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90 Min. A week to a strong better you
By: Superfrk
Do you have 90 min a week that you can spend training? I would hope so, there is no gimmick and there is no catch, this is not one of those fad workouts that you will find in a muscle mag. This is a real plan to build fitness, strength, and yes a better physique.
If you are currently doing the standard 3 sets of 10 reps then I have a quick message for you, STOP take the time that your wasting doing multiple sets and take the time to read this, It will be time better spent. There are multiple studies in the hundreds that compare doing multiple sets compared to doing just one and only about 6 of them actually support doing multiple sets.
You will not get any bigger or stronger doing 2-3 sets Vs doing 1
For larger muscle groups like the upper back, chest, and thighs you should do one set of a compound movement and one set of an isolating movement.
For smaller groups like the biceps or calves you should do one movement.
If you really feel that you should do more, than do one set of 3 different movements for a couple of the muscle groups.
So, your maximum number of sets per muscle group is 3 and your minimum is 1.
Ideally you should work each muscle group 2 times a week, but sometimes only 1 time a week is needed. When we work out we tend to overlap muscle groups, say I am training my shoulders and my chest, my triceps will actually get worked as well, because of this overlap my triceps are being over stimulated and will need to be worked less so that they can properly recover, in cases like this you will only need to train that muscle group on a 1 time a week basis to get maximum results.
Remember it is all ways better to do fewer great workouts than it is to half ass your way through more workouts.
Great workouts = great results / Half ass workouts=half ass results
Half ass workouts will do nothing but take away from recovery, and slow down progress.
Believe it or not, but it's true. One to three sets per week per muscle group are all you really need to improve.
You see everything revolves around quality and not volume. Think of your training like a restaurant do you want your results to resemble the final product of a fast food joint or that of an upscale restaurant.
Maintaining good form with high intensity is what it is all about. That is what progressive resistance training is all about.
Now remember that we all have different genetics and because of this we will all respond to training differently.
Our genetics play a big role in our training some people will develop large muscles much more easily, while others may actually be able to recruit more muscle fibers so they are stronger than they would appear to be.
You cannot change your genetics, and whinnying about them does you no good, so just go for it and you might even be pleasantly surprised along the way.
Do you need different workouts for putting on mass as opposed to cutting?
The answer is NO
When you can use more resistance you will get stronger, as you get stronger you will gain more muscle (mass)
Being cut means having a low percent body fat and has virtually everything to do with the number of calories you take in on healthy diet and your genetics. Getting cut has almost nothing to do with a specific way of training!
If you need to gain weight, you consume more calories. If you want to lose body fat, you consume fewer calories.
Now to the workouts, These are to be used as samples as you work out and learn what works for you they will need to be adapted.
All workouts here were posted by members of the Cyber Pump training forums. www.cyberpump.com
2 day a week sample workout:
Two workout days, A and B. Separated with 4-5 days rest. This is very close to what I do now with a few differences. I do pulls ahead of pushes in the workout as I need to work my lats harder as they are behind my pushing muscles in terms of progress.
This way, the long triceps head is not as tired when doing pulling movements, and I can use a greater weight for chins/rows.
Rep speed (if you care about that stuff) is 4/4 except for deadlifts where it is simply "slow and controlled".
Rep range is 5-7 for upper body and 8-10 for lower body. Whatever works for you.
No "advanced" techniques in this workout. Just work as hard as you can going to positive failure (taking all safety precaution specifically in the case of deadlifts). After a superset of deadlifts and leg presses you will not want to do ANY lower body work for a looooong time.
I use a weighted barbell for back extensions and a "heavy" dumbbell for crunches. To get the weight SAFELY in position, I use the techniques mentioned by Bill Piche in his article in Hardgainer, "The Big Pull". For weighted side bends I simply hold a plate behind my head as I'm not that strong at this movement - yet!
I would also highly recommend using a theraband for l-flyes. You can safely do both sides at once and I believe it more effective than a dumbbell.
I also believe one-legged calf raises to be the best calf exercise there is. Work up the weight by holding a db.
More on this stuff in a future article on Cyberpump. I'm working on it, okay! Leave me alone and go try this in the gym.
