Quick Start Guide

Table of Contents

Welcome to the Guide ............................................................................................................................. 1

Introduction ................................................................................................................................................... 1
Goal of the Guide ..................................................................................................................................... 2
Lifting Science ................................................................................................................................................. 2
The Core Principals ................................................................................................................................ 2
Volume .............................................................................................................................................................3
Intensity ............................................................................................................................................................4
Frequency ..................................................................................................................................................... 6
Rest Periods and Lifting Tempo ..................................................................................................7
Plateaus ............................................................................................................................................................7
Nutrition................................................................................................................................................................ 9
The Basics ..................................................................................................................................................... 9
Calories .......................................................................................................................................................... 10
Macro and Micronutrients...............................................................................................................12
Secrets to Staying Lean ........................................................................................................................ 16
Intermittent Fasting ............................................................................................................................. 16
High-Intensity Interval Training ................................................................................................. 17
Stretching, Warm Ups, Abs, and Progression .................................................................... 18
Basic Stretching Routine/Warm-Up.................................................................................... 19
Abdominal Training ..............................................................................................................................21
Tracking Your Workouts ................................................................................................................. 25
Closing Statements .................................................................................................................................. 25
 Welcome to the Quick Start Guide
Introduction
Welcome, and thank you for downloading the quick start guide.

Whether you have never stepped foot in the gym or have been lifting for
10 years, this guide will give you the information about fitness that
actually gets you results.

It will provide you the essential concepts and principals in fitness to help
you achieve an incredible physique.

It will answer questions like: How do I get bigger? How do I get stronger?
How do I get my abs to show? How do I gain lean muscle? How long do I
rest between sets? How many times should I work out a week?

And a whole lot more.

But before you start, let me tell you a little bit about myself.

My name is James Augustine, and for six years Ive been working
towards finding the methods that create the perfect physique in the
fastest way possible.

Six years ago, when I first ventured into the fitness world, it seemed
impossible to find what I was looking for.

I found myself running in circles trying program after program,

supplement after supplement trying to get results that were promised
but never delivered.

For a beginner, this can be very frustrating.

That's when it became my goal to create a guide that is genuine,

comprehensive, and complete, giving you everything you need to know
to start building an impressive physique.

Quick Start Guide | James Augustine 1

Through trial and error, I have refined the lifting techniques to their core
principles guaranteeing the fastest results provided the effort is put in.

This guide covers the science and key principals behind weightlifting,
nutrition, and an exact workout plan for the beginner, intermediate, and
advanced lifter.

Disclaimer:
*This program is made for naturals (anyone not using steroids).

Goal of the Guide

In this guide, I will show you the basics and core principals of fitness.

Whether you are a beginner, intermediate or advanced lifter, these

principals should be implemented into your workout routines to give you
the fastest results.

If you simply dont care about the science behind weight lifting, then skip
to page 27.

There starts the example routine ideas that you can try out for yourself
all made to give you the fastest results.

If you are more serious about lifting, then check out the course section
on my website to get a workout routine linked here.

Lifting Science
The Core Principals
Lifting is broken up into five parts:

volume
intensity
frequency
rest periods
lifting tempo

Quick Start Guide | James Augustine 2

Adjusting these variables will change the outcome of either hypertrophy
(muscle growth), strength, or a combination of the two which is called
hybrid training.

These upcoming sections will contain a lot of technical terms, but I will
try to just give the principal advice without going into too much detail
about the scientific research.

But, it is still important to understand the basic concepts of these

principles because they are the essential building blocks for what you
are trying to accomplish in your workouts.

Volume
The first thing you need to understand is volume.

Volume, arguably the most important variable, is the load x reps x sets.

This means if you lifted 135lbs x 5 reps x 5 sets, your workout would
equate to 3375 lbs of total volume.

This number, 3375 lbs., would be the total amount of weight put on that
muscle in that session.

The research shows that more volume does relate to more mass.

This means the more reps and sets and weight you perform, the more
mass you will get.

But, only to an extent.

Excess volume can lead to increased fatigue.

Simply put, the harder the workout, the more recovery is needed.

If too much fatigue is generated by the intensity of the workout (excess

volume), it will lead to insufficient recovery.

