Cutting Up In The Gym

Gettiug tone when you're at the gym is basically the complete opposite of my previous article.  Personally, I have a lot of trouble getting tone so I try to diet and do as much cardio as possible.  I'm just going to give you a few tips on getting lean muscle mass while workout out.  First rule of thumb is always to do low weight, but more reps.  Personally I follow the general rep range of 15 to 10 reps.  Yes, it's very high, but that's because we want a very high intensity type of training.  You're cutting phase of working out is definitely a much more intense workout than your bulking up routine.  You will really feel the lactic acid build up in your muscles.  It does hurt but this is how you get toned.  Also, another rule I like to follow is going to the gym more days and splitting up your body parts.  This way, you burn more calories every day, and you don't have as many days at rest.  When you bulk up you want to be in the gym about 3 or 4 days a week.  When you are trying to tone up you should be going about 5 or 6 days a week.  Unlike bulking up, getting tone should involve a lot more cable and machine movements and less free weights.  You definitely should throw in some free weight exercises as well, but cable movements, body weight movements, and machine movements are very important.  Also, your rest period should only be about 1 to 2 minutes between sets.  Unlike bulking up, where you rest 3 to 4 minutes, when you tone up your muscles you want them to be just barely able to perform the next series of reps.  It's much more intense this way, that's why you should always strart off with a weight you can handle pretty easily for 15 reps.  I have found that pyramidding downward once again has benefitted me the most, because you still will keep your strength and build lean muscle as you do it.  Below is my cutting up routine in the gym.

Chest

Bench Press 3 sets 15 12 10
Dumbell Flyes 3 sets 15 12 10
Cable Flyes 3 sets 15 12 10
Machine Flyes 3 sets 15 12 10
Dips 3 sets 15 15 15

Legs

Squats 3 sets 15 12 10
Lunges 3 sets 15 12 10
Quad Extensions 3 sets 15 12 10
Hamstring Exentsions 3 sets 15 12 10
Calf Raises 3 sets 15 12 10

Back

Barbell Rows 3 sets 15 12 10
Lat Pulldowns 3 sets 15 12 10
Hyper Extensions 3 sets 15 15 15
Seated Rows 3 sets 15 12 10
Pull Ups 3 sets 15 15 15

Shoulders

Dumbell Overhead Press 3 sets 15 12 10
Cable Front Raises 3 sets 15 12 10
Cable Crossovers 3 sets 15 12 10
Rear Delt Flyes 3 sets 15 12 10
Barbell Shrugs 3 sets 15 12 10

Biceps, Triceps

Cable Bar Curls  3 sets 15 12 10
Concentration Curls 3 sets 15 12 10

Rope Pushdowns 15 12 10
V Bar Cable Pushdowns 15 12 10

This in a nutshell is my cutting up routine during the spring and summer.  Along with dieting and cardio this is a pretty solid program to follow, and will definitely help you avoid overtaining.  As you can see the reps are high and the weight is low.  This is a 5 day a week program, unlike my bulking up routine which is 3 days a week.  I also throw in abs every day during this routine and I do a short 15 minute cardio session after each workout.  See if it works for you

Bulking Up In the Gym

For some people putting on size is pretty difficult, for other others it is pretty dam easy.  When I first started working out, the easiest thing for me to do was put on weight and get bigger.  I just naturally can get bulky in the gym.  I'm not gonna talk about what foods you should be eating or how much or that what not in this article.  This is strictly gym etiquette how to build mass.  What I have found to work the best for me is to use heavy weight and low reps.  Almost any bodybuilder will tell you the same thing, go heavy and use free weights.  They're correct.  Personally I like to go between 10 to 4 reps in my bulking up phase of training.  For the beginning lifter who wants to get big I wouldn't recommend going anywhere under 4 reps.  The risk of injury is too much.  Go with a weight that you can handle.  Now, once you've gotten that exercise technique down flat you may want to experiment with negative reps or 2 or 1 rep sets.  A negative set is when you work on the downward movement of the muscle contraction.  For example, on a normal curl, you curl the weight up and then you bring it back down.  On a negative set, you start with the weight up and slowly let it go back down until your arms are straight, and then another person lifts the bar back up for you.  This is a little bit of an advanced technique for a young weightlifter.  If you're concentrating on bulking up your body needs rest and you need to have a solid 3 minutes between sets at the gym.  Without that rest, your muscles will not properly be recovered enough to perform more sets.  Bulking up is my favorite part of working out specifically because of the strength gains you make.  If you want to get into a sort of powerlifting routine, your strength willgo up dramatically rather than you doing high reps and low weight.  The key things you have to remember if you're trying to put on size in the gym are as follows.....Keep the reps low, keep the weight high, change up your routine every once in a while to shock your body, use predominatly free weights with some cables thrown in here and there, and make sure you rest a good amount between sets.  This is my sample Bulking up Routine below...And also, all my sets I like to increase the weight a little bit and do more weight lower reps


