It has been a hot minoto since I have written a blog post and I apologize. I have been very busy. We have moved back into the gym and things are picking up. I expect it to get busier in January. This website and blog is one of my hobbies. But having said that it is my passion and any time I can help someone acheive their fitness goals I will go the extra mile. Basically I say, if you want it and you hire me I will do what it takes to get there.
I have started (December 1st) a new workout split. A workout split is a workout plan and we all must have one of these. We also must change it up every 6-8 weeks because the body adapts to your current program and things need to change. I like to start a new program and set new goals at the first of the month. This workout split will be an 8 week program and will end February 1st.
I found this workout from Stephanie Buttermore on youtube. She's incredibly smart and puts a lot of thought into her workouts. Maybe I should "science" into her workouts. However, as a certified trainer myself I am tweaking her program to better serve myself. I like Stephanie because she puts the time of her workout at the beginning of the video so you do not have to watch her vlog - which a lot of times I find extremely boring to watch someone go about their day and bullshit in the camera. Seriously, it takes a bit of vanity to do this! But who knows I may do this sometime....no...I doubt it. But never say never.
So here's the link to her workout in a google doc. It is a 4 day glute/hamstring focus workout with Day 1 being heavy, Day 2 being light, Day 3 being heavy, and Day 4 being light - then repeat as necessary as long as you are recovered from the previous day. If your glutes and/or hamstrings are sore then you have not recovered. And do not train them on consecutive days but wait until they are healed and fresh before you train again. Also, do not forget the other muscle groups. If you'd like to see all the scientific research on this, click here.
So, here's my workout split this week:
Monday - Rest
Tuesday - Light A, Back & Bis (I did Heavy A or Day 1 on Sunday)
Wednesday - Rest glutes, Shoulders and Abs
Thursday - Heavy B, Chest & Tris
Friday - Back & Bis, Quads and Calves
Saturday - Light B, Shoulders and Abs, Cardio HIIT
Sunday - Heavy B, Back and Bis, Cardio HIIT
After doing this program for 3 weeks now I find some serious changes need to be made for me personally. Number one thing, Stephanie does not include ALL the muscle groups. Most young girls online nowdays train booty big time and forget the rest of the leg. I like the asthetic of a well defined total body. Plus I know what it can do to your posture if you do not train EVERYTHING equally.
Notice the total exclusion of quads and calves for that matter. If you overdevelop your hamstrings, which this program will do, and not train your quads to balance out your hammies you run into posture imbalances. However, I will say Stephanie does her homework and probably has a reason for this. Personally, this does not work for me so I include a day where I train quads and calves heavy.
Number two - I have found this workout irritates my scaticia. I developed scaticia while pregnant and I have clients who irritate this nerve as well. I have to be careful when training my glutes and over-training them will aggrevate the scaticia. So, I am going to change some of her exercises. I will let you know once I decide what I am going to do. I am probably going to focus some on adductor muscles (inner thigh) and do more squats and single leg work. I will do this in the same style - Heavy one day and Light the next.
On a side note I am working to hypertrophy - or build muscle. I don't like the word bulk because that is not what I am doing. I am trying to build and define. I am lifting heavier and doing very few, if any, (Whitney Simmons) supersets. I only do 3 sets and lift heavy. So I focus on the big muscle group first, do about 2-3 exercises and then move to the smaller muscle group and do about 2 exercises with a burn out on both groups. So my chest and tricep day and heavy day for glutes would look like this:
Warm up on treadmill with hip band, then dynamic warm up
Exercises 1-4 Glute program
Exercises 5-8 Chest - 3 sets 8-10 reps
Exercises 9-10 Tricep - 3 sets 8-10 reps
Exercises 11-12 Burnout for chest and burnout for tricep
A workout like this takes about 1 hour to 1 hour and 15 minutes.
Obviously, rest days from the glute program will be a quicker workout so I plan accordingly. I also plan my cardio on the weekends when I can be in the gym for a little longer. I usually don't do more than 15-20 minutes of HIIT, if even that. Just enough to keep my heart working properly.
Finally, I have started a new pre-workout and pump. I use PE Science Prolific for pre-workou;
and PE Science High Volume for Pump.
On days I do shoulders and abs - small muscle groups I do not use pump as it is not necessary. I really like this pre-workout as there are no banned substances like Mesomorph with DMAA and Limitless with DMHA. You gotta question why they are banned, ya know?
Also, after I finish this product I will totally cycle off pre-workout for about 14-30 days. Wish me luck because my pre-workout is what gets me out of bed at 5am. However, it is important to cycle off as your body builds up a tolerance to all pre-workout ingredients. It is just healthier this way! I will remind myself it's psychological. I used to workout without it before pre-workouts were a thing - remember? Like a hundred years ago. lol