In health and bodybuilding, pursuing a really perfect physique usually leads folks down varied paths. Some select to remain pure, whereas others look towards enhancement to supercharge their features. In my journey, I’ve determined to stay pure. It fits my objectives and life-style. That mentioned, to every their very own. I’ve nothing in opposition to those that select the steroid route.
Steroids are part of bodybuilding tradition. Amidst this panorama, Sam Sulek is at present the most important identify within the sport. We dwell within the period of social media famous person bodybuilders. Prefer it or not, Sam is the frontman for a technology of lifters. He has three million YouTube subscribers that observe his each transfer.
But, behind the veil of admiration lies a query that many dare not voice aloud: can mere mortals obtain comparable outcomes with out assistance from performance-enhancing substances?
This text embarks on a quest for reality as I, a self-proclaimed ‘natty’ or pure athlete, observe Sam Sulek’s exercise routine for a month. Can I make it 4 weeks, and are his controversial strategies efficient for somebody not on the juice? Be a part of me as I navigate the highs and lows, the challenges and triumphs, all in pursuit of progress.
Desk of contents:
Understanding Sam Sulek’s Routine and Philosophy
Sam Sulek Coaching Program
Sam Sulek Weight-reduction plan
Preparation for the routine
Detailed week by week expertise
Challenges and diversifications as a pure athlete
Outcomes, insights, and private development
Others who’ve tried
Understanding Sam Sulek’s Routine and Philosophy
As somebody who was part of health YouTube within the early 2010s, I can see why Sam Sulek is so profitable at a younger age. His movies remind me of old-school YouTube from again within the day. Speaking to his digicam within the automotive, no fancy gymnasium enhancing, no clickbait, simply uncooked coaching footage with commentary.
Someplace alongside the way in which, health YouTube stopped being about health. The movies turned Conserving Up With The Kardashians greater than Pumping Iron. As a substitute of laborious coaching, it was flashy vehicles and fancy enhancing. And even worse, a faux persona changed the realness folks craved from a health influencer.
Sam is a throwback in one of the simplest ways. He’s only a faculty child at Miami College of Ohio who loves coaching and being part of the bodybuilding neighborhood. Nevertheless, along with his latest explosion in recognition throughout social media channels, the critics have come out of the woodwork. That is part of recognition. As he places out extra movies, the criticism will solely develop. Earlier than we define his program, I need to assessment the “Sam Sulek fast information” of his routine and philosophy.
The Good
Many of the controversy round Sam’s coaching is unwarranted. Is Sam Sulek pure? Probably not, however he’s nonetheless doing many issues proper. Listed here are three issues all of us ought to copy.
1. Effort
It would not take lengthy to appreciate Sam Sulek trains laborious when watching considered one of his movies. It ought to go with out saying, however effort is principally accountable for the outcomes you get from the gymnasium. You possibly can have the most effective program on paper, however your progress might be restricted if the hassle is just not there.
One in all Sam’s philosophies is to push every set as laborious as attainable, usually to failure and past. He routinely makes use of drop units, assisted reps, and lengthened partials to exploit each set for all its value.
Many individuals would profit from placing extra effort into their coaching.
2. Lengthened Partials
Lengthened partials are partial reps carried out on the backside of the carry when the muscle groups are most lengthened—for instance, the underside of a barbell curl or the underside of a dumbbell row. When performed on the finish of a typical set, they could be a nice technique to stimulate the muscle a bit of extra.
3. Brief Exercises (45-60 minutes)
I do not care what number of medication you’re on. Nobody must do three-hour bodybuilding exercises. Sam focuses on effort, not time. The reality is that most individuals use the time spent within the gymnasium to validate how laborious they’re working. It is defective logic. A 3-hour exercise with lengthy relaxation durations and straightforward units is just not efficient. While you practice laborious, quick exercises are mandatory. A exercise is a dash, not a marathon. Go in, go laborious, and go house.
