Week three sparked a new, monthly tradition for me: buying a Men's Health magazine at the beginning of the month and finding a great, full body circuit to do. We have all heard of "muscle confusion," and I fully believe in it. I majored in Health and Exercise Science at Wake Forest University, and the theory of muscle confusion follows some of the key concepts I learned there. The body learns. If you do the same weight and the same exercises three days a week, your body will eventually plateau off and will refuse to show you any more results. This is the reason why I thought adding new moves (while keeping other great workouts, like the Spartacus workout, just in case you want to throw it in every once in the while). This week will demonstrate a new workout that has two different circuits. They both focus on stabilizer muscles, but circuit A is focused more on the lower body, while circuit B is focused more on upper body.
Monday:
Run (outside)- 0.7 miles @ 6:25 mile pace and 0.97 miles @ 6:38 mile pace
Tuesday:
Walk 2.5 miles at a brisk pace
Wednesday:
Run (outside) - 1.7 miles @ 6:40 mile pace
Row - 2 minutes
Thursday:
Run (outside) 0.6 miles @ 6:40 mile pace
Row 75 repetitions
Lift - Fast Track Abs Circuit A (Two Rounds)
Exercise Reps Weight
1A 10 35 lbs
1B 10 --
2A 2x15 35 lbs
2B 2x8 35 lbs
2C 15 35 lbs
3A 10 25 lbs
3B 15 15 lbs
Hip Up 2x20
3 pt core touch 2x10
Friday:
Run (outside) - 5k 21:47 @ 7:03 mile pace
Saturday:
Row - 3 minutes
Lift - Fast Track Abs Circuit B (Two Rounds)
Exercise Reps Weight
1A 10(10) 50(40) lbs
1B 10 --
1C 10 --
1D 10 --
1E 10 50 lbs
2A 15 15 lbs
2B 10 25 lbs
Rocky Abs 10
Running Man 20
On exercise 1A, you are supposed to do 10 reps with your starting weight, then do another 10 reps with a weight that is 5-10% less than the starting weight after a 20 second rest. 10(10) signifies 10 reps at starting weight and 10 reps at the lower weight. You really feel the burn on this one. It's a good burn though.
Rest
Directions for Fast Track Abs Circuits: Alternate between workouts A and B for 4 weeks, resting for at least a day between sessions. Perform each group of exercises as a circuit, resting 20 seconds between exercises and 1 minute after completing all the exercises in the circuit. During weeks 1 andd 2, do each circuit twice. During weeks 3 and 4, do each circuit three times. Finish your workouts with a couple of the core moves.
Core Moves
Circuit A
Circuit B
Summary:
If you are switching from the Spartacus workout to this one, you can really feel the burn in a whole lot of new muscles. Even though you are working the same muscle groups because both the Spartacus workout and the Fast Track Abs workout are full body, the order of things and the different movements can feel like you are working muscles you have never even felt before. Push through it though! I heard a quote once: "Pain is weakness leaving the body." Though you shouldn't push yourself to the point of injury, a good amount of muscle soreness can be a nice reminder that you are working hard and will reap the benefits of the workouts. I bet you are wondering why I ran the random 5k. Because I am training for a distance event, I figured that I should have a more structured running workout than just "pick a random speed and distance and go for it." I tore an article out of Runners magazine, which is a 5k training guide. I will post pictures for you on the next post, but essentially it takes your current 5k pace and generates how fast and far you should run certain days of the week. Hopefully this will turn this former Wake Forest high jumper into somewhat of an endurance guy. I hope you enjoy this new workout. Good luck on your adventures!
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