Calves, Abs, Forearms and High Intensity Cardio

Got up early at 3 am this morning to hit the weights.  Today’s workout involves training these very small muscle groups.  Here is the workout.

Calves

Calf Slide 1 Legged 6 plates x 18,18,17

Calf Presses 300 lbs 1 legged 15,15

Abs

Ab Machine 170 lbs x 12, 190x 10,12,10

Forearms

Wrist Curls

50 lb dumbbells in each hand x 12,12

Wrist Extensions

35 lb dumbbells in each  hand x 12,12

High Intensity Cardio 10 minutes

Elliptical level 17 1 minute super high intensity followed by 1 minute of lower intensity.  On Monday, Wednesday, and Friday I use a slightly different machine than Tuesday, Thursday.  My distance covered today was .58 miles which was a Personal Record for this machine. 

Good week of training!

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Shoulders, Traps and High Intensity Cardio

Slept in a little this morning.  Today’s workout went great.  I believe this shift toward progressive overload will produce great results.  Basically, I am following MAX OT principles.  I am sure many of you are familiar with that program.  I won’t go into the details in this post but you will get the idea if you follow this blog over the next 8 weeks.

Hammer Shoulder Press 160 lbs per arm x 5,4,4

Seated Lateral Raises 45lb dumbbells x 6,6,5

Posterior Delt Raises Chest Supported on 30 degree incline 55×6,6

Hammer Strength Shrug Machine 6 plates x 15,16

10 minutes of high intensity cardio.  1 minute of super high intenity followed by 1 minute of lower intensity for recovery.  Total distance covered was .78 miles on resistance level 17, manual setting.  My personal best on this machine is .79 miles at the above settings.  Wow, its hard for me to believe that one day last week I beat todays performance.  So be it, I will just have to be ready to attack that machine at higher levels next week.

** I learned a valuable lesson yesterday about training with injuries.  I did slightly injure my back yesterday doing those standing curls.  I knew I should have performed those seated but didn’t.  I will remember that next week and make certain to perform those seated.  There is no reason to perform exercises that will compromise your safety.  NO REASON!!

Great workout.

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Back, Biceps, and Cardio

This mornings workout of Back and Biceps went awesome.

Pulldowns 275x 5,5,5

Hammer Strength High Rows 205 per arm x 5,5,5

Standing Alternating Curls 75 lbs dumbells x 6,5

(should have performed seated curls, my back was compromised by doing curls standing)

Strive Preacher Curl 80 lbs x 6,6

10 minutes of moderate intensity cardio.  After the last 2 days of high intensity interval cardio I decided to back off a touch today.  My distance was .50 miles in the 10 minutes which was actually not far off my best distance of .56 mi.

Good workout.  3 am came early today, but it sure feels good to be done for the day.

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Summary Of Quads, Hamstrings and High Intensity Cardio

Here are my results of this mornings awesome workout.

I decided to stay with 1 legged leg presses as my only quad exercise today.  1 legged leg presses forces my repaired leg to do work.  Still in the rehab phase.

1 legged leg presses 6 plates x 20,20, 7 plates x 18,18

Back Extensions added 35 lbs x 25,24

Seated leg Curls 230×6,5

10 minutes of high intensity interval cardio. 

1 minute of super high intensity followed by 1 minute of much lower intensity.  5 cyles of low, high etc

Total distance covered on The Life fitness elliptical .77 mi on manual program, resistance of 17

A great workout.

Tomorrow is Back and Biceps and more high intensity cardio.  Check back then.

Have a Great Day,

Michael

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Quads, Hamstrings and High Intensity Cardio

With this new plan leg day will be on Tuesday’s. Here is today’s plan.
1 legged leg presses 2 sets of 10 to 20
2 legged leg presses 2 sets of 10 to 20
Seated leg curls 2 sets of 8 to 10
Back extensions 2 sets of 15 to 20
10 minutes of high intensity interval cardio.

High levels of work will bring me success. Should be a fun workout. I will put my music in and get to work.

MT

Chest, Triceps Followed By High Intensity Cardio

I got up early this morning and had a great workout. 

Chest

Flat Barbell Press 295×5,5,5

Flat Hammer Press 135 lb per arm x 5,5,5

Triceps

Close Grip Presses 245 x 5,5

Rope Pushdowns stack x5,5

10 minutes of High Intensity Interval Cardio

1 minute of high intensity followed by 1 minute of recovery. 

