One thing I have noticed is a big change in peoples perception of muscle state, I remember a few years ago you were either Bulking (calorie surplus), cutting (calorie deficit), or maintaining (calories stay at maintenance levels). Most people would say they are looking to burn fat and build mass, back then you were always told you can do 1 or the other but not both effectively. Now I constantly see workout programs for ‘recomp’ which is increasing mass and burning fat at the same time. So what is with this sudden change of mind? I am not really sure but I have a few ideas. It seems more and more people are branching out from the ‘tried-and-true’ methods of lifting, and even eating. Recently Intermittent Fasting has proven very successful for many people. I had been following IF for a few months with out even realizing it had a name. It feels like more people are willing to try new things and the majority of people are seeing decent results. There has also been a huge wave of new workout routines and programs to help beginners, intermediate and even expert lifters.

Another thing that I have noticed is a lot of people have (finally) gotten off of the supplement band wagon and are beginning to perfect their diet and training while using only basic proven supplements (ie protein, creatine, bcaa, multivitamins, fish oil) instead of taking everything they possible can. The last 4 weeks were spent hitting a 3 day straight full body routine, which definitely helped me to get my strength and size up, now I have switched my routine back to a 3 day split. The main idea behind my new routine is that it is built around the core muscle building exercises (bench, deadlift, squat). Three of my favorite exercises. The split looks something like this:

• Workout A focus on Biceps/Chest

1. Bench press (flat, incline or decline)
2. Dumbbell curls
3. Dips
4. Preacher Curls
5. Dumbbell Flyes
6. Hammer Curls
7. Cable Flyes
8. Concentration Curls
9. Dumbbell Press
10. Sidebends (some core work)

• Workout B focus on Back/Triceps

1. Lat Pulldown (overhand or underhand, wide or neutral)
2. Tricep Pushdowns
3. Deadlift
4. Tricep Overhead Extension
5. Seated Row
6. Kickbacks
7. Bentover Barbell Row
8. Skull Crushers
9. Shrugs
10. Rope Pushdowns

• Workout C focus on Legs/Shoulders

1. Squat (ATG always, front, hack, etc)
2. Front Raise
3. Leg Press
4. Lateral Raise
5. Leg Extension
6. Dumbbell Shoulder Press
7. Leg Curl
8. Arnold Press
9. Calf Raises (with squats and leg press)
10. Barbell Shoulder Press

Now this list contains a lot of different exercises and we do not do them all each day. Generally we do the core lift for the day (bench, deadlift, squat) then 2 more exercises for that body part, so Workout A might look like this:

• Bench 3×10 or 4×8 or 5×5 (chest 1)
• Dumbbell Curls 3×10 (biceps 1)
• Dips 3xfailure (chest 2)
• Preacher Curls 3×10  (biceps 2)
• Dumbbell Flyes 3×10 (chest 3)
• Concentration Curls 3×10 (biceps 3)
• Sidebends 3×10 (core)

The nice thing about this routine is that it doesn’t get boring because we can swap exercises around depending on how we feel. The volume for these workouts is generally pretty high and should provide good results. Yesterday I started week 2 of this which will probably remain unchanged for 4-6 weeks.

I am trying to find a new routine that branches away from common thinking and still gets results, so far this has been successful. With the new diet and routines I am starting to see some promising results the best part is there is a constant motivation to constantly hit the gym. I am always pumped for the gym and the workouts just increase this pump. Check back for updated information or changes to the routine and diet as I plan on using the site as a sort of log for this new routine. Hopefully the results will continue to show improvement.

Stay motivated and enjoy!

So the last 3 weeks or so I have been hitting the gym ~3 nights a week doing my old routine of Chest/Tris, Bis/Back, Shoulder/Abs/Legs. I think a change is in order but I haven’t decided if I want to follow the Huge in a Hurry full body workout every workout, or a Chest/Bi, Back/Tri, Shoulder/Leg/Abs. The nice thing about doing the full body work outs is that you hit so many more support muscles since most of the exercises are compound exercises that allow you to work multiple muscles in 1 exercise. If I am not mistaken I still have my old Huge in a Hurry routine saved in GymBuddy on my iPhone.

