Cycle 10

Day 1: Hypertrophy

My workout got held up by my travels, but I was back today with vengeance. Keep the volume up and keep the work hard.

3 sets of 12

Sumo squat (225)

Body weight row (20 reps)

Romanian Deadlift (155)

DB bench on swiss ball (70)

Upright row (95)

Condor lunges (10)

Days 2 and 3: Active Recovery

30 - 40 minutes of cardio

One active recovery day involves ancillaries:

YTWL series http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xck3d8LidME
Scapular stabilization series
internal/external rotation 3 X 10
forward and backward pitching on one leg (3 X 10)
Planks (40s. on, 20s. rest)

Day 4: Dynamic

2 sets of 15

Med ball chest press throw and catch on swiss ball (5 kg)
Overhead squat on bosu ball (5 kg)
Standing one-arm band row on bosu
Standing med ball reach throughs (5 kg)
Standing med ball push press throw and catch on bosu ball (5 kg)
Deceleration medball jump squats to box jump (5 kg)
Standing one-arm band upright row on bosu ball
Plyo jump to bosu to box to stick the landing

Day 5: Rest

Day 6: Strength (next week move up!)

3 sets of 5

Back Squat (335)

Incline Bench (215)

Deadlift (255)

Front Pulldown (270)

Power Clean (195)

Push Press (155)

Days 7 and 8: Active recovery

30 - 40 minutes of cardio

One active recovery day involves ancillaries:

YTWL series http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xck3d8LidME
Scapular stabilization series
internal/external rotation 3 X 10
forward and backward pitching on one leg (3 X 10)
Planks (40s. on, 20s. rest)

Days 7 and 8: Rest and recovery

Around the holidays it can be tough to stay on schedule with your workouts, so it's good if you can run a little bit. Most hotels will have something but if you are traveling you can't be so sure. For instance, Disney doesn't have any workout facilities in most of their resorts. But they do have each tenth of a mile marked for running. So that's what I did. It was Thanksgiving though, so not too bad to at least get in. If you live in a perfect world, we would want 30-40 minutes of cardio and ancillaries as well. For your reference, here are the ancillaries again:

YTWL series http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xck3d8LidME
Scapular stabilization series
internal/external rotation 3 X 10
forward and backward pitching on one leg (3 X 10)
Planks (40s. on, 20s. rest)

Day 6: Strength

So we continue with our painful and prideful strength workouts. Today we are increasing volume not weight. So we will step up to 3 sets of 5 and kill it!

3 sets of 5

Back Squat (335)

Incline Bench (215)

Deadlift (255)

Front Pulldown (270)

Power Clean (195)

Push Press (155)

Day 4: Dynamic Workout

I was traveling this weekend again, so I had to do my dynamic day in the hotel room. I did have my 35# kettlebell as a companion as well as my medicine ball, so no worries there. Popped off a quick one and called it a day. Remember, if you don't have a KB, just use a dumbell.

2 sets of 10:

One-arm clean to front squat to jerk with KB (35)
One-arm KB swings (35)
Medball pushups
Lunge to one-arm KB row (35)
Front jump squats (35)
Medball crunch to leg lift

Day 5: Cardio

30 min. of cardio or 3 mile run

Cycle 9, Day 1: Hypertrophy

Start another cycle on the right foot with some new stuff. We are going to continue to push the volume up a bit to increase our capacity, and then get after it. Also, I have some great new stuff that I will add to the ancillary days. Tell me what you think of them.

3 sets of 12
Split squats (135)
DB fly on Swiss ball (35)
Romanian Deadlift (155)
Pull-up
Overhead step-up (20)
Lateral Raise (10)

Days 2 and 3:

Active recovery days, one of which is an ancillary day.

30 minutes of cardio and one day:

YTWL series http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xck3d8LidME
Scapular stabilization series
internal/external rotation 3 X 10
forward and backward pitching on one leg (3 X 10)
Planks (40s. on, 20s. rest)

Days 6-8: Strength and recovery

Day 6 is our strength day. This week we drop the volume down and this is a "must increase" weight day. Even if it's just 10 lbs., every lift increases in weight, no matter what.

2 sets of 5

Back Squat (335)

Incline Bench (215)

Deadlift (255)

Front Pulldown (270)

Power Clean (195)

Push Press (155)

Days 6 and 7 are active recovery days. Make sure each is at least 30 minutes of cardio. I may use one day for basketball to mix it up. One day, as always, is our ancillary prehab series. I just found an awesome scap series that is to be implemented immediately as well. Add the pushup and bodyweight row to it as well!

New YTWL scap series! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xck3d8LidME

Planks 40s

Internal/external rotation 3 X 12 (on one leg, rotate)

Forward and reverse pitching on one leg

Days 4 and 5: Dynamic and Rest

Well, I had to do my dynamic workout at the beach. I know, how awful. But I took the kettlebell and the medicine ball and put together a nice workout. Fast and explosive. Day 5 is a rest day, I did play some softball, but it was a good day to take off.