Day A
------
1. Deadlift - every other workout supersetted with
1. a) Hammer Leg Press
2. Hammer Iso-Incline Press
3. Hammer Iso Row
4. One-Legged Calf Raise
5. Back extension
6. Ab crunch
7. Hammer Gripper
8. L-Flye with theraband
Day B
--------
1. Chin
2. Barbell Overhead Press
3. Hammer Leg Press
4. One-Legged Calf Raise
5. Weighted Side Bend on Hyperextension bench
6. Ab Crunch
7. Hammer Gripper
8. L-flye with theraband
3 day a week Beginner’s HIT workout:
This is a beginner's HIT workout. As a beginner, you will be able to lift more frequently and more sets. This is because you most likely will need several weeks to allow your muscles to get used to the stress associated with lifting weights. After several months of this workout, you'll probably want to abbreviate. As always, form is most important. You will be lifting 3 times per week, (Mon, Wed, Fri). Also do 30-60 min of cardio per week and rest one day. Get at least 8 hours of sleep a night. I dropped 25 pounds of fat and gained significantly in most excercises over 2 months on this routine. Do no more than 2 sets of each excercise, and try to stay in the 8-12 rep range.
Note that this is not your common HIT workout -- it's more specialized for beginners. HIT works because compound movements allow you to strengthen mutliple muscles with one excercise. However this won't work if one muscles is lagging behind the others. That's why I beleive that beginner's should specialize, if only for a few months, before lifting HIT.
Day 1
-----
Bench Press
Incline Dumbbell Bench
Seated Hammer Bench
Preacher Curls
Cable Bicep Curl
Wrist Curls
Day 2
-----
Squat (maybe alternate with Deadlift later on)
Leg Press
Calf Raises
Shoulder Raises (i find doing these before pressing loosens up the shoulders nicely)
Seated Dumbbell Shoulder Press
Shrugs
Ab Crunches/Side Bends
Day 3
-----
Straight Leg Deadlift
Wide grip pulldowns
Close grip pullups
Skullcrushers
Cable tricep extension
Bench dips
3 day a week sample hit work out:
HIT/Westside/Russian Hybrid
Mon-Wed-Fri
1) Bench Press Exercise (Choose one: Barbell Bench Press/Dumbbell Bench Press/Incline Barbell Press/Decline Barbell Press/Board Press/Floor Press/Bench Lockout) 2*5
2) Deadlift/Squat/Good Morning Exercise (Choose one: Conventional Deadlift/Sumo Deadlift/Deadlift on the Blocks/Partial Deadlift/Power Squat/Full Squat/Bent-Legged Good Morning) 2*5
3) (Done only if exercise #2 was Squat or Good Morning) Upper Back Exercise (Choose one: Pull Up/Lat Pulldown/Seated Row) 1*8-10
4) Shoulder Press (Choose one: Standing Barbell Press/Seated Dumbbell Press/Seated Behind-the-Neck Press) 1*8-10
5) Ab Exercise (Choose one: Hanging Leg Raise/Sit Up/ Standing Cable Crunch) 1*10-15
If there are two sets, choose a weight which makes the last rep of the second set difficult, if there is one set, work to failure. Change exercises every time.
This routine is good for powerlifting and general strength. You may think that training f.g. lower back/hip area three times a week is too much, but if you keep volume (sets*reps) this low and change exercises regularly both your muscle tissue and central nervous system can take it. Eat well, sleep well and strech well!
As far as the # of reps per set go it is all up to you. Here are a few of the factors that will determain the # of reps that should be done. 1.Age, as we get older our skeletal system will not be able to handle as much stress, you can still use HIT just lower the weight and use incressed reps to failure. Genetics, while heavy weights and low reps might work for one person, lower weights with more reps before failure may work better for others and vise versa. And the third and one of the most important is safty. If you work out a home and have no one to spot you then by all means lower the weight and incress the reps, also if I do heavy squats I may not have a problem doing them but may have a problem returning the bar to the stand and am leaveing myself open for injury.
Also I want to cover one last point, This work out is not any easier than traditional workouts and if by the title I implied that I am sorry, This is not as mucho because to lift slower and with better form, takes much less weight than to cheat by using fast motions, but by going to failure you will find out what pain is all about. Good luck and please if you decide to try this let me know how it is going and if you have any questions or need some advice I will try to help you the best I can- Superfrk
By: Superfrk
Do you have 90 min a week that you can spend training? I would hope so, there is no gimmick and there is no catch, this is not one of those fad workouts that you will find in a muscle mag. This is a real plan to build fitness, strength, and yes a better physique.
