the new body 28 (tnb-28)_ the upper-lower 2-day split routine for building strength and sculpting...

5/23/2015 The New Body 28 (TNB-28): The Upper-Lower 2-Day Split Routine For Building Strength and Sculpting Lean Muscle

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The New Body 28 (TNB-28): The Upper-Lower 2-Day Split Routine For Building Strength andSculpting Lean MuscleBy Tom Venuto

The New Body-28 (TNB-28): Background

The original TNB program started out as an article for Men'sFitness magazine. The editors had some very exacting criteriafor this workout: They wanted me to design a program forbuilding strength and muscle, but which wasn't a traditionalbody part split routine (arm day, chest day, etc).

The exercises had to be all or mostly free weights - noselectorized machines. The exercises also had to be challengingand at least a few of them unique and not commonly performed. I gave them exactly what they asked forand they loved it. The article appeared in the print edition of the magazine and was also reprinted here in ourInner Circle for the benefit of our members.

It was named The New Bodybuilding (TNB) workout because it was designed to build muscle like anybodybuilding workout, it simply did not use traditional bodybuilding split routines. That made it much moresuitable for the average guy or gal who was not interested in building the mass of a heavyweight bodybuilder(and who certainly wasn't going to tan up, pump up and flex in posing trunks or a teeny bikini onstage undera spotlight any time soon). In other words, this program was designed to have broad appeal and utility.

TNB became the most popular workout program I ever created. Not only that, everyone knew it was workingbecause so many of our Burn the Fat Challenge contestants used the program and their results were visiblefor all to see.

Fast forward a few years. The Burn the Fat, Feed the Muscle book was getting re-written for a brand new 10-year anniversary print edition with the largest traditional publisher in the world: Random House. The missionof taking this internet ebook classic into print and to the mainstream: To help millions of people get leaner,stronger, fitter and healthier using the bodybuilding and fitness model style of eating and training.

To reach people in the mainstream - especially weight loss seekers who were only dieting and had neverlifted before - and to get them involved in resistance training meant that once again, we needed a trainingprogram that had broad appeal. Resistance training programs for bodybuilding, like the 3 and 4 day splitsthat were featured in the original Burn the Fat, Feed the Muscle are sometimes not the ideal workouts for themajority of recreational lifters and fitness seekers. But guess what is? TNB!

The best part was that TNB was already tested and proven. All it needed was an update and revision so itcould be presented as new once again and it could work equally for seasoned lifters and those new to liftingor with limited experience.

The program got a slightly different name (and a number to correspond with the training cycle duration) -The New Body 28. This makes it easy to distinguish this TNB program from the original. (conveniently, theacronym remained the same as did the upper-lower split. The workout got its own chapter in the new Burnthe Fat, Feed the Muscle book, and I'm pleased to reprint it here for you, along with all the exercisephotographs (which weren't included in the book due to space limitations).

The 2 day split routine

The TNB-28 program uses a 2-day split routine, where you divide your workout into an upper body day and alower body plus abs day. Why not stick with a full body workout? You could, but beyond the beginner stage,your body will respond best when you accumulate a higher volume of work. Splitting your body in two givesyou time in each workout to add those additional sets and exercises.

As you advance, it's also important to use more variation in the training stimulus, both in rep ranges andexercises. These goals are difficult to achieve with full body workouts, without turning them into marathon 90



to 120-minute sessions.

Split routines also allow you to focus your mental and physical energies more efficiently. Training your entirebody in a single session can be exhausting. When you only have to work half your body, you can give moreenergy and intensity to each muscle group. There's a little more volume to be done on the upper body days,but since leg training is so demanding, it's better that the volume is lower on leg day. It also leaves youplenty of time to do a thorough job on your abs, and who doesn't want great abs?

For anyone who does want to move to the next level and pursue competitive or high-level bodybuilding orphysique training, the body part split routines that appeared in the original ebook are also available here atthe Inner Circle for members (For the quintessential pure bodybuilding workout, look up the 4-day split in theworkouts department).

Equipment Required

This program uses a mix of barbells, dumbbells and weight machines. You can do it in a gym or you canfollow it at home with basic equipment. If you don't have access to all the machines, you can easilysubstitute an equivalent free-weight exercise.

For example, if you don't have a cable pulley machine for triceps pushdowns you can do a barbell ordumbbell triceps extension. If you don't have a lat pull-down machine, you can do dumbbell rows, dumbbellpullovers or even inverted rows under a sturdy table. You can also go off the TNB-28 exercise list and pickany alternate exercise you want.

Warm-up and Stretching

It's important to warm up before each weight training session. Warming up raises your body temperature,increases joint mobility, stimulates blood flow, and increases your physical and mental readiness for theworkout ahead.