Quick Start Guide | James Augustine 3

Insufficient recovery results in a plateau, and your body will not build the
optimal amount of strength or muscle.

Because of these factors, you will have to use the sweet spot amount
of volume, which has been found to be:

40-70 reps per muscle group per session

This means that each muscle must go through 40-70 reps per workout
session to optimally grow or gain strength.

Anything above that standard will generally make your fatigue level
higher than your fitness, and anything below that will be inefficient for
strength or muscle growth.

You also must keep in mind the principle of effective reps.

This principle simply means you must use a weight heavy enough to
break down a muscle.

For example, if you curled a pencil 100 times, it wouldn't be too hard.

However, if you curled a 40lb dumbbell 100 times, it would be a lot

harder.

This means that using a weight under ~65% of your 1 rep max is not heavy
enough to effectively break down a muscle.

So, if one maxes out on the bench press at 225lbs, then using ~145lbs
(225 x 0.65) or lower is ineffective and is essentially considered a warm
up.

Keep in mind, you want to be able to achieve the amount of reps given in
the upcoming routines with one rep left before failure.

Intensity
Now, let's talk about intensity.
Quick Start Guide | James Augustine 4
Intensity is how heavy the weight will be or how much effort is put into the
workout.

Intensity, like volume, can be manipulated for either strength,

hypertrophy, or a combination of both.

Through research, we know that to get stronger, we need to lift heavy,

meaning you must lift weights 85% or higher of your 1 rep max.

This is usually in the 1-6 rep range.

This is because when you use more weight there are much more
neurological adaptions which is known to be the key driver in increasing
strength.

(The 1-5 rep range is labeled as high intensity because the weight used
will be much heavier compared to the 6-12 rep range)

Using these parameters will maximize your strength gains.

However, on the hypertrophy (muscle growth) side, it is less specific.

This means you can achieve a hypertrophic response (muscle growth)

from a couple of key techniques and principles.

First is the principle of progressive overload.

Progressive overload is a constant progression in a given exercise.

For example, if you bench 225 lbs. for 5 reps in a workout, you want to try
to increase the weight, reps, or control of the weight on the next workout.

This will force the muscle to adapt, causing progressive overload, which
leads to hypertrophy, along with strength gains.
The second principle is that more volume (reps x sets x load) equates to
more hypertrophy (muscle size), but only to an extent

Quick Start Guide | James Augustine 5

Remember, too much volume (reps x sets x load) leads to reduced
performance, and too little volume (reps x sets x load) will lead to
inefficient strength and muscle growth.

This being said, if you want to build strength, that doesn't mean you
should do ALL of your reps in the 1-6 and vice versa for hypertrophy.

If you only use the 1-6 rep range for strength you will experience joint
pains and a much higher risk of injury along with mental fatigue.

Also, for strength, a bigger muscle can push more weight, so if you want
to push more weight, it would be a good idea for you to do some high
volume (8-12 rep range) work.

On the flip side, if your goal is hypertrophy (muscle size), it would be a

good idea to use strength training because if you are stronger, you can
use a higher volume (reps x sets x load) which equates to more
hypertrophy (muscle size).

To sum it all up, if you are training for strength, you should perform ~ or
of your total reps in the high intensity 1-6 rep range and the rest in the
low intensity 8-12 rep range.

If you are training for hypertrophy you should perform ~ or of you total
reps in the low intensity 8-12 rep range and the rest in the high intensity 1-
6 rep range.

Frequency
Next, let's touch on frequency.

Frequency is the number of times a muscle is being worked a week.

Quick Start Guide | James Augustine 6

For a natural (anyone not using steroids), it is proven that hitting a muscle
group 2-3 x a week is most effective for strength and muscle growth.

So, for an effective program, you will need to hit every muscle group 2-3
times a week.

Rest Periods and Lifting Tempo

Rest periods and lifting tempo. These two topics are highly controversial,
but you need to make sure these factors don't affect your total volume
(reps x sets x load) which has been proven to be the most important
variable.

It has been proven that for rest periods, you want to rest as much time as
you need between sets to hit the prescribed rep range without dropping
the weight.
This is usually around 3 minutes of rest between sets. If you dont rest
enough, your volume (load x reps x sets) and performance will decrease
because your body is not fully recovered.

