Sunday, February 6, 2011

The Fundamentals Part 2 - Program

I have a real appreciation for power lifting movements. So much so that I focus the core of my work around them. A lot of folks who are all about losing fat and such decide that they need to mount up on a treadmill and stay there for hours on end, or do a lot of different exercises for a lot of sets and reps. That doesn't work like they think it will. That will only make a smaller version of you - it won't change your body composition. Curl a beer can 100 times. Sure, you'll get a burn, but you won't build muscle, which in turn raises your resting metabolic rate and helps burn fat.

That said, right now I'm working a four day split, centered around power/compound movements. I break down into two days for upper body, and two for lower. Here's what it looks like:

Upper Day 1: Bench, back thickness

Flat Bench, variations sometimes include DB's and different grips such as wide or close grip, depending on a point of emphasis I may or may not want.
Barbell Rowing. The single best move, in my opinion, to add to back thickness is to put some weight on a bar and row it.
Low Cable Rows. Generally I use a narrow grip for this to fire up the rest of the back that didn't get hit with the barbell rows.
One each of direct bicep and tricep exercises (curls, dips, etc.).

Lower Day 1: Legs, Ham Heavy

Squats - and lots of them. Sometimes using the sumo variation also, but primarily it's to hammer the entirety of the legs but hams play a heavy role in squatting.
SLDL's or RDL's - either variation of stiff leg or Romanian deadlifts to really activate the hamstring muscles directly, while calling on other muscles to assist.
Other assistance work from there, such as pull-throughs, adductor and abductor machine, sometimes some seated ham curls for exhaustion.

Upper Day 2 - Bench, Back Width

Incline Benching, using either the Smith machine or DB's, or rigging up the squat rack to use the barbell (my gym lacks a proper incline bench station anymore).
Chins, using narrow or wide grip
Lat Pulldowns, using whichever grip I didn't use for chins
One each bicep and tricep exercise again (curls, dips, etc.)
*sometimes* some raises to hit the shoulders a little more.

Lower Day 2: Legs, quad heavy

Deadlifts. The king of all, and while primarily a low back exercise you do engage the legs hard here.
Leg Press. Self Explanatory.
Front squats. Again self explanatory.
Some other assistance after all that.
It should be noted that I didn't list sets and reps. It's because even I don't know how many I'll do. If I'm going heavy (working close to max weights), I'll do a lot of sets of singles, or 2-3 reps. If I'm working lighter weights, I'll work maybe 4-5 sets at 70%, but reps upwards of 8. Short rest periods - nothing longer than a minute. I am rarely in the gym much longer than 75 to 90 minutes. Get in, get the work done, and get out. Best way to get it all done.

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