Gym training: strength building option

[pirateman2k]

I thought I would post this for people who have access to a gym: it looks like it would mesh very well with the No-S concept (M-F) for people who are interested in strength. Perfect for building the gym habit.

http://www.fourhourworkweek.com/blog/20 ... our-lifts/

Here are the basics:

Monday –heavy squat (SQ)
Tuesday –heavy benchpress (BP)
Wednesday –heavy deadlift (DL)
Thursday – light SQ
Friday –light BP
Saturday –off
Sunday –off

-Dan

[chiangmaiboss]

This looks like an excellent program for building size and strength. Back in the days when I used to lift weights I used a very similar program and had very good results.

[pirateman2k]

Another program that's good for building the habit of lifting weights:

Note the following statement: "I often did this five days a week"

Be wary, this program is so simple that you'll ignore its value.

1. For the next 40 workouts, do the exact same training program every day. (For the record, I find that most of my goals are reached by day 20 or 22, so you can also opt for a shorter period.)

2. Pick five exercises. I suggest you do a squatting movement like the goblet squat or overhead squat as part of the warm-up, as you don't want to ignore the movement, but it might be fun to focus on other aspects of your body.

3. Focus on these five movements:

• A large posterior chain movement (the deadlift is the right answer)

• Upper body push (bench press, incline bench press, military press)

• Upper body pull (pull-ups, rows, or, if you've ignored them like me, heavy bicep curls)

• A simple full-body explosive move (kettlebell swings or snatches)

• And something for what I call an "anterior chain" move (an abdominal exercise). I think the ab wheel is king here, but you can also do some movements best suited for lower reps.

4. Only do two sets of five reps per workout for the deadlift and push/pull exercises, and one set of 20 to 50 for the explosive move. Do a solid single set of five reps for the abs.

5. Never plan or worry about the weight or the load. Always stay within yourself and go heavy "naturally."

6. Don't eat chalk, scream, or pound on walls. Simply do each lift without any emotion or excitement and strive for perfect technique.

So, the workout might consist of these five movements:

Thick bar deadlift
Bench press
Heavy biceps curls
Kettlebell swings
Ab wheel

For the record, this is exactly what I recently used in my workouts. I often did this five days a week, and found that my lifts naturally waved up and down throughout the week and the full 40 days. Sometimes, something like a 250-pound bench press would feel so light for both sets of five that I had to hold back on the excitement to do more sets and reps.

The secret to the program is that you get your volume from doing up to ten sets of a lift in a week and the load increases as you naturally feel like the weights are "easy." It is that simple.

The first time I tried this program under Pavel's direction, I added 15 pounds to my lifetime incline bench press during the twenty-first workout, approximately a month after starting the program. I did this max with no spotter and I got the lift for a double. It was a 15-pound improvement over my lifetime best with an extra rep as a parting gift without doing a single hard workout. Just two sets of five anytime I entered the gym.

You can certainly come up with your own variations, but try to stick with the basic five movements and don't stray far from two sets of five. You'll be amazed at how quickly your strength will improve after just a few weeks. Also, notice the element of randomness in this workout.

With a home gym, I can train this program daily, but I naturally find that I take days off here and there simply because of the nature of life. You could do all 40 (or 20) days in a row, but things will come up.

After finishing either all 40 days or when you feel your strength has come up to a level that more advanced training methods are appropriate, feel free to move along. The short time you invest in focusing on strength building will do wonders for your muscle mass as you begin to attack super sets or whatever you deem important.

The 40 Day Workout might be an excellent way to progress through the V-Diet, or any other diet strategy that involves a set number of weeks. After ending the 28 days of the diet, one's strength will take off as you ease off the strict nutritional efforts.

Read more here:

http://www.tmuscle.com/free_online_arti ... ay_program

Here's a response to the program: "First, it seemed way too easy. I could blast through the three core lifts in less than ten minutes. However, that meant even after a long day, I knew I could get down to the basement, do what I needed to do, and get out pretty quickly." (See the link for more.) http://www.elitefts.com/documents/40-day_workout.htm

This is simple stuff, and if applied regularly, it works.

