Holistic Fitness Master Guide, Part I: Strength and Hypertrophy
This is part one of the four part Holistic Fitness Master Guide, aimed to help you create a fitness routine that covers all aspects of fitness, in as time-efficient a manner as possible while still delivering great results.
Part I is on Strength & Hypertrophy for a reason - this should be the foundation of your fitness routine in almost all cases, especially if your goal is to look better, feel better, improve your health and prevent injuries.
Even if you don't want to get huge or look like a bodybuilder, building at least some muscle goes a long way for your health and aesthetics. It'll also help improve bone density and prevent or mitigate injury. Oh, and it has a modest effect on boosting your metabolism (muscle is an 'expensive' tissue to keep around, energy wise) and improving carbohydrate utilization.
This means you DO want to build at least some muscle, and we want to use effective methods to do so. If we want to get a good result in as few hours per week as possible, then we need to do the 20% that gets us 80% of the results, and ditch the other 80%.
I'm extremely passionate about this 'effective use of time' approach to fitness, because I know this is probably THE biggest obstacle that many people, including my clients, have to overcome.
Well, maybe second biggest; gaining true, deep self-belief that you can accomplish the things you say you want to accomplish is the biggest unlock you can get, but it's also the toughest. This is a big topic that deserves its own newsletter or series, so we won't be touching on it much here.
Can you guess what is the single most impactful way to change your beliefs of what you think you can accomplish?
Action.
Actually doing something, so that you have concrete evidence that you are becoming a different person.
THIS is why I'm passionate about time-effective fitness. If it doesn't take as much time, then it'll be easier to fit into your day and week, which means it'll be easier to stick to, which means you actually rack up some wins and give yourself a chance to believe in yourself.
A lot of people get a little worried when they hear 'build muscle'. Their brain jumps straight to the extreme of the roided out, extremely muscular bodybuilder and they think 'oh, I don't want to look like that!' So they become apprehensive about strength training. Or, they're afraid of training hard with weights, and really pushing themselves, because they don't want to wake up tomorrow looking like prime Arnold.
Getting jacked and looking like a bodybuilder requires good genetics, insane dedication and consistency with high effort in the gym + nutrition + recovery, and if you're imagining the typical bodybuilder look - drugs.
When you've built all the muscle you want, you can just go into maintenance mode and focus on different goals - problem solved.
Even if you just want to get a bit stronger overall, or build a little bit of muscle, or just improve shape and tone (which, by the way, is done by building muscle and getting leaner) - it makes sense to go about that in the most effective way, no?
Sounds great, but how do we do this? How do we do 'the 20% that gives us the 80% of our results'?
We'll dive into the meat and potatoes of this below.
Fair warning - this isn't some 'put on this device and it'll train your abs for you in 10 minutes a day!' bullshit.
Don't mistake 'time-effective' for 'easy'. If you want to get a better result in less time, you need to train hard.
With proper technique and control, yes, but if you don't learn how to really push your body to its limit, you are going to make progress for a short few months at most and then hit a brick wall.
Priorities
We have a few goals or priorities when constructing this strength training routine:
(1) Train the whole body over the course of the week.
(2) Use highly effective movements for building strength and muscle. This means:
lots of compound exercises
through full range of motion
done under control
using a reasonably stable exercise (i.e. not squatting on a bosu ball)
taken close to muscular failure (the weight moves slower even though you're pushing as hard as you can. You don't stop because you're tired or it burns. You stop because your muscles are physically tapped out.)
generally in a medium rep range (think anywhere between 8-15 reps, for the most part). Going low reps and heavy on everything can be rough on the joints and psychologically demanding, and for some exercises it's just not effective (especially many isolation exercises). Going very high reps makes it very easy to fail due to cardio or an insane burn versus actual muscular failure.
There will still be some isolation movements, but compound exercises are the core of the program.
(3) Give each specific muscle time to recover before working it again.
You'll occasionally run into overlapping fatigue no matter what, but if you spread the days out properly, it will rarely be an issue.
This is why spreading the training throughout the week is far better than doing something like 3 days on, 4 days off. That could work, but probably not ideal.
Monday/Wednesday/Friday or Tuesday/Thursday/Saturday tend to work best. There's other ways to break that up of course, and still have at least 1 rest day in between each workout. You can do back-to-back workouts if you need to, but definitely avoid doing all 3 in a row. The training splits I have outlined below make it so any two workouts done back to back won't be a big deal, if you follow the order that I have them listed in.
Also, from a psychological perspective, going 4 days in a row without working out will make it easier to slip on your diet and sleep, and might make it harder to want to go back to the gym when the time comes.
