If you’re getting ready to get started with a workout program, one question you might be asking yourself is whether you would be best off with a full body workout routine or if a split approach would be superior.
It can be difficult to decide as you’ll hear mixed opinions coming from both sides. In order to make the best decision, you should consider a few different factors that will allow you to easily see which variation of workout routine will be best.
Let’s have a look at what you need to know about the full body routine versus the split body routine.
The Full Body Advantage
In many situations, the full body routine will hold a number of important advantages. First, it only calls for you to be in the gym two or three days per week. For those who are just starting out or for those who are participating in other sports or want more time for their cardio training, this proves to be an advantage since it frees up your schedule. Read the rest of this entry »
One question that often comes up as people going about their training is whether they are on the verge of overtraining or not. Overtraining is a really issue that many people fear but the fact of the matter is very few actually ever come close to overtraining.
Blame this on the fact that many people in society are notoriously sedentary and some may think any exercise that gets their heart rate up is likely to lead to overtraining. If you are someone who is exercising very intensely though, then there is reason to show some concern, but you have to be careful you don’t blow it out of proportion or you could just wind up backing off a program that’s actually going to bring results.
Let’s take a look at a few of the guidelines that you should keep in mind regarding the signs of overtraining and whether you’re actually at risk.
How Much Exercise Should You Do?
The first question to address is how much exercise is considered ‘reasonable’ for each skill level. When you know what is reasonable, you can assess your program to see if there’s a problem.
I know people who workout every day and get great results out of it…they just get good amounts of sleep and their nutrition is bang on therefore their recovery is optimimum…
Those who are just starting out are best off keeping their sessions to three days a week. Remember that this refers to weight lifting sessions though, not cardio workouts. Cardio workouts can be added to that as well without much threat of overtraining.
Check out this killer interview with my BRU Roman!
Everything you need to know about how big movie star actors get into killer shape for superhero roles like Batman, Superman and all your other favorites.
And…of course mine and Roman’s favorite superheros of ALL time
Click to listen in or download the MP3 under the replay player.
Last week, I spent a few days in South Beach Florida, and I’ll be honest, I didn’t go to the gym that week. Instead my morning routine was composed of Hybrid Cardio Complexes.
Hybrid Cardio Complexes are designed to be done at the end of a real workout or on their own (you would just do more circuits if you do them on their own).
This Hybrid Cardio Complex is very simple:
10 Jump Squats
10 Burpees
10 Power Pushups
5 min Run
(Do this circuit 3-4 times post workout or 5 times on its own – take 1 min rest between circuits)
I like to incorporate Hybrid Cardio Complexes post workout.
As you see this one is composed of bodyweight and basic cardio. But feel free to use light weights for resistance if you have some on hand.
It’s worth saying again, don’t use too much resistance. Do not rest between exercises. Take a 1-minute rest between circuits.
Goodbye traditional boring cardio, hello Hybrid Cardio Complexes
I’m in Tampa, Florida right now, visiting my good friends Mike Westerdal and Elliott Hulse….
2 days ago, I went training at Strength Camp, Elliott’s gym.
Mike is an Ex-Pro Football player and competitive powerlifter, so a pretty powerful and conditioned guy. I’m in pretty good shape myself as well, but this time, we got our butts kicked by Elliott Hulse and his prowler!
Listen to their comments, it’s really funny!
Now I don’t want to hear you say that I don’t get out of my comfort zone to give you cool videos!!
My friend Bryan Kavanagh showed me some pretty cool workout ideas when I was in Dublin last week.
In the 2 videos above, Bryan is putting me through 2 quick and effective workout finisher routines.
This is exellent to ”finish up” your muscles after a workout! Moreover, it’s a little extra workout within the workout that will allow you to stimulate more muscles and as well as boost your metabolism when you perform these finishers in an intense fashion!
Basically, you can look at these workout finishers as extra muscle and metabolic stimulations.
Whole Body Metabolic Workout Finisher #1
- Single arm floor presses – 10 reps per arm
- Alternate single arm rows – 10 reps per arm
- Jumping split squats – 10 reps per leg
Repeat routine 4 times after your workout
Upper Body Metabolic Workout Finisher #2
- Kneeling lunberjack presses – 10 reps per arm
- Single arm lat pull downs- 10 reps per arm
- Modified front squats – 10 reps
Repeat routine 4 times after your workout
You can use these finishing techniques with the current workout you’re following. Trust me, you won’t regret incorporating those regualrily after your workouts!
Let me know what you think! Have you ever tried workout finishers before? What’s your favorite finisher?
Let me know by leaving your comment below! Talk to you there!
I use this workout on a regular basis when I want to push myself, and I love it!
This style of workout is easy: use a weight you can do about 25 reps with, go to failure, take about 30 seconds rest and repeat until you reach 100 reps.
You can do this for 2 or 3 exercises during a workout, if you can do it of course J I know I usually do 3 x 100 reps when I workout like this. I did up to 4 sets, and sometimes I can only do 2… It is a very hard workout and some days it’s harder than other…
What I really like, is that when you do the “100 reps” method you stimulate each and every muscle fibre in the muscle group you are training. That is so because during the long time of work the overworked muscle fibres stop working, which causes other muscle fibres which were firstly excluded from the workout process to start working in order the movement to continue ultimately resulting in greater muscle growth.
Also, the fact that it is very intense will definitely help you burn more calories and will boost your metabolism.
In this video, I’m challenging my Irish buddy Bryan Kavanagh! It’s been a week and I’m pretty sure he’s still sore!
Make sure to give it a try and let me know how you like it. It’s really a killer workout that you can even incorporate it to your current workout to break the routine!
For those who work for a living, it can be extremely tough to get the 5 or 6 meals a day often recommended. I’ve got a plan that can help you get the calories you need on limited time (and appetite!).
