A Natural Bodybuilder Takes on Frank Zane’s 12-Week Workout Program: Check Out the Results

Bodybuilding is an art and a science. However, the current generation is flocking to the “most scientifically proven” training techniques to promote hypertrophy while completely neglecting the art of carving a perfectly chiseled physique.

I see a ray of hope whenever people seek my help with old-school bodybuilding programs and training techniques.

One of my personal training clients, let’s call him Tom (because that’s his actual name), approached me with the aspiration to build a physique like the three-time Mr. Olympia champ Frank Zane.

Tom, a natty bodybuilder, already had a solid foundation with over two years of lifting experience.

In this article, I take you over Tom’s journey of following Zane’s 12-week training program as a natty athlete, including the intricacies of adopting an old-school workout split and the potential results you can expect.

The 12-Week Frank Program For Natties: A Detailed Breakdown

I would go as far as to say that Zane was ahead of his time when it came to training. He tweaked his training split slightly each week to ensure optimal muscle stimulation and recovery.

Here is an overview of his PPL (push, pull, and legs) training program:

Cycle One — Train Three out of Five Days

Day	Muscle Groups
Monday	Back, biceps, forearms
Tuesday	Rest
Wednesday	Legs
Thursday	Chest, shoulders, triceps
Friday	Rest

Cycle Two — Train Three out of Five Days

Day	Muscle Groups
Saturday	Back, biceps, forearms
Sunday	Rest
Monday	Legs
Tuesday	Chest, shoulders, triceps
Wednesday	Rest

Cycle Three — Train Three out of Five Days

Day	Muscle Groups
Thursday	Back, biceps, forearms
Friday	Rest
Saturday	Legs
Sunday	Chest, shoulders, triceps
Monday	Rest

Cycle Four — Train Three out of Six Days

Day	Muscle Groups
Tuesday	Back, biceps, forearms
Wednesday	Rest
Thursday	Legs
Friday	Rest
Saturday	Chest, shoulders, triceps
Sunday	Rest

Zane used mesocycles to ensure he was moving in the right direction. This three-week split ensured he performed the same workout four times, culminating in 12 workout days and nine rest days.

In my opinion, Zane’s training split is best suited for intermediate to advanced lifters who already have a solid foundation.

Since our protagonist had two years of lifting experience under his belt, it made him the perfect guinea pig for this challenge.

A 12-week challenge meant that Tom would perform each workout 16 times and have 48 training days. In my opinion, this is ample training volume to determine if a natty can thrive on Frank Zane’s Mr. Olympia-winning training program.

Frank Zane’s Workout Programming

Now that you know Zane’s training split, this is what his workouts looked like:

Workout One: Back, Biceps, and Forearms

Muscle Group	Exercise	Sets/Reps
Back	Lat Pulldowns	12/10/8
	Leverage/landmine rows	12/10/8
	Single Arm DB rows	12/10/8
Biceps	Seated Curls	12/10/8
	Standing alternating DB curls	12/10/8
	Seated Incline DB curls	12/10/8
Forearms	Seated Wrist Curls	12/10/8
	Reverse grip curls	12/10/8
Abs	Hanging Leg Raises	100 reps
	Crunches	100 reps
	Seated Twists	100 reps

Honestly, this is a lot of training volume. I would be surprised if you’re not sore after this workout, especially if you’re consistently implementing progressive overload into your workouts. As the reps decrease, you must aim to lift heavier weights. However, the weights shouldn’t compromise your form.

Workout Two: Legs

Muscle Group	Exercise	Sets/Reps
Legs	Landmine Hack Squats	12/10/8
	Leg Press	12/10/8
	Leg Extensions	12/10/8
	Leg Curls	12/10/8
	Seated Calf Raises	12/10/8
	Standing Calf Raises	12/10/8
Abs	Hanging Leg Raise	30-100
	Sit-Ups	30-100
	Cable Crunch	30-100
	Hyperextensions	30-100

Remember, these workouts aren’t just about going through the motions for the sake of them. Use slow, deliberate negative, and contract your muscles throughout the range of motion to make every rep count.

Workout Three: Chest, shoulders, triceps

Muscle Group	Exercise	Sets/Reps
Chest	Dumbbell Incline Press	12/10/8
Shoulders	Dumbbell Shoulder Press	12/10/8
Triceps	Dips	12/10/8
Shoulders	Dumbbell Front Raise	12/10/8
Chest	Dumbbell Pullover	12/10/8
	Decline Dumbbell Flye	12/10/8
	Cable Flye	12/10/8
Shoulders	Dumbbell Lateral Raise	12/10/8
Triceps	Tricep Pushdown	12/10/8
Abs	Crunches	3 x 10
	Seated Twists	3 x 10
	Standing Band Crunches	3 x 10

Zane limited his rest duration to 90 seconds during this workout, which was just enough time to stretch between sets, sip water, and get ready for the next set.

Frank Zane’s Training Philosophy & Adjusting It For Natties

I must point out that Zane identifies as a natty. Whether he was on drugs or not is a discussion for another time. Interestingly, he earned the nickname ‘The Chemist,’ which is often associated with anabolic steroids, as he climbed through the pro ranks.

However, Zane claims that he earned the moniker due to his Bachelor of Science degree.

“When you take high doses of supplements — vitamins, minerals, enzymes, and amino acids — you get a drug-like effect, but it’s not as radical,” Zane said.

