Your Best Body Workout – 2011 – Week 13 – Day 2

By Health Habits on April 17, 2011@healthhabits

“The Athlete” by Howard Schartz and Beverly Ornstein

Welcome to Week 13 – Workout 2.

There are two major differences between the last two weeks and this week.

Difference #1

Instead of 6 sets of 8 reps, we’re switching to 8 sets of 6 reps.

Difference #2

We’re going to make some minor changes to exercise selection.

Calves & biceps are switching days. Calves move to Day 1 & Biceps move to Day 3.
I am also going to change a couple of exercises.

Note – Switching up the exercises is a minor tweak. If you feel that you prefer the original program, feel free to ignore this change.

But, you still need to make the switch to 8 sets of 6 reps.

PHASE 1

Warm-Up

Feel free to mix things up during the warm-up.

The goal is to warm up your muscles and to get your joints lubricated. I like the following warm-up exercises, but as long as your muscles are getting pliable and your joints are feeling “loose”….feel free to do your own thing…as long as it gets the job done.

5 Minutes of the following 4 Mobility Exercises:

1. Circles – Starting with the ankles and moving all the way up to your neck, gently make circles with all of your joints – 10 revolutions each joint in each direction

2. Rolling Like A Ball

3. Shin Box

4. Lateral Lunges

5 Minutes of the following Muscle Warm-Up Exercises

I am going to list a bunch of exercises. You choose which ones you want to do….remembering that the goal is to warm up the muscles and make them pliable and ready to handle the following workout

1 Arm Swing Snatch – Dumbbell or kettlebell – choose a light weight – the goal is to warm-up
Bodyweight Squat
Step-Ups
Burpees
Push – Ups
BW Rows
Jumping Chins
Shuffle Lunges

PHASE 2

The HH Quasi Bodybuilder/Athlete/Freak of Nature Workout ver 1.0

Superset #1

2 exercises per superset
8 sets per exercise
6 reps per set
30 seconds rest between sets
Choose a weight that will challenge you to just get the 8th rep on the last set
If you make 6 reps on set #8, increase the weight a little bit the following week
Perform the “work” part of each exercise as quickly and powerfully as possible

I recommend that before each set of Exercise #1, you do a 2-5 reps of a light weight, explosive exercise which works the same muscles as the work set (ex. jumping up & down before doing squats)

This will get your nervous system all charged up and help you perform better on the work set.

Exercise #1

Scapular Depression Chins or Pulldowns

8 sets
6 reps per set
BW or cable pulldown station or bands

This is a chin / pulldown which doesn’t use your arms – same back movement – no biceps

For the neural activation warm-up exercise, I would recommend Explosive Band Pulldowns or Jumping Chins

Exercise #2

Standing Cable Rows – High to Low

8 sets
6 reps per set

A band can be substituted for the cable

.

Superset #2

2 exercises per superset
8 sets per exercise
6 reps per set
30 seconds rest between sets
Choose a weight that will challenge you to just get the 8th rep on the last set
If you make 6 reps on set #8, increase the weight a little bit the following week
Perform the “work” part of each exercise as quickly and powerfully as possible

I recommend that before each set of Exercise #1, you do a 2-5 reps of a light weight, explosive exercise which works the same muscles as the work set (ex. jumping up & down before doing squats)

This will get your nervous system all charged up and help you perform better on the work set.

Exercise #1

Skullcrushers

8 sets
6 reps per set
Dumbbells/Barbell or Bodyweight

For the neural activation warm-up exercise, I would recommend 5 reps of Explosive Close Grip Push-Ups

Exercise # 2

Cable Pushdowns

8 sets
6 reps per set
Dumbbells

Stretch bands can be substituted for the cable stack

Superset #3

2 exercises per superset
8 sets per exercise
6 reps per set
30 seconds rest between sets
Choose a weight that will challenge you to just get the 8th rep on the last set
If you make 6 reps on set #8, increase the weight a little bit the following week
Perform the “work” part of each exercise as quickly and powerfully as possible

I recommend that before each set of Exercise #1, you do a 2-5 reps of a light weight, explosive exercise which works the same muscles as the work set (ex. jumping up & down before doing squats)

This will get your nervous system all charged up and help you perform better on the work set.