The traditional way to warm up is to hop on a cardio machine for 5 to 10 minutes. That's fine as a generalwarm-up, especially on lower-body day, but another option is joint mobility drills or dynamic flexibilityexercises. Arm circles, trunk circles, leg swings, Spider-man steps, squat-to-stand, body weight lunges andso on, not only warm you up, they also increase mobility and flexibility in the joints you're about to train.

To increase your performance and decrease risk of injury, do at least one or two light, non-fatiguing sets ofeach exercise before moving on to your heavy work sets. It's not wise to jump right to your heaviest set orattempt a personal record if you're still cold.

It's important to remember that static stretching is for increasing flexibility, not for warming up. In fact, anideal time to stretch is after you're already warm. That's why most athletes do warm-up and mobilityexercises before lifting and do static stretching after the workout.

Exercise Selection

Changing exercises and other program variables at least every few months gives your body new challengesand keeps training fun and interesting.

There are a handful of very important basic movement patterns including squats, lunges (split squats),deadlifts, rows, pull-ups, chest presses and shoulder (overhead) presses. Master them. These exercisesshould always be a major part of your training plans. However, there are countless variations on each ofthese movements - barbell and dumbbell versions, different stance or grip positions, different bars and so on.You can use these variations on the basics to mix things up without getting away from the primarymovements.

The "big lifts" - multi-joint, compound exercises such as squats, deadlifts, rows ,and presses, have thehighest calorie burn and are the most effective muscle builders. They're also the most challenging. Single-joint isolation exercises like leg extensions and small-muscle exercises like concentration curls can be a partof any weight training program and they're especially useful for bodybuilding and fine-tuning physiquedetails. But avoiding the difficult exercises like squats in favor of the easier ones like leg extensions is a sureway to short-circuit your results.

Adding more exercises on top of a beginner routine is another method of progressive overload. But more isn'talways better. For example, in workout one of the TNB-28 plan, there's only one exercise for biceps and onefor triceps. In their eagerness to build arms like Mr. Olympia, many lifters add a second or even a third



exercise for the arms or they double the number of sets. On a two-day split with four workouts per week, thisis unnecessary.

Between one direct exercise and all the pushing you do on shoulder and chest exercises and all the pulling forback exercises, your biceps and triceps get plenty of stimulation. If you add too many more exercises, yourworkouts take a lot longer and could lead to overtraining. If you want to do 3 or even 4 exercises per musclegroup, use a different workout that was engineered for that - such as the 4-day split bodybuilding routine.

The exercise rotation system

One feature that sets TNB-28 apart from others is the exercise rotation technique. This means that theprogram is actually two workouts, not one. Every other workout, you rotate between the two. For example,on workout one, you do chin ups and on workout two, you do lat pulldowns. There are huge benefits to thissystem.

First, it's a boredom killer. There is nothing wrong with working the same exercises for months as long as youcan keep applying the progressive overload principle. The problem is, many people get bored and losemotivation even if they're still getting results. Rotating between two workouts keeps it interesting a lotlonger.

Rotating exercises also helps you avoid overuse injuries caused by repetitive pattern overload. If you do thesame exercises week after week for months on end, especially if you train hard and heavy, eventually yourjoints take a beating. Joint pain from training is common, and rotating exercises (in addition to alternatingheavy and lighter workouts) may help alleviate it.

By rotating some of the exercises you also all hit your muscles from a variety of angles and planes withdifferent equipment (barbells, dumbbells, cables, and so on). This helps stimulate the maximum number ofmuscle fibers and develops every part of every muscle. The variety also helps slow down the adaptations thatlead to plateaus, so you keep getting results longer.

In TNB-28, not all of the exercises are rotated, which keeps this plan a little simpler and easier. For example,you stay with basic movements like squats through the whole program (you rotate the rep ranges), and onlythe second leg exercise is rotated. As you get more advanced, rotating two workouts that are 100% differentis an option.

Alternate Exercises

Below you'll find exercises that you can use as alternates, based on your equipment availability andpreferences. TNB-28 is a plug-and-play workout template, so if you cannot do a particular exercise or if youdon't have the equipment, you don't have to worry. Simply choose another one and plug it in to the templatein the appropriate spot. When it comes time for a new routine, once again, you can keep the same workoutschedule and template. Simply choose new exercises and plug them in.

Quads: front squats, dumbbell squats (2 dumbbells or Goblet squat), barbell lunge, dumbbell lunge,Bulgarian split squat, hack squat, leg extension.

Hamstrings: Seated leg curl machine, single leg curl machine, single leg Romanian deadlift, glute-hamraise, one leg low back extension

Back: conventional deadlift, seated cable row, pull-ups, one arm dumbbell row, inverted row, dumbbellpullover

Abs/core: barbell rollout (or ab wheel), crunches, swiss ball crunches, swiss ball jackknife, cablewoodchopper, hanging straight leg raise

Calves: calf press, donkey calf machine

Chest: Incline barbell press, wide grip dips ("gironda dips"), cable crossover, flat dumbbell flyes, machineflyes, Hammer strength chest press (any angle)

Shoulders: dumbbell upright rows, barbell upright rows, cable upright rows, cable pulls to face (rear delts),dumbbell front raise, barbell front raise, cable front raise, dumbbell shrugs, barbell shrugs.

