Post: #1

I've been lifting for 6 or 7 years and I'm happy with how I look. I could be better, but the amount of effort it would take to get to the next tier just isn't worth it to me. I get complimented on my physique as it is, and it takes very little for me to maintain it. Weightlifting has always been a habit the past few years, but sometimes I deal with periods of low motivation. Eventually I came to a routine that I enjoy more than dread, and it's very easy. It's kind of a hybrid between stronglifts and high intensity training. It only takes about 20-30 minutes 3 times a week.

Approach
The idea is to incorporate compound lifts to hit multiple muscle groups simultaneously, and lift heavy weights to do the maximum work volume in a smaller amount of time. If it is a large muscle group, I'll do the exercise that isolates the strongest muscle first before doing the compound. This way I can get in a halfway decent workout with only one or two exercises and call it a day if necessary. I'll do one or two warm up sets, then only one work set taken to failure. If I can do more than 12 reps in that work set, I'll add weight the next workout. In my work set, I move the weight slowly, maybe 2-3 seconds on the positive, and 4 seconds on the negative motion. Throughout the week I alternate muscle groups and time my workouts based on how sore or lazy I feel. Sometimes I'll skip a week if I'm sick or traveling. It usually averages to 3 workouts a week though.

Equipment
I went to the gym before, but eventually found it easier to just do everything at home. I bought a simple barbell and weight set, and salvaged some weights through craigslist to augment. I also got dumbbells with threaded ends that could take the same weights. Overall it came to less than $200, which averaged out over the 4 years I've used them, comes to less than $4/mo. I threw down a piece of cardboard under my bed and put the weights on top of it. The barbell sits against the closet. I have a pull-up bar, but if I didn't, I'd just do barbell rows instead. I have a wooden bench for chest exercises, but if you don't, just do slow push ups. Throwing weight in a backpack and doing them might help too.





Routine
The main lifts are squat, deadlift, french press, and press. Cleans aren't necessary, but I found them to be great at building up the traps. There are many exercises you can do with a barbell, but I consider these the most efficient. I'll vary the exercise from week to week. I might switch from front to back squat, klokov press to strict press. I might "cheat" on the positive motion one week, then do very slow and controlled positives the next. This way I'm not always working the same exact muscles every time, and I'm using different muscle fibers. Either way, it takes about the same time. Look in the mirror and figure out what your weaknesses are, and add on exercises from there. I have puny shoulders and biceps, so I add in a lot of shoulder and bicep exercises. If you see a * next to an exercise, that means I only do it because it's a weak point I'm trying to correct. Here's what an ambitious week would look like for me:

Legs/Biceps
Warmup 1: 5 x 60% of work set
Warmup 2: 5 x 80% of work set
Hack Squats: 6-12
Front of Back squat: 6-12
*Barbell curl
*Isolation curl

Shoulders/Triceps
Warmup 1: 5 x 60% of work set
Warmup 2: 5 x 80% of work set
Press: 6-12
French Press: 6-12
*Lateral raises
*Bent lateral raises
*Front raises or Arnold press

Back/Traps
Warmup 1: 5 x 60% of work set
Warmup 2: 5 x 80% of work set
Chins: Max
Deadlift: 6-12
Cleans
*Isolation curls

Chest
Warmup 1: 5 x 60% of work set
Warmup 2: 5 x 80% of work set
Dumbbell flys: 6-12
Dumbbell press: 6-12
Pushups: Max

This is about where I'm at on this:


You're not gonna become Zeus on this, but if you're a beginner you can make progress, and if you're a veteran you can maintain what you've got. The main benefit is, it doesn't take much time or effort at all. Everyone should have 20 minutes to spare once every other day.

Post: #2

I like it, I keep simplifying my routine to make it easier to remember and to focus more on certain exercises. It also makes it easier to keep up with other commitments. I've been thinking about calling it the laziest routine ever and sharing it, but you've already done that so I hope you don't mind if I add mine here as well.

I've simplified it to the point where I'm not even doing barbell, dumbbell or weighted exercises anymore, and its only bodyweight exercises. I'm still finding it tough to recover from so when it stops being so effective I'll go back to the weights.

I just choose one of the six main bodyweight exercises every day (pushups/dips, pullups, handstand pushups, leg raises, bridging exercises and squats). I then decide on a suitable target amount of reps and try and do that in a couple different sessions throughout the day. I work from home.

So my week at the moment has been like this:

Wednesday: Pullups - Aimed for 60 pullups, managed to do this in one session. I had to do it in sets of 3-5.

Thursday: 60 'diamond' pushups in morning, and 60 in the afternoon. Normal pushups are too easy for me to do 100. So I did these ones with your hands together. I think this may have been more effective if I did a harder variation or dips and less reps.

Today: Bridging exercises for lower back, and leg raises. My least favourite bodyweight exercises. I don't really want to spend a whole day on one of these exercises and they're both part of the core so I thought I would do these on the same day. I've done 35 each so far, may go do another 35 each.

Tommorow: If my upper body feels recovered, I still feel achy from the pullups and pushups, I will go for handstand pushups. I will go for 100 overall.

