Weightlifting: My Current Routine

 

Before I workout, I put on my jabroni-approved Muscle and Fitness shirt, and then I try to do my routine while making a face like I'm shitting bricks.

 Working out is a chore when you're thirty-five with a physical job and two kids who demand watching, lest they burn the house down or horrifically maim themselves. Lately, I've been doing a three day split, utilizing an upper body push/pull day with just two exercises on Tuesday (push-press/pullups), a box squat/upper body assistance/stone lifting day on Thursday, and a deadlift/bench press/curl day on Saturday. These workouts usually take about an hour, and I try to not have much down time between sets. I can't really afford to lazily lift weights like the good old days--I have to cram as much volume into the time I have as possible. I think it's working out pretty well. I did a high box squat with 400 lbs for 3 reps a couple weeks ago, and I box squatted 425 today. I pulled 455 two weeks ago with no warm up because my friend thought I couldn't do it. My upper body lifts are nothing to brag about, but I did an easy 270 bench press last week, and my pullup routine consists of 10 sets of 10. Anyway, here's exactly what I'm doing, which can vary considerably. This is just a loose format. I often adjust the reps and sets depending on what I have time for. Thirty reps is the goal for bench/press/squat, while ten to fifteen is what I shoot for with the deadlift.

Tuseday

Push press 5 sets of 5 in a pyramid format (for example, 135*5, 145*5, 150*5, 160*5, 160*5), then do five heavy singles, increasing the weight each time. Superset with 10 sets of 10 pullups or 10 sets of 10 rows.

Thursday

Box squat 5 sets of 5 in a pyramid scheme (hah), then do five heavy singles. Perform an upper body circuit in between sets of curls, pressdowns, and laterals for 3 to 5 sets of 10 to 15 reps. Lift an atlas stone as many times as possible in a few minutes (picked up my 145 pounds stone 12 times in a couple minutes today, for example).

Saturday

Bench press 5 sets of 5 in a pyramid format, followed by five heavy singles. Deadlift either ten singles, increasing the weight with each set, or do five to ten doubles. Perform barbell curls between sets for as many sets and reps as you like.

Nothing fancy, but I'm keeping in good shape at 195 during the summer despite sweating buckets while picking peaches all day.