Fitness Tips Body Blog

Okay, I think the term "shock" when it comes to muscle building is way overused and not that accurate, either. But it does do a good job of describing the weight training techniques I am talking about that can help you add muscle mass to your body.I’m a big believer in planning all your workout details - sets, reps, recovery days, the proper training split, etc. You should know what you are going to do in the gym well before you get there. But I do think the random "shock" day thrown into your program every once in a while can reall help you snap out of a rut and get back to building muscle, which is the whole reason you’re in the gym in the first place, right?

I’ll give you an example so you can see what I mean.  This has been my leg training routine for the past month or so:

One Legged Squat - 10 sets per leg of 5 reps each. Like I mentioned below for the standing calf raises, I alternated legs without stopping until all 10 sets (20 really, 10 per leg) were completed. Brutal? You bet! Effective? Damn straight! You can do this on a hack machine or on the Smith Machine.

Leg Curls - 3 by 12-15 reps with only 30 seconds rest between sets. After going to failure on the final set do partial reps in the contracted position (the top of the rep). You may need a training partner to help you get the weight into the contracted position. The reps should only be a few inches of motion. Once you can no longer do this, do partial reps just above the bottom of the rep stroke until you can’t do any more partial reps.

Full Squats with a Barbell - 1 x 20 Do these in a power rack for safety and squat ass to the floor. I train legs once a week and alternate this exercise with 3 sets of 5 reps.

Stiff Legged Deadlifts - 1 x 20

Standing Calf Raises 8 sets of 8 reps Do one leg at time, alternating legs without any rest until all 8 sets of 8 reps have been completed for each leg.

That’s it.  I only train legs once per week.

Yes, it’s a pretty intense workout. After performing that routine for about 6 - 8 weeks now, I wanted to shake things up a bit to stay out of a rut and not let my body get complacent about my workout. So all I did today was squats.

I started out with full barbell squats. After warming up I did one triple drop set for a total of 20 reps. I managed 8 reps with the starting weight, dropped 40 pounds to get another 5 reps and then dropped 50 more pounds and cranked out another 7 reps that had me breathing like a freight train (if freight trains could breathe).

After a three minute rest, I hit the one legged squat on the hack machine, where I cranked out 14 sets of 8 reps for each leg. As mentioned above, I would do 8 reps for the left leg then without stopping, I performed 8 reps for the right leg, then back to the left, etc. The first time I got 4 sets of 8 for each leg. Then I rested two minutes before cranking out 3 more sets of 8 on each leg.

All in all the one legged hack squat went like this:

4 sets of 8 reps per leg (alternating legs without stopping)
2 minute rest
3 sets of 8 reps per leg (alternating legs without stopping)
2 minute rest
3 sets of 8 reps per leg (alternating legs without stopping)
2 sets of 8 reps per leg (alternating legs without stopping)
2 minute rest
2 sets of 8 reps per leg (alternating legs without stopping)

It’s extremely important to your muscle building and fat loss efforts to have a plan. I’m constantly talking about setting goals in my two newsletters, Fast Mass Tips and Fat Loss Secrets Revealed .

However, you can really boost your progress by inserting a random "shock" day every once in awhile in your weight training routine to keep your body from getting used to your program. Change up the exercises, the reps, the order of exercises, the rest between sets, anything you can think of that’s radically different from your normal workout.

Has it been almost a week already? How come when I’m starving the three hours between meals doesn’t go that fast? It doesn’t seem fair, really.After that last back workout on the 10th, I got to rest up completely over the weekend. Didn’t even do any cardio, although I was supposed to do a HIIT session with the jump rope on Saturday.

Monday was a similar style workout to my back workout but for chest, shoulders and triceps.  It looked like this:

Decline Bench Press - warm up then a triple drop set

Superset:  2 x 8
Incline Dumbbell Bench Press
Flat Dumbbell Flyes

Superset:  2 x 8
Weighted Dips
Incline Dumbbell Flyes

Superset:  2 x 8
Lateral Raises
Seated BB Military Press

DB Upright Rows - Triple Drop Set (8×6x4)

Superset:  2 x 8
Elbows Flared Tricep Pushdown
Decline Lying Tricep Extension with EZ Curl Bar

Tuesday was leg day (it comes way too soon) and it consisted of the following:

One Legged Squat on Hack Machine (you could also do this on the Smith Machine): 12 sets of 5 reps for each leg (24 total sets). There is no rest, just alternate from one leg to the next until you’ve completed 12 sets for each leg

Standing Leg Curls - 3 sets with the same weight, only 30 seconds rest between sets

Barbell Full Squats - 1 x 20

Barbell Full Squats - Triple Drop Set (8×6x4)

Lying Leg Curls - Triple Drop Set (8×6x4)

One Legged Calf Raises - 8 x 8 (performed in the same fashion as One Legged Squats

My legs are still very sore from that workout.

Yesterday was back day but it was completely different. I performed nothing but straight sets on all exercises, rested 2 minutes between sets and exercises and kept everything in the 4 to 6 rep range, similar to Eric Broser’s power program in his P/RR/S program.

Today is finally a rest day and I can use it. Well, not a complete rest day. Have to do a little cardio. Started keeping a food journal again yesterday, which I haven’t done in awhile. Totals for the day were:

2,701 calories
193 grams of carbs
236 grams of protein
109 grams of fat

Til next time,

Gregg

Yeah, okay, shock and awe is overused, I know.  But it was that kind of workout.  Every third workout or so for a body part I like to incorporate supersets, drop sets, end of set partials, etc. and really blast the muscle.  That was today’s workout for back and biceps.

