Tag Archives: bodyweight training

How and when to change your routine (and 3 rules to do it succesfully)

Many of us are variety addicts. We cannot keep to our self-plan for more than 3 straight sessions without thinking that some changes should be made. This is a huge mistake. Why? Because our bodies need time to adapt, they need enough stimulus and enough practice in order to learn new skills. We change because we get bored, because our goals are just too damn hard or because we’re not really committed to them.

What’s the cost to this? We don’t reach our goals, we get frustrated and we simply drop out. Well, if you’re like me, these small hacks may help you change things a bit, while keeping focused!

How and when to change your routine

Just a small change, as adding weight may spice your workout right up!

Just a small chante, as adding weight may spice your workout right up!

Photo by Drew Stephens @ flickr

Test yourself every cycle

By this I mean, either before or after your deloading period, test your max again. Test yourself on your next progression. Test yourself in whatever way you may like. This will help you adjust your practices, will keep you honest and will give you a great sense of achievement every time you nail it. Besides, nailing any type of PR feels badass.

Do the same but different

Sometimes, making some small tweaks to your regular practices will spark your training again. Maybe even help you crack some plateaus. Just change an exercise to one of its variants and try it for a couple of cycles (maybe one).

Play/have fun

Get Creative. If your sole focus is always your goals you’re going to break. Athletes have their game days to keep them focused and having fun. Most of us, after high school, don’t really have this. So, you’ll have to play on your own way (just get your kids or friends to play with you, embrace the ridicule). Believe me, this can be anything that can get you to laugh while moving.

Besides, unless you’re a pro, who wants to get bored doing something that they don’t have to do.

Try something new

In addition to what you’re already doing. This may be a new exercise, a new activity, a new whatever related to your fitness. Just remember to keep your recovery in check!

Prioritize

This one’s probably not the best of all of my recommendations, but, the reality is that some days you’ll be more motivated and determined than others. Some days you’ll simply want to skip your practice. So, keeping your goals in mind: Which is more important? If you have only one goal ask yourself what portion of your practice is central, and which is accessory? Choose accordingly.

A Small Warning

Before you start changing everything up, it’s very important that you remember that consistency is key to all programs. So, even

The handstand a great exercise

The handstand makes a great addition to any regime. It also works great as substitute for military pressess.

though I’m suggesting you change some things remember these three basic rules:

1. Don’t make changes until you begin a new cycle: It may be tedious, but keep on doing what you’re doing. Believe me, you’ll regret it later.

2. Remember DO THE SAME BUT DIFFERENT: Don’t alter anything too much. Change a hip hinge for a hip hinge (say deadlifts for single leg deadlifts or deficit deadlifts), a press for a press, a pull for a pull, etc. Be specific here. Make the changes subtle.

3.Introduce new things one at a time: This will help you test them, and see the effects these have.

Just remember why you’re doing each and everything. Keep your mind on your goals and why you want to achieve them, it’ll make it a lot easier!

So, any of you guys have been using any of these hacks? Please, share with us!

Motus Virtute,

Manuel

Active Rest: the importance of deloading

The importance of deloading

Recently I’ve been feeling overly fatigued. I was feeling stiff, hard and tired. So, of course, I went over my training log. Lo and behold, the answer was staring right at me: I haven’t taken a proper deloading week for the last 4 months. Big mistake. BIG MISTAKE.

Deloading is not an excuse to not practice

Deloading is not an excuse to not practice. Photo by Fabio de Albuquerque Vialba

Deloading is crucial for any program (a key aspect in programming as I mentioned in my last post SECOND STEP). On this week you’ll rest, recover and lock-in your progress. While reading one of Pavel’s books (the original RKC – The Russian Kettlebell Challenge) he stated that one of the most effective ways to build strength is to practice moderation when considerably fatigued.

Basically your Deloading template shouldn’t be too hard to manage. I’m partial to the 50% in volume school. Others have thrived through 50% in intensity; some even with 50% of both. Whichever makes the most sense to you; all schools have something in common: It’s not the same as not doing it. This week should not be seen as a “no work out week”. That’s not the point and it will be detrimental to your gains.

The importance of Deloading is intimately tied with the importance of rest. But that is material for another post.

