How you structure your workouts is vitally important to your success. I talking sets, reps, exercises, and workouts from one day to the next.
There are many ways to do it and almost all of them will work to some degree, but depending on what you’re going for, certain options are more appealing then others.
Do you do a full body workout everyday? Or a split schedule? Are you working the same exercises or muscles everyday? Or do you hit things only once a week?
These are important things to ask yourself.
You have to adequately recover in between workouts. But you must train often enough that you make forward progress.
And here is what no one else selling exercise plans is telling you. What works for one person may not necessarily work for you.
Is one set done to failure going to get you to your goals? Maybe and maybe you need to do more volume. Perhaps Option A would work, but Option B would give you faster results.
I started writing this trying to give you some answers, something concrete to apply to your training, but it looks like I’ve just raised a bunch of questions.
Oh well, sometimes you need to ask those questions. Look critically at your training. There is time for experimentation to find what works best for you even while you train hard. Over the months and years this sort of experimentation will pay off in spades.
But don’t forget that what works now may not always work as well.
Let’s use myself as an example. While most of my workouts would be considered full body they contain different focuses. Currently this is pressing one day, pulling the next and squatting the third, to repeat the cycle again.
Splitting up workouts in this manner works great for me rather than trying to do complete full body workouts each time I train. Equally important is the fact that I enjoy it.
But that’s not all I do in these workouts. Today for example, between sets of weighted one leg squats I bent steel. I’ve always found that this combo, intense leg work and bending, works wonders together. Be prepared to have to lay down on the ground between sets though because it can get rough. If I bent steel between pressing or pullups it would be a different feel.
The most important gauge of how your workouts are working for you is how much you’re making progress. If you’re not moving forward then you’re doing something wrong.
In strength,
Logan Christopher
P.S. Got another new feat up on the site. This one is on driving a nail through a board with your hand.