The next three months will burn, Veggiesaurs.
A lot.
Despite my frequenting the cardio circuit, I shall admit that I am far from its number one fan. Especially monotonous cardio such as treadmill or the elliptical machine. After the vast changing of schedules between my squash buddies and myself, I had been reduced to the aforementioned for some time, droning away for 15-25 minutes on a machine whilst blasting some Phil Collins (what?).
But, as with all things, I have mastered a way to sap away the mundane and bring some fire back into the gym.
I have mentioned in a previous post how I would oftentimes replace a one minute breather with a ten second one, leaving a clean fifty seconds for ab blasting goodness.
But there comes a time when dedicating between 10-15 minutes to abs does not suffice, and it requires its own day. This is currently the case with myself, as I can safely wash clothes off of this board of etched stone.
So, as opposed to working on abs during my minute break in between sets, I now do a 60-second set of random, high intensity cardio (examples below). Where I choose one random exercise to stick with for one exercise of my days schedule, stick with it for the number of sets I'm doing, then do a different exercise when I move on to the next exercise of my original workout.
Example: If it's leg day, my first exercise would be squats, in between each set of squats, I will do 60 seconds of mountain climbers only. My next exercise would be hamstring curls, in between each set of those, I will skip rope. Successively changing my choice of cardio for each exercise.
Ideally, your choice of high intensity cardio should stimulate the days target body part. But this is far from essential, as for intermediates, consistently targeting a specific body part with no rest may burn you out fairly fast. So to start, we'll be doing high intensity cardio that does not wear one out too badly, serving as a breather for the target muscle, and stimulation for your cardiovasculars (I know that isn't a word).
Veggiesaur Top Ten High Intensities and In Betweens
- Pushups and all their variations: Width of grip depends on your experience with pushups, if you feel yourself failing, use your knees for support.
- Hanging half chest dip:Hold the halfway position for 20 seconds, drop down, then start up again, rinse and repeat three times
- Burpees: Time yourself, sixty seconds of burpees are far different than sixty reps, I ask you for the former. Keep form, the more fluid and consecutive, the better.
- Mountain Climbers: Time yourself, sixty seconds, not reps. Back arched, the more fluid and consecutive, the better.
- Skip rope, jumping jacks: The former being more advanced than the latter, skipping rope is an art to be mastered, don't rush it, practice on your off days or at home. Do not dillydally at the gym.
- Jumping Squats: When it comes to weightless squats, I follow a very strict "Ass to grass" policy, where I dip my money maker as deep as possible. Gravity makes this process far easier, dip as low as you can after a jump, bracing yourself for the next one. Sixty seconds, not reps.
- Jumping Lunges: Maximal effect is making proper air time when you push yourself off the ground, landing firmly and in form with your back straight. Jumping lunges are difficult and take time to master, do not get frustrated if you fall over or lose balance. Your patience will pay off.
- High Knees: This is your run of the mill "Running in place" exercise, only here, our backs are straight, and our knees are brought up as high as possible, at level with, or just above the belly button.
- Hops: Before you get your HOPS up, no, we won't be making BEER. Here, we're looking to hop on one foot for twenty seconds, hope on the alternate foot for another twenty, then do high jumps, with our knees going straight up as high as possible. Enjoy.
- Box jumps: Very simple, deathly painful when well fitted and executed during a complimenting exercise. Jump onto a higher platform (Box, or step) landing as you would on a squat jump, then jump backwards off. The amount of times I have tripped and face planted while attempting these was made completely worthwhile with the development of Adonis-like buns.
Your next three months
- For the first month, give yourself five minutes of a brisk jog and stretches before beginning, there'll be plenty of cardio to come.
- The days can be spread apart to your liking so long as they fall within the span of one week.
- You are allowed a single rest day to stock up on calories and protein.
- For those not seeking to build, the schedule below can be made into a regressive training regimen, explained here.
- Day 6 will be combination of high intensity cardio, and five abdominal exercises of your choosing, yes, I can link you a list.
Day 1: Chest
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Flat Bench Press (Dumbbell or Bar)
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4x15
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Chest Flies (Dumbbell or Cable)
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3x15
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Decline Bench Press (Dumbbell or Bar)
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3x15
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Incline Bench Press (Dumbbell or Bar)
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3x15
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Bench Pullover
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3x15
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Day 2: Back
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Front Cable Pulldown
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4x15
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Bent over row (Single dumbbell for
intermediates, straight bar for adanced)
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3x15
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Seated high back row
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3x15
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Deadlifts (Dumbbell or Bar)
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3x15
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Pull ups (Final burnout exercise, high
intensity is exempt from those who will brave the pull up bar.)
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To failure
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Day 3: Arms
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Seated preacher curl/Lightweight standing
single curl superset
(Bar/dumbbell, respectively)
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4x15/20
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Incline Bench Alternate Dumbbell curl
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3x15
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Standing Straight Bar Curl
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3x15
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Triceps Pull-Down/
Single Dumbbell
Kickbacks
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4x12/20
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Dumbbell Overhead Extensions
(Or flat skullcrushers, whichever makes
you burn. I wouldn’t HATE a superset)
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3x15
If superset 3x12/20
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Triceps dip
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3x12
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Day 4:
Shoulders
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Barbell Military Press
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4x15
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Dumbbell Side Raises
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3x15
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(Advanced: With every lift, torque the
plate once left, and once right, as you would a steering wheel)
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3x15
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3x15
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Shrugs (Dumbbell for the intermediates,
barbell for the advanced)
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4x15
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Day 5: Legs
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Barbell Squat
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4x15
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Seated Leg Raises
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3x15
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Walking Lunges (Barbell over shoulder
for advanced, dumbbell at your sides for intermediate)
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Ten steps to and fro, where each lunge
is counted as a single rep
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Hamstring Curls
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3x15
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The King in the North
(A lightweight lunge/squat combination,
you will perform a left and right lunge, followed by a squat, this is one
rep.)
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2x10
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There you have it, Saurs, the coming months will be painful, be through it you will be vastly condition to withstand massive amounts of punishment.
If you have any inquiries or notes, I'd love to hear them, not implement them, but hear them.
Contact me:
Hakeem.Jomah@gmail.com
Twitter: @HakeemJomah
And Godspeed, Veggiesaurs. It is good to be back!