Category Archives: Routines

No time to workout? Try one of these 4 short time workout strategies! (#3’s my personal favorite)

These 4 strategies will get you seriously strong and conditioned if you work at them seriously! But first, a little back story.

Not so long ago, before graduating, I had to juggle between a job and school. As you may imagine, I had less than little time

workout. Before needing a job, I was able to put hours on the gym (I wasn’t always so focused, so a lot of time-wasting happened), and that was ok, I didn’t really need to worry about optimizing my workouts time-wise.

But, then real responsibilities came along and, quite frankly, I didn’t really have (nor want) the time to go for well over an hour in

the gym. There was a lot to do, namely enjoying the benefits of said work. This has been so for over 5 years now, and I wouldn’t go back to marathonic workout sessions. What did I do? Here’s a couple of strategies to do the same (or more) in less time.

1. Get more bang for you buck: Prioritize

Kettlebell work for circuits

Kettlebell work is almost made for circuit training. Photo by Lorant Dankahazi

This is as simple as it gets and implies cutting off extra work, and it works great for the development of strength. There’s several ways to go about it

  • An exercise a day, plus some accessory work. Choose a big compound exercise such as the bench press, military press, squats or deadlifts and focus on it. Your accessory work should focus on something that builds towards it.
  • Focus only on two big compound exercises and work exclusively on them. This is my favorite of both approaches. Pavel’s Power to the People protocol works amazing for this, and in 20 minutes a day (or a total of 1:40 hours a week) tops you’ll be getting a lot stronger.

2. Try circuit training

Working circuits is simple. You just grab a bunch of exercises and perform them one after the other. Your rest between exercises and circuits should reflect your. The magic of this is that your rest periods will be shortened anyway, since you’ll be somewhat recovering from one exercise while performing the rest.

Usually, when I do circuits they go something like this:

  • A push
  • A pull
  • A knee bend (squat)
  • A hip hinge (kettlebell ballistics or bridge)
  • A core exercise

After every circuit I give myself two minutes of rest (or one, If I’m realllly feeling it) and start over. After 5 circuits I’m usually done for the day. Doing this 3-4 times a week will guarantee your success.

Reps and rest will depend on your conditioning level and your focus. If you’re going for a strength based practice you’ll do best with low reps and higher rests, invert it for conditioning. Or check out my post on defining your workout where I get better into it.

3. Density Training: Set a time and go!

This is by far my favorite of the 3 (Crossfitters may now it as AMRAP). Density in training is calculated as volume/time. Why is this a great type of training when you’re on a tight schedule? Because the progress in it is either in doing more in the same amount of time, or doing the same faster.

What has worked best for me Is to use a stop watch between 15-40 minutes and get my favorite circuit and go for it. Make sure to take note of your workout: how much did you do this practice? Great, now try to beat it by at least one rep or exercise completed on your next practice (always remember to practice safely though, the numbers will come).

Once you’ve added two rounds, change to harder exercises (usually best to change one at a time).

4. Extreme conditioning on the minute

Kettlebell Swing

Expect a healthy sweat! Photo by John Calnan

This is my favourite for finishers, but it’s a great conditioning tactic if you don’t have time. You’ll need a stopwatch or a timer. The idea is for you to do a set, rest for what’s left of the minute, and start over on the new minute. Kettlebell swings/snatches, burpees and bw squats work great here.

Wrap up

Any of these strategies will work wonders once you apply them, and will let you enjoy the rest of your life as well. They have been proven not only by me but by (at least) thousands who’ve used them successfully for their fitness goals. Just remember to fit them into your goals and you’ll be golden!

So, now that time’s no longer an excuse, what will you say when you won’t do it?

Also, If you’ve got any friends or family that complains for their lack of time, share this post with them, it may help them a lot!

Motus Virtute

3 reasons women should train heavy and the rockstar(-ish) body

Push-ups, a great excercise for all levels of fitness.

Push-ups, a great excercise for all levels of fitness. Photo by Christopher Haugh

So I’ve been talking with a friend of mine the other day and she told me she wanted to get back into fitness. Something about being afraid (I believe her, she’s special) that her boyfriend may leave her for a youger, perkier model. But, apart from telling her how stupid this thought was, when I told her what excercises and loads she had to do she freaked. So, even though this has been more than just talked about, I think it’s good to clarify the myths of strength training for women.

Strength equals tonus

So you want to be perkier, and harder, get your ass up and stop any kind of flapping in your arms? Well, you’ll have to tone up. The best way? You got it right, regular training with heavy weights. This builds residual tension, or, as we see it afterwards: a harder muscle even when it’s relaxed.

Strength equals a better figure

Just as consistent as gravity, a well-trained body, able to move and resist heavier loads will be better built. Yes, there will be a small hypertrophy (really small) but it will be in all the right places (more on this later). A stronger body will be better built, have a better posture, be more graceful and move better. And, even though it goes beyond the scope of this blog, a better posture and movement implies a better body language, and, according to studies, this correlates directly with self-esteem confidence and happiness.

Heavyweights will NOT bulk you up

This has been proven over and over again: Women’s lack of testosterone won’t allow you to naturally develop a bulky muscle mass. There will be hypertrophy of course, but it will all be on the right places and as long as your body continues to adapt. You’ll see better shaped legs, rounder shoulders, fuller buttocks and a better built arm than you’re used to; but these gains will be so small that only each woman will notice on her own body (if we men can’t notice a three finger haircut, trust me, we won’t really notice you’ve gotten bigger, only hotter). So, girls, take it easy, we won’t notice you hulking out ;).

