How often to you find yourself combing the internet for a
new workout plan and come up empty handed?
I have a feeling there’s a lot of you with your hands up right now. There are many plans out there and finding
the right one for you can be a challenge.
If you are having trouble finding that perfect plan, just try to remind
yourself to keep it simple, but challenging at the same time.
What do I mean by this?
For instance, there are a lot of strength building plans out there that
have you record your one rep max at the beginning of the program, and then use
a formula to calculate the appropriate rep for each exercise. This can become confusing and a daunting task
in itself, especially when it comes time to progress throughout the rest of
your plan. Then the question comes up of
how much weight should I add each time?
Again, adding to the confusion.
Why not eliminate that confusion and simply add one more rep each
week? For example, maybe you started at
180 lbs. on bench press, for 4 reps, during week 1 but by the time you get to
week 5 you are doing 180 lbs. for 8 reps.
It’s a simple progression without the confusion.
Another simple strategy to implement into your workout is to
include one heavy workout and one light workout per body part and split this up
over two weeks. For example, on Monday
of week 1 do a heavy chest and triceps workout and then on Monday of week 2 do
a light chest and triceps workout. Use
this same format for other body part workouts (back, biceps and forearms,
shoulders & traps, and legs) and you will hit all the major body parts
twice over two weeks and not burn yourself out with too many hard/heavy
workouts in one week. Since building
size and increasing strength go hand in hand, this strategy of alternating
heavy and light days will pay off. But
don’t forget those rest days. Rest days
allow you to train hard while getting adequate recovery periods…because the gym
is where you break your muscle down and the recovery time is where you
rebuild. So an example to try following
is to go heavy on Monday, light on Tuesday and then have a rest day on Wednesday. Then repeat this format the rest of the week.
Don’t forget about the eccentric portion of your movements
(or the negative). This movement of the
rep is just as important for building size and strength as the concentric
movement. So utilize the light workouts
of your routine to really focus on this eccentric movement by getting a 2-3
second count on the negative. On your
heavy days focus on using a faster rep speed to engage those fast-twitch muscle
fibers, which will contribute to gaining strength and power.
Hopefully some of these examples will help you
get out of a rut if you’re struggling to put that workout plan together. Just try to keep things simple, otherwise you
may become discouraged and forego any workout plan period…and that is something
you definitely don’t want.