Hope you’ve found this article helpful in your quest for fitness and health!

Motus Virtute

Manuel

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?

4 ways to kill your routine

There are several ways to completely destroy your routines, be they good or bad. Here are 4 sure fire ways to kill your training routine’s potential:

  • Not following through.
  • Not using the right progression
  • Not keeping a log
  • Not making adjustments along the way

Not Following Through

This one needs no elaboration. It’s quite simple: if you’re not doing it, it won’t work for you (duh!). You want to make it work? Work at it!

Not using the right progression

This one has 3 possible causes: you don’t know what comes next, you’re going too easy (lazy) or you’re going too hard (ego). Using the right progression will keep you advancing while honeing you’re technique. It will make you stronger and results will flourish. Now, if yours is the first scenario let me be the first to welcome you to the internet, you’ll find a shitload of information, variations and progressions for whatever excercise you’re doing (this is particularly tough for bodyweight excercises and other fixed weights), do your research, ask questions, whatever you need (if I can help you, leave me a message and I’ll answer you as soon as I can).

The second reason, that you’re going too easy, means that you’re basically going through the motions: when was the last time you added weights? reps? shortened your rest periods? made an excercise slightly harder? If you keep doing what you always did, don’t expect to move forward, but backwards instead.

If the problem is that you’re going too hard, please, either leave your ego at the door or be smarter while doing it. Singles and partials have their place, but doing 3 sets of 1 or half a rep a week won’t get you anywhere. Best start at least with an excercise you can manage 5 reps in good form and do 3, keep adding reps till you get where you want. Everyone has a pace, and it’s there for a reason.

Not keeping a log

For years I read this one and thought it was not really needed, I could keep track. Reality said different. A training log is a pool of information made by you, for you, about you. It doesn’t get better than this. A good log will let you see:

  1. Where you’re at.
  2. How you’re progressing
  3. What you’re failing to do
  4. What’s working and what’s not

If say, your log shows that you’re stuck for months in the same excercise/weight/volume it’s probably time to change the variables. But you won’t know it until you’re able to check it!

Not making adjustments along the way

This one’s related to those that came before. A good plan needs to be adjusted: you’re life, you’re progress won’t always keep the same, you’re strength levels, etc. won’t either. You need to be able to make adjustments according to your context. Maybe you’ve gotten stronger and need to adjust the weight, or change the excercise. Maybe you’ve got no time in you’re hands and need to prioritize certain excercises.

Remember, you’re doing this to improve your life, not to be ruled by it.

Remember, there’s a pace for everyone and it will be dictaded by your own body. Just be clear on your goals, where you’re at, and act accordingly. Don’t be afraid to go heavier, and there’s really no shame in going back a couple of steps.

The Easiest Fix

The easiest way to fix this is: KEEP A TRAINING LOG. And make it detailed. It can have as many or few items as you want it to, just make sure it tracks what you’re doing in your practices and how you’re progressing. Use photos, weigh yourself, take down volume, intensity, etc. Just make sure YOU understand it and that you can follow it. Besides, it’s easy to do it, bare minimum, write after each workout to make .

Motus Virtute,

Second step: building your workouts

This post is directly linked to the one about Goal-setting.
This time we should focus on planning and programming. Simply put, once we know where we’re going we should chart the best way to get there.

What makes a program?

  • Excercises: what we’ll do
  • Intensity: how hard we’ll do it.
  • Volume: how much we’ll do.
  • Frecuency: how often we’ll do it.
  • Progression: how we’ll advance.
  • Rest: how you’ll recover

These items will, of course, depend on our goals. Back in the other post I mentioned that one of my goals was to do 3 one-arm pull-ups by September, so here is how the programming will look like:

  • Excercises: any that builds towards the OAPU. Mostly Pull-up variations.
  • Intensity: this is a strength feat, so my focus should be on high intensity training (basically, the hardest pull-up variations I can manage for at least 5 reps).
  • Volume: Mid to low. It’s best to practice strength excercises while being as fresh as possible.
  • Frequency: The higher the volume, the lower frequency should be. Being that the OAPU is going to be a tough challenge, a higher frequency is recommended. So let’s say high.
  • Progressions:  Here we should determine two things:
    • Which excercises to tackle: assisted pull-ups, pull-ups, grip variety pull-ups, archer pull-ups,…
    • When to tackle them (as in, when do you believe you’re ready for the next step) (once you manage 3 sets of 10 reps, advance, etc.)
  • Rest: You should determine your de-loading weeks, how often you’ll workout and how you’ll rest.

