With the popularity of The WeekEND Workout article I wrote a few years back I thought I would switch gears and fit our workouts into most of our work-weeks, so we could be more productive  during the week and have the weekend to kickback with our family.

For a lot of us busy dads trying to stay fit it’s not that we can’t find time to squeeze in 3 or 4 workouts during the week but it’s trying to string together a consecutive hour or two during the work day to complete our workout.

Because let’s face it, most serious workouts usually take an hour to complete after you factor in a proper warmup, a few warmup sets for each exercise and then some cooldown stretching. Then if you prefer to train at a gym, you have to tack on time for commuting and hitting the showers.

But if you’re like me you love how better you feel on the days you DO workout; before, during and after, so recently I bumped my training up from 3 days a week to 4 but cut my workouts almost in half by hacking away the time wasters and focusing on just ONE lift a day during my workout. This took my workouts from 60 minutes to 30 minutes including warmup and cooldown; something you shouldn’t cut out of your workout.

By reducing the QUANTITY in your workouts you have to make up for it in QUALITY so the peck deck or bicep curl machine will not count as a lift in this program. You need to pick the big multi muscle movers, like squats, deadlifts, bench presses, standing overhead presses, chinups, pullups, and dips.

There is a reason why powerlifters and olympic lifters stick with these basic pushing and pulling exercises, because they make you bigger and stronger faster than “feeling the burn” on the leg curl machine.

Just knowing you have only ONE lift to do allows you to train more often, even up to 5 days a week if you prefer, and gives you laser like focus to follow the proven muscle building method of progressive overload by gradually breaking personal lifting records each and every week and adding a fews extra pounds to the bar or pushing out an extra rep.

So here is the One Lift a Day Template to build maximum muscle in minimum time. By sticking to the “3-5″ formula you get the results you want with the flexibility to fit any man’s schedule.

Choose one main lift 3-5 days during the work week, hit it hard for 3-5 reps of 3-5 sets and get on with your day knowing that no muscle will be left behind by the end of the week.

If you want to focus more on getting stronger in specific exercises stick with the same lift choices for 4 weeks. If strictly building bigger muscles is more your goal, choose a different exercise lift each week.

Monday- Standing Barbell or Dumbbell Shoulder Press

Tuesday- Barbell Deadlifts or Dumbbell Deadlifts, or *Chinups

*Wednesday OFF or – Chinups or Pullups

Thursday- Barbell Bench Press or Dumbbell Bench Press (flat, incline or decline) or Dips

Friday- Barbell Back Squat or Front Squat or Box Squat

*For a 4 day split you can choose chinups as a main lift on Day 2 or for a 5 day split choose only chinups or pullups on Day 5

But wait! No curls or crunches?

Don’t let the simplicity fool you, chinups and deadlifts will give you brawny biceps and forearms and standing overhead presses and squats will strengthen and stabilize your abs better than rolling around on the dirty gym floor.

So don’t worry about being a weekend warrior and keep your work and workouts for the workweek so you have the weekends to rest and recover with your family.

Because being a strong dad means more than just lifting weights…

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Hope the holidays are treating you well.

I just finished making a ginger bread house with my daughter while my wife decorates the Christmas tree.

Last night I put up lights on the house Clark Griswold style!

But all the snow we had here in New Brunswick disappeared over night thanks to heavy rain. Hoping we get some back for the big day…

With all that’s going on this time of year I like to keep things simple with my workouts and after moving with just a couple weeks to get back to my workouts before the holidays I like to ditch the complicated program design and go with my “Simple Man’s Workout System”. Plus I am not running on all cylinders with this flu that’s slowing me down…so I will probably keep my training on cruise control until the New Year.

No specified rest periods, no fancy exercises, just plain old liftin’ designed in way that is easy to follow and requires only 3 hours a week.

Don’t underestimate the effectiveness as it’s all about QUALITY over quantity…

2-3 sets, 4-8 reps

Day 1, Chest, Shoulders, Triceps

Flat BB Bench Press
Incline DB Press
Standing BB Shoulder Press
Side DB Raise
Lying EZ Tricep Extensions
Cable Tricep Pushdowns

Day 2, Legs and Abs

BB Back Squats
DB Lunges
DB Romanian Deadlifts
Standing Calf Raise
Hanging Leg Raise

Day 3, Back and Biceps

Deadlifts
Chinups
One Arm DB Rows
BB Curls
DB Curls
DB Shrugs

Use this workout system as your “standby” workout when you just want a simple program that gives you complex results!

