Hey, long time no see, With the beginning of February I am starting up physical training after a month or two off any exercise and I am starting to look around for new MA schools, I'm currently looking at Wing Chun. My routine will alternate one week's combat conditioning exercises (Matt Furey style) and one week combat conditioning (Army style). Here it is... Note that every exercise listed has one set performed to failure. Monday Hindu Pushups, Hindu Squats, Back Bridge, Skip Tuesday Hindu Pushups, Hindu Squats, Back Bridge, Stretch Wednesday Hindu Pushups, Hindu Squats, Back Bridge, Skip Thursday Hindu Pushups, Hindu Squats, Back Bridge, Stretch Friday Negative Weighted Pullup, Horseriding Stance, Leg Holds, Farmer's walk Monday Pushups, Ab Exercise, Chinup, Stretch Tuesday Pushups, Ab Exercise, Pullup, Skip Wednesday Pushups, Ab Exercise, Chinup, Stretch Thursday Pushups, Ab Exercise, Pullup, Skip Friday Negative Weighted Pullup, Horseriding Stance, Leg Holds, Farmer's walk My one question is with Pullups - I am thinking YODA could help me out the most here - how shall I change my Pullup routine to get me the most effective strength gains? Should I use weighted negative Pullups? How often should I do pullups? How many sets? Failure? Anything else to note? I am hoping to gain some weight over the next 3 months using this routine with a Bodybuilding-stylée Bulking diet, with strength, endurance, flexibility and general health improvements all wanted. Take care, peace, Jack
Hi Labatt, thanks for the reply. Why would a gym membership be beneficial? I have weight equipment here at home, but I am choosing to do these Bodyweight exercises since I want to try something new and develop a good base of health and strength in handling my own bodyweight, to the point of one-handed pullups and pushups, before I use weights.
I would advise you don't fo weighted pull ups every day as yo are planning to do. Doing any weighted excercise every day till failure is a bad idea, may even lose strength. I'm not sure if the same goes for bodyweight excercises(pushups. etc.) By the way, what are Hindu squats and pushups, as compared to normal pushups/squats?
Hi Jack Yeah - long time no read ANY exercise performed to failure on 4 consecutive days is bad. Your body gets stronger during REST. No rest = no improvement! This is VERY much so with hindu pushups - major shoulder joint trauma is just around the corner! For chin variations try throwing a towel over the bar and using that - great for grip strength!
Hey, Jack, I haven't used any of Matt Furey's exercises or read any of his books, but the guys at training were really paying him out. I tend to agree, I don't think you'll get as big or as strong if you lift weights. If you're not feeling it the next day like your routine indicates (4 days straight), it suggests to me you haven't worked hard enough. Just my thought, someone else will have to answer your other question. Edit: just saw YODA's post.
...........another thing Jack. If you're serious about getting heavily into bodyweight conditioning you should look at Scrapper's Workouts! They blow Matt "anything to make a buck" Furey into the weeds! Scrapper's Workouts
Sorry, I didn't realise your goals. In that case I give you this link. I am recommending this very highly. It is VERY difficult. The rewards are good though. You will be pound for pound strong. http://www.teenbodybuilding.com/steh7.htm Dosn't matter if you're a teen or not, just do it!
Joe karate - only the Friday sessions would have weighted pullups, every other day would be unweighted. Plus the idea was to nuke them for 4-5 days consecutively then let them have a whole week off, but there are more effective methods I suppose. I do agree with the statement about training to failure everyday causing too much stress to the Central nervous system, but I thought that would apply less with high reps. I suppose that was my wish shaping my view on the reality. I am considering the routine on teenbodybuilding that Labatt posted up, but maybe altering it so workout are performed on Monday/Wednesday/Friday to allow more time for rest/recovery. My only other problem with that routine is that you are to do 30 Pullups from the very beginning, I myself could only get a sixth of those. I found an article with loads of Chin variations and advice over on Tmag - http://testosterone.net/html/100back.html
Hi Jack I can tell you what worked for me. My old trainer told me that you should do 50 wide grip chins, in as many sets as it takes, everytime you train your back. Apparently this was Arnies advice (and he was VERY wide in his prime). It worked for me. The first time I ever did it (and actually got to 50) I think I did 25 sets of 2! After a few months I could do 1 rep of 30 followed by 1 rep of 20 and got excellent results. I would also recommend single armed row and some lower back exercises on the same day. Yoda is right you DEFINATELY shouldn't do this everyday, especially if you want to put on bulk, firstly it won't work and secondly you'll probably end up injuring yourself. I would recommend a 3 day split, something like this. Day 1: Chest and Triceps (dips, dips, dips) Day 2: Back and Biceps Day 3: Shoulders and Back (this is the worst day!) For best results you'd need to do it twice a week (i.e. 6 days). I would also start off for the first couple of months doing 3 sets of 8, using the same weight (throughout the sets but building up a little each day) to get your muscles used to it. Once you are comfortable with this move up to doing sets of 15, 12, 10, 8 and then as heavy as you can for anywhere between 1 and 4. Use free weights where ever possible. Anyway there are loads of different programs you can use but this worked for me so I thought I would share it with you. Oh yes, diet... diet is VERY important. ...Just started back at the gym and starting to wonder how I ever did 1 wide grip chin!!
Six Days!! I used to train like that( thinking more is better) and thought i was doing pretty well. Until I cut back and increased intensity and gained like a monster(compared to previous rates) And since you are a beginner like I am why bother trainnng triceps and Biceps Pull ups and other back excercises work biceps and bench press develops triceps. Adding an arm workout is too much. If you can do an intense arm workout after chest press or pullups then you did not do them intensley enough( ie. you said "that'll do for now") Stick to basic multi joint movements and workout no more than three days a week.
