By Jason Ferruggia
Author
of Minimalist Training
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Being selective—doing
less—is the path of the productive. Focus on the important
few and ignore the rest. -Timothy Ferriss, author of The
Four Hour Workweek
Email, voice mail, text messages,
Facebook messages, Twitter messages, paper work, bills to
pay, food to buy, kids to raise, responsibilities to fill,
commitments to uphold…
It can all get a little overwhelming
at times and we need to take steps to minimize the clutter
and distraction in our lives. It’s one of the reasons
my voice mail is perpetually full. I refuse to empty it.
I don’t even know what’s on it. I simply can’t
have another inbox in my life. So sometime last year I boycotted
voice mail.
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Like the Seinfeld episode when Jerry
stopped hugging people. Or the one where he refused to have another
race against that guy from high school.
“I choose not to listen
to voicemail!”
I like to take a bit of a minimalist
approach to my exercise selection as well and believe that most
people could benefit from doing the same.
You’ve got enough to stress
out and worry about. The last thing you need is to constantly
be wondering what angle you should set the bench to or if you
should hold the weights overhead or at your side during a split
squat.
Personally, if I was a single guy
who was actively in the game I’d much rather learn more ways
to pick up girls than to pick up a bar. (Hint: Smile a lot, dance,
joke around, have fun. DO NOT be the tough guy wannabe standing
against the wall. That appeals to absolutely no one.)
A lot of people would make a lot more progress if they stopped
over thinking, over analyzing and over planning.
A minimalist approach to exercise
selection would do them a world of good. You do not need a thousand
different exercises to make great progress. In fact, it’s
actually difficult to make measurable progress when you use too
many exercises and are constantly switching them. You’re
essentially just spinning your wheels when you do that.
With that in mind let’s take
what’s useful and eliminate what’s not. Let’s focus
on one or two exercises for each muscle group and make steady
consistent gains on them. Do that until you finally hit a plateau
and then make small changes.
Consistency and minimalism are going
to be the keys here. Do not over think or try 500 new exercises
per week. Use the ones listed below and milk them dry until you
can not do another rep or put another pound on the bar.
Let’s start at the top and
work our way down.
For neck you need a neck harness.
Don’t get caught up in trying to build one yourself or try
mimicking one in some McGyver type way. If you want to train neck
buy a harness and do 2-3 sets of 20, twice a week.
Traps respond best to heavy deadlifts
and Olympic lifts. Deadlift once per week (or every 10-14 days
if you are stronger and more advanced) and do cleans once per
week. For deads it’s best to keep the volume low and work
up to one top end set in the range of 3-8 reps. Cleans can be
done for sets across with straight weight for 5-6 sets of 3-6
reps.
If you have a trap bar use it. If you don’t, consider buying
one.
That’s all we use at Renegade.
The majority of people on the planet can not deadlift safely from
the floor while maintaining a neutral spine. That right there
is a bit too risky for my liking unless you plan to compete in
powerlifting. I haven’t let athletes deadlift with a straight
bar for at least ten years and nowadays I don’t anyone pull
from the floor with a straight bar. In fact, most of them even
use the high handles on the trap bar.
If you have a preexisting injury
or condition that prevents you from deadlifting at all, DO NOT
stress out about it. You’ll be fine. Since we are assuming
a low back issue heavy barbell shrugs would probably be out. In
this case I would do dumbbell shrugs and farmers walks. Shrug
one day for 3-5 sets of 8-15 reps and do farmers walks another
for 3-5 sets of 30-60 seconds.
If you can’t do cleans because
of wrist or elbow issues simply stick with dumbbell shrugs and
farmers walks. When you can no longer progress on the dumbbell
shrugs, start over, drop the weight back down by 30% or so and
start doing them with a three second pause at the top.
Those exercises pretty much cover
the upper back also. I would add in face pulls and scarecrows
on the TRX as well if you need more direct work for that area,
however.
For even more mid back thickness
stick with 1 arm dumbbell rows and inverted rows on TRX straps,
ropes, or rings also.
Like Vince Gironda said many moons
ago, the lats can tolerate a lot of work. Chin ups and pull ups
are the only exercises you need to worry about here. Don’t
be afraid to work up to 100 total reps per week, either.
The problem is that most people are too weak to do chin ups and
get nothing out of them.
This is going to come as a shock,
especially coming from me, but I still believe what I wrote 8-10
years ago about this subject when I had far fewer readers…
The lat pulldown is probably more
effective than chins for 90% of people that do them. That’s
because 90% of people do chins for low reps with shitty form.
They basically do them for a five rep max… for multiple sets…
all the time.
Imagine if every time you squatted
you worked up to a 5RM and then did 3-5 more sets with that weight,
forcing yourself to get five reps on each successive set no matter
how ugly they got, going to failure and beyond.