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With the Sun hanging in the sky a little longer it naturally gives you more energy to do some spring cleaning inside and outside the house.

Just opening up all the windows in your house after the long winter months will awaken your senses with fresh new energy…

So it’s time to spring ahead with your workouts as well and clean up some of the bad habits that you may have picked up during the winter.

1. Watch Your Watch

With summer just around the corner you are probably more concerned with getting light and lean than big and bulky so sitting around for 3-4 minutes chatting with the guys about last nights game in between sets isn’t going to do anything to awaken those abs. Rest no more than 2 minutes in between heavy squats or deadlifts and only 30-60 seconds for other lifts. Supersetting opposite muscles like chest and back or bicep and triceps without any rest is also a great way to build muscle AND burn fat.

2. Movements Not Muscles

Spending 20 minutes working a muscle the size of a baseball isn’t the best use of your time unless you have Mr. Olympia trophies on your mantle. But that’s just what most guys do to get arms like Arnold. Think movements, not muscles when you workout. To work your body and your biceps try combining exercises into one motion like a lunge, curl and press or a chin-up with a leg raise.

3. Complex Cardio

Despite what the name might say burning fat isn’t so complex when you use this form of cardio. Complexes are forms of high intensity cardio that continues to put those magazine reading sessions on the treadmill to shame when it comes to blow torching bodyfat. It only takes 5 minutes to add a complex to the end of your weight workout to convince you that this is the answer to maximum results in minimum time. Use just the empty barbell to perform a series of exercise circuits without rest such as a squat, clean, press, lunge and row. Pick yourself up off the floor and repeat 3-4 times.

4. Muscle Massage

Imagine how hard it must be on your car’s engine starting it over and over during those cold winter mornings. Well that’s just how you have been treating your body all winter. Wether it’s being rushed and skipping your workout warmup or jumping out of bed to shovel out your driveway so you can get to work, your muscles need time to wake up. Dynamic bodyweight movements are great to get the blood flowing but a little muscle massage will go a long way to break up those tight spots that build up over time with improper lifting and bad posture. Use a foam roller and tennis ball to roll out those tight trigger points like your mother rolled out dough. Doing this loosens up the tissue in and around your muscles to keep you strong and pain-free.

5. Goodbye Gym

Save a month’s worth of membership and take advantage of the extra daylight while getting some free vitamin D by bringing your workouts outside. Even if you love the atmosphere of training in a dark and dingy gym, the opportunities are endless for outdoor workouts. Take a set of dumbbells to the park or do a playground workout while the kids have their fun. Sprints, sports and strongman lifts are also better outdoors. There is just something primal about lifting heavy stuff off the ground under the mid day sun.

It’s unfortunate that some guys will spend more time washing their car this spring than taking care of their body!

Use these 5 Ways To Spring Clean Your Workout so you can take care of your body and the people who depend on it…

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FACT:

A lot of gym rats might be able to load up the bar with hundreds of pounds for endless sets of the bench press but can’t even do 10 correct push ups…

I don’t think you have any business bench pressing if you can’t properly perform 20 perfect pushups.

If you can’t handle your own bodyweight, how functional is it to lie down on a bench and press additional weight?

Don’t get me wrong, the basic barbell bench press is a great upper body exercise for building muscle, but it’s depended on WAY too much to build a strong chest and shoulders.

Most people consider Pushups and Bench Presses both chest dominant exercises. But there is a big difference between the two…

The bench press is an open chain exercise and the pushup is a closed chain exercise.

The “chain” just refers to the kinetic chain of your body, which simply means that all of your body’s muscles are inter-connected in a “chain” and therefore the movements you make are also part of a that kinetic chain.

Open chain exercises allow your feet or hands to move freely like in a bench press, dumbbell curl or leg curl.

Closed chain exercises keep your feet or hands in a fixed position like on the ground during pushups or squats and even chinups.

Closed chain exercises are safer and more effective for real world functional strength because they allow your bodyweight to move through space in a full range of motion while distributing muscular stress through many muscles instead of isolating and stressing single muscles.

A big reason why so many bench press addicts develop shoulder problems is because of not the shoulders directly but due to the lack of movement in your upper back when pinned to a bench during bench presses.

The muscles in your upper back surrounding your shoulders blades and scapula play a crucial role in stabilizing and allowing movement of your shoulder girdle during pressing movements.

Pushups eliminates this problem by allowing your upper back to contract in a full range of motion when you lower yourself to the ground.