(4) Allow for training day flexibility, for when life stuff comes up and you need to move your exercise to a different day.
This is why less training days = better for the majority of people, ESPECIALLY if you're trying to build a new fitness habit.
When I say 'less' training days, I mean less than what is commonly seen from how fitness influencers train and what is prescribed in many programs such as P90X, Insanity etc.
The sweet spot for 90%+ of people is 3 days, in my experience as a coach. So, this program will be designed as such.
Better to never miss a session on a 3 day a week program, than to try a 4 day a week program and miss 1 workout every 2 weeks. From both a practical and psychological perspective.
(5) Don't rely exclusively on machines.
Machines are very useful, but we're viewing the creation of this program through a holistic lens. Incorporating dumbbells, barbells, bodyweight exercises and other implements will train your stabilizing muscles much better than machines. We want to make sure we have at least some of these movements in the program.
How to Split up Your Training
There's a million different ways to skin this cat, and many of them are good. Don't get too hung up on searching for the Holy Grail of the 'perfect' training split.
It doesn't exist. Much of it comes down to personal preference. There are ways to get a bit fancy with it, but you don't need this yet. Get a year of consistent training under your belt before worrying about 'specializing' in any body part.
We just need to ask this question:
Am I working each essential movement pattern once throughout the week?
Here are the major movement patterns I'm referring to:
Upper Body
Horizontal Pull (i.e. a row of any kind)
Horizontal Press (i.e. a flat bench press)
Vertical Pull (i.e. a lat pulldown)
Incline Press (i.e. an incline bench press)
Vertical Press (i.e. a seated shoulder press)
Elbow Flexion (i.e. a bicep curl)
Elbow Extension (i.e. a tricep pushdown)
Lower Body + Abs
Hip Hinge (i.e. a Romanian deadlift)
Squat (a leg press, while not quite a 'squat', will fall into this category for our purposes)
Lunge (I also include split squats in this category. While they are not exactly the same, they fulfill a similar role)
Spinal Flexion (yes, a 'crunch' type movement. As much as this has been booed in the fitness industry lately, it still has its uses. I'll explain in the sample program below.)
Ankle Plantarflexion & Dorsiflexion (Calf raise, and 'tib raises' - basically, the reverse motion of a calf raise)
Hip Flexion (often completely ignored in many programs. This is the motion of lifting the knee to the chest/torso)
That list might look like a lot. And it would be if it was done all in one day. But, we're going to split this up across 3 sessions throughout the week, and you only need to do the majority of these movement patterns once a week.
Now of course, our bodies can move in ways other than these, but that will get taken care of in the other parts of this newsletter series.
Here's a few examples of how we could split this up throughout the week.
Split #1: Chest & Back / Legs & Abs / Shoulders & Arms
This is a great split for anyone looking to build muscle all around, especially in the upper body. The dedicated shoulder/arm day ensures we're hitting these muscle groups with full energy. I used to only tack on arm exercises at the end of chest/back/shoulder training and trust me, it makes a difference.
Pick this split if you want to emphasize upper body, especially the arms.
Split #2: Upper Anterior / Legs & Abs / Upper Posterior
Upper Anterior = muscles on the front of the upper body. Chest, biceps, shoulders. Abs could go here too, but I have them on the lower body day to spread the total number of exercises per workout out a bit.
Upper Posterior = muscles on the back of the upper body. Back, triceps, rear delts (back of the shoulder).
This is very similar to the above split, we're just pairing chest/biceps/shoulders (anterior muscles) and back/triceps/rear delts (posterior muscles) together instead of chest/back and shoulders/arms.
This split still lets you hit your biceps and triceps pretty fresh, since you don't really work your triceps with most back exercises nor your biceps with most chest exercises.
Pick this split if you want to emphasize upper body, with a balance between torso (chest, back, shoulders) and arms.
Split #3: Anterior / Posterior / Total Body
Anterior = muscles on the front of the body. Chest, biceps, shoulders, quads, abs.
Posterior = muscles on the back of the body. Back, triceps, rear delts, glutes, hamstrings, calves.
A great beginner-friendly split that spreads the workload a little more evenly throughout the week. While this is basically 'full body', in that we are working upper and lower body each session, we aren't literally working every muscle every session.
I find that organizing it this way (anterior/posterior/total) is a little more interesting and keeps things more organized and focused than saying 'just do everything, every time!' This also helps make recovery management easier.
Pick this split if you want to work the entire body evenly.
This is also a great split to choose if you need a very flexible training schedule - perhaps some weeks you can get all 3 sessions in, but other weeks only 2 is reasonable - and you know this is going to happen on a regular basis. On those '2' weeks, you can get any 2 of these 3 workouts done without leaving any muscle group neglected.
