Beginner 3 Day Training Plan

So over the weekend I was asked by a fellow grappler who's approaching his 40s that's having the usual hard time trying to  make gains, battle the #WaronDadBod and get healthier in a safe manner for the next few decades (ideally). And as I looked around the locker room at some of the more obvious physical specimens that would be better suited to answer specific questions I quickly realized he had come to me because I am NOT a supreme athlete who can see his abs but was still physically fit and healthy enough to compete in our sport at a high (ish) level.

So I agreed to help write him up a simple 3 Day program. Something to hopefully jumpstart the body and get it running in the direction we all want it to go. Forward to a fitter you.

NOTE - as I've written in the pinned / intro post - I am NOT a personal trainer, doctor or physiotherapist. Anything I suggest here is merely that - a suggestion. Please consult with your physician or a similar professional if you have any questions or are concerned about your overall health.

Legal Disclaimer Aside - here's what I wrote out for this fella.

1) Consistency is Key - This includes everything. Your schedule, your nutrition and your effort. The more times you can do the right things, the more often that your body will respond positively to it. You will have missteps, you will have busy days, bad food and more. Don't beat yourself up for that, but try to limit those as much as possible. Having a bad day and you wanna skip the gym and eat fast food? fine - do it. But get back to work the next day. 

2) Get your Steps In - the whole 10K Steps a Day thing is a popular concept for a reason, it helps a lot. even on the days when you're lifting weights, try to keep moving as much as possible. Every step helps. walk the dog. Ride your bike. Go bowling. Play golf. Whatever you like to do, do it. one of Newton's Laws - A Body in Motion Tends to Stay in Motion while a Body at rest tends to calcify and get fat (okay I might be paraphrasing.)

3) This program is focusing on the fundamentals however please make sure you approach these in a safe manner. This is not the time for heroics, trying to set PRs or my all time favourite "I think I know how to do this exercise." Remember point 1, consistency is key. You can't be consistent if you hurt yourself. Don't worry, I want you to work hard but i need you to work smart.

Let's break it down:

PULL DAY

5-10 mins on the X-Trainer to loosen up

Lat Pressdown or Pulldown - 4 sets of 10-12 (nothing too heavy, just focus on the squeeze, we want to wake up the lats here.)

Bentover Barbell row (do this in a Smith Machine for starters) 3 sets of 8 + 1 set to fail (increase weight on sets 2 and 3 then drop back to original to rep out) 

Seated Row (machine or cable) 4 sets of 10-12

Dumbbell Curls (don't rush these, feel the squeeze on every rep) 4 sets of 15

Rope Face Pulls - 4 x 20-25 (really work on keeping your neck straight and squeeze teh shoulder blades together)

Core exercise - 3 sets to failure

PUSH DAY

5-10 mins on the X-Trainer to loosen up

Cable Fly to start, focus your Range of Motion to a comfortable 90 degrees back and hold the flex at the peak, 4 sets of 10-12 (increase weight until its a struggle for 10)

DB Side Lateral Raise, 4 sets of 12-15 (this is a small muscle group, going heavy isn't necessary but using good form and keeping the body from swinging will help - this burns in a good way)

Smith Machine Slight Incline Bench (like we talked about the lowest incline setting available to take strain off your rotator cuffs /
delts)  - same as Pull Day,  3 sets of 8 + 1 set to fail (increase weight on sets 2 and 3 then drop back to original to rep out) 

Peck Deck / Rear Delt Fly - either superset these or do them one at a time, 2 sets of 20 either way. Really fill the muscle bellies up with blood.

Core exercise - 3 sets to failure

LEGS

5-10 mins on the X-Trainer to loosen up

Hamstring Curls - 5 - 7 sets of  8 (hammies get overlooked a lot, increase weight on each set until its a struggle for 8, then drop down about 30% of the weight and do one more set to failure)

Body Weight Squats - Nothing fancy here, grab some dumbbells or a plate to hug if you need to add weight. 3 sets of 15-20

Leg Press - 3 sets of 10 (Feet in a narrow, hip width position middle of the push plate) 

Increase weight and then do 3 sets of 10 (feet as high and wide on the push plate as possible)

The first 3 sets will emphasize stress on your quads so don't go too heavy at first, the 2nd group is more of an overall leg blast.

Core exercise - 3 sets to failure

That's it and that's all. Remember to stay active every day (if you felt like hopping on a X-Trainer for 30 minutes or so on the days in between your lifts I would recommend that as well to keep the body primed for activity.)

AK

Post COVID Training

So the idea was to keep this Blog relatively up to date with my workout progress and ideas and so forth. Turns out that catching COVID a few weeks ago and being put n the shelf for a week or so wasn't conducive to staying on track with my training. Thankfully I'm fully vaccinated and only had a mild case run through the household so back to work now.

That said I will say the biggest detriment to the COVID in my case has been the fatigue. As a guy who usually runs on about 6 solid hours of sleep a night - give or take depending on the day - I'm used to having enough energy and strength to keep on with my daily responsibilities along with my 90 ish minutes of resistance and cardio training a day. Sadly  I'm finding that my endurance is really taking a beating in my recovery, leaving me ready to crash and more by about 2pm most days.

Don't misunderstand, this is a small price to pay in comparison to some who've suffered greatly after contracting this awful virus. And every day I find more and more of my reserve strength returning, though making my rest more of a priority has helped in that regard. As much as I enjoy being a 5am Gym Club member, having to moderate that to my schedule by listening to my body when it says I need more sleep and training later in the day if necessary has helped tremendously.

With that said, in spite of my setback (as usual, fighting uphill in this war) I think I've managed to make some progress. For the first time in a while I've started making changes to my nutritional habits. I'm no longer having a pot of coffee a day (still a medium from Tim's every other day or so) and gone back to green tea, which has actually done wonders for my mood. I feel less stomach angry and am naturally not having as much dairy since i need cream in my coffee. A small step but a helpful one. Snacking continues to be a low cal or preferably Sea Salt flavoured popcorn. Giving me that crunch I need and having much more fibre content in the carbohydrates, which I am not going to be cutting out altogether - only trying to make the smarter / better choices.

basically I'm trying to get back to eating the way I did before my "War on Dad Bod" was just the "Road to 260." The only differences now are that 275lb might be a more attainable goal given the muscle mass I've accrued in the last decade and most importantly - I wasn't a dad then.

No matter the reason or the goal, the process is the same. Work hard. Be consistent with my overloads and my nutrition. Keep up some cardio for my heart and arteries. And never, ever give up.

Ever.

She's counting on me to be there.

And I will.

AK