THE 70’s BULK

PROGRAM:
Tall Man Edition

Because Getting Bulky For Tall Men

Does Require More Than The Basics

BY ALEXANDER CORTES
 CONTENTS

About The 70s Bulk Tall Man Program..................................3

HOW THIS PROGRAM BULKS YOU UP ..................................6
1. Train for Size and Strength ...............................................6
2. Eat enough, but not too much calories .........................7
3. Protein.....................................................................................8
4. Gain weight slowly ...............................................................8
5. Do Cardio Still .......................................................................9
6. Sleep ........................................................................................9
7. Be consistent...................................................................... 10
MUSCLE GAIN CONSIDERATION.......................................... 11
PROGRAM DIET......................................................................... 14
THE WEEKLY TRAINING SCHEDULE .................................... 19
Day 1 - Back day..................................................................... 19
Day 2 - Chest/Triceps day.................................................... 21
Day 4 - Leg day ....................................................................... 23
Day 5 Shoulder day............................................................... 25

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PROGRAM NOTES .................................................................... 27
WHO IS ALEXANDER J.A. CORTES?....................................... 28

2
 About The 70s Bulk Tall Man
Program

This program was originally inspired by the 1970s, a time

period during which bodybuilding and powerlifting
become mainstream.

There were many great lifters in that era, and their

training was often quite simple compared to today. They
had machines, but the vast majority of their training was
barbells, dumbbells, and bodyweight movements.

This approach is flexible, effective, and has worked at

getting many men big and strong for decades.

One thing to note about the 1970s however, is that while

there were many many successful bodybuilders; MOST
OF THEM WERE SHORT.

While Arnold Schwarzenegger and Lou Ferrigno were

both over 6 feet in height (at 6’1 and 6’5 respectively)

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most other bodybuilders were of short to average
height. Franco Columbo was 5’6, Frank Zane 5’10, Robby
Robinson 5’9.

If you look up the heights of most bodybuilders its

actually quite uncommon to see anyone over 6 feet tall,
and especially today in modern bodybuilding, the
average height is around 5’8 to 5’9.

Most bodybuilders are on average SHORTER in than your

average American male.

Because of this, there is a prioritization and emphasis

towards the “tried and true” movements, things like
quats, deadlifts, rows, presses, and chins/pullups.

Now, there is no disputing that these movements do

work, but when you are over 6 feet tall, they do not
necessarily work that WELL.

In the Original 70s Bulk program, I kept things simple

with barbells, dumbbells, and bodyweight.

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In this version, the Tall Man Edition, I also keep things
simple, but many of the barbell movements have been
substituted, some of the dumbbell movements have
been modified, and the bodyweight exercises have been
slightly changed.

The programming scheme is the same as the original

program, in that higher volume workouts done 4 days
weekly. But the movements have been optimized to suit
Taller individuals

You are only training 4 days a week, but the workouts

are fairly brutal. You will be tired, you will be sore.

These are not “30 minute” workouts, expect to be in the

gym for a solid hour.

Each workout is 25+ total sets.

You do lots of weight and lots of reps, and repeat repeat

repeat. If you eat right and sleep well, you will GROW on
this program.

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 HOW THIS PROGRAM
BULKS YOU UP

This program does not reinvent the wheel by any means.

Its low tech, but high effect. The strategies its built
around are easy enough to understand.

1. Train for Size and Strength

Bodybuilding training exists because it WORKS. Do not

fall for the fallacy of “I want to be strong but not big!”.

If you had the genetics to be big, you’d already know it.

And further, the strongest indicator of strength is
muscular SIZE. A bigger muscle is a stronger muscle.

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There are endless programs in existence that are
designed for hypertrophy, but they are share some
things in common:

- Use all rep ranges low to moderate to high.

- At least 4 days a week of training (a conventional

push/pull/legs/arms split works well).

- Moderate to high volume, at least 10 and up to 20+

sets per muscle group.

