The 40-Day Program
by Dan John
05/19/09

Most of you are too weak to put on muscle. Here's a simple 40-day program that will make you strong and buff.

This article is full of dogma.

What, if any, would one suggest for someone in the ARRP crowd, and happily in denial about it.

Besides the OH squat or other squat as a warm, up, what kind of sets and reps should we do to get to our 2 sets of five reps per exercise?

I've been waiting for this article since I read this: http://www.elitefts.com/...day_workout.htm . Too bad I can't train home anymore!

Dan John - this is great, quick question though - is the program meant to be done as a circuit or how should we incorporate rest periods in this program?

First, I am glad that I am not blocked from the new "TMuscle" site at work. I miss dropping by every morning.

Second, do both sets of five, then move to the next exercise.

Third, I never discuss rest periods in a strength program. You will find that you will take some time on the DL and Press, but the rest you will whip right through. If you choose to go light, you can finish the workout in like ten minutes. On a heavy day, it won't take much longer. Again, it's just a 20-40 day shake up for strength improvement.

Oh, and it works. It doesn't make a lot of sense and you might want to do more and more, but give it the full test.

interesting! if this specifically recomended for pairing with the V-Diet? or is it workable on a 'normal' athletes diet(ie strength trainers/bodybilders). i read and understood the EVERY DAY part, but is this programme as effective every-other day, or 5 days on 1 off whatever? im sure many of us cant get to the gym every day.

Appreciate the new article. I am getting back into the routine after spending two weeks in China on a study abroad trip and this looks like what the doctor ordered to get me going again. My strength was definitely a weak point before my study abroad trip so I am going to give this a go.

Are there any other options for the explosve full body movement? Can you name them?

I think the biggest two points of this article are to increase frequency (keeping in mind that training 7 days a week, but only one muscle group a day is far from frequent), and stay away from failure.

I did a program with a similar set of core principles last summer with the greatest success of anything else I've ever done.

Dan John, your work seems to cut through whenever other articles/programs start to "drone" a little bit. I enjoy reading what you have to say!

Only diets like Atkins Induction Phase and V-Diet work for fat loss?

Complexes are the single best method for hypertrophy out there?

Most bodybuilders are insanely weak?

I usually like Dan John's work, but some things really bug me about this article.

How or would cardio fit in? I am currently doing a CKD diet (low carb all week, replenish/carb-up Sat night & Sunday.) but the fat is coming off slowly. I like the sound of this training program - it's good for those of us with a busy schedule due to the short daily workout.

As I was going to start cardio along with my current 3 day split to help drop fat, if I start the 40 day program, can I add cardio? How/when?

which type of deadlift should i do if i give this program a try (i'm 6 foot five and thin with long legs). i'm better at straight-leg deads than the bent-leg variety, but i imagine the bent-leg dead lift is probably what the author of this article had in mind.
also, i'd like to improve my squat (been doing front squats). should i save that for another program, or can i implement that somehow, preferably without removing the dead lifts?

Great article, it really hits home for me, and sometimes just needing to go by "feel" for a few weeks.

Dan John's new book has the best title/photo ever, I can't wait to buy it.

www.davedraper.com/fitness_products/product/BDJN.html

If you are doing CKD or whatever and you are getting results, stick with it. For most of us, the idea behind the article was just outlining some basics as reminders. Rather than doing 10,000 Jumping Jacks and just getting sore and tired, I was offering a wy out.

Please, any exercises are fine. It's the idea of focusing for a short amount of time. I'm sure you can find success doing something as simple as Bench, DL and Sqt with pull ups and a side bend. That's not bad, in fact.

I may give this a try as last spring I did a similar program and my strength went through the roof. Over the course of about 6 weeks, my deadlift went from 325 lbs to a 385 standing on 45 lb plates. I had a little bit more variety in my program, but the similarities are there. I was training 4-5 days a week with a focus on improving my bench and deadlift. Rather than sue the same exercises, I rotated exercises throughout the week. One day I'd do sumo dl, the next rack pulls, the next I might even do clean pulls. For bench I was doing all sorts of variations while changing grips. I know that by the time I stopped, I was warming up with 90 lbs on incline db presses (for what its worth, my bench didn't improve much despite big gains on the other lifts).

Also, I generally pushed myself hard on one lift each day and stopped well short of failure on everything else. IMO, there is something to be said for the law of repeated efforts as both Advanced GVT and the Russian Bench Specialization programs on this site also worked well for me. I think Dan's program will work for the same reasons.

The only reason i stopped training this way was that I wasn't getting much size to go with strength. I would have stuck with it longer if beach season hadn't arrived. Anyway, I know there will be doubters, but I think Dan's program will work extremely well for anyone who wants to give it a try