So how should women train? Enter the Rockstar(ish) Program

Not long ago I read about certain numbers (probably arbitrary) that, if a woman could lift in the Deadlift, Squat and Pull-up she’d have a Rockstar body. I don’t know if the numbers are right, but I agree that these will improve aesthetically and healthily in general. So, we’ll focus on 4 movements.

Deadlift

Regular deadlift done 5×5. Once you get 5×5 in a given weight, add at least 2,5 kg (5lbs). Start with, at least 33,3% of your bodyweight. If your flexibility isn’t enough to do a full ROM DL, start on pins, and progress to the floor WITHOUT adding weight.

Goblet squats

Most women I know will do well starting with the GSquat, it almost always insures a good, safe and correct

Squats. A staple excercise for both form and function.

Squats. A staple excercise for both form and function.

movement. Here you should start rather light, once you get to a 5×5, add some weight. 2,5kg’s sound fine, but maybe go by 1,25kg increments as well (2,5lbs).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M3ZxSMxK0EQ

One-arm military press (OMPs)

A unilateral exercise will allow you to still work your core while you’re doing your OMPs. Remember to really drive your legs to the floor and grip it with your feed, squeeze your glutes and create some intra-abdominal pressure to keep your spine safe. You should start light (around 5kg’s will go well for most women) and add 1,25kg once you get your 5×5. Start on your week hand.

Pull-up progressions

Most women (and men as well) I know couldn’t do a pull-up if their life depended on it. So you’ll start with an easier step. Just remember, pull-up progressions are a lot harder than they seem. Each progression has a big jump in difficulty (coming later as well). But for the video, here’s one to be impressed at.

Always remember to go adjusting any program as you move forward to see what works and what doesn’t. My friend will be starting on this next week, I’ll make sure to keep you guys posted!

Motus Virtute

5 exercises to a strength routine

There’s a lot of literature on this topic. This here is my view, according to what’s worked best for me and many I’ve helped.

Building a basic strength program is not a particularly hard thing, as long as you have your goals in mind and a clear way to progress. Given the amount of information on the internet about this, it seems redundant to add to the information. But I believe a little summary on it might go a long way.

Excercise selection

This will be your basic excercises, make sure to choose at least one in each category.

  1. A press: bench presses, military presses, push-ups, dips, …

    Pullups - The upper body solution for strength training. Photo by 316ESC

    Pullups – The upper body solution for strength training. Photo by 316ESC

  2. A pull: pull-ups, rows, levers, …
  3. A knee bend: squats, pistols, squats, pistols (yep, that’s what you’ll choose from)
  4. A hip hinge: Deadlifts, hypers, bridges
  5. Core: hanging leg raises, side levers, ab rollouts, etc.

And, according to your tools, we’ll divide how to build it according to your preferences.

The weight room: Barbells & Dumbells

For me personally, it usually works best if I do them at least 3 times a week, you may want to try and split them. If you do, I’d best recomend joining your knee-bends and your pulls, and you presses and hip-hinges, since they don’t overlap too much. Your core work it either day.

If you do split, I’d recomend adding at least one more excercise that builds towards your main lifts, more towards the end (don’t do curls before you pull-up), or doing both plains of movement (vertical and horizontal) on the same day.

The rest, build it with a 3-5 template: 3-5 sets of 3-5 reps with 3-5 minutes of rest between excercises 3-5 days a week. Once you hit 5×5 in a given weight, add some more and start over. And DO NOT go to failure. Leave 2 reps in the bank. Finish strong and energized. This is the easiest to know how to progress.

Kettlebells

Kettlebells have the obstacle of being a fixed weight. So, we’ll have to define when we’ve mastered a given weight, or when we’re ready to move up. In my case once 5×5 becomes easy I go to a more difficult variation. Bear in mind that hip-hinges with a kettlebell end up feeling a bit on the light side (especially when you have only the one, single leg deadlifts with 32 kg (70 lbs) just aren’t that heavy), so feel free to go balls out with ballistic excercises.

A 3-5 method here works as a beauty as well. On ballistics (do them towards the end of your session) go balls out, you’ll be stronger after it anyway (described in dragon door as the WTH effect). Search also for harder variations (ie: military press can be done sitting on the floor, or a sots press, or slower tempo; rows can become renegade rows; etc.)

Bodyweight Training

Building strength with bodyweight training is a bitch. A complete, utter and total bitch. Being able to do 5×5 on push-ups will not help you build enough strength for other harder excercises, unless you’re patient enough to go in small increments in your leverage. And even that may not be enough. BW training usually calls for higher reps in order to build, not only strength, but tendon, ligament and joint health as well.

A 3-5 template doesn’t work that well either. 3-5 days a week, 3-5 sets with 3-5 minutes of rest works well, but you may want to start low on your reps, and keep building them up.

Be sensitive, doing 5×5 push-ups once you’re strong enough won’t make a lot of progress, but doing 5×50 for strength won’t either. When you feel you might get at least 3 good, crisp reps, without going to failure on the next rung of the ladder, it’s time to progress.

Mind you, I may be bitching about it, but the feeling of accomplishement of training with this method’s been, for me, much larger than the others.

As a side note: Remember to deload every 4th to 6th week and keep your journal updated!

Well this post ran a bit longer than I anticipated, but I hope it clarifies some of the main questions when you’re trying to build your own routine. Remember, this is a basic template and it will allow you to progress if you work at it. It doesn’t mean that other things won’t or that they won’t work better for your particular case. But, both for me and for most of the people I’ve helped, this was right up their alley.

Motus Virtute

Manuel

Have you tried a similar template? how did that work for you?