Ultra-FIT magazine

To make progress in their training, bodybuilders have developed a number of techniques and training systems that they can use to work their muscles more and more intensely. These systems have gained popularity with recreational exercisers looking for ways to make their workouts more challenging and effective. Drop sets are one such training system.

Why Perform Drop Sets?
When you are performing an exercise, there usually comes a point where you will be unable to continue because your muscles become exhausted. Although you may be too tired to lift the current weight that you are using, you still have some muscle fibers that are, as yet, unused. Drop sets allow you to recruit those unused muscle fibers and continue your set beyond where you normally would have had to stop.

How to Perform Drop Sets
Performing drop sets is a simple process of reducing your working weight as your become more fatigued. If you were performing dumbbell curls with, for example, 40 lbs, you may manage to complete 8 repetitions before reaching muscular failure and having to stop. At this point, drop the dumbbells you are using and immediately select 30 lbs dumbbells and perform more repetitions. Continue performing reps until you are unable to carry on. At this point you would drop weight again and pick up 20 lbs dumbbells and perform a final group of reps until you are unable to continue. This constitutes a double drop set as the weight was reduced twice. You can reduce the weight as many times as you want but two to three drops is the norm.

Exercise suitability
Not every exercise is suitable for drop sets. Because the reduction in weight has to be achieved quickly, ideally providing you with no more than a five second break, it’s important to be selective with your exercise choices. Resistance machines and dumbbells lend themselves well to drop sets whereas barbells do not as it may take too long to remove weights from both ends of the bar.

Drop Set Benefits
Drop sets allow you to utilize more of your muscles fibers during an exercise and therefore increase the intensity of your workout. A harder workout will lead to increased muscular endurance and also muscle hypertrophy. Hypertrophy describes the process of building your muscles to make them bigger. Drop sets are a valuable tool for anyone looking to increase the intensity and challenge of their workouts.

Drop Set Draw Backs
Because drop sets extend your set beyond its normal point of termination, it challenges your muscles to work much harder than usual. This added workout intensity can result in severe muscle soreness. Drop sets are an advanced training method and should be used conservatively until your muscles are ready. Avoid using drop sets too frequently as your muscles may become overtrained and unable to recover from the demands of your workout.

10 x 1 x 3 circuit

Ten exercises, one minute per exercise and three sets in total? It’s easy to see how this workout got its name. Work your way down the list and when you get to the end, rest a moment and then repeat. You can adjust the timings and the number of laps if necessary but then it won’t be called the 10 x 1 x 3 workout anymore…

Skipping – any style of skipping will do so long as you keep going. If you can’t skip, perform jumping jacks instead

Press ups – on your toes or knees, make sure your chest touches the floor

Med ball slams – take the ball overhead and, using both arms, throw it down at the floor just in front of your feet. Catch it as it rebounds and then repeat

Burpees – with or without press ups and/or jumps as appropriate

Crunches – lie on your back with your legs bent to 90 degrees. Hands on your temples, raise your upper body and touch your elbows to your knees. Return to the start position and repeat

Kettlebell swings – two handed swing from between your knees up to shoulder-height. Use your hips to dive the kettlebell up and forwards rather than your arms and do not allow your lower back to become rounded

Dorsal raises – lie on your front with your hands clasped behind your lower back. Lift your chest and shoulders off the floor while keeping your feet down. Do not over extend your back as this can lead to injury

Box jumps – using an 16-24 inch box or bench, with your feet together, jump up and onto the box and then step down

Bench dips – using an exercise bench or similar, bend your arms and lower your butt down towards the floor. The further your feet are away from you, the more demanding this exercise becomes

Lunges – alternating legs rep by rep, keep your torso upright and focus on pushing back up dynamically off your leading leg

 

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Ton up chipper

There is something magical about performing 100 reps of any exercise – a real sense of physical and psychological achievement. In this workout, you get to experience the magic not once but five times!

Chip away at the rep totals in any order you like until you have completed all the prescribed reps. Try to keep moving and avoid long rests as this workout is against the clock!

Some exercises are easier than others so it’s probably best you use these easy exercises as a “break” from the more demanding ones.

