I have gotten a few e-mails asking me about my workout routine. I switch routines every few weeks. I switch from a strength building routine to a fat burning routine (I have been doing this for a very short period of time).
I am currently in the strength-building cycle, it lasts between 4 and 5 weeks. This means the traditional, gym-style workout where you do all “pushing” muscles, for example. I also add protein double my protein intake to build muscle. The idea is to gain as much muscle mass as possible so that I can burn more fat when I switch to the fat-burning cycle (which lasts from 2 to 3 weeks).
Today I did supersets of back, biceps, and legs. In this case, supersets means that I do two exercises in a row without a break in between. I take a 2.5 minute break (or less) and repeat for a total of 4 supersets [The routine takes about 45 minutes]. Here’s are videos that do an awesome job explaining each of the exercises:
| Pullups | Dumbell Rows |
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Continue after 4 sets of above exercises and 2.5 min break |
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| Hammer Curls | Reverse Curls |
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Continue after 4 sets of above exercises and 2.5 min break |
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| Squats | Lateral Lunges |
I do these carrying weights on shoulders as I with squats |
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Continue after 4 sets of above exercises and 2.5 min break |
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| Glut Ham Raises | Stability Ball Hamstring Press |
My goal is to challenge my body. In this strength-building routine, I have four different workouts. Besides this one, I have one for chest, shoulders, and triceps, and a third one where I workout abs and obliques. I do one on separate days. On the fourth day (after I have done one of each of these), I walk. Yes… Walk. I walk one lap around each lane on the track, looking to shave off a few seconds for each lane from the last time I went walking.
For the exercises above, my goal is to do one more rep each time I do the exercise. I start with weight I can BARELY lift 8 times for each of the 4 sets. The next day that I have to do that same exercise, I do 9 repetitions in each of the 4 sets, and so on. When I can do 12 repetitions for all 4 sets I increase 10% of the weight and go back down to 8 repetitions. This is what works for me. You may find that increasing repetitions on the first 2 sets and keeping the same # of repetitions you did last time for the final two sets works best for you, try that. But again… the idea is to keep the body working harder than it did last time.
The body is an awesome creation and capable of conditioning itself very quickly. If you do not push it, it will simply learn what you are asking it to do and progress will stop.
and measure the same parts of the body that I have listed.
