By that, I mean I tell people, "Just go in there, pick up something heavy a few times, do it again, repeat until you're tired, and go home."
"Okay. How should I pick them up?"
"Well, pick 1-2 exercises from each of the upper-body push, upper-body pull, lower-body knee-dominant, lower-body hip dominant, and core anti-mover categories, do 2-4 sets of 6-12 repetitions with a weight that is 70%-90% of your one-rep max, and do this 2-4 times per week."
"At some point during that sentence, we stopped being friends."
"...Aw."
As much as I like to make things a simple as possible, I do realize there's a bit more to fitness than picking up heavy stuff.
I joined my first gym when I was 17 years old. I had been doing push ups, pull ups, curls, and step-ups (onto my rolling computer chair, which I don't recommend unless someone is recording you) at home, and I thought I was in good enough shape to progress to a big-boy gym without embarrassing myself too much.The problem was I had absolutely no structure working out at home; I'd do ten push ups, then ten curls, then I'd watch TV until the next commercial break, then I'd see if I could do eight pull ups and decide that six was still pretty good, then I'd eat a sandwich and do some crunches.
I've yet to see a similar routine in MuscleMag.
So when I finally made it into a big room with benches and weights and the AB DOLLY PRO X I was absolutely clueless. I spent about thirty minutes doing three sets of pull-ups, and then one of the regulars felt pity and let me work in during his routine.
When I got home, I did my research. I'm about to write out the routine I wish I'd found at 17.
Justin's Template for the Basic Workout
Pick one exercise from the following categories:
Upper Body Push
Upper Body Pull
Lower Body Knee-Dominant
Lower Body Hip-Dominant
Core Anti-Movement
-Do these exercises in a circuit if you can, with about one minute of rest between each. Repeat this circuit three times.
-If you can't do them in a circuit, do all three sets of one exercise before moving to the next, with one minute of rest between sets.
-Perform each exercise for ten repetitions, with a weight that feels heavy around the eighth rep. If you're doing a body weight exercise, feel free to go above or below ten reps depending on your ability. For the front plank exercise, start at twenty seconds.
-Do this routine three times per week. Pick a different exercise from each category every time if you can. Write down your weights and reps, and try to get better at one or the other when you do the same exercise at a later date.
There you have it. Simple, but hopefully not too simple. I think my 17-year-old self could benefit greatly from this, though if he keeps eating a Tony's pizza every night and avoiding protein at all costs it probably won't do him much good.
If you would like further elaboration, feel free to leave a comment or contact me on my Google + page, because using that instead of Facebook makes me feel special and unique.
Go forth and lift heavy things.
No comments:
Post a Comment