Training

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Training

While there are tons of workout routines there are a few commonalities that must be addressed. I cannot stress enough the importance of proper form. Performing an exercise improperly can easily result in injury. The other problem with improper form is that the target muscles are not worked to their maximum...in other words the exercise is not working the muscles that
it is designed to work. I'm going to break this section down into three very basic parts, each with a unique training approach. Depending on what your goals are, you should fit into one of these three training categories. Mixing and matching between the various categories is just fine....knock yourself out.

Muscle Size and Shape (low muscle mass, weak muscles, bodybuilding)
Working out with this style requires a desire and will to lift heavy weight and gain strength. This is not for guys who want to ….dare I say…”tone”. The rep range for this style of training is lower than the other categories. For example, where you might do 3 sets of 6 repetitions for this style, you might be doing 3 sets of 10 repetitions for the Fit and Athletic category. Traditionally repetition ranges should stay between 4-8 per set and performing 3-4 sets for each exercise.

The muscle groups of the body are broken down into different sections and each section gets some attention during the week. For instance, today you might workout chest, shoulders, and traps. That's it. While you are only working those three muscle groups, you are doing three to four exercises for each part. Then tomorrow you might lift all the muscles of the legs: hamstrings, calves, quads. It is important to give each muscle group at least 5 days of rest before working that muscle out again. This is so that the muscle has adequate time to repair and heal bigger and stronger than before. The workout for a typical week might look as follows:

Monday- Back, Hamstrings, Abs
Tuesday- Chest, Biceps, Calves
Wednesday- OFF
Thursday- Shoulders, Triceps, Abs
Friday- Quadriceps, Traps, Calves
Saturday- OFF
Sunday- OFF

Fit and Athletic (overweight, health problems with weight, burns most fat)
While training with this principle in mind, it is important to keep intensity high for the entire workout. If you are going to take the time to eat properly and get in the weight room, you owe it to yourself to train like a man. That means that you don't sit and catch your breath for 2 or 3 minutes between exercises. The entire point of this training is to keep the heartrate up in order to fry calories. Take Lance Armstrong for example, he certainly knows how to feed the warrior. Don't think running is necessary to burn fat and accelerate you fitness....well this commercial probably hits home for a lot of readers out there. Nike runs both of these ads, they understand exactly the philosophy that I promote.

This style of training combines fartlek training with weight lifting in order to fry the most amount of calories in the shortest amount of time. The objective here is to burn fat while still maintaining muscle mass. The problem with speed and endurance training (comparatively speaking) is that the body ends up burning all energy sources in order to function and this means tapping into muscles for energy. The end result of this is a loss in muscle mass at the expense of running farther or faster.

Repetition can range from 4-12 in this style of training, with the emphasis on the higher end those numbers. This workout will require that you run and lift in the same session as opposed to the shape and size workout where running is not always included. Sets range from 3-4 for each exercise. The best way to keep the heart rate up during this training is to keep your rest periods short. Resting no more than 30sec-1min should do the trick. The concept is that fartlek training is done for one mile before weight lifting. While the weight lifting sessions are kept to only two or three per week, this means that the entire upper body is worked one day and the lower body another. Setting time frames for workouts is a great way to make sure you do not start getting sluggish and finish strong. This also ensures that you keep your heart rate up, which is vital to torching that fat. The most difficult thing about this is that it's tough to do on your own because you have to push yourself to succeed. Having a workout buddy or personal trainer helps ensure that you have that extra motivation to push through to the end of the workout.

A workout routine would look as follows:

Monday- 1-mile Fartlek Training, Upper Body Lifting
Tuesday- OFF
Wednesday- OFF
Thursday- 1-mile Fartlek Training, Lower Body Lifting
Friday- OFF
Saturday- 1-mile Farlek Training or any cardiovascular-based physical activity
Sunday- OFF

Speed and Endurance (runners, bikers, swimmers, burns most calories)
This style of training is for guys who love to get outside and run, bike, swim, or all the above. The premise behind this training is working to increase speed and/or endurance so that you can run longer, bike farther, and swim stronger.

While there are different variations of these two types of training, all workouts are based around the two premises of running for long distances at a constant pace or fartlek training. Runners and bikers often use a combination of the two in order to train their heart to work at optimum capacity for an extended period of time. Weight lifting is normally done sparingly and is only done to help maintain muscle mass, not gain it. Repetitions normally range from 10-15 and resistance is more commonly used than heavy free weights. An example of a workout for a runner might have the runner doing fartlek training for 30 minutes one day and then have them running 5K two days later and repeating the cycle. The result of this training is a tremendous burning of calories and this is why these guys can get away with eating a lot more carbohydrates than the rest of us.

A week of training might look like this:

Monday- sprint 30 seconds, walk one min, repeat for 10 minutes, light weight lifting
Tuesday- OFF
Wednesday- run/jog 4-5 miles
Thursday- OFF
Friday- OFF
Saturday- run/jog 6-7 miles
Sunday-OFF

When I work with guys who are training to run marathons, 5K/10K's, or compete in competitive sports I try to incorporate compound/explosive movements that help with speed and agility. For example, instead of performing a normal squat, I will have the client slowly squat down and explode back up and jumping as high as possible. This is exhausting but also is great for first step explosion and overall agility and balance.