Lift!

[shanmonster]

knightky bought me a gag gift for Christmas: a copy of Muscle & Fitness magazine. This is the sort of magazine that is filled with photos of heavy steroid users, sexist articles (the men are buff, but the women are just skinny with big tits), and over-the-top ads for supplements. One is even called Hemo Rage (and comes in flavours like Sucker Punch and Malicious Melon. I laughed.).

But hidden amongst all the overstated ads and macho hyperbole is some useful information. An article called "Break Your Legs," which promises to "make leg day suck at home, too," I learned about one-legged Romanian deadlifts.

I also found an article called "Beginner's Luck" which is an 8-week program to building muscle.

Distilled down, here are the first four weeks:

Day	Exercise	Sets	Reps/Time
1	Squat	3	5
	Bench press	3	5
	Deadlift	2	5
	Dumbbell incline press	1	8-10
	One-arm bent-over dumbbell row	1	8-10 per side
	Plank	2	30 sec.
3	Squat	3	5
	Bench press	3	5
	Deadlift	2	5
	Pull-up	1	8-10
	Standing dumbbell overhead press	1	8-10
	Standing barbell curl	1	8-10
5	Squat	3	5
	Bench press	3	5
	Deadlift	2	5
	Overhead squat	1	8-10
	Romanian deadlift	1	8-10
	Side plank	2	30 sec. each side

And here are weeks 5-8:

Day	Exercise	Sets	Reps/Time
1	Squat	3	5
	Bench press	3	5
	Deadlift	2	5
	Dumbbell incline press	1	6-8
	One-arm bent-over dumbbell row	1	6-8 each side
	Plank	2	60 sec.
3	Squat	3	5
	Bench press	3	5
	Deadlift	2	5
	Pull-up	1	6-8
	Standing dumbbell overhead press	1	6-8
	Standing barbell curl	1	6-8
5	Squat	3	5
	Bench press	3	5
	Deadlift	2	5
	Overhead squat
	Romanian deadlift	1	6-8
	Side plank	2	30 sec. each side

Now, here's my issue. This looks like a good routine to acclimatize myself to doing some very heavy lifting. But with the plank sets, at the very least, I know I'd be regressing. I already hold planks, side planks, and reverse planks for 90 seconds each time I work out. So for you muscleheads out there, would you say I should keep doing my planks the way that I am used to, step them up, or is there some sort of benefit I'm just not seeing to scaling them back?

I intend on maintaining my plyometric training: jumping jacks, dragons, kick squats, Hindu squats, etc. I need that explosive strength in my legs for my dance, and also because I'm a huge fan of mighty gams.

I plan on monitoring my diet a bit more strictly again, to ensure I'm getting enough protein to build the muscle I want to build. I don't have a very big appetite, so I think this has been my biggest obstacle to building muscle, all along.

Let's see if I can get myself in my best physical shape this year. And maybe, just maybe, I'll hold my own at a fitness competition.

Comments

[etcet.livejournal.com]

xRM = X rep max, just shorthand :-)

Thus 12RM/20RM - twelve rep max/twenty rep max, ie: the amount of you can lift, using good form, just that many times, and that the next rep will fail or require cheating to complete. Thus, your 1RM is the absolute max weight you can lift on any given day.

I was going to comment on the percieved duration of the workout list you put up there. do you do straight sets (ie: you do the dragons, then the planks, then the jacks, then.. then... then...) or do you do them as a circuit (one set of each all the way through, then a second set all the way through, etc), or do you do the lifts as complexes or complementary pairs?

i find that, for me at least, doing non-competing paired exercises has the benefit of keeping my heart rate up and not making my lifting take forever; for instance, yesterday was squats interposed with bench pressing; i could have added pullups if the squat bar wasn't in the way, i suppose. or supersetting pullups and dips (pull/push) as a paired exercise.

[shanmonster.livejournal.com]

I do a set of jumping jacks, a set of dragons, then a plank. I do it four times, until I've completed all my plank variations, and then I get to the other stuff.

I do all sets of my weights in a row, and not split up into circuits. I tend to mix my leg raises with my crunches, though.

I've tried adding pull-ups, but after doing any of the training in here, I seem to be too tired to do even one properly. I can only seem to do them when I'm nice and rested, so I tend to leave them for my chin-up bar at home when I'm puttering around the house.

[etcet.livejournal.com]

Ahh, okay. it's hard to guess what your routine is when it's just listed out like that :-)

[shanmonster.livejournal.com]

True enough!