Remember, volume is more important than rest periods.

As far as lifting tempo, going too slow on the way down (eccentric
portion) or too slow on the way up (concentric portion) will lead to less
volume (reps x sets x load) because of the increased difficulty.

So, for maximum volume (reps x sets x load), you need to control the
weight on the way down and explode on the way up.

Obviously, as the weight gets on the heavier side (85% and up to your 1
rep max), it will be harder to push the weight up, but if you think about
controlling the weight on the way down and exploding on the way up,
this will lead to the most volume (reps x sets x load).
In turn, this causes maximum muscle and strength gains.

Plateaus
During your progression in this guide, you will experience plateaus.

Quick Start Guide | James Augustine 7

This is a temporary period of time when you will not be able to raise the
weight or increase the reps on a given exercise.

There are a couple of things that need to be considered to minimize the

amount plateaus and make the progression as linear as possible.

1. Make sure that you're in a caloric surplus.

-This means eating enough to support muscle breakdown (unless youre
trying to lose weight). This will be discussed later and taught in full in the
nutrition section of this guide.

2. Make sure your fitness is greater than your fatigue.

-This was previously talked about in the section titled Volume located
on page 5.
3. A small raise in volume to account for your increased lifting
experience.

4. Take a deload week.

-This means keeping the weight the same but dropping your reps on all
your exercises by 2-4 and taking off your last set of each exercise.

Doing this decreases your total volume (reps x sets x load) considerably
and gives your body extra rest time for 1 week.

Deloads should only be done once every 4th week and an example of this
is shown on pg. 22.

The other methods should always be implemented.

Summary
Volume (pg.3) 40-70 reps/muscle/session
Intensity (pg.5) Strength = ~ or of your total
reps in the high intensity 1-6 rep
range

Quick Start Guide | James Augustine 8

 Hypertrophy= ~ or of you total
reps in the low intensity 8-12 rep
range
Frequency (pg.7) 2-3/muscle/week
Rest Periods (pg.7) ~3 minutes
Lifting Tempo (pg.7) Control on the way down, explode
on the way up

Plateaus (pg.8) 1. Caloric surplus

2. Fitness over fatigue
3. As lifting experience increases,
so should volume
4. Deloads

Nutrition
The Basics
Nutrition is equally as important as lifting weights and the two go hand in
hand. In these next sections, you will learn the basics of nutrition to either
gain muscle or lose fat.

Nutrition is made up of 5 parts:

1. calories
2. macronutrients
3. micronutrients
4. water intake
5. nutrient timing

Manipulating these variables will result in either gaining or losing weight

and also the intensity of your diet (aggressive or lenient).
I recommend that skinnier people bulk up and then lose the extra body
fat later, while people on the heavier side should just lose weight.

This is because while losing weight (cutting) on the heavier side, progress
in strength and muscle growth will still be made because of the extra
calories stored as fat.

Quick Start Guide | James Augustine 9

These extra calories support the muscle breakdown caused by lifting
weights.

Calories
In the nutrition world, calories are one of the biggest misconceptions and
are usually overcomplicated.

Nearly everything you eat and drink has calories and they are used to
measure the amount of energy in everything you consume.

The first thing you need to understand is that a carb is a carb, protein is
protein, and fat is fat.

This means that a carb coming from a salad is broken down in your body
the same way as a carb from a donut.

Of course, they have different health benefits and detriments, but in the
end, your body doesnt distinguish between the two.

Now that Ive covered that, lets get into the difference between cutting
(losing weight) and bulking (gaining weight).

If you sat on a couch all day, you would burn a certain number of
calories.

This number has to do with your height, weight, body fat, muscle
composition, age, body type and other small variables.

For a rough estimate, it is your bodyweight times 15 in calories.

This number would roughly give you a number of calories a day to

neither gain weight nor lose weight.

This is known as your basal metabolic rate or BMR.

Quick Start Guide | James Augustine 10

To figure out the exact number, start with your bodyweight times 15 and
eat that for two weeks, making minor adjustments until you consistently
dont gain or lose weight.

