OK guys and gals, I know everyone else has done this so I thought why can't I. I have been out of the gym for a while now and have not really done any other exercise aside from two MA classes per week. I want to restart and wanted to see what you thought of this as a starting block. My goals are to build strength and power, add a little mass, lose a little fat and build my aerobic and anaerobic conditioning. I will be choosing 5 out of the following exercises to perform three times a week with the exercise order rotated after each workout. All will be done on 5x5. Deadlift Squat Bench Military Press Bent Rows Clean & Press Dips & Chins (if I can get some equipment up in my garage) Also, for my cardio outside of the Dojang I will be doing sprints twice per week to start off with. 20m - 5 sprints with rest of walking back to start line 50m - As above 100m - 4 sprints with rest of walking back to start line The weights part I am pretty confident on but I am not to sure about the cardio. I may also add some tabata stuff in once I get used to running again. What do you guys think? Am I on the right track or am I way off? Is there anything that you would change? Thanks in advance for your help.
I'd probably only go with any 3 of the exercises in each session. 5 sets of 5 exercises is a lot of volume, add in the heavy load, and you won't be able to sustain the intensity long, and will likely burnout quick. For the cardio, do you mean you're doing 5 20-meter sprints, and then 5 50-meter sprints, and then 4 100-meter sprints all in each session? Again, I'd probably alternate between those 3 each workout, so you do the 20's day 1, 50's day 2, 100's day 1 of next week, 20's day 2 of next week, etc. Other than that, kudos for clean + pressing , and other perfect exercise selections. Everyone should consider what you listed as the basic exercise menu, regardless of goals.
Hey, thanks for your help. I will drop to three exercises for the 5x5 and do one set of sprints in each cardio session. With choosing just three of the exercieses listed could I do it in an alternating way? ie. Day 1, Deadlift, bench and clean & press. Day 2, Squat, military press and bent rows. Would they make up a good combination? They would seem to be hitting all the right areas.
I didn't mean 1 set of each, I meant one distance per workout, like 5 sets of 20-meters, or 5 sets of 50-meters, or 4 sets of 100's. That would be more effective. The beautiful thing about the exercises you listed, is that you really can't go wrong. Just be sure to work all 8 movements within 2 weeks time, and you're golden. You could have a deadlift, squat, and clean + press day (serious lower body work), a bench, military, and dip day (serious pressing work), whatever your little lifting heart desires. :love:
Oh, and once the weight gets really heavy, switch to a 3x5, and then a 1x5 until you finally max out. Then start off again around 40% of your max with a 5x5, and work up in increments of 5, 10, or 15 depending on the exercise. Each cycle should take you at least 3 months, if not longer. Remember, working up slowly will get you better gains then trying to rush right through it. You don't need to max out every month. You should be maxing out every 2 months, but I prefer 3.
The enthusiasm is good, but let's wait to confuse him with periodization until he's been on that program for awhile. With the constant rotation of exercises, he'll have about a 1-2 week rest from each one and that's a pretty good change in itself for the time being.
Yeah, I have read a little about periodization but I think it can wait for a little bit. On the weight side of things, how often should I be increasing the weight for any given exercise? Should it be when I can complete 5x5 with a set weight do I go up like 5%?