75% 1x15
Week 2 85% 1x15
Week 3 95% 1x10
Week 4 105% 1x10

So what does an athlete do on Wednesday?
Stretch, cardio, mobility, speed!
If you're a recreational lifter you only need the first 2, stretching and cardio.
If you're an athlete there are scores of mobility drills to choose from. You will also need dynamic effort, speed. Speed x strength = power.

Power cleans and hang cleans set up on a 5 sets of 3 format working in 20% increments. Set one at 20%, set 2 at 40%, set 3 at 60%, set 4 at 80% set 5 at your top weight. This is all about speed and power. So if your rep speed drops noticeably or your form degrades, terminate the set. Rep speed is more important than the weight on the bar. You aren't training for the olympics! These will produce power and improve mobility. 

Also true dynamic effort work. That's done with squats, bench press and dead lift by loading 50% of your 1 rep maximum on the bar and attaching chains to each side of the bar. When you add up all of the weight it should 
be between 90% and 100% percent of your 1 rep max. Do at least 5 sets of 3 reps lifting the weight as fast as possible. When speed slows down noticeably or form breaks down, terminate the set.

http://www.naturalphysiques.com/18/o...max-calculator
Use the second estimate.

jimmmer

Well, I just ran this for 4 cycles, so thought I'd report back.

I'll outline how I ran it:

Workout A:
Back Squat, Bench, Pendlay Rows:

25% of 5RM x 6
50% of 5RM x 6
75% of 5RM x 6
100% of 5RM x 3 x 3
90% of 5RM x 3 x 6

Workout B:
Back Squat, Bench, Pendlay Rows:

25% of 5RM x 10
50% of 5RM x 10
5RM + 2.5kg x 5
10RM x AMRAP

I progressed it so that if I got all 5 Reps of the 5RM+2.5kg set, then I just used this value as my 5RM for the next week's A session. If I missed it, then I just repeated the weight next week. All Pro talked about rebasing your 5RM from how many reps you got in the 10RM back-off set, but that ended up being hopelessly complicated ('cause maths is hard, and stuff!) and I avoided it after the first week.

Assistance work for workout B?

I did RDL, OHP, Curls and Close-grip Bench.

And varied them weekly through the cycle as follows:

WK1: 75% of 10RM x 1 x 15
WK2: 85% of 10RM x 2 x 10
WK3: 95% of 10RM x 3 x 5
WK4 105% of 10RM x 1 x 5

I put up the weight for WK1 of the next cycle and carried on. I went by feel for the increases (RDL can handle as faster progression than OHP, for instance). At the end of the day it's only assistance. I would probably have swapped them out for same-but-different exercises for future cycles if I'd have kept going.

I ended up stalling on bench, so started micro loading the increases rather than 2.5kg. And I was coming off of a rhomboid injury, so deliberately knocked the pendlays back a bit to start with and progressed them gingerly.

Anyway, I put 15kg on my squat. 7.5kg on my bench and 7.5kg on my rows.

I did it whilst cutting (and the odd injury concern) and the strength increases are against that background. Also, I dispensed with the speed and skillwork middle day and did the Coan/Phillipi Deadlift routine. A massive case of biting off more than you can chew. I would probably have been able to be a bit more aggressive on the squat without trying this at the same time. Who knows? Without the rhomboid thing I definitely could have put my rows up more to the point where they were the equal of my bench (another 7.5kg)

So would I recommend it? Well, it's been hands-down my favourite routine ever. If I could go back in time, I would have stopped cutting, dropped the Coan/Phillipi day and just eaten like a beast and done this routine with a mid-week speedwork deadlift day. I've already got something else penciled in for my next bulk, but I will be re-visiting this behemoth for the time after that.

TL;DR: Awesome routine. Probably best not to cut on it (or, at least, don't cut too hard). Definitely don't try to do something else stupid at the same time. Highly recommended!