Fit Geek

A few months ago I mentioned that I was changing my workout routine. It’s usually good to switch things up, and I definitely learned a few things from it.

At the time of the switch I was working out 4x a week doing an upper and lower body split. Cardio was usually Bodyrock or something similar twice a week. Before that, I had been doing 3 heavy full-body workouts a week.

When I changed my routine, I decided to do Jamie Eason’s Livefit program. It lasts for three months, with the first two months being dedicated to building mass and the last month to cutting (fat loss). Honestly, I didn’t make it to the third phase because my diet was not on point, but more on that later.

Obviously, girl knows what she's doing.

Source

The first month was pretty easy for me to adapt to because it was an upper and lower body split, which is what I had been doing anyway. The only difference was that there were more exercises and I had to raise the reps and lower the weights. I quickly realized that I was not a fan of doing that because of some ridiculous ego issues that are tied into how much weight I can move.

The second month had me doing a body-part split, which is where you work only one or two muscle groups a day, 5 to 6 days out of the week. The goal is to put on muscle mass. This was the first time I’d ever done a body-part split, and I feel like focusing so much on hypertrophy (gaining muscle) made me lose some strength.

More muscles, plz!

I know that seems counter-intuitive, but my focus before this program was doing lots of compound movements and staying within the 5-8 rep range for the most part. Now I was doing a lot of isolation work (but still doing some compound movements, just not as many) at higher reps and for a much higher volume of exercise per body part. I was also using more machines than I was used to.

Here’s an example of strength loss:
Squats. Before I was doing 4×4 of 125 lbs. I haven’t even tried to go that heavy in months because I’ve been doing higher reps. I record just about every lift that I do in my phone, so I know that a few months ago I was squatting 3 sets of 10 reps for 110 lbs. I’ve moved up to 110 lbs again and I’m almost reaching failure by the 8th rep.

One of the most challenging things for me was dealing with the dramatic increase of exercise volume per body part. When I was doing an upper and lower body split, I’d work each muscle group about twice per session, for a total of 4 exercises per week per muscle group. Although the volume was kind of low, it allowed to me lift heavier. With the Livefit program I was doing something like 6-8 exercises per body part in one day. By the third exercise I felt like my strength was zapped. But I stuck with it because I’ve been wanting to put on more muscle for a long time, and if this is how it’s done then I’m gonna do it!

By the end of a chest day, I could barely do any push-ups.

Now I didn’t move into the fat loss phase of the program because I knew I wasn’t going to be able to tighten my diet. Instead I decided to take advantage of the fact that I was eating at a surplus every few days and stay in the muscle-building phase for maximum gains.

I *think* I may have put on some muscle mass. But 1) it’s difficult for women, especially someone who is experienced at lifting weights and a hard-gainer to begin with, to put on muscle in just two months. And 2) I can’t really tell how much muscle, if any, I gained unless I lose some fat. Right now my body fat percentage is a bit too high to see any real definition. Despite that, my arms and shoulders seem a little more muscular, but that just might be fat

So, I still think the Livefit program is a good one for changing your physique. However I like my workouts to be a little more well-rounded and athletic. For my own preferences, things like chin-ups, heavy squats and deadlifts, glute-ham raises, pistols and bench presses (although Livefit had plenty of those) should be the main emphasis of the workout. More free weights and more things that challenge your CNS (central nervous system) and balance…yeah, that’s my motto.

As of right now I’m still doing a body-part split, but I’m putting more emphasis on doing heavier compound exercises. One day I will probably go back to doing full-body workouts because I feel like I was the strongest and most athletic during that phase. And even though I wasn’t doing much cardio, my aerobic endurance was through the roof. But alas, I want more muscles, so for now a body-part split it is. Stay tuned to see what happens!

Because I made it to the gym bright and early today!

I am so glad I put up that post yesterday. If I didn’t, I’m not sure I would have made it to the gym this morning. But fortunately, I was able to drag my tuchus out of bed in time to squeeze in a workout.

So there I was, doing a bent-over one-arm row, eavesdropping on the conversation going on next to me. For the record, don’t ever repeat anything you don’t want heard in a gym, because I listen to EVERYTHING. Just as the walls have ears, so do the little, unassuming girls in the weight room.

Anyway, two guys are talking, and one is a trainer at the gym. I’ve seen him there for years, but I’ve never actually spoken to him. Despite that fact, I still formulated a vague impression of his personality–granted a very superficial one. He’s a trainer. At Bally. And he’s pretty muscular and wears tight shirts. I guess that was enough for me to assume that he was probably a douche. I’m not proud of this line of thinking, but it’s the truth.

But back to the conversation. They’re talking about some guy who broke up with a girlfriend that was supporting him. Gym trainer guy says some surprisingly insightful things. Perhaps I’m a little jaded from hearing so many “hit that shit and dip” conversations at the gym, but I was actually impressed by his maturity.

“You should never have to rely on your significant other, because you never know when it’s going to end. Whether you’re a guy or a girl, you should make your own bread.” Alright, so that’s not exactly the biggest epiphany, but the next part is what caught my attention. “The secret is to learn to be happy with nothing. Then when something good comes along it’s even better. I’m happy when I’m alone, but when I have a nice girlfriend I’m even happier.” Very true words. Sorry I thought you might’ve been a douche, dude.

