Ruck & Maul

One of my players has been having troubles with upper body hypertrophy. The player is a B/C squad member on our playing roster; therefore, since he will not be getting any playing time in the immediate future, he wanted to specialize. I came up with this idea for him.

This program is a three-week matrix. It can be used by anyone who is wishing to specialize on his or her upper body for a short period of time. In turn, you could easily extend it into a six-week program by simply repeating the given structure.

Breakdown:

The player will perform this matrix on three non-consecutive days per week. In my athlete's case, he chose a Monday/Wednesday/Friday plan and will do a standard lower body strength program on Tuesday and Thursday (using my standard three-week loading cycle).

Week 1: 6/5/4/4 @ 75, 80, 85, 85+%

Week 2: 5/4/3/3 @ 80, 85, 90, 90+%

Week 3: 4/3/2/2 @ 85, 90, 95, 95+%

He will also perform a loaded core exercise (3 x 5 reps) on each of those training days. Below is a sample of what he will be doing:

Tuesday	Movements	Thursday
Power Clean	Olympic	Power Snatch
Front Squat	Squat	Back Squat
Bulgarian (Sprinter’s) Squat	Single Leg	Step Ups
Romanian Deadlift	Hamstring/Glute/Lower Back	Good Morning

The Three-Way Upper Body Matrix looks like this. It consists of three blocks of push/super set/pull movements with three different set and rep schemes, and it is performed three days per week. Personally, I like to use more dumbbells, kettlebells, and cables when training specific hypertrophy protocols. This program is no exception. Over the three weeks, you will see a shift in the ordering of the exercises to ensure that each combination is exposed to a varying stimulus.

Week 1

Monday	Wednesday	Friday
4 x 12	4 x 6	4 x 8
DB Bench s/s DB/KB One Arm Row	DB Incline s/s Cable 45-degree One Arm Row	DB Shoulder Press s/s DB/KB Upright Row
DB Incline s/s Cable 45-degree One Arm Row	DB Shoulder Press s/s DB/KB Upright Row	DB Bench s/s DB/KB One Arm Row
DB Shoulder Press s/s DB/KB Upright Row	DB Bench s/s DB/KB One Arm Row	DB Incline s/s Cable 45-degree One Arm Row

Week 2

Monday	Wednesday	Friday
4 x 12	4 x 6	4 x 8
DB Incline s/s Cable 45-degree One Arm Row	DB Shoulder Press s/s DB/KB Upright Row	DB Bench s/s DB/KB One Arm Row
DB Shoulder Press s/s DB/KB Upright Row	DB Bench s/s DB/KB One Arm Row	DB Incline s/s Cable 45-degree One Arm Row
DB Bench s/s DB/KB One Arm Row	DB Incline s/s Cable 45-degree One Arm Row	DB Shoulder Press s/s DB/KB Upright Row

Week 3

Monday	Wednesday	Friday
4 x 12	4 x 6	4 x 8
DB Shoulder Press s/s DB/KB Upright Row	DB Bench s/s DB/KB One Arm Row	DB Incline s/s Cable 45-degree One Arm Row
DB Bench s/s DB/KB One Arm Row	DB Incline s/s Cable 45-degree One Arm Row	DB Shoulder Press s/s DB/KB Upright Row
DB Incline s/s Cable 45-degree One Arm Row	DB Shoulder Press s/s DB/KB Upright Row	DB Bench s/s DB/KB One Arm Row

I hope this matrix has provided you with a few different ideas to add to your training. You could even use it as a "change of pace" three-week block and, of course, you can certainly substitute exercises for those that I have outlined in the above example. Let me know how it goes!