- Focus on exercises that require core activation & stabilization
- Use exercises that train the major movements of the body such as pushing, pulling, pressing, twisting, squatting & lunging. Don't train an isolated muscle--your brain never isolates muscles in normal life!!
- Begin with stabilizing bilaterally (or both sides) to stabilizing unilaterally (one side)
- Strengthen the muscles of the posterior chain (backside of the body) about 2x as much as the front (for enhanced sports performance or counteracting an excessive sitting lifestyle--so pretty much everyone!)
- Encourage MOBILITY and STABILITY (being flexible yet stable)
- Keep it intense--move rapidly from one exercise to the next
The last point is imperative. To get the most out of your workout it is important that the intensity is HIGH. What does this mean? You should be sweating, breathing hard, experiencing an increased heart rate, and desperately wanting a break (but keep working though!). When your workout is this intense, it will only take you about 30-45 minutes to reap some serious benefits. One of the benefits is what we call Excessive Post-exercise Oxygen Consumption (EPOC), or in other words, an increased metabolism for a longer period of time after your workout. So sometimes up to 48 hours after a workout of this intensity you will experience an elevated metabolism. You'll be burning more calories!!
With all that said, I'm currently designing a program for some friends that are at about the same experience level that I am, so I'm going to join them in their training. It's going to be tough and it will look something like this:
Monday: Weights A
Tuesday: Circuit A
Wednesday: Weights B
Thursday: Rest
Friday: Weights A
Saturday: Circuit B or Sprint Training
Sunday: Rest
The following week will be Weights B, Weights A, and Weights B on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday respectively.
Both Weights A and Weights B will be about 6 exercises for either upper body (A) or lower body (B) or both that involve the movements I described above in a circuit training format. (You would perform 2 exercises back to back until you get all the sets and then move on.) Even though it might be an "upper body" type day, the lower body is doing A LOT of stabilizing, balancing, and thrusting, and vice versa. Lots of power stuff too, like dumbbell push-presses and dumbbell snatches. The core will definitely be getting a lot of attention because, for example, with intense exercises where the upper body is the primary mover but the lower body is stabilizing, the core has to provide support to make it all happen correctly.
For Circuit A and Circuit B, these are cardio circuits that involve 10-45" intervals of work and rest of power type exercises that involve the entire body. For example, perform medicine ball vertical tosses for 45", rest for 45", then lunge jumps for 45", rest for 45", then T-pushups for 45", rest 45", then dumbbell swings, etc. for a total of about 5-6 minutes. Then you'd repeat after a good 3-5 minute rest. Repeat the circuits for a total of 30-40 minutes.
The Sprint Training workout would be very similar to the circuit workouts. Sprint for 30", rest for 30", 20" or 10", depending on your ability to recover. Or you could do 60/30" (60" sprint, 30" rest), or 40/20", etc...you get the idea...
INTENSE!!
So if you have a good fitness base and are looking to step it up a whole level, do a workout like this. And always keep the general principles of program design in mind when going through your workout.