And if you’re curious about the weight I used, here it is:

Reverse push-ups (I opted for these instead of assisted pull-ups because I was dead tired) – 3×10 @ body weight

Superset:
Bent-over barbell row – 3×8 @ 75 lbs
Seated cable row – 3×8 @ 70 lbs first rep, 75 lbs last two reps

Wide grip lat pulldown – 3×10@ 70 lbs, 75 lbs and 80 lbs respectively
One-arm dumbbell row – 3×8 @ 40 lbs
Hammer strength lat pull – 3×10 @ 90 lbs first rep, 110 lbs last two reps
Back extensions – 3×8 @ 10 lbs

I didn’t wake up early enough to do cardio, so that’ll have to come later. Did it!

The annoying interesting thing about this style of working out is that I have to go lighter with the weight because I’m doing much more volume for the working body part in one day. For a long time I did a full-body workout three times a week. With that kind of split I was hitting every muscle group only once per workout, but I was really hitting it hard. I was able to do that because each muscle group was fresh with every exercise I went in to. So I’d do some heavy squats, then chin-ups or bent-over rows and bench presses and I’d be moving some slightly impressive numbers (for my size). With my current body-part split, I’m pretty fatigued by the third exercise. It’s good that I’m changing things up. Hopefully I get some decent gains from this!

Did I bore you enough with that geekery? Too bad!

Tomorrow there will be another dosage of geekery with a post about sprinting.

PS. Coffee and I kind of got back together. Don’t judge me!

My ass hurts. A lot.

And it hurts from doing “teh fun stuff.”

To me, that means working out really hard. I don’t know WTF it means to you, perv.

I love being sore from a good workout, but it’s something that so rarely happens. I’m used to working out so it takes a lot to get me to experience DOMS (delyed onset muscle soreness). Thanks to a recent change in my workout split, I am now walking like a zombie. Or a nazi. (I am neither, for the record.)

A workout split simply means how you split up your workout. Different splits are helpful depending on what your goals are. Keep in the mind that which ever split you choose, you should avoid working the same muscle group on consecutive days. For example, if you work your back on Tuesday, you should wait till Thursday to work it out again.

Examples of different splits are:

Full body (not technically a “split” but whatever):
I originally wrote that this one is good for beginners, but it’s actually good for just about anyone. This is where you work every muscle group in your body in one session. An example would be squat (lower body), bench press (chest), bent over row (back), overhead press (shoulders) done Monday, Wednesday, Friday. Using a lighter load is good for burning fat. Going heavier is good for developing strength. What makes this type of routine so effective is how taxing it is on your body. The main drawback is that you can’t give concentrated attention to certain body parts.

Upper body/lower body:
Good for people who have a decent strength/muscle foundation and want to add more mass or fine-tune certain body parts. An example of a routine would be: Monday – Upper body. Tuesday – Lower body. Wednesday – rest. Thursday – Upper body. Friday – Lower body. This type of split gives you a higher training volume for body parts which is good for building muscle (granted that you lift heavy enough.) It’s also less tiring than doing a full-body workout.

Body part:
This is a bodybuilder-style workout meant to add mass and further fine-tune certain body parts. You only work one body part a day. Example: Monday – chest, Tuesday – back, Wednesday – shoulders, Thursday – legs & abs, Friday – arms. You get a very high volume per body part with this split. This is the one I’m doing now.

Synergistic split:
Also known as a push-pull split. This is when you do a split based around the muscles that work together. One day you would work back and biceps (pull) and the next you’d do chest, triceps, and shoulders (push). You could do legs on their own day, or you could add glutes/hamstrings to your back day, and do quads on your chest/tricep day. I prefer to work legs all in one shot, but that’s just me. Synergistic splits are also good for getting more size.

Antagonistic split:
Similar to synergistic split, only you are working muscle groups that aren’t related. For example: back and triceps, chest and biceps, back and legs, etc. This split is also good for gaining mass. The main benefit is that you’re not going to fatigue as easily because you’re working different muscle groups instead of repeatedly using the same ones. I’ve never done this type of split before though, so my knowledge of it is limited.

Full body workouts have the potential to give you the athletic skinny or fit & ripped build. Fit & built and bodybuilder dude probably use body part or synergistic splits.

So with that said, which is the best type of split? Well, it depends on your goals. But I think trying out all of them and seeing what you like the most is the best path to go down. A lot of people argue that body-part splits are better for gaining mass, but I think that as long as you progressively lift heavier weights, you will gain mass despite whatever split you’re doing. The key is going heavier. If you’re squatting 135 lbs for 6 months, you’re not going to see many gains in strength or size because that’s what your body is used to.

My favorite routine is full body. I gained a lot of strength doing that, and some muscle mass as well. As I mentioned, I’m trying out the body-part split for a little more muscle, so we’ll see how that goes. My ass isn’t happy about it, but I am.

This back is brought to you by overhead lighting and mostly full-body workouts.

More tips for putting together your own strength program:

• Decide what your goal is and pick a split.
• Make sure you hit all muscle groups. Ladies, that means don’t neglect your chest. Don’t worry. You’re not going to get man-pecs or lose your boobs. The only thing that will make you lose your boobs is losing fat.
• Start off with larger muscle groups and move to smaller ones. For example, on an upper body day you should work your chest and back first, then move to arms and shoulders.

Time for me to go back to rubbing my ass ^_^