Life today is hectic. I’m sure you would agree.
If we could squeeze a few more hours into our day, we would and still feel like we didn’t get everything accomplished. To make things even more challenging on top of our job(s) and family, we also need time to move and sweat.
Lifting weights and exercise is an important part of my lifestyle and if you’re reading this, yours too!
For one reason or another, I am finding myself cramped for gym time that makes my previous full-length workouts impossible. Those old college days offering hours of freedom to exercise are gone for most of us.
I have a solution for you. Below you will find a hardcore total body workout that can be done in less than a half hour that still delivers the muscle mass you’re after.
When a lack of the customary training time in the gym becomes evident, it should never become an excuse for procrastinating or missing workouts completely. Don’t become one of the statistics.
Do what I call Slam Training (brief and brutal workouts which take no more than 20-30 minutes).
Here is a slam training routine for behemoth muscle bulk and power that will maintain your existing level of development, until you can once again return to your previous optimum workouts (and even if you can’t).
Within the structure of this workout, I suggest that you use four basic exercises – Barbell bench press, Barbell bent over rows, Barbell back squats and 45º (machine) Leg presses.
It seems the best sequential order of doing the exercises is to begin with the Bench press, next do the Squat, follow it with the Rowing and finish up with the Leg press. Performed in this manner, you are able to partially rest the upper torso while working the legs and then let the legs grab some needed rest as you do the upper body exercise(s).
You don’t have time for long rests between sets and exercises; neither can you afford as high reps as you might like. So work with five or six reps each set with no rest or as little as possible.
Begin the series or exercises by doing 5-6 reps in the barbell bench press with about one-half of your usual exercise poundage; without a pause, do 5-6 reps in the barbell back squat with approximately two-thirds of the usual exercise poundage.
Be sure to squat down only as far as knee and lower back integrity and flexibility will allow. Move on to the barbell bent over rows, again for 5-6 reps with one-half of the usual exercise poundage. Still with no rest, blast out 5-6 reps in the 45º Leg presses (on a machine) with two-thirds of you regular exercise poundage. This completes the first series!
There are five more series to go and so you may take a breather, but it must be only long enough to change weights for each proceeding series.
Series two: Increase poundage ten to twenty percent on each exercise, doing another 5-6 reps of each.
Series three: The weight jump factor follows that of the above series (2).
Series four: On this series, increase the poundage so that the absolute most weight can be used in each of the four exercises for 5-6 maximum repetitions.
Series five: Decrease the poundage used in the above series by ten percent and do 5-6 continuous reps.
Series six: Again reduce the poundage used in series five and do as many “burn-out” repetitions as you possibly can, to complete failure.
Going through a single series of the four exercises, and preparing the weight jumps when either moving up or down will take about two and a half minutes. On your limit sets (series four), it may take a bit longer, but you can still finish the six series in 20 minutes.
Always rest the total body one or two days between workouts!!!
