Dorian Yates’ workout The Age of Intensity is a super intense bodybuilding plan. Not for beginners.
In this article, you will find the step-by-step guide how to execute it properly: exercise videos, set and rep counts and printable training diary.
- Goal: building muscle mass
- Technical complexity: medium
- 4-Day Split
- Duration: 60 minutes
- 4 times a week
Dorian Yates was a dominant bodybuilder for several years winning the Mr. Olympia title 6 times. His training style was significantly different from most of the other top bodybuilders’ style.
Below are 10 interesting facts about Yates and his workout method as well as a workout plan used by him: The Age of Intensity.
- Yates worked out only for an hour a day, 4 times a week. Most of the other bodybuilders spent much more time at the gym. Yates studied and developed several different kinds of training methods but this “an hour four times a week” ended up being the most effective for him.
- Yates did only one intense set per exercise. This set he did to total failure. Sure Yates did one or two warm-up sets before a hard set, but these sets were done with a very light weights, without really loading the muscle. Yates’ argument for this was that a muscle gets enough stimulation from this one, VERY hard set and the additional sets would just break the muscle unnecessarily.
- Yates trained one part of the body only once a week. Most of the other bodybuilders train each body part 2 – 3 a week (eg. Arnold Schwarzenegger, Ronnie Coleman and the other top bodybuilders).
- Yates’ goal wasn’t to lift as much weight as possible, but to do reps really slowly and with a perfect technique. He did the concentric phase (eg. the pulling phase of pull-ups) quickly and the eccentric phase (eg. the lowering phase of pull-ups) extremely slow. When the set was done to failure, Yates strived to do a few incomplete reps until the muscle wasn’t able to move the bar at all.
- Yates didn’t have a coach or instructor as most of the other bodybuilders did.
- Yates worked out in England, far away from California’s Venice Beach where almost all of the other top bodybuilders at his time came from.
- Yates thinks that a regular eating rhythm is critical. His argument for the importance of a regular eating rhythm is that when the body knows when it will get food, it doesn’t need to store it and all the food and energy will be essentially used for muscle growth.
- Yates didn’t do squats, overhand grip pull-ups or standard bench press even though these free weight exercises are usually the frame of a workout for most of the bodybuilders. Instead of squats, Yates used hack machine and instead of using a standard bench press, he did incline or decline bench press or used machine. Also instead of overhand grip pull-ups, he did machine pulldowns and cable pulldowns with underhand grip.
- Yates believed that cardio three times a week helps you to recover from high intensity trainings because it gets the blood flowing. Several other bodybuilders don’t speak for cardio and some of them don’t do it at all. According to Yates, cardio should be done on the days when you don’t workout at a gym so that the muscle growth doesn’t become disturbed. Yates also favored a short cardio as a warm-up before gym workout.
- Yates spoke for short-term goals. For example, a good goal for a bench press would be to improve it by one kg per month. Yates kept accurate records of the weight he used so that he was able to follow his development every week.
Tip: If your main goal is gain as much muscle mass as naturally possible, check this plan also: Super Gains 6-Month Plan. Below you see my results with Super Gains plan.
Dorian Yates Workout Plan: The Age of Intensity
This workout plan follows a 4-day split and will be done four times a week.
Day 1: Shoulders, trapezius, triceps, abs
Day 2: Back
Day 3: Rest (cardio)
Day 4: Chest, biceps, abs
Day 5: Rest (cardio)
Day 6: Legs
Day 7: Rest (cardio)
For each training day, you do only a few working sets; one per each muscle group. Complete one to two warm-up sets before the working sets.
According to Yates, a “working set” is a fully completed set done with inhumanly hard intensity. So after training to failure, you should still do a few incomplete reps. If you have someone training with you, you can do a few forced reps and then a few negative reps. A negative rep means that your training partner helps the weight up and then you slow it down the best you can when coming back down.
Recovery from a working set takes 5 – 7 minutes.
Day 1 (Shoulders, Trapezius, Triceps, Abs)
- Dumbbell Shoulder Press (12,10),8-10 – Shoulders, triceps
- Dumbbell Lateral Raise (10),6-8 – Side delts
- Cable One Arm Lateral Raise (10),6-8 – Side delts
- Dumbbell Shrug (10),6-8 – Upper trapezius
- Cable Pushdown (12,10),6-8 – Triceps
- Barbell Lying Tricep Extension (10),6-8 – Triceps
- Cable One Arm Pushdown 6-8 – Triceps
- Roman Chair Sit up 20 – Abs
- Crunch 20 – Abs
- Reverse crunch 10 – Abs
Warm up sets in parenthesis. Target rep count in the working set is marked 8-10, 6-8 an so on. Warm-up set is done with a weight that is 50 – 70 % of the weight of the working set.
Day 2 (Back)
- Lever Underhand Pulldown (12,10),6-8 – Lats, biceps, trapezius
- Or Machine Pullover (12,10),6-8 – Lats
- Yates’ Bent-over Row (10),6-8 – Lats, biceps, trapezius
- Dumbbell Bent-over Row (10) – Lats, biceps, trapezius
- Cable Seated Row 6-8 – Lats, trapezius, biceps
- Rear-Delt Hammer Strength Flyes 6-8 – Rear delts
- Dumbbell bent-over lateral raise 6-8 – Rear delts
- Back Extension 6-8 – Erector spinae, glutes, hamstrings
- Deadlift (8),6-8 – Glutes, erector spinae, quads
Day 4 (Chest, biceps, abs)
- Barbell Incline Bench Press (12,10,6-8),6 – Chest, shoulders, triceps
- Lever Chest Press 10,6-8 – Chest, shoulders, triceps
- Dumbbell Incline Fly (10),8 – Chest
- Cable Cross-over 8-10 – Chest
- Dumbbell Incline Curl (10),6-8 – Biceps
- Barbell Curl (10),6-8 – Biceps
- Lever Preacher Curl 6-8 – Biceps
- Roman Chair Sit up 20 – Abs
- Crunch 20 – Abs
- Reverse crunch 10 – Abs
Day 6 (Legs)
- Lever Leg Extension (15,12),10-12 – Quads
- Leg Press (12,12),10-12 – Glutes, quads
- Hack Squat (12),8-10 – Quads, glutes
- Lever Leg Curl (8-10),8-10 – Hamstrings
- Stiff Leg Deadlift 10 – Glutes, hamstrings, erector spinae
- Single-leg Leg Curl 8-10 – Hamstrings (One leg at a time)
- Standing Calf Raise (10-12), 10-12 – Calves (gastrocnemius)
- Seated Calf Raise 10-12 – Calves (soleus)
Need a training diary?
If you want to save your time and support this site, you can buy a training diary below (printable image and excel sheet). By using training diary, you can track your progress and maintain your motivation and you don’t need to remember the exercises by heart.
Training diary as an excel sheet and printable picture.
Training diaries as an excel sheets and printable pictures.
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Super Gains 6-Month Plan and all myworkoutplans.net training diaries bundle:
Looking for a different type of workout plan?
Source: http://www.muscleandfitness.com/athletes-celebrities/news/age-intensity-legendary-bodybuilder-dorian-yates