What would happen? Obviously, you
would go nowhere. Which is exactly what happens to everyone who
does a 5RM every time they jump up on the chin up bar. By the
last rep and the second, third and fourth sets they are swinging,
climbing an invisible ladder, poking their chins forward, protracting
their shoulders… it’s very ugly.
Now, I can’t in good conscience
recommend a pulldown because, let’s face it, it’s not
really a badass exercise, nor is it acceptable for people to NOT
do chin ups. When you see a guy do 20 perfect chins you think,
“That’s pretty sick.” When you see a guy do 20
perfect lat pulldowns you continue on your way to water fountain
without giving it a second thought.
What I can recommend is that
unless you can do 10 picture-perfect chin ups or pull ups you
use bands to assist you.
The bands will help you do the reps
with proper technique and allow you to focus on using your lats
and keeping your chest up and shoulders back throughout the set.
They will actually teach you how to do chin ups properly.
They will also train you to be able
to do higher reps. Breathing can be difficult when doing anything
with the arms overhead. So no matter how strong you get at low
rep chins you will never have the capacity to do a lot of reps
if you don’t train with high reps. Bands allow you to get
used to that and allow the lats build up some work capacity and
tolerance for those kinds of sets.
The other reason to use bands on
chin ups is because most muscle groups should be trained with
a variety of rep ranges as I mentioned HERE. One day per week
you can chin heavy for sets of 5-7 reps and another day you can
crank out some band assisted sets of 8-15 reps.
Bottom line? Do chins and pull ups
as your main lat exercises but do them band-assisted, on at least
one workout per week, until you are strong enough to do sets of
10 crisp reps with impeccable technique.
For shoulders you have barbell and dumbbell military presses.
Do barbell presses once per week
and work up to a top end set of 3-8 reps. Press dumbbells overhead
3-5 days later for 2-4 sets of 6-12 reps.
In case I haven’t made it obvious
enough times by now, I hate the bench press. It’s far too
risky for me to recommend to anyone other than powerlifters anymore.
Dumbbells are a far better choice. And weighted, suspended pushups
are even better.
If you’re dead set on pressing
a bar do so at an incline. Optimally this would be done with a
Swiss bar. If you don’t have one stick with the straight
bar. Work up to a top end set of 3-8 reps. Do weighted, suspended
pushups or dumbbell presses 3-5 days later for 2-4 sets of 6-12
reps.
Everyone has heard by now that the greatest biceps exercise in
the world is the barbell curl.
My recommendation is- don’t
do it. I’ve programmed barbell curls in the past but would
never do so again. It’s too stressful on the wrists and can
lead to elbow problems. Stick with dumbbells; supinated and hammer
grip; standing and incline.
Beginners don’t need much in
the way of direct bicep work.
If you’re advanced and want
to bring your arms up don’t be afraid to hit the bi’s
with some volume. They can tolerate and recover from quite a bit.
For most advanced lifters a biceps specialization phase would
entail 5-10 sets of 8-12 reps twice per week. Start on the lower
end of the volume scale and work your way up slowly, assessing
your tolerance and recovery ability as you go.
For everyone else beyond the beginner
level stick with a more moderate volume. Do 2-4 sets of 8-12,
twice per week. One day you can do supinated curls, another day
you can do hammer curls.
Triceps respond best to high loads.
That would put the close grip bench
press at the top of the list (again, preferably done with a Swiss
Bar). I recommend doing it on the floor or off of 2-3 boards to
minimize the shoulder stress. Instead of working up to a top end
set do 3-5 sets across (using the same weight) of 6-10 reps. On
another day do dips for 2-4 sets of 8-15 reps.
If you have shoulder issues that
prevent you from doing dips or presses stick with an angled bar
pushdown and a pullover/ triceps extension combo with dumbbells
or an EZ bar. Do each exercise once per week on separate days,
for 2-4 sets of 8-15 reps.
For abs planks are the best and safest exercise you can do, in
my opinion.
Start with a plank on the floor
and work up to being able to hold it for a bare minimum of 60
seconds. After that gets easy, make them harder by putting your
feet in TRX traps, putting your forearms on a Swiss Ball or by
using only one arm or one leg.
If you are already beyond that level
focus on the Power Wheel rollout and the hanging leg raise. Do
three sets of each on two separate training days per week. Those
are the only two ab exercises you’ll need for the next six
months. Even though Dr. McGill isn’t a fan of the hanging
leg raise I still like it and think it’s a pretty badass
abdominal exercise, provided you have the strength to do it properly.
Getting there will take six months so get started immediately
by doing lying leg raises with bent knees. Work your way up to
doing them with straight legs then progressing to the bar and
going through a series of progressions there.
