Work Out With Me

I hate cardio. I’m only three posts in, and I’ve already said I hate cardio in more than one post. It’s not my thing. Never has been, never will be. You want me to run a mile? Kiss my ass. Walk a mile? If we’re talking like… walk to a restaurant or the nearest McDonald’s, then sure. Clearly that would defeat the purpose so you’re 99.9 percent never going to see me do cardio. On the off chance that you catch me doing cardio that 0.1 percent of the time, I’m probably doing like 5 minutes of HIIT intervals on a treadmill. Or going really slowly on a StairMaster.

The 99.9 percent of the time that I’m not doing cardio, I’m eating, working, or lifting weights. That’s basically the gist of my life. I literally switch up my gym routine like all the time. Every month I’m doing something different. I like to get my ideas from other people in the gym, Google, YouTube, Pinterest. There are so many platforms to explore and ways of finding exercises. Your options are endless, truly. I just wanted to share what I’m currently following because maybe it’ll help someone like me who’s constantly searching for new things to do in the gym. :)

My current routine split is four days. I like to take two to three days to rest. If I don’t rest all three days, then I dedicate one of those days to do the unimaginable... cardio. I split my four days into two upper body and two lower body. My upper body days are always challenging. I never lift too light or too heavy, but I lift enough to make my muscles work. On my first lower body day I lift on the light-medium side with three sets of normal-high reps (ten to fifteen). On my second lower body day I lift on the heavier side with three sets of low reps (five to eight).

I split my upper body days into muscle groups. I work my chest and triceps on one upper body day, and I work my back and biceps on the other. I throw some shoulder workouts in as I go. The reason why I split my days this way is because many compound chest exercises also involve the use of your triceps. That means you’re working both muscles with one movement. You can perform isolation exercises for just your chest or just your triceps as well, but you need enough recovery time for both muscles before you train them again. Same reasoning applies for training your back and biceps on the same day.

As for my lower body days, I definitely don’t split them up in any particular way. I got my current lower body workouts from a YouTuber (@naturallystefanie) I found when looking up glute exercises. I just really have absolutely no butt, and I’d like for that to change so most of my “lower body” exercises are glute focused. Anyways, enough explaining. Let me get to my routine!

Upper Body Workout Routines

Chest - Tricep Day:

Warm up:

• Pull Ups (assisted or not)

• Chest Press (3x10-15)
• Chest Flyes (3x10-15)
• Tricep Kickbacks (3x10-15)
• Tricep Cable Pulldowns (3x10-15)

Shoulder Workouts

• Side to Front Raises (3x10)
• Shoulder Press (3x10)

Back- Bicep Day:

Warm up:

• Pull Ups

• Dumbbell Bent Over Row (3x10-15)
• Lateral Pulldown (3x10-15)
• Cable Row (3x10-15)
• Straight-arm Cable Pulldown (3x10-15)
• Barbell Bicep Curl (3x10-15)
• Alternating Hammer Curls (3x10-15)

Lower Body Workout Routines

Day 1 (Light)

Warm up:

• Squats (20)
• Fire Hydrants (10 per leg)
• Donkey Kickbacks (10 per leg)

Workout:

• Squats (3x10-15)
• Barbell Hip Thrusts (3x10-15)
• Deadlifts (3x10-15)
• Hip Abductor (3x10-15)
• Leg Extension (3x10-15)
• Cable Kickbacks (3x10-15)

Day 2 (Heavy)

Warm up:

• Squats (20)
• Fire Hydrants (10 per leg)
• Donkey Kickbacks (10 per leg)

Workout:

• Squats (3x5-8)
• Sumo Deadlifts (3x5-8)
• Cable Kickbacks (3x5-8)
• Leg Press (3x5-8)
• Split Leg Kettlebell Squats (3x5-8)
• DB Step Ups (3x5-8)

So, there ya have it. I hope this helps anyone looking for some new things to try out at the gym! The same old workout routine gets boring after a while. Don’t be afraid to try something new. It’s refreshing, trust me.

Citations:

https://www.livestrong.com/article/514373-do-chest-and-triceps-need-to-be-worked-out-on-the-same-day/

Glute Workout Video - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VFGldxl_BFQ

@naturallystefanie YouTuber - https://www.instagram.com/naturallystefanie/