The Unhealthy
First, his strategies are clearly working. That mentioned, from watching his movies, listed below are three issues I like to recommend he cleans up.
1. Utilizing Free Type
Look, I need to maintain his depth excessive. He bullies the weights, and I like to see it. Nevertheless, you possibly can nonetheless practice with most depth whereas controlling the eccentric and minimizing momentum.
While you watch Sam Sulek practice, he tends to decrease the weights quick. The eccentric a part of a carry is essential for constructing muscle as a result of it locations the muscle underneath rigidity. On the similar time, it lengthens, resulting in higher muscle fiber recruitment, elevated muscle injury, and finally, enhanced muscle development and energy adaptation. Reducing the weights underneath management limits momentum, making the muscle groups work more durable to maneuver the weights. It is a technique to get extra out of much less, particularly on pull exercises.
Plus, utilizing poor kind presents a higher likelihood of damage. Getting damage and needing to overlook exercises isn’t a recipe for making features.
2. Inconsistent Vary of Movement
The double-edged sword of lengthened partials is that they’ll create an inconsistent vary of movement. When Sam performs a set, the reps slowly lose vary of movement as he goes. There isn’t any set level the place the reps cease being full vary of movement and grow to be lengthened partials. This isn’t an enormous deal, however most individuals can be higher off not muddying the waters. Use a full vary of movement for as many reps as attainable, and as quickly as you possibly can’t do one other full rep, swap to lengthened partials.
3. Random Train Choice
Sam would not observe a set coaching program. He desires to do a certain amount of quantity (units) for a muscle group, however the train choice is completely random. He chooses what to do based mostly on how the train feels that day. Now, basing train choice on really feel could be a good factor typically. Nevertheless, consistency in actions week to week makes it simpler to trace progress. Plus, you’ve a greater concept of what workout routines work after you’ve caught with them for an prolonged interval.
Sam Sulek Coaching Program
As talked about, Sam picks workout routines on the fly, so he doesn’t observe a selected exercise plan per se. The next is the exercise I’ll base my program on. If wanted, like Sam, I’ll substitute some workout routines whereas staying true to the character of this system.
Leg Day
Seated Leg Curl: 4 units x 12-15 reps
Single Leg, Leg Extensions: 3 units x 12-15 reps
Heel Elevated Barbell Again Squats: 2 units x 12-15 reps
Single Leg, Leg Extensions: 4 units x 12-15 reps
Body weight Sissy Squats: 4 units x 8-10 reps
Chest and Shoulder Day
Incline Barbell Bench Press: 3 units x 8-12 reps
Hammer Energy Chest Press: 2 units x 8-10 reps
Smith Machine Incline Press: 2 units x 8-10 reps
Pec Deck: 2 units x 12-15 reps
Cable Flies: 2 units x 12-15 reps
Single Arm Facepull: 4 units x 12-15 reps
Reverse Pec Deck: 7 units x 12-15 reps
Dumbbell Lateral Elevate: 7 units x 15-20 reps
Machine Lateral Elevate: 4 units x 15-20 reps
Again Day
Barbell Row: 4 units x 8-12 reps
Lat Pulldown: 3 units x 8-12 reps
Single Arm Pulldown: 2 units x 8-10 reps
Free Movement Lat Pull Down: 2 units x 12-15 reps
Arm Day
Underhand Cable Pressdown: 3 units x 12-15 reps
Single Arm Dumbbell Overhead Triceps Extension: 3 units x 12-15 reps
Dip Machine: 3 units x 10-12 reps
Straight Bar Cable Pressdown: 2 units x 12-15 reps
Dumbbell Alternating Curl: 2 units x 10-12 reps
Single Arm Cable Bicep Curls: 2 units x 12-15 reps
Straight Bar Cable Bicep Curls: 2 units x 10-12 reps
EZ Bar Preacher Curl: 2 units x 10-12 reps
Dumbbell Spider Curl: 2 units x 12-15 reps
Dumbbell Alternating Curl: 1 set x 12-15 reps
Sam Sulek Weight-reduction plan
Sam takes a versatile strategy to diet. He weighs and measures every thing he eats and goals to devour a certain amount of protein and carbohydrates. Since he tracks his meals, he would not observe a specific meal plan. What’s extra, a lot of his energy come from nontraditional bodybuilding meals.
