The Bradley Martyn Workout Program | The Ultimate Guide!

Are you curious about Bradley Martyn’s workout routine? Are you looking for a simple, step-by-step guide that shows you exactly how he trains for size and strength? Then you’ve come to the right place.

In this comprehensive guide, I will teach you exactly how Bradley Martyn organizes his workouts to get bigger and stronger at the same time.

Introduction

• Part 1: Chest
• Part 2: Back
• Part 3: Shoulders
  
• Part 4: Legs
• Part 5: Arms

Bradley Martyn is one of the biggest names in the fitness industry. He is the owner of Zoo Culture, one of the most popular gyms in the United States.

He also has an incredibly popular YouTube channel with over 3 million subscribers, where he educates people on fitness and bodybuilding.

Bradley Martyn Stats

• Age: 32 years old
• Height: 6 foot 3 inches
• Weight: 245 pounds
• Body fat: About 10%

So what does his training program look like? Bradley Martyn trains each muscle group one day per week using a traditional 5-day bro split. Bradley has a chest day, a back day, a shoulder day, a leg day and an arm day.

He says that training each muscle group on its own separate training day is the fastest way for him to continue building size and strength.

Bradley Martyn’s Training Split

• Day 1: Chest
• Day 2: Back
• Day 3: Off
• Day 4: Shoulders
• Day 5: Arms
• Day 6: Legs
• Day 7: Off

Bradley Martyn uses a powerbuilding training style in his workouts. He likes to perform heavy powerlifting style training methods and lighter bodybuilding style training methods together in the same workout.

For example, Bradley might start his chest workout with some heavy sets on the bench press, and then perform some higher-rep machine or dumbbell work to pump his chest full of blood and stimulate muscle growth.

Now let’s take a closer look at how he trains each muscle group.

Part 1: Bradley Martyn’s Chest Workouts

Bradley Martyn trains his chest once per week on its own separate training day. Bradley loves to train heavy on the bench press.

He says it is one of the best overall upper body exercises that you can perform. However, he also likes to perform other machine and isolation exercises to build muscle mass and get that full, volumized look.

Here is a perfect example of how Bradley Martyn likes to organize his chest workouts. Check it out:

Bradley Martyn’s Chest Workout #1

• Exercise #1: Push ups, 4 sets of 15-20 reps, 1 minute rest
• Exercise #1: Flat bench press, 4 sets of 8-15 reps
• Exercise #2: Hammer strength incline press, 4 sets of 8-15 reps
• Exercise #3: Flat DB fly, 4 sets of 8-15 reps
• Exercise #4: Machine pec dec, 4 sets of 8-15 reps

Here is the training video:

Bradley starts this workout with one of his favorite chest exercises: push ups. He says that this is one of the most underrated exercises you can do in the gym. It is one of the only pressing exercises you can do where your upper back is not fixed against a bench or some other object.

Bradley says that push ups force you to stabilize your upper body in a unique way, and over time, this increased stability translates into a stronger bench press.

“Practicing pushups when you’re warming up, getting those muscles engaged is going to help you be more stable starting when you’re pressing for the bench press, dumbbells, whatever it is. Over time, that’s the whole goal.”

The world’s strongest bench presser Julius Maddox is also a huge fan of push ups. You can read more about his bench press program in my article “Bench Press Frequency: The Ultimate Guide!”

After the push ups Bradley moves into his favorite chest exercise: the bench press. He performs several heavy sets and then moves onto his other chest exercises.

During the workout Bradley says that you shouldn’t worry about what part of your chest each exercise is hitting. Instead, you should just focus on getting a great mind-muscle connection with your overall chest.

“It’s where you feel it. Are you getting a full contraction in your chest? Are you working your chest muscle entirely? Are you getting a good mind-muscle connection?

That’s more important I think than trying to isolate the upper or lower chest.”

Here is another one of Bradley Martyn’s chest workouts that you can try. Check it out:

Bradley Martyn Chest Workout #2

• Exercise #1: Slingshot bench press (competition grip), 2 sets of 4-8 reps
• Exercise #2: Bench press (shoulder-width grip), 2 sets of 4-8 reps
• Exercise #3: Flat DB press, 4 sets of 8-15 reps
• Exercise #4: 30 degree incline bench press, 4 sets of 8-15 reps
• Exercise #5: Cable crossover, 4 sets of 8-15 reps

Here is the training video:

For this workout Bradley Martyn worked up to some heavy sets on the bench press using Marc Bell’s slingshot device.

The slingshot is almost like a bench press shirt that powerlifters wear. It lets you handle more weight in the bench press, and it also takes some of the stress off your shoulders in the bottom position of the exercise.

For this workout Bradley works up to 2 heavy sets on the slingshot bench press and the close grip bench press. After that he moves onto his higher-rep bodybuilding work.

