My New Workout Plan

The general philosophy for any sensible workout plan is more or less this: it should be challenging, cover all muscle groups, have some progression (changes with time) and be relatively short (1-1.5 hours). Let me expound on these further. Challenging workouts are engaging and make you push yourself in the gym, which in turns leads to progress. Balanced workout covering all muscle groups are a good idea unless you are trying some advanced deconditioning methods (working harder on certain muscle groups while holding others constant) or recovering from an injury. This means, working out your back and legs as much as you would train your mirror muscles (arms, chest and abs). Reason -- training these large muscle groups using compound movements (that recruit multiple muscle groups and joints) also increases testosterone production, which has several health benefits including muscle gain and fat loss. So you could get bigger arms by doing pull-ups, squats and deadlifts! 

Progressions are key to improvement, since if you are doing the same workout that you were doing last year and nothing has changed in the last year, it is highly unlikely that anything will change in the next year either. Our bodies can get used to fixed exercises so we need to change them from time to time to circumvent this adaptation. This change could be including new movements, changing repetition range, increasing poundage or decreasing rest periods between sets to name a few. Lastly, you should go to the gym with a purpose and a plan, which does not involve socializing or texting. Often when we spend 2 hours in the gym, it's more likely because we had long rests and wasted time rather than really lifting for 2 hours. Shoot for 1-1.5 hours at most, unless you are trying something advanced, keeping rest periods short (45-90 seconds), and you will get a kick-ass, efficient workout.

Hypertrophy Specific Training (HST) is one such workout, which captures the essence of what I outlined above. I have been doing it for last 8 months, and as the name suggests this workout is geared more towards hypertrophy (muscle gain), so if this is not your goal, you might wanna look into another program. However from personal experience, my strength improved on HST as well which always feels great. Furthermore, HST doesn't tell you to do exactly X (some programs do), but instead provides a framework allowing you to design your own plan around that. Lastly, it is only 3 days a week, an hour or so per session, making it very accessible even with a busy schedule. We can almost always take 3 hours a week out for ourself. Since I have stayed good on nutrition, this is all the exercise that I have done for last 8 months without even incorporating any cardio.

If you were to google HST you will come across quite a bit of detail, ranging from some scientific backing behind the principles of HST to involved guidelines about designing your own HST workout. To avoid much redundancy, I would try to be as concise as I can be while conveying the essentials. Enthusiasts are welcome to dive deeper into this or other workouts. HST is a full-body workout, so first step is picking a good exercise for each major muscle group (quadriceps, hamstrings, calves, chest, back, abs, biceps, triceps, shoulders). The basic ideology is to train in different repetition ranges (15, 10, 5 and maybe even 3). Before starting the program, you need to figure out your maxes for these rep ranges. This means, that for each exercise you selected, you need to find out the weight that you can only lift for a maximum of 15, 10, 5 and 3 reps. For example, if my 10 rep max (RM) for deadlifts is 245 pounds, I cannot lift that weight for another rep keeping good form, or in other words I reach positive failure at 10th repetition. To speed up this max-figuring process, there are a lot of online calculators and charts (like this), which will tell you what your x-rep max should approximately be, given your y-rep max (x,y ≤ 12).

Now that you have the numbers, the preparation is over, and it's time to get started. For the first two weeks you will train for 15 repetitions, for the next two 10, then next two 5, and lastly if you are feeling adventurous 3, leading to a eight week cycle, after which you are supposed to take a week or two off from heavy lifting. During the break you can still do some lifting, running, dancing, acrobatics or whatever floats your boat. This rest is important to avoid muscle adaptation, and it is called strategic deconditioning. Lets concentrate on each mini two week cycle now. The idea is to start lower than your max, and build up to your maximum for that repetition range in two weeks (i.e. six workouts). Taking up the example of deadlifts for which my 10 rep max is 245 lbs, I would follow this progression of deadlifts for my 10-rep mini cycle: 145 -> 165 -> 185 -> 205 -> 225 -> 245. In general, I go for ~10% of reduction from my max for each workout. I do have some other tweaks that I use now, but those are finer details that can be discussed separately. 

Here are the workouts I chose for my last HST cycle (I am now on my 5th cycle): 

Exercise (15 RM, 10 RM, 5 RM, increment)

Leg Press (240, 260, 280, 290, 20)

Deadlifts (225, 245, 265, 275, 20)

Hammer Seated Inclined (140, 165, 185, 190, 10)

Pec Flys (120, 135, 150, 155, 10)

Machine Rows (55, 70, 85, 90, 5)

Seated Rear Deltoid rows (85, 105, 125, 5)

Barbell Curls (60, 70, 80, 90, 5)

Triceps V-bar Pulldown (50, 57.5, 65, 67.5, 5)

Seated Calf Raises (80, 90, 100, 105, 5)

Machine Crunches (125, 140, 150, 155, 10)

I will change my workout strategy again, possibly after one more cycle of HST, because although I like it, I do wanna challenge myself in different ways. There are a lot of interesting and established workout philosophies that one can try (google or bodybuilding.com are your friends). I am thinking about training for flexibility next to further reduce my chances of injury, and being agile also feels good from personal experience (I have done some dance, tai chi, etc.). 

I have heard a lot of people complain that working out in the gym is boring, and I sincerely feel that you can make it as exciting as you would like to. Just like any other sport, you get only as much out of it, as you put into it. Heck, even for video games if I can't unlock any achievement or conquer a new hurdle I would find myself bored. So, unlock new achievements, like lifting heavier, improving your form, reinforcing the muscle-mind connection, making workouts more intense and efficient, and so on. If you keep on doing the same thing without any plan or a prospect of change, the gym can't be blamed for being boring.

My New Nutrition Plan

We have all heard that sugars and refined carbs are not good for us, as they can change blood sugar levels rapidly and also promote fat storage. So, if what I am about to discuss next seems a tough step, at the very least do this -- limit your sugar and refined carbs intake (soda, sweetened juