Kurt Weber’s Pre-Competition Workout

This is a guest post by Kurt Weber. Kurt is a Strength Coach at Cal Fullerton and private trainer, certified by NSCA-CSCS and USAW and is preparing for his first physique competition. You can read more of his posts here or find him at his website.

Here is the workout I am doing in preparation for my physique contest.  It is basically a hybrid split, using an upper-lower push-pull template, but with emphasis on one of those movements as heavy low reps, and the other as lighter high reps.  All exercises are in pairings, meaning you do one set of an exercise (A1), followed by another set of the next exercise (A2).   These are all working sets, warm-ups do not count.

Abs are done every day, alternating between bodyweight high reps and weighted low reps.

Workout #1 is always a cardio session, most often done in the morning, on an empty stomach.  I have 2 hills by my house, one is shorter and steeper, and the other one is longer and less steep.  I usually alternate between those two, as well as a 2-3 mile run once per week and some swimming occasionally. I will do the cardio up until the last 10 days before the competition, when I cut out the steep cut oats.

As for the lifts, they go as follows:

Day 1 – Lower Push/Upper Pull (lower push heavy, upper pull light)

A1) Front Squats 5 X 5

A2) Squat Jumps 5 X 5

B1) BB Reverse Lunge 4 X 5ea

B2) Bodyweight chin-ups 4 X 12

C1) Sled/prowler push 4 X 20yd

C2) Inverted Row 4 X 15

Day2 – Upper Push/Lower Pull (upper push heavy, lower pull light)

A1) Chain Bench 5 X 5

A2) Plyo Pushups 5 X 5

B1) DB Incline wide grip 4 X 6

B2) Single Leg DB RDL 4 X 8ea

C1) 10 degree incline DB Fly 4 X 6

C2) Leg Curl Machine 4 X 12

Day 3 – Shoulders, Bi’s and Tri’s

A1) Power Shrugs 5 X 6

A2) Skullcrushers 5 X 12

B1) Standing military press 4 X 5

B2) BB Curl 4 X 12

C1) Single arm DB lateral Raise 4 X 8ea

C2) Overhead Cable Tricep Extension 4 X 12

D1) Reverse Fly’s 4 X 12

D2) Omni Curl 4 X 8

E1) Tate Press 3 X 12

E2) Eccentric Curl w/assist on concentric 3 X 5ea

E3) Close grip pushups on MB 3 X 20

Day 4 – Lower Push/ Upper Pull (lower push light, upper pull heavy)

A1) Weighted Pull-ups 5 X 5

A2) Sumo Deadlift 5 X 10

B1) SA DB Row 4 X 6ea

B2) SL Box squat 4 X 8ea

C1) Incline DB Row (face down) 4 X 8

C2) BB Lateral Lunge 4 X 6ea

Day 5 – Upper Push/Lower Pull (upper push light, lower pull heavy)

A1) BB RDL 5 X 5

A2) Bodyweight Dips 5 X 15

B1) SL Leg Curl Machine 4 X 6ea

B2) 3-way pushups (neutral, 45 degree, wide) 4 X 5ea

C1) Goodmornings 4 X 6

C2) Decline DB Fly 4 X 12