To be honest, you could pick any of these 3 regardless of your goal and it'll work well. We're just rearranging the same puzzle pieces in a different way. It doesn't make a night and day difference. The main reason there's a difference between them is fatigue.
If you're working your arms when they're fresh on their own specialized day, you'll be able to work them harder (and, they're getting worked a bit on chest/back day, too) as opposed to mixing them in with other body parts.
Like I said, there are other ways to split this up - these are just a few that have worked well for me personally and/or with many clients I've worked with. They are also pretty simple and straightforward.
Sample Training Week for Split #1
Day 1 - Chest and Back
(1) Vertical Pull - Lat Pulldowns or Assisted Machine Pullups. 3 x 8-12 reps.
Standard pull ups are fine, too, if you're strong enough to get at least 8 quality reps. (8 reps if fresh; you're going to get less reps on sets 2 and 3 if you push each set hard. This is true for basically every exercise.) No Crossfit kipping pullups here - we're training our muscles, not trying to hit an arbitrary number of reps.
I've found that it's often a good idea to start your sessions with a pulling exercise. This warms up the shoulder and associated musculature before doing presses, and can help teach/reinforce utilizing the back musculature to control the shoulder blades and upper arm. When people get shoulder issues from presses, it's usually due to weak back musculature or not knowing how to utilize the back/rotator cuff to stabilize the scapula/upper arm.
(2) Horizontal Press - Dumbbell Flat Bench Press. 3 x 10-15 reps.
(3) Horizontal Pull - Seated Cable Row. 3 x 10-15 reps.
(4) Incline Press - Smith Machine Incline Bench Press. 3 x 8-12 reps.
(5) Contraction-Focused Chest: Cable Fly or Pec Deck Machine - 2 x 12-16 reps.
Preferably these over a dumbbell fly, since a dumbbell fly emphasizes the stretched position and has no resistance at the peak, which we've already done in the other movements. Slightly higher reps here, as going heavy on cable flys is just tough to get into and maintain position, and on the pec deck you're starting from the bottom stretched position which can be tough/slightly risky with heavy weight and low reps. It's doable but I wouldn't start out with it.
(6) Lat Finisher: Cable Lat Prayer or DB Pullover 2 x 8-12 reps.
A great way to sneak in a lat stretch into the strength training session, and a nice one to end the session on.
Day 2 - Legs
(1) Knee Flexion - Hamstring Curl or Glute Ham Raise. 3 x 10-15 reps.
Beginners start out with the hamstring curl. If you've built up some hamstring strength and your gym has a Glute Ham Raise, you can consider doing them instead. If doing GHRs, really make sure to finish in an upright position so that you use your hamstrings to 'curl' yourself up at the top (rather than just going through pure hip extension/squeezing the glutes, and still looking at the floor).
(2) Hip Flexion & Spinal Flexion - Hanging Knee raises (start with lying knee tucks/leg raises if hanging/captain's chair is too tough right now). 3 x 8-15 reps.
This is a great 2-in-1 movement to work both of these areas. There is a LOT of hip extension and spinal extension in many traditional strength training movements; it's a good idea to balance that out with these flexion-based movements.
Make sure you're actually getting some spinal flexion (your hips should 'tuck' under you and YES, your low back should round). Getting true spinal flexion and tilting the pelvis back on hanging knee raises is TOUGH and will toast your abs.
(3) Squat - as full range of motion as you can get. Beginners, start out with a Goblet Squat - the load is self-limiting by how much your arms can hold so you won't go too heavy too soon, and it teaches you proper squat/core bracing mechanics. 3 x 10-15 reps.
Soon enough you won't be able to goblet squat enough weight to adequately train your legs outside of some brutal finisher at the end of a workout. So now, you'll move onto a Barbell Squat or Hack Squat Machine. Leg Press also works, but you've gotta go as deep as possible - no quarter or half reps. 3 x 8-12 reps on squat/hack squat, 3 x 10-15 on leg press.
Doing a knee flexion (i.e. hamstring curl) and a hip flexion/ab movement (knee raises) before going into a big squat-type movement often makes the squats feel better, and keeps the knees in good shape. Using a full, deep range of motion on squats is also GREAT for your knees. Just make sure to control the movement (don't dive bomb to the bottom) and add weight at a steady pace. You don't need to slap on a bunch of additional weight every week; give it time.
(4) Hip Hinge - Barbell Romanian Deadlift (2 x 8-12 reps) or 45 degree Back Extensions (3 x 8-15 reps)
Glute bridges/hip thrusts are not a go-to movement here because they more or less isolate the glutes. They do not teach you how to do a true hip hinge, nor do they strengthen the hamstrings, spinal erectors and trunk the same way these other movements do.
