I first wrote The ABC Routine in the mid-90’s. It is meant to be a quick and easy reference guide for anybody just returning to the gym for the first time in years, or interested in getting started with some light weight training for the first time ever. The ABC Routine is an excellent general weight training program that will help you “get your feet wet”. However, learning how to weight train properly from a book or article is not a good replacement for good personal training instruction from a qualified coach or expert personal trainer.
Most people reading this have likely seen the movie, “The Karate Kid”, either the newer one with Will Smith’s son, or the original with Pat Morita that I will talk about here. The formula is the same in both films. In the beginning of the movie, Daniel attempts to practice his Karate, taking lessons from a book, but it is not until Mr Myagi adopts him as a student that Daniel’s Karate really begins to develop. Also, in the beginning of his learning process, Daniel questions the seemingly simple and pointless menial tasks Mr. Myagi (Pat Morita) instructs Daniel to perform, but we find out later that these tasks were not so pointless – they were laying the foundation for future learning. You may not yet have access to your own weight training Mr Myagi, expert personal trainer, or qualified coach, so, until then, consider using this ABC routine as a beginner’s guide.
INSTRUCTIONS
1) Pick 2 of the four exercises under each underlined heading. (You will perform 4 exercises total each workout day)
2) Perform 4-5 sets per exercise. (More sets may be required for practice and/or warming up)
3) Do 8-12 reps per set. (Challenge yourself… safely)
4) Use a repetition tempo of 4-1-1
(Lower the weight in 4 seconds, pause at the bottom (or top) of the range for 1 second, lift/raise the weight in 1 second).
5) Rest 1 minute or less between each set. (Stretching between sets is a good idea)
SUGGESTED SCHEDULE
WORKOUTS (see below)
WORKOUT A : “PUSH and PULL” Push exercises*
Flat bench Dumbbell press
Incline bench Dumbbell press
Decline bench Dumbbell press
Seated Military Dumbbell press
Seated Military Dumbbell press
Seated Military Dumbbell press
Incline bench Dumbbell press
Incline bench Dumbbell press
Bilateral (two handles) seated cable row
Bilateral (two handles) seated cable row
Bilateral (two handles) pull-downs
Bilateral (two handles) pull-downs
Pull exercises*
Bilateral (two handles) pull-downs
Bilateral (two handles) seated cable row
Standing Rope Rows from hi cable
Standing Rope Rows from lo cable
WORKOUT B : “SQUATS and ABS”
Squat exercises*
Bodyweight Squats
Front Squats
Back Squats
Box Squats
Abdominal exercises*
Decline Board Sit-ups
Roman Chair Knee ups
Bent knee crunches
Hanging leg raises
CARDIO
Perform 20-30 minutes continuous activity on bike, elliptical, treadmill, jumping rope, or any combination of these options totaling 20-30 minutes.
Pro Tip:
Using an inexpensive sports watch with a built-in timer is an extremely convenient and productive way to time not only your rest time between sets, but also the duration of your set, also known as the “time under tension”. Using the guidelines detailed in The ABC Routine (above), a set of 10 reps should take exactly 60 seconds. Using a watch with a simple timer function will help you immensely. DISCLAIMER: This routine is followed at your own risk. This routine is not meant to replace the advice of a qualified coach or expert personal trainer. The information contained or implied here is not intended to diagnose or cure any specific illness or condition. Paul Newt, New Energy & Weight-loss Training Systems, EDGE 24 Hour Private Fitness, its employees, associates, and/or affiliated parties are in no way responsible or liable for any injuries, conditions, or maladies suffered as a result of the information given here. Always consult your physician before beginning any eating or exercise program.
(As previously published in the Merrimack Journal)
“Well, yes… I like to lift weights. Thank you for noticing. What do you like to do?”
Yoga. Tai Chi. Weight Training. At first, these activities may seem unrelated, but, in fact, they are very much alike. When we break these forms of exercise down to their basic elements of posture and movement, many similarities become clear.