If you are currently doing the standard 3 sets of 10 reps then I have a quick message for you, STOP take the time that your wasting doing multiple sets and take the time to read this, It will be time better spent. There are multiple studies in the hundreds that compare doing multiple sets compared to doing just one and only about 6 of them actually support doing multiple sets.
You will not get any bigger or stronger doing 2-3 sets Vs doing 1
For larger muscle groups like the upper back, chest, and thighs you should do one set of a compound movement and one set of an isolating movement.
For smaller groups like the biceps or calves you should do one movement.
If you really feel that you should do more, than do one set of 3 different movements for a couple of the muscle groups.
So, your maximum number of sets per muscle group is 3 and your minimum is 1.
Ideally you should work each muscle group 2 times a week, but sometimes only 1 time a week is needed. When we work out we tend to overlap muscle groups, say I am training my shoulders and my chest, my triceps will actually get worked as well, because of this overlap my triceps are being over stimulated and will need to be worked less so that they can properly recover, in cases like this you will only need to train that muscle group on a 1 time a week basis to get maximum results.
Remember it is all ways better to do fewer great workouts than it is to half ass your way through more workouts.
Great workouts = great results / Half ass workouts=half ass results
Half ass workouts will do nothing but take away from recovery, and slow down progress.
Believe it or not, but it's true. One to three sets per week per muscle group are all you really need to improve.
You see everything revolves around quality and not volume. Think of your training like a restaurant do you want your results to resemble the final product of a fast food joint or that of an upscale restaurant.
Maintaining good form with high intensity is what it is all about. That is what progressive resistance training is all about.
Now remember that we all have different genetics and because of this we will all respond to training differently.
Our genetics play a big role in our training some people will develop large muscles much more easily, while others may actually be able to recruit more muscle fibers so they are stronger than they would appear to be.
You cannot change your genetics, and whinnying about them does you no good, so just go for it and you might even be pleasantly surprised along the way.
Do you need different workouts for putting on mass as opposed to cutting?
The answer is NO
When you can use more resistance you will get stronger, as you get stronger you will gain more muscle (mass)
Being cut means having a low percent body fat and has virtually everything to do with the number of calories you take in on healthy diet and your genetics. Getting cut has almost nothing to do with a specific way of training!
If you need to gain weight, you consume more calories. If you want to lose body fat, you consume fewer calories.
Now to the workouts, These are to be used as samples as you work out and learn what works for you they will need to be adapted.
All workouts here were posted by members of the Cyber Pump training forums. www.cyberpump.com
2 day a week sample workout:
Two workout days, A and B. Separated with 4-5 days rest. This is very close to what I do now with a few differences. I do pulls ahead of pushes in the workout as I need to work my lats harder as they are behind my pushing muscles in terms of progress.
This way, the long triceps head is not as tired when doing pulling movements, and I can use a greater weight for chins/rows.
Rep speed (if you care about that stuff) is 4/4 except for deadlifts where it is simply "slow and controlled".
Rep range is 5-7 for upper body and 8-10 for lower body. Whatever works for you.
No "advanced" techniques in this workout. Just work as hard as you can going to positive failure (taking all safety precaution specifically in the case of deadlifts). After a superset of deadlifts and leg presses you will not want to do ANY lower body work for a looooong time.
I use a weighted barbell for back extensions and a "heavy" dumbbell for crunches. To get the weight SAFELY in position, I use the techniques mentioned by Bill Piche in his article in Hardgainer, "The Big Pull". For weighted side bends I simply hold a plate behind my head as I'm not that strong at this movement - yet!
I would also highly recommend using a theraband for l-flyes. You can safely do both sides at once and I believe it more effective than a dumbbell.
I also believe one-legged calf raises to be the best calf exercise there is. Work up the weight by holding a db.
More on this stuff in a future article on Cyberpump. I'm working on it, okay! Leave me alone and go try this in the gym.
