I want to talk today about getting back to the basics in the gym. I myself admit I have even tried and played around with some exercises at the gym because they ‘look cool’ or claim to ‘engage your core’ or I have seen them on a website and they just look so different and effective. There are a few things okay with this and few things to be weary of. Many trainers and websites out there are just trying to throw all sorts of ‘sexy exercises’ (as the other trainer I work with calls them) in your face to make them look ‘fancy’ Not only are some of these ‘sexy exercises’ ineffective, but furthermore, an average person who just tries to perform this exercise may find themselves injured due to the lack of proper set up , breating and body position.
The internet provides such a wide array of information and much of it is sugar coated with just an overload of TOO MUCH information. We are bombarded with all sorts of workouts, routines, sets, reps, new exercise. One day HIIT may be “in” and the next day we are all about “no cardio, just weights” Well what the heck are we supposed to do with all of the information and theories that we read about?
Some articles you read may claim they are from prestigious doctors, trainers and strength coaches. Others just choose to trust individuals they don’t even know! I have learned that there is NO ONE ELSE that can ‘give you’ information or a ‘perfect workout’ besides yourself getting out there and finding what works for YOU. So you read somewhere that a 5×5 heavy lifting program works for person A. You did the whole routine, followed it to a “T” for 4-6 weeks and you didn’t like the results. “But it worked for Person A” you say to yourself. Yeah, well Person A is a completely unique human being and that workout may just not have been the workout for ‘’you’
There is NO QUICK FIX when it comes to exercise. It takes time to find what you enjoy, what you do not enjoy and what works for you and your body.
Recently, I have been sticking to the basics when it comes to weightlifting. “Back to Basics” as they say. As a trainer, I honestly don’t know why more people just hit the weights ‘back to basics’ style.
For me, back to basics is a “Push, Pull Legs” Split
This split is great for so many reasons
For me, back to basics is a “Push, Pull Legs” Split
This split is great for so many reasons
- It is a very logical way to split up ones muscles groups and physiologically, it also is a split that allows for great muscle recovery so as not to experience overtraining
- When I design a workout routine for a client I like to always keep a few things in mind which are:
- Overall volume throughout the week
- The balance between time spent on each body part
- The overlap of sessions that add to the overall volume of the workout program
- The reason I love the Push, Pull, Legs routine is because it is so incredibly balanced due to the body being split up by PUSHING, PULLING and LEG WORK. The muscles act as agonists (work WITH the other muscles) and there is overlap to ensure you are truly working all muscles.
- In more ‘traditional’ workout routines, you may work chest on one day, shoulders the next or maybe pair biceps with triceps on one day. This essentially would be that you are training upper body three days in a row with little to no rest!
- Like I mentioned before, a Push-Pull-Leg workout avoids that by grouping all the muscles involved in pulling (back, biceps, rear delts, traps, forearms, hamstrings) and all the muscles involved in pushing (chest, triceps, quads, lateral and medial delts) together.
So what are PUSH PULL and LEG exericises?
PUSH: Exercises that push weight away from the body:
- Bench Presses (incline, decline)
- Shoulder Presses (single arm, military)
- Dips
- Skullcrushes
- Lateral raises
PULL: Exercises that push weight toward from the body:
- Back row (cable/dumbbell, TRX)
- Lat Pull down (all varieties)
- Pull ups/chin ups
- Deadlifts (sumo, single leg, conventional)
- EZ bar upright row
LEGS:
- Front squat
- back squat
- Hack Squat
- Sumo Squat
- Deadlifts
- Bulgarian Squats
- SL squats
- Calf raises
