Upper

Lower Routine

If you are reading this page, you are probably familliar with Student Aesthetics
and my beliefs when it comes to building a great physique naturally. If not, let me
clarify it really quick.

Just about everything that "fitness gurus" and bodybuilding magazines tell you is
completely non-sense and will hold you back from getting the results you are
looking for. This is due to the steroid usage that these "gurus" and fitness models
in the magazines do not tell you about.
In 2015 I started Student Aesthetics with its main purpose to destroy the myths in
the fitness industry once and for all and help NATURAL lifters become succesful
through my philosophy that is backed up by science and personal/client
experience.

I'm Merijn Schoeber from Student-Aesthetics.com and I created this FREE
program, based on science and experience to help as much people as possible in
their fitness journey. This program may differ from the workout programs you
have followed before. In this program you will NOT focus on pumping up your
muscles and destroying every bodypart.

I approach training in a way that has actually been proven to be effective by
science, and in this program I will explain how this will benefit you as a
NATURAL lifter and will give you the greatest gains possible.

You see, most of the programs that are published online or that are pushed in
bodybuilding magazines are written by people on steroids. That is the big problem
with these routines. For them it works great, but as a natural lifter you ultimately
want to train different, and smarter so to speak.

Did I come up with this program? No, I am not the "inventor" of an Upper/Lower
program. This is just me sharing my routine with you that I have found to work
succesfully on my clients and myself. There are a lot of different Upper/Lower
programs out there and this is my version, with my preferred exercises, rest times
and training techniques. It is nothing magical, but it is a very proper set up if you
are natural and want to train 4 days per week.


 Protein Synthesis

Protein synthesis is the direct reason that as a natural lifter, you should train
differently compared to enhanced lifters for optimal results. Protein synthesis is;
the synthesis of new skeletal muscle proteins. In order words: Muscle growth.
Find out what science tells us about protein synthesis, and how we can improve
our gains by training every body part more often.

Research reveals that when you train a body part, protein synthesis remains
elevated for up to 48 hours. In most cases, however, it is only elevated around 36
hours after your workout. After this time, protein synthesis returns back to the
baseline. THIS is the big difference between natural athletes and people on drugs.
Enhanced athletes will have elevated protein syntheses the whole week, it wont
return back to the baseline. Why? Because steroids increase protein synthesis,
that is why they work. What does this mean for us natural lifters? You can hit a
certain muscle group once a week, let it repair and rebuild for up to 2 days
maximum, and then giving it 5 days off each week. This will obviously not lead to
optimal muscle growth rates. You can kill, annihilate your muscles as hard as you
want into extended periods of muscle soreness (DOMS), this will not extend the
protein synthesis elevation.

Therefore, ultimately you should hit your muscles again once the protein
synthesis levels return back to the baseline to increase those levels again.
With that said, a high volume training approach is probably not the most effective
training method if you are natural. It will slow down your recovery but it won't
help with keeping your protein synthesis levels elevated.

Therefore, the most optimal training method for naturals is hitting your
bodyparts multiple times a week with lower volume. As a result of training this
way, you will experience a greater amount of protein synthesis weekly and
therefore more rapid muscle growth.






 Frequency

Frequency of training, the number of sessions performed per unit of time is a very
important training variable for building size and strength.
If you look at 99% of todays training plans, they will consist of training each
muscle group once per week and using 3-4 sets of 3-4 exercises and 8-12 reps.
One can argue that this a tried and true method that has been proven to yield
results for most individuals, but I would say that its more a matter of
convenience and lack of knowledge. Bodybuilding magazines have provided this
kind of routine ever since enhanced athletes adopted them, and there comes the
problem. They are enhanced athletes, and can train in a different way compared
to natural athletes.

