Structurally Sound

What works for Olympia-calibre athletes may not necessarily work for you. To make noticeable gains, you need to figure out your best approach, according to Neil “Yoda” Hill.

- Jeff Tomko

When developing a training programme, one of the most important attributes is creating structure. That’s exactly what my Yoda 3 Training (Y3T) programme does—it creates structure and a platform for athletes to hit different muscle fibres at different intensities, because we’re all genetically different.

If you’re not familiar with my system, here’s the summary: Y3T is a nine-week training programme broken up into three phases. Week 1 focuses on heavy compound exercises in a low, six-to-12-rep range. Week 2 adds isolation movements with higher reps, usually about 14 to 20 reps. Week 3 focuses on lighter weights and very high reps, going as low as 20 and up to 80. You’ll then repeat this three times for a total of nine weeks.

When I developed Y3T nearly three decades ago, I wasn’t looking to become a visionary or change the world of weight training. Quite honestly, Y3T happened by accident, if you consider the years of trial and error I inadvertently created the plan.

I was an injury-prone 19-year-old kid who was looking for a safe way to lift heavy weights without getting hurt so much. Before that, I was doing what most bodybuilders were doing at the time—following the hardcore training styles of Mike Mentzer and six-time Mr. Olympia Dorian Yates. They’d lift very heavy weights for 6 to 10 reps, then to failure and beyond (using intensity techniques like rest-pause and forced reps, with a partner, to achieve this). But all training like that did was get me injured.