Image by Rockin’ Rob

In the last installment, we went over how to choose the right training split and how to organize your exercises based on that split. I hope now you have a rough schedule set up.The next step is to determine how many repetitions to perform per exercise. Use the following table as a guide: Continue reading

Image by A river runs through The best way to make a workout even quicker is to time it, then set a goal to improve upon it. For example, if a workout takes you 8:23.19, then you can set a goal to complete the workout in under 7 minutes.

• I have found that I had to work incredibly hard, just for a three or four second improvement. Keep working on this workout one a week until you reach your goal.

Here is a sample workout I have done in the past:

5 rounds of:
10 16kg Kettlebell Snatch, each Side
10 Double UndersMy best time was 8:43.49. See if you can beat it.

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Image by Somewhat Frank

I spend a lot of time on this website talking about quick workouts. It’s time to give you guys a primer on how to design such a workout:

Step One: How long will the workout last?

• Determine how long you want the workout to last and make that your time period or TP. You can choose a TP of 20 minutes, 10 minutes, or even 5 minutes. But be careful. The shorter the TP, the more intense the workout will be.

Step Two: Choose your Exercises

• Use the following video to decide which exercises you wish to use.

Step Three: Organize your Exercises

• Use the following table to determine how many repetitions you should perform per workout:

Table 1:

Goal	Rep Range
Mass Gain	8-12 reps
General Fitness	8-20 reps
Strength	1-8 reps
Fat Loss	12-20 reps
Athletic Fitness	12-20 reps

Step Four: Put it all together

Here is a sample 10 minute workout with the goal of General Fitness:

Maximum rounds in 10 minutes of:

Pullups 8 reps
Pushups 14 reps
Bodyweight Squat 20 Reps

Wait a sec, how did you come up with that workout?

The truth is, there is a certain amount of creativity and experience involved in designing quick workouts. What I did in the above workout was put together a triset, or three exercises back to back without rest.

• The goal is to perform as many rounds, or sets of the workout as possible in 10 minutes, without rest. If your goal was to increase strength, then you would still use a 10 minute time frame (or any other time frame, depending on your schedule).
• The exercises you choose will need to be difficult. Remember, for strength you need to be working in the 1-8 rep range. It is suggested you use some for of exterior resistance if you are unable to or do not wish to perform more difficult bodyweight exercises.
• It is also suggested that you take some rest, at least 60 seconds, between each set.

BONUS TIP:

Forget the Cardio

Most trainees spend too much time on distance or steady state cardio, especially while trying to lose fat. Cardio is just one tool in the battle against fat, but not a necessary one. If you replace your hour-long cardio sessions with short 10-15 minutes of intense exercise, you will save an enormous amount of time and may even achieve better and faster results. Here are some articles for more info on this topic:

• Fat Loss without Cardio
• Three Methods to Help End your Cardio Rut!

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Image by d_vdm

Last Month, I presented the first month of the 12-week Advanced Strength Program. This month, the first change we will be making is in the movements. The Front Squat will be replaced with the Back Squat, and the Bent Over Row will be replaced with the Bench Press. There will also be a bit of rearranging of exercises.

• The Deadlift will move to Workout A along with the Back Squat and Bench Press
• The Push Press will move into Workout B along with the Overhead Squat and Power Clean

The purpose of these movement is to:

1. Train different parts of your body
2. Provide a slightly different stimulus, but not enough to completely confuse and shock your body (the goal is gradual, but consistent progress).

Just as last month, you will be steadily dropping reps and increasing the sets as the weights become heavier. But the shock factor will come on week eight when you drop your rest periods to 45 seconds. If you have been following the workout for 7 weeks straight using 60 seconds rest periods, then you should have built up enough conditioning to train with 45 seconds rest periods.

NOTE: Pay careful attention to what it does to your strength levels in the present, and in the future.

Here is the full program in detail:

Workout A:

• Back Squat
• Bench Press
• Deadlift

Workout B:

• Push Press
• Overhead Squat
• Power Clean

Week Five

Sets: 6
Reps: 4
Rest: 60 seconds

Week Six

Sets: 7
Reps: 4
Rest: 60 seconds

Week Seven

Sets: 7
Reps: 3
Rest: 60 seconds

Week Eight

Sets: 7
Reps: 3
Rest: 45 seconds

Download the free printable workout logs here.

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I’ve been making a HUGE mistake. I’ve been tracking my workouts, but not measuring them. Before I go any further, I should probably clarify two words: tracking and measuring. There is a difference.

Tracking is the recording of an event, in our case a workout.

Measuring is estimating by evaluation or comparison.

Image by jeysun35 When you combine tracking and measuring, you get progress. I have been tracking, but I have not been measuring.

