Mike Posted January 30, 2008 Share Posted January 30, 2008 (edited) Hey! I'm new to veganism and am very excited to be posting on this forum. Realizing that there are bodybuilders who are vegan really helped me in my decision to embrace a plant-based diet. I have a somewhat unique routine to run by you. Here it is: Instead of following a three-day-per week 45-60 minute routine, I devote 20 minutes per day to a different exercise every day, seven days a week. I alternate between an exercise for the upper and lower body every other day. The exercises are rarely repeated and are never repeated with the same rep scheme. To clarify, I might do 8x8 incline bench Mon, ramp up to a top set of 8 for SLDL's Tue, do 10x10 on bet over rows on Wed, 8x8 leg extensions on Thur, etc. I also count running on a lower body day and heavy bag training on an upper body day.What do you all think? Personally, I like the variety and think it's good to keep the body constantly guessing. Is seven days per week too much? Would that lead to overtraining, or am I safe because of the variety and short duration of workouts(only 20 minutes each)? Any advice would be much-appreciated. Be brutal =). Edited January 31, 2008 by Mike Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BodhiDave85 Posted January 30, 2008 Share Posted January 30, 2008 Its hard to be brutal, if we dont know what your goals are?I think its great that you are active daily, and I'm sure in time you will be in amazing health. Not knowing your goals I would try to add 10 minutes of cardio before you start lifting, if you continue working out 7 days a week. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike Posted January 31, 2008 Author Share Posted January 31, 2008 Oh, my bad! I guess it would help if I actually mentioned what my goals are. Basically, I want to be physically fit in as many ways as possible. I've gone through phases when I could ramp up to a heavy (for me) 1 rep max, but couldn't walk up a flight of stairs without getting winded. Conversely, I've gone through phases when I was in great cardiovascular shape, but was weak as a kitten. By doing a different exercise everyday, I'm including exercises that I normally wouldn't do, which I think should make me stronger in multiple ways. I read an article by Ross Enamait, in which he asked something like, "who's stronger: the person who squats 300+ pounds or the person who can do 500 consecutive bodyweight squats (paraphrasing)?" That's basically where I'm coming from. I like your idea about the cardio. I always warm up before lifting, but I typically give cardio a separate day - either upper or lower depending on the activity. So you think it's fine fr me to be doing some kind of lifting or cardio everyday? Thanks for the reply and advice!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gogh_me Posted January 31, 2008 Share Posted January 31, 2008 That a little bit similar to Pavel's Grease the Groove training, have you heard of it? I apply it a lot and its one of the best ways to gain strength that I've tried. You're method sounds fun, I think I'll try it starting friday. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike Posted January 31, 2008 Author Share Posted January 31, 2008 I love Pavel. He's the psycho (I use that as a term of endearment) who turned me onto the Smolov Squat Routine... my poor legs. If I'm not mistaken, I think GTG involves doing the same exercise for 5 days a week? I guess the difference would be that with my method, it's seven days and a different exercise everyday. That would be cool if you tried it; then we could compare results, ideas, etc. What I've really enjoyed about it so far is that I get to incorporate exercises and rep schemes I normally wouldn't have included in a routine. It keeps things from getting stale; one day I'm doing a 5 rep max squat and the next I'm doing high-rep benching. What do you think about overtraining with this "anti-routine"? Is seven days a week too much, even though each workout is only 20 minutes long? I'm thinking of resting on Sunday, but I want to find the balance between avoiding overtraining and just being lazy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gogh_me Posted January 31, 2008 Share Posted January 31, 2008 Okay, I'm bad at reading after a day of work, lots of skimming, I thought it said you didn't change the exercises. I'd love to compare and I'll let you know how it went next friday.Don't really know about the overtraining, but resting once a week is not lazy! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike Posted January 31, 2008 Author Share Posted January 31, 2008 Right on! That's kind of where I'm at. I guess it might be better to take one day off to be safe. I was even considering upper, lower, off, upper, lower, off, but I think that would be too much time off. Thanks for the reply! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gogh_me Posted February 4, 2008 Share Posted February 4, 2008 Okay Mike, here's the deal, I just can't bring myself to do just one exercise a day. Its totally a mental thing. Sorry Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike Posted February 4, 2008 Author Share Posted February 4, 2008 No worries. Thanks for checking it out, though. I really can't blame you for not being into the one exercise per day thing. Prior to starting this routine, I was doing a full body routine three times a week, so it was really weird to not be doing multiple exercises. The thing that helped me was to keep the exercises and rep schemes constantly changing. Thanks to your and BodhiDave85's help, I think I've got a set-up that will work for me. Here's a sample week: Mon: Heavy bag trainingTue: Romanian Deads; work up to max set of 8Wed: Incline bench press; reps determined by roll of die (start at ten rep max, roll die and do as many reps as are on die with ten-rep max weight, continue until time is up)Thur: 20 minute run; interval trainingFri: Bent-over rows; reps determined by playing card draw (start at 20 rep max, draw card, do number of reps on face of card, continue until time runs out)Sat: Squats; strip setsSun: off Each workout is 20 minutes and exercises are rarely repeated and never repeated exactly the same. For example, on Tuesday, I worked up to a max set of 8 on the Romanian Deads; if I do that exercise again in a month or so, I might do 10x10. Also, this is only a "sample" week. This pattern would not be repeated in subsequent weeks. Well, there's a closer look at my crazy little "anti-routine." Thanks again to both of you for all of your help. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chrisjs Posted February 4, 2008 Share Posted February 4, 2008 This sounds interesting and I'm happy it's working out for you. I'm just a bit skeptical that you can select the right weight and get the form down well if you keep changing things around so much... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike Posted February 4, 2008 Author Share Posted February 4, 2008 Good point. I was concerned about this as well. I do a couple of warm-up sets at different weights to see what feels right. Usually after a few light sets, I can tell what my 5, 10 or 20 max would be, depending on what I'm going for that day. Also, I only go heavy with low reps on exercises I've been doing for a while. For new exercises, I go light with high reps to get the form down. If it's too light, I'll end up doing more reps within the 20 minute time frame; if it's heavier than I thought, I'll end up doing less. It also helps that I keep a log of my workouts. Thanks for the reply . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Please sign in to comment
You will be able to leave a comment after signing in
Sign In Now