Plus for busy dads bodyweight exercises are great because they can be done anywhere without any equipment!

(here is my favorite pressing exercise)

So if you want to incorporate a simple but intense pushup workout into your workout routine give the 100 rep pushup workout a try.

Once or twice a week at the end of your regular workout aim for performing 100 pushups and time yourself to see how long it takes you.

Do as many reps as you can and do however many sets it takes you to reach 100.

For example if you can do 20 pushups at one time before failure start with 20 but as you fatigue you will probably drop down to sets of 10. You will obviously need more rest between sets as you get closer to 100.

Take as much rest as you need to get at least 10 reps for each set until you reach the 100 rep mark.

Most guys in pretty good shape will be able to complete 100 reps anywhere between 5-10 minutes.

Don’t worry how long it takes you. Just record your time and push hard to beat it the next time around.

Before you know it you will join the pushup century club and have the perfect pecs to prove it!

Perfect Pushups Tips

*Keep your abs braced tight and your hips in line with your body.

*Tuck your chin in like a “double chin” and look straight down at the floor to form a straight line from your head to your toes.

*Push your elbows and upper arms back in a 45 degree direction opposed to straight out to your sides.

PS. Be sure to check out my training article in the April/May issue of Inside Fitness magazine!

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1. Get Real

Once Christmas Eve hits forget about LOSING weight for the next few weeks and focus on GAINING some quality time with your family and friends. Wether its the numbers on the bar or the numbers on the scale you need a mental break as well as a physical break from all those ball busting efforts with the weights. Get in as many short workouts as you can during the 12 days of Christmas and get back on track come January 5th.

2. Fit Finances

Most of our pockets took a hard hit from the economy this year so make sure to create a holiday shopping budget that you can stick to. Put aside the amount in CASH for each person on your wish list and find a gift based on the budget allowed, not the other way around. Don’t be left lifting heavy credit card bills come 2010.

3. The Man With a Plan

“If you fail to plan, you plan to fail”. Decide what reward meals you are going to have such as Christmas Dinner, New Years Eve or the office party. Stick to a couple special occasions and follow a healthy diet for the days in between to avoid the bad tasting food guilt.

4. Size Does Matter

If you’re hitting the belly busting buffet at your next holiday party, use the smaller appetizer plates so you can fill up your plate and not feel bad about going back for seconds as it will only equal the caloric equivalent of one dinner plate of food.

5. The Gift of Gravity

I know the gym will probably be closed a lot during the holidays. But remember with bodyweight exercises you don’t need to go to the gym to burn up some extra calories. Before you start your busy day of putting up Christmas lights or getting some last minute shopping done, drop down and give me 20! With some basic bodyweight exercises of pushups, prisoner squats and abdominal planks you can get a great workout done in less than 15 minutes with NO equipment. Or you can save your energy for the dance floor!

6. Think Before You Drink.

If you are drinking down some Christmas cheer, beware. One regular beer contains 150 calories and a glass of eggnog 350 calories! Stick to light beers, spirits with diet soda or a glass of dark red wine. Make sure to drink a tall glass of water before bed and upon waking to avoid a “heavy head” the next morning.

7. Mingle Don’t Pringle.

It’s hard to have a decent conversation with a mouthful of potato chips, so focus on the festivities, not the food. Enjoy good conversation and catch up with some old friends that you haven’t seen much all year – you’ll spend less time eating and more time enjoying yourself.

8. Don’t Run on Empty.

Don’t allow yourself to go too long in between meals. If you let yourself get too hungry especially this time of year, you will pay for it dearly when you try to tighten your belt come January. Make sure to eat your 3 regular meals each day plus 2 snacks to keep you shopping without dropping.

9. Winter Workouts

If you are lucky enough to have a white Christmas in your neck of the woods, put it to good use, everything is just plain harder in the snow. Even walking through a couple feet of snow gets you huffing and puffing which means you burn a ton more calories! Get outdoors with your family during the holidays for some sliding, skiing or skating, which are all great winter time workouts.

10. Smart Snacking

When you are entertaining guests or you are attending parties elsewhere you can still enjoy some finger foods, just be smart about your choices. Avoid the artery clogging chips, dips and deep fried foods. Chow down on fiber filling veggies, protein rich cheese, shrimp and nuts and even some dark chocolate and fresh fruit for added antioxidants.

Do you have any time tested tips you like to use to stay fit over the holidays? Post em below!

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