1. 100 reps press ups – chest to the floor, perform full or kneeling press ups as appropriate

2. 100 reps sit ups – legs bent, feet flat on the floor

3. 100 reps squats – bend knees to 90 degrees; do not round your back

4. 100 reps burpees – with or without the press up and/or jump as appropriate

5. 100 reps lunges (50 per leg) – keep your torso upright, alternate legs rep by rep

Zercher complex

Zercher refers to holding a weight in the crook of your bent elbows. Normally associated with barbell exercises, the Zercher position can be used just as well with a sandbag. The difference between holding a weight in the Zercher position compared to across your chest or behind your shoulders is that the weight is below and in front of your centre of gravity which means your butt and hamstrings must work overtime. Bottom line? Zercher’s will turn your butt into steel!

Perform 5 repetitions of each exercise without pausing in between…

Zercher Lunge – with the weight held in the crook of your elbows and close to your abdomen, take a large step forwards, bend your legs and lower your back knee to the floor. Spring back up to the starting position and then perform another rep leading with your opposite leg. Perform the prescribed number of reps on EACH leg.

Zercher good morning – with your feet hip-width apart and your knees slightly bent, push your butt backwards and hinge forwards from your hips while keeping your chest up and back tightly arched. Lean as far forwards as you can without rounding your lower back. Stand back up and repeat.

Zercher squats – move your feet out to shoulder-width apart. Squat down until your knees are bent to 90 degrees. Stand back up and repeat.

Once you have completed the Zercher sequence, rest a moment and then repeat the triad but this time perform 10 repetitions per exercise. Rest again and then complete the same circuit but perform 15 reps per exercise. For your last two sets, cut the rep count by five each cycle to finish the workout where you started; five reps per exercise.

Your rep count (per circuit) should look like this: 5/10/15/10/5

As Zerchers do place some pressure on the inside of your elbows, wrap the bar in a towel to make the exercises more comfortable.

Wide to narrow stance workout

The width of your hand or foot position can change the entire feel of an exercise. In this workout, the width of your stance changes as the session progresses to ensure you work your muscles from a variety of angles.

Perform 6 reps of each exercise to 18 reps per set. Adjust this figure if these numbers do not suit your current level of fitness.

Perform the exercise as a three lap circuit – press ups/squats/pull ups or, if you prefer, perform three sets of each before moving on.

Press ups (on toes or knees as appropriate)
Diamond press ups – fingers touching, lower your chest to your hands
Shoulder width press ups – hands directly under shoulders
Wide press ups – hands 1.5 shoulder widths apart

Squats
Wide squats – feet 1.5 shoulder-width apart
Parallel squats – feet shoulder-width apart
Narrow squats – feet hip-width apart

Pull ups (substitute lat pull downs as necessary)
Wide overhand pull ups – hands wider the shoulder-width apart
Narrow overhand pull ups – hands shoulder-width apart
Narrow underhand pull ups – hands together, palms under

Sledgehammer and tire workout

A sledgehammer and tire might seem like unlikely equipment choices for a workout but fighters and fitness fanatics have been using them for years to burn fat, develop muscular endurance and improve overall conditioning. Not only that, you get to hit something really hard and not get arrested so what’s not to like…?

Perform each exercise for 60 seconds to total five minutes of work. Rest for 1-2 minutes on completion and then repeat. Aim for three to five sets in total.

Sledgehammer swings – take your hammer and hit the tire as hard as you can using an overhead swing. Try to alternate which shoulder you swing the sledgehammer from to ensure you develop both sides of your body evenly. Work gloves may be useful if you want to keep your hands nice and soft.

In and out jumps – jump into the centre of your tire and then jump up and out so you land with your feet apart on the side walls. Think of this as a power-packed jumping jack!

Tire flips – standing outside your tire, squats down and grab the underside or the outer edge. Use your arms and legs to “flip” the tire over. Take a step forwards (the tire should have moved away from you) and repeat. Try not to round your lower back.

Jumping toe touches – stand next to your tire and place your foot flat on the side wall. Jump and switch legs so your opposite foot is now on the tire. Continue jumping and switching legs for the duration of the set.

