# A Basic Mass Building Plan

**By Rich Piana** · 2021-08-06

In today’s world, a busy lifestyle is common. Are there a lot of demands on your time? Does it seem like you’re constantly on the go? It's hard to find time to work out sometimes, even for the 5% Nation!

## Guess What - You Don’t Need A Lot Of Time To Train!

If you’re a 5%er, you’re serious about gains. The good news is, you don’t need to spend hours in the gym, 4-5 days a week. We have a plan that limits your gym time. We’re talking about 30-45 minutes, 3 days a week. You can probably find that much time to train. But make no mistake, you’re going to hit it hard and heavy.

## A Basic Mass Building Plan!

We’re going to stick to the big basic exercises. There won’t be time for a lot of volume. We’re going to make up for it with hard work and heavy weights.

This is the classic Push/Pull/Legs split. Despite the name, you can move the workout days around. For example, this routine will do legs, pushing muscles, then pulling muscles. You’ll have 4 days off every week. The beauty of this routine is its flexibility. You can change the days you train if you need to.

### Let’s Add The Legendary Rest-Pause Technique!

This is a rest-pause routine. That means that you’ll go to failure on every set. You’ll rack the weight for an 8 count. Then un-rack it and knock 2-3 more reps. Rack it one more time, count to 8. Un-rack it and hit 1-2 final, brutal reps. Use rest pause on every set of every exercise.

### Day 1: Legs

Squats  
Pyramid:  
Bar x 15 reps  
20% RM x 10 reps  
40% RM x 8 reps  
  
3 sets x 6 reps  
  
Lying Leg Curls  
2 sets x 6 reps  
  
Standing Calf Raises (alternate every other workout with Seated Calf Raises)  
3 sets x 10-12 reps  
  
Abs  
Crunches 2 sets x 15 reps

### Day 2: Off

### Day 3: Push

Bench Press - Same as squats  
  
Overhead Press  
3 sets x 6 reps  
  
Close Grip Bench Press (alternate every other workout with EZ Bar extensions)  
3 sets x 6 reps  
  
Abs  
Crunches 2 sets x 15 reps

### Day 4: Off

### Day 5: Pull

Deadlifts - Same as squats  
  
Pull Ups  
1 set to failure  
  
Preacher EZ Bar Curls (alternate every other workout with Standing EZ Bar Curls)  
3 sets x 6 reps  
  
Abs  
Crunch 2 sets x 15 reps

### Day 6: Off

### Day 7: Off

Performance Notes

Rest 60 seconds between exercises. We talked about rest-pause. The other technique you’re going to use are negative emphasis reps. Here’s what your rep tempo looks like using the bench press as an example:

Take 4-6 seconds to lower the bar. This is the eccentric, or negative, part of the rep. Pause for a 2-count. On the concentric, or positive phase, explode the bar up taking 2-3 seconds. Use the correct form, leave momentum out of it, and work the rep. Finally, add weight to the bar every other week.

**Now get in there and get it done!**

## Don’t Forget Your 5% Nutrition Stack!

There are a lot of legendary products in the 5% lineup. From the legend himself, Rich Piana, to the Legendary Series of products. Don’t forget your 5% Cornerstone Stack. You’ll need Shake Time, Kill It Reloaded, ADYM and Crea-TEN. That’s just for starters. Try adding Turkesterone and Freak Show and now we’re talking!

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> Source: [5% Nutrition](https://5percentnutrition.com/blogs/articles/a-basic-mass-building-plan)