THE “BIG FIVE” STRENGTH TRAINING PROGRAM
(Adapted from “Body by Science” by Doug McGuff and John LiHle)
You don’t need to go to gym everyday of the week to achieve large increases in muscle strength. In fact, it can be done in as little as one day a week. This program is designed to improve your overall wellness. It is not designed to bulk you up or make you the next Arnold Schwarzenegger.
The program consists of five exercises. They should be done on machines (a free weight version is available for those of you who are experienced ligfters). For the completely uninitiated to weight training, you probably should get at least one personal training session to show you safe use of the machines and proper technique.
The five exercises are:
Seated row
Chest press
Pulldown (underhand grip)
Overhead press (often called a “shoulder press”)
Leg press
The exercises are performed relatvely slowly, at least five seconds on the liging and return phases.
You want to choose a weight where you will fail at repetition 8-10. Failure means that you can not lift with all your might. For newbies, this weight is about 75% of your one rep maximum (i.e. the heaviest weight you can lift once).
You only need to do two sets on each machine. Rest 60-90 seconds between sets. Then you are done. Seriously. The whole routine shouldn’t take more than thirty minutes.
Twice a week. That’s it. Once you have done this for six months, ask me about changing this routine.
A brief (10’) warm up on an elliptical trainer is probably a good idea.