I started with parallel close grip pulldowns (v handle) and did a triple drop set for 9 reps, 5 reps and 4 reps and included 4 midrange partials on the last drop.  After a two minute rest I did another triple drop with a curl grip pulldown and a straight bar for 6 reps, 4 reps and 4 reps with 4 midrange partials on the last set.

Then I did a superset of Pullups and Machine Pullovers for 10 reps each on the first set and then 8 reps and 7 reps respectively on the second superset with the same weight.

After that, I did 3 sets with the same weight on the Machine Pullovers with only 20 seconds of rest between sets.  That was followed by one all out set of deadlifts for 20 reps.

I followed that back blast with my biceps routine.  First up was incline dumbbell curls.  I did the reps as follows - a full rep followed by a partial rep at the bottom stretch position.  That was one rep.  I did 7 reps like that.  I followed that with 7 reps in the same fashion with Incline Dumbbell Hammer Curls.

I then supersetted standing dumbbell curls (7 reps) with barbell preacher curls (5 reps).

Finally, I finished up with single arm dumbbell spider curls for 12 reps on each arm on the flat side of the preacher bench.

It was a quck workout but I could really feel it.

When trying to lose fat and build some muscle so you can reshape your body, you need to find simple tricks to eliminate or burning more calories, whether it’s through your weight training and cardio program, or through your nutrition plan.

1) Eat more vegetables. Try mixing and matching fresh vegetables for variety. Besides the numerous health benefits, most veggies are full of fiber, which will fill you up, as well as burn more calories than eating other foods.

2) Go ahead and snack, just snack on good stuff, like raisins, nuts (especially almonds) veggies and dried fruit. It’s important to eat frequently when trying to lose fat or build muscle. Going too long between meals will burn off muscle and cause your body to store fat. In addition, you are more likely to binge and eat a whole lot of food you shouldn’t eat.

3) Speaking of nuts, add nuts to your yogurt and salads. Chopped nuts make a great alternative to “breaded style garnishes like croutons.

4) Specific food combinations can help to burn calories by ramping up your metabolism. Eat carbs that are rich in fiber. They take longer to digest and you will feel “fuller for longer periods of time. Along with carbs rich in fiber, take in more protein. Your body burns more calories when you eat protein than it burns digesting either fats or carbohydrates. Want to burn fat or build muscle? Get lots of fiber and protein.

5) Yogurt can help you lose weight while protecting muscle. A recent study of overweight people who ate three servings of yogurt daily for 12 weeks lost 22% more weight, 61% more body fat and 81% more abdominal fat than people who ate a similar number of calories but no dairy products. Make sure to get yogurt with real fruit and no added sugar. Yogurt is also an easy and convenient snack and containg high quality protein as well.

Put these 5 tips into practice and your new muscle building, fat burning machine (your body) will reward you for it.

I’m a huge fan if HITT, always have been.

A new study was recently conducted that confirmed what I’ve been saying about aerobic exercise and cardio.

I’ve advocated high intensity interval training instead of longer duration, lower intensity cardio because it burns more calories overall, leading to faster fat loss.

A new study from McMaster University in Hamilton, Onterio, recently showed that short bursts of sprint-training exercise can be as effective as longer workouts. 

A group of 8 women in their 20s performed 2 weeks of a high intensity interval training program. The program consisted of 4 to 7 sets of cycling for 30 seconds at maximum effort, followed by 4 minutes of rest, three times a week.

When compared to a control group that exercised regularly in the traditional fashion, their endurance capacity doubled. "These short bursts of exercise are as effective as an hour of daily moderate activity’ says study author Martin Gibala, Ph.D.

Can’t fit in your longer workouts? You don’t need. By the way, this is another example of the government once again getting it wrong when it comes to our health as they want to increase the recommended daily exercise time from 20 minutes to 30 minutes.

All else being equal, it’s not the quantity of your workout program, it’s the quality. But don’t take that to mean you can traing once a year for 5 minutes, okay?

A Muscle Building Supplement That Works?Let’s face it, while there are a lot of quality supplements out there that can help you reach your bodybuilding goals a lot fast than you would otherwise, there are also a lot of them that suck you your money.

So, I am always looking for something that truly works.  What is it?  It’s called Gakic.

Muscle-Tech has called Gakic an "advanced muscle-fatigue-toxin reducer." What does this mean? It’s supposed to help you extend your sets - an immediate 10.5% increase in strength -which should help you build muscle mass faster than before.

Gakic is not a cheap supplement and I had no desire to try it. But considering it’s still around and I like to keep on top of what’s going on so I can pass it along to you, I’ve given it a try over the last few weeks and the bottom line is this - it works! I can work out longer and harder, which in theory, should allow me to build muscle faster than before.

And Gakic doesn’t give you the jitters like a lot of people feel when taking nervous system stimulants.

I was able to crank out more reps on all of my work sets, sometimes one, sometimes four or five depending on the exercise and the number of reps I was doing in the set. I also felt less fatigued overall at the end of my workout.

If you are looking for something to help you power through your high intensity muscle building weight training workouts, I recommend you give Gakic a try for a month and see what it can do for you.

References:

1) Buford B., et al. (2004). Glycine-Arginine-Ketoisocaproic Acid Improves Performance of Repeated Cycle Sprints. Med Sci Sports Exerc. 36(4):583.

2) Stevens B., et al. (2000). High-Intensity Dynamic Human Muscle Performance Enhanced by a Metabolic Intervention. Med Sci Sports Exerc. 32(12):2102.

Learn How To Boost Your Metabolism, Burn More Fat with Less Effort, And Lose All the Weight You Want… Fast!" by grabbing my free report: Fat Loss Secrets Revealed

Discover How to Build 21 Pounds of Muscle or More in 12 Weeks or Less!  Grab my free report:  Fast Mass!