YOGA
The postures that you do in yoga are actually a series of stretches, and by doing these regularly and trying to stretch just a little bit further each workout, you will soon find that you are much more flexible than ever before. And with the improved flexibility comes improved balance and posture. We are all born with flexibility, and lose it throughout the years. Yoga can keep that from happening and will help you to maintain healthy muscles and joints. Many senior citizens find that when they practice yoga, they feel less pain in their joints and are able to move around much better. Yes, yoga is being practiced by more and more seniors every day, so if they can do it, so can you. Yoga is an exercise for everyone, and one that is going to improve the overall health of all who practice it.
TAI CHI
If you’re looking for another way to reduce stress, consider tai chi (TIE-chee). Tai chi is sometimes described as “meditation in motion” because it promotes serenity through gentle movements — connecting the mind and body. Originally developed in ancient China for self-defense, tai chi evolved into a graceful form of exercise that’s now used for stress reduction and to help with a variety of other health conditions.
Tai chi, also called tai chi chuan, is a noncompetitive, self-paced system of gentle physical exercise and stretching. To do tai chi, you perform a series of postures or movements in a slow, graceful manner. Each posture flows into the next without pause, ensuring that your body is in constant motion.
WEIGHT TRAINING
Like Yoga and Tai Chi, there are many different types of Weight Training. Relying primarily on the use of dumbbell and barbells, Free Weight Training is the purest form of this type of exercise. A relatively new discipline popularized mainly in the United States, Free Weight Training employs a substantial variety of “exercises” grouped, organized, and programmed based on which muscle group(s) are being “worked out”. A “weight trainee” performs exercises for the specific muscle groups he/she would like to target for a pre-determined number of repetitions and sets corresponding with specific, preconceived goals. For example, a weight trainee interested in rehabilitation, and restoration of pain-free mobility, will concentrate a large portion of the work in his/her “training routine” on performing sets that include enough repetitions for the duration of the set to last a minimum of 40 seconds (with a maximum of 70 seconds).
In Yoga, Tai Chi, and Free Weight Training, proper posture and specific movement is critical to mastering the discipline and achieving significant results. Yoga and Tai-Chi are elegant in their similar approaches of utilizing only bodyweight and position to deliver a effective training effect. Free Weight Training employs the use of specialized implements (dumbbells, barbells, kettle bells, safety squat bars, etc) and adds the variable of selecting the magnitude of the resistance, making it even more sophisticated in its art and execution.
A proper introduction to Yoga, Tai-Chi, or Free Weight Training is critical to your success in any one of those endeavors.
UPDATE December 2016: It’s hard to believe that I wrote this program over 20 years ago. It’s still stands as a terrific option for anyone who wants a weight training program that will cause significant and reliable fat loss – while preserving, or increasing, muscle. Clients, past and present, will recognize it as “the 1 minute time under tension routine”.
In any case, with the New Year just around the corner, many of you might find this post very useful. Enjoy.
(This Program is also known as “The XFL Program”) “Congratulations! You have found your way to one of the fastest and best ways to lose fat and/or bodyweight. You are in good company. MANY men and women have tried this program and been quite impressed with the results. I love it when a good plan comes together. Read on and enjoy!” – Paul Newt
WELCOME to The EXTREME Fat Loss Program… I will NOT waste much time here trying to explain why it is a FACT that lifting free weights is the superior method for getting the body you want. I will NOT try convincing the aerobic and cardio addicts out there that you are ultimately wasting your time, painting yourself into a corner. What I will do is relate to you a weight training system that can help you get much LEANER (lose fat and keep your muscle!). This weight training program is quick, efficient, and reliable. If bodyfat loss is your goal, then using The Extreme Fat Loss Program is one of the most effective ways to spend your time at the gym.
Since your arm belongs to me now, I want it strong.
