Program design for a beginner with minimal equipment
By Doug Groce, CSCS | November 29, 2008
I have finally decided to start working out. For me to succeed in this endeavor
I need to have a plan to follow to ensure my continued progress. What are your
recommendations to beginners on a workout plan?
For equipment, my apartment complex has a lat pull down, a bench, and two sets
of dumbells, 15 and 30 lbs.
Way to go in making the decision to start working out and seeking a plan. These two steps are absolutely crucial.
If you’re looking for a quick starter routine, do this:
A1. Pushups, 3X10-12
A2. DB Squat to Bench, 3X10-12
B1. One Arm DB Row, 3X10-12
B2. Stationary Lunge, 3X10-12
C1. Lat Pulldown (medium underhand grip), 3X10-12
C2. DB Bench Press - *See how many reps you can get with your 30 lb db’s. If it’s in the 12-15+range, do 2X12-15. If it’s in the 6-12 range, you can do 3-4 sets.*
D1. Bent over DB row, 3X10-12 (reps will depend on weight of DB’s)
D2. Plank - 3X30 sec.
With movements under the same letter, alternate between the exercises with a 30-45 second rest period. For example, for A, perform a set of 10-12 push-ups, rest 30 seconds, and do a set of squats. Alternate between these two movements three times and then move on to B.
Make sure you’re progressing and keep the weight as heavy as possible for the designated number of reps. With the dumbbell movements, you’ll likely have to use higher reps due to your lack of heavier weights. The key is to constantly try to set new records for yourself - whether in the amount of weight (preferable) or the number of reps.
With this method of grouping your exercises, you’re optimizing your rest of each body part and making the best use of your time. (Notice you’re not wasting any time standing around).
You should be able to get through this workout in under 20-30 minutes. This doesn’t mean it will be easy. Do this 3 days a week and you’ll get stronger, and your conditioning should improve as well due to the short rest periods.
If you need demos of the various movements, you can browse this site or check out you tube. Good luck!
Have a specific question related to strength training or program design? Ask Doug!
Topics: Program Design | No Comments »
Video Demo of Push-up Variations
By Doug Groce, CSCS | November 22, 2008
I’ve been itching to experiment with some video on here so here you go! An explosive clap push-up, a standard medicine ball push-up, an explosive medicine ball push-up, and an elevated feet push-up.
Enjoy!
Related Posts
How do I increase my push-ups for the military?
9 Ways to Increase the Difficulty of a Push-up (Part 1)
9 Ways to Increase the Difficulty of a Push-up (Part 2)
Topics: Strength Training | 2 Comments »
Warning - not fitness related - Changes to my blog
By Doug Groce, CSCS | November 19, 2008
What’s up!
So this post isn’t going to be fitness related, and I’m not going to include any useful links.. Just a heads up.
I know I don’t have a ton of readers or anything so it may not matter too much, but I just wanted to put it out there that I plan on shifting directions a little bit with this blog in the near future. Up until now, I think this blog has been a great experience for me - So far, I’ve had the chance to share a little bit about what I know about health and fitness, gain a few readers, and even get a little bit of traffic to the site. I’ve even had the chance to meet and connect with some other people on the internet and develop some awesome relationships with other fitness pros. I’ve also had people actually write in with their questions, which, to me, is WAY COOL. And hopefully somebody somewhere has learned something about exercise and applied it to their own life!
Anyway..
I think it’s time for some change.
I haven’t told many people this yet, but I plan on moving back to Jacksonville, FL (my hometown) to start up my own personal training business in mid January. Very exciting stuff.
And it got me thinking..
A few of my best current or former clients here in North Dakota read this blog, and a lot of my posts are based on questions they have - it’s been really helpful to a certain few in getting across my exercise philosophies and messages- you know who you are!!. And it will be more of the same when I start my personal training business in Jacksonville.
I received some advice recently to start letting some of my personality show on this site and in my posts in order to keep things fun and interesting. Until now, I haven’t really done this - I’ve been trying to put the readers first and focus ONLY on delivering content.
So from now on expect good content but with a small shot of Doug Groce - which is another way of saying (hopefully) EXPECT BETTER WRITING.
Hopefully I won’t scare everyone away…. ha ha.
Okay, I just wanted to get that off my chest…(it actually felt good) And I’m ALWAYS looking for your opinions and feedback (from other experienced bloggers and readers of the site alike) so let me hear it, good or bad.
You’ll be hearing from me soon!
