Matt Hank

If you talk to me about your training routine at the gym, more than likely I’m blogging it. So here’s another one. A person at the gym was asking me how often I lift arms (incorporate arm specific exercises into my routine – bicep curl and tricep press). I told him that less than 2-3% of my lifting routine comprises of arm isolation exercises. He thought I was crazy – Probably because he references all those body building magazines which tell you to do biceps and triceps a couple times a week. I told him that I do so much functional training that every part of my body is pushed to the limit by the end of the week. Every time I do a pulling movement (pull up variations or rowing variations) I work my biceps. Also, every time I do pressing movements (overhead pressing like shoulder press variations or horizontal pressing such as chest press variations) I exhaust my triceps. Rarely at the end of a workout I will add in a bicep or tricep isolation exercise. I believe in training movements and not specific muscles, so arm isolation exercises do not fit into my routine very often.

Coincidently the next day after speaking with this individual, I noticed my biceps were really sore. This is what I did the day before to make them sore:

· 1 Arm TRX Rows & Barbell Hang Snatch (Superset)

· Chin Ups & Jump Rope Variations (Superset)

· TRX Y’s (high and low) & Plate Chops (Superset)

Many traditional lifters may label this as a “Back” day. However, I call it a pulling day and always include functional movements on my pulling days. Notice how there was not one bicep curl in my program on that day, yet my biceps were fried the next day. In fact, my workout was a great metabolic workout (conditioning workout) at the same time. Now see how high your heart rate will get doing a bicep workout – nothing compared to functional movements.

Train Hard-Train Smart,
www.asap-pt.com

Want an easy way to do “core training” today – impliment unilateral exercises such as single arm dumbbell bench press, single arm cable rows, single leg squats, and single leg RDLs into your routine.  This unbalanced effect will require greater stabilization and coordination throughout your core.

Train Hard-Train Smart
www.asap-pt.com

So I was talking with a guy at the gym the other day and he asked me to evaluate his training routine.  Here’s the simplified version of it: He has a 4 day split – Back/Bi’s, Chest/Tri’s, Legs, and Shoulders/Abs.  He says on average he lifts about 3 days a week but due to his work schedule sometimes he lifts only twice and other weeks he can get in the gym 4 times a week.  His main goals are to build muscle and get stronger (typical goal for a male).

My response (only evaluating the training split – not the reps, sets, intensity):  On average he is not getting a full body lift in during the week.  If he only gets into the gym 3 times this week, he didn’t even train shoulders/abs.  Even worse, if he only got into the gym twice a week he wouldn’t lift legs or shoulders/abs.  This training split is seriously flawed!  He will never reach his goals at this rate.  If you goal is to gain muscle and build strength you should at least provide a stimulus to the muscle minimum once a week.  He could potentially go two weeks before ever lifting the same muscle group twice (depending on his work schedule). I told him to plan out his week ahead of time – if he is going to get in the gym 4 times, then he can use his current split (even this split needs work, but I want to correct the major issues first).  However, if he is going to only get into the gym 2 or 3 times he needs to rearrange his routine for the week.

Example:
2X week – Pressing/Core(1) & Legs/Back(2) or he could do a full body lift both days
3X week- Pressing/Core(1), Pulling/Core(2), & Legs(3) or he could do a full body lift all three days

There are many different way to rearrange his lifting schedule, he just needs to take time to plan it out if he wishes to accomplish his goals.

Train Hard-Train Smart
www.asap-pt.com

It’s good to change up your workout routine and add some spice from time to time. There are a lot of variables to manipulate during your workout including the repetitions. One method you may not have tried before is a cluster set. This simply means that instead of doing a set of 8 continuous repetitions, you would do 4 repetitions rest for 30 seconds and then finish the last 4 repetitions. This is only effective if you lift more weight during your cluster set then you would during a regular set of repetitions. For example: If I typically could do 100 lbs for 8 repetitions, then I would try to do 115 lbs for my cluster set (4 reps/rest/4 reps). The short rest period within the set would allow me just enough recovery to lift a larger amount of weight compared to a typical set. This training method is extremely valuable for individuals that are looking to get stronger or more powerful.

Try to be creative with your cluster sets – A few examples of how to structure your cluster set:

• 2 X 2 X 2
• 3 X 3
• 4 X 3

Train Hard-Train Smart
www.asap-pt.com