Lifting Heavy

If I learned one thing in the last couple years of my lifting career, it is that lifting
heavy weights is extremely important for muscle growth. It does make a lot of
sense if you think about it. Have you ever seen somebody bench 315 pounds and
be skinny? I have never met any. The traditional pump style training may not be
the most effective way to build muscle. I found that by combining very heavy
training combined with hypertrophy style training, leads to the most optimal
gains. Since I incorporated it, I never quitted.
You may never squat 500lbs in your life, but that doesnt mean you cant make
improvements in your physique by incorporating power training mixed with
hypertrophy. The most important benefit heavy training can give you is its
increase in overall capacity for muscular growth through big strength gains.
Training with heavy weights and low reps is going to stimulate far greater
increases in strength than hypertrophy style training. Now you might be thinking,
so what? I dont have to be strong; I just want to look good! But by increasing
strength you will automatically increase the amount of weight youll be able to lift
in the higher rep range, which will stimulate muscle growth. It will also help you
avoiding plateaus by working different rep ranges on same style exercises





 Progressive Overload

To simplify it, progressive overload simply means that you must increase the
amount of stress put onto your muscles as the time goes by to increase muscle
growth.

Progressive overload is probably the most inportant variable when training
naturally. You can not just go into the gym, pump up your muscles and leave. You
will have to train strategically to lift heavier weights each and every week. How to
make this happen? By keeping a log of you workouts. If you do not log your
workouts you probably won't remember the amount of weight you have used last
training, and you will not be able to improve that lift. Setting goals and tracking it
is key in this training program.

My progress has improved dramatically since I applied progressive overload. I
used to go the gym and pump up my muscles until they felt blown up and it felt
like they were growing. Unfortunately it does not work that way. That is simply
oxygen and blood running through your body.
Our bodies, especially muscles adapt to everything they go through. You have to
let your body adapt in order to build a great physique. You have to constantly
improve your workouts in some type of way to stimulate muscle growth over and
over again.















 Setup of the program

One principle is the higher frequency as a natural lifter. Therefore, this program
focuses on working every muscle group 2x a week. The first day of the routine will
be a power-based day. The other 2 days will be focussed on hypertrophy training
(bodybuilding style training).

Strength Days

On the strength day you will focus on compound movement for you upper and
lower body such as squats, deadlifts, bench press, rows. Your goal is to stay in the
3-5 rep range for a weight that is heavy, but doable for you. During this day the
rest time can take up to 5 minutes between sets. Make sure you rest enough to
completely recover and be ready for your next heavy set. The purpose of this
workout is to move as much weight as possible, remember that!

Hypertrophy Days

On your hypertrophy days the focus should be on that, hypertrophy. Meaning you
will be lifting in the 8-12 rep range to stimulate muscle growth. This day is not
about moving as much weight as possible! It is about contracting the muscle and
getting those reps in. You also want to take less rest between sets (1,5-2
minutes). Put your ego to the side on this day and get a good workout in.

The Workout Split

Day Workout
Monday (Day 1) Upper Body (Strength)
Tuesday (Day 2) Lower Body (Strength)
Wednesday Rest
Thursday (Day 3) Upper Body (Hypertrophy)
Friday (Day 4) Lower Body (Hypertrophy)
Saturday Rest
Sunday Rest



Day 1: Upper Body (Strength)

Exercise Reps Sets Rest (in minutes)
Paused Bench 3-5 3-4 3-5
Press
Incline Bench Press 5 2-3 2-3
Weighted Pullups 3-5 3-4 3-5
Barbell OR Pendlay 5 2-3 2-3
Row
Overhead Press 5 3 2-3
Rope Facepull 8 2 2
Incline Dumbbell 6-8 3 2
Curl
(Decline) 6-8 3 2
Skullcrusher


Day 2: Lower Body (Strength)

Exercise Reps Sets Rest (in minutes)
Squat 3-5 3-4 3-5
Deadlift 2-4 3-4 3-5
Hack Squat 6-8 3 2-3
Glute-Ham Raises 6-8 3 2-3
Standing Calf 5 5 1,5-2
Raises
Weighted Knee 10-15 4 1
Raises
Cable Crunch 10-15 4 1









Day 3: Upper Body (Hypertrophy)