Now obviously, your weight will never be the same because of water
intake and small variables, but if you take the weeks average, this will be
most accurate.

To lose weight, I recommend eating in a small caloric deficit.

This is your bodyweight times 13 in calories.

This is beneficial because it is easy enough to stick to but will ensure

weight loss.

When you eat in a caloric deficit, your body still needs the extra calories
that you are not eating, so it gets it from your extra storage, your fat.

In turn, this causes you to lose weight.

For a heavier individual who has a lot to lose, I recommend eating your
body weight times 10 in calories.

This is a more aggressive approach that will accelerate fat loss, but it has
its mental and physical restraints.

Always remember that dropping your calories too low will result in a
plateau.

Your calories should never be dropped below your bodyweight times 10

in calories.

Also, take note that these numbers are only recommendations.

I highly suggest finding your actual BMR as talked about above.

Now let me explain how to gain lean muscle mass commonly referred to
as bulking.

Quick Start Guide | James Augustine 11

When you work out properly, you tear down your muscle.

To repair it, you should eat in a small caloric surplus.

This is around your bodyweight times 17 in calories.

That is enough calories to support muscle growth but not too much to
gain the extra unwanted fat.

For an average individual in this guide, you will bulk up to gain the
necessary size and then lose weight to reveal the muscle definition and
the abs.

For example, if your current weight is 175 lbs, your maintenance calories
would be around 2625 (bodyweight x 15).

To lost weight (cut), your calories would be around 1750-2275

(bodyweight x 10-13) depending on the aggressiveness of the diet.

For a lean bulk, your calories would be 2975 (bodyweight x 17).

Macro and Micronutrients

Next, let's talk about macronutrients, commonly referred to as macros.
These are the three main macros:

1. proteins
2. carbohydrates
3. fats

Each day, your total calories are broken up into these three macros
which are related to the foods you consume.
Each macro has its place in the body, and one should never be dropped
too low.

Carbohydrates act as your bodys main energy source and have 4

calories per gram.

Quick Start Guide | James Augustine 12

Proteins are your body's building block for muscle which also have 4
calories per gram.

Fats support healthy hormone levels while also being your long-term
energy source while having 9 calories per gram.

Keep in mind that fats don't make you fat; only a calorie surplus will make
you fat.

When trying to gain or lose weight, the goal is to make it as easy and
sustainable as possible.

This being said, I only track my protein, and in turn, the carbs and fats
usually fall into place.

Tracking only protein makes recording what you eat more applicable to
your lifestyle.

On a bulk, I recommend getting 30% of your calories from protein.

If you are cutting, I recommend raising it to 40%.

This is because when you are cutting, you are getting fewer calories than
what you need, and the extra protein will preserve current muscle and
will keep you much more full because of the thermogenic effect protein
has on your body.

If you are overweight, it might be a good idea to limit your carbs to 35-
40% for a more extreme approach.

This is because extra carbs do turn directly into storage (fat).

Also, lowering your carbs allows for more protein, which numerous
studies show to be beneficial for weight loss.

So, when cutting, dropping your carbs could make the difference in
weight loss, but for most, a normal caloric deficit combined with a 40%
protein ratio should do the trick.

Quick Start Guide | James Augustine 13

To figure out your protein needs, take your total calories x 0.4.

Then divide this number by 4, and you will get the number of grams of
protein you need per day.

Always remember that eating healthy foods does not result in weight loss.

Healthy foods are more accurate to track and have other health benefits,
but calories will always set the stage for weight gain or loss.

It is also important to get your micronutrients to keep a healthy body and

immune system, along with other health benefits.

Instead of telling you to eat specific amounts of vitamins and minerals

(your micronutrients), it is easiest to simply eat 2-3 servings of fruits and
vegetables a day minimum.

Also, it is vital to get half your bodyweight in ounces of water a day.

Doing these things almost always gives your body the required vitamins,
minerals, and an adequate amount of water for a healthy, functioning
body.

A helpful app for tracking your calories, macros, and micros is My

Fitness Pal. This will take care of all your nutrition tracking in the easiest
way possible.

Always remember that nutrition labels are much more accurate than
eating out.
For maximum results when cutting, I recommend not eating out unless
done accurately, but on a bulk, there is a little more room for mistakes.