A great workout!!  I got up at 3 am to get it done.  Awesome

Michael

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Fresh From Twitter today

New blog post: Fresh From Twitter today http://buildmusclelosefat.org/?p=900

New blog post: Fresh From Twitter today http://buildmusclelosefat.org/?p=899

Goodness. I am having a time with this twitter plug in to my blog. I am about to call it a night. We just got t shirts with our logo.

Training to gain muscle doesn’t take hours of your time per week. Perform key exercises with high intensity. My best workouts take <1 hour

Next week Mon chest, shoulders, tris, Tues 10 min hiit, Wed back biceps, Thurs rest, Fri quads, hams, calves and abs, Sat 20 min hiit.

Quads,Hamstrings,calves and Abs

Good afternoon,
This afternoon we will be working legs and abs. This workout is the toughest of the week but the best. Keep in mind I am still rehabbing this knee from the osteochondral allograft transplant I had a year ago. I still can’t squat productively but can certainly use the leg press.

Todays Plan
2 legged leg presses 10 sets of 20 to 50 reps
Standing leg curls 10 sets of 8 to 10
Standing calf raises 10 sets of 10 to 50 reps
Back extensions 3 sets of 15 to 20 reps
Crunches 3 sets of 30 or so.

Rep ranges are generally higher for legs due to the knee rehab and I think lower body work generally responds well to higher reps.

Remember for subscribing free you will receive my ebook LNDV2. Books will go out this afternoon.

Offer ends at 5pm today CST.

Have a Great Day,
Michael

Back, Biceps Leave No Doubt Training

Today we have scheduled Back and Biceps.  We are going to train with crazy levels of intensity.  Every set will be taken very close to failure.  Rest intervals between sets will be about 1 minute.  Give this workout a go.

Upper Back

Pullups bodyweight for 10 sets as many reps as possible.

Chest Supported Rows for 5 sets of 8-10

Biceps

Incline Dumbbell Curls 10 sets of 8-10

1 arm Preacher Curls 5 sets of 8-10

Posterior Delt Raises Chest Supported 4-5 sets of 8-10

Forearms

Wrist Curls 3 sets of 15-20

That should do the job.  Applying maximum levels of effort. 

Remember if you subscribe to this blog I will send you the ebook Leave No Doubt V2.  All books will go out Friday afternoon.

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Chest, Shoulders and Triceps Leaving No Doubt

Yesterday we had an outstanding workout.  This current workout routine is great.  Each day we enter the gym we are ready to devastate some muscle.  After 20 plus years I can tell you if you want more muscle you better be prepared to train with crazy levels of intensity. 

Chest

Flat Barbell Presses 225 x 18, 275×7,6,5,4,4,4, 225x 8,7,6

Incline Barbell 225x 6,6,5,5,4

Shoulders

Barbell Front Presses 205×5,5,5

Seated Lateral Raises 45 lb dumbbells x 6,6,5,5,5

Triceps

Close Grip Barbell 205×8,8,7,7,6,6,5,4,4,4

Rope Pushdowns 65lbs x 15,15

About 1-2 minutes rest between sets.

Each set was taken very close to failure.

Total Time 65 minutes.

An incredible workout.  All muscle groups trained certainly felt this workout.  Give this workout a try. I promise you will notice huge changes in your development with this kind of effort. 

This week I am giving a free ebook to all subscribers of this blog. 

If you subscribe to this forum this week you will recieve my most popular ebook, “Leave No Doubt Training Manual V2″ 

Just enter your email address below.

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Free Ebook Workout 3 Quads, Hams, Calves

Today we have a great workout planned.  We are going to be training quads, hamstrings, calves and abs.  Here is our gameplan but keep in mind it may change as the workout progresses.  Especially, if I feel the need to do something real crazy!!:)

Leg Presses 8-10 sets of various rep ranges

Back Extensions 4 sets of 10-20

Standing Leg Curls  8 sets of 10 ish

Standing Calf Raises 8 sets of 10-20

Weighted Crunches 3-4 sets of 20 plus reps

Remember to get your free ebook you just need to comment in our comments section.  Click above this post and post your leg workouts. 

I will let you know how this workout goes.  I expect nothing but a phenomenal effort. 

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Free Ebook Workout 2

Yesterday I did back, biceps, and forearms.  Remember to recieve your free ebook all you need to do is comment to this blog post along with the other 2 workout days this week.  I really enjoy working out 3 days per week as it allows for complete recovery both systemic and individual muscle groups.  Each day I enter the gym I am ready to attack the weights with tons of volume, intensity, and effort. 

