In fitness and bodybuilding, pursuing a perfect physique often leads people down various paths. Some decide to stay natural, while others look toward enhancement to supercharge their gains. In my journey, I actually have decided to stay natural. It suits my goals and lifestyle. That said, to every their very own. I actually have nothing against those that select the steroid route.
Steroids are a component of bodybuilding culture. Amidst this landscape, Sam Sulek is currently the largest name in the game. We live within the era of social media superstar bodybuilders. Prefer it or not, Sam is the frontman for a generation of lifters. He has three million YouTube subscribers that follow his every move.
Yet, behind the veil of admiration lies an issue that many dare not voice aloud: can mere mortals achieve similar results without the help of performance-enhancing substances?
This text embarks on a quest for truth as I, a self-proclaimed ‘natty’ or natural athlete, follow Sam Sulek’s workout routine for a month. Can I make it 4 weeks, and are his controversial methods effective for somebody not on the juice? Join me as I navigate the highs and lows, the challenges and triumphs, all in pursuit of progress.
Table of contents:
- Understanding Sam Sulek’s Routine and Philosophy
- Sam Sulek Training Program
- Sam Sulek Weight-reduction plan
- Preparation for the routine
- Detailed week by week experience
- Challenges and adaptations as a natural athlete
- Results, insights, and private growth
- Others who’ve tried
Understanding Sam Sulek’s Routine and Philosophy
As someone who was a component of fitness YouTube within the early 2010s, I can see why Sam Sulek is so successful at a young age. His videos remind me of old-school YouTube from back within the day. Talking to his camera within the automotive, no fancy gym editing, no clickbait, just raw training footage with commentary.
Somewhere along the best way, fitness YouTube stopped being about fitness. The videos became Keeping Up With The Kardashians greater than Pumping Iron. As an alternative of hard training, it was flashy cars and fancy editing. And even worse, a fake persona replaced the realness people craved from a fitness influencer.
Sam is a throwback in one of the simplest ways. He’s just a university kid at Miami University of Ohio who loves training and being a component of the bodybuilding community. Nonetheless, together with his recent explosion in popularity across social media channels, the critics have come out of the woodwork. That could be a part of recognition. As he puts out more videos, the criticism will only grow. Before we outline his program, I would like to review the “Sam Sulek quick facts” of his routine and philosophy.
The Good
A lot of the controversy around Sam’s training is unwarranted. Is Sam Sulek natural? Almost definitely not, but he continues to be doing many things right. Listed below are three things all of us should copy.
1. Effort
It doesn’t take long to appreciate Sam Sulek trains hard when watching considered one of his videos. It should go without saying, but effort is especially answerable for the outcomes you get from the gym. You possibly can have one of the best program on paper, but your progress will likely be limited if the trouble isn’t there.
One in all Sam’s philosophies is to push each set as hard as possible, often to failure and beyond. He routinely uses drop sets, assisted reps, and lengthened partials to exploit every set for all its value.
Many individuals would profit from putting more effort into their training.
2. Lengthened Partials
Lengthened partials are partial reps performed at the underside of the lift when the muscles are most lengthened—for instance, the underside of a barbell curl or the underside of a dumbbell row. When done at the top of an ordinary set, they will be a terrific method to stimulate the muscle a bit more.
3. Short Workouts (45-60 minutes)
I do not care what number of drugs you might be on. Nobody must do three-hour bodybuilding workouts. Sam focuses on effort, not time. The reality is that the majority people use the time spent within the gym to validate how hard they’re working. It’s faulty logic. A 3-hour workout with long rest periods and straightforward sets isn’t effective. If you train hard, short workouts are mandatory. A workout is a sprint, not a marathon. Go in, go hard, and go home.
The Bad
First, his methods are clearly working. That said, from watching his videos, listed here are three things I like to recommend he cleans up.
1. Using Loose Form
Look, I would like to maintain his intensity high. He bullies the weights, and I really like to see it. Nonetheless, you’ll be able to still train with maximum intensity while controlling the eccentric and minimizing momentum.
If you watch Sam Sulek train, he tends to lower the weights fast. The eccentric a part of a lift is crucial for constructing muscle since it places the muscle under tension. At the identical time, it lengthens, resulting in greater muscle fiber recruitment, increased muscle damage, and ultimately, enhanced muscle growth and strength adaptation. Lowering the weights under control limits momentum, making the muscles work harder to maneuver the weights. It is a method to get more out of less, especially on pull workouts.
Plus, using poor form presents a greater likelihood of injury. Getting hurt and needing to miss workouts isn’t a recipe for making gains.
2. Inconsistent Range of Motion
The double-edged sword of lengthened partials is that they’ll create an inconsistent range of motion. When Sam performs a set, the reps slowly lose range of motion as he goes. There is no such thing as a set point where the reps stop being full range of motion and grow to be lengthened partials. This isn’t an enormous deal, but most individuals can be higher off not muddying the waters. Use a full range of motion for as many reps as possible, and as soon as you’ll be able to’t do one other complete rep, switch to lengthened partials.