Topics: Overall Health | No Comments »
9 Ways to Increase the Difficulty of a Push-up (Part 2)
By Doug Groce, CSCS | November 5, 2008
In Part 1, I wrote my first four ways to increase the difficulty of a push-up. Now I’ll include the next five:
5. Use a narrow grip: This one is simple, but effective. Try putting your hands closer together. This increases the difficulty, while also putting more emphasis on your triceps. A side effect of performing a push-up with a close grip is that it allows you to get more flexion at the elbow join, which automatically increases your range of motion. And we already know from my previous list that a greater range of motion increases the difficulty. That makes the close grip push-up kind a double threat.
6. Elevate your feet. In a conventional push-up, you are lifting about 2/3 of your overall bodyweight. When you elevate your feet, this percentage goes up. Like all bodyweight exercises, the greater percentage of your weight that you’re lifting, the more absolute weight you’re lifting, making the movement more difficult. Start by placing your feet on a something fairly low like an aerobic step. To increase the intensity, slowly add height to the step. As you become more advanced, you’ll progress to placing your feet on a bench. Before progressing to this harder version, make sure that you can keep your legs, torso, and neck in a straight line without letting your hips sink. Once you can perform 10-15 reps with perfect form at a certain height, you can raise your feet to the next level.
7. Place more emphasis on one arm. The one-arm push-up is an extremely difficult variation that most people won’t be able to perform. It requires an extremely strong core along with adequate upper body strength. Until you can do the complete one-arm version, you can progress by simply placing more emphasis one one arm when you go up. An easy way to do this is to come down normally, shift your weight at the bottom so that one hand is supporting a greater percentage of your weight, then come up, pushing mostly with the “working” arm. As you get better, you can put less of your weight on the “non-working” arm.
8. Place only one foot on the ground. This makes the push-up more difficult by narrowing your base of support. This version isn’t going to increase the loading on your upper body, but it will greatly intensify the use of your abs in keeping your body in a straight line. If you’re pressed for time, try this variation is especially useful as you’re killing two birds with one stone in that you’re working your upper body and your core.
9. Place your hand(s) on an unstable surface. It has been shown that placing your hands on an unstable surface during a push-up increases muscular activation. You have a few options here - I suggest starting by using two medicine balls, with your hands at shoulder width. To keep it fun, you can experiment further some more variations. Here are some to get your started:
* Change the width of your grip by putting the balls closer or further apart.
* Place one hand on a med ball and the other on the ground (This puts more emphasis on one arm).
* Place both hands on the same medicine ball in order to get a close grip effect (very challenging).
* Perform explosive push-ups one one ball by exploding from with one hand on the ball with your body on one side, up and over so the hand that was on the ball is now on the ground and your body is on the opposite side.
* Use one or more stability balls instead of a medicine ball.
If you haven’t checked out Part 1, go check out the first four variations there.
Do you have any other push-up exercises that you’ve tried and would like to share? Post a comment and let me here them!
And make sure you check out the podcast below. 
Have a specific question about strength training, fat loss, or nutrition? Ask Doug!
Topics: Strength Training | 4 Comments »
9 Ways to Increase the Difficulty of a Push-up (Part 1)
By Doug Groce, CSCS | October 21, 2008
Think you’ve graduated from using the push-up in your program? You may want to reconsider. There are many benefits of including the push-up in your program including better core stability, upper body strength, and shoulder health.
The reason some lifters think they’ve graduated from this exercise is that the loading just isn’t the same as on the bench press as you’re only lifting 2/3 of your bodyweight.
Not only do these variations take a great exercise and progress it, but they can serve to add variety to your program and keep things interesting. Here are the first four ways to progress the difficulty of the conventional push-up.
- Explosive Push-up –> Do you remember the clap push-up? From the up position, come down as in a normal push-up and push off the ground fast enough so that you’re upper body comes off the ground, allowing your to clap your hands in mid air. You don’t have to do the clap, and can instead decide to push as hard as possible. These will get you fatigued quickly and are great for upper body power.
- Use Chains. I see many guys trying to balance plates on their back in an attempt to add external loading. I’ve tried this, and found it to be a pain in the butt. If you have access to chains, you can drape these over your back. You can make them even more difficult by simply adding more chains or moving them closer to your neck. It helps to have a partner help you out with these.
- Use Bands. Take about a 1 inch band, loop your hands through the ends with the middle of the band behind your back. Get in normal push-up position so that your hands are over the ends of the band, keeping it in place while you perform the push-up.