Biceps: preacher bench curl, dumbbell concentration curl, cable curl, seated or standing dumbbell curl,hammer curl.



Triceps: Close grip barbell bench press, dumbbell kickbacks, overhead cable extension, overhead barbellextension (French press), Rope pushdown, reverse bench dips.

Forearms: Dumbbell wrist curl (one or two dumbbells), barbell behind back wrist curl, gripper machine,cable wrist curl.

The TNB Workout Schedule

TNB-28 calls for four workouts per week:

Day 1: upper body strength and muscle

Day 2: lower body strength and muscle

Day 3: upper body muscle

Day 4: lower body muscle

Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday SundayUpper body

Strength & MuscleLower body

Strength & Muscle OffUpper Body

MuscleLower bodyMuscle Off Off

This is an ideal weekly schedule for most people because it gives you an extra day of total rest fromresistance training between the third and fourth day, which enhances overall recovery. It also leavesweekends open.

This schedule has some room for flexibility. If you prefer, you can change the days of the week you train,moving workouts to the weekend or inserting an off day in between two training days.

Weekly schedule variation:

Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday SundayUpper bodyStrength & Muscle

Lower bodyStrength & Muscle Off

Upper BodyMuscle

Off Lower bodyMuscle Off

3 days per week option: If you're pressed for time, or if you feel you don't recover completely from 4workouts a week, you can reduce this schedule to 3 workouts every 7 days. You would simply train on any 3non consecutive days per week, such as Monday, Wednesday and Fridays (or Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday).With a M-W-F schedule, you would do workout 1 on Monday, workout 2 on Wednesday, workout 3 on Friday,workout 4 on the following Monday, and then repeat the cycle.

The 4 week periodization cycle

This program runs on a 4 week cycle that changes rep ranges within the week and progresses weekly in loadand intensity.

On strength and muscle days you'll do a mix of heavy sets for 4-7 reps and muscle sets for 8-12 reps. Onmuscle days, you'll do sets of mostly 8-12 reps and an occasional higher rep set. There are no low rep(strength) only days because this is a body transformation program, not a powerlifting or strength sportsprogram. However, there's enough heavy work to guarantee you'll get a lot stronger. You'll progress throughthe following 4 one-week cycles:

Week 1: Introductory loading. You'll be introduced to the new exercises and training techniques. Theloads are submaximal. For example, if you estimate that you can do 10 reps with 100 pounds, you wouldselect only 90 pounds. The intensity level is low, which means you won't take any sets to failure - you'llcomplete the entire set easily.

Week 2: Base loading. You'll increase the load in every exercise where possible. The intensity level will bemoderate, which means you'll come close to failure on your hypertrophy sets and the final reps of each setwill be hard.

Week 3: Overloading. You'll increase the loading again to above your previous max, wherever possible,while maintaining good form. Your goal is to start beating your previous week's bests. The final reps of eachset will be very hard, and this week, you'll probably hit failure on some of your sets.



Week 4: Shock (PR) loading. You'll once again increase the load above the previous week's bests, and aimto hit some personal records (PR's). Intensity is very high. This is where you push yourself. You'll take manyof your sets to failure and you may miss some reps (for example, your goal is 8-12 reps, but you barely got7). If you have any favorite high intensity techniques such as forced reps or drop sets, this is when to usethem.

Begin new cycle: You can repeat the 4-week cycle by starting over again with introductory loading(submaximal load and no sets taken to failure). At this point you'll be stronger, so your introductory phasewill be at least equal to your previous base loading phase. With each cycle, you continue to increase theweights used, as your new-found strength allows.

When to Advance to the Next Workout

Most people can keep getting amazing results on the TNB-28 plan for months - even years. The trainingtemplate and weekly schedule never go bad. Simply continue focusing on progressive overload, and keepchallenging yourself to hit new personal records.

I recommend you repeat the program for at least 3 four-week cycles (12 weeks). After 12 weeks, mostpeople will start experiencing significant adaptation, so it's time for major changes at that point. Stick withthe TNB-28 weekly schedule and set/rep guidelines, but change some (or all) of the exercises. You can alsobegin to add various new training techniques to raise the intensity level (look up the "bodybuilding secrets,""weight training" and "muscle building" columns here in the Inner Circle for ideas. Rinse and repeat as longas it's still working well for you.

Men and women who are interested in competition-level figure or bodybuilding training may want to move onto advanced body part split routines such as the Burn the Fat, Feed the Muscle 4-day split split routine.

