In the previous article, we discussed what old school lifting is and te 2 main rules of dinosaur training. I pointed out training with heavy weights with weight progression will build a strong, lean, and muscular body. Take the basic rules and you can apply it to simple strength training programs using a variety of exercise equipment and free weights.
The equipment includes all of the previous mentioned in the last article: barbells, dumbbells, sandbags, kettlebells, heavy backpacks and ruck sacks, weight vest. Taking the basic rules of heavy weights and overload, you can apply it to simple programs. Let's take a look at barbell and dumbbell training first.
Barbell Training
Barbell training is intuitive and easy to come up with workouts. You will use primarily mass compound lifts. As described many times here on Project Physique, compound exercises are multi-joint movements that work multiple major muscle groups in one go. Old school barbell lifting focuses on compound lifts several times a week. Here's a list of the main compound exercises,
- deadlift- a full body lift that primarily works the legs (especially hamstrings), abs/lower back, traps, grip/forearms, and biceps
- squat- another full body lift that heavily stresses the legs (thighs and hamstrings), abs/lower back, traps
- military shoulder press- a vertical pushing movement that can be done standing or sitting with a barbell or dumbbells, works the shoulders and triceps
- dumbbell or barbell bench press- can be done in different weight bench positions either on flat, incline, or decline positions, works the chest, shoulders, triceps, grip strength
- barbell or dumbbell rows- a horizontal pulling exercise that works the entire back, biceps, and your grip
- chinups or pullups- a vertical pulling movement that involves the entire back, biceps, and grip, can wear a weight belt, heavy backpack, or weight vest to your body for additional resistance making the exercise tougher and more challenging
- dips- a vertical pushing movement that works the chest, triceps, shoulders, like weighted pullups/chinups, you can also wear a belt, backpack, or weight vest for added resistance
- barbell push press- an explosive movement for your chest, shoulders, and triceps
- barbell clean and press- another explosive movement that engages the entire body
You can see how using just 2 or 3 of the compound exercises that give you a well rounded full body workout that works every muscle in your body. And particularly with powerlifters they only focus on 3 lifts; the squat, deadlift, and bench press. Everything else is just fluff and supplemental.
A powerlifter focuses on just those 3 movements for competition and uses a variety of isolation and other compound movements to strength the major muscles for improving his strength on the big 3. They train for pure strength, to lift heavier and heavier weights. This is what I mean by training for function. Training for performance.
This is what basic weight lifting consists of. Just basic lifting with a few key exercises allowing you to get stronger on the mass movements. No games. No gimmicks. No needless fancy machines. No need for dozens of different exercises for each muscle. No wasted time. And no fluff.
And each of the above movements has at least 3 or more variations to go along so you can use different variations of the main movements for when you get stuck on a certain lift and cannot handle heavier poundages on a plateau.
Full Body Routines
You can do full body workouts 2-3 times a week using 1 compound exercise targeting each main muscle group using different rep ranges. Use the 5-12 rep range of 2-3 sets each. I recommend alternating rep ranges for upper and lower body on different training cycles. For example, use 5-8 reps for the upper body for the first 4 weeks and 8-12 reps for the lower body. Then after the first month is up, switch the rep schemes. Use 8-12 reps on the upper body and 5-8 reps on the lower body for the next 4 weeks.
Combine weight and repetition progression (see article) to get an idea of how you can advanced using these rep ranges for building strength and muscle. And especially weight progression and constantly "adding weight to the bar" meaning strive to use heavier and heavier weights over the duration of your workouts.
You can also throw in 1-2 isolation exercises into your barbell full body workouts to complement the routine. For variety, use different compound exercises or varieties of the main movement on different days. As an example, do the basic barbell back squat on one day, the front squat on the next day, and barbell lunges, hack squats, leg presses on the third day.
Work out every other day. The workouts should take you no more than an hour in the gym. Remember, only do the basic and necessary movements and don't throw in a lot of junk machine and isolation exercises or spend too much time on the treadmill.
Your schedule would follow a Monday, Wednesday, Friday or Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday schedule for 3 full body workouts. The other days are rest days. Take a walk, jog a little, walk your dog, and do some light activity on those days. Simple and direct.
5x5
Mark Rippetoe, Starting Strength
Push/Pull/Leg Split Routines
The push, pull, and leg split is an old time favorite of many old school bodybuilders and lifters during the 50s and 60s.
include sample routine
For more information on how you can set up minimalist old school routines and to see some samples, check out the 3x5, 5x5 and minimalist strength training articles.
Dumbbell Training
You can also replace barbells with dumbbells. For every barbell compound exercise, there is a dumbbell compound exercises that serves as an equivalent. For example,
Barbell bench press can be replaced with dumbbell bench press
barbell military press can be replaced with dumbbell shoulder press
barbell curls can be replaced with dumbbell curls
barbell deadlift can be replaced with dumbbell deadlifts
barbell squats can be replaced with dumbbell squats
barbell rows an be replaced with dumbbell rows
Get the picture? The movements are interchangeable. With dumbbells, you also get the added benefit of unilateral training, working each side one arm at a time if you choose to bring up your weaker arm/side. This promotes greater strength gains as you're able to lift heavier dumbbells.
Mixing Dumbbells and Barbells
Program Structuring
Circuit HIIT for fat loss or short on time, for conditioning
straight sets and 5x5 for building muscle
density
use your imagination, there are ultimately many different ways to train, be creative
weight vest, backpacks, weight belt- recommend ironmind and bb.com
Building your Home Gym
link to home gym series
Unconventional Training
As described in part 1 of this series, yo ucan also use unconventional movements (though they weren't considered unconventional before the time of high tech gyms back then). These unconventional training tools are sandbags/ruck sacks, backpacks, kettlebells, tires, sleds.
Sandbag Training
include sandbag video
You can pick up a sandbag at the army salvation store
sandbag clean and press- clean the sandbag from the floor to your shoulders and press up
sandbag clean to bench
sandbag snatches
sandbag hugs- walk for time until you drop it
sandbag squats
sandbag rows
sandbag shoulder press
sandbag getups
sandbag side bends for abs
There's 9 different full body movements you can do with sandbags right here. And there's more that I haven't listed. Like dumbbells, you can do just about any barbell movement with sandbags. Resistance is resistance. Sandbags even have the benefit of working your grip, forearm, and finger strength because there are no actual grips to grab the sandbag. You'll have to wrestle and challenge your forearms to maintain grip on the ends of the sandbags.
Use the recommended guidelines and training strategies from above. You can use a high intensity approach to sandbag training. You can pick 5-6 sandbag movements and string them together in a circuit. You can pick 4 sandbag movements for a full body workout and use a 5x5 set x reps scheme. You can do straight sets. You can split them into upper and lower body or push/pull/leg splits. Be dynamic and combine with dumbbells and barbells. The key here is implementation and actually working out, taking action and training rather than stress over the exact program structure. As long as you got the heavy poundages in place, you'll do good.
sample of workout that includes free weights of barbell,dumbbells, and sandbags together in a full body routine
Kettlebells
Like sandbags, whatever you can do with barbells and dumbbells, you can do with kettlebells.
kettlebell video
list of kettlebell movements
reference to ross articles
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