Here is the major flaw: Each of my workouts is random, from week to week I perform a completely different workout than the week before, and my workouts rarely ever repeat.I had adopted this training style simply because I realized that I adapted extremely quickly with my workouts and could not stand the thought of performing the same workout week in and week out. However, this was before I had discovered fast, intense workouts. This was when I was doing some hybrid form of martial arts and bodybuilding. I didn’t know anything about metabolic conditioning or how to train with your bodyweight. All I knew was that you were supposed to stay in a gym for 2 hours and do “stuff” until the clock told you to leave (or someone from the staff).

To say that I have not been making progress is a false statement. I have. I see it in my movements. I see it on video. And I see it in the mirror. But all this “seeing” is dangerous. There is something about writing down your time and then comparing it to last weeks time with the same workout: it never lies. When you “see” things you rationalize your way into thinking that you are making progress. Or for some people, you rationalize your way out of making progress.

How do you know you are making progress?

This question was actually posed to me by my bodybuilding friend: “How do you know you are making any progress if you keep doing random workouts?” Good question, and one that I really couldn’t answer. I went to the Crossfit forum to pose the same exact question, and they referred me to their benchmark workouts. Benchmark workouts are simply workouts that are used to measure progress and appear in the Crossfit programming once or twice a week. For example, one of their workouts is Fran. This particular workout may be performed on, say, December 8th, 2006, and will not appear again until February 16, 2007. I’m just throwing out random dates here. But the point is that Fran will appear a few weeks apart, but they will have other Benchmarks within the weeks such as Barbara and Nate.

I have attempted to create benchmark workouts in the past. But honestly, at that moment I was not as familiar with Crossfit’s programming as I am now. I respect Crossfit, but I’m not sure if all their methods are a right fit for me.

I have two options in terms of measuring progress:

1. Create a training program based on five to six workouts per week, and repeat them for six weeks straight, attempting to make as much progress on them as possible. This progress can be measured by being able to complete the workout at a faster time, the amount of weight used in the workout, increasing reps, or increasing rounds.
2. Develop a series of benchmark workouts that appear in your programming each week along with a few other random workouts. Use these benchmarks as measures of progress.

Ok, so the second method is Crossfit. The first method I’ve actually seen on a few bodybuilding forums. People will choose one workout and then perform it along with their bodybuilding workouts as a form of cardio or conditioning. They’ll choose a goal, say drop total time by 3 minutes, and keep working on it until they reach their goal.

Hmmm…I think this time around I’m going to side with the bodybuilders.

I’ve decided to create 5 workouts, some of which I’ve done before, and work on them Monday through Friday. Each workout will have a set of measurement, a different one for each workout. For example, the Monday workout may be focused around time. The Tuesday workout may be focused on increasing weight. Etc. you get the point. I will try this for 6 weeks as an experiment, and then show you guys the progress I’ve made on this very website. Stay tuned!

Image by jhhwild Hey guys,I’d thought I’d end this week with asking you guys what you think of my new layout. This new layout is approximately three weeks old (I think). I’ve been tweaking it steadily, and I believe it is finally where I want it to be. Here is why I decided to change the layout and focus of the site:

1. I felt that the old site was TOO hardcore, and scared away the average joe. In all honesty, my goal is to get regular people to start exercising and living a healthy lifestyle. This was never intended to be just another hardcore fitness site.
2. I felt that the old site was not user-friendly. When people came to the home page, they were subjected to read whatever was on the home page, or specifically my latest post. If the latest post was about kettlebells, but someone wanted to read about bodyweight training, then what would they do?
3. The header was so big was that I really limited to the information I could put over the fold. With this new layout, I can feature the last few stories that I have written, and also devote the sidebar above the fold in trying to get new subscribers to my site.

So, what do you guys think? Do you think this layout is fine, or should I revert back to my original? Is there anything else I can do to make the site more user-friendly?

I just came from the YJA (Young Jain Association) Convention earlier this morning. I have experienced more personal growth in the past three days then I have ever experienced before. Since there is so much to talk about regarding this topic, I have organized the posts into the four-part series:Part One: Random thoughts and Observations
Part Two: Analysis of my own session
Part Three: Training and Eating at YJA
Part Four: Reflections on Personal Growth

This is part three:

Eleven days out from the convention, I realized that I would be doing two tasks that will test my mental strength: speed dating and public speaking. When you’re in such uncomfortable situations, it really helps if you look and feel good. This is the thought that motivated me to complete an 11-day dieting cycle, the longest I have ever done in my life.

