Yesterday I covered what my diet starts to look like come January. Now I will let you take a look at what my training schedule looks like to get back to “fighting weight”. There is a lot of argument about which workout you should do and which ones are the best. The main goal is to do whichever one you pick 100% and make sure that you allow your body to get adequate rest . It doesn’t matter if you do P90x, crossfit, or an old-school program like mine; the effort, consistency, and intensity are what will get you results.
“The mind is the limit. As long as the mind can envision the fact that you can do something. You can do it, as long as you really believe 100 percent.” -Arnold Schwarzenegger
During the fall I follow a high intensity protocol meaning my workouts have very few working sets per muscle group but they are performed to and past failure. For example, I’ll warm up for 5 minutes on bench and pick a heavy weight and do it as many times as I can (shooting for the 8-10 range) and get a spotter to help me push 1-2 assisted reps out at the end. A lot of times I’ll immediately decrease the weight after my set to failure and do the same thing with a lighter weight. So on chest day I may only do 3 exercises with 1 working set to and past failure on each exercise. This may sound easy but trust me; it is a great physical and mental challenge.
After 6 months of doing this my body is prime for a new, drastically different workout. The immediate change of style will create muscle confusion and lead to immediate elevated anabolic responses. That basically means my muscles will grow and I could burn fat. I switch to a high volume workout. That means I may do 4 exercises for 4 sets a piece on chest day. Since I go from pushing 60-80 reps a workout to now up to 200 I have to ease into it a bit. First week I do 10 sets for 10 reps on all my days to get my body switched to a volume program. After 2 weeks add a couple sets to each workout and so on until I get to where I am now and will stay.
This workout is much more taxing on the body and requires the carbs to be consumed to be able to handle it. Instead of doing 3 days, I do 6. Not only are my winter and spring workouts longer, they also finish every single time with 45 minutes of cardio. I usually do inclined walk, slow jogging, elliptical, or step climber. The body’s response to the change is pretty quick and you will see significant weight loss in your first 6 weeks.
I also start to supplement more. Before every workout I use a pre-workout drink to elevate energy levels and I also take a full days serving of the essential amino acids. After every workout I immediately drink a weigh protein isolate shake. I also take a men’s multivitamin daily. I drink a casein protein shake before bed every night as well. Depending on my day and if I’ve been able to consume enough protein, I may drink a 3rd whey isolate shake for the day but I try to keep that to a minimum by taking in as much whole food macronutrients as possible
Sample Week Training
Monday
Seated Dumbbell Military Press- 5 sets of 8 reps
Standing Lateral Dumbbell Raises- 5 sets of 10 reps
Upright Row- 5 sets of 10 reps
45 mins cardio
Tuesday
Incline Barbell Bench- 5 sets of 8 reps
Flat Dumbbell Bench- 5 sets of 10 reps
Pec Deck or Cable Fly- 5 sets of 10-12
Seated Bench Machine (Nuetral grip-palms facing, thumbs pointing up)- 3 sets of 12-15 reps
Standing Front Dumbbell Raises- 3 sets of 10
45 mins cardio
Wednesday
Lat Pull downs- 5 sets of 8-10
Seated Wide Grip Rows- 5 sets of 10
Single Arm Dumbbell Row- 5 sets of 10
Seated Neutral Grip Rows- 5 sets of 10
Reverse Flys- 3 sets of 10
45 mins of cardio
Thursday
Dumbbell or Barbell Shrugs- 8 sets of 10
Calf Raises- 8 sets of 12
Ab Wheel- 5 sets to failure
Crunches- 5 sets to failure
Straight Leg Deadlift- 5 sets of 20
45 mins of cardio
Friday
Super set bicep and triceps
1A- Barbell Curls- 5 sets of 8
1B- Skull Crushers- 5 sets of 8-10
2A- Hammer Curls- 5 sets 10
2B- Single Arm Behind Head Tricep Extension- 5 sets of 10
3A- Seated Preacher Curls- 5 sets of 10
3B- Tricep Pushdowns- 5 sets of 10
45 mins of cardio
Saturday
Leg Press- 5 sets of 10
Crunches – 5 Sets of 10
45 mins of cardio
**I go easy on my leg to maximize cardio sessions in the winter/spring. I kill them in the fall due to no cardio**
Sunday
Rest
The actual workouts you do on which day is completely customizable to your preference. Some may look at my schedule and not like to do things in that order. Nothing wrong with that since everyone is different. Most people don’t train shoulders first but I do because of my body’s natural build. My frame makes it imperative that shoulders take precedence. It’s all about finding a comfort level that suits you and executing it to the best of your ability.
If anyone has any questions about the workout email me at 3rdAnd57@gmail.com
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