“I’m just going to keep increasing the weight and do my best to get no less than 6 reps every set and no more than a 3 minute rest. I’m going to do my best to push it!”

Bradley Martyn’s chest workouts are simple but effective. If you like to use a powerbuilding training style in your workouts then they are definitely worth giving a shot.

Part 2: Braldey Martyn’s Back Workouts

Bradley Martyn has an incredibly strong upper back. He can deadlift over 600 pounds for reps, and is known for using extremely heavy weights on his pulldown and rowing exercises.

Bradley normally trains his upper back with 4-6 different exercises per workout. He uses pulldowns, rows, deadlifts, pullovers and anything else he can think of to attack his back from all angles.

Here is one of Bradley Martyn’s back workouts that you can try. Check it out:

Bradley Martyn Back Workout #1

• Exercise #1: Lat pulldown (medium / neutral grip), 4 sets of 8-15 reps
• Exercise #2: Straight arm cable pullover, 4 sets of 8-15 reps
• Exercise #3: Barbell bent over row, 4 sets of 8-15 reps
• Exercise #4: One-arm hammer strength low row, 4 sets of 8-15 reps
• Exercise #5: Pull up (wide / overhand grip), 4 sets of 8-15 reps

Here is the training video:

This is a perfect example of how Bradley Martyn likes to train his back. He uses 5 different exercises that are designed to attack his upper back from different angles.

During the workout Bradley gives some great advice on building your upper back. He says one of the biggest reasons most people struggle to build a huge upper back is they don’t have a good mind-muscle connection with their lats.

“One of the biggest reasons why I think people don’t have great back development is genetically they’re less connected there. They don’t have that mind-muscle connection.

I feel as if genetically my mind muscle connection there is not as great and doing these exercises this way is going to help you create a better mind-muscle connection.”

So how do you get over this problem? How do you establish a great mind-muscle connection with your upper back? Bradley Martyn says the key is to focus on pulling your elbows with your lats on every single exercise.

“Don’t let anything else move except that arm. Don’t tilt your head, don’t park your head this way or that way, try and stay nice and neutral. Focus on pulling straight back with that elbow.”

Here is one of Bradley Martyn’s powerlifting-style back workouts. Check it out:

Bradley Martyn Back Workout #2

• Exercise #1: Conventional deadlift, 4 sets of 4-8 reps
• Exercise #2: Hammer strength pulldown (holding uprights), 4 sets of 8-15 reps
• Exercise #3: Seated cable row (V-handle), 4 sets of 8-15 reps
• Exercise #4: Lying DB pullover, 4 sets of 8-15 reps

Here is the training video:

For this workout Bradley Martyn worked up heavy on the conventional deadlift. He ended up lifting 585 pounds for a brutal 8 reps. After that he performed a variety of rows, pulldowns and pullovers to exhaust all of the different muscle fibers in his upper back.

This is a perfect example of how Bradley likes to organize his powerbuilding workouts: he works up heavy on one exercise, then performs a bunch of higher-rep bodybuilding work on more joint friendly movements.

This is a strategy that many powerlifters have used in their upper back workouts, including many of Josh Bryant’s world-class powerlifting clients.

Part 3: Bradley Martyn’s Shoulder Workouts 

Bradley Martyn trains his shoulders one day per week on their own separate training day.

His shoulder training program is pretty simple: he performs at least one overhead pressing exercise, and a bunch of isolation exercises for his front, side and rear delts.

This is the same strategy that many other top bodybuilders have used, including Dorian Yates, Ronnie Coleman, Jay Cutler and Phil Heath. Here is a simple Bradley Martyn shoulder workout that you can try. Check it out:

Bradley Martyn Shoulder Workout #1

• Exercise #1: Hammer strength overhead press, 4 sets of 8-15 reps
• Exercise #2: Seated DB overhead press, 4 sets of 8-15 reps
• Exercise #3: Seated DB lateral raise, 4 sets of 8-15 reps
• Exercise #4: Reverse grip barbell overhead press, 4 sets of 8-15 reps
• Exercise #5: Bent over rear delt DB flys, 4 sets of 8-15 reps

Here is the training video:

This is a very simple, straightforward shoulder workout.

Bradley Martyn starts this workout with the hammer strength overhead press. He says he likes this machine over something like a smith machine overhead press because both of your arms are working independently from each other.

He says this takes some of the pressure off your shoulder joint, and helps to make sure that both of your shoulders are equally strong.

“The reason I like this exercise first is I can load a decent amount of weight. It’s a great warm up exercise for people with shoulder pain.

Some people have imbalances where one side is stronger than the other. Or people have an injury on one side.

I think the machine press, the cool thing about this machine is it’s unilateral, so both sides are moving independently.”

Later in the workout Bradley Martyn performs different isolation exercises, including lateral raises and rear delt flys.