Exercise Reps Sets Rest (in minutes)
Incline DB Press 8-10 3-4 1,5-2
Cable Flyes 10-15 3-4 1-1,5
Dumbbell Row 8-10 3-4 1,5-2
Close Grip 10-15 3 1-1,5
Pulldown
Seated DB Press 8-10 2-3 1,5-2
Lateral Raises* - - -
(pause at the top)
Reverse Flyes 10-15 3 1-1,5
(Machine or
Dumbbells)
Hammer Curl 10-12 3 1-1,5
Pushdown 10-12 3 1-1,5

Day 4: Lower Body (Hypertrophy)

Exercise Reps Sets Rest (in minutes)
Front Squat 8-10 3-4 1,5-2
Stiff Legged 8-10 3-4 1,5-2
Deadlift
Lunges 10-12 2-3 1-1,5
Leg Extensions 10-15 2-3 1
Leg Curls* *(pause - - -
at the bottom)
Standing Calf 10-15 3 1
Raises
Seated Calf Raises 15-25 3 1
Ab Roller MAX 4 1-1,5
Hanging Leg Raises 10-15 4 1

* Rest Pause Technique:
- Pick a weight that you can perform 8 reps with. (should be heavy)
- Take 10-20 seconds rest
- Drop the weight by 50%
- Perform another 8 reps, but pause at the top/bottom of the movement depending on the exercise for 1 second.
- Take 1 minute rest
- Repeat the above 2 times. (So 3 drop sets in total)
- After having done this cycle, pick the weight that you were able to do paused and perform as many reps as possible for
1 set (not paused)
Overtraining
Now if you look at this program and you are used to training every muscle
group once a week you may think I will over train if I workout each body
part twice a week. While the first weeks you may be very sore, you will
notice that your body will adapt to the increased frequency. The soreness
will start to disappear after a few weeks once you are completely adjusted
to the routine. Keep in mind that soreness is not an indicator for muscle
growth. Therefore, don't worry if you stop being sore after some weeks. You
will also find a strength increase very rapidly if you are bulking and this
should be your main focus.

Training To Failure

The first couple of weeks on this program you should not go to failure at all.
Once you are used to the volume/frequency you can go to failure on a
couple of set. I do not recommend going to failure on every set. Ultimately,
once you are adapted to the routine, you want to go to failure on some of
the last sets of a few exercises. Never go to failure on your first sets, this will
keep you from making strength gains, and progressive overload is the first
thing we are focussing on. Training to failure can be a usefull tool, but it is
not the main focus of this program by any means.

Training to failure on a lot of sets will significantly decrease short term and
long term recovery. On the short term it will impact your performance on
other sets that day and even on the same exercise, and on the longer term it
will impact your ability to recover for the next workout. Next to that, it is
also taxing on your Central Nervous System, which may impact your
workouts as well.

On this program we focus on stopping 1-2 reps short of failure. This may be
difficult to establish at first, since you may underestimate your capabilities
of doing more reps. Therefore, I always recommend to have a spotter so
that if you fail (unintentionally), the spotter can help you lift the weight so
that you do not reach completely failure and fatigue.

Deloading

Plain and simple, deloading is a short planned period of recovery. It is a
short break from lifting heavy. You still work out, but you use less weights
and/or less volume.

When?I recommend deloading every 6-10 weeks on this program. It is
highly individual when you need a deload, but I certainly dont recommend
not deloading every 10 weeks. Your body needs to recover from all the
heavy lifting in order to keep making gains. A deload is taking one step back
to take two steps forward.

How?Reduce the weights used and total volume by 40%. So if you normally
do 5 sets of 225 for 5 reps on the bench press, you will do 3 sets of 135 for 5
reps. On these sets, try to focus on perfect form and speed. This can benefit
you when you get back to your normal programming.

Learn more about deloading here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fG8IB2MW34o

Exercise Selection

After a long period of performing the same exercises, you might find
yourself stalling on certain movements. This is why I highly recommend
exercise rotation on this routine. Does this mean you should change up the
exercises every week? Hell no. To stimulate progressive overload and to
track your progress it is important that you perform certain exercises for a
few weeks, to efficiently make progress on those lifts.