2. Eat enough, but not too much

calories

If you are undereating, you are not going to maximize

your muscle growth. You do not need to a massive
surplus, but consistent eating and sufficient eating are
non negotiable.

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 3. Protein

Also non negotiable. I keep things simple for people.

Have a gram of protein per pound of bodyweight. Eat a

lot of vegetables. Have some clean carbs (rice, potatoes,
yams, oatmeal, etc) before and maybe after training with
your carbs. Eat at least 4 times a day.

4. Gain weight slowly

A ¼ to ½ pound gain of weight is reasonable. Over 3

months, you should gain about 10lbs. Over 4 months,
12lbs. Gaining a pound a week is a setup for excess fat
gain.

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 5. Do Cardio Still

Your bodies ability to use oxygen is a very critical factor

in muscle growth. If you are cardiovascularly unhealthy,
you are limiting your muscularity. Get in regular aerobic
and/or anaerobic cardio at least 3x weekly.

6. Sleep

If your sleep is compromised, so is recovery. Sleep is the

critical factor for anabolism and adaptation. Aim for at
least 7 hours of sleep a night. Get naps in during the day
if your nighttime sleep is sub optimal. If your sleep is
limited, don't expect much to happen through training.

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 7. Be consistent

That goes for training, for eating, and for recovery. There
is no circumvention to consistency.

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 MUSCLE GAIN CONSIDERATION

Your ability to gain muscle is part genetic, part lifestyle,

and part training. The genetic component cannot be
denied as being the strongest influencer. Some trainees
can seemingly do anything and build muscle, while
others may struggle to find a style of training that works
for them, and will get half the results in twice the time.

That said, I cannot change your inherent genetics. But I

can help you maximize your genetic potential.

Subsequently, the best way to maximize your muscle

building potential is to optimize three areas:
● Your training (which you are doing with this
program).
● Your recovery.
● Your diet.

Recovery means sleeping (and eating), but sleep is the

number one factor. If sleep is compromised, all the
body's adaptive mechanisms will be impaired. I cannot
emphasize this enough: you MUST get sufficient sleep,

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7-8 hours a night. If you do not, you will not maximize
your body’s musclebuilding potential.

Proper nutrition is the next factor. You must feed

your body what it needs.

A "musclebuilding" diet is simply a diet that fulfills the

energetic demands of building new muscle tissue.
Assuming the diet is designed around nutritious whole
food intake, a musclebuilding diet is eating MORE. Food
is anabolic and growth promoting.

Muscle is made of protein, and relative to all the

research that has ever been done, 1 gram of protein per
pound of bodymass is the reliable recommendation for
muscle gain/weight gain.

The proportion of fat and carbohydrates in a diet are

relative to the activity level and bodycomposition and
biochemical individuality of the person in question.
There are no hard and fast numbers to follow that are
"ideal" for everyone.

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For natural trainees, a "mixed" diet consisting of 30-50%
carbohydrates, 30-40% protein, and 30-40% fat is
generally the best middle ground approach to begin
with.

From here you can adjust as necessary towards

whatever side the spectrum you find to work best (very
low carb to very high carb, very high fat to lower fat, low
protein to high protein).

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 PROGRAM DIET

This is the overall layout of the diet. Because these

workouts are long, and this is “mass” builder program,
you need to eat sufficiently, especially on training days.

For your eating, your food sources should be WHOLE

Foods.

Fat and Protein Sources

● Eggs
● fatty cuts of fish
● fatty cuts of meat, steak, chicken thighs, ground beef
● full fat dairy
● all manner of nuts, peanuts, almonds, walnuts, etc

Carb Sources
● Rice
● Potatoes
● Grains (if they digest well)

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Follow these Instructions to determine daily calorie
and macro intake.