This sudden interest in fitness has proved to be a huge stress reliever. I am slowly starting to sleep better too but I need to fix the diet. I am constantly eating 1 meal a day and thats pretty much it, maybe 400-800 calories a day. Obviously this is a horrid diet for building mass but so far it has worked incredibly well for slimming down. The funny thing is the thinner I get, the more I weigh. I was stuck at 170lbs. for a long time now I am thinner then ever and at ~182lbs. Go figure.

I think a good diet change will take place once I get down to a proper BF%. I have a feeling I will be using the 6 meal a day diet with a lot of meats and protein. As far as supplements go, I am not taking anything and feel like I am making gains way faster than when I was on protein, creatine, NO, T-Boosters, etc. I have a feeling that after a few weeks the results will slow and may be time to invest in some creatine/protein just for mass and keep out of the T-Boosters for a bit.

Well this is my first fitness post in a long long time, actually I think the last was about Huge in a Hurry which I still have and definitely highly recommend. If you have stopped working out or never tried it, definitely do. The feeling you get after a good lift is incredible and the side effects are almost all positive (minus injury). As far as my back injury goes it still exists but I have been taking it easy on my lower back this time around. I had an  X-ray of spine and found out that there is cartilage missing in my lower back and apparently I fractured part of my spine at some point. I guess that would explain the flare ups so long after the original injury.

I guess that is all I have for now so get out to the gym and enjoy!

Oh and here is a sweet diagram of just about every major muscle.

This chart helps show what I meant when I was talking about traps and delts. Since the traps are the muscles on the sides of your neck when they get big your neck naturally  gets bigger. I think you can get a good idea about how it wouldlook to have bigger delts than pecs.

Get Ready

So the first routine we have to follow is the Get Ready routine. Which is meant to get us adjusted to the way we will be working out. There are three workouts, Workout A, B, C all following the upper body pull, push, legs template. The problem I had initially was that I didn’t read the whole book and just jumped to the workout, wrote it down, went to the gym and finished in 20 minutes. I felt betrayed, and worst of all I felt like I had done something wrong. So I went back and read the rest of the book realizing that I needed to begin every workout with 5-10 minutes of mobility exercises, then my workout with warm up sets for each exercise, then stretching. Workout B was phenomenal. I want there, did my mobility exercises which really got the blood pumping, then did my warm up sets to figure out what weight I needed to use for my Medium weight workout. Once I got settled I began the workouts the way I was supposed to. I started with my underhand lat pull down, found my weight, and did 6 reps at full speed, on the 6th set I slowed down so I stopped and rested for 60 seconds. My first set (sets don’t matter) was 6 reps, I needed to hit 35 reps before I was done. So I continued my next set with another 5 reps. The book says to stop after a rep that is slower than the others or is causes you to use bad form. After I hit my 35 reps (my last set was only 2 reps) I went on to my next workout. Standing Dumbbell Shoulder Press, this is a workout I have never tried before and felt great, your core and legs are helping to keep you stable while you hold the weights above your head. This was an awesome workout which really helped me feel the full body workout effect. My final exercise was the Deadlift, a workout I have missed and have not done in many years. This was one of my very workouts back in the day, the only problem was when I finished my last set I think I pulled something in my back, which has been tight and locked up ever since.

Tomorrow I will be doing my third workout (Workout C) before work, and will update on how well it works. Workout B was by far the best, probably because I did this workout correctly. I would definitely recommend this book to anyone looking to get into great shape, the book can be found to the right in the side bar. This book gives an interesting mix of science and braun and is actually quite a good read.

http://www.helium.com/items/1501863-how-to-bench-press

• Increase blood flow, to your muscles, organs, and through out your body. This increase in blood flow helps the body stay away from fatigue during your workout and will make your recovery faster between sets, and after your workout.
• Stretch and loosen muscles, this is the best way to prevent muscular injury. If you stretch your muscles that you plan on working out then you will be more readily able to workout those particular muscles. The more you stretch the looser the muscles and the less chance of a muscle pull or tear.
• Increase oxygen flow, a good warm up consists of semi-strenuous cardio to increase heart beats/min and the amount of oxygen in your bloodstream.