Below is an example of both a cut and bulk.

Cut Bulk
Calories: Calories:
Normal cut | bodyweight x 13 Lean bulk | Bodyweight x 17

Quick Start Guide | James Augustine 14

 Aggressive cut | bodyweight x 10
Macros:
Protein - 40% of calories
Carbs ~40% of calories
Fats ~20% of calories
Micros:
2 serving of fruits and vegetables
minimum
Water:
0.5 x bodyweight in ounces
Macros:
Protein - 30% of calories
Carbs ~50% of calories
Fats ~20% of calories
Micros:
2 serving of fruits and vegetables
minimum
Water:
0.5 x bodyweight in ounces

When cutting, for some, it is very easy to plateau.

There are two methods to prevent these plateaus from occurring.

1. Refeed days

When on a cut, your metabolism adjusts to the decreased caloric intake

which results in less weight loss.

To counteract this, you will eat maintenance calories (bodyweight x 15) to

readjust your metabolism to normal levels for 1 day out of the week.

This is not voluntary. Though, someone who is extremely overweight

could only need a refeed once every two weeks because of the extra
weight.
2. Diet break

When dieting for a long time, you could also plateau.

This is when you should take a diet break.

A diet break is when you will eat maintenance for a week to regain
complete metabolic normality.

Quick Start Guide | James Augustine 15

 Secrets to Staying Lean
Intermittent Fasting
When losing weight (cutting) there is one method that will significantly
increase weight loss on a cut, and in turn, when used on a bulk, will keep
you lean and shredded.

This method is called intermittent fasting (IF).

IF is when you push your first meal back later in the day to give your
body extra time to burn fat.

The studies show that when your body has no food in its stomach, it will
use your fat as energy.

This results in extra weight loss.

It truly allows you to maintain a lean body year-round.

Intermittent fasting also has many other evidence-based benefits such

as an increase in human growth hormone, heart health, raised levels of
focus, and studies have even shown life extension benefits.

I highly recommend intermittent fasting to everyone I train and would not

diet without it.

If you have never done it before, I suggest pushing your first meal back 5
hours at first and eventually increase it to 6-7 hours.
During the fasting period, you can consume no calories.

Make sure that youre drinking a lot of water, and if you want, coffee or
tea is fine.

Anything with zero calories is allowed.

Carbonated drinks, such as sparkling water, and caffeine provide an

appetite suppressant if you tend to get hungry easily, but the more you
do IF, the easier it is.
Quick Start Guide | James Augustine 16
For maximum fat loss, a four-hour eating window is what I advise.

For example, only eating from 12pm to 4pm or 4pm to 10pm.

Any four-hour window will do.

It is hard, but the fat loss is incredible.

But for the average person, pushing your first meal back 6-7 hours is
usually the best option.

Also, IF makes it easier to diet because by skipping a meal, it allows

those extra calories to be eaten later in the day allowing for more
enjoyable meals.

Give it a try but always remember IF is not for everyone and it comes
down to personal preference.

High-Intensity Interval Training

Another trick to increase fat loss is by incorporating high-intensity interval
training (HIIT).

When trying to get to low body fat percentages or trying to accelerate

fat loss, some form of HIIT should be done.

Below are a couple of routines listed that in my experience work the

best.

Sprints: 45sec sprint followed by 15 sec rest x 6

Jump Rope: 30sec fast followed by 60 sec slow x 6

Quick Start Guide | James Augustine 17

 Stationary Bike: 45sec sprint followed by 15 sec rest x6

Doing HIIT cardio on a caloric deficit while intermittent fasting is the

ultimate combination for weight loss.

On the flip side, doing these things while bulking will also keep you lean
year-round and keep your heart and body in good health.

Stretching, Warm Ups, Abs, and Progression

How to Progress
In this program, progression is key and should be done properly.

I will now show you how to progress in the right fashion for the upcoming
routine to ensure progressive overload and keep plateaus to a minimum.

I will give an example for an exercise done in the 3-5 rep range and the
8-12 rep range.

