On Exercise: New Regiment

As with all my posts, It has been a while since I updated my exercise-related threads.

Last time I stopped, the program followed by me was strong lifts. After a grueling six months of following this strict exercise regiment, not worrying too much about food, I gained a total of over 15 Kgs – about 32 lbs. 

It is inadvisable to continue with the same regiment for over three months, based on personal experience. However, since I did not reach my plateau by the end of the first three months, I decided to go on for another three months. 

After strong lifts, I followed no specific exercise routine. Switching between weight lifting, cardio and calisthenics, I managed to maintain my gains rather well. The next routine I intend to go on with, by 1st January 2013, is a calisthenics based routine. I will rotate between different exercises and adding weights to limit my last set count to less than 8 reps. Considering the large numbers of reps I can pull in un-weighted sets, I will have to add a significant amount of weights.

I estimate that the downside for this would be the reduced stress on cardio, as my calisthenics exercises have reached a point where its a cardio routine. However, I intend to supplement the routine with daily cardio before or after exercising, depending on my energy levels during the workout.

Keep it pumping.

On Exercise: Progress

It has been quite a while since I posted something, been very busy lately with my new business and haven’t been finding the time to update this blog.

Anyway, about six weeks ago I was finished with my first round of power-lifting routine, it lasted around four months and I gained 13 kilograms. The strength and weight gains were ridiculous, especially for a strict no supplement diet.

Ever since I completed the first cycle of my power-lifting routine, I have been preparing for the second cycle, this time calisthenics will be added to the routine and the rest days will be reduced from four to one.

An extra addition would be the daily 20-40 minute cardio which will be split to 20 minutes on different machines rotating between rowing, treadmill and elliptical.

power-lifting days will be split among 4 different exercises, squats, bench press, military press and deadlifts. day one will include 5×5 squats with increments of 5 lbs per workout, 5×5 bench press with increments of 5 lbs per workout. day two will include 5×5 squats with increments of 5 lbs per workout, 5×5 military press with increments of 5 lbs per workout and 1×5 deadlifts with increments of 10 lbs per workout.

If I fail to complete the designated sets and reps the weight will remain the same for the following workout.

As for the calisthenics days, I will not follow a particular routine or exercising patterns, A total of 4 exercises will be completed per day each with 3 sets of no more then 12 reps. I will be adding weights to attempt and reach muscle failure by the 10th rep of the final set.

So basically I will have one day of power-lifting and one day of calisthenic-based training with cardio as a warm-up for each workout.

The previous cycle improved my strength and added a decent amount of weight, this routine is aimed at further increasing strength, stamina and endurance.

The following are the weight I started training with for the first cycle:

• Bench Press (135 lbs)
• Military Press (95 lbs)
• Squats (115 lbs)
• Barbell Rows (115 lbs)
• Deadlifts (185 lbs)

The weights I reached by the end of the cycle:

• Bench Press(225 lbs)
• Military Press (135 lbs)
• Squats (225 lbs)
• Barbell Rows (155 lbs)
• Deadlifts (335 lbs)

I will keep you guys posted, good luck.

On Exercise: Starting With Workouts

So far I didn’t really give you any solid routines to follow, or even exercises.

Today, I will share with you my current workout, it is a simple non-time consuming workout that I do as often as I can without disrupting my work-flow.

For starters it is greatly influenced by a guy called Mehdi Hadim, his website is called stronglifts and that is his address <http://stronglifts.com/>

I split my workouts between strength training, calisthenics, and cardio.

Everyday I do some cardio, on my weight days (strength) I do 10-30 minutes of warm-up cardio, this is not considered cardio at all since its under 45 minutes, its just to warm-up and get the blood flowing.

On my calisthenics days I cardio for about 45 – 90 minutes and then go ahead with the rest of my training.

My schedule goes as follows:

Day 1: Strength (all exercises but cardio are 3 sets and 5 reps)

• 10 – 30 mins of cardio
• Bench press
• Squats
• Military press
• Deadlifts
• Rows

Day 2: Calisthenics (I aim for having my max rep at 12 or 15 and add weights to achieve this)

• 45 – 90 mins of cardio
• Dips
• Pull-ups
• Push-ups
• Crunches
• Inverse rows

Rinse and repeat, that is the workout I’ve been following for about a month now and its working just fine, I will be changing it two months from now to a new routine, not sure what yet.

I use this table to keep track of my progress for this routine, each routine has its own table Recording My Progress.

The point is to keep adding light weights every single exercise and continuously    improve and progress.

On Exercise: Shock Training

About a month ago I was discussing with a friend how he can break the plateau he was stuck in for a while, I suggested just crushing it for six days straight.

This might seem a little vague, but “crushing it” is the perfect terminology for the brutal exercise pattern I am about to describe, try it out and you will find it as accurate as the symmetry of the carpets in an obsessive compulsive person’s apartment.

For anyone that used to exercise hardcore and wants to reestablish the habit, or anyone that reached a plateau and wants to break it, I suggest trying shock training.

What I propose is simply maxing out your physical exercise potential, if you run for an hour, make it two, if you do 3 exercises per muscle group, make them 6, and so on.

What I personally do in this case is go over each and every single machine in the gym and keep my pace relatively quick, short breaks and in case I can’t lift the weights I started with then I lift lighter.

The point is to spend at least 4 hours in the gym and lift as much as a five year old girl by the end of the exercise.

You will feel nauseous, you will feel tired, you will feel desperate, but hang in there for six consecutive days.

What I tell you is extremely hardcore and old school, if you are not up for the task do not do it.

The exercises themselves are not important to focus on, this is NOT a long term routine, and it is not meant to make you look lean, or help you bulk-up.

Shock training is incredibly effective in making your body break its limits, it is incredibly difficult and by no means meant for the light hearted.

I know this is a radical approach to exercising, and I agree 100%, I always do things my way and train in unusual methods.

Good luck.