Exercise #1

Stability Ball Plank

8 sets
30 seconds per set
Ball & BW

Exercise # 2

Stability Ball Crunch or Tuck/Pike

8 sets
MAX reps per set – with GOOD form
Stab Ball & BW
On crunches – crunch up towards the ceiling rather than curling like a jelly-roll
When your form isn’t perfect – move back to planks

PHASE 3

Stretching – minimum 10 minutes

Focus on the muscles you just worked, plus the ones that are tight on just about everyone….hip flexors, calves, hamstrings, chest, neck & traps

.

NOTE

All 3 workouts will be posted on Monday, Tuesday & Wednesday.

If you’re interested in gaining some size, perform each of these workouts 2x per week
It all depends on your goals

Instead of repeating these workouts, you can perform them a single time only – Mon, Wed, Fri and perform some other exercise on Tues, Thurs, Sat.

For example:

you can perform Neural Recharge workouts on Tues/Thurs/Sat –Here is a sample workout

If you want to improve your cardio, do cardio

If you want to improve your flexibility, take some yoga classes or stretch

If you want to have fun while exercising, take a class, play a sport, etc…

Or, mix & match

You can also rest on those off days. These 3 workouts are pretty intense and will do a lot on their own.

.

All of the Best Body workouts are available here.

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Doug Robb is a personal trainer, a fitness blogger and author, a competitive athlete, and a student of nutrition and exercise science. Since 2008, Doug has expanded his impact by bringing his real-world experience online via his health & fitness blog, Health Habits. Read more posts by Doug at Hive Health Media.

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4 Comments

Brit

April 21, 2011 at 8:47 pm

I was able to hold the first plank for 30 seconds, but after that I could only manage 15-20 seconds. And halfway through I had to move from the ball to the floor because it was too hard.

Also, my lower back hurt when I was doing the crunches. Why would that be happening?

Reply
- healthhabits
  
  April 22, 2011 at 5:00 am
  
  If 15-20 sec is what you can do right now, that’s great. Do your best & try to get the 30 sec. And moving off the ball is fine.
  
  On either exercise, I don’t want you having LB pain.
  
  On the crunches, adjust where your back rests on the ball to try and find a better / less painful position.
  On the bridges, spreading your feet wide apart may give you a few more seconds – as well focus on tightening up your midsection – make it stron as if your were anticipating someone punching you in the belly
  
  Reply
Johannis Kraut

April 20, 2011 at 2:40 am

You put a lot of work in order to make this article so complete, Doug, the videos are also helpful..but I also need something to motivate me, to get up from the couch and work out..could you help me with that? I am not fat, I think I am about the regular weight, but kind of out of shape, because of a very sedentary job..

Reply
- healthhabits
  
  April 20, 2011 at 4:47 am
  
  Motivation – the holy grail of weight loss/ body transformation
  
  All the diets & exercise programs are useless if people don’t follow them. And yet, year after year, a flood of new diet books hit the shelves of bookstores around the world.
  
  So, how do we motivate?
  
  Obesity: How to Motivate the Un-Motivated
  
  With my clients, I use a multi-pronged appproach:
  
  1. Decide on a really good reason why you want to lose the weight – make it a reason that has a lot of emotion attached to it.
  2. Find someone to support you who believes 100% that you can do this…even if you don’t (for my clients, that’s me)
  3. Give yourself a reminder of why you’re doing this (exercise/diet) over & over & over – I have them put a motivational image on the cell phone so they see it every time there’s a call, email or they check the time on their phone – constant visual reminders help
  
  There are more tricks, but these 3 should get you started
  
  Reply

Your Best Body Workout – 2011 – Week 13 – Day 2

PHASE 1

PHASE 2