Yesterdays workout:

I performed giant sets yesterday.  I choose 5 exercises and performed 1 set of each exercise with little rest between exercises.  This is a good way to get a ton of work done in little time.  Here is the list of exercises.  If you have any questions feel free to ask.

Pullups 8,8,7,7,7,7,7,6

Chest Supported Rows 205×7,6, 160x 8,8,7,7,6,6

Posterior Delt Raises 45 lbs x 8,8,8,7,8

1 arm Preacher Curls 40 lbs x 8,8,8,7,7,6,6,7

Incline Curls 45 lbs x 8,8,8,8,7,7,7,7

Wrist Curls 40 lbs x 20,20,20

Awesome workout.  I really liked the non stop effort.  Total Time 42 minutes.

I probably could have done another round of exercises but decided to stop with 8 cycles.  lol:)

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Free Ebook Workout 1

Here we go.  Remember all you have to do is post your workout in the comments.  I have decided to just have 3 workout days this week.  Today will be Chest, Shoulders and Triceps,Thursday we will train Back, biceps, and forearms and Saturday we will work Quads, Hams, and calves.  To receive the ebook all I ask is you to post your workout in the comments for all three days.

Today’s plan

Chest

Incline Presses 4 sets of 8-12

Flat Presses 4 sets of 8-12

Shoulders

Shoulder Presses 3 sets of 8-12

Lateral Raises 4 sets of 8-12

Triceps

Close Grip Presses 4 sets of 8-12

Rope Pushdowns 4 sets of 8-12

Shrugs 4 sets of 20 plus reps

This is our beginning game plan.  Who knows we may add some crazy exercises as the workout progresses ;)

Post your workouts below to recieve LVDV1. 

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Free Ebook Offer

Ebook offer Video Must Participate

Free Ebook/Workout Challenge

Here is today’s workout.  Remember if you participate next week by commenting in each day’s workout you will receive my ebook LNDV1. 

Next Week on Thursday the workout will be the same as today. 

Chest And Biceps

Incline Presses 225 x 12,10,8,8,8,8

1 arm preacher curls 40 lb dumbbells x 10,10,9,9,10,8

Flat Presses 225 x 6,7,6,6,6,8

Incline Dumbbell Curls 40 lbs x 10,8,8,7,7,10

Wrist Curls 40 lb dumbbells in each hand x 15,15

Wrist Extensions 30 lb dumbells in each hand x 10,10

Total Workout time 30 minutes.

Give this workout a try.  Rest intervals were about 45 seconds.  Post up your workout results in the comments below. 

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Free Training Ebook

Alright Recieve My Ebook Free for participation.  Recieve Leave No Doubt Training Manual V1 for participation in our workouts next week.  You must participate in all four of our strength workouts next week.

Next week we will follow the exact same workouts as those that will be posted this week.  Workout days are Mon, Tues, Thurs,and Saturday.  I will post the workouts and the results of my workouts in the comments section.  You must participate in each of the 4 days comments by posting your workout there.

After the week of training and posting your comments for all four days you will receive my ebook LNDV1 which is an awesome ebook.  Packed with tons of routines and information.

Have a Great Day,

Michael

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Day 2 Workout I Dare YOU To Try This

Day 2 Upper Back and Calves

Upper Back

Rows 8-10 sets of 10-15

Pullups 15 sets of as many reps as possible

Calves

1 leg Standing Calf Raises 8 sets of 10-15

Seated Calf Raises 3-4 sets of 20 ish

** Each Set is taken very close to failure. 

**Rest about 45 seconds to 1 minute betweeen sets.

You should be able to complete this workout in under 45 minutes. 

Post below with your results of how many pullups you get in those 15 sets with just 45 second rest breaks. 

I will post up my results below.  See if you can match what I do. 

You can read all about this form of training in my LVDV1 Training manual.

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Mr. USA’s New Training Program Day 1

Alright I am sure you all viewed my video posted below.  So you know that this week we are cutting back training days to 4 days.  I am going back to my old stand by routine for some crazy training.  Each muscle group will get one direct hit per week.  Here we go with day 1

Shoulders

Hammer Shoulder Press 3 sets of 8-10 all out sets

Seated Dumbbell Lateral Raises 4 sets of 8-12

Posterior Delt Machine 4 sets of 10-15

Light Lateral Raises 3 sets of 20-30 reps

Shrugs 5 sets of 20-30 reps

Triceps

Close Grip Presses 5 sets of 10 ish

Rope Pushdowns 5 sets of 15 ish

Dips 2 sets as many as possible.

