Got through another great workout this morning - and a pretty simple one at that. Most of my workouts these days consist of only THREE main exercises; yet, my entire body gets a fantastic working over with just these three main exercises. So, I guess you could say my workout is short, sweet and simple - and that, my friend, as with many other things in life is a good thing.
So, what did I do?
As I said, three exercises - and those are: 5x 5 handstand pushups, 4x 5 pull-ups, and the front/back bridge. I did some supplementary grip/balance work as well, but only because I felt like it - not because I had to. And that was that.
Now, just THREE exercises? I'm really getting a great workout (for the entire body) from just THREE exercises?
And the answer is, YES - I AM (short and simple again, but it gets the point across, so hey. . .).
Now, I realize this may be hard to believe for some of the gym going folks that have been practically raised on a diet of "10 sets x 10 for chest", "5 sets of 20 for the 'peak of the biceps' (whatever that may be)", "10 sets of 10 on the leg extension machine", and so forth. But tis true.
In fact, most people - not just the gym "pumpers" - look at me with disbelief when I tell them less is MORE when it comes to working out - and nothing I say would convince them to believe otherwise. Ask them why they believe the opposite though, and the majority won't really know what to say except that Bubba on the internet forum told them, and Bubba's always right, so, uh. . .there it is.
Okay, your choice - but without further ado, I'll give you my reasons behind the short, sweet and simple philosophy.
First off, your body only has so much to give. Unless your a professional athlete, sportsman, or laborer, you'll likely find that you have X amount of time to work out in, and only so much energy to devote to your workout. So doing a gazillion exercises won't work simply because you wont have the time - or ability - to do all of them justice.
Second, and this ties into point #1 - simply doing an exercise is not enough - you must FOCUS on the exercise like there's no tomorrow, and you must complete each rep in letter perfect form. Always strive to get better at what you do. And this is only possible if you have a limited number of exercises to do - it is impossible for anyone, even the most genetically gifted of us to do justice to ALL exercises in humumgous two to three hour daily workouts. And recovering from such workouts is next to impossible as well.
Third, and this is something you need to make a note of - the body responds to HARD work. Doing fewer sets of a TOUGH exercises (or struggling to get even one rep) is FAR better than moseying through a set of an easy exercise just for the "pump". The body doesnt care about how LONG you take to finish an exercise. It DOES care about how hard you work to complete the exercise, and therein lies the secret to increase in strength.
There's more to it as well - but for more details, refer to Fast and Furious Fitness - I've covered this topic in detail there.
The exercises I did today work the entire upper body into the ground if done correctly. Doing handstand pushups is hard for most people, and doing 25 of them in good form will give even the strongest athlete a run for his money. Ditto for pull-ups - and as for the bridging exercises I did, they are advanced variations NOT mentioned in the book, but for those of that you can do it, it will work your entire body - as an unit - into the ground. You may notice there's no direct leg work in that routine - but I've been getting plenty of it via walking, jumping rope and climbing stairs as of late, so there was no need for it today.
The entire routine took about 45 minutes, and I was hammered by the end of it. And there isn't a single body part that I haven't worked - and again, remember, I only did THREE main exercises - and not that many reps either.
And thats pretty much how most of my workouts look like. I might on occasion try and do high rep work, like the 500 pushup workout I've spoken about before, but by and large, I keep it short, sweet and simple - and HARD. And the results speak for themselves.
So to those of you that are pounding away at workouts that go on for pages, and not really getting much in terms of results, you might want to stop and reconsider. Give the short, sweet and simple principle a try - and see how it works for you!
I realize that it may be tough for you at first to put a decent training program together that doesnt ask you to do every exercise under the sun and doesnt take very much time at all to complete - but I've done that for you in Fast and Furious Fitness. This book gives you several sample routines you can use to kick-start your training into high gear almost at once; and for those of you that prefer doing so, you can create your own routine as well with the exercises I mention. Make sure you grab your copy NOW!
So, thats today's message - and in case your training today, make sure you give it your all!!
Best regards,
Rahul
PS: In case you haven't done so already, make sure to reserve your copy of Fast ans Furious Fitness ASAP. Here's that link once again - http://rahulmookerjee.com/index.php/articles/83-fast-and-furious-fitness-the-book.