All Barbell Workouts

Bigger Stronger Leaner Competitive Bodybuilding
1

Coming off of some serious injuries and recently picked up a squat rack w/pull-up par, oly barbell, adjustable bench (decline to incline), 300 pound’s of weight, and an EZ curl bar so I can workout at home. (all for $300!) Looking at picking up dumbbells and a dip station soon too. Also have an decent elliptical.

I’ve been keeping things pretty simple just to get back. I’ve had a Chest, Leg, Back, Full-Body pattern days with 20-30 mins on the elliptical either in the AM or after my lifting session; however, I’m thinking I will soon need a good 3-4 days/week full body workout. Let me explain, I travel A LOT for work so I’m only home on average 2 weeks a month and if I can’t get to a gym when I’m on the road, I picked up a TRX. I just can’t be consistent enough with a standard “plan”.

I’m not looking for a “Day 1 Bench press, rows, blah blah” type workout plan, rather general considerations to help ensure I keep a well rounded workout.

Current goals are to get my strength back, build a little muscle, and drop some more fat. When I finally get done with this job (in a bout a year), I want to be in very good condition to hit things hard without resulting in injuries like my previous experience.

I have some ideas such as:

4 day routine consisting of

Day X

Heavy Primary Muscle (10x3 or 6x4) (Ex Squat)
Normal Primary Muscle (3-4x8-10) (Ex RDL)
Each other muscle (3-5x6-10) (Ex. Inc. Bench Press/BO Row/BB Curls/Skull Crushers)

Something like this, rotating. I also do one day of stretching (either Yoga or 1 hour of stretching).

Thoughts? Advice? Experience with this? Should I just forget the Heavy lifts since I may not be able to consistently do that?

Merry Christmas!

-Zach

2

Can’t you just get gym passes wherever you travel? I’ve known a couple guys who never miss training doing this

3

It’s not that easy. A lot of our companies are in small, no name towns and often, I go to Europe where getting a membership there is quite often a pain in the ass (besides the language barrier, most places in Europe do not believe in day to day memberships or they just hate Americans…).

So yes, sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn’t. Also, it’s not always convenient since I work in a 2-person team environment with one car and completely different views on fitness.

Let’s just say I get to the gym on the road when I it’s physically possible.

4

Damn that’s rough man

Well, your plan looks good for your situation. Just alternate your trx and weight stuff in 2 week intervals and keep progressing.

Id definitely add in more stretching though. Also some plyometric stuff too during your trx weeks.

5

Thanks. Plyo would be good! The situation does kind of suck but I’m using this as an opportunity to shore up a solid, conditioned base for hardcore work in the future.

While I have your attention, are you aware of some professional TRX workouts outside of the videos? Just thinking of the future.

6

No clue on the trx stuff sorry man.

7

Go to the TRX website. Lots of info, books, etc.

8

Are you doing anything for your delts? You obviously can do overhead presses, but you can definitely do front raises and lateral raises with barbells.

9

[quote]jskrabac wrote:
Are you doing anything for your delts? You obviously can do overhead presses, but you can definitely do front raises and lateral raises with barbells. [/quote]

and if you don’t want to do them with bars use the plate itself

10

If I were in your position I would try hitting the weights hard and heavy as often as possible when home. When on the road I would sprint - there’s almost always a place to run - do body weight workouts and other things like burpees, etc. that you can do in a hotel/motel. Speaking of hotel - you never mentioned using the hotel gym - I know they suck but you can get a decent workout in with some dumbbells - think up challenging circuits.

11

Jump stretch bands can travel well and be used to make bodyweight movements very hard…

12

Thanks so much guys!! A lot of things you are suggesting are thoughts I have had so it’s great to hear I’m on the right track. I’m just at the point where I just need to do whatever I can, whenever I can. I know I’ll see results, but won’t be breaking any records any time soon :slight_smile:

Great idea about the front and lateral raises. I also thought about holding the plate for standing calf raises and such. Can I get anyone’s advice on which movements should be my heavy movements (low reps/lots of sets)? This is what I’m thinking for now:

Day 1
Front Squat: I have form problems with back squat so I’ve been focusing on my Front Squat and want to continue this.

Day 2
Bench Press: Obviously

Day 3
Weighted chin-ups OR Bent-over BB rows OR Deadlift

Day 4
Push Press OR Deadlift if I don’t Deadlift on Day 3.

The only reason I’m thinking not the push press is my shoulders tend to be prone to overuse.