We’re trying something new this month, with TWO workouts meant to be repeated and progressed! Today’s workout is focused on upper body, and you’ll get a second workout tomorrow focused on lower body. (You’ll get a “rerun” WOW on Sunday. There also won’t be a free post this week because the part of me that’s worried about making you guys feel like I’m spamming you was louder than the part of me that’s worried about my free subscribers feeling left out. Tell me if my anxiety led me to prioritize the wrong source of anxiety, lol! Just kidding, please don’t do that.)
Now, if you read my post a couple of weeks ago about ACSM’s new strength training guidelines, you may have noticed that the group recommends training all muscle groups twice a week, which I agree is a good guideline. If this is a recommendation you’d like to follow, using an upper/lower split like this one will require either:
Combining the two workouts into one longer strength workout (not unreasonable; it should take you less than an hour — I’d skip the warmup on the second workout, and combine the stretches) and doing that single workout twice a week
OR committing to four shorter strength workouts per week, doing this workout twice and the lower-body workout twice
OR doing three strength workouts per week: this one once, the lower body workout once, and a full-body workout one other time (a Full-Body category is coming soon to the workout index; in the meantime you can command-F “full” on the index!)
If that just doesn’t work for you (totally OK!), you can pick a different strength workout to focus on this month — and if you don’t really care that much about the guidelines and are just psyched to try the upper/lower split, then just use them however you want!
A few reminders if you’re taking the repeated approach and using progressive overload (AKA adding weight as you get more comfortable with the movements):
For your first workout or two, take it a little easy. Don’t immediately jump to the heaviest weight you can stand to move. Ease your way in to hopefully avoid destroying yourself with soreness and feeling the need to take a super-long break before you go back for another workout (or even feeling discouraged entirely). THEN start to push. Nudge just slightly out of your comfort zone each time. Grunting, cursing, and heavy breathing all very welcome.
Record the weights you used, if you’re comfortable (if recording body-related numbers is not good for you, skip this part). You should be trying to use a weight that gets you very fatigued and close to failure (i.e. you can’t do another rep) by the end of the minute-long set.
Repeat the workouts using the guidelines above.
Do this for four-ish weeks (or more!), adding weight to the extent possible for each exercise that uses weight. Keep recording your weights (again, if this feels like a wise move for you) so you can see your progress! You can also mark progress on things like number of reps, longer working time (if you started off needing to take a break before the end of the set, etc.), or positioning (moving toward a more advanced version of the exercise), if applicable.
You can do the other WOWs that come through over the next couple of weeks as a way to mix things up and supplement your training, if you have time.
Then you’ll get another strength-training–focused workout next month, and the cycle begins anew.
I’m typically a big fan of offering up the option to skip the warmup or cooldown, or one or two rounds of the circuit. However, if you’re doing this in a progressive overload setup, I’d like to encourage you to keep the warmup and cooldown to make sure you’re taking good care of your body. If you can only do one or two circuits the first week, see if you’re able to add a second or third circuit in subsequent weeks.
A note on weights: If you’re going to go for true strength training, you need some heavy weights. This can be hard for home exercisers! I hate sending you out to buy weights — they’re expensive, heavy (heh), and hard to store. But you may get to a point where you just have to go for it and buy your own, or find a gym facility you can use that has heavier dumbbell options. (Those are affiliate links; the only ones I really ever use. They’re for Power Systems, the brand I buy and use at home myself!)
If you aren’t interested in progressive overload–focused strength training (or not yet), you are very welcome to just follow this video like a regular one-off workout! And you can do the whole thing, or if you have less time or energy than that, you can trim things down by:
Skipping the warmup
Skipping the cooldown
Skipping one or two of the three rounds of the resistance-training circuit
Make it work for you.
Finally, just a reminder that registration for my May 30-day strength challenge is now open! Learn more here, including the discount code for paid subscribers, and register here.