Now of course there are many other benefits to beginning a workout with a proper warm up but these three are the most important to those looking to get fit.

Different Warm Up Techniques

There are a few different approaches one can take in a warm up, I will show you the most common routine I have seen and use myself. I always begin with a good stretch, since we will be doing some cardio after the stretching it is a good idea to start with stretching to reduce the risk of injury or cramping. Many gyms come outfitted with a stretching rack, this is a great way to get good deep stretches in and most of the racks show you by muscle how to stretch, for informational purposes I will detail stretching without the rack.

Manual Stretching

I generally begin with a decent leg stretch to prepare for cardio, then cardio, then specific muscle stretching. To stretch your legs enough for cardio it is best to start with toe-touches. To perform toe-touches you keep your feet together and knees straight, you bend at your waist and hold your legs stiff while touching your toes with your fingers, don’t get discouraged if you can’t reach your toes just make sure you are feeling the deep leg stretch be sure to hold this for ~10 secs.

Next, I like to stretch my quads (your big thigh muscle) if you balance on one leg and pull your other foot from behind to your butt, you will feel a deep stretch of your quad, you should hold this for ~10secs then switch legs.

Now we can stretch our calves if your perform a lung and rest your upper body weight on your lead leg, while keeping your trailing leg flat but bending forward, you will feel a deep calf stretch again you want to hold this for ~10 secs per leg.

I usually like to do one final stretch before beginning my cardio, this stretch I learned in Tae Kwon Doe. You need to squat a few inches above one foot on its tippy toes, while your other foot it and leg are outstretched. While your hovering over your one foot you stretch your body towards your extended foot allowing your entire leg to stretch. Once again hold for ~10 seconds and then switch legs.

Light Cardio

The reason I call this light cardio is because we are trying to get increased oxygen and blood flow to our bodies, we are not trying to burn calories, fat, or increase our cardio endurance. Generally I find the bike cardio machine to be the best for light cardio since it is much harder to over exert yourself. Generally I will perform my light cardio for 5 minutes, with a 2 minute optional cool down. During the cardio aim to keep your heart rate at a moderate rate, you don’t want to be panting, sweating, or even breathing heavy. This cardio should put a very minor amount of fatigue on your legs while allowing you to increase bodily oxygen levels and blood flow. Now on to muscle-specific stretches.

Muscle Specific Stretching

Depending on what muscle groups you are working out, you may get away with just stretching that muscle group however, the best approach I have found is to follow a daily all muscle group stretch which helps keep all of your muscles loose and ready. If you follow this stretching every day you will find your muscles have increased endurance, less cramping, and better overall recovery. My routine looks like this:

• -Begin with brining both hand out in front of you, interlock your fingers, and flip your hands palms out. The more you push out the better the stretch, you should feel a stretch in your back (lats), your chest (pectorals), and your arms (biceps/triceps/forearms). I generally hold this stretch for 10-15 seconds.
• Now we bring our hands behind our back, interlock, and face our palms out again, once again the further you push the better the stretch. This is great for stretching your chest (pectorals), shoulders (delts/ front delts), and your arms (biceps/triceps/forearms). Another 10-15 seconds stretch.
• Next, we cross one arm in front of our body and pull it across with the other arm. This should look like a cross since one arm is stretched in front of the body on top of the other arms bicep, the other arm is then brought up at the elbow to tighten down on the chest-crossing arm and stretch your back, chest, shoulder, and arms. You will want to hold this for 10-15 seconds, and switch arms.
• Finally, we perform a great upper body stretch which helps pull the bigger muscles into a deep stretch. For this you bend one arm behind your head, so your palm is on the center of your back just below your neck. You use your other arm to push downward on your elbow so that you get a full delt, and lat stretch. Once again hold for 10-15 seconds and switch arms.

This is my general warm up routine which has served me very well, as I have never pulled a muscle or sustained any similar injury in the gym. I would recommend stretching every single day, generally in the morning if your aren’t going to the gym, this will help keep you limber, loose and more apt to a fast recovery.