● To determine your daily calories, multiply Eat your

bodyweight x 15
● To determine your daily protein, simply weigh
yourself, and consume one gram per lb of
bodyweight
● To determine your daily carbohydrates, multiply
your bodyweight x 1.5. Those are your daily
carbohydrate intake in grams
● All remaining calories come from fat
● The macro percentage split is about 25% protein,
40% carbs, and 35% fat.
● Eat 3-6 times daily. Smaller meals are better for
digestion.
● If necessary, consume protein shakes to get all the
necessary calories in
● Each meal should have at least 8oz of protein, plus
a sizeable amount of carbs.
● Have a protein shake before training, and before
going to bed at night
● Get your protein from chicken, beef, fish, pork, and
eggs

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● Get your carbs from rice, oatmeal, and pasta
● Drink a gallon of water a day

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Program Design and Duration

- Training schedule-4 days weekly

- Working volume-5 sets for every exercise. That is

25+ sets per workout.

You do 5 sets for every exercise. You can do the same

weight all sets, you can pyramid the weight up, you can
do reverse pyramids and start with low reps then do
higher reps. This is up to you.

YOU need to regulate the program as you go through it.

I cannot tell you how, because I am not there to assess
your training.

There is not much need for “warmup” sets beyond doing

one or two high reps with the empty bar and then some
light-weight after that.

I would suggest the following warm-up routine for every

training day. This should not take more than 10 minutes
ever

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Warmup
1/4 mile Walk or Run-6-7mph
50 Band Pull Aparts
25 Band Over and back dislocations
25 Banded Facepulls
25 bodyweight squats

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 THE WEEKLY TRAINING SCHEDULE

You can arrange these days however you like. I have set
it up in the order I believe is most effective and allows
for maximum recovery between your biggest muscle
groups.

Remember that ALL exercises are done for 5 Sets.

I’ve included a run through of each workout to describe

the reasoning behind it.

Day 1 - Back day

-Tall men usually don’t find training back to be that

difficult, as having long arms does provide immense
leverage on many movements. That said, the difficulty

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becomes one of building MASS, as when you are tall and
longer, it’s hard to look big.

There is also the issue of conventional deadlifts

sometimes not working, as they put most of the stress
on the low back and never are the mass builder they are
hallowed to be.

In this back day, you start with Romanian snatch grip

deadlifts. Versus starting from the floor, these are done
starting from a standing position. Snatch Grip RDLs allow
for much more glute emphasis, along with the benefit of
working the upper back

Following those you have chinups or wide grip

pulldowns. This is meat and marrow movement that
there is no substitute for.
Following those though, you have stiff-arm lat
pulldowns. This is an excellent movement increased lat
activation and while its not a major size builder, it does
contribute to overall lat development. Especially rows
immediately follow it.

Number 4 you have inverted Bodyweight rows. This is

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great middle and upper back size builder, and it also
adds in some arm and grip work as well.

Following those, you then have the seated cable rows.

Another middle back and lat mass building movement.

At this point your arms will have had considerable

indirect stimulation, so you emphasize them finally with
the EZ-Bar Bicep curls. These should be very joint
comfortable, and each set taken close to failure.

1. Snatch Grip Romanian Deadlift-4 reps

2. Chin-ups or Wide Grip Pulldowns 8-12 reps
3. Stiff Arm Lat Pulldowns 10-12
4. Inverted Bodyweight Rows 10-15
5. Seated Cable Rows 6-8
6. EZ Bar bicep curls 8-12

Day 2 - Chest/Triceps day

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Building upper body size, I have found ONE major
principle that works; determine what “big” pressing lift
works for you, and hammer it forever until you can move
big weight on it.

For tall men, that is the incline bench press. The flat
bench press, rarely results in pec development and
tends to tear up the shoulders, and overhead pressing
can simply be awkward and takes a long time to build up
to appreciable loads.

Incline Bench though, I’ve found it very often to be the

“sweet spot” lift that works chest, shoulders, triceps, and
progressive overload can readily be applied.

Following that, you have standing cable flys. This is both

for direct pec stimulus and to pre-exhaust the pecs for
dips. The dips should LIGHT UP your chest and shoulders
immensely, and following them with the deficit pushups
further emphasizes the pectoral contraction.

