Brian Cage – Power Week
One of my monikers in wrestling is “The Freaking Machine”. It was given to me by Xcalibur, a commentator for world renowned independent promotion Pro Wrestling Guerilla (PWG). And the name is based off my build/size (265lbs @7.5%) and the incredible moves I pull off with just about any opponent of any size. Never the less, I wasn’t born the “f’ing Machine” that stands before you today, oh no, not by a long shot. I graduated high school at a ginormous 154lbs on the dot! I felt big around my friends that were 130, but quickly realized that if I wanted to be a pro wrestler in the WWE I needed to put some darn weight on! I didn’t want to be that puny kid that walks into wrestling school just to get his $ taken. So I went to my high school gym that summer after senior year and lifted every M-Th at 9am. My PE teacher would let me in the school gym during summer school, and I never missed a day no matter how late I stayed out. I was determined as could be and would often say, “I may not be the biggest or the strongest, but no one has the amount of determination as I do!” I learned a lot that summer and it definitely laid down a good foundation that would go on to put 60lbs on me in about 2 years’ time. And one of my favorite routines back then was Power/Rep-Range/Shock.
It was a 9 week minimum routine that would see you do one week of power movements with larger amounts of weight for less reps, then Rep-range would take moderate weight and a larger amount of reps and some different exercises the following week. And finally shock would take a combination of both and super set everything the week after that. Then you would go back to power week and repeat, doing each week a minimum of 9 weeks.
Below is a sample routine for Power Week, next week I’ll post the rep range and shock week examples
Power Week
Chest
- Flat Barbell Bench-4×6
- Incline Dumbbell 4×8
- Dumbell Flys 3×10
- Dumbbell Pullovers 3×8
Back
- Bent Over Rows-4×8
- Deadlifts 4×6-8
- Dumbbell Row 3×8
- Pull downs 3×8
Shoulders
- Barbell military Press 3×6-8
- Dumbbell Press 3×8
- Cheat Side Laterals 3×8-10
- Upright Rows 3×8
- Shrugs3x8-10
Legs
- Squats 3×8
- Leg press 3×8
- Still Leg Deadlift 3×10
- Barbell lunges 3×8-10
- Leg Extensions 3×10
- Laying Leg Curls 3×10
Arms
- Skull Crushers or French press 3×10
- Barbell Curls 3×10
- Close Grip Bench press 3×8-10
- Standing dumbbell Curl 3×8-10
- Weight Dips or Dip machine 3×8-10
- Incline Dumbbell curls 3×8
Be sure to always get in a few warm up sets before you jump into some heavy weight. Lift as heavy as you can without sacrificing range or form and good idea to get a spotter to help bang out some forced reps. I also like to alternate working calves and abs every day during every routine I do. Hope you enjoyed the read! You can’t flex fat so go out and lift!