Chest, Triceps

Flat Bench Press 3 sets  8 6 4
Incline Bench Press 3 sets 8 6 4
Dumbbell Flyes 3 sets 8 6 4
Dumbelle Pullovers 3 sets 8 6 4
Dips 3 10 10 10

Skull Chrushers 3 sets 8 6 4
Rope Pushdowns 3 sets 10 10 10

Back, Biceps

Deadlifts 3 sets 10 8 6
Barbell Rows 3 sets 10 8 6
Dumbell Rows 3 sets 8 6 4
Lat Pulldowns 3 sets 10 8 6
Seated Rows 3 sets 10 8 6

Preacher Curls 3 sets 8 6 4
Hammer Curls 3 sets 8 6 4

Legs, Shoulders

Squats 3 sets 10 8 6
Hack Squats 3 sets 10 8 6
Quad Extensions 3 sets 10 8 6
Hamstring Extensions 3 sets 10 8 6
Calf Raises 3 sets 10 8 6

Barbell Overhead Press 3 sets 10 8 6
Lateral Raises 3 sets 10 8 6
Rear Delt Raises 3 sets 10 8 6
Shrugs 3 sets 10 8 6

This... in a nutshell is my Bulking Up routine for the winter.  I throw in my abdominals usually once every 3 days as well.  This is a good routine and will definitely help you avoid overtraining.  I like to separate the three biggest body parts on diffferent days, chest, back, and legs.  This makes for an easier workout, and you can put way more effort into each muscle group.  Notice, I do not workout my biceps that much because the workout from your back overloads your biceps as well.  The chest routine is pretty tough and definitely will do a number on your triceps as well, so that's why I only work my triceps a little bit afterwards as well.  Your tricep makes up 2/3 of your arm and your bicep is the smallest muscle in your body.  Your triceps are being worked a lot with your chest and shoulder workout, and your biceps get mangled with all your back exercise movements.  Therefore I only throw in 2 exercises for each.  Other than that, Legs is a very difficult day with this routine, but once again, if you are trying to bulk up, it should definitely benefit you.  I know the shoulders routine does look like a lot, especially after a long leg workout, but each exercise I put in is hitting all the heads of your shoulders.  The overhead press is doing a number on your front delts, lateral raises are working the sides of your shoulders, rear dealt raises are working the back of your shoulders, and the shrugs are working your traps.  All in all, I still use this workout today and it has done wonders for my Bulking Phases, hopefully you can get something out of it too. 

Biography

Biography

I've been around the weightlifting lifestyle for quite sometime now. I started playing football when I was a sophomore in High School. As soon as the season came, our coaches made us get into a vigorous fitness program. After the season ended I kept myself in the gym. I had a bench press and some dumbbells downstairs in my basement. Every other month I would go online and read up about weightlifting and design my schedule and diet program accordingly. I stood 5'4 140 pounds after my football season. With all the hard work I put in from sophomore to senior year I walked through the doors of my high school, as a senior with a staggering 5'8 190 pounds build. I was getting complimented left and right about my new appearance and I loved it. My senior year is when I read up a lot about supplementation with different products. Now, I didn't go crazy like some people. I didn't buy the labels that looked the best or the so called "best" supplements. I bought the necessites, your basic creatine and protein. After lifting 5 days a week, 2 hours a day during my senior year I graduated at 5'9 205 pounds. I had a 300 pound bench press, a 475 pound squat, and a 455 pound deadlift. Weightlifting changed my life, and it can do the same for you. In this blog, I'm going to show you some real good links that will help you get into the swing of things and get that body into shape.

Cardio

What I have found the best to do for toning up your muscles and getting defined is swimming.  I swim a quarter mile every day, not all at once though.  I like to do one lap at a time, pretty intense speed, then rest, then do another.  This is a great form of cardio for all weightlifters because it takes a solid 30 seconds a lap .  When you do a set of benching or deadlifting or whatever exercise you may do, you push yourself really hard for about 10 to 15 seconds usually, sometimes more, and sometimes less depending on your rep range.  Well, this type of swimming is perfect for that, because it conditions your heart to work very hard for a shorter period of time, whereas long distance running or long distance swimming will make your heart healthier for the long haul.  I definitely am not gonna say that a long swim and a long run will not help you, but weightlifting wise, the proper way to do cardio should be in short fast movements.  Like sprints for example.  Another short but very intense form of cardio training.  Personally I don't like doing them because, after a while, they start to tear on your knees, but everyone is different.  Personally I have found that short quick swims are the best way to make gains in the weight room as far as cardio endurance.  Any form of cardio is bound to get you lean though, because you are burning calories.  It;s common sense, the more cardio you do, the more calories you burn.  You burn more calories with short quick motions than you do with a long slow cardio session.  Let's not forget that your heart is the biggest muscle in your body.  You have to make sure you work it just as much as every body part.  A simple 15 20 minute cardio session after every workout is all you need.