Strength training
About me
I inspire new possibilities to deepen love, intimacy and self-expression. I mainly write articles about that, but you'll also find refrences on design, fitness and finance. More
(Work in progress) These are the 10 exercises I do for strength and muscle growth. They're meant to cover your whole body, top to bottom, pulling and pushing. You'll find a description of the right form for each, as well as my personal stats. You might notice an unusually large space between my workouts. That's because I'd rather lift a boulder once than a needle a thousand times.
Warm up
Warm up is curial. If you don’t you may rip something and injure yourself. Before each workout I jog for 5 minutes to get pulse my up. Then I’ll warm up with 10 reps with a third of the wight I’ll use.
Exercises
Deadlift
Form
Don’t have your ass too high so you’re like an L reaching down. Don’t have it so low you’re in a squat. It should be in between. Lower your arms down vertically until you grab the bar and don’t lower your ass more than necessary for that. Don’t round your back! The start is most difficult so think of the first half as a leg press, and at the end your back engages more. Your focus should be keeping your back perfectly rigid and straight as the bar goes up as vertically as possible. And pinch your shoulder blades together.
Personal progress
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Stretch
Bench Press
Form
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Pull Down for lats
Form
Don’t extend at the the top. Have a wide grip but not too wide; around 45°. Don’t lean back but tilt head back. Don’t pull elbows back. Sit verticallt and have albows in line with your hips. With elbows forward you compensate with your pecks. If you lean back you compensate with rear delts. To minimize biceps compensating keep thumb on same side of bar as the rest of your fingers so you’re not gripping, but hooking.
Stretch
Hold on above your head and drop down. Lats can go from arm to hips so push hips out too. Next phase is rotate hips away. Lastly turn to a side bend. That gets all of it.
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Toe Press
Form
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Leg Press
Form
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Shoulder Press
Form
Grip the bar so that in relaxed position your forearms are vertical and don’t flare elbows back. Do shrug at the top. Have a rigid, straight back with neutral spine. You will be using many other muscles for stabilisation but avoid pushing with your lower body to lift the weight; that’s cheating.
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Weighted Crunch
Form
No arching your back, that engages the legs.
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Barbell Shrug
Form
Pull your shoulders up and back, not forward. Chest up.
Latest power index increase is % and before that, %.
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Weighted Dip
Form
Never hunch your back, it can lead to injury and is compensating with your chest. Straight back with prominent chest. Elbows tight inside, not moving, working as hinges. Shoulders down, don’t allow yourself to compensate with them. Push all the way down and squeeze at the end.
Latest power index increase is % and before that, %.
Latest power factor increase is % and before that, %.
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Bicep Curl
Form
Shoulders back. Start with forearms parallel to the ground and just move up an inch. Anything higher is shoulders kicking in. Don’t move your elbows. Pin them to your side so you only move your forearms. Simultaneous lift is harder because it’s more weight your core needs to stabilaize so you may want to do one at a time for a while to isolate the bicep. But ideally do both arms simultaneously.
Latest power index increase is % and before that, %.
Latest power factor increase is % and before that, %.
Last workout was .
Last updated 13 October, 2019
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