A Little Less Theory, A Little More Action

So far with Relentless, I’ve focused on fairly non- tangible ideas.  While those have their place, I figured it would be worth it to put some practical stuff in here as well.  This post specifically is about my current workout routine.   I do plan on adding another page to the blog about the different workouts I do and, eventually, I also plan to put one up that has some healthy recipes on it that I use.

First off, I’m no cross fitter.  I’ve encountered some elitist attitudes among cross fitters (which, to be fair, also exist in standard gyms) and I feel no need to pay the price of a year’s membership at my gym for one month at a cross fit gym to do workouts that are easily looked up on the internet.  That being said, I know some awesome people who love cross fit, so do you’re thing if that’s what you enjoy.

Sorry, can’t resist poking a little fun. I’ll make fun of my fellow gym rats soon enough, don’t you worry.

I tend to do more traditional lifting in the gym; it’s what I was taught, it’s what I enjoy. Since I’m still currently in a cutting phase I’ve been incorporating some circuit training to keep my heart rate elevated, fear not fellow gym goers, my circuits don’t take up more than one piece of equipment at a time.

I like to split my muscle groups up, currently those splits are:

-Legs and shoulders.

-Back and biceps.

-Chest and triceps.

On any given day I start with cardio on the treadmill.  I’m not going for insane here, nor is it even about distance.  I jog for 20 minutes.  Whatever the fastest pace is that I can do and reach 20 minutes, I do.  I’ve noticed that this has drawn my focus away from distance and turned it towards endurance.  Consequently, this has allowed me to increase my speed and endurance at the same time without sweating the details that the digital treadmills like to inundate you with.

Tip: Cover up the readout of the treadmill with your towel once you get it all set up, that way you aren’t stressing over the numbers. 

After that, I pick two workouts per muscle group.  I pretty much go with whatever me and my partner are feeling for that day.  I know, “How do you get into a proper routine by not doing the same workouts for weeks at a time?”  I hear what your saying and when it comes to the goal of putting on muscle mass I completely agree with being more regimented in which lifts I perform.  The purpose of this particular style of workout, for me, is to burn fat and not lose a lot of muscle mass while doing it.

For this example we’ll go with Chest and Triceps.

Sorry it’s small (zing!), sometimes WordPress defeats me, click on it to enlarge it

What this shows is that between each set of every exercise I do 30 seconds of jump rope and 30 seconds of some abs exercise.  When it comes to abs I tend to mix it up and do something different between each different exercise i.e. decline sit ups, flutter kicks, leg raises, etc.

You don’t have to jump rope.  If a treadmill is convenient you can run for 30 seconds, if a bench is nearby you can do step ups.  The goal is to keep the heart-rate elevated throughout the entire workout rather than rest between each set.  Now, it may seem counter-intuitive, but I think you’ll find that you recover from the actual weight lifting portion faster with these intervals.  I would say that it has something to do with increased blood-flow but then I’d be talking way above my pay-grade, for all I know it’s all in my head.

Also, while the goal is to keep the pulse elevated that does NOT mean it’s time to compromise form on the lift for speed.  That’s what the intervals of cardio and ab work are for.  When I get to the lift portion of the circuit, I slow down and control my movements.

While not the main goal, I’ve seen decent gains in strength by doing workouts like these, but my overall cardio level and my core strength have gone up by leaps and bounds while also causing my fat levels to drop.  My gym partner and I are only continuing this for about another week, which will bring us up to 4 weeks total on this plan before we switch to a program designed to build more lean muscle mass.

Sadly, it isn’t over yet.  To finish up this workout, me and my partner head to the weight machine area of our gym to squeeze out any last bits of effort we’ve got.   We finish up with three rounds of the following exercises done in another circuit fashion, one exercise after the other:

-Standing Calves Raise

-Machine Biceps Preacher Curl

-Triceps Dips

-Another core ab exercise, preferably one we haven’t hit yet

I’m sure that there are other better workouts to accomplish what I’ve written here, but my workout buddy showed me this routine and it kicked my ass.  Naturally, I enjoyed that and decided to keep it up.  By all means, search the internet and talk to your friends to find a workout that accomplishes the goals you have in mind.

-Moody