According to Lyle McDonald one of the primary goals of beginning strength/weight training is to “determine optimal exercise selection for targeting individual muscle groups”. And that can only be achieved with hands-on experience.
With that said I think that when it comes to machine and cable exercises I have come a long way in finding out which exercises work out well for me. However, when it comes to barbell exercises, my experience is rather limited. While I have been benching, deadifting and squatting for the past couple of years in Body Pump and Power Step class, it is not quite comparable to when you are working with heavier weights. For one thing, the Body Pump bars don’t even allow for a wide enough grip to properly target the pecs. So my summer project will be to relearn these exercises with the “big boys” equipment.
So for the next six week cycle I’ll be doing a full body workout twice per week with a focus on the heavy compound barbell exercises. Also, I’m reducing the number of exercises so as to keep the volume down a bit. However, to add some flexibility and familiarity I’m including quite a few extra auxiliary exercises which I will include in my workout whenever I feel that I have the extra time or when I feel after completing my main exercises that I still have plenty of strength left in me for a few more sets. Deadlifts and Squats put a lot of pressure on the core and the central nervous system so it may turn out that I won’t need any Crunches or Back Extensions, but as I will eventually progress into some form of split routine I feel that I should at least include them so that I can try them out a few times in advance as they make more sense in a split routine. In fact, the twelve exercises which I have included in this cycle may go completely unchanged into the next cycle in some form of upper/lower body split.
I’ll be aiming for 3 sets of 5 on my main exercises and 2×8-12 on my auxiliary exercises.
| 1. Barbell Squat | 2. Romanian Deadlift |
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| 3. Bench Press | 4. Cable Underhand Pulldown |
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| 5. Barbell Military Press | 6. Barbell Upright Row |
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Pictures from the exercise database at ExRx.net.
Some of you may notice that the exercise selection above is quite similar to Mark Rippetoes Starting Strength Program with the exception that I’ve replaced the Bent Over Row with two vertical rowing motions, the Pulldown and the Upright Row. A more optimal selection would include some form of horizontal row as well, but I feel that my back might not be able to handle it. So I choose the Upright Row as my secondary Rowing exercise as I like to give my Lateral Delts a bit more work.
What worries me is that Sats Jakobsberg doesn’t have a proper Squat Rack. Putting on too heavy and not getting out of the “hole” is not something I want to experience. The same applies for the Bench Press as well, there are no safety racks/bars in the Bench racks at my gym. So for this reason I’m placing these two exercises early in the routine so that at least I’m not fatigued when I do them. When it comes to the dangers associated with Deadlifting, I’m not too worried as I feel that I’m quite good at keeping my back straight so as long as I get the bar of the ground I shouldn’t be hurting myself with that exercise. Another unknown is whether or not I’ll be able to handle both Squats and Deadlifts in the same workout, but as Rip would say:
“Those who argue against squatting and deadlifting on the same day may just be pussies.” Mark Rippetoe
Auxiliary Exercises
The following are my auxiliary exercises. A little extra for the arms, legs and core.
| Cable Pushdown | Cable Curl |
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| Weighted Calf Raise | Lever Lying Leg Curl |
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| Weighted Back Extension | Weighted Crunch |
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Pictures from the exercise database at ExRx.net.
Looks fairly good. Since you mentioned Starting Strength I assume you have the basics on technique down so I won’t go there.
What you are missing are pull ups and chin ups. No matter who you ask they’re highly recommended. If you can’t do them start working towards them next time you hit the gym.
I’m not too sure about the pushdowns. Triceps get hammered pretty good already since you’re doing two hard hitting push exercises. You could replace them with regular pushups as pushups have additional benefits through free scapular movement.
Rather than supplementing with an additional tricep-exercise I’d advice you to take up something that targets the chest, like dumbble flies. This because bench press and military press both strain triceps and deltoids more than they strain pecs.
