CT Fletcher, dubbed “the strongest man you never heard of” started lifting weights at the age of 22. He’s originally from Little Rock, Arkansas but has been in Southern California for 50 years.
Powerlifter turned bodybuilder, CT is a 6 time world champion; 3 time drug tested world bench champion and 3 time world strict curl champion. He’s a top over-50 competitor in bodybuilding and strives to be the undisputed number one champion.
CT feels his greatest accomplishment is his 705lb shirtless bench press attempt at the baddest bench press in America contest because he did it drug free against the best powerlifters in the world. His motivation comes from his mother for all of her support and his cousin for being such a badass. Fletcher touts a 705lb bench press in the gym, 650lb bench press at competition, a 725 pound squat, and more muscle than you can shake a stick at.
CT describes the Penitentiary Style Workout as not worrying about set and rep numbers, but putting the most focus and energy into every last rep. Give it all you have and act like it’s the last rep you will ever complete. Penitentiary Style form is admittedly not going to satisfy the form sticklers and some may wave a bullcrap flag, but they are some of the biggest guys you will ever see.
Half of CT’s workout still consists of a powerlifter training model to increase strength. Couple that with bodybuilding parameters and you have an amazing physique that is extremely strong. He said he has no intentions to compete again; he has accomplished everything he has set out to do.
Supplements that Fletcher suggests:
Related: How to get ripped absA sample arm workout would include:
5 to 6 sets of a minimum of 10 reps
- Single Arm Dumbbell Preacher Curls
- EZ Bar Preacher Curls
- Incline Bench Hammer Curls
- Concentration or Cable Curls
Other exercises that CT Fletcher uses:
Shoulders
- Seated Dumbbell Overhead Press
- Standing Barbell Lateral Raise
- Seated Smith Overhead Press
Chest
- Flat Barbell Bench
- Flat Dumbbell Bench
- Flat Barbell Pyramid Bench
- Smith Bench
- Incline Barbell Bench
- Pushups
Biceps
- Incline Bench Hammer Curls
- Dumbbell Preacher Curls
- EZ Curl Bar Preacher Curls
- Barbell Preacher Curls
- Straight Bar Cable Curls
- Concentration Curls
Triceps
- W Bar Tricep Extensions
- Straight Bar Tricep Extensions
Back
- Dumbbell Rows
- Lying Machine Rows
- Deadlifts
- Lat Pulldowns
- T-Bar Rows
- Pullups
Legs
- Squats
- Hack Squats
- Box Squat
- Leg Press
Check out this article for a workout routine.
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If you have any comments or questions, feel free to leave a message below!
thanks bro gonna go beast mode now keep up the hard work this site already is becoming my number 1 source and less of that bodybuilding.com shit what would you recommend for delts man using only dumbbells
Check out this delt workout I wrote. Just change to using dumbbells instead of a barbell. The reverse flies you can do the bent over reverse flies and the face pulls you can do them bent over instead of on a machine. This workout hits all of three heads so you have massive shoulders and traps. The benefit to working all three heads is to ensure shoulder health too.
A lot of people have shoulder pain from overdeveloping the front delt and not developing the smaller rear delt. You can do face pulls and reverse flies every day you workout. I train 3 times a week and I add them in at the end of the workout and I’m finding it to be pretty helpful to my development.
HI Cutty…I’m planning on increasing muscle mass…please recommend me any programme by which i can increase my muscle mass as much as possible
Sorry it took a minute to reply, I have been working a lot lately. I think you would do well with this routine or this routine. Eat about 200-300 calories over your BMR and progress and you will see noticeable gains in a few months!
Hey, Cutty I read a few of you stories and am blown away. Man you are motivation in itself! When you said you workout arms everyday I didn’t think that were posssible because of all the talk about how the body needs rest. Results speak louder than words for you. You have given me a new goal, thank you.
Hey cutty me again with probably another pointless question but I need as much knowledge on building muscle as I can get I need a lot of help to be honest this question is kicking around quite a bit and I wanted to get your thoughts can you build muscles with “light weight”. On the penitentiary workout you wrote that by doing 4 sets of 15 reps each time you could then move on to the next weight as you were becoming stronger but should I stick with this system to gain muscle or should I just bomb the heavy stuff for really low reps or stick to light weights for high reps or to failure
Thanks again man
Regardless of whichever way you decide to go, good quality work is going to be needed period. In a very broad look, a high rep type routine is going to build bigger muscle because it is forcing more blood into the muscle and stretching the fascia. You will gain some strength due to more muscle, but the main idea in this is to build the biggest possible muscle.
Building strength is actually straining your CNS and forcing your body to produce more power by using more muscle fibers. Building strength is going to build muscle like a high rep scheme does, but it will be more dense.
So whether you train like a powerlifter and train for strength with something like 3 sets of 5 or train like a bodybuilder with 3 or 4 sets of 12, both are going to increase lean muscle and strength.
I personally train high weight low reps, but I get burned out about every 4 or 5 weeks which doesn’t happen with a bodybuilding routine as often. A lot of the workouts I create have a heavy weight low reps for the main compound lifts and then the 12-15 rep sets for the accessory work.
Just progressively overload, eat, and get rest and you will grow muscle. It is a process, trust it.
thanx bro much appreciated
No problem!
What about the weights and reps…
Pls do tell that..
And thnx for these exercises
Check out my workouts page to check out the workouts. The main thing I wanted to do here was to make people aware of the training. Check out the penitentiary training page as well!
AFTER READING ABOUT YOUR BICEP WORKOUT EVERYDAY, I DONT THINK I WILL TAKE IT TO THAT EXTREME BUT I AM LOOKING INTO WORKING OUT ARMS EVERY OTHER DAY, HOW OFTEN SHOULD I WORKOUT BACK CHEST AND SHOULDERS, I WOULD SAY MY SHOULDERS AND CHEST ARE THE BIGGEST ACCOMPLISHMENTS SO FAR THEY HAVE GOT HUGE HOWEVER HAVING SOME TROUBLE GETTING THE ARMS TO MATCH UP! THE DIET AND EATING IS THERE NO PROBLEM ON THAT END JUST WANTING TO KNOW YOUR OPINION! 5’09 200 BULK
If you are using heavy compounds to build your chest and shoulders, you may want to lighten the load and run something like a 12 reps for 3 or 4 sets. You could do chest/shoulders on like a Monday/Friday setup and would work well. Back you could barbell row or some other row every time you bench. Deadlift on another day.
If you are able to get enough recovery, working a big muscle 2 times a week is ok and working smaller muscles up to 3 times a week works well.
THANK YOU SIR, AND I WILL DEFF TRY THAT OUT, KEEP UP THE POSTING AND HARD WORK!
Good luck man, keep us posted!
I’m 15 and I’m a beginner and I’m 5’7 146 pounds I just want to know how long it would take to see really noticeable results
If you start doing a reasonable training program like the ones I’ve listed here and you eat good whole foods and do your best, you will see noticeable results relatively fast. 6 months you should be doing some heavy weights and getting bigger muscles.
It’s a life journey, you have to trust the process and if you listen to my advice and the good advice of others you will be able to change your body.
I got 14s right now how long do you think it will take to get 22s
Years
Is this ct Fletcher himself
No I interviewed him and wrote an article about him.