Nonetheless, here are the main tenets of Zane’s training philosophy:

Use a Multi-Body Split

Zane trained multiple body parts in a single workout, which allowed him to train the same muscle groups at least twice weekly. This approach aligns with research that suggests that greater training volume spread throughout the week can boost muscle stimulation and hypertrophy results compared to training a muscle group once weekly. (1)

Employ Compound Free-Weight Exercises

Old-school bodybuilders like Zane relied primarily on free-weight multi-joint lifts to carve their physiques. Tom, on the flip side, mainly relied on machines. This was the biggest shift for him when adapting to Zane’s workouts.

More Volume Isn’t Always Better

Unlike his rivals like Arnold Schwarzenegger and Franco Columbu, Zane wasn’t crazy for high-volume workouts. He usually did 28 working sets in his pull workouts (back, biceps, and forearms), which was much less than the 50 sets that Arnie would do.

That said, each individual responds to different training volumes uniquely. Tom ended up tweaking the total number of working sets each week in response to his muscle fatigue and soreness.

Slight Variations

Although Zane entered each workout with a solid program, he constantly made adjustments to avoid monotony and ensure consistent progress. Variations are even more important when you are adopting someone else’s routine, as what works for them might not be the most optimal for you.

Variations could include a change in exercise order or substituting a movement to train the target muscle from a unique angle.

Listen To Your Body

Zane wasn’t about going all-out in each training session. Instead, he paid close attention to fatigue signals and instinctively took a few days off to allow his body ample time to recover.

Beginners, especially natural athletes, should work with an experienced personal trainer and share their progress regularly to determine if they should make any adjustments to their routine to optimize their hypertrophy results.

Stretch Between Sets

“When training a particular body part, you should do roughly ten different stretches for it during the rest periods between your sets,” Zane explains. “Each stretch should last 15-20 seconds.”

He recommends resting long enough so that it lowers your heart rate so you can put your maximum effort into the next working set.

Tom reports that stretching the target muscles between sets helped him flush out the lactic acid, improving his performance in the working sets.

Warm-Up and Cool-Down

Zane recommends easing into a workout and spending five to 10 minutes warming up the joints, muscles, tendons, ligaments, and connective tissues with dynamic stretches. This improves the training performance and significantly limits injury risk.

He also recommends performing static stretches for five to 10 minutes after a training session to flush out the metabolites and promote recovery.

The Natural Bodybuilder’s Journey Through Frank Zane’s Training Program

Here is a week-by-week overview of how Tom fared through this demanding training program:

Phase One: Weeks 1-3

Although Tom is an experienced lifter, he encountered significant delayed onset muscle soreness (DOMS) in the first two weeks since he was coming from a low-volume training program. However, it fired him up to give this program all he had.

Things started heating up in the third week as we gradually increased the poundage and reps to ensure consistent progress. We started conservatively and ensured we weren’t sacrificing form while chasing heavier loads.

To build a physique like Zane’s, you must ensure your nutrition and recovery plans support your training. Tom determined his ideal daily energy intake and macronutrient split using this calculator and ensured he checked all the boxes.

Phase Two: Weeks 4-6

Tom’s strength levels were improving linearly and he was setting new personal records in almost every lift. This was also when Tom started practicing the vacuum pose to keep a tiny waist and accentuate the V-taper aesthetic.

We incorporated advanced training techniques like supersets, drop sets, intraset stretching, negatives, and forced reps in the fourth week to continue to push the envelope.

This approach also helped improve his muscle conditioning and separation.

Tom added a creatine, whey protein, and EEA supplement to his stack to promote recovery and limit downtime between workouts.

Phase Three: Weeks 7-9

We noticed a significant improvement in Tom’s vascularity in the third phase of this training program. His physique was starting to resemble that of a classic bodybuilder.

This high-volume training program is as much a mental challenge as it is physical. Tom developed a deep sense of discipline and mental toughness during this program and embraced the discomfort of training close to mechanical failure, as he understood it was essential for growth — and greatness.

I must add that we added a few extra sets for triceps and hamstring exercises in each workout, as they are lagging muscle groups for Tom. I encourage you to make such adjustments to the program at your own discretion.

Phase Four: Weeks 10-12

We, or rather Tom, went pedal to the metal in the final phase of this training regime and was rewarded with results that exceeded his expectations.

Tom saw improvements in almost every aspect — he gained muscle size and strength and improved his overall physique aesthetics.

Besides helping him build his best physique, Zane’s training program helped him learn the fundamental principles of training and building muscle, which is invaluable.

He was so impressed with the results that he did the program again after a one-week deload period.

Conclusion

So, can a natty bodybuilder survive Zane’s training program? Absolutely.

However, natties usually experience much slower progress compared to their enhanced counterparts. It also requires an even deeper understanding of training and nutrition. Following Zane’s training regime as a natural bodybuilder demands a lot of grit, determination, and patience. Plus, you must adjust the programming according to your current fitness levels and training objectives.

Watching my client’s physique transform over the 12 weeks was one of the most satisfying feelings, and it proves that the Golden Era training methodologies are evergreen.

I highly recommend giving this training program a shot if you are stuck on a plateau and want to shake things up to break through the overhead ceiling.

If you have any questions about Zane’s training regime or need help implementing it into your routine, post them in the comments below, and I’ll be happy to help!

References

1. Schoenfeld BJ, Contreras B, Krieger J, et al. Resistance Training Volume Enhances Muscle Hypertrophy but Not Strength in Trained Men. Med Sci Sports Exerc. 2019;51(1):94-103. doi:10.1249/MSS.0000000000001764

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