3-5 rep range exercise progression:

Training Session Weight (85% of 1RM) Reps
1 225 5,5,5
2 230 4,4,4
3 235 3,3,3
4 225 3,3 (deload)
5 230 5,5,5

8-12 rep range exercise progression:

Training Session Weight Reps
1 100 11,10,9
2 100 11,11,9
3 100 11,11,10
Quick Start Guide | James Augustine 18
 4 100 8,8 (deload)
5 100 12,12,11
6 100 12,12,12
7 105 9,8,8

All this means that if you see a 3-5 or 8-12 rep range exercise in any of
my routines, you should progress on the given exercise in the way
shown above to maximize results.

If you are a beginner, you can progress in a linear fashion.

This means you keep the reps and weight the same in that workouts and
then raise the weight 5 lbs. on the following workouts.

Below is an example of linear progression.

Training Session Weight (85% of 1RM) Reps

1 95 5
2 100 5
3 105 5
4 105 (same weight) 5
5 110 5
6 110 (same weight) 5
7 115 5
8 115 (same weight) 5
9 120 5

Basic Stretching Routine/Warm-Up

Before lifting, you need to get your muscles loose and prepared.
Quick Start Guide | James Augustine 19
I will take you through a basic stretching routine that targets all the main
muscle groups and should be done daily before each workout.

*If you arent sure what these stretches are, you can find the proper form
on the internet.

10 Arm Circles Forward

10 Arm Circles Backward
10 Cross Body Arm Slaps
10 Leg Swings Back to Front
10 Leg Swings Side to Side
10 Walking Lunges with Trunk Rotation

Doing these stretches prevents injury and increases flexibility and

mobility which allows for more fluid movements in all of your exercises.

Stretching is the first step to achieving an incredible physique and

eventually, will become a habit.

Warming up is equally as important and should be done as follows:

Warmup Set % of working weight Reps

1 50% 5
2 70% 3
3 90% 1

These should only be done before the first exercise of the workout using
the first exercise on that given day.

The example below is if the first exercise of the given workout is incline
bench press and your working weight for the given rep range 225lbs.

You would lift 110lbs (0.5 x 225) for 5 reps, 160lbs (225 x 0.7) for 3 reps and
finally 200lbs (225 x 0.9) for 1 rep.
Quick Start Guide | James Augustine 20
Doing so will properly prepare your body for the upcoming sets in that
routine.

Beginner Routine Example

As a beginner, you goal is to gain strength in the key compound lifts.

Compound lifts are the exercises that use more than one muscle group.

For example, the bench press primarily targets the chest, but the
shoulders and triceps are also being worked; thus, the bench press is a
compound lift.

A beginner routine should set the foundation for your physique and
should not be skipped unless the necessary strength standards are
already met

A beginner routine should be simple and concise, ensuring a strong base

to build off.

At this level, most of your muscle and strength gains will come from
progressive overload (a constant progression in a given exercise).

This means keeping track of your lifts (using either pen and paper or an
app) is required for all levels and should never be skipped.

If you would like to know the best and most optimal exercises, I highly
recommend checking out my standard programs linked here as this is
just an example set up of a beginner routine.

Monday Upper:
Horizontal Push | 3 sets x 5 reps
Horizontal Pull | 3 sets x 5 reps
Vertical Push | 2 sets x 8 reps
Vertical Pull | 2 sets x 8 reps
Flys | 3 sets x 15 reps

Quick Start Guide | James Augustine 21

 Tuesday Lower:
Squat Variant | 5 sets x 5 reps
Deadlift Variant | 5 sets x 5 reps
Single Leg Variant | 2 sets x 8 reps
Standing Dumbbell Calf Raise | 3 sets x 8 reps

Wednesday Upper:
Horizontal Push | 3 sets x 10 reps
Horizontal Pull | 3 sets x 10 reps
Vertical Push | 2 sets x 12 reps
Vertical Pull | 2 sets x 12 reps
Triceps | 2 sets x 12 reps
Biceps | 2 sets x 12 reps
Thursday Lower:
Deadlift Variant | 3 sets x 8 reps
Leg Press Variant | 3 sets x 8 reps
Leg Extension | 2 sets x 12 reps
Leg Curl | 2 sets x 12 reps
Standing Dumbbell Calf Raise | 3 sets x 15 reps

Intermediate Routine Example

The next step is moving to the intermediate routine.