What I’d also like to add are some supplementary exercises. For legs a few unilateral exercises: the bulgarian split squat and single leg deadlifts. Both do wonders to your mobility (and highlight mobility problems), given that you perform them correctly.
For upper body your pulling stuff seems to lack a bit. To keep your shoulders in check I recommend at least these two: face pulls and band pull-aparts. Adding these two is easy since neither require great effort to do; they’re all about getting to those small muscles the bigger movements won’t cover.
You mentioned your problem about bench press and I share that problem. My solution was simple, replace BP with loaded dips. Another way to avoid the problem is to do bench with dumbbells, and when strength-gains are a goal I’d recommend doing these one arm at a time. Allows you to focus more.
And see that example of back extension? Wouldn’t do that. When it comes to the lumbar spine you want to avoid flexion, as most problems occur because of lower back flexion. Back extension isn’t a bad exercise per se, you just want to do the exercise with a straight back.
To finish off, I’d like to point you to the routine I’ve used for a while (though with a few modifications of my own):
http://www.tmuscle.com/free_online_article/sports_body_training_performance/how_to_build_pure_strength
Very simple and as far as I can tell, also effective.
I guess that’s about it. Hopefully you’ll get a few ideas out of this mass of text.
Thanks for your reply, Ohikulkija.
The underhand pulldown is actually me working my way to chinups. I just sort of like to take things one step at a time.
The pushdown is not something I plan to do every workout. You are right that the triceps are worked pretty hard with all the pressing, so most of the time I will not be doing these auxiliary exercises.
When it comes to unilateral movements, this is something I have thought about a lot lately as it seems I can do high repetition dynamic lunges fairly easily, but for some reason I struggle a lot with any form of static lunges (split squats). So that is certainly something I will have to work more on the future.
Benching is intimidating, but it’s mostly because of how embarrassing it is to get pinned down and having to ask someone to help you (which in fact happened to me last week as I completely misjudged how much I could increment the weights). But that is sort of the charm of it as well, doing things outside of your comfort zone can be quite rewarding.
I agree, when it comes to form, ExRx is a bit of hit and miss, so for back extensions I follow this: http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/training/back-extension-technique.html I don’t believe rounding of the low back is bad as long as you give your back enough time to adapt. I already work my lower back isometrically with the Romanian deadlift, I added the back extension as a means to get some extra dynamic work for the spinal erectors and that means rounding the lower back.
If I had to guess I would say that your problem with controlled lunging movements originates form weak hip musculature. When you do the movement dynamically you power through the bits where the stabilizers need to kick in.
The important part is to recognize what the actual problem is and how to deal with it (I for one have tight hip flexors and weak adductors).
Hip mobility issues will haunt you (more accurately, they’ll haunt your knees and lower back) if not dealt with. For example mobility issues make regular squats quite hazardous to your joints. It’s a very complex matter so I’d advice you to search for anything and everything written by Eric Cressey. He has made a ton of articles on hip mobility and produced a couple of relevant DVDs as well.
I understand your plan for attaining the pull up, it is a logical one. Just be aware that many have gone down the same path but never managed to do pull ups because they didn’t actually start training the movement. So whenever you find it convenient start doing band assisted pull ups and negative pull ups.
I also understand the logic behind doing back extensions. But I’d still advice you to do them with a straight back. The primary job of the core is to keep the spine stable. Your spine doesn’t exactly like it when you put it repeatedly into flexion. Same goes for regular crunches as well. You can look up Stuart McGill’s work, an expert on lower back issues, he explains this more thoroughly.
Actually, here’s an article on ab-training that got just released and it also touches on this subject: http://www.tmuscle.com/free_online_article_issue/issue_631#unconventional-workout-abs
Doing crunches and back extensions with spine flexion won’t kill you, they’ll even get you results, but there are better alternatives around. Look into it.
Thanks for the tips, adding that article to my ever growing backlog of stuff to read :)