OLD, NEW, GONE
Some things are the same, and I’ll include those moves here, but I have been really inspired by a few new exercises I’ve picked up over the past few months. This is one element of motivation that is essential. When you get bored, change things up! I have also realized even at my young age, that sometimes certain moves just don’t work well for whatever reason. Barbell squats are one example. I love them, but I have a hard time progressing because of my hips. I could probably work very hard to get the hips in a place to handle heavier squats, but I’ve seen great results using other exercises, so I’ve saved myself the trouble. My right shoulder is another issue, and has limited my ability to perform unassisted dips. That was a tough blow because dips make me feel extra tough, but I’m using alternate exercises for now.
FEWER SESSIONS
I have also discovered that once you have built a decent amount of muscle on your frame, you don’t have to work out quite as often, as long as you’re eating clean. This has worked well for me, since I get burned out sometimes. I have alluded to this rickety, overtrained feeling before, and I’ve found that appropriate rest takes care of it. I still try to work out 5 days per week, but there are occasions when I’m just worn out and only make it 3 or 4 times, or when I encounter changes to my schedule. Since I’m the mother of an 8-year old this tends to occur pretty often, but it’s totally worth the sacrifice. I know that in just a few short years I’ll be begging for any scrap of attention she slings my way.
NO CARDIO
I also include conditioning as part of my workout 2 days per week, usually on upper body days. As I detailed in my Metabolic Finishers post, I still am not a cardio fan, and have pretty much abandoned conventional cardio using the machines. I have done this to preserve my muscle mass and my sanity. I am in love with this new fat-burning method, so check it out and see if you feel the love too! I ALWAYS perform my finisher immediately AFTER my weight workouts just as I did when I used to do traditional cardio. For more on this, see No Cardio Until you Finish your Weights!
THE WORKOUTS
Since my lower body is always a work in progress, it gets 2 full workout days. Hopefully this will not be the case for long, as I tend to intensify my lower body sessions dramatically. See the details behind this change in my recent post. I am also leading each leg workout with hamstring exercises instead of quads, since the hams need more work. My upper body responds well, so UpperAll combines everything for upper body, just fewer sets. I emphasize chest and back since they are the largest muscle groups. If I reduce the number of workout days to 4, then I’ll drop the UpperAll workout. If it’s only 3 workout days, then just I’ll just do the CBS, AS and Lower1 workouts.
Below is a sample of the exercises I’m doing now. Deadlifts, pullups and pushups are performed twice per week because they are compound moves that I find a lot of success using. Many of the new moves (*) have been taken from various blog articles and lifting magazines. I also follow several figure athletes and incorporate new moves they recommend that seem fun or different.
NO ABS
So far, I still don’t do any ab work. In fact, just for fun I tried a plank the other day to test my core. Because I consistently use a variety of compound exercises, especially pushups, I could hold it for over a minute. This was impressive to me and further validated my philosophy.
IT MAY NOT LOOK LIKE IT, BUT I TRIED
I attempted to be as thorough as possible in presenting these workouts to you. Therefore I have included photo or video links to each exercise. Because I don’t possess a photo bank showcasing my glorious personal style in performing these moves, I’ve had to rely on various sources to show you what I’m talking about. I tried to pull from the same sites when possible, but had to reach into randomland at times, so please understand my limitations. I am hoping these links will remain active, but please let me know if you find dead links, need alternative exercises or further explanation.
4 SETS OF 8 REPS FOR ALL EXERCISES
LOWER1
*Romanian Deadlift with Olympic Bar sad pic, but it’s all I could find
*Single Leg Hip Thrust couldn’t find a good example with just 1 leg
CBS (CHEST/BACK/SHOULDERS)
Unassisted Neutral Grip Pullups
*Seated High Cable Row I could only find the low version. Foot rest will be at shoulder height
*8-10 minutes Metabolic Finisher
33 x Jump Squats
33 x Incline Pushups
33 x Kettlebell Swings watch this to avoid injury!
AS (ARMS/SHOULDERS)
*Reverse Grip Pulldown (straight bar)
*Dip Machine ego-killer, but it’s working
*Cable Curl this has allowed me to progress without killing my grip. Thanks GymRockStar!
*Cross-Body 1 Arm Pressdown Pic shows a dumbbell, use a cable machine positioned above head
*8-10 minutes Metabolic Finisher
33 x Jump Squats
33 x Incline Pushups
33 x Kettlebell Swings watch this to avoid injury!
LOWER2
*Reverse Hyperextensions approx 2:43 into the video (ahh love Erin!)
UPPERALL
Unassisted Neutral Grip Pullups
Cable Flye Machine my machine has a straight back
*Dip Machine ego-killer, but it’s working
SATURDAY
R E S T
SUNDAY
R E S T
Congratulations on making it this far! I’m sending strong wishes for your success. As always, let me know what you think.