An intermediate routine should add a couple more movements that will

bring out the symmetry and extra size in your muscles.

I highly recommend checking out my standard programs linked here

when reaching the intermediate or advanced stages to get a complete
custom program for you and your goals.

Below is an example set up for an intermediate lifter.

Monday Lower:
Squat Variant | 3 sets x 3-5 reps
Quick Start Guide | James Augustine 22
 Deadlift Variant | 3 sets x 3-5 reps
Single Leg Variant | 3 sets x 5-7 reps
Leg Extension | 3 sets x 6-8 reps
Standing Dumbbell Calf Raise | 3 sets x 6-8 reps
Tuesday Upper:
Horizontal Push | 5 sets x 3-5 reps
Horizontal Pull | 4 sets x 4-6 reps
Vertical Push | 4 sets 5-7 reps
Vertical Pull | 3 sets x 6-8 reps
Triceps Variant | 3 sets x 8-12 reps
Bicep Variant | 3 sets x 8-12 reps
Wednesday Lower:
Hip-Hinge Variant | 3 sets x 6-8 reps
Leg Press Variant | 3 sets x 6-8 reps
Single Leg Variant | 3 sets x 8-12 reps
Leg Extension | 3 sets x 8-12 reps
Leg Curl | 3 sets 8-12 reps
Seated Calf Raise | 3 sets x 12-15 reps
Thursday Push:
Vertical Push | 3 sets x 6-8 reps
Horizontal Push | 3 sets x 6-8 reps
Dips | 3 sets x 8-12 reps
Triceps Variation | 2 sets x 12-15 reps
Flys | 3 sets x 12-15 reps
Friday Pull:
Horizontal Pull | 3 sets x 6-8 reps
Vertical Pull | 3 sets x 6-8 reps
Weighted Back Extension | 3 sets x 8-12 reps
Bicep Variation | 2 sets x 12-15 reps
Cable Face Pull | 2 sets x 12-15 reps

Advanced Routine
As you reach the advanced level, hypertrophy (muscle growth) and
strength gains come a lot slower.

Quick Start Guide | James Augustine 23

At this point, you need to start specializing on your specific lagging
muscle groups and adjusting volume to your specific needs.

I cannot give an example because if you are an advanced or even

intermediate lifter, your workout routine should be customized to you
and your needs.

I highly recommend checking out my custom programs linked here

when reaching the intermediate or advanced stages to get a complete
custom program for you and your needs.

Abdominal Training
In my opinion, direct ab work is not needed.

This is because when doing heavy sets of Squats and deadlift with
proper form, your abs will adapt and become strong automatically.

Also, keep in mind abs are directly correlated to your body fat %.

This means that the lower your body fat percentage, the more you will
see your abs.

Learning how to drop body fat percentage was taught in the nutrition
section; however, I will now explain how to properly hit abs if you are one
that wants extra core work.

The abdominals are broken up into a lower portion, an upper portion, and
the obliques.
We only use two movements to target the abs.

A weighted cable crunch for the upper abs and a decline leg raise for the
lower abs.

Quick Start Guide | James Augustine 24

The routine below is a simple way to effectively hit the abs and if done,
should be at the end of a workout.

Ab Routine:
Decline Leg Raise | 3 sets x 12-15 reps
Weighted Cable Crunch | 3 sets x 12-15 reps

Tracking Your Workouts

For all the above routines, I need to make it clear that progressive
overload is a key driver to hypertrophy and strength which requires you
to keep track of all workouts.

This applies whether youre adding reps, weight, or control to an

exercise.

Remember to only raise the weight when you can achieve maximum
reps with proper form on all your sets for a given exercise.

This will be the key driver to all of your strength and hypertrophy gains
and should never be skipped.

Closing Statements
All the methods above combine and form an incredible body and
hopefully allows you to understand the routine you purchased.

If you are confused about anything feel free to ask questions on any of
my social media pages found on my website.

If you want to take your fitness to the next level, check out the custom
programs section on my website linked here or check out my standard
programs linked here for quick start. Best of luck!

Quick Start Guide | James Augustine 25