Body
Comp Training: A New Twist on a Familiar Concept
By George Stavrou
It's
a New Year and time to lose that Holiday Flab. Have
you tried Body Composition training before but have
reached a plateau? If the answer is "YES!"
then I've got a program unlike anything you have
tried before.
If
you are familiar with the work of Charles Poliquin
you may have read about his approach to Body Composition
Training in his book "Manly Weight Loss".
In it he suggests alternating between an upper body
and a lower body exercise throughout the circuits.
While Charles, and many others, likes to group the
exercises into an even amount of exercises per superset
(or Giant Set if that's the case) I like to experiment
with an odd number of exercise groupings. In this
case you are still alternating between upper and
lower body exercises but with a new twist on the
idea. See below for an example of this:
| Day |
Body
Part |
Exercises |
| 1 |
Quads |
Lunges,
front squats, single leg squat off of bench |
| |
Back |
1
Arm DB row, chins, pullovers |
| 2 |
Hams |
1
leg semi-stiff deadlift, deadlift, single leg
curls |
| |
Chest |
Incline
DB bench press, Dips, push-ups |
Workout:
2 day split - 2 workouts/week/body part
| Day |
Body
Part |
Circuit |
| 1 |
Quads
& Back (Day 1A) |
Circuit
1: lunges, 1 Arm DB Row, front squats Circuit
2: chins, single leg squat off of bench, pullovers |
| 2 |
Hams
& Chest (Day 2A) |
Circuit
1: 1 leg semi-stiff deadlift, Incline DB bench
press, deadlift, Circuit 2: dips, single leg
curls, push-ups |
| 3 |
OFF |
|
| 4 |
Back
& Quads (Day 1B) |
Circuit 1: pullovers, single leg squat off of
bench, chins Circuit 2: front squats, 1 Arm
DB row, lunges |
| 5 |
Chest
& Hams (Day 2B) |
Circuit
1: push-ups, single leg curls, dips Circuit
2: deadlift, Incline DB bench press, 1 leg semi-stiff
deadlift |
| 6 |
OFF |
|
| 7 |
OFF |
|
| 8 |
Repeat
Programme |
|
*Notes:
there are two changes that I have made to the program
that add a little spice to your workouts: 1) On
the second Day 1 (Day 1B) I started off with the
second body part in the progression instead of the
first. i.e. Day 1A began with Quads and ended with
Back; Day 1B began with Back and ended with Quads.
& 2) I have reversed the order of the exercises
within each circuit.
This
was done for two reasons:
1) by beginning with the second exercise you are
able to prioritize that particular body part on
that training day & 2) reversing the order of
the exercises allows you to put more effort into
movements that normally don't get you when your
energy is highest.
I have also given you guidelines on the exercise
scheme and the reasoning behind it. See the table
below.
| Workout
Scheme |
Reasoning |
| #
of exercises per session: 6 |
More
exercises - greater variety in overloading various
movement |
| #
of sets/exercise: 4 |
More
sets - greater skill development/exercise |
| Total
Sets: 24 |
Higher
# of sets = Higher Lactic Acid = Greater Calories
burned during the session |
| Reps/set:
8-12 |
Moderate
Reps to near failure - moderate intensity/set |
| Rest
period: 60 § |
Incomplete
recovery |
| *Tempo:
3030 |
General
Fitness and Hypertrophy |
| ^TUT:
48-72s |
Focus
on Hypertrophy and Muscle Endurance |
*For those of you unfamiliar with tempo the numbers
represent the time in seconds for each part of the
movement.
3 - lowering (eccentric portion of movement)
0 - no rest at bottom of movement
3 - lifting the weights (concentric portion of movement)
0 - no rest at top of movement
^If
you are unfamiliar with TUT (Time Under Tension)
- it can be loosely defined as the total time of
a set from start to finish. In this case our TUT
is about 48 - 72 seconds. This is determined by
adding up each component from the tempo and multiplying
by the number of reps in the set: (3+0+3+0)*(8 -
12) = 48 - 72 seconds.
Before
you begin this program I have a few guidelines that
you should be aware of:
1)
Warm-up: do a warm-up of light cardio and dynamic
stretching prior to your workout. Dynamic stretching
will prepare the nervous system (NS) for the workout
ahead.
2)
Warm-up sets: The loads in this program are moderate
so I recommend doing 1-2 warm-up sets. 1 (set) X
5 (reps) X 50% (of 1RM) & 1 X 5 X 60% should
be sufficient.
3)
10 minute cool-down (static stretching). Static
stretching will help your NS to return to pre-workout
status. You can also use this time to reflect on
your workout and decide what changes need to be
made for your next session.
4)
If you can't raise yourself for 3 seconds in some
of the movements e.g. Chins and Dips, then I suggest
performing the concentric as slowly as possible
and lowering yourself for the remainder of the time.
For example, if you can only raise yourself for
a 1 second count instead of 3 then I suggest lowering
for 5 seconds to make up the difference. Each rep
will still take 6 seconds. While it won't give you
the exact same metabolic effect it will prolong
the set giving you a time under tension (TUT) of
48-72 seconds.
5) Begin by doing sets of 8 reps in each
exercise and strive to add 1 rep/workout until you
hit 12 reps. (Use 70% of your 1RM as a starting
point for the 8 reps).
6)
Progression - Once you can do all the sets for 12
reps you have two options to work with:
Option 1 - add about 5% more weight and drop the
reps down to 8 again - repeat as above
OR
Option
2 - keep the reps at 12 but decrease your rest
between sets. I suggest reducing your rest by 5
seconds in the early stages. Depending on your current
condition you may be able to reduce the rest by
5 seconds every workout. If you are unable to continue
with 5-second decrements then a smaller reduction
(2 - 3 seconds) would be more appropriate.
7)
Keep track of all the exercise variables in a training
log. A sample log is shown below.
| Exercise |
Weight |
Sets |
Reps |
Tempo |
Rest |
| Lunges |
50
lbs |
4 |
8 |
3030 |
|
| 1
Arm DB Row |
40
lbs |
4 |
8 |
3030 |
|
| Front
Squat |
150
lbs |
4 |
8 |
3030 |
60
sec. |
| *Repeat
C1 for desired sets before moving to C2 |
|
|
|
|
|
| Chins |
BW
(220 lbs) |
4 |
8 |
3030 |
|
| Single
Leg Squat off Bench |
BW |
4 |
8 |
3030 |
|
| Pullovers |
40
lbs |
4 |
8 |
3030 |
60
sec. |
By
grouping the exercises in the following manner I
can see at a glance that it is a circuit routine
and I am resting for 60 seconds at the end of the
third exercise. "*Repeat C1 for desired number
of sets before moving to C2" tells me that
I do all 4 sets for Circuit 1 before I begin Circuit
2.
Try
this routine for 6 weeks then experiment with different
exercises and/or body part groupings. With your
next routine you may want to group quads with chest
(front of the body) & hams with back (back of
the body). Use your imagination and keep your options
open. The greater the variety in your programs -
the less likely that you will stagnate.