REMOVING YOUR SUBJECTIVE OBJECTIONS
Let us imagine for a second that using FREE WEIGHTS ONLY in a specific format will allow you to achieve the lowest bodyfat percentage in the shortest amount of time with the highest degree of retention (you will stay lean). You might ask, “What would such a format look like?” After I begin to tell you, you might be tempted to ask questions like: “Shouldn’t I do at least SOME cardio? You need cardio for fat loss, right?”, “I heard that if you want lose weight you should only do high reps – because low reps are for only for bulking up… Right?”, “You just have to eat more protein, right? My cousin is a bodybuilder, he said…”
And ON and ON it goes. Let me tell you something- the older I get, the more I realize that most people have NO IDEA what they are talking about. People say lots of things and 99% of it is just hot air. “They” do this. “They” do that… If I had a nickel for every person’s FAILED THEORIES of how to lose weight…
“WHO CARES WHAT “THEY” DO!?!”
What are YOU doing? IS IT WORKING? Because if it isn’t working, what is the point of dedicating all that time to it? Are you happy with your body? Are you confident that you know how to take off any extra bodyfat anytime you want to? Or have you become frustrated or even depressed because your body is a complete mystery to you? You think you just need MORE cardio and LESS food, and then, finally, you will get that flab off. You are dead wrong. You exercise “all the time” and hardly cheat on your diet at at all and you still have that extra flab you can’t get rid of. Why isn’t it working? I happen to know WHY and I am here to offer you one possible solution to your problem. But, first you have to do me a favor…
Ok, I’m gonna tell ya!
FORGET WHAT YOU MAY HAVE HEARD AND WHAT YOU THINK YOU KNOW!
You are getting the truth right here for FREE so pay attention. And, hey, let’s face it… if you had the answers, you would be lean already and you wouldn’t be reading this article.
The following program flat out WORKS like nothing you have seen before. It works better than your 1 hour of cardio everyday. It works better than the Atkin’s diet. It works better than trying to quickly lose 30 pounds by cutting off your arm. Okay, well maybe YOUR ARM doesnt weight 30 pounds, but you get my point…
With that said… let’s get down to outlining this weight training program so you can start ripping the fat off fast!
Here is The XFL PROGRAM SHORT VERSION first: 1.4-6 weight training sessions per week. 2.Each session lasts 60 minutes.** 3.You will do 30 sets per session. 4.Each set will take about 60 seconds to complete. 5.You will rest a maximum of 60 seconds between each set. 6.Cardio is NOT recommended and can actually reduce the effectiveness of this training program.
**Why does each weight training session last almost exactly 60 minutes? Because, (30 sets x 1 minute per set) + (30 rest periods between each set x 1 minute per rest period) = 60 minutes.
This general format was first presented to me by Charles Poliquin in a Canadian Strength Seminar in 1997. Charles refers to this system as “Body Composition Training”. In recent years, this system has been copied, renamed, and promoted by various individuals under new names such as “Meltdown Training” and “Fat to Fire”. These systems seek the same goals and utilize the same general loading parameters.
I will provide a similar version here that I have developed through trial and error. Although many incarnations of this training format are possible, I extend credit to Charles Poliquin to being the first to introduce “Body Composition Training”.
This kind of weight training can take a woman from 20% bodyfat to 12% bodyfat in 12 weeks when properly applied to a motivated trainee.
MORE SPECIFICS
Personally, for body composition training, I like to use a 3-day split routine (the whole body is worked in 3 training days). This is the specific 3-Day Split we will use with The Extreme Fat Loss Program:
3-DAY SPLIT Routine
Day 1 – Legs and Triceps
Day 2 – Chest and Biceps
Day 3 – Back and Shoulders
So, just to clarify, The XFL Program is just ONE version of many of Body Composition Training. It is a well-organized template that is easy to implement and most clients seem to enjoy it. I have other, more sophicated versions, that I will save for another article or blog post.
So, training 2 bodyparts per day means you need to perform: • 15 sets per bodypart (15 x 2 = 30 sets per workout).
• Using 3 exercises per bodypart, with 5 sets per exercise gives us the desired 15 sets.
However, you may decide you would like to do more exercises and less sets per exercise- (5 exercises of 3 sets each), or more sets and fewer exercises per bodypart (one exercise for 15 sets), but that one could get a little monotonous.
There is an optimal combination here, based on the desired training effect within body composition training parameters, and the trainee’s personal disposition and psychology. Feel free to experiment as long as you maintain the 15 sets lasting 60 seconds each per bodypart.
