The following workout comes from the wonderful A Portrait of Dorian Yates: The Ultimate Bodybuilding Guide from the Ultimate Bodybuilder by the late Peter McGough. For those who don’t know, Peter was one of bodybuilding’s most authoritative journalists for several decades. He was intimately linked with Dorian and it was Peter who bestowed Dorian with the iconic nickname, The Shadow.
Dorian was a six time Mr. Olympia champion and, as I argued elsewhere, helped to change bodybuilding. He used a unique training system, inspired by Arthur Jones and Mike Mentzer. Check out a snippet below and, if you can, buy the book. It challenges a LOT of assumptions we hold on training.
TRAINING SPLIT
Day one: Delts, traps, triceps, abs Day two: Back, rear delts
Day three: Rest
Day four: Chest, biceps, abs
Day five: Rest
Day six: Quads, hams, calves Day seven: Rest
WORKOUT ONE
Warm-up: Ten minutes on stationary bike, followed by gentle stretching of all muscle groups to be trained.
* Warm-up Sets
| Bodypart | Exercise | Sets | Reps | Poundage |
| Delts
|
Smith Machine Presses | 1* | 15 | 120 |
| 1* | 12 | 240 | ||
| 1 | 8-10 | 340 | ||
| Seated Laterals | 1* | 12 | 2 x50 | |
| 1 | 8-10 | 2 x 70 | ||
| One-arm Cable Laterals | 1* | 20 | 35 | |
|
|
1 | 8-10 | 70 | |
| Traps | Dumbbell Shrugs | 1* | 12 | 2 x 140 |
| 1 | 10-12 | 2 x 185 | ||
| Triceps | Triceps Pushdowns | 1* | 15 | 80 |
| 1* | 12 | 130 | ||
| 1 | 8-10 | 180 | ||
| Lying Barbell Extensions (EZ Bar) | 1* | 12 | 100 | |
| 1 | 8-10 | 140 | ||
| One-arm Pushdowns
Or
One-arm 1Nautilus Extensions |
1 | 8-10 | 70
Or
Full Stack |
|
| Abs | Forward Crunches | 3 | 20-25 | |
| Reverse Crunches | 3 | 12-25 |