(5) Lunge - walking lunges, reverse lunges or split squats. 2 x 12-15 per side.
By shifting most of your weight to one leg at a time, you will be training your hip and ankle stability quite well. These movements also place a loaded stretch on your hip flexors and actively work them in that deep position - good for mobility and counteracting tightness that comes from sitting. You probably won't want to do these, especially after the other leg exercises in this workout. Do them anyway.
(6) Calf Raises (Leg Press/Calf Machine or Stair Calf Raises) 3 x 8-15 reps.
Saving these for the end, because doing them earlier can make it really tough to stabilize your ankles on other exercises.
You've earned the sweet relief of sitting down while you do these, at the end of a brutal leg day.
Alternatively, you can do stair calf raises - make sure you have a wall, railing or something to lightly hold on to for balance. Make sure to use a controlled tempo and get a deep, deep calf stretch by dropping the heels as low as you can. If you're knocking out 30 or more controlled reps with bodyweight, then switch to single leg.
The single leg calf raise is incredibly effective and requires no external load.
Day 3 - Shoulders and Arms
You'll notice we are 'super setting' or 'alternating sets' in this session, unlike the other two. Since most of the exercises here are isolation exercises and using smaller muscle groups, they are less oxygen-demanding than chest, back and leg exercises. This means we can still push all our sets very hard, take a brief breather and then go into the alternating exercise without impacting performance. It's also logistically easier to set these up as super sets, even if the gym is somewhat busy.
(You can super set exercises on the chest and back day, but you might need to use alternative exercises to make it more feasible to super set them. If the gym is busy it'll be tougher to super set exercises.)
That said, you don't have to super set these exercises, and sometimes it might not be feasible to do so. It can just save you some time without impacting the effectiveness of the workout.
(1A) Elbow Flexion - Dumbbell Concentration Curls. 3 × 10-15 reps.
Try this on your last set: Go 'past failure'. Once you can't quite get a full squeeze, knock out a few more (controlled) reps, and just get the dumbbell as far as you can through the range of motion. Easily paired with the dumbbell shoulder press - you're already where you need to be!
(1B) Vertical Press - Dumbbell Seated Shoulder Press. 3 x 10-15 reps.
Going much heavier (lower reps) than 10 reps is tough on these - the challenge will be just getting them into position and getting the first rep going. So, we'll stick with a medium rep range of 10-15.
(2A) Elbow Extension - Cable Tricep Pushdowns. 3 x 10-15 reps.
You can use any attachment you want - as long as it feels good on your wrists and elbows. Straight bar, curved bar, V-bar, rope, anything goes.
(2B) Shoulder Isolation - Dumbbell Lateral Raises. 3 x 10-20 reps.
Same as the concentration curls - if you really want to toast and pump those delts, keep going even once you can't get the dumbbells up to shoulder height. Go for 5 more reps, just getting as high as you can each time. By the end, you'll look like a penguin who can barely flap his wings.
(3A) Elbow Flexion - Cable Rope Hammer Curl. 3 x 8-12 reps.
This is one you can really 'fight' on for those last 1-2 reps. It'll move slow, but you can keep moving it… Just barely. I find slightly lower reps of 8-12, focusing on a slower, controlled lowering of the weight works great on these.
(3B) Elbow Extension - Cable Overhead Triceps Extensions. 3 x 10-15 reps.
Easy to do these at the same station as the hammer curl. Adjust weight as needed.
You can go heavier, but again, it can just get tough to establish and maintain position on these if you're going super heavy. It can be done, but requires experience. Get strong with 10-15 reps first, for 6-12 months. Or forever, you don't need to do super heavy, lower reps here, or on anything for that matter. If you're getting stronger within a given rep range… You're getting stronger. You're building muscle.
We'll go over warm up protocols (and if you even need them) in Parts II and III, since the topics we cover there can be used as a warm up for strength training.
As far as the actual strength training portion goes, you could get these workouts done in 30-60 minutes each (legs on the higher end, arm day on the lower end, chest/back day somewhere in between).
As you get stronger and learn how to push your muscles harder, the workouts will likely take a little longer. Although that can be counteracted a bit if your conditioning/cardio is significantly better than when you started (more on that in Part II).
Free Training Programs
Download the Fitness RPG Planner to get a library of free training programs. Scan the QR code on the second page to get access to the Ke’Tari Training Compendium. There, you’ll filter by training location (gym/home/garage gym) and experience level to get a starter program that suits you.
Part II covers conditioning aka cardio.
-Shane