I am sure you can begin to see that there are quite a few ways to arrange this system. Let’s say I want to train 3 bodyparts per session; that would give me 10 sets per bodypart. But, let’s say that I need more work on one of the muscles; maybe I do 20 sets for that bodypart and 5 sets each on the other two. Get the idea?
With that in mind, I provide the following version as an EXAMPLE. You can use it, I have. I like it, but I have created other versions as well.
THE WORKOUTS
Here they are- the SAMPLE WORKOUTS of The Extreme Fat Loss Program:
DAY 1 – Legs and Triceps
A) Full Squats (all the way down!) :warmup, then 2 sets x 10 reps.
B) Split Squats 3 sets x 6 reps EACH LEG.
C) Extra-Wide-Stance Box Squats 3×15 or Hack Squats 3×8
D) Bent-legged Deadlifts 1×20
E) Standing Calf Raises 3×15
F) Pullovers 2×10
G) Closegrip Bench Press 4×6
H) Lying Triceps Dumbbell Extensions 3×8
I) Overhead Triceps Extensions with EZ-Curl Bar 3×8
J) Rope Pushdowns 3×10
Not familiar with these exercises?
Learning new exercises is like learning new words. When you learn new words, you can communicate more precisely to the people around you. When you learn new exercises, you can communicate more specifically with your body. One of the most complete collections of bodybuilding exercises I have ever had the pleasure of holding in my hands was the age-old classic, Arnold’s Encyclopedia of Modern Bodybuilding
DAY 2 – Chest and Biceps
A) Incline DB Press :warmup, then 4 sets x 6 reps
B) Flat Dumbell Flyes 5×5
C) Flat Barbell Press 4 sets x 6 reps
D) Incline Dumbbell Flyes 2×12
E) Standing Barbell Curls 4×6
F) Reverse Curls 4×6
G) Incline Dumbbell Curls 3×8
H) Standing Hammer Curls 4×8
DAY 3 – Back and Shoulders
A) Wide-Grip Overhand Pulldowns:warmup, then 4 sets x 6 reps (squeeze/pause at chest for 2 seconds each rep)
B) Medium-Grip Overhand or Crescent Bar Seated Cable Rows 3×8
C) Rear Lateral Raises 3×8
D) Underhand grip Pulldowns 3×8
E) Single-Arm Dumbbell Rows 1×8 EACH ARM
F) Single-Arm Side Lateral Raises 2×10 EACH ARM
G) Upright Rows 3×10
H) Rope Rows to Chin 2×12
I) Overhand Closegrip Pulldowns 3×8
J) Seated Dumbell Military Press 3×8
By the way, if you still are skeptical about the FACT that you can get ripped without doing cardio, try this routine for just a week and let me know if you change your mind.
IMPORTANT NOTES!
Remember… Make each set last 60 seconds. It doesn’t matter if you are trying to complete 6 reps or 20 reps; make the set last 60 seconds using the most weight you can handle: •FEMALE TRANSLATION – If you can complete EVERY rep of every set, then the weights are TOO LIGHT! Safely challenge yourself and USE MORE WEIGHT. It is okay if you don’t complete every rep of every set. Make adjustments to keep challenging your strength. • MALE TRANSLATION – If you cannot complete ANY of the sets to the 60 second mark, then the weights are TOO HEAVY! Lighten the weight a little. Using a challenging weight and completely the 60 seconds are of equal importance. It is okay if you CAN (barely) complete almost every rep of every set. Move up next time. If it is too easy make the form harder and stricter.
IN CONCLUSION
There you have it! Try this routine for the next 4 weeks. Three or four weeks is a reasonable time frame for evaluating almost any training program. Keep in mind that there is NO PERFECT ROUTINE. This means you CAN’T stay on this or any other routine FOREVER. In the short term, you will feel the benefit of any routine. In the long term, you will feel the shortcomings of any routine. Think “new stimulus, new adaptation”. Coach Charles Poliquin has said, “a training routine is only as good as the time it takes your body to ADAPT to it”, and, “the only constant in your routine should be CHANGE”. Think carefully about these statements.
