Hey all,
I've been very inconsistent with my lifting for a while now because of work. I travel a lot for my job, and work long hours, so it is difficult for me to stay consistent. Enough with the excuses though, its time to lift!
I have a new workout plan I started on Friday. It's fairly simple, but I have high expectations for it.
Here is what it looks like:
Days: Mondays - Heavy
Wednesdays - Light
Fridays - Heavy
Routine:
1-2 warmup sets before every heavy set
Squats: 2 Heavy Sets x 4-6 reps
Bench Press: 2 Heavy Sets x 4-6 reps
Pull-ups: 2 Heavy Sets x 4-6 reps
Dumbbell Press: 2 Heavy Sets x 4-6 reps
It's a full-body routine that is built around the core exercises. The important part is how the reps are performed...slow on the way down, and moderate on the way up. By slow I mean 3-4 seconds on the eccentric to 1 second on the accentric. Near perfect form is key.
Logically, this workout makes more sense to me. How much muscle/weight can you gain after an arm workout? How much after a full-body workout? Logically, you can gain more muscle doing a fully body workout than single bodypart workouts. This routine allows you to hit each bodypart heavy 2 times per week compared to once per week with conventional split body routines.
The routine can be made more advanced with time...i.e. if you wanted to make friday different from monday, Fridays routine could look something like this:
Front Squats
Incline Press
Barbell Rows
Military Press
An even more advanced routine would be something that is built off of the basic exercises, but utilizes supersets and drop sets.
Leg Press - Leg Extensions - Squats
Dumbbell Flyes - Bench Press - Drop weight on bench
Pullups - Low Rows
Dumbnbell Press - Side Laterals - Drop Set with Laterals
The idea is not to just "throw" the weight around though. A focus on the muscle and hte eccentric part of the movement would be very important.
I am going to try to do the beginners routine for now until I feel I am in better shape. Then I may move onto adding some supersets and dropsets.
Many of the old time bb's were full body workout people. Arthur Jones was also a fan of it, and this workout reflects some of his principles. The problem when I tried his routines before was "too many" exercises and going to utter failure on every one. I found myself too tired to get through the workout. If I was on drugs like the pros, then maybe I could do a long, to-failure, fullbody workout, but as a natural, I found it too taxing and left me in overtraining mode. So, the routine has been shortened to just the major exercises. If the major body parts grow, then everything else should grow with them. The goal is not to just "get big", but to "get big" the FASTEST way possible.
Let me know your thoughts