3. Random Exercise Selection
Sam doesn’t follow a set training program. He desires to do a certain quantity of volume (sets) for a muscle group, however the exercise selection is entirely random. He chooses what to do based on how the exercise feels that day. Now, basing exercise selection on feel will be a superb thing sometimes. Nonetheless, consistency in movements week to week makes it easier to trace progress. Plus, you could have a greater idea of what exercises work after you could have stuck with them for an prolonged period.
Sam Sulek Training Program
As mentioned, Sam picks exercises on the fly, so he doesn’t follow a selected workout plan per se. The next is the workout I’ll base my program on. If needed, like Sam, I’ll substitute some exercises while staying true to the character of this system.
Leg Day
- Seated Leg Curl: 4 sets x 12-15 reps
- Single Leg, Leg Extensions: 3 sets x 12-15 reps
- Heel Elevated Barbell Back Squats: 2 sets x 12-15 reps
- Single Leg, Leg Extensions: 4 sets x 12-15 reps
- Body weight Sissy Squats: 4 sets x 8-10 reps
Chest and Shoulder Day
- Incline Barbell Bench Press: 3 sets x 8-12 reps
- Hammer Strength Chest Press: 2 sets x 8-10 reps
- Smith Machine Incline Press: 2 sets x 8-10 reps
- Pec Deck: 2 sets x 12-15 reps
- Cable Flies: 2 sets x 12-15 reps
- Single Arm Facepull: 4 sets x 12-15 reps
- Reverse Pec Deck: 7 sets x 12-15 reps
- Dumbbell Lateral Raise: 7 sets x 15-20 reps
- Machine Lateral Raise: 4 sets x 15-20 reps
Back Day
- Barbell Row: 4 sets x 8-12 reps
- Lat Pulldown: 3 sets x 8-12 reps
- Single Arm Pulldown: 2 sets x 8-10 reps
- Free Motion Lat Pull Down: 2 sets x 12-15 reps
Arm Day
- Underhand Cable Pressdown: 3 sets x 12-15 reps
- Single Arm Dumbbell Overhead Triceps Extension: 3 sets x 12-15 reps
- Dip Machine: 3 sets x 10-12 reps
- Straight Bar Cable Pressdown: 2 sets x 12-15 reps
- Dumbbell Alternating Curl: 2 sets x 10-12 reps
- Single Arm Cable Bicep Curls: 2 sets x 12-15 reps
- Straight Bar Cable Bicep Curls: 2 sets x 10-12 reps
- EZ Bar Preacher Curl: 2 sets x 10-12 reps
- Dumbbell Spider Curl: 2 sets x 12-15 reps
- Dumbbell Alternating Curl: 1 set x 12-15 reps
Sam Sulek Weight-reduction plan
Sam takes a flexible approach to nutrition. He weighs and measures every thing he eats and goals to devour a certain amount of protein and carbohydrates. Since he tracks his food, he doesn’t follow a selected meal plan. What’s more, a lot of his calories come from nontraditional bodybuilding foods.
Here’s a sample day of eating in Sam’s journey to achieve muscle mass.
Meal 1: Breakfast
- 3 servings of cereal
- 3 cups of whole milk
Meal 2: Post Cardio Snack
- 16oz Apple Juice
- King-Sized Crunch Bar
Meal 3: Lunch
- 16oz Steak
- Large Bowl of Mashed Potatoes
Meal 4: Intra Workout
Meal 5: Dinner
Every day Nutrition Breakdown: 200g of protein, 665g of carbohydrates, 160g of fat, and 4,900 calories
Preparation for the Routine
In preparation for this system, I’ll make a number of adjustments to suit my lifestyle. For one, Sam follows the four-day split outlined above but only takes rest days when needed, often just once every week. Once I was in college, I did something similar. Nonetheless, now that I’m in my 30s, have three kids, a full-time job, and too many responsibilities, I cherish those rest days. So, I’ll keep the four-day split but follow only 4 weekly workouts.
I plan to do legs on Monday, chest and shoulders on Tuesday, back on Thursday, and Arms on Friday or Saturday. Setting this system up this manner ensures I can persist with it for the complete 4 weeks. Is it exactly how Sam does it? No, however it’s close. Apart from training frequency, I’ll follow Sam’s philosophies closely.
We have now to make some adjustments to the weight loss program, too. I can not eat 5000 calories day by day for a month. By the top of this, I might appear like a small apartment building- and never in a superb way.
I’ll follow Sam’s flexible weight-reduction plan approach but aim for 160g of protein, 390g of carbohydrates, 90g of fat, and 3010 calories. These macros should put me right into a slight surplus.
Detailed Week-by-Week Experience
Here is how my month of coaching and eating as Sam Sulek went.
Week 1
The primary week on a recent program is all the time an adjustment, but all things considered, it went well. Before starting Sam’s routine, I used to be on an upper/lower powerlifting split. The concentrated volume of the brand new routine hit me pretty hard on chest and arm days. My chest was destroyed once I got to the cable flies.
