8870 training program for muscle building
8870 is a training program built around 8 sets of 8 repetitions at 70% of your 1-REP MAX. It suits lifters with at least a solid year of training behind them whose progress has stalled for a while.
The idea is simple: for each muscle you pick TWO EXERCISES. One is a heavy base exercise, and the other is done in the 8 x 8 system. Few exercises, but plenty of honest work.
Why could 8870 work?
Bodybuilders used to repeat the advice that for muscle mass you should train at around 85% of your 1RM and do sets in the 6-8 repetition range. On paper, that sounds great. In the gym, it’s a different story.
Working at 80-85% of your one-rep max is already a heavy load. Getting through 4-5 working sets of 6-8 repetitions with good technique is no longer easy for most people. Honestly, it isn’t an everyday ability for many strong lifters either, unless they rest 10 minutes between sets.
To build muscle mass, a muscle needs to keep receiving a new training load. You can do that in several ways: add weight, sets or repetitions, change the rest periods, use supersets, or swap exercises. Something has to change over time, otherwise your body gets used to it.
Beginners make progress on almost any decent plan. Later on, not anymore. An intermediate lifter knows the feeling well: you do what you did before, you push as hard as before, but the results don’t budge. This is where 8870 comes in, because it changes the nature of the work quite sharply.
How do you set up the 8870 training program?
The most tedious part of the program is working out 70% of your 1RM. To do that, you first need to know your 1-REP MAX. Once you have it, calculating 70% is easy.
For each muscle you choose TWO EXERCISES. The first is a HEAVY BASE EXERCISE, and the second is the exercise you use for 8 x 8 work at 70% of your max. No more exercises are added for the same muscle during this program.
Take a chest workout as an example. The base exercise could be the bench press. The second exercise could be the dumbbell fly. That gives you one heavy movement and one more isolating movement, for which you need to know your 1RM roughly.
You train each muscle ONCE A WEEK and with only two exercises. Don’t break this rule. More exercises don’t mean better results here, and they can wreck your recovery.
Training breaks down muscle and brings blood into the working muscle. Rest and good food give your body the chance to build strength and muscle mass. When each muscle gets a hard training load once a week, there is plenty of room left for recovery.
Chest example, step by step
Start with a proper warm-up. Work up to your heavy weights gradually, and don’t jump straight into heavy working sets cold. Light stretching can help, but don’t stretch yourself loose before heavy work.
If you use the press and the fly, then in the first workout the press is the heavy base exercise. Your technique must be clean: no bouncing the bar off your chest. First do a maximum of 5 repetitions, rest 1-1.5 minutes, and repeat the set, again at around 5 repetitions.
After the second heavy set, rest about 3 minutes. Then move on to the dumbbell fly and do 8 x 8, meaning 8 sets of 8 repetitions, using 70% of your 1RM.
At first, your rest periods can be around 1.5 minutes. Over time, try to shorten them. The goal is a rest interval of exactly 60 seconds between sets. The first sets can feel deceptively light, but as you get closer to the 8th set, the work becomes something else entirely.
In your next chest workout, you reverse the order. You start with the fly, which is now the heavy movement: 2 x 5. Then you do the bench press for 8 x 8, using 70% of your press 1RM. Never start with 8 x 8. 8 x 8 always follows 2 x 5.
8870 and the weekly plan: how to split the muscles?
How long to use the 8870 program depends on the person. For some, 6 weeks is enough. Others stay with it for a few months. Going under 6 WEEKS usually makes no sense, because your body needs time to adapt and respond to the new training load.
- Monday: Chest
- Tuesday: Back
- Wednesday: Shoulders
- Thursday: Legs
- Friday: Biceps
- Saturday: Triceps
- Sunday: Rest
Translator’s note: I would swap triceps and biceps!!!
In this split, each day has only one big muscle group. Abs, calves, hamstrings and forearms are left out. If you specifically need to train them, add them to the rest day or do a short session after the main workout. I would rather leave them out for the duration of 8870 and bring them back once the program is over.
The triceps work hard during pressing movements, such as on chest day. The biceps assist during back exercises. That’s why you shouldn’t put triceps straight after chest or biceps straight after back. The reverse order can also interfere with recovery.
Practical rules for the 8870 program
When you do 8 x 8, all 8 sets and 8 repetitions are done with the same weight. No pyramiding. No adding weight midway. Nor should you reduce the weight. All 8 sets are done at 70%.
Add weight only when you can complete all 8 sets of 8 repetitions fairly comfortably. Even then, don’t rush. Add it gradually, because the point of this plan isn’t to feed your ego, but to do intense, controlled work.
- Before each workout, always do a proper warm-up and a few lighter stretching exercises.
- Set aside time to determine your 1RM. A single test doesn’t usually give the most accurate result, and strength can fluctuate a lot from day to day.
- Always start with the heavy movements for 2 x 5, and only then do the second exercise for 8 x 8 at 70%.
- Use the same weight, i.e. 70 %, for all 8 sets and 8 repetitions.
- Train each muscle only once a week.
- Build your split so that the next day you don’t train a muscle that works hard together with the previous day’s muscle: for example, triceps after chest, shoulders after chest, or biceps straight after back.
- Follow the 8870 program for as long as you feel you’re benefiting from it. The more advanced you are, the more you need to play around with different routines and programs.
- Keep your nutrition in order: plenty of complex carbohydrates and protein.
- Take advantage of the short session. Give everything you have on every repetition and push as hard as you can.
- The 8 x 8 exercise and the first short, heavy exercise must definitely alternate from one workout to the next.
Don’t let it bother you that there are only two exercises in a workout and each muscle is trained once a week. A correctly done 8870 program can be far more intense than it seems at first glance. It all depends on how honestly you do your sets.
Translator’s note: What can I say, it looks interesting. For a seriously training bodybuilder who is stuck on a plateau or overtrained, it’s certainly a good program for solving the problem. Since the number of sets and exercises is also small enough, it’s certainly a change of pace for those who are used to high volume, and in a sense more of an active rest. I haven’t tried it myself, but if you have even the slightest interest, it’s definitely worth a try!!!
Translation of “8870” by Alan Palmieri
FAQ
Is 8870 suitable for beginners?
A true beginner doesn’t need it. If any ordinary program still delivers results, there’s no point in making things more complicated. 8870 is a better fit once you have at least a year of training behind you and your progress has stalled.
Does the 70% have to be exact?
The more precise, the better. If your 1RM is completely unknown, you may choose the wrong weight, and the program becomes either too easy or too grueling. Take your time finding your 1RM.
Can I change the weight during 8 x 8?
No. All 8 sets and 8 repetitions are done with the same weight. You add weight only once you can complete all the work confidently.
Translated by: Janar Rückenberg
Come and train! ArtGym