- Increase your range of motion. Putting your hands on blocks or using dumbbells will allow you to go down further on your push-ups. You’d be surprised at the difference a few more inches makes in doing your push-ups.
I’ll include the next 5 ways of increasing the difficulty of your push-ups in the next post so stay tuned!
In the mean time, if you’d like to know how to increase the amount of push-ups you can do, be sure to check out my post, How do I increase my push-ups for the military?. It contains a useful link to Bill Hartman’s blog, which goes into some great detail.
P.S. Be sure to check out the audio below.
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Related Posts
9 Ways to Increase the Difficulty of a Push-up (Part 2)
Video Demo of Push-up Variations
How do I increase my push-ups for the military?
Topics: Strength Training | 5 Comments »
The Annoying Gym Goer Series (Lunge ‘n’ Chat)
By Doug Groce, CSCS | October 14, 2008
Maybe this type of person is more annoying to the personal trainer than to the average gym goer.
But nonetheless.. I was in a crabby mood at the gym in that I have a cold (boo hoo I know), but this person just annoyed me today.
On with the rant..
While at the gym today, I noticed a girl chatting with her friend while she was performing lunges. Of course her form was flat our horrendous–and she wasn’t even looking straight ahead, but to the side so she could talk with her friend.
If you listened to the tone of the conversation, you may have mistaken her for being out to lunch, while having a nice friendly chat–lunges were the last thing on her mind..
Is she getting any stronger? Not really..
Is she stimulating any kind of fat loss? Not really..
Is she improving her technique so she can progress in the future? NO WAY..
Does she care? Who knows!
Maybe I’m biased because I read about strength training and exercise a lot of the day, and I train clients the rest of the day, but why not try to accomplish something while you exercise??? Even if you don’t consider yourself an “execise nut”.
I don’t get it.
If you can offer an opinion on what’s going through her mind, please let me know by commenting on the blog–ANY IDEAS ARE WELCOME–really.
Topics: Strength Training | 1 Comment »
The Annoying Gym Goer Series (The Lat Pulldown Guy)
By Doug Groce, CSCS | October 8, 2008
Every gym has an annoying type of lifter. You know - that one person that always seems to be there when you’re trying to get your work done.. And for whatever reason, they ANNOY the crap out of you.
Being a personal trainer, I spend more time in the gym in one day than most people do in an entire week (or month). Combine this with that fact that I can’t help but observe other people’s sessions, analyze their exercise selection and exercise form, and it’s inevitable that there is going to be a lot of stuff that gets under my skin.
This week’s winner is: The Lat Pulldown Guy.
Who is the lat pulldown guy? All I can tell you is that he’s an older gentleman, with a protruding gut who apparently thinks it’s effective to stack as much weight as possible on the lat pulldown and use any means necessary to get the weight to move.
No joke - He actually lifts his butt completely off the seat, grasps the handle, and then flings himself back down into the seat while swinging his body backward in order to move the weight.
Really.
Why don’t you just stand up, grab the handle with both hands, and walk the weight back tug-of-war style?
What is he trying to accomplish? I don’t know.
Does he look strong by lifting three quarters of a stack using the technique of standing up out of the seat and violently rocking backwards? NO
Is what he is doing working in getting him to his goals? NO (remember his gut).
It’s amazing how you I can tell from watching someone perform one exercise, that they are completely wasting their time in the gym. Usually it won’t bother me, but when the gym is crowded and my client and I can’t get on the lat pulldown because lat pulldown guy is showing off how “strong” he is, I get a little bit frustrated, to put it lightly.
There’s also the added bonus that he likes to ignore you when you try to work in with him. Yeah, he just kind of stares straight ahead, pretending to mentally prepare for his next grueling set of violently rocking back and forth.
I mean, if you’re so strong, go do a bodyweight pull-up. I’d pay to see that. Of course, he’d probably grasp the pull-up handles and jump in the air to get up (that is, even if he can jump that high).
So what can we learn from lat pulldown guy? Bear with me here..
Though he is an extreme case, we all may have an exercise where we could benefit from knocking back the weight a little bit, and getting back to proper form. We must remind ourselves the purpose of the particular movement that we’re trying to execute. An article I read recently reminded me how important proper form is on the deadlift, and I realized my form has been a little sloppy of late - so I cut back the weight a little bit and returned to deadlifting with solid form.
WEW! I feel better.
Do you have a particular annoying gym goer you’d like to rant about? Please comment and get it off your chest!
Topics: Strength Training | 3 Comments »