Nutrition went well, too. I actually have been flexible weight-reduction plan for over a decade, so diligently tracking macros is nothing recent. The calorie increase was a challenge the primary few days, but I enjoyed the additional food once I got used to it.
Week 2
As I began week two, my arms were still sore from week one. I do not know once I last did that much arm work in at some point.
In true Sam Sulek fashion, I needed to make some exercise substitutions on leg day. It was Monday evening, so the gym was packed. A bunch of highschool boys were hanging across the squat rack, and I didn’t need to wait, so I opted for Smith Machine squats as a substitute. As a powerlifter, this isn’t a substitution I might make, however it works since Sam’s program is a bodybuilding routine. From a muscle-building standpoint, the Smith Machine is underrated.
The remaining of the training week went easily.
Week 3
In week 3, nutrition began to grow to be a difficulty. For some reason, my appetite disappeared. On Monday and Tuesday, I needed to choke down some food at night to hit my calorie goal. On Wednesday, I added a bit “junk food” that’s higher in calories, which helped.
Before my afternoon workout, I had a Pop-Tart. I used to do numerous pre-workout Pop-Tarts once I was younger. It’s a simple method to get 35-40g of carbs and around 200 calories. I also had two servings of ice cream after dinner. While Pop-Tarts and ice cream aren’t what you’ll typically consider bodybuilding foods, so long as you hit your macros, 10-20% of your calories can come from anything you would like.
Week 4
By the last week of this system, I settled right into a nice groove. The soreness dissipated, and my body was handling the additional calories well. A month of bodybuilding training was a pleasant change of pace for me mentally. My old workouts were becoming stale, so emulating Sam Sulek for a month was fun.
Challenges and Adaptations As a Natural Bodybuilder
Surprisingly, I only made a few changes. Although Sam is more than likely on steroids, for essentially the most part, his training philosophies work well for natural athletes, too.
Probably the most significant change I made was to incorporate fewer partial reps at the top of every set. Throughout the first week, I attempted to remain true to his practice of including partial reps to get essentially the most out of every set. Nonetheless for me, I felt prefer it caused my sets to grow to be sloppy. As a compromise, I just took each set to failure using a full range of motion and included extra partial reps on the last set of the exercise. Moreover, I only included a few drop sets per workout and didn’t include any forced reps.
The slight drop in intensity from reducing partial reps, drop sets, and compelled reps is sufficient to make Sam’s program simpler for naturals. Specializing in effort and pushing each set to failure (or close) is a sound method. Nonetheless, as a natural, it’s best to limit how much you transcend failure.
Results, Insights, and Personal Growth
Following Sam’s program pushed me out of my comfort zone. Overall, it was a superb experience.
For starters, I gained five kilos. While not a crazy transformation, it’s substantial for under a month. The additional diligence in tracking my food was a major factor. I actually have been slacking on that for some time. Consistently eating 3,000 calories opened my eyes to the proven fact that I had been undereating.
Secondly, I swear my arms got larger. I must have measured them before, but they give the impression of being larger to me. Arm training, particularly biceps work, was one other area where I used to be slacking. I want to indicate my biceps a bit more attention in the long run with more arm workouts.
Lastly, my body feels higher. Heavy powerlifting training takes a toll on the joints, and the upper rep sets helped my body feel higher than it has shortly. I feel incorporating an entire month of bodybuilding training is a superb idea to provide the joints a break.
Others Who Have Tried
Listed below are another comments from natty lifters who’ve tried Sam Sulek’s workout routine:
“I began doing it around August simply to try, now it is the only way I train. Something about it makes my workout that far more satisfying. It might not be optimal but its essentially the most progress I’ve seen within the gym definitely, wish I began it sooner.” [source]
“For me it worked, my chest grew so much larger since I began doing his split, my biceps began (finally) growing and my legs too.” [source]
“Ive been running it except with more rest days before he popped up. Legs Chest n Shoulders Rest Back Arms Rest. Rest At the top of the day like the opposite commenter said splits are very individual but i’ve found this to be pretty good.” [source]
Conclusion
Well, there you could have it – my experience as a natural athlete training like Sam Sulek for a month. Overall, Sam gets numerous unnecessary criticism. He’s only a young guy who loves to coach and shares his passion with tens of millions. Is every thing he says and recommends excellent advice? No, probably not. Is he on performance-enhancing drugs? Almost definitely. Nonetheless, we will still learn from what he does.
Sam trains hard. That’s greater than I can say for many lifters. He also diligently tracks his macros, ensuring he hits his day by day calorie and protein goals. If everyone did those two things, progress can be so much easier to come back by.
It may possibly be helpful to try popular training routines. Not only is it fun, but it will probably even be an academic experience. Nonetheless, the secret is finding what works best for you. The perfect program for Sam will likely be different than what’s best for me otherwise you. With training, it’s like our moms told us as kids: we’re all special snowflakes.
