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Writer's pictureRune Goon

PILLARMAN EFFECT 

Yesterday we were all talking about programming and y'all may know that I love hearing about what everyone is doing split wise and recovery and conditioning and yada yada yada. One of the Goonstapo, aptly dubbed Pillarman, said he runs a mostly hypertrophy split and does rounds of Smolov Jr. for strength gains on specific lifts. Shit blew my mind. So I decided to come up with something like that and name it after his user name. So it's a 4 day split on both hypertrophy and strength phases. Each phase is 3 weeks long.



This is the hypertrophy phase. It's fucking simple, alright? So mix it up each 3 week cycle if you want. You did incline barbell bench last time? Use dumbbells next time. Hammer curls? Now do barbell curls. Got it? You don't have to but it breaks up the monotony. Whatever lifts you choose, KEEP THEM FOR THE FULL 3 WEEKS.



This is the strength phase. It's a less intense Smolov Jr style high frequency percentage based program. Only use big barbell moves for this. Yes you will have to do two days back to back of the same lifts, you won't die. I suggest Day 1 and 2 because they are lower percentage. Deadlifts will be ROUGH if you choose to do it but it is doable with the 5% less. Don't be a pussy. NO ASSISTANCE WORK, this is a blitz so don't fuck yourself up doing assistance shit. Just warm up well doing whatever you need and then get to lifting. Personally I like face pulls before I bench and leg curls before I squat, but these are light and to warm up my shoulders/knees respectively.


Is this dumb? Maybe. But it looks cool and sounds cool. Blastin and cruising dudes. If you have any issues shoot me a message and I'll do my best to help you out.


Adeptus Custodes aka the Emperor's Pillarman Project.


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Ryan Taylor
Ryan Taylor
Oct 15, 2019

I’d only recommend dumbbells occasionally on strength phase, as it can reveal key muscular/strength imbalances.


We mustn’t forget the accessory lifts either. I love doing those more than working sets.

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PlagueDoc
PlagueDoc
Oct 13, 2019

@leaf nah man you choose only one lift from each category and do that same lift each of the 4 days. I.e. you only bench and back squat for 4 days x 3 week cycle.

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SG
SG
Oct 10, 2019

When me and the boys need to earn some extra cash for supplements,


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Leaf
Leaf
Oct 10, 2019

Brothers, help me out, it seems bashing my head against rocks has made me dumb. On the second phase I'm supposed to pick two exercises from BENCH, INCLINE BENCH, ROW, DEADLIFT, OHP and SQUAT and do 2 of them per day? Like 6x5 bench and squat on monday with 70% of my 1RM and then 7x4 OHP and DL on tuesday with 75% of my 1RM?

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KOROS
KOROS
Oct 10, 2019

Simple and Brvtal.


Just how I like it.

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