Day 4

2 sets of 10

One-arm KB clean-front squat-jerk press (35)

One-leg, one-arm KB (opposite arm) Romanian deadlift (35)

Circle pushups (push up, then move sideways, feet stay still, push up...)

One-arm KB snatch-overhead squat (35)

KB lunge-one-arm KB row (35)

Leg lifts with MB to russian twist

Days 2 and 3 - Active Recovery

As always, our rest is active. We are beginning to handle more of a load, so limit rest to days you really need it. Choose one day to be strictly cardio, the other to have both cardio and the ancillary exercises. Here they are if you need them:

30 min. of cardio

Scapular stabilization series

Planks 40s

Internal/external rotation 3 X 12 (on one leg, rotate)

Forward and reverse pitching on one leg

AND

30 - 40 min. cardio

Cycle 8, Day 1: Hypertrophy

Today was not an easy one for me, as my body was still reeling from the thrasher strength workout from 3 days prior. So, I took it fairly easy while still getting the necessary parts to the workout. Volume is the same as last week, exercises changed as always.

3 sets of 12:

45 degree leg press/calf raise (360)
Front pulldown with row bar (163)
Romanian Deadlift (135)
Hammer Strength Decline Bench (180)
Lateral DB raise (10)
Bodyweight Row

**On a great note, I did hit my goal of losing 20 lbs! Actually, I went under it (212 lbs. now). I have changed my goal. I would like to hit 205 by Christmas. I am still going to try to hit my goal of under 15% BF by Christmas as well. Keep working!

Days 5 - 8: The catch up

I was in Alabama all weekend teaching lessons so I didn't get a chance to update anything. I also had a make a minor modification to the workout due to a lack of a gym on Saturday, so I had to move that to Sunday. Thanks to Dusti to get me in a gym period. So I will list off the last few days. The next cycle will start tomorrow if the Hurricane doesn't blow me away, I think I will be alright though. Here is the workout, have fun.

Day 5: Active Recovery

30 min. of cardio (I made it shorter but ran 3 miles)

Day 6: Strength (this is the workout I moved, but you don't have to)

4 sets of 5 (increase in volume, be warned this gets tough. Same weight as last cycle)

Back squat (315)

Incline Bench (205)

Deadlift (225)

Pulldown (262.5)

Power Clean (185)

Push Press (135)

Day 7: Rest

Day off, and you deserve it.

Day 8: Active Recovery

30 min. of cardio

Scapular stabilization series

Planks 40s

Internal/external rotation 3 X 12 (on one leg, rotate)

Forward and reverse pitching on one leg

Day 4: Dynamic Workout

Today we are going to revisit the LeBron workout. This is a technical workout so weight stays light. Focus on maintaining core stability and balance during each lift. We are also increasing the volume a bit as well. Enjoy...

3 sets of 12

Standing cable one-arm chest press (35)
Standing cable one-arm row (40)
Single leg squat (16 in.) (25)
Single leg Romanian deadlift (25)
Standing cable one-arm shoulder press (25)
Standing cable one-arm upright row (25)
Overhead walking lunges (20)
Planks - all four sides (40s on, 20s rest)

Days 2 and 3 - Active Recovery

As always, more good times with active recovery. we are going to start increasing the recovery and have less rest. Prepare for one rest day per cycle.

Day 2:

40 min. cardio

Scapular stabilization series

Planks 40s

Internal/external rotation 3 X 12 (on one leg, rotate)

Forward and reverse pitching on one leg

Day 3:

30 min. cardio

Cycle 7, Day 1: Hypertrophy

At this point we are almost 60 days into the preseason workout and the intensity must step up. We are going to increase all of the volume and the weight intensity. By the time we hit 90 days and 120 days we are going to shift training toward explosion and sport specificity. But for now, let's keep doing work.

Hypertrophy: 3 sets of 12

One-arm DB shoulder press (40)
Alternating step-ups (fast)
DB Romanian Deadlift (75)
Push ups (slow)
High Pull (145)
Leg Lifts with plate
45 degree leg press (360)
Cable Row (160)

Days 5-8

Sorry about being so behind. I had a great weekend of halloween mishaps. Luckily, the workouts stayed consistent. Here is a breakdown of the last 4 days.

Day 5: 30 min. cardio

Day 6: Strength day 3 sets of 5

Back squat (315)

Incline Bench (205)

Deadlift (225)

Pulldown (262.5)

Power Clean (185)

Push Press (135)

Day 7: Rest

Day 8: Active recovery

30 min. recovery

Scapular stabilization series

Planks 30s

Internal/external rotation 2 X 15