Here’s a pattern day of consuming in Sam’s journey to realize muscle mass.
Meal 1: Breakfast
3 servings of cereal
3 cups of complete milk
Meal 2: Put up Cardio Snack
16oz Apple Juice
King-Sized Crunch Bar
Meal 3: Lunch
16oz Steak
Giant Bowl of Mashed Potatoes
Meal 4: Intra Exercise
Meal 5: Dinner
Day by day Vitamin Breakdown: 200g of protein, 665g of carbohydrates, 160g of fats, and 4,900 energy
Preparation for the Routine
In preparation for this system, I’ll make just a few changes to suit my life-style. For one, Sam follows the four-day break up outlined above however solely takes relaxation days when wanted, usually solely as soon as every week. After I was in faculty, I did one thing comparable. Nevertheless, now that I am in my 30s, have three children, a full-time job, and too many duties, I cherish these relaxation days. So, I’ll maintain the four-day break up however persist with solely 4 weekly exercises.
I plan to do legs on Monday, chest and shoulders on Tuesday, again on Thursday, and Arms on Friday or Saturday. Setting this system up this fashion ensures I can keep it up for your entire 4 weeks. Is it precisely how Sam does it? No, nevertheless it’s shut. Aside from coaching frequency, I’ll persist with Sam’s philosophies carefully.
We’ve to make some changes to the weight loss program, too. I am unable to eat 5000 energy day by day for a month. By the top of this, I’d seem like a small condominium building- and never in a great way.
I’ll observe Sam’s versatile weight-reduction plan strategy however purpose for 160g of protein, 390g of carbohydrates, 90g of fats, and 3010 energy. These macros ought to put me right into a slight surplus.
Detailed Week-by-Week Expertise
Right here is how my month of coaching and consuming as Sam Sulek went.
Week 1
The primary week on a brand new program is all the time an adjustment, however all issues thought of, it went properly. Earlier than beginning Sam’s routine, I used to be on an higher/decrease powerlifting break up. The concentrated quantity of the brand new routine hit me fairly laborious on chest and arm days. My chest was destroyed after I bought to the cable flies.
Vitamin went properly, too. I’ve been versatile weight-reduction plan for over a decade, so diligently monitoring macros is nothing new. The calorie enhance was a problem the primary few days, however I loved the additional meals as soon as I bought used to it.
Week 2
As I began week two, my arms have been nonetheless sore from week one. I do not know after I final did that a lot arm work in sooner or later.
In true Sam Sulek trend, I needed to make some train substitutions on leg day. It was Monday night, so the gymnasium was packed. A bunch of highschool boys have been hanging across the squat rack, and I did not need to wait, so I opted for Smith Machine squats as a substitute. As a powerlifter, this isn’t a substitution I’d make, nevertheless it works since Sam’s program is a bodybuilding routine. From a muscle-building standpoint, the Smith Machine is underrated.
The remainder of the coaching week went easily.
Week 3
In week 3, diet began to grow to be a difficulty. For some purpose, my urge for food disappeared. On Monday and Tuesday, I needed to choke down some meals at evening to hit my calorie purpose. On Wednesday, I added a bit of “junk meals” that’s increased in energy, which helped.
Earlier than my afternoon exercise, I had a Pop-Tart. I used to do lots of pre-workout Pop-Tarts after I was youthful. It is a straightforward technique to get 35-40g of carbs and round 200 energy. I additionally had two servings of ice cream after dinner. Whereas Pop-Tarts and ice cream will not be what you’ll sometimes take into account bodybuilding meals, so long as you hit your macros, 10-20% of your energy can come from something you need.