Sunday: Squats and Lunges: I've been doing pistol squats and lunges, followed by stretching. Last time I did this my legs were really achy the next day. This time I will set a target amount of about 75-100 pistol squats and lunges each.

Admittedly, I'm partly doing this routine because I'm lazy and feel tired a lot of the time, but also because I want to improve my endurance and stamina, I'm tired of being out of breath on the football pitch, and I think this type of training might help more. I am also running 3-4 times week.

Post: #3

(11-12-2015 10:02 PM)thoughtgypsy Wrote:  Front of Back squat: 6-12

Is this some sort of obscure squat variant or did you mean 'front or back squat'?

And if you meant 'or back', how do you get the bar on your back?

Lastly, what do you do to protect your floor in case you drop a weight?

Post: #4

removed

Post: #5

I've actually been rather time poor lately. I've had around 20min minutes to work out primarily from home. For anyone with a base level of strength who is quite time poor my routine for the past few months has been:

Kettlebell Front Squats
Kettlebell Military Press
Kettlebell Bent Over Row

4 Circuits of 8 Reps w/1 min rest between sets. 5x Per Week.

Currently using 80lb bells. Numbers on the scale have remained constant and on the few occasions I've made it to the gym numbers on basic lifts have remained the same.

Obviously no substitute for a solid program - But like TS has stated you can get relatively decent results on a limited routine.

Post: #6

(11-13-2015 02:02 PM)Thomas the Rhymer Wrote:  

(11-12-2015 10:02 PM)thoughtgypsy Wrote:  Front of Back squat: 6-12

Is this some sort of obscure squat variant or did you mean 'front or back squat'?

And if you meant 'or back', how do you get the bar on your back?

Lastly, what do you do to protect your floor in case you drop a weight?

front or back squat. Good catch.

Actually I should have described what I do with back squats differently. Because I'm only using as much weight as I can push press over my head, I go for max reps of whatever that weight is, multiple sets if necessary. But the way I make it harder is by doing all the reps without pausing. This is how I would do the whole thing: Clean from ground onto collar bone > lower into a slight squat to build momentum > push press it over and behind the head >rest across back/shoulders like a normal squat. Slowly over maybe 5 seconds I'll lower myself as far down as possible, concentrating on my legs. As soon as I reach the bottom most point I'll explode up, but before I can lock my knees and without pausing for a moment I'll begin slowly lowering again. I repeat that until I can't. To bring the weight down I'll push press it off my back over my head and down to the ground. I guess if you don't wanna bother with that you could try a Steinborn squat, but I never got into them.

I don't protect my floor, but I haven't had problems so far. Because I go lower weight and really focus on slow and controlled negatives, I've rarely had to drop weights more than a few inches.

Post: #7

(11-13-2015 04:56 PM)Rush87 Wrote:  I've actually been rather time poor lately. I've had around 20min minutes to work out primarily from home. For anyone with a base level of strength who is quite time poor my routine for the past few months has been:

Kettlebell Front Squats
Kettlebell Military Press
Kettlebell Bent Over Row

4 Circuits of 8 Reps w/1 min rest between sets. 5x Per Week.

Currently using 80lb bells. Numbers on the scale have remained constant and on the few occasions I've made it to the gym numbers on basic lifts have remained the same.

Obviously no substitute for a solid program - But like TS has stated you can get relatively decent results on a limited routine.

I'm surprised I didn't see lower weight kettlebell swings in there. They hit a ton of muscle groups at once. Now that I think of it, maybe I'm not so surprised: I always thought they were a bitch, and I hated doing them.

But it sounds solid. I love how kettlebells take up almost no space and they're super versatile.

Post: #8

(11-13-2015 05:45 PM)thoughtgypsy Wrote:  

(11-13-2015 04:56 PM)Rush87 Wrote:  I've actually been rather time poor lately. I've had around 20min minutes to work out primarily from home. For anyone with a base level of strength who is quite time poor my routine for the past few months has been:

Kettlebell Front Squats
Kettlebell Military Press
Kettlebell Bent Over Row

4 Circuits of 8 Reps w/1 min rest between sets. 5x Per Week.

Currently using 80lb bells. Numbers on the scale have remained constant and on the few occasions I've made it to the gym numbers on basic lifts have remained the same.

Obviously no substitute for a solid program - But like TS has stated you can get relatively decent results on a limited routine.

I'm surprised I didn't see lower weight kettlebell swings in there. They hit a ton of muscle groups at once. Now that I think of it, maybe I'm not so surprised: I always thought they were a bitch, and I hated doing them.

But it sounds solid. I love how kettlebells take up almost no space and they're super versatile.

Kettlebells are great option and you can most definitely build size off them. The reason I don't do swings is because I've got the cheap sand filled variety so they are super bulky and don't actually fit through my legs lol.

Post: #9

What's a good kettle bell weight to do swings with??

Post: #10

(11-13-2015 10:29 PM)Oz. Wrote:  What's a good kettle bell weight to do swings with??

These:



Not these:



You can't see it from the image but the sand filled bells [The bottom ones] have twice the handle size and are far bulkier. Virtually impossible to do swings with.

Post: #11

As much as I'd admire being thrifty. Long term it seems easier to invest in a power rack and a proper bench. A full set can be had for a couple mid hundreds.