Summer 2010 workout routine
Four weeks ago I wrecked up my left foot while doing sprints in a park. For the two following weeks I was barely able to walk. I had x-rays taken but nothing seemed amiss. Still, the diagnose was a minor fracture caused by excess strain.
After spending about a week in self-pity, lying on the couch and agonizing over missed exercise, I decided to hit the gym. Even though I was limping there was nothing wrong with my upper body. I soon found out that even though walking hurt like hell I was also able to do squats and leg presses without problems. Go figure. And since running and Yoga were out of question, I started to tweak my old gym routine.
Photo by Scootzsx
I reacquainted myself with a blog specialized in muscle growth which I had found already over a year ago, and to my luck the author Mark McManus had just published his newest take on Targeted Hypertrophy Training. I started reading and actually gained some new insights:
Muscle growth (overcompensation) does not take place until after the muscle has recovered from the workout. This means that if you train too often your body will never have time to actually increase the size and strength of the muscle.
In order to maximize growth, you should reach failure at around 1-minute mark when doing strength training. If you reach failure much sooner you are not able to recruit all muscle fibers and thus limit the opportunity for growth. If, on the other hand, you reach failure much later it is your aerobic system that is stressed, not muscular strength.
Both compound and isolation exercises are needed for optimal benefits. I’ve been solely focusing on compound exercises without realizing that they cause certain muscles to fail sooner than others - thus limiting the potential for growth in the less strained muscles.
The best exercises are those where the largest load on the muscle occurs when it is fully contracted. E.g. bicep curls as such are inferior as the load is not fully on the biceps in fully contracted position - unless done with a machine that overcomes this.
Armed with this information I set on to create a new workout routine for myself. I used Mark’s 5-day program as a basis, but since I have no time to hit the gym five times a week I came up with a 3-day program of my own.
After experimenting with the exercises and feeling pretty settled on them, I went to the gym for one marathon workout with my girlfriend. We timed each exercise to see how many reps we can do in one minute. This was an eye-opener. I’ve considered myself to train with a steady pace - a bit on the slow side - and good form, and I assumed I’d manage about 10 reps. However, to my surprise even some of the exercises that I considered slow took altogether 14 or 15 reps before the one minute mark.
This basically meant that I had been training outside the anabolic window, where the largest number of muscle fibers are recruited and strained, and as a result the largest opportunities for muscle growth occur.
As I finalized my new workout routine I divided all the exercises into 4 rep range groups depending on how many reps I did within a minute at my own pace. The one minute mark took place during either the last rep, or one after that - e.g. in a range of 8-12 it took me 12 or 13 reps before the one minute mark. However, I’d recommend that you record the time at your own pace, and come up with your own target number of reps.
Although this routine is not as intense as the one in Targeted Hypertrophy Training, I’d still keep about one week between working out the same muscles to give time for recovery and overcompensation. For example, you could go to gym on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays and do a separate workout each day, or do the workouts with always one resting day in between.
Legs + Triceps
Squat (10-14 reps)
Squat (10-14 reps)
Leg press (10-14 reps)
Leg extension (8-12 reps)
Leg curl (10-14 reps)
Standing calf raise (12-16 reps)
Seated calf raise (12-16 reps)
Standing calf raise (12-16 reps)
Tricep pushdown (8-12 reps)
Tricep pushdown (8-12 reps)
Tricep dip (12-16 reps)
Back + Shoulders
Deadlift (8-12 reps)
Deadlift (8-12 reps)
Barbell row (12-16 reps)
Barbell row (12-16 reps)
Dumbbell lateral raise (8-12 reps)
Dumbbell lateral raise (8-12 reps)
Military press (6-10 reps)
Military press (6-10 reps)
Barbell shrug (12-16 reps)
Barbell shrug (12-16 reps)
Chest + Biceps + Forearms + Abs
Bench press (8-12 reps)
Bench press (8-12 reps)
Pec deck (6-10 reps)
Pec deck (6-10 reps)
Pullup (8-12 reps)
Bicep curl (6-10 reps)
Bicep curl (6-10 reps)
Reverse wrist curl (12-16 reps)
Regular wrist curl (10-14 reps)
Sit-up (8-12 reps)
Sit-up (8-12 reps)
Headstand (as long as you can keep it :) This is a legacy exercise from the time I did yoga and might take some practice at first)
Some of the exercises such as dumbbell lateral raises can be followed straight away with military presses, but in general I’d recommend keeping at least a 2,5 minute break between sets to ensure that the strain is concentrated on muscles instead of cardiovascular system. And if you reach the end of the rep range, remember to increase the amount of weight the next time you work out to ensure continuous progression.
When it comes to nutrition, the people who follow this blog should know that I’ve been eating primal / low-carb fare for a year and a half now. I won’t go into dietary details in this post, except for saying that I’ve done the following tweaks to my diet:
No more post-workout carbs
If I would load myself up with carbs three times a week after gym sessions, it would most likely have a seriously adverse effect on my insulin levels. Muscle gain might increase somewhat but at the expense of gaining also body fat. Instead, I now enjoy low-carb protein shakes or bars and normal low-carb meals also during the workout days.
Carb-cycling
This means that I deliberately increase the amount of carbs from Friday night to Saturday night, allowing myself to enjoy certain vices such as chocolate and ice cream, as well as eat foods I normally stay away from (pizza, pasta, potatoes...). According to this article, carb cycling actually helps build muscle without sacrificing leanness.
There are some major changes happening in my life now: Next week I will be flying to China, and from there to Seoul, South Korea for a student exchange. After that I’m planning to travel around Asia for about two months, so I won’t be back in Finland until late February 2011. I will also be without Internet access and laptop for a while now until I get settled in Seoul. I plan to keep writing from there as well, but I can’t say yet when I’ll be able to do that the next time.
Cheers!