I noticed the similarities between working out and investing in stocks a long time ago. I have been investing and learning about investing ALMOST as long as I have been lifting weights. I had the benefit of a very intelligent grandfather who had the foresight to teach me some basics about investing and helped me get my feet wet by looking up the current daily closing share prices of the various stocks that he held, beginning when I was in high school. The dividends he earned on his investments single-handedly paid my tuition through college.
Exercising and Investing share many common principles. Financial Advisors generally like to begin with the whole “what type of investor are you?” method of helping you decide which investment vehicle to put your money in. Similarly, the question “what type of athlete or fitness enthusiast are you?” will generally be asked by a Personal Trainer and will help determine which type of exercise you might want to invest your time and energy in. You INVEST your time and energy in a particular type of exercise and activity and hope for a return on that investment of time and energy, just like you invest money in a stock and hope that you will see a return on that money.
“Hot Tips” RARELY pay off.
Choose wisely. Those of us who have even limited experience of investing in stocks have almost definitely had the experience of receiving a “hot tip”. A “hot tip” in investing is the advice to buy a particular stock because the brother’s cousin’s mother’s sister of that person you are talking to supposedly has an inside track on a company or stock that is about to explode in value. Nine times out of ten, you will LOSE money on a “hot tip”. “Hot tips” are not a great way to build your investment portfolio. Exercise is a lot like this too, you “hear” information from this person or that person who appears to have the inside track on the secret training tips and super diet methods that will make you fit and lean. But this type of information does not work out so well either. “Hearing” what you should do for exercises and activities at the gym is not a great way to develop your training program.
How you spend your time in the gym should be determined by what your needs are and by what types of returns you are expecting. If you invest in a dividend bearing stock, you can reasonably expect to receive quarterly dividend payments. Even better if the stock price goes up (appreciates) during the same period! If you leave your money in cash on the sidelines, that’s pretty safe, but you are probably only going to earn a return of 5% of your principal or less during that time. If you go to the gym and lift weights, you can reasonably expect to gain some strength. Even better if that strength gaining activity stimulates new muscle growth and helps remove some body fat. If you do not invest any of your time weight training, but instead play it safe by just, “getting started with cardio”, you will still get a health effect, but you will not significantly improve your body composition with this “safe” investment alone. And remember- not all investments are guaranteed. Just like you need to do your research and pick the best stocks, you need to do your research and pick the best format for your exercise. In investments, we generally have 3 majors classes of investment: stocks, bonds, and commodities. Although investors in stocks, bonds, or commodities are all looking for the same thing (profits), each one of these investment vehicles has a specific nature and serve a particular function.
Each investor will choose one, or a combination of, investment(s) that best suit his/her financial needs and goals. Investing in bonds is quite different that investing in stocks. Investing in stocks is quite different from investing in commodities. Depending on the type of investment vehicle, or vehicles, you choose, you will have a particular experience specific to those investments. Hopefully, you enjoy the ride and you arrive at the financial outcome you had envisioned. In exercise and training, we have 3 primary concerns: anaerobic conditioning (weights), aerobic conditioning (cardio), and the nutrition program. How you invest your time and energy in each of these compartments will specifically determine your fitness and health outcome. For example, if you invest all your time and energy on only food preparation and meal construction, you will receive a specific type of return from that investment of time and energy. Just as you would expect a different, specific type of return from investing all your time and energy in weight training, and none invested in cardio or food prep and meal construction.
In exercise, as in investing, spend your time and energy in a way that maximizes your return on investment in the long term and make it specific to your own unique needs.
I first wrote The ABC Routine in the mid-90’s. It is meant to be a quick and easy reference guide for anybody just returning to the gym for the first time in years, or interested in getting started with some light weight training for the first time ever. The ABC Routine is an excellent general weight training program that will help you “get your feet wet”. However, learning how to weight train properly from a book or article is not a good replacement for good personal training instruction from a qualified coach or expert personal trainer.
INSTRUCTIONS
TAI CHI
WEIGHT TRAINING