15-20 minutes of High intensity cardio

There is day one give that a go:)

Be sure to check out my ebook Leave No Doubt Training V1 you can order it from the side bar on the right.

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FYI
This is probably my favorite routine out of LND V1.

Essentially
Monday is Shoulders Triceps and Traps
Tuesday is Upper back and calves
Thursday is Chest biceps and forearms
Saturday is Quads hamstrings and low back.

In LND V1 I have many routines set up there but this has to be one of my favorites. Check out those many routines in Leave No Doubt V1.

Video Lesson On Recovery

The video was a little rough.  New at this talking to the camera thing.  I just pushed too hard this week.  Too much volume and not enough rest.  Check it. 

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One Key To Super Achievement

Today I have one question to ask, if you want to achieve greatness.  If you answer this one question correctly you will be willing to endure great battles to achieve.  You will be willing to go through great discomfort both physically and mentally to achieve.  You will be willing sacrafice when others are compromising. 

That One Question Is:

HOW BAD DO YOU WANT IT? 

The achievment of your goal should be a deep need.    Just like you need to eat, drink or sleep.  This goal better be a need for you. 

You can achieve greatness.  I promise you will get there.  However, it will probably require more work, for a longer period than you think.  But in the end, you will be thankful that this HUGE goal has such a price tag.  That price tag makes it all the more special.

Have a Blessed Day,

Michael

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3 Keys To An Outstanding Workout

Today I want to discuss 3 keys to a successful workout.
1) Make absolute certain you have a game plan on paper.  Write down your workout before you get to the gym.  Go over the weight and reps you will be using.  Make sure you have all the exercises listed in the order you will perform them.  Go over your last workout similar to this one and have your plan reflect a progressive approach (more weight, more reps, more sets, less rest between sets etc).  Within this game plan have some wiggle room.  If you get to the gym and someone else is camping on your equipment have a back up exercise planned.
2) Effort, Intensity, Sweat Equity…  Give each workout your best effort.  Focus on the task at hand.  Focus on recruiting the desired muscle group.  Staying in the moment.
3) Form and controlling reps.  I definitely believe in the value of performing all your repetitions with control on both phases (concentric,eccentric).  Of course all this control within a balanced approach.  I am not advocating super slow training, just control the reps.  I like to tell clients to keep rep speed at about a 2 second cadence on both phases.

So there you have it 3 vital components to a great workout. Have a detailed gameplan with a backup plan. Work at high levels of effort which hopefully would be an improvement in performance through evidence of your journal.  Finally, control your reps in a way that you would recruit the desired muscle group not moving weights from point A to point B.

Have a Great Day and Stay Strong,

Michael

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Check out my coaching program HERE

Week Of Training With Mr. USA

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Current Workout In Preparation for fall Pro Shows.

Monday

Chest

Flat Hammer Machine Press 10 sets of 5

Low Hammer Machine Press 10 sets of 15-20

Forearms

Wrist Curls 2 sets  Wrist Extensions 2 sets

20 minutes of elliptical

Tuesday

Hamstrings Seated Leg Curls 10 sets of 5

1 legged Standing Calf Raises 10 sets of 10-15

Seated Calves 3 sets of 20

Back Extensions 3 sets of 20

Crunch Machine 2 sets of 15-20

Wednesday

Pullups 12 sets of as many as possible

Rows 8 sets 10-15

Posterior Delts 5 sets of 8-10

20 minutes of elliptical

Thursday

Shoulders and Traps

Hammer Machine Shoulder Press 3 sets of 10-12

Seated lateral Raises 4 sets of 10

Cable laterals 4 sets of 8-10

Shrugs 5 sets of 10-15

Crunch Machine 4 sets of 10-15

Friday

Arms

Preacher Curl Machine 10 sets of 10

Rope Pushdowns 10 sets of 10-20

Incline Dumbbell Curls 5 sets of 10

1 arm pushdowns 5 sets of 10

20 minutes of elliptical

Saturday

Quads

1 legged leg presses 10 sets of 20-30 per leg

So there you go a snapshot of last weeks training.  Strength workouts last no longer than 40 minutes.  All sets are taken very close to failure.  The main goal of every workout is to make sure each muscle group has been trained to extreme levels of exhaustion and muscle fiber recruitment.  To me the resistance is secondary to making certain we are training each muscle group with super high levels of effort and intensity.  As you can see I am a believer in volume.  Every time I enter the weight room complete focus is on the muscle group we are training.