Tire deadlifts – stand inside your tire and squat down. Grab the inside of the tire. Using your legs and hips but keeping your arms straight, stand up and lift the tire off the floor. Lower it back to the floor and repeat.

Deck of cards workout number two

For this workout you need a standard deck of cards including jokers, a stopwatch or timer and some space.

Shuffle your deck of cards and place it face down. Each suit has an exercise allocated to it…

Diamonds = V sits
Hearts = Squats
Clubs = Jumping jacks
Spades = Press ups

Turn over the first card and perform repetitions to match the cards face value e.g. 10 of hearts = 10 squats, 5 of diamonds = 5 V sits etc. All picture cards = 12 reps and jokers = 1 minute of abdominal planks.

Storm through the entire pack as fast as you can or until a pre-designated time (e.g. 20 minutes) as elapsed.

The exercises

V Sits – Lie on your back with your legs straight and your arms extended above your head. Raise your feet and simultaneously lift your arms and reach up and touch your toes. Your body should resemble a V shape when viewed from the side. Lower your arms and legs and repeat.

Squats – with your feet shoulder-width apart, push your hips back; bend your knees and squat down so your knees are bent to 90 degrees. Stand back up and repeat.

Jumping jacks – stand with your feet together and your hands by your sides. Jump your feet out to shoulder-width apart and raise your arms out and up to shoulder-height. Jump your feet back in and lower your arms. Perform the designated number of repetitions.

Press ups – with your hands on the floor placed shoulder-width apart, rest on your toes or knees. Bend your arms and lower your chest to within an inch of the floor. Push back up and repeat.

In part one of this series, we told you what strength was and why you needed to develop yours. In this article we’ve provided you wiht a twice a week basic strength training programme

Warm up by performing 5-10 minutes of light cardio plus dynamic stretches such as leg swings, arm circles, bodyweight squats and lunges. If you are unsure about how to perform any of the exercises listed below make sure you get some expert advice to avoid the risk of injury. As the weights used are substantial, it’s very important to make sure you have an experienced “spotter” or training partner on hand in case you should fail on any particular exercise.

Because strength training requires such long rest periods between sets, it is quite acceptable to arrange your exercises into “lazy supersets”. In other words rather than sit and rest for 5 minutes between sets of squats, alternate between 1 set of squats and 1 set of bench press to make the most use of your training time. This will essentially half the time to have to spend in the gym as you’ll be making constructive use of your rest periods.

Day 1 (e.g. Monday)

Squats – front or back squats

Chin ups – body weight or weighted

Bench press – barbell or dumbbell, flat or inclined

Bicep curls – seated or standing, barbell or dumbbell

Perform 3-5 sets of 5 reps, increasing the weight set by set with the last set being the hardest

(48 – 72 hours later)

 Day 2 (e.g. Thursday)

Dead lifts – traditional or sumo style

Shoulder press – seated or standing, barbell or dumbbell

Bent over row – barbell or dumbbell

Tricep dips – bench or parallel bar version

Perform 3-5 sets of 5 reps, increasing the weight set by set with the last set being the hardest

Cool down by performing 5-10 minutes of light cardio plus static stretches held for 15 – 30 seconds per major muscle group.

So now you know how strength training can benefit you and how to implement it into your training week. All that’s left is to warm up and hit the gym! Time spent strength training, especially in the off season, will pay dividends come competition time.

Each Friday, we publish a newsletter which covers a host of topics depending on the authors state of mind. A few months ago the topic was superheros and strength so in case you missed it, here here it is again…

Ultra-FIT editor John Shepherd told me to write these weekly bulletins from the heart and, he said, so long as they are interesting and informative, I can write about whatever fitness and health related topics I like so with that in mind, I’d like to talk about a movie I saw recently. Now before you start thinking that I have missed the whole “fitness and health” instruction bear with me…

I like movies with superheroes. I was brought up on a televisual diet of Batman and Superman and also loved comics featuring Spider-man, the Hulk and Captain America. Living in Cyprus we are often a bit behind the times with movie release dates so this weekend I finally got to see the good Captain on the silver screen – in 3D no less!