I usually diet for about 4 and a half days of the week, then relax Friday night and weekends. This style of dieting is just something that became a habit over time as I kept thinking to myself how difficult it would be for me to diet 5-6 days straight. But now I was attempting 11 days of straight dieting. How would I ever complete the cycle?

Well, I had a bunch of things working for me this time around. First of all, I had an incentive. Two, actually. First was speed dating, and the second was public speaking. In both cases I would be up in front of people, or at least in some sort of spotlight. It’s natural human nature to “check out” the person in front of you when speed dating. Even when you’re sitting down, you just feel better knowing that you at least look a bit decent.

I kept telling myself that I would be able to eat anything I wanted when I went to YJA. And the beautiful thing about thinking this way is that I knew that the food was going to be healthy, as it was either going to be vegetarian, or vegan. I may not have access to the same amount of protein that I do at home, but at least I won’t be going on a four-day fast food binge.

During this 11-day cycle, I simply used all the data I had earlier to maintain a goal of approximately 2000 calories, sticking to basic foods such as boca burgers, peanut butter, beans, soybeans, and olive oil. I did eat other foods, but these are five things I ate everyday. Everything else was just rotated to keep my mind sane. But overall, I continued to keep my healthy fats high, calories moderate, and carbs low.

Results of the 11-day cycle

The results were fantastic. There were numerous occasions where I was either directly or indirectly complimented on my physique. On Saturday, I was invited to sit down for lunch by one of the friends I had made there. But his table was packed with people I did not know. On one side of the circular table it was all guys, and on the other side it was all girls, with one seat in between two girls. I went up to my friend and asked him to introduce me to everyone. He must have thought I was scared of sitting next to the two girls, so then he started comparing me to Salman Khan (a bollywood actor known for his physique). He told me I shouldn’t be shy and stated that he didn’t look half has good as I did. I took the compliment with a wide smile and sat down in my seat. Within moments, I had made some new friends. The health and fitness questions started coming.

But seriously, I wasn’t nervous about the girls. I really did want him to introduce me to everyone. Not sure if my friend was just lazy or really smart, but I can see how time consuming and pointless it is to have someone introduce you to everyone in the room (I found this out later in the day). It’s better to just introduce yourself and get to know each person one by one.

While talking to the girl to the left of me, I stated that I had started working out because I was overweight. She said she would have never guessed that I was overweight, which was my second compliment in 10 minutes, and doubled my confidence.

Little things like that happened to me all through out the day, and it made me feel proud of my hard work and dedication during the past 13 months.

Hitting the Gym

Training at YJA was a breeze with my style of training. On Friday morning I went to Shrutpragyaji Swami’s yoga class. The class was wonderful and Swamiji was funny. I will never forget that Pawan means „gas“ I have a friend named Pawan. What should I call him now?

The yoga session brought to my attention the need for more flexibility training in my routine. After speaking to Swamiji VIA Facebook, I am now doing Surya Namaskar as part of my morning warmup/workout, after which I perform the burpee training to get my burpee numbers up and improve form.

After Yoga, I hit the gym for a quick 21-15-9 workout alternating between Dumbbell Snatches and Renegade Rows, 35lbs each. 18 minutes later I was sitting down on the gym floor in a pile of sweat. I glanced at my cell phone clock and realized that I had 20 minutes to get to the first session.

The first goal was to get myself some Chai. That is one thing I can not start my day without. I can skip breakfast and still have high energy levels, but without the Chai, there is no morning. I quickly grabbed some Chai from the dining hall which seemed to be a mile away. On the way back, I must have spilled at least 50% of the Chai on myself.

I quickly gulped what was left and hit the shower. After racing to get dressed, I walked into the first session at 9:07. Bu yah! That’s what you call work capacity. Do what’s important, and get yourself moving.

How was the food?

The food was surprisingly good on the first two days. Thursday night was all about the falafel. Almost tasted like my mothers. My cousin and I were comparing the taste and how each element was different or similar to my mother’s falafel. But I stuffed myself that night.

The next day was the beans for lunch, then pasta for dinner. Both times I stuffed myself as I knew I was not going to get food every three hours. There was a „snack bar“ by the hallway, but the Indian snacks offered would just add empty calories. I was able to get in more fruit during the weekend then usual.

On the last day, I saw a whole bunch of unopened bread just laying out there. I asked one of the Auntie’s there if I could just make my own sandwich. She said I could and I made three sandwiches just mixing together chutney and cucumber. Very delicious, but I was only able to down two of them.

What did I learn?

I realized that when you’re traveling, you try to make do with the best you have. There’s no point in carrying loads of food with you. I travel only occassionaly, and so a few days off my usual diet won’t kill me. It also helps if you’ve gone strict a week or so before the travel days.