He says that he always includes at least one isolation exercise for his side and rear delts, as they have always made a big difference for him in his routines.

“I always include side laterals in my shoulder routines. The key with this exercise is when you’re grabbing the dumbbells, you don’t want to grab the dumbbell super tight.

You almost want the dumbbell hanging in your hand. You’re going to be able to put more emphasis on your shoulders.”

Here is another one of Bradley Martyn’s shoulder workouts that you can try. Check it out:

“At the bottom I was able to get a good range of motion and a good stretch. When you’re training rear delts, it’s not about lifting heavy weights. The minute you pick up heavy weights you’re going to start involving your lats, traps and other muscles.

Your rear delts are a tiny muscle vs your traps which are huge. If you want that 3-D pop, that 3-D width, you can’t fuck your rear delts over by not training them properly.”

Bradley Martyn is a big fan of the overhead press for building big shoulders. However, sometimes he likes to pre-exhaust side and rear delts before performing any overhead pressing movements.

Here is one of his pre-exhaust shoulder workouts that you can try. Check it out:

Bradley Martyn Shoulder Workout #2

• Exercise #1: Standing cable rope face pulls, 4 sets of 8-15 reps
• Exercise #2: Reverse pec dec, 4 sets of 8-15 reps
• Exercise #3: Seated DB overhead press, 4 sets of 8-15 reps
• Exercise #4: Standing DB lateral raise, 4 sets of 8-15 reps
• Exercise #5: Standing DB shrugs, 4 sets of 8-15 reps

Here is the training video:

This is one of Bradley Martyn’s bodybuilding-style shoulder workouts where he is training exclusively to build muscle mass.

Bradley says that isolating your side and rear delts first in your shoulder routine can be a great strategy because it makes your overhead presses safer, and it gives you an incredible pump in your shoulders.

“I always focus on activating my shoulders with isolation exercises before moving onto any shoulder presses.

If the shelf is not warmed up, there’s not good enough blood flow, then you’ll get into some exercises and realize that you are falling out of your groove.”

Many bodybuilding coaches like John Meadows are also big fans of this strategy. At the end of the workout Bradley Martyn performs some shrugs for his upper traps.

He sometimes trains his upper traps together with his shoulders, as the traps are involved in many shoulder exercises, such as lateral raises and overhead pressing exercises.

“The reason why is because you’re probably a lot stronger than you think. You can handle a lot of weight on shrugs. The hardest part about heavy shrugs is going to be your grip.

No, I’m not necessarily trying to work my grip strength. But don’t underestimate your ability to shrug because you can handle more weight than you think you can.”

The bottom line is Bradley Martyn uses a very simple strategy when it comes to training shoulders.

He performs one heavy overhead pressing exercise per workout, along with several isolation exercises to target his side and rear delts.

Part 4: Bradley Martyn’s Leg Workouts

Bradley Martyn has some incredibly strong legs. He can squat over 500 pounds for reps and he uses extremely heavy weights on all of his machine exercises.

Bradley uses more of a powerbuilding training style for his leg workouts. He starts almost every leg workout with some heavy squats, and then moves onto some higher-rep bodybuilding work for his quads and hamstrings.

Here is one of Bradley Martyn’s leg workouts that you can try. Check it out:

Bradley Martyn Leg Workout #1

• Exercise #1: Back squat, 4 sets of 8-15 reps
• Exercise #2: 45 degree leg press, 4 sets of 8-15 reps
• Exercise #3: Smith machine split squat, 4 sets of 8-15 reps
• Exercise #4: Kneeling leg curl, 4 sets of 8-15 reps

Here is the training video:

Fort his workout Bradley Martyn works up to 405 pounds on the back squat and performs several sets with this weight. However, he says that he isn’t too concerned with the amount of weight that he is lifting.

His main priority is to feel his quads working during the exercise and to maintain constant time under tension on his legs.

“It’s not about the weight, this exercise is 100% not about the weight, it’s about the contraction and the time under tension.

Your squats and leg presses are better for heavy weight. This one is about form, staying upright, consistent time under tension and short rest periods.”

After the squats Bradley performs some simple accessory exercises, such as the leg press, smith machine split squats and leg curls. This is a simple, but effective way to train your legs for size and strength.

Sometimes Bradley likes to perform more variety in his leg workouts. For example, here is Bradley using reverse bands to really overload the top part of the squat. Check it out:

Bradley Martyn Leg Workout #2

• Exercise #1: Reverse band back squats, 4 sets of 8-15 reps
• Exercise #2: Walking cambered bar lunges, 4 sets of 8-15 reps
• Exercise #3: Romanian deadlift, 4 sets of 8-15 reps
• Exercise #4: DB Romanian deadlift, 4 sets of 8-15 reps
• Exercise #5: 90 degree back extensions, 4 sets of 8-15 reps

Here is the training video:

Reverse bands are a tool that Louie Simmons and the Westside Barbell powerlifting team popularized many years ago.

