From The Ground Up
Before you even consider stepping foot into the weight room, you have to have a plan of attack. You should know what you are going to do and what you want to achieve ahead of time, so when you get to the gym, you just have to act on it. There are many steps to deciding what you want to get out of your workout. In a nutshell, the workout will help you transform your body into anything you want. Now remember, the workout is only a third of the solution to the puzzle. You also have to keep in mind maintaining a proper diet, supplementation and cardiovascular schedule to get the optimal results. We will focus on the weight training workout part and give you a complete idea of what you should be doing to go where you want to go. A weight training workout starts with a full year and gets divided into sub-categories based on time and frequency. For each year, there are seasons.
Most of the time the seasons will be in-season in the summer time (warm weather) and off-season (cold weather). Within these seasons, there are cycles that will complete a workout goal. In each cycle, there is a weekly schedule. In each weekly schedule there is a daily routine. And in each daily routine, there is a set routine. Lastly there is a weight and a number of repetitions for each set. Sound confusing, let me examine each part so we can get a better understanding.
THE WORKOUT YEAR
Normally a workout will be unique each year. The difference is that the year will begin with the changing of the temperature instead of the calendar. The year can either start with the in-season, or with the off-season, it really doesn't make a difference either way. The seasons are where you build your workout from and set your goals for.
THE SEASONS
To get the most out of your lifting, it is important to switch your routine up and your diet as well. Breaking your routine into seasons lets you make the most out of your diet, supplement, and physical training schedule. Since it is almost impossible to gain weight without a caloric excess, you should combine all the necessary items involved with gaining weight in the off-season. This means eating at a caloric excess, using compound exercises in your workout, and supplementing with high calorie and protein shakes. This will make sure your body always has enough nutrition and never needs to go to other places for sources of energy. The same goes for the in-season. When cutting, you want to eat at a caloric deficit, up the cardio to burn the calories, use more isolative exercises for toning and supplement with thermogenics and low-calorie and carb shakes. Your eating habits should coincide with your workout program and should cycle like one too.
THE CYCLES
There is one thing that is better for you body than a great workout in the gym. It refuels your system more completely than a post workout shake. It energizes you better than the best thermogenic. REST. You need it, even if you don't think you do, your body is telling you IT NEEDS TO REFUEL. How do you incorporate rest into your strict training schedule? By taking a week off every 5-10 weeks. Depending on the intensity of your workouts, you might go longer or shorter between cycles. Your body will let you know when it is time, and you should listen to it. After coming off a week of rest, you will have more energy, your body will have grown more, and you will be able to reframe your progress and goals. Maybe you like how you are succeeding, or maybe you need to change something up. If so, it should come during your weekly routine.
THE WEEKLY SCHEDULE
Nothing will wear down you body more than overtraining. Some people don't realize it, but sometimes working out less is more. You really can't knock it until you try it. For bodybuilders busting out the heavy weights in the off-season, 3 days a week, will give you ultimate time to recover and get ready for the next day. For in-season, 5-6 days might be best to keep up your metabolism and fat burning. These examples are based on a 7 day week. It is possible to frame your weekly schedule around 3 day or even 5. Weekdays shouldn't be considered a vacation necessarily. They are an excellent time to train even harder. This all is part of the daily routine and should be taken into account.
THE DAILY ROUTINE
The daily routine is just that, but shouldn't be treated like one at all. Although it is good to get a base for your exercises and build on the previous accomplishments, the daily exercise routine should be changed up every 3-6 weeks, depending on your weekly schedule and cycle. Changing the exercises, number of exercises per muscle group, muscle groups trained together and days on which certain muscle groups are trained, will constantly keep your body guessing and growing at the same time. As far as muscle group scheduling, it is wise to go with a push/pull rotation as to let the opposite muscle group rest on the alternate day. Pushing muscle groups include chest, shoulders, tricep, trapezius and quadriceps and calves. Pulling groups are the back, bicep and hamstrings. Finding the right combination takes practice and learning from experience, especially when you blasted triceps and decide to do chest the next day. Learn to associate the right number of sets with the appropriate exercises for that muscle group.
THE SET ROUTINE
Not all exercises you do will be 3 sets of 10. Different movements like compound and isolative, require different tension and load on the muscles. Compound exercises should be lower in repetitions and higher in weight. These are used to overload the muscle and cause it to grow. they should be done at the beginning of the workout and should consist of about 2-4 sets, depending on the number of reps vs. weight achieved. Isolative movements will be higher in repetitions and lower in weight, causing a toning n shaping effect on the muscle. These can wait until the end of the routine and should be used to burn out the muscle and bring fatigue with usually 1-2 sets. Using compound and isolative movements together should be experimented with to find the right consistency. Usually in the off-season, isolative movements are not necessary and the same for compound movements in the in-season. An argument for the compound movements can be made during the in-season, just to keep strength and size. All judgments should be made in relation to the weights used and reps performed during these sets.
THE REPS AND WEIGHT
Depending on all the previously discussed material, the weight and reps you aim to achieve, should be relative to the goals you set. You should always strive to gain ground either with more weight used on a set, or more reps performed with the same weight from the previous attempt. You should always be looking for ways to improve, and it all comes down to F=MxA. That is the formula for determining the force on the muscle. It is equal to how fast and often the amount of weight is moved. The more weight or reps, the more force, the more growth. But that all leads back to the the proper set routine, which is within the daily routine which depends on the right number of days a week you lift, which should be part of a smart cycle schedule, which all make up a season, which you get two chances at each year. I hope this helps
Written by Jeff Harding 02-03-03
Copyright 2006 Mind-Muscle Supplements
All content is proprietary and based on the author's personal knowledge