Day A
------
1. Deadlift - every other workout supersetted with
1. a) Hammer Leg Press
2. Hammer Iso-Incline Press
3. Hammer Iso Row
4. One-Legged Calf Raise
5. Back extension
6. Ab crunch
7. Hammer Gripper
8. L-Flye with theraband
Day B
--------
1. Chin
2. Barbell Overhead Press
3. Hammer Leg Press
4. One-Legged Calf Raise
5. Weighted Side Bend on Hyperextension bench
6. Ab Crunch
7. Hammer Gripper
8. L-flye with theraband
3 day a week Beginner’s HIT workout:
This is a beginner's HIT workout. As a beginner, you will be able to lift more frequently and more sets. This is because you most likely will need several weeks to allow your muscles to get used to the stress associated with lifting weights. After several months of this workout, you'll probably want to abbreviate. As always, form is most important. You will be lifting 3 times per week, (Mon, Wed, Fri). Also do 30-60 min of cardio per week and rest one day. Get at least 8 hours of sleep a night. I dropped 25 pounds of fat and gained significantly in most excercises over 2 months on this routine. Do no more than 2 sets of each excercise, and try to stay in the 8-12 rep range.
Note that this is not your common HIT workout -- it's more specialized for beginners. HIT works because compound movements allow you to strengthen mutliple muscles with one excercise. However this won't work if one muscles is lagging behind the others. That's why I beleive that beginner's should specialize, if only for a few months, before lifting HIT.
Day 1
-----
Bench Press
Incline Dumbbell Bench
Seated Hammer Bench
Preacher Curls
Cable Bicep Curl
Wrist Curls
Day 2
-----
Squat (maybe alternate with Deadlift later on)
Leg Press
Calf Raises
Shoulder Raises (i find doing these before pressing loosens up the shoulders nicely)
Seated Dumbbell Shoulder Press
Shrugs
Ab Crunches/Side Bends
Day 3
-----
Straight Leg Deadlift
Wide grip pulldowns
Close grip pullups
Skullcrushers
Cable tricep extension
Bench dips
3 day a week sample hit work out:
HIT/Westside/Russian Hybrid
Mon-Wed-Fri
1) Bench Press Exercise (Choose one: Barbell Bench Press/Dumbbell Bench Press/Incline Barbell Press/Decline Barbell Press/Board Press/Floor Press/Bench Lockout) 2*5
2) Deadlift/Squat/Good Morning Exercise (Choose one: Conventional Deadlift/Sumo Deadlift/Deadlift on the Blocks/Partial Deadlift/Power Squat/Full Squat/Bent-Legged Good Morning) 2*5
3) (Done only if exercise #2 was Squat or Good Morning) Upper Back Exercise (Choose one: Pull Up/Lat Pulldown/Seated Row) 1*8-10
4) Shoulder Press (Choose one: Standing Barbell Press/Seated Dumbbell Press/Seated Behind-the-Neck Press) 1*8-10
5) Ab Exercise (Choose one: Hanging Leg Raise/Sit Up/ Standing Cable Crunch) 1*10-15
If there are two sets, choose a weight which makes the last rep of the second set difficult, if there is one set, work to failure. Change exercises every time.
This routine is good for powerlifting and general strength. You may think that training f.g. lower back/hip area three times a week is too much, but if you keep volume (sets*reps) this low and change exercises regularly both your muscle tissue and central nervous system can take it. Eat well, sleep well and strech well!
As far as the # of reps per set go it is all up to you. Here are a few of the factors that will determain the # of reps that should be done. 1.Age, as we get older our skeletal system will not be able to handle as much stress, you can still use HIT just lower the weight and use incressed reps to failure. Genetics, while heavy weights and low reps might work for one person, lower weights with more reps before failure may work better for others and vise versa. And the third and one of the most important is safty. If you work out a home and have no one to spot you then by all means lower the weight and incress the reps, also if I do heavy squats I may not have a problem doing them but may have a problem returning the bar to the stand and am leaveing myself open for injury.
Also I want to cover one last point, This work out is not any easier than traditional workouts and if by the title I implied that I am sorry, This is not as mucho because to lift slower and with better form, takes much less weight than to cheat by using fast motions, but by going to failure you will find out what pain is all about. Good luck and please if you decide to try this let me know how it is going and if you have any questions or need some advice I will try to help you the best I can- Superfrk
