[quote]raven78 wrote:
Wondering if you could outline what your ‘average’ workout would entail? (noting its pretty random as per your OP).
Still here following.[/quote]
Sure, here’s what a typical workout looks like:
I usually do some stretching and pick up some light DBs for about 5 minutes.
Sometimes I will simulate different athletic moves like tennis forehands and golf swings while holding anything between a 5-15 pound DB. I’ll also hang from the pullup bar to stretch things out, do some bodyweight squats and different lower body stretches, and then maybe some light front and lateral raises/swings.
^Depending on how things feel while I’m doing that, I usually decide if I’ll focus on a bodypart that day or keep feeling things out.
Meanwhile, I’m also flipping through Pandora stations to find a song that seems to fit my mood.
Once that all happens, I usually dive into a “set” of something. Let’s say bicep curls, since that’s probably what I start with most often.
I do most things with one DB and switch arms frequently…how frequently depends on what I feel…if I want to create some burn, I’ll stay with one arm for a long time. If I want to prolong the set as long as possible, I’ll switch more frequently. If I want to just get a pump, I’ll go by more by how things look and feel.
So I’ll do variations of standing DB curls, using a mix of smooth reps, squeezing reps, twitch reps, pulse reps, drop-and-catch, holds, super slow, etc.
If I can finish out the entire song just doing this first movement, great. But usually, I’ll end up transitioning to a different movement like front raises, lateral raises, rear delt fly, cross-pec fly, overhead tricep extension, kickbacks, high pulls…you name it.
I’ll throw one of those movements in and then usually go back to biceps again to finish out the song.
Then, a new song comes on and depending on how I feel, I’ll either keep at it with a similar DB set, but usually a different focus. I might go to more of a rear-delt fly based set and try to just crush my rear delts. Here I might use bicep curls as a rest between the delt work…whatever it takes to finish out the song.
Sometimes, the song makes me want to hit the cables, so maybe I’ll wander over there and crank out a song’s worth of whatever - same kinds of movements and contraction types I listed above, just with cables. Usually I’ll focus on one thing, like maybe triceps, and use other movements to keep the set going.
The main thing is that once a song starts, I pretty much don’t stop moving until it’s done.
Sometimes, I’ll string three songs together without much rest at all. Other times, I might take longer breaks to grab some water or walk over to the other side of the gym.
Usually by about 20 minutes into it, something comes on that goes good with the jump rope, so I’ll grab that and go do one or two songs with the rope. Usually, I’ll throw in a few circuits of different plank and pushup variations and some pistol squats in there.
Then I’ll go back out and usually hit up whatever bodypart I’m focused on, but usually with a machine or maybe the smith machine…something different. I’ll crank out a song or two there, and then I’ll go back to the DBs and crank out another few songs.
Usually at the end, I’ll throw in a set (song)of situps on the ab rocker type machine.
These average about 60 minutes. If it’s humid and hot enough, I’ll usually be dripping sweat by the end - just to give you an idea of the intensity. I probably burn about 600 calories and my average HR might be around 130-140…depends on how much jump rope because that’s the most intense part.
Oh…and pull-ups. I throw those in throughout the session…usually every day, but some days when I’m feeling it, I’ll really make it a focus. Other days, I might just grease the groove a bit and leave it at that. Usually I can feel this more in my grip strength, as my back and arms seem to have really built up some capacity. I just cranked out set of 20 strict, slow, full-range wide grip pull-ups at the very end of my workout today. Felt like a beast.
That’s about it. I do this about 6 days/week and so far, I have not burnt out. That’s probably because at any given time during any given workout, I’m always paying attention to how things feel and I’m scaling back the intensity whenever something feels drained.