Thanks simon. I think I will follow the routine in that article, but edit it so that I am working out Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, with cardio and stretching on Tuesday and Thursday.
I'm not body building anymore. Just trying to get back into shape. I have a question for you guys, but first to answer yours. Sorry, there were a couple of mistakes! And you a right Joe there is no way I could have trained triceps after chest (foggy memory), the day breakdown should have read: Day 1: Chest and Biceps Day 2: Shoulders and Legs (this is is the worst day!) Day 3: Back and Triceps (dips, dips, dips) Sorry guys I should have been a bit more careful, that was utter cr*p! So, Jack if you are intending to follow anything like this make sure you do it this way and not the other. In heinsight I also think Joe and Yoda are right to say 3 days instead of 6, I did a mixture. But if you look at Biceps for example you are only getting a days rest before you train Chest...not good. I followed my instructors for my training programme so that's why I trained like this really. We always used to do a major muscle first then move on the a minor muscle to complete failure (i.e. until it was impossible to do anymore)... For example my day 1 routine would be something like this (bear in mind this didn't start until about 6 months into training to get used to it!). Stretching 10 Minutes rowing machine 1. Press-ups (20) 2. Bench press (15, 12, 10, 8, 1) 3. Incline bench press (15, 12, 10, 8) 4. Bench press the other way around (can remember what it's called! Legs higher than shoudlers) (15, 12, 10, 8) 5. Flies (15, 12, 10 ,8) 6. French press (like bench press, very narrow grip, very light weight, fast, as many as possible) 7. Seated (inclined) arm curls. Followed by LOTS of stretching (this is also very important in body building, when I had trained with my first instructor I was really bad, we didn't do any stretching and it f***ed my arms, at the time). There are loads of different rountines out there to try and you can take all the advice you want, at the end of the day you wont really know for yourself until you try it. If you thought the world of MAs was bad for "this is better than that" etc. you aint seen nothing yet I don't claim my advice to be better than anyone elses (well the last attempt wasn't great but I've checked this thoroughly). Now for my question... I've just started back at the gym and I'm trying my hardest not to be tempted back into a body building style routine (I must be mad to even consider it!), trouble is that's all I know and all the gym staff seem completely incompitent. I just want to get in shape, maybe put on a little muscle but I more interest in muscle shape and definition and loosing the flab! At the moment I'm trying not to go to hard (although I couldn't straighten my arms for 3 days this week) and I want to get my muscles used to working again. My training program at the moment consists of: 5 Mins running, warmup. Then I train any muscle (not too heavily) which isn't even remotely aching from the last session. Then I finish off with a 45 minute run. I'm doing this as often as possible, 4 times last week. Can anyone suggest a program which would achieve my goal? Thanks Simon P.s. Thanks guys, I wouldn't want to give anyone bad information and I did. You can get seriously injured doing this stuff so it is important. I've sent a PM to Jack to make sure he sees it.
I've said it before and I'll say it again (YET again) - Strength training for the martial artist... HIGH intensity low volume progressive resistance weight training. Focus on BIG compound movements... suggested exercises... Squats Leg press Deadlifts Bench press (any variation - it matters not) Chins / pullups Seated cable row Dips Power cleans Hang cleans Shoulder press Push press 2 full body workouts per week using no more than 5 of the above exercises in any single workout) 3 times per week if you really can't help yourself. Eat enough protein (1g per lb lean bodyweight per day) Drink lots of water Get as much sleep as you can Forget isolation exercises like... Flyes Pec Deck Concentration curls Dumbell kickbacks Erase from your memory the following terms... "Pump" "The Burn" "Toning" "Shaping" Otherwise - wear a leotard, break out the pink 0.5kg pink plastic dumbells and pump, tone and shape your way to athletic mediocrity.
Nice one Dave, That just about covers every strength training question you could have - in one post ! Jay
Well then, can I expect a new Porsche and a CD player along with a nice set of headphones? Oh and don't forget the rolex watch please |Cain|
Hey Yoda they really ought to archive your answers in order to avoid the RSI that you must get in repeating yourself all the time. If anyone's interested I've now been doing Scrapper's Bodyweight routines for a couple of months. They're deceptively hard and I think should be treated in the same way that you would a weights routine in terms of rest. I found that especially the legs were hit hard by Scrapper's routine #1 with Hindu Squats, Bootstrappers and then Lunges. Made me walk funny for the first couple of weeks (especially down stairs for some reason). Anyway I've just go to the point that I can do this twice a week on top of my other training. I'm not sure whether to add a 3rd session or (and I think considering Yoda's advice in weights) to try one of Scrapper's harder routines in order to up the intensity and keep it at 2 per week. Major bonus points of Scrapper's routines: 1. They are available free on his website. 2. There are pictures of the more obscure exercises and anyway the descriptions are really good. 3. They work. Different from weighted exercises of course but I have noticed major changes in the past couple of months. Its hard to describe but basically I feel stronger and able to use my own body better with no bulk etc. My aim was to cut weight too and have lost 2kgs since Christmas by running twice a week (3 miles each session), b/weight routine, MA training and some Yoga. 4. You can do the exercises anywhere pretty much - great for those of us that travel for work. 5. He does sell videos and other products for those inclined. I like having a video to work along to but the choice is yours like I say the workouts are free to download. 6. He doesn't claim to radically alter your life, preach about mind control or any of that BS. He does however advocate solid hard work. Try it out what's to lose!
