Use This High-Intensity Bodybuilding AMRAP Plan To Build Size and Grit
AMRAP, or ‘as many reps as possible’, is a term usually associated with CrossFit. But given what we know about the intensity necessary to build serious muscle, this functional training technique could be your ticket to unlocking new gains.
By using the AMRAP protocol alongside a combination of big compound lifts and muscle-pumping isolation moves, you’ll have a quantifiable rep ‘score’ to keep track of and aim to beat each session, ensuring progressive overload, the key to muscle growth.
Although similar to the ‘escalating density training’ technique, this plan doesn’t utilise supersets to spread out the work, instead focusing on one movement at a time and challenging you to grit your teeth and push through fatigue and failure to see results (scoring a huge pump as you go).
How to Perform the AMRAP Bodybuilding Plan
Choose weights that allow you to get at least 10 reps in your first few sets, but no more than 15. Begin by leaving 2-3 reps in reserve and taking short rests, but as the workout wears on don’t be afraid to take sets to failure, as long as you can do so safely. Your aim is to complete as many (good) reps as possilbe in the prescribed time.
Use the sessions in this plan to put the AMRAP technique to work using a ‘push, pull, legs’ split. Work your way through the workouts sequentially, beginning again once you’ve completed all three and aiming to beat your previous reps. Once you can best your original rep score for a movement by 20 per cent, go heavier in the next session and start again.
Aim to train at least three times per week to see progress from this plan, but ensure you’re taking at least 48 hours of complete rest each week, as well as performing additional cardiovascular work to build your aerobic baseline, help with recovery and of course give your health a boost.
Warm-up thoroughly before you begin each workout, and for individual movements if necessary. Rest for 3-4 minutes between each exercise.
Workout 1– Push
1. Barbell Military Press x 8-minute AMRAP
Stand with feet shoulder-width apart, gripping a barbell across the top of your chest. Take a deep breath, create tension throughout your entire body and push the bar above your head, pause here. Slowly lower your bar back to your shoulders under control and repeat.
2. Dumbbell Bench Press x 8-minute AMRAP
Lie flat on a bench or the floor, your knees bent, pushing your feet into the floor. Press a pair of dumbbells into the air, locking out your elbows. Lower the bells slowly until they touch your chest keep your elbows at 45-degree angle, pause here before explosively pressing back up. Repeat.
3. Dips x 8-minute AMRAP
Jump up on two parallel bars or gymnastics rings with your palms facing inward and your arms full extended straight, holding your bodyweight. Slowly lower until you feel a deep stretch in your chest, ensuring your elbows don’t flare outward. Drive yourself back up to the top and repeat.
4. Lateral Raises x 6-minute AMRAP
Stand tall holding a pair of dumbbells at your sides. Avoiding momentum from the hips, raise both arms up, straight, either side of your body until they’re parallel to the ground. Pause here before slowly lowering the dumbbells under control to your sides. Repeat.
5. Lying Tricep Extension x 6-minute AMRAP
Lie flat on a bench or the floor with a pair of dumbbells locked out overhead. Bend at the elbows, slowly lowering the bells towards your head, while keeping your upper arms locked in place. Stop just short of the bells touching the floor before extending back up explosively. Repeat.
Workout 2 – Pull
1. Pull-ups (or Lat Pulldown) x 8-minute AMRAP
Grasp a pull-up bar with an overhand grip, hands slightly over shoulder-width apart. Lift your feet from the ground and hang freely. Pull yourself up by flexing your elbows and pulling your shoulder blades down and back. Think of bringing driving your elbows down into your pockets. When your chin passes the bar, pause before lowering slowly to the starting position. Try to avoid excessive swinging.
2. Pendlay Row x 8-minute AMRAP
With feet slightly wider than shoulder-width, step underneath a barbell and hinge at the hips to grip the bar. Keeping your torso parallel to the ground, row the bar towards your hips, squeeze your shoulder blades together and lower under control to the start before repeating. Control the bar and avoid moving your torso but keep the pulls explosive.
3. Chest-supported Row x 8-minute AMRAP
Set an adjustable bench to around 45 degrees or prop a flat bench up with a box. Position yourself face down with your chest on the pad, holding a pair of dumbbells. Staying tight to the bench, row both dumbbells up towards your hips, pause and slowly lower before repeating.
4. Rear Delt Flyes x 6-minute AMRAP
Lie prone on a bench, or hinge at the hips until your torso is parallel to the ground, holding a pair of dumbbells, with arms at full length. With a slight bend in your arm, raise your dumbbells up away from the ground, finishing in a ‘crucifix’ position, pause here, squeezing your shoulder blades together before slowly lowering your dumbbells back to their starting position. Repeat.
5. Seated Bicep Curls x 6-minute AMRAP
Sit on a bench at a 45-degree incline. Hold two dumbbells with arms hanging freely at your sides. With minimal momentum, curl both dumbbells, turning your palms inwards, until your pinky fingers are near your shoulders. Squeeze here and lower under control.
Workout 3 – Legs
1. Front Squat x 8-minute AMRAP
With your feet at shoulder-width, hold a barbell across your chest. Then, lift your elbows high to secure the bar on your shoulders. Maintain an upright torso and push your hips back, bending your knees until your thighs pass parallel to the floor. Stand back up to the start position. Once you can no longer control its descent over 2-3 seconds, the set is over.
2. Dumbbell Romanian Deadlift x 8-minute AMRAP
Stand tall holding your dumbbells at waist height. With a slight bend in the knees, push your hips back and slowly lower the bells towards the ground, pinning your shoulders down, maintaining a flat back and keeping the dumbbells close to your body. Push your hips back until you feel a deep stretch in your hamstrings, pause and return to an upright position
3. Walking Lunge x 8-minute AMRAP
Hold a pair of dumbbells at waist height. Keeping your chest up at all times, step forwards with one leg and bend your front knee until the back knee touches the floor. Stand up, pause and repeat with the other leg.
4. Dumbbell Box Step Over x 8-minute AMRAP
Stand tall in front of a box. Step one foot up on top and drive your foot into the box. Lean forward slightly to keep your balance, but keep your torso upright. Once at the top, stand up fully by extending your knees and hips. Step both feet onto the box, turnaround and step back down on the opposite side. Repeat. Lead with alternating legs on each rep.
5. Calf Raises With a Pause x 6-minute AMRAP
Stand holding a heavy pair dumbbells, or in a squat rack or smith machine with a weight across the shoulders. Position the balls of your feet on a plate, block or step around 3-6 inches from the ground, heels dropping down, feeling a deep stretch in your calves. Explosively press up onto the balls of your feet, fully extending the ankle and squeezing your calves. Hold this top position for 3 seconds before slowly lowering back down. Repeat.
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