Workout of The Week (#84)

Weight Selection

Weight selection is a concept that’s left unexplained by most coaches. Novice trainees assume just looking at a weight might make them bulky. Just lifting isn’t going to do the trick, believe it or not, how you do it matters. Here are some parameters to keep in mind.

Lifting the pretty pink dumbbells isn’t going to “tone” or give you the physique of your dreams. Unless you already have the physique of your dreams. Expect to look exactly the same if your current routine consists of a million reps of light dumbbell exercises.

The further away you are from a repetition max, the lower your return is going to be. Hitting a set of 10 with a weight you can easily bang out for 25 reps isn’t going to cause any physiological change for fat loss, strength, or muscle gain. We want effective reps, which means the set actually has to be difficult. Usually within 3 reps shy of failure is a good starting point but the closer we get to muscular failure (with good form) the greater your returns are likely to be.

This doesn’t mean you ALWAYS need to reach failure, but you should always be training hard (i.e., not leaving 5+ reps in the tank). There are obviously exceptions to this. If you’re training for speed or power then you will likely leave reps in the table and keep velocity high. If you are doing circuits for conditioning then you should also leave reps in the tank.

Time under tension (TUT) is also important to consider. TUT is the main reason I prescribe tempo for clients. If you are not spending enough time under load you likely won’t get the outcome you desire.

TUT is in seconds. If your goal is muscle gain, you should spend 40 to 70 seconds per set under tension.

Workout

Here’s a bodyweight and bell circuit to bang out to get the heart pumping. Consider load selection for the high pulls and single arm rows. Is your goal strength, power, hypertrophy, general fitness, etc.

This circuit is primarily just to have some fun and get a good sweat in. Looking good is cool, being able to use your fitness is also cool.

Pushup x 15,10,5,10,15,10,5

Between sets:

KB High pull x 5

KB single arm row x 5L/5R

How It Works:

15 pushups, 5 high pulls (both arms at the same time), 5 rows each arm,

then 10 pushups and 5 high pull, 5 rows,

then 5 of everything... etc.

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Stay Strong,