Updates

Future updates will include a downloadable and printable workout log sheet.

Workout 1: Monday upper body strength/muscle

A. Barbell rows, 4 sets X 4-7 reps 120-150 sec rest B. Chin ups * 3 sets X 8-12 reps 90-120 sec rest C. Barbell bench press 4 sets X 4-7 reps, 120-150 sec rest D. Incline dumbbell press 3 X 8-12 reps, 90-120 sec rest F. Barbell shoulder press 3 sets X 6-10 reps 90-120 sec rest E. Dumbbell lateral raise, seated 3 sets X 8-12 reps, 60-90 sec rest F1. Lying tricep extension 3 sets X 8-12 reps, 0 rest (superset) F2. Barbell curls 3 sets X 8-12 reps, 60-90 seconds rest

Barbell Rows (upper back)



Chin Ups (upper back)

Bench Press (Chest)



Incline Dumbbell Bench Press (Chest)

Barbell Overhead (aka "military") Press (shoulders)



Dumbbell Side Lateral Raise (shoulders)

Lying Tricep Extension (Triceps)

Barbell Curls (Biceps)



Workout 2: Tuesday, lower body and abs, strength/muscle

A. Barbell squat 4 sets X 4-7 reps, 120-150 sec restB. Dumbbell split squat (static lunge) 3 sets X 8-12 reps, 90-120 sec restC. Barbell Romanian deadlift 4 sets X 4-7 reps, 120-150 sec restD. Lying leg curl machine 3 sets X 6-10 reps, 90-120 sec restE. Seated calf raise 3 X 15-20 reps, 60-90 sec restF1. Hanging knee raise 2-3 X 10-15 reps 0 rest (superset)F2. Reverse crunch 3 sets X 15-20 reps, 60 sec rest G. Plank 3 sets X 30-60 seconds, 60 sec rest

Barbell Squat



Dumbbell Split Squat (Thighs)

Barbell Romanian Deadlift (hamstrings / posterior chain)



Lying Leg Curl (Hamstrings)

Seated Calf Raise



Hanging knee Raise (abs)



Reverse Crunch (Abs)

Plank (Abs/Core)



Workout 3: Thursday, upper body, muscle

A. Barbell row 3 sets X 8-12 reps, 1 set X 15-20 reps, 60-90 sec rest B. Lat pulldowns 3 sets X 8-12 reps 60-90 sec C. Barbell Bench press 3 sets X 8-12 reps, 60-90 sec rest D. Incline dumbbell flyes 3 sets X 8-12 reps, 60-90 sec restE1. Dumbbell shoulder press 3 sets X 8-12 reps, 60-90 sec restE2. Bent over dumbbell lateral raises 3 sets X 8-12 reps, 60-90 sec restF1. Tricep Pushdown (cable) 3 sets X 8-12 reps, 0 rest (superset)F2. Incline dumbbell curls 3 sets X 8-12 reps, 60-90 sec rest

Barbell Rows (upper back)

Wide Grip Pulldown (Lats/upper back)



Bench Press (Chest)

Incline Dumbbell Flyes (Upper Chest)



Dumbbell Shoulder Press

Bent Over Lateral Raises (Rear Deltoid)



Cable Pushdowns (triceps)

Incline Dumbbell Curls (Biceps)



Workout 4: Saturday lower body, abs, hypertrophy

A. Barbell squat 3 sets X 8-12 reps, 1 set X 15-20 reps, 90-120 sec rest B. Leg press 3 sets X 8-12 reps, 1 set X 15-20 reps, 60-90 sec rest C. Leg Curl 3 sets X 8-12 reps, 60-90 sec rest D. Low back extension 3 sets X 8-12 reps, 60-90 sec restE. Standing calf raise 3 sets X 15-20 reps, 60-90 sec restF1. Kneeling cable crunch 3 sets X 15-20 reps, 0 rest (superset)F2. Lying leg raise/toes to sky 3 sets X 15-20 reps 60 sec rest G. Side plank 3 sets X 30-60 seconds, 60 sec rest

Barbell Squat



Leg Press (Thighs)

Lying Leg Curl (Hamstrings)



Low Back Extension

Standing Calf Machine



Kneeling Cable Crunch (abs)

Leg Raise / Toes to Sky aka "hip lift" (abs)



Side Plank (obliques / core)

To discuss this program in the Burn the Fat Inner Circle forums CLICK HERE

All photos and text Copyright Tom Venuto and Burn The Fat Inner Circle. No reproduction of this material is



permitted.

2014 Tom Venuto & Burn The Fat Inner Circle A Division of Fitness Renaissance, LLC Mailing Address: PO Box 5097 Hoboken, New Jersey, 07030

the new body 28 (tnb-28)_ the upper-lower 2-day split routine for building strength and sculpting...

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