Daily Life WellnessHealth, Fitness & Life Wellness for the Average Joe

OK. So we covered diet in part 1 of this story. With part 2 we’ll dive into the exercise portion.

Most people mistakenly think that exercise is the number 1 component of body composition. It’s actually your diet that determines 80 percent of how you look, with exercise rounding out the remaining percentage points.

With that said, we want to make that remaining 20 percent as effective as possible. And, speaking for myself here, I want to spend as little time as possible exercising — so that I can get back to the business of living my life. It’s not that I don’t enjoy my workouts, but I do want to maximize my time.

In my late teens and twenties time wasn’t so much a concern. I could spend as much time as I wanted in the gym. Now, at 38, I have plenty of additional and important responsibilities, including family and work — as I’m sure you do as well. I don’t have time (or the desire, really) to sit around and waste time in the gym.

I want to get in…git ‘er done (to coin a phrase)…and get out.

So, as a matter of necessity, I’ve been forced to maximize the time I spend in the gym — and to constantly assess and reassess what is working. And ditch what’s not.

For years I stuck with constantly trying for new PRs (personal records) by working to muscle failure each workout, relying (mistakenly) on Men’s Health and other magazines for direction on new workouts. And for years I never really achieved too much beyond a basic GPP (General Physical Preparedness.) PRs (personal records) came slow and without regularity. I was languishing without realizing it.

The revelations came fast and furious toward the beginning of this year. The first, was when I read about a workout published on Tim Ferriss’ blog. I wrote about the specifics of that experience in an earlier post, so I won’t get into it here. While that workout worked temporarily — and worked well — I don’t see it as a long term solution for the reasons I outlined in that post. It is, in my opinion, a good place to start for someone new to lifting weights.

Then came the revelation of the paleo diet by way of Mark Sisson and his blog, Mark’s Daily Apple. This way of eating shook the foundations of what I thought was good nutrition.

And in June I first came upon the workout method that I’m using today, which is based on principles used by Westside Barbell

Old School Weight Lifting

The traditional method most average lifters subscribe to is simply lifting to muscle failure, and trying to better their previous 1 rep max, week in and week out. That was my “method” for years.

Louie Simmons of Westside contends that this is counterintuitive and that there are more effective ways of producing strength gains. His conjugate method is what produced a 30 pound (and counting) increase in my bench press.

The conjugate method relies on percentage of max weights, and in working around the “big” lifts (bench, deadlift, squat) — rather than just doing the same traditional bench/deadlift/squat every week.

Let me explain: If I want to increase my bench press, I’ll need to increase the strength of my back and triceps — muscles that are integral in the pressing movement. So, for triceps, I’ll want to do dips and close grip bench press, among other exercises, and maybe lat pulldowns and bent over barbell rows for back.

I’ll only do an actual, traditional bench press once every three weeks, and during that workout I’ll reach for a new PR. In the interim, I’m working the “ancillary” muscles needed for a bigger press, mixing up workouts, all while working inside specific training volume parameters.

For example, let’s take close grip bench: To work the triceps I may do 8 sets of 3 reps per set, at, say, 70 percent of my 1 rep bench press max (165 lbs.) While these reps will be done explosively, I won’t do any of the sets to muscle failure.

The volume thing is important, and something that I never really appreciated until recently. I’d always just “wing it” when it came to reps and push to muscle failure. Research suggests that there is an optimum number of reps — per set and per exercise, in totality — beyond which a “decrease in training effect occurs.” And that number of reps is usually in the range of 1-4, depending on the percentage of max that you’re training with. (Exception to this rule is the “repetition method” noted below.)

Here’s a sample workout from Friday night. It happened to be a PR bench night:

1. Bench Press: 7 sets of 1 rep each at 207 lbs. (90 percent of max); Followed by 2 reps at 235 lbs., a new PR (nice!)
2. Weighted Dips: 8 sets of 3 reps each with a 35 lb. weight. (works triceps, chest & shoulders)
3. Lat Pulldowns: slow reps done for 4 minutes straight, no rep count (the “repetition method” for muscle endurance, another Westside method.)
4. Planks: 3 sets done for as long as I can hold each.

That’s it. The whole workout took about half an hour, and in that time I achieved a new bench PR. Maximizing time and working out effectively. Win-win.

I realize much of this may not make sense, so I would strongly suggest heading over to the Westside site. Click on the articles tab and experiment on your own.

This post is getting lengthy so I’ll button it up until next time.

Let me know what works for you — and what doesn’t. Share with a comment.

- Mike

Photo: michael.cortina

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