Have a Great Day,

Michael

Michael has an awesome online training program that will accelerate your progress exponentially.  Check it out HERE

High Volume Strength Training

Many times I get emails from clients asking me if I were to choose one way of training which way would I choose?  To answer this question I always answer with “It depends.”  It depends on the clients current training program, tolerance to exercise, commitment level, nutritional status, recovery status, and many many other factors.  For me in my training though I love High Volume work most of the time.  By high volume I mean at least 8-15 working sets per muscle group.  Rep ranges from 8-50.  In a perfect situation I would start with a core movement per muscle group for 3-5 sets of 6-10 reps.  After the core movement I would probably turn up the volume with higher reps and limited rest intervals.  I would train each muscle group as often as I could while allowing for complete recovery (probably allowing 5-8 days of recovery per muscle group hit with 2 or 3 days off per week).

Ok, there you have some basics of how I would train.  Let move on to the why I would train this way.  First off, each muscle group has literally millions of muscle fibers per motor unit.  I don’t believe there is any way you could possibly hit all those available muscle fibers with low volume.  Yes, its true each set is probably training the same fibers as the set before,but it would make sense to me that additional sets could possibly call upon some additional fibers.  I also believe that those trained muscle fibers should be totally fatigued and trained to high levels to cause enough trauma to elicit an adaptive response (change in muscle mass).  I don’t see how doing just 1 or 2 sets can possibly totally fatigue available muscle fibers enough to cause a response over the long haul.  1 or 2 sets would probably stimulate some muscle fibers but not totally fatigue.  I do see value in low volume training just not every workout for months on end.  This situation is especially present in an advanced athlete where diversity is even more important.  Additionally there is some research to suggest that higher volume exercise causes a stimulation of growth hormone in the body which is powerful in building muscle and losing body fat.

Why such a`variety of rep ranges?  Well, again lets look at available muscle fibers within a muscle group.  All muscle groups have a variety of muscle fiber types.  For the sake of this entry lets just talk about fast twitch and slow twitch muscle fibers.  Actually, science is showing us there may possible be 6 different fiber types, but for simplicity lets just talk about 2 types.  Fast twitch fibers tend to be recruited by powerful muscular contractions for a short period of time (rep ranges of 4-8ish maybe), and slower twitch muscle fibers are recruited and trained when the time under load or work is longer than fast twitch muscle fibers (maybe 8-50 reps).   I can’t stress that this is all somewhat hypothetical as no one knows for sure, but when you look at the science it sure makes sense.  So to train a whole lot of the available muscle fibers you can see why it is vital to train in all rep ranges.  Stressing lower reps,heavy loads, fast twitch training first as those muscle fibers change the most through strength work.  Then moving to higher repetition, short rest interval to hopefully recruit many unstimulated fibers.

There are many more reasons I love High Volume strength training.  I could write a whole dissertation on the topic and get much more in depth than most of you care to know.  Bottom line, I believe for most folks, most of the time, you will get much better results from performing a lot of work per muscle group.  Following that high volume work by adequate days of recovery.  Clear as mud right:)

Have a Great Day and Stay Strong,

Michael

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How Can I Help? Build Muscle Lose Fat

I want to open this blog and my forum to help you.  Feel free to ask me any questions you might have about strength training, fat loss, muscle building, nutrition, and anything else related to health or transforming your physique.

You can post here in the comments section if you would like.  You can also go to our forum and post there.    I am here to help>  Make sure you forward this post to any friends that need help achieving their goals.

Have a Great Day,

Michael

Good Support For Fat Loss Achievement

Having great friends to hold you accountable during your journey is a huge element in achieving your goals.   In a world where everything around us is centered around overeating and lack of exercise you must have a good support system.  Even if its just one good friend to share your goals with.  Seek out a good support system and find things that will keep you motivated.  I know for me I like to read motivational books or blogs.  Stories of achievement despite the odds being stacked heavily against that person.  Some movies can be very inspirational.  My wife makes fun of me but you just can’t beat the Rocky movies.

Find friends, books, movies,websites and other sources of information that will keep you going when the going gets tough.  Getting through those tough times are much easier with this support.

Have a Great Day,

Michael

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