I recommend to change some of the exercises performed after you took a
deload week, which is every 6-12 weeks.
What is very important here is that you look at your sticking points on the
different lifts. For example, if you are having a lot of trouble locking out on
the Deadlift, make sure to add in some Rack Pulls to assist in building up that
power.

How To Make Progress On This Routine?

There are multiple ways you can make progress using this routine. On the
Strength days, your focus should be mainly making progress by adding
weight to your lifts every week. For every person, the amount of increase
will be different and depends on a lot of factors. In general it should be
ranging from 1,25KG (2,5lbs) to 5kg (10lbs) on your main lifts. You will find a
more rapid strength increase on the Squat (up to 10lbs) compared to the
overhead press (up to 5lbs).

Next to increasing in weights, you can also increase in reps and/or sets. On
your key lifts, 3-5 reps is what you should aim for. By starting off with a
weight that you can perform for 3 reps, you can increase in reps every
workout until you can do 5 reps.


For example:
Week 1 Bench Press: 100KG for 3 sets of 3 reps
Week 2 Bench Press: 100KG for 3 sets of 4 reps (add 1 rep)
Week 3 Bench Press: 100KG for 3 sets of 5 reps (add 1 rep)
Week 4 Bench Press: 100KG for 4 sets of 5 reps (add 1 set)
Week 5 Bench Press: Increase weight and start over again etc.

Rest time is a factor you can increase in as well. By decreasing rest time, you
will increase the amount of stress put onto your muscles. For example, this
week you are able to bench 100Kg for 4 sets of 3 reps by taking 4 minutes
rest in between all the sets. Next week, you could do 100kg for 4 sets of 3
reps (again) but take 3 minutes rest in between all the sets. In this way, you
will have stimulated progressive overload, even though you have used the
same amount of weight and did the same amount of sets/reps.

Point I am trying to make: You do not HAVE to increase in weights every
single workout. As a beginner, it is highly possible and I recommend trying it.
However, as you get more advanced you will not be able to make huge steps
in weight on your lifts. Therefore, it is important to play around with the
different variables such as adding reps, sets and decreasing/increasing rest
time. Keep in mind: Progress is progress. Even 1 extra rep is a better
workout than last week, and you should be happy about that.

NOTE: If you are cutting and are eating in a caloric deficit, chances may be
that you are not able to progress. These progression schemes apply mostly if
you are eating in a caloric surplus whereas your body is able to put on lean
muscle mass and strength. As a beginner, you will still be able to build
strength while in a caloric deficit but as a more advanced lifter you might
have a hard time doing that. You rather want to focus on maintaining your
strength.



 Good Luck!

I wish you all the best of luck with this proven routine and I hope you will get
some great results with it J Always remember that fitness is a marathon, not a
sprint so do not expect to become a hulk within 1 month. It takes a lot of time to
get in a great shape, but its all worth it. The journey of self-improvement is the
best part, you can take my word for it! Always remember where you came from
and progress from there.

If you have some cool transformation pictures in a few months from now that
youd like to share with me, please go ahead! I love seeing your progress and its
cool for others that would like to try out this routine to see some of the results as
well! You can send the transformation pictures to: info@student-aesthetics.com


Remember The Importance Of A Diet

If you are familiar with fitness you most likely already know that diet is key when
it comes to reaching your fitness goals. You can train as hard/often as you want,
but if your diet sucks, nothing will happen. Honestly, you will be wasting your
time. When I started lifting I had that same problem for the first 2 years. Once I
started following a proper diet (tailored towards my personal physique, so not a
cookie cutter/copied program from someone else) I started getting real results.

I can help you with setting up a diet plan for YOU that will give amazing results,
but more importantly, you will be able to stick to!

Within my diet plans, you will not be restricted from your favorite foods, you can
still drink alcohol from time to time and attend social activities. My philosophy
has always been to enjoy your life while getting in shape, because that is the only
way to sustain this lifestyle for a long time! I know there is so much information
out there that may confuse you, that's why I want to help you get great results,
once and for all with no BS.

Go here for more information: http://www.student-
aesthetics.com/index.php/product/custom-meal-plan/