The bands are actually assisting you throughout the movement. They are pulling up on the bar throughout the movement, and they help significantly more in the bottom part of the range of motion than the top.

Many world-class powerlifters like Larry Wheels use reverse bands to overload the top part of the squat, and to give the exercise a slightly different feel.

After the squats Bradley Martyn performed a variety of accessory exercises for his quads and hamstrings, including lunges, Romanian deadlifts and back extensions.

Bradley Martyn’s Arm Workouts

Bradley Martyn trains his arms once per week on their own separate training day.

He believes that one of the biggest mistakes people make is going too heavy on their arm day. Instead, he likes to perform higher reps on several different isolation exercises for his biceps and triceps.

He says he is already training heavy on his chest and back days, so there is no need to perform heavy close grip bench presses or dips on his arm day.

Here is one of Bradley Martyn’s high-volume arm workouts that you can try. Check it out:

Bradley Martyn Arm Workout #1

• Exercise #1: Machine preacher curl (supinated grip), 3-4 sets of 8-15 reps
• Exercise #2: Standing barbell curl, 3-4 sets of 8-15 reps
• Exercise #3: Overhead cable extension, 3-4 sets of 8-15 reps
• Exercise #4: Cable rope pushdown, 3-4 sets of 8-15 reps
• Exercise #5: Standing cable rope curl, 3-4 sets of 8-15 reps
• Exercise #6: One-arm cross body cable extension (high pulley), 3-4 sets of 8-15 reps
• Exercise #7: Push ups, 3-4 sets to failure
• Exercise #8: Pull ups, 3-4 sets to failure

Here is the training video:

Talk about a high-volume arm workout! Bradley Martyn performs 3 exercises for his biceps and 5 exercises for his triceps.

Bradley’s goal for this workout is to perform each exercise with perfect form and to get a huge pump in his arms.

He doesn’t care at all about how much weight he is lifting on these isolation exercises. Instead, his goal is to get the biggest possible pump in his arms.

“I want you guys to understand, most of these exercises are juts like straight reps. I’m working on volume and training to failure on pretty much every exercise.

Don’t worry about moving tons and tons of weight. I’m challenging myself but think about blood, just moving tons and tons of blood. Just go your hardest and go to failure on every single set.”

Bradley Martyn actually performs some compound exercises at the end of this arm workout, such as dips, push ups and pull ups.

He says that performing compound exercises at the end of your arm day is a good strategy because your arms should already be fatigued from all the isolation work, so you will have a great mind-muscle connection with your arms on the compound exercises.

“The reason why I do these at the end is you’re still using your chest and back, so you kind of give yourself a little bit of leeway at the end because you should be gassing the fuck out on arms, it should be killing you.”

Here is another one of Bradley Martyn’s high-volume arm workouts that you can try. Check it out:

Bradley Martyn Arm Workout #2

• Exercise #1: Seated one-arm DB curl (supinated grip), 4 sets of 8-15 reps
• Exercise #2: Standing DB concentration curl (hammer grip), 4 sets of 8-15 reps
• Exercise #3: Seated overhead cable extension, 4 sets of 8-15 reps
• Exercise #4: Standing cable pushdown (pronated grip), 4 sets of 8-15 reps
• Exercise #5: Standing cable rope pushdown, 4 sets of 8-15 reps
• Exercise #6: Smith machine drag curl, 4 sets of 8-15 reps
• Exercise #7: Ez-bar skull crusher (to chin), 4 sets of 8-15 reps
• Exercise #8: Bench tricep dips, 4 sets of 8-15 reps

Here is the training video:

This workout is very similar to the previous one. Bradley Martyn performs 3 exercises for his biceps and 5 exercises for his triceps.

During the workout Bradley gives some great tips on the right mindset to have when you are training your arms. He says arm day is all about using perfect technique on every exercise and establishing a great mind-muscle connection early in the workout.

Verdict | The Bradley Martyn Workout Program!

Bradley Martyn is one of the biggest names in the fitness industry today. He is the owner of the Zoo Culture gym in California and has an incredibly popular YouTube channel where he shares helpful advice with people all around the world.

Of course, he is also known as one of the biggest, strongest athletes on the planet. Bradley Martyn uses a powerbuilding training style in most of his workouts. He likes to train heavy on one main exercise, and then perform some higher-rep bodybuilding work in the rest of the workout.

Bradley says that this approach is a great way to train for size and strength at the same time.

If you are a powerbuilder at heart and respond well to higher volume workouts then you have to give the Bradley Martyn workout program a shot. It may be just what you need to take your training to the next level.

“Each workout is like a brick in a building, and every time you go in there and do a half-ass workout, you’re not laying a brick down. Somebody else is.”

Thank you for reading and I wish you the best of luck on your strength training journey!