This got me thinking about superheroes and super powers and I realised that the one commonality between all of my favourite characters is their super-strength. The reason they can conquer evil and vanquish foes is not their ability to wear their pants outside their tights or look dandy in a cape but their honest-to-goodness brute strength. This got me thinking about strength and everyday life.

In the fitness industry, we put a lot of emphasis on aerobic fitness and the health benefits it provides. Just about everyone, trainers and trainees, knows that they need to perform 20 to 30 minutes of cardio three or more times a week to improve and then maintain cardiovascular health. Look around any gym and you’ll see the majority of exercisers plodding away on treadmills or leaping around in group exercise classes and it’s no bad thing. But what about strength?

While cardiovascular fitness is important for sports such as running, it is less important in daily life than strength. Having a giant-sized heart and lungs like balloons won’t help you get the lid of a jam jar, lift your groceries out of the boot of your car and get the gardening done.

As we age, we naturally lose muscle mass and subsequently lose strength. This loss of muscle and strength can ultimately result in the inability to get out of a chair or out of bed unassisted. Age-related muscle loss, called sarcopenia, can have a very negative effect on quality of life.

There is no denying that cardiovascular fitness is important but strength is equally vital for ensuring we live a long and productive life. The bottom line is that extra strength makes virtually every aspect of your life better. From increasing bone mass to improving insulin sensitivity, elevating your metabolism, improving your posture and maybe even allowing you to fight super-villains – increased muscular strength can add tremendous quality to your life, especially in your later years.

Okay, so I might not be donning a cape and leaping tall buildings in a single bound but I do want to live a life that is not dependent of stair-lifts, bath hoists and other devices designed to make up for a lack of strength. This means that strength training is every bit as important as cardio. Cardio gets all the credit for health benefits but strength will allow you to make the most of your increased health by allowing your body to work to its fullest potential.

So how do you develop strength? Simple – lift weights. Strive to lift slightly heavier weights on a week by week basis and focus on these six “cornerstone” lifts: Squats, deadlifts, bench press, bent over rows, pull downs/pull ups and bench press. This “super-six” exercises works virtually every muscle in your body and can be performed using barbells or dumbbells. Simply perform three of the “super-six” at the beginning of your training week and the remaining three a few days later.

Spending an hour a week developing your strength may mean you avoid years of weakness and decrepitude. Don’t ditch the cardio – it’s essential for your health, but remember that like a super-hero stripped of his strength, you’ll miss your muscles when they are gone and when you find you lack the strength to get out of a chair without assistance, you’ll surely wish you did a few more squats when you had the chance.

Up, up and away…!

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An age old argument – which is better for fitness…free weights or weight training machines? It’s not a simple question that’s for sure as there are so many variables to consider. Instead of trying to provide a definitive answer to an impossible question it’s better to look at the pros and cons of both and let you, the user, decide…

Free weights (dumbbells, barbells, medicine balls, sandbags, kettlebells etc) are very versatile. With a selection of free weights you can have a great all over body workout in minimal space. It’s hard to think of a muscle or muscle group that can’t effectively be trained using free weights. BUT – when using free weights you also have to consider safety. If you fail during a set of bench press you had best hope your training partner is alert otherwise severe injury may occur and heaven forbid something goes wrong when you are doing heavy squats with a barbell across your shoulders. When that goes wrong it goes REALLY wrong! Add into the equation that many free weight exercises have a high skill component and you can see that as versatile as free weights are there can sometimes be considered high risk.

Machines on the other hand are much lower risk – at least in the short term. Dropping the weight during a set of lat pull downs may cause a crash but no one is likely to get hurt. However, if a machine isn’t set up correctly or doesn’t suit an individual because of seat height, lever position or limb length, with repeated use over time a machine could cause chronic problems especially in the shoulders, hips or knees. Machines are generally not as versatile are free weights as you can normally only perform 1 exercise per machine but you can change the weight quickly making them suitable for a large number of users. In the end, rather that worry about which is best, the question is which one is best for YOU. Each training method should be judged on its own merits and remember, they are just tools. And who says you have to use one or the other? Use what you like; discard what you don’t – argument solved!