Monday Workout: Heavy

This week we’re going to do something a little different.  We’re going to do a single rep maximum workout.  That “we” is important because lifting heavy is not something to do all alone.  (If you do not have a partner, you can still lift heavy-ish, but please do NOT try to go to a single rep max without a spotter.)

 

Here’s how it works:  for each exercise, we begin with ten reps of a weight we can do easily.  The exercises I’ve listed below are in pairs, an upper body with a lower body.  This is so we can do more work in less time:  the lower body rests while the upper body works and vice versa, although as we get closer to our single rep max, we will probably want plain old still rest between sets.  So:  we do a set of the lower body exercise, then a set of the upper body exercise.  For the next set, we increase the weight.  After a couple of rounds, we will find that we want to reduce the number of reps.  This is good.  Eventually, we will increase the weight to the point that we can only complete one beautiful rep.  The “beautiful” is also important:  when we are lifting heavy, bad form can hurt us.  Our partner can help us keep an eye on our form so that we don’t start doing things ugly.

 

Lifting heavy can take a long time.  I usually only do one pair of exercises per heavy workout because it can take 45 minutes to an hour to go from my warm-up weight to my single rep max with the appropriate rest intervals.  Also, whichever pair of exercises we choose to do first will be our best.  All those max weights add up over time, so we shouldn’t expect the same performance from the last pair as the first pair if we keep going.  This is also why it is a good idea to rotate what we do first.

 

As always, if what I’ve said doesn’t make sense or you have questions, ask me!  I’m here to help.

 

Now:  here’s the list.

 

Basic Heavy Workout
5 minute cardio warm-up
	Start	Finish
squats
bench press
deadlift
flies
lunges
rows
abs
SMR and stretch