In 6-12 months you’ll be able
to do perfect sets of straight hanging leg raises. Use a similar
progression on the Power Wheel, working your way up to being able
to doing it on your feet. Until you can do both of those advanced
versions don’t worry about other ab exercises. You’re
good for a year.
The lower back is covered by the
deadlift. Unless you can’t deadlift. In that case you are
going to do 45 degree back raises once or twice a week for 2-5
sets of 10-20 reps.
The legs respond very well to a wide array of rep ranges.
To build the legs we all know that
squats are king. But they are also very taxing on the body and
draining on the CNS. High rep squats build muscle like a mofo
but are too dangerous for most people and take forever to recover
from. I recommend keeping the reps in the 5-10 range most of the
time and working up to one or two top end sets.
After that get your higher rep/
volume work in with something like a kettlebell front squat or
split squat.
For direct hamstring work you can’t
beat the glute ham raise. If you can’t afford a glute ham
bench get the floor model, Partner Glute Ham by Legend Fitness.
I have it and love it. These can be trained twice per week for
2-5 sets of 6-12 reps.
If you can’t squat don’t
worry too much about it. If those are the cards you’re dealt,
accept it and do the best you can. You can get great results with
single leg work, glute hams, sled work and heavy Prowler pushes.
Don’t get caught up in thinking
you absolutely need to squat.
Training shouldn’t be stressful,
it should be fun. The majority of people can’t squat properly
and to be honest, more than half the people that do squat probably
shouldn’t.
That covers individual muscle groups
and body parts. What about speed, power and conditioning?
- Add jumps to your workout once
or twice per week before you train lower body. Stick with box
jumps and hurdle jumps for 3-6 sets of 1-5 reps.
- Medicine ball throws can be done
once a week for similar sets and reps.
- For speed do short sprints with
adequate rest.
- For conditioning run hills or
push the Prowler till the grim reaper comes calling. Pretty
simple stuff.
For variety you could add in some
kettlebell work. Swings one day, snatches the other. Just work
them for ten minutes straight with as little rest as possible
at the end of your workout. And jumping rope never goes out of
style. Go as long as you can, as fast as you can til you need
a break. Repeat for ten minutes.
Stretch often to be healthy and
get out and run, jump and play as often as possible to maintain
your athleticism.
To recap here is your minimalist approach to training:
- Neck- Neck harness
- Traps- Deads, cleans, shrugs,
farmers walks
- Upper back- Face pulls, scarecrows
- Mid back/ Back thickness- 1 arm
dumbbell rows, inverted rows
- Shoulders- Dumbbell and barbell
military presses
- Chest- Dumbbell presses and suspended
pushups
- Biceps- Dumbbell curls; supinated
and hammer grip
- Triceps- Partial range close
grip bench press and parallel bar dips
- Abs- Planks until mastered, then
Power Wheel rollouts and hanging leg raises
- Lower back- 45 degree back raise
- Quads- squats, kettlbell front
squats, split squats
- Hamstrings- glute ham raises
- Power- Hurdle and box jumps,
medicine ball throws
- Speed- Short distance sprints
- Conditioning- Prowler, kettlebell
swings or snatches
- Flexibility- Any kind of stretching,
done as needed (which for most people is more than you do right
now)
- Athleticism- Play
For 3-6 months, focus on simply
getting better at these exercises in the set and rep ranges advised
above and don’t try to reinvent the wheel or change you program
every week.
This is the stuff
that works.
That’s it.
If even that’s too much to
worry about do this three times per week:
Upper body push
Upper body pull
Lower body exercise like a squat or deadlift
Or if you’re going upper/lower:
Upper Body Day 1 & 2- 1 push
and 1 pull for 5-6 sets of 5-10
Lower Body Day 1- 1 squatting variation for one top end set of
5-10, glute hams or back extensions for 2-5 sets of 8-20
Lower Body Day 2- 1 deadlift variation for one top end set of
5-10, single leg squat variation for 2-5 sets of 8-20
That’s all.
CLICK HERE to learn more about Jason's
new muscle-building book
"Minimalist Training"
About
The Author
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Jason Ferruggia is a highly
sought after, world renowned strength and conditioning
specialist. Over the last 15 years he has trained more
than 700 high school, college and professional athletes
from nearly 20 different sports. He is known for his ability
to rapidly increase muscular size, strength, speed and
endurance in all of his clients.
Jason is currently the chief
training advisor for Men’s Fitness magazine where
he also has his own monthly column called The Hard-Gainer.
He has authored over 200 training articles for various
other fitness related websites and magazines such as Men’s
Health, Maximum Fitness, MMA SportsMag, Today’s Man,
Muscle and Fitness Hers and Shape.
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