[pirateman2k]

Here's what I found in one of Dan John's old "Get Up!" Newsletters. May be helpful for those who want to attempt the 40 day program

Volume III, Issue 9
February 2005
Get Up! The Official Newsletter of the Lifting and Throwing Page
6
The “Forty Days†Workout
Editor in Cheap
Have you ever heard something so simple, yet so “right,†that you literally
can’t wait to try it? My good buddy, Greg Watson…a young upcoming
hammer thrower…had gone back east to the Yuri Sedyck hammer clinic. When we met up in Las Vegas, he opened my eyes to a concept that simply staggered me in its “rightness."

Last summer, as Get Up!, readers may recall, I spent a week learning the
hammer from Sedyck…the world record holder. No, I’m not any good, but one thing I have learned in life should be
worthy of consideration: always, always listen at the knee of a master. Any master…any field…trust me, you will learn.

The technical stuff is important, but Greg came back with a real training
gem…the forty day workout. No, you don’t workout for forty straight days,
instead, well, let’s talk.

The key is this: for the next forty days, maybe eight weeks in total if you take two days a week off, you are going to
work out.

No surprises, so far. But, here is the difference…for the next forty days, you are going to do the EXACT same workout.
Hang on…didn’t Pavel just finish telling us that we should also adjust our training with the variation mantra of “same, but
different.†Yes, but didn’t he also tell us to “Grease the Groove?â€

Here is the program:
• Pick four to six exercises in the weightroom.
• Pick a “couple†of drills, if you are a thrower or other athlete
• Pick a throwing routine.
Now, each and every day: do it. Start light, light, light and simply add weight whenever the bar starts feeling too easy.
Each day, tick off one more off of the total count of
forty workouts. Think “Day One of Forty†or “Day
Fourteen of Forty.†No single workout is the end
all or be all of training. At the end, test yourself by competing. If you improved, you “chose wisely.â€

Examples? Sure, here is “part†of what I am doing:
Lifting
Romanian Deadlifts:
3 sets of 3 or 2 sets of 5
Incline Bench Press:
3 sets of 3 or 2 sets of 5
Chin ups:
3-5 sets of a few reps less than failure
“Isometric Abs†L-Sits or Hanging
Raises
Sneak these up to a minute…
In addition, I do the Ab Wheel and
Kettlebell Snatches in the mornings.
Throwing
Discus Drills…Nickersons, One Ball
Drill, Tech work
Snow is an issue, so I do break from the perfect system because of
weather. If I can, I try to follow a simple scheme of throws, but…until the
weather breaks and the sun is out when I get home…this isn’t perfect.
The upside of this training idea is that there is no single great workout or
lousy workout. It is simply “one†of forty.

Is it working? Well, Paul Northway donated an Incline Bench to the Institute this last autumn and I began this experiment. I decided that a 300 pound Incline Bench…with no spotters and no lift off…would be a worthy goal. Every day, for about eight weeks, I did “around†ten reps. I started with some ugly reps with 165 pounds and only
raised the weights on the bar when it felt “light.†On December 14, by myself in freezing temperatures, I benched 300 for
a double…easy. All I did for eight weeks is gently add
weight when I felt like it. My goal had been reached about six months early.

The other “members†of the Forty Day Club are reporting similar results.
What if you don’t have Forty Days. Try the idea with simply Ten or Twenty
Days. Mentally, this is a rather refreshing workout…no one day is good
or bad, it is simply one more brick on the building.

One quote that Dan likes to use is from Dan Gable: (From here:
http://www.davedraper.com/fusionbb/fbbu ... Method.pdf)

"If it is important, do it every day. If it's not important, don't do it at all."

To me this sums up the "Everyday Systems" concept.

-Dan