Week 4
By the final week of this system, I settled into a pleasant groove. The soreness dissipated, and my physique was dealing with the additional energy properly. A month of bodybuilding coaching was a pleasant change of tempo for me mentally. My outdated exercises have been changing into stale, so emulating Sam Sulek for a month was enjoyable.
Challenges and Diversifications As a Pure Bodybuilder
Surprisingly, I solely made just a few modifications. Though Sam is probably on steroids, for probably the most half, his coaching philosophies work properly for pure athletes, too.
Essentially the most important change I made was to incorporate fewer partial reps on the finish of every set. Through the first week, I attempted to remain true to his follow of together with partial reps to get probably the most out of every set. Nevertheless for me, I felt prefer it precipitated my units to grow to be sloppy. As a compromise, I simply took every set to failure utilizing a full vary of movement and included further partial reps on the final set of the train. Moreover, I solely included a few drop units per exercise and didn’t embody any pressured reps.
The slight drop in depth from decreasing partial reps, drop units, and compelled reps is sufficient to make Sam’s program more practical for naturals. Specializing in effort and pushing every set to failure (or shut) is a sound methodology. Nevertheless, as a pure, it is best to restrict how a lot you transcend failure.
Outcomes, Insights, and Private Development
Following Sam’s program pushed me out of my consolation zone. General, it was a very good expertise.
For starters, I gained 5 kilos. Whereas not a loopy transformation, it is substantial for less than a month. The additional diligence in monitoring my meals was a big issue. I’ve been slacking on that for some time. Constantly consuming 3,000 energy opened my eyes to the truth that I had been undereating.
Secondly, I swear my arms bought greater. I ought to have measured them earlier than, however they appear greater to me. Arm coaching, notably biceps work, was one other space the place I used to be slacking. I want to point out my biceps a bit of extra consideration sooner or later with extra arm exercises.
Lastly, my physique feels higher. Heavy powerlifting coaching takes a toll on the joints, and the upper rep units helped my physique really feel higher than it has shortly. I believe incorporating an entire month of bodybuilding coaching is a good suggestion to provide the joints a break.
Others Who Have Tried
Listed here are another feedback from natty lifters who’ve tried Sam Sulek’s exercise routine:
“I began doing it round August simply to attempt, now it is the one approach I practice. One thing about it makes my exercise that rather more satisfying. It might not be optimum however its probably the most progress I’ve seen within the gymnasium undoubtedly, want I began it sooner.” [source]
“For me it labored, my chest grew lots greater since I began doing his break up, my biceps began (lastly) rising and my legs too.” [source]
“Ive been operating it besides with extra relaxation days earlier than he popped up. Legs Chest n Shoulders Relaxation Again Arms Relaxation. Relaxation On the finish of the day like the opposite commenter mentioned splits are very particular person however i’ve discovered this to be fairly good.” [source]
Conclusion
Effectively, there you’ve it – my expertise as a pure athlete coaching like Sam Sulek for a month. General, Sam will get lots of pointless criticism. He’s only a younger man who loves to coach and shares his ardour with tens of millions. Is every thing he says and recommends wonderful recommendation? No, most likely not. Is he on performance-enhancing medication? Probably. Nevertheless, we will nonetheless be taught from what he does.
Sam trains laborious. That’s greater than I can say for many lifters. He additionally diligently tracks his macros, guaranteeing he hits his day by day calorie and protein objectives. If everybody did these two issues, progress can be lots simpler to come back by.
It may be useful to attempt fashionable coaching routines. Not solely is it enjoyable, nevertheless it can be an academic expertise. Nevertheless, the hot button is discovering what works greatest for you. One of the best program for Sam will probably be completely different than what’s greatest for me otherwise you. With coaching, it is like our moms advised us as children: we’re all particular snowflakes.
(Picture credit to authentic proprietor)