With all the chest and front delt work, your triceps are

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getting a lot of stimulus. To directly target them, you’ll be
hitting seated OH DB Tricep extensions for high reps,
which emphasize the long head of the triceps that is so
critical for building size.

1. Incline Bench Press 5 reps

2. Standing Cable Flys 6-12 reps
3. Bodyweight Dips 6-12 reps
4. Deficit Pushups 10-15 reps
5. Seated Overhead DB Tricep Extension 10-15 reps

Day 4 - Leg day

Tall men can in fact have pretty good leg development

aesthetically, but your legs are unlikely to hever look
“huge”. Which isnt such a bad thing, but if you’ve got
naturally skinny legs, you can look like a stork.

On this leg day, you’re doing A LOT of quadriceps work

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and knee dominant movements. I’ve not found tall men
to struggle too much with posterior chain, its the quads
that make the difference for leg size and strength.

Having long legs means you NEED strong quads for

athletic movement and healthy knees and hips.

This workout starts out with goblet squats, for working

sets of 8 reps. You follow that with DB Bulgarian split
squats, done for 12 reps each leg.

That’s then follow by leg press, to fully finish off the

quads with the heaviest weight you can move for all the
sets.

Then you complete the workout with direct lower

hamstring work, the leg curls, AND you still do calf raises.
I don’t care how long your legs are, don’t NOT work
calves.

1. DB Goblet Squat 8 reps

2. Weighted DB Bulgarian Split Squat 12 reps
3. Leg Press 8-10 reps
4. Seated or Lying Leg Curl 8-12 reps

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5. Standing Calf raises 8-12 reps

Day 5 Shoulder day

More incline work on shoulder day. A high incline smith

press is NOT quite an overheard press, but its also a little
higher than an regular incline press.

The bar is lowered to the top of the sternum versus the

mid chest. It obviously works the shoulders more, which
is the emphasis here.

When training shoulders, you need to focus on TENSION,

more than range of motion. Its common for taller men
to hyperextend their joints because they mistakenly
focus too much on range of motion, and not enough on
maintaining tension.

The presses, you want to stop the range of motion right

at the point that the arms make a 90 degree angle. This

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means you will NOT be bring the bar down very low, and
that is okay.

Leaning lateral raises are what follows. This movement

is excellent for maintaining constant tension on the
shoulders, and the cables make it very joint friendly.

Next you have rope facepulls, to emphasize the rear

delts and traps, and those are followed by wide grip
seated rows, which hit the rear delts and middle back
further.
Lastly you finish with machine flys (with a neutral grip).
This is the finisher to develop the 3-Dimensional
shoulder development that is coveted. Having big
shoulders as a tall men will dramatically change your
physique.

1. Seated High Incline Smith machine Press 6-8 reps

2. Leaning Cable Lateral Raises 10-15 reps
3. Rope Facepulls 10-15 reps
4. Wide Grip Seated Row 10-15
5. Machine Rear delt fly with neutral grip 10-12 reps

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 PROGRAM NOTES

● The reps are the WORKING weights. That means you

use weights that CHALLENGE you and require focus
and intensity. Because you are doing lots of sets,
you should always leave 2-3 reps “in the tank”. You
are not taking these sets to positive failure.

● You must AUTOREGULATE your training. That

means you decide how hard and heavy to go each
day based upon how you FEEL.

● Again, you do not need to take sets to failure on this

program, I would suggest no to in fact. Always leave
1-3 “in the tank.”

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 WHO IS ALEXANDER J.A. CORTES?

My name is Alexander Juan Antonio Cortes. I am a writer,

dancer, personal trainer, and storyteller. I have an
obsession with the art and science of self-actualization. I
believe that everything in the body and mind can be
trained to be better, faster, stronger.

Here’s my website: https://cortes.site/

Follow me on Twitter: @AJA_Cortes

Follow me on Instagram: AJA_Cortes

Learn about my other training programs.

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