Three square meals a day…breakfast, lunch and dinner. Can a person achieve great muscle-building results with just three meals a day?
Absolutely…and I’ll tell you how.
It’s all about meal timing and quantity.
Before I get started, please note it IS very true that you’re better off eating smaller, more frequent meals, both for muscle building and fat loss. I’m not going to argue with that.
The problem arises because many people simply CAN’T get more than 3 meals day.
Here’s my solution…
1. Plan to train in the late afternoon/early evening, if you can. For our meal timing, this will be the best option.
2. Have a moderately large breakfast…eggs, oatmeal, broccoli…whatever else you normally eat. Breakfast is the second most important meal of the day (for our purposes here, at least) and it’s not going to be your biggest.
3. Have a medium-sized lunch…at this point, you’re looking to not overload your digestive system with food (you already did that with breakfast) because you’ll be training fairly soon.
4. Do your workout and have your post-workout shake.
5. DINNER is going to be your biggest meal of the day. Because your body is primed to take full advantage of whatever you eat after training THIS is the time to load up. You should get at least half your days calories or more in this meal…overloading calories like this is extremely anabolic and your body will thrive on it.
6. Next day, repeat.
That’s the plan! It’s nothing complicated, of course, but I’ve been using this type of eating and training schedule for a long time and it’s been extremely effective for me.
If you can squeeze in a few small snacks during the day, go for it! But if you don’t have time for 5 or 6 meals a day, don’t stress about it. Your body can cope and you can definitely still make great progress!
————————————————–
Nick Nilsson aka The “Mad Scientist”
Nick Nilsson has been innovating new training techniques for more than 18 years. Nick is the author of a number of bodybuilding books including “Muscle Explosion! 28 Days To Maximum Mass”, “Metabolic Surge – Rapid Fat Loss,” and “Mad Scientist Muscle”.
It’s early in the morning and I forgot to close my window last night so I’m freezing my ass off in bed. I’m lying there, not really asleep but not fully awake either, waiting for the alarm clock to ring and wake me up for my workout before I start the workday.
The anticipation is killing me, but I know if I wake up and take a look at the time I’ll be even more disappointed. So I just lie there with my eyes closed waiting for this stupid thing to ring, and I ask myself “why?”
Why wake up early to head to the gym?
Do I REALLY need this workout?
Is it going to set me THAT far back if I don’t get to the gym today?
I bet the extra rest will do me just as much good wouldn’t it?
Have you been in this situation before?
I think we all have. We know we should go for a run, head to work, or make our way to the gym but we find ourselves bargaining, trying to convince ourselves that staying in bed and missing a workout is all good.
I’ve been in this situation more than once and I’m a pretty motivated guy. I know exactly what I want in life and I’m going after it, but we all have moments of weakness where laziness seems so welcoming and training seems so damn inconvenient – almost like it’s not really worth it.
The thing is, it’s often in the internal struggles like the one I just mentioned where we really see what we’re made of. No one will know if I skip my workout, even if I quit early on a set, or take a shortcut on a run – but I will – and what’s the point?
I think that a lot of the time we’re asking ourselves the wrong questions. Instead of asking why should I go to the gym – ask – why the hell should I stay home?
Laziness. The silent killer…
It’s the old adage that you do something once, you’re most likely to do it again. You make a million dollars, you’re probably going to make another million. You cheat on your wife and get away with it, you’ll probably do it again (first point is a good one, second…not so much).
It goes both ways, for the good and for the bad. Even little things like going up to a hot girl and asking her out, the first time you do it you’re scared, but every time after that it gets easier and easier.
Laziness is the same way, you sleep in once, you’ll do it again.
So why should I get up?
If you legitimately don’t care about whether you have a body you’re proud of, a body that the opposite sex finds sexy or desirable, then there’s not a whole lot I can do. If you don’t want to be healthier, faster, stronger, or even to be able to handle yourself, then again, there’s not much anyone’s going to say that will make a difference.
But if you do want all of the above and more, but sometimes find it hard to stay motivated, or feel like there’s just no point – you have to make it personal.
There has to be a personal, emotional motivation involved if you’re truly going to be successful.
For myself, I had the physique aspect that pushed me. I wanted to be a bodybuilder. I had that picture of Bob Paris in my head… He looked like a Greek god statue and I was doing everything I could to look like him. That included not missing a single workout, never skip meals and wake up in the morning with that goal in mind.
I wanted to have a better body, more power and have people looking at me saying “wow! This is guy is in killer shape!”, but I was also tired of being the out of shape guy that girl’s didn’t notice (yep, I used to be that guy…).
And no, it’s not all about looks, but an attractive body definitely gets you noticed or at least gets your foot in the door… and that goes for all areas of life.
Having an attractive body isn’t even as much about getting noticed as it’s about being confident in yourself.
Confidence is much more powerful than a good looking body, but for many of us, a good looking body certainly has a positive effect on our confidence and it wasn’t until I built that body that I was able to figure that out. And once I got there, I knew I never wanted to go back to being that unsecure guy, which was more than enough motivation to get up early and head to the gym when it really was the last thing I wanted to do.
Nick Nilsson aka The “Mad Scientist”
I’ve been in this situation more than once and I’m a pretty motivated guy. I know exactly what I want in life and I’m going after it, but we all have moments of weakness where laziness seems so welcoming and training seems so damn inconvenient – almost like it’s not really worth it.
For myself, I had the physique aspect that pushed me. I wanted to be a bodybuilder. I had that picture of Bob Paris in my head… He looked like a Greek god statue and I was doing everything I could to look like him. That included not missing a single workout, never skip meals and wake up in the morning with that goal in mind.
