Workout by Timothy Barry, Drummond Team 

www.beyondanylimits.com

A quick workout I wanted to share, which I have personally found gets great results in muscle growth and toning. Ideal for men and women (ladies this will help your toning and you won’t get huge shoulder muscles (a lot of my clients ask me this).

An early warning; this is tough and if done correctly will take your muscles to a state of discomfort with the target being ‘to failure’. I recommend doing this workout with another person to act as a spotter. This will ensure safety when managing the weights, but also to let you know when your body has gone into cheat mode and your technique has left the building!

  • Targeting Muscle Hypertrophy – the enlargement of an organ or tissue from the increase in size of its cells (Oxford Dictionaries, 2018)
  • Length of workout – 40 minutes max.
  • Equipment required: Open space, a Barbell, Bench or step and sufficient weight based on your 1 Rep Max for each exercise. (I use a studio/home barbell set and it works a treat!)
  • Focus on the Eccentric phase (muscle lengthening) of each movement to put greater stress through the muscle fibres in a controlled way. You will be challenging your body both physically and psychologically.
  • Drop sets are a great way to train muscle growth. A lot of workouts I see will use a fixed weight and push as many reps as possible with that one weight…then stop. Even though with a lighter weight they could push out a few more reps of the same exercise. In this workout you exhaust and reduce the weight until you have stressed the majority of muscle fibres, leaving nowhere to hide and better results.
  • Technique is key, no cheating! Focus on the joint movement required to stress the targeted muscles. When technique is no longer strict format, or is jeopardised, stop and reduce the weight.
  • Be safe and have a spotter (someone to take the weight when you fail) as required i.e. chest press, similar or overhead movements.

The workout

 

Start with a 5 – 7 minute full body dynamic warmup.

Perform the following 6 exercises, one at a time and take between 3 – 5 minutes rest between each exercise. You only need to do each exercise drop set once per workout and if unsure of technique check out the video links provided. Finally, and most importantly make sure you follow a tempo for each exercise of 4/0/2. That’s controlled 4 seconds through the muscle lengthening phase (ouch!) and 2 seconds through the muscle shortening phase.

Exercise one – Chest Press

https://www.bodybuilding.com/exercises/barbell-bench-press-wide-grip

Exercise two – Romanian Deadlift

https://www.bodybuilding.com/exercises/romanian-deadlift-from-deficit

Exercise three – Bicep/Barbell Curl

https://www.bodybuilding.com/exercises/barbell-curl

Exercise four – Bent over Barbell Row

https://www.bodybuilding.com/exercises/bent-over-barbell-row

Exercise five – Squats

https://www.bodybuilding.com/exercises/barbell-full-squat

Exercise six – Dumbbell/Weight Plate Tricep extension https://www.bodybuilding.com/exercises/dumbbell-one-arm-triceps-extension

For each of the above exercises follow the steps below:

  1. 80% of 1 Rep Max or estimate
  • Perform as many repetitions as possible while maintaining good technique.
  • Stop when you achieve failure or technique is poor.
  • Reduce the weight by 25% on the bar.

2. 55% of 1 Rep Max or estimate

  • Perform as many repetitions as possible while maintaining good technique.
  • Stop when you achieve failure or technique is poor.
  •    Reduce the weight by 25% on the bar.

3. 30% of 1 Rep Max or estimate

  • Perform as many repetitions as possible while maintaining good technique.
  • Stop when you achieve failure or technique is poor.
  • You will ‘feel the burn’ by this point!

Once you’re done with all of the exercises, make sure you complete a full body cooldown, including stretch and if you have time add some foam rolling (believe me it will keep you supple and feeling good!). Get a good source of protein onboard within 20 minutes of finishing the workout to aid that much needed recovery, repair and growth.

It’s tough but it works and if done a couple of times a week, creates quick results. Until next time.

TB

Note of the week – Hydrate, your muscles and sling systems need it. Want to perform at your best? Aim for between 2 -3 litres per day.