How Not to Workout: Do This and You’re Insane
August 12, 2009
I’ve been giving out training advice and workout routines for a few years now and this blog has steadily grown, not only in size, but readership as well.
Many readers from male to female, large to small, have written to me over the years. They’ve told me how the routines posted here and the advice I gave them, helped them get closer to their weight training goals.
That’s cool. It’s what I started this site for – to help people.
With this post I decided to go in a different direction than I usually do to help people.
Instead of posting another routine to try, I’ve decided to post one you shouldn’t do. It’s called the Law of Contrast and I hope it sinks in for you.
I’m going to show you today how not to train and if you are training this way, drug free, then stop immediately and follow one of the workouts on this site.
You grow by lifting heavier and heavier weights (progressive overload) and then getting the hell out of the gym!
No routine, and I mean none, should be more than four days a week and even that for most is too much. I personally prefer three days per week.
Some can’t recover enough and need to drop it down to two days per week.
Don’t go to extremes.
I know a guy who trains six days a week, twice a day, without the use of drugs. Do you know what? He’s still the same size when he started, maybe a little bigger. He blames it on nutrition and he calls himself a hardgainer.
That’s bullshit!
The reason he never gains is because his lifting too damn much. If he would cut back to three days a week he would grow like a weed.
Another friend I know trains once every two weeks.
Bullshit again!
You need to stimulate your muscles to grow. In order to do that you need to work them on a regular basis…not twice a freaking month!
Get real people. The too much and too little outlooks on training are dead wrong.
The only way you can gain on routines prescribed in the muscle rags is by doing drugs, lots of them.
So, for your enjoyment, here’s how not to train. I ripped this out of a magazine…No, I won’t name names. What I will say is if you train like this then you’re insane.
Stop the insanity right now. Get off the muscle rag addiction and take up sensible training. Do that and watch how big you get.
Here’s how not to workout:
Monday: Back
Deadlifts – 4 sets – 6-12 reps
Barbell rows - 3 sets – 10-12 reps
T-bar rows – 3 sets – 10 – 12 reps
One-arm dumbbell rows - 3 sets 10-12 reps
Biceps
Barbell curls - 4 sets -12 reps
Seated alternate dumbbell curls 4 sets - 12 reps
Cambered-bar preacher curls 4 sets - 12 reps
Standing cable curls – 4 sets – 12 reps
Shoulders
Military presses – 4 sets – 10-12 reps
Seated dumbbell presses - 4 sets – 12 reps
superset with
Front dumbbell presses – 4 sets – 12 reps
Tuesday : Legs
Squats - 5-6 sets – 10-12 reps
Leg presses - 4 sets – 12 reps
Parking-lot lunges - 2 sets – 100 yards
Stiff-leg deadlifts – 3 sets – 12 reps
Seated leg curls - 3 sets – 12 reps
Wednesday : Chest
Bench presses - 5 sets – 12 reps
Incline barbell presses - 3 sets – 12 reps
Flat dumbbell presses - 3 sets – 12 reps
Flat flyes - 4 sets – 12 reps
Triceps
Seated cambered-bar extensions - 3 sets – 12 reps
Seated dumbbell extensions - 4 sets – 12 reps
Close-grip bench presses – - 4 sets – 12 reps
Thursday: Back
Barbell rows – 5 sets – 10 – 12 reps
Pulley Rows - 4 sets – 10 – 12 reps
Machine pulldowns – 3 sets – 10 – 12 reps
Front pulldowns - 3 sets – 10 – 12 reps
Biceps :
Incline alternate dumbbell curls - 4 sets – 12 reps
Machine curls - 3 sets – 12 reps
superset with
Standing cable curls – 4 sets – 12 reps
Shoulders :
Seated dumbbell presses - 4 sets – 12 reps
Front dumbbell raises – 3 sets – 8 – 25 reps
Machine raises – 3 sets – 8 – 25 reps
Friday: Legs
Leg extensions - 4 sets – 30 reps
Front squats - 4 sets – 12 – 15 reps
Hack squats - 3 sets – 12 reps
Standing leg curls - 3 sets – 12 – 15 reps
Lying leg curls – 4 sets -12-15 reps
Saturday : Chest
Incline dumbbell presses - 4 sets – 12 reps
Decline barbell presses – 3 sets – 12 reps
Incline dumbbell flyes - 3 sets – 12 reps
Decline dumbbell presses - 3 sets – 12 reps
Triceps :
Lying cambered-bar extensions - 4 sets – 12 reps
triset with
Machine dips 4 sets – 12 reps
triset with
Seated cambered-bar extensions – 4 sets – 12 reps
Additionally :
Calves ( twice a week )
Donkey raises – 4 sets – 12 reps
Seated raises - 4 sets – 12 reps
Abs ( four times a week )
Crunches – 3 sets – failure
Sunday : Rest
WOW…Sunday I can rest!
If you can grow from that kind of volume without taking drugs, congratulations, you are a genetic freak. And even if you are a genetic freak, who has the time to do all that lifting?
Do you see how ridiculous those magazines really are?
Toss them aside and follow common sense programs the old-timers used in the days before steroids and mass media took over the iron game.
Stop the insanity!
Comments
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Hit routines, Best way to train period. Bodies have a limited recovery ability which most people don’t realize. More sets is a negative not a positive your digging a deeper erode into the muscle which the body has to fill instead of building the muscle bigger.
Great Article
I completely disagree with this article. I personally train no less than 5 days a week when in the off season and gain a lot of muscle. Last march during hockey playoffs I had a 4 day a week workout regimen on top of 3 days a week minimum of hockey and was at a big 212 lbs (at age 16).
Look at the legends like Bruce Lee, he trained 6-7 days a week and had possibly the greatest physique in history (I’m also pretty sure he wasn’t on drugs). You can train as many days a week as you want and still experience gain if you approach training intelligently. Just my opinion.