Protein Supplementation to Augment the Effects of High Intensity Resistance Training in Untrained Middle-Aged Males: The Randomized Controlled PUSH Trial

Table 1

Exercise protocol. TUT: time under tension; exs: exercises; reps: repetitions; RegW: regeneration week; SuS: superset; expl: explosive (very fast) movement velocity.

Time	Number of reps (break)	Work to failure strategy	TUT (s)
Phase 1
Weeks 1-2	Familiarization phase	Incomplete work to failure	2-1-2
Weeks 3–6	Conditioning phase: 10 exs 1-2 sets 10–15 reps (90 s)	Incomplete work to failure	2-1-2
Phase 2	8–10 reps (break 2-3 min)	MMF	expl-1-2
Weeks 7–10	5–7 reps (break 2 min)	MMF	2-1-2
	3–5 reps (break 60 s)	MMF	4-1-2
	RegW: 10–12 reps (break 2 min)	MMF -3 reps	2-1-2
Phase 3	See phase 2, however, break	See phase 2 + supersets	expl-1-2
Weeks 11–14	between SuS-exercises: 60 s; between SuS	() Session/week agonists SuS^1	to
	“blocks” 2 min	() Session/w. antagonists SuS^2	4-1-4
	Week 4: RegW (see phase 2)	2–4 exercises per SuS “block”	2-1-2
Phase 4	See phase 3	See phase 3 and drop-set with a single load reduction of −10–15% for each exercise immediately after work to MMF	3-1-3
Weeks 13–18	2 min breaks
	Week 4: RegW
Phase 5	See	See phase 3 and drop-sets with a twofold reduction of −10 and −10% for each exercise immediately after work to MMF and MMF+	3-1-3
Weeks 19–22	phase 3
	Week 4: RegW