My Current Workout Plan

So I thought I should write a quick summary of what my exercise plan looks like.  To be honest, it is an extremely simple program.  Because I am trying to lose fat, over the course of a week I am eating fewer calories than my body needs.  There are several days where I eat more calories than I need, as is the case with intermittent fasting.  These are the days when I go to the gym and lift weights.  I do this on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.

Monday
Bench Press:  Work up to a max set of 5 reps
                      Take off 10% of the weight and do one more set
Incline Dumbell Press: 3 sets of 6-9reps
Dumbell Rows: 3 sets of 6-10 reps
Tricep Extensions: 4 sets of 8-12 reps
Curls: 3 sets of 6-9 reps

Wednesday
Glute Ham Raises: 3 sets of 6-9 reps
Squat: Work up to a max set of 5 reps
           Take off 10% of the weight and do one more set
Deadlift: Work up to a max set of 5 reps

Friday
Pullups: 3 sets of as many as possible with good form
Overhead press: 1 set of 4-6 reps, 1 set of 6-9 reps, 1 set of 8-10 reps
Hanging Leg Raises: 3 sets of as many as possible
Facepulls: 3 sets of 10-12
Curls: 3 sets of 8-10

All of these workouts take around 40 minutes to complete.  My goal is to go as heavy as possible on the big exercises like squats, deadlifts, bench, and overhead press.  When losing fat, you have to lift heavy to convince your body that it still needs the muscle.  The other exercises are down at lower intensity, but still with a focus on adding weight whenever it is possible.

If I were not dieting right now I would be doing a program like starting strength, or stronglifts.  I used this method of lifting before I began the 12 Week Challenge and was making consistent strength gains.  Using that style of training I went from barely being able to squat anything to squatting twice my bodyweight.  These kinds of programs only work if you are eating to grow though.  So that is why I've switched to a lower volume approach for these 12 weeks.

For cardio, I do morning walks of 30-45 minutes, five times a week. This is just brisk pace walking. After my workouts on Monday and Friday, I go and run hill sprints.  The hill sprints take about 20 minutes to complete, and they are incredibly tough.  I chose hill sprints because unlike traditional moderate intensity cardio that can cause muscle loss, hill sprints are muscle sparring and can even cause muscle growth....also hill sprints are just bad ass and fun.

That is all I'm doing.  Dieting, walking, lifting heavy weights, and hill sprints twice a week.  If I were feeling under-recovered the hill sprints would be the first to go.  Any questions, please let me know!

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Get Strong!

 My experience with weightlifting is probably fairly typical of a guy my age. I started working out in high school, and followed routines from Arnold's Encyclopedia of Bodybuilding. I did this for a couple years and made a bit of progress, but nothing special. 

What I should have been doing was squats, deadlifts, bench presses, and overhead presses. I should have done these with low reps (around five), and my only concern should have been adding more weight to the bar. That is what I do now, and it works. In one year of doing this my squats went from 50kg for five to 120kg for five. My legs grew a lot. My bench went from about 60kg for five, to 95kg for five. My arms and chest grew a lot. These weights are nothing extraordinary and I am by no means a big guy. The weights are however, way better than before, as is my physique. If you can continually add weight to the bar, you will get bigger.  It really is that simple.

I wish that I had followed this kind of program in high school. The problem is that the internet is full of terrible information, and the world of bodybuilding and weight training is notoriously bad. Too many flashy routines published by supplement companies trying to sell their products. That coupled with a generation of people who have the attention span of goldfish, has created an environment where the majority of people in the gym are spinning their wheels, or at best making mediocre progress.

Confused yet?

Doing squats, deadlifts, and bench day in and day out is not exciting or cutting edge. This is why so many people can't stick with a program like this, and why even more people can't be bothered to try. It is a shame, and I personally regret wasting so much time jumping from one program to the next.

The key to this kind of training is to get absolutely hooked on adding weight to the bar, and absolutely forbidding yourself from browsing the latest muscle building trends floating around the internet. There are days when I add 1kg to a lift, and am absolutely thrilled. If you can get into this frame of mind, a simple program can become addictive. Make those numbers climb as often as you can. When they stop climbing, deload and have another run at it.

That's how you get big biceps.

If you're dying to do some curls, or triceps extensions just do them. But, do them after you do the main exercises. If they start to interfere with your progress on the main lifts, get rid of them. Adding weight to the main lifts is far more important than a few bicep curls will ever be. If you can deadlift 400lbs you will have big biceps.

Look into Starting Strength, or Stronglifts, or Bill Starr 5x5. These are all great programs to get strong and pack on the muscle. Keep in mind though, that these programs are meant to get you big, and are not great for people trying to lose fat fast. So if gaining tons of muscle is your goal, you should be doing one of these programs, or something similar to it.  I still recommend doing intermittent fasting when doing these kinds of programs.  Fasting will allow you to pack on muscle, without getting fat during the process.  Give it a shot, and let me know how it goes.  Get in touch on facebook at www.facebook.com/fittaiwan

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