This is part two of a guest post by my husband Bobby. Enjoy!
Time for part two of my workout routine. (Check out part one here) The main takeaways from part one were to be consistent and intense with your workouts. You also have to learn your own body and what works for you. I have learned that if I push too hard, I know I’m going to be dragging for the rest of the day. I now know the effect that taking pre-workout has on me and have to alter my plans if I don’t take any for some reason. You will even learn, over time, how your body performs differently in the morning versus evening workouts.
Back to the actual workouts. Day 1 was focused on upper back and legs with the goal of increasing max pull-ups. This also hits on biceps, which will be the focus of day 3. I don’t think I mentioned it in the first post, but I like to run on day 1 and 3. Day 2 and 4 are my Tabata days (see below).
Day 2 is good ole chest and tris. We do one day, ONE people, that focuses on chest…not chest day four days in a row. My personal focus here is to increase my push-up rep count with a slight focus on chest bulk. I like to stick to the 12-14 rep count for 3-4 sets like I did on day 1, however, this is the day that I alternate rep counts on more than the others. From time to time I will increase the weight and lower the reps in an eternally failing attempt to increase bulk and raw strength. I also like to put my bodyweight on the bench and go for max reps for four sets (which is a fairly well-accepted standard for measuring performance). For now, I’ll just cover my normal rotations.
I like to start off with bench press 4×12. After bench is done, I start to add in the Tabata rotations. The Tabata concept is that you push hard for 20 seconds and then rest for 10 seconds, in cycles. The idea is to get your heart rate up and to consistently push hard. I tend to do six pushes per exercise. When doing an entire workout of Tabata, I will do the six set cycle and then rest for one minute before going back at it. When I’m working it into a normal workout routine, I just do the one six push set and go back to the next weighted exercise. There is a free Tabata app that would tell you when to start, when to rest, and when do recover. Here are a few examples of exercises that you can do for your Tabata sets: jump rope, box jumps, burpees, stationary bike, elliptical, or the best: row machine. I have also successfully used Tabata to help me improve my running speed.
My next weighted exercise is usually decline dumbbell press, 4×12 if my back is feeling up to it (know your body). 4×12 incline dumbbell press is next followed by three sets of max effort dips. If you have a pec dec machine, do 4×14 on that, else you can lay flat on a bench and use dumbbells or cables to get a similar workout. In between all of these weighted exercises, I like to do a set of Tabata. My heart rate stays at a good level for the entire workout. At the end, I will do either triceps push-downs or push-ups as a form of burn out.
Hope this has been useful to at least someone out there. Let me know if you have any questions.
