Buy "The Now What? eBooks" Here! Or go to Smashwords for misc. formats.
The Now What Fitness Series lays out the foundation of fitness in a concise and simplified manner, making for a collection of books that help the reader truly comprehend how to improve one's health and well-being from A to Z. I've broken fitness down into comprehensive concepts, giving anybody who truly wants to change their health and their lives in profound ways, the step-by-step tools and knowledge to do so.
Diet and Exercise Tips Interview Question #2
What is your current workout routine like?
In my current workout routine, I am finishing up about a 3-month bout of doing a routine that is very different than anything I have ever done before. And believe me, after over 25 years of strength training, I’ve tried just about everything at one time or another. So to say that I am trying something different is no small feat. And one of my favorite mantras is there are many ways to skin a cat!
However, currently, I am alternating fat loss and muscle building routines from week-to-week. This week I did fat loss and next week I will be focusing on muscle building. I got this from a crazy-cool fitness dude named Nick Nilsson online. Google him. He’s got it going on. See, even fitness professionals like trying other fitness professionals’ ideas. It’s all good!
You see, most people want to lose fat; that’s a given. But the tricky part is losing fat without losing precious muscle. The premise behind this plan is on fat loss week you only take 30-second breaks between sets.
Hence, it is a fast-paced workout wherein you burn muchos calories. It’s intense and you can’t lift as heavy as when you take longer breaks between sets; this combines strength training and aerobic training. A great calorie burn and metabolic boost!
The muscle building week you get 1.5 to 2 minute rests between sets so this allows you to go heavier; thus, lending towards muscle growth. For both workouts, the week starts out with more sets and reps and diminishes in sets and reps by week’s end.
It truly is a great example of training smart and I am very happy with the results. I continue to work to fatigue, keeping the weights high enough that at the end of the desired rep range I am working to momentary muscle failure.
SWAP IT UP TO PREVENT BURNOUT AND PLATEAUING
I will continue with this routine for about 2-3 months and then swap it up again. I like this routine because it gives you the best of both worlds: cutting body fat and building muscle. It’s a win/win. However, you need to keep surprising the muscle or it adapts and progress slows or stops.
I have finessed this plan through experimentation so that it seems to work well for me. Of course, without meticulous attention to a nutrition plan along with this routine, you will see minimal results, which is another whole can of worms. Yum. Kidding. Don’t eat the worms. Segue into the next question...
UPDATE: MY 2015 CURRENT WORKOUT ROUTINES HAVE GROWN UP!
My how things change with the years. These days I find myself training very instinctively. If my knees are acting up, I tone things down a bit. If they can handle it, I may interval train for cardio and hit the lower body hard with some lunges, squats, and variations of those types of exercises.
I tend to train at home more these days, but when I hit the gym, I train about 45-60 minutes with a body split of chest, shoulders and triceps one day, and back, biceps, and legs on another; usually hitting a third day with a total body workout. I usually do anywhere from 30-60 minutes of cardio, 5-6 days a week with 3 days of strength training weekly.
When I train at home I tend to do a 30/30 (30 min cardio/30 min strength training) split using the same recipe for body split as I just stated. I sometimes throw in an extra 30 minutes of cardio later in the day if I get the chance. Or not. As I said, I follow my instincts of how I am feeling energy-wise and according to my knees.
For now this is working for me. There is nothing wrong with the way I used to train. It just illustrates different ways for different goals and issues. I will change it up after a few months again. I explain how to structure workouts like this and more in my books about strength training, gym workouts, and home workouts. To learn more about them go to NowWhatFitness.com.
Now...segue into the next question...
Return from My Current Workout Routine to Diet and Exercise Tips Interview
Return from My Current Workout Routine to Straightforward Home