So, once you’ve defined your goals you should be able to write up your plan. I’ll make a list of some generalities to take in account:

Goal orientation

Strength focus

Intensity: High, between 80% and 90%

Volume: low (think 3-5 sets of 3-5 reps).

Frequency: highish. You should do this between 3-5 days a week. And, since volume will be low, feel free to repeat your workouts during the week.

Rest: High rest periods between sets are preferable. And deloading at the end of each cycle will be key.

Stamina/endurance focus

Intensity: mid to low (think 50%-60%)

Volume: high to ridiculous (just do as much as you can)

Frequency: here it’s a tough one: you want to leave enough to recover but want to train to go on while tired. Go with a mid frequency, but allow time to recover yourself.

Rest: as little as possible between sets, many swear by heart rate measurments (ie: once you’re back to 135 bpm). Also, you should deload after every cycle.

Muscle building focus

Intensity: mid to high (think 70%-80%)

Volume: high. You want to create fatigue. I’d recommend going to muscle failure often (probably in your last sets of each exercise)

Frequency: Depending on how you’ll split your routine. But I’d go no more than 3 times a week for the same movement patterns.

Rest: a mid term rest (between 1 and 3 minutes) between sets is usually a good place to start. Try to let your muscles recover between their workouts (if you’re working on split routines)

Please bear in mind that muscle building, as well as fat burining are tied to a diet and nutrition plan. Much more so than your routine.

General health

Intensity: Varied. Go through the whole spectrum at least one a week.

Volume: Varied as well. You’ll want to do more on your lower intensity days, less in your higher intensity days.

Frequency: I’d recommend daily, but allowing plenty time to rest. A good way to manage the fatigue would be to create a small cycle in your week, having light, medium and tough/hard days.

Rest: This will depend on that day’s/cycle’s focus. But please bear in mind that you should feel “fresh” on the next day. A deloading week after each cycle is highly recomended.

Just remember, this is not enough. Once you know what to do you should start doing it. The only programs that give results are those that ar followed.

There’s not much more to this (if you’re a pro, your needs will probably be very different). The rest is up to you. And remember, the plan is the path, but you’ll have to walk it to get to your goals.

What are your fitness plans? Feel free to share with us!

Motus Virtute

Setting yourself for success: Goal setting

FIRST STEP: FIND NORTH

Your whole training should be defined by what you want to achieve. Once you know that, the other variables will set into place.

We’re just beggining the new year and most of us start of with our New Year’s Resolutions. Our list of thing’s we’ll want to achieve by the end of the year, etc. Most of these lists have fitness in common. Most of the fitness blogs and sites out there have been dedicating posts to this topic since mid December and not in vain. Goal setting will define your whole training.

Without a destination, how will we know when we’ve arrived? How will we even know what path to take? (this goes beyond training and physical development. But, since it’s not the object of this blog, I won’t go into it. If there’s more you’d like to know just drop me a note, I’ll be more than happy to direct you to better authorities than myself). Coming back to subject: only if we know where we’re going towards will we know what path to take (and then we’ll have to walk it).

Only if we know where we’re going towards will we know what path to take (and then we’ll have to walk it)

So how do we define a good goal?

  • It’s precise
  • It’s measurable
  • It has a time limit
  • It’s realistic, but ambitious.

As an example, one of my goals for this year is to be able to do 3 one-arm pull-ups by september 2014. Another one (much more ambitious) running the 2015 Columbia race (it’s a trail race, 120km in 3 days).

Defining wether or not it’s realistic is a huge challenge. For that, we’ll have to be honest and know where we stand, let’s call it Point A (yeah, I know, I’m a creative genius). In my pull-up case, Point A is being able to do 15 technically correct, no kip pullups. Will I be able to do one-arm pull ups by september? Sure, it will be challenging and it will be hard. It is ambitious.

Now, knowing where we want to go will allow us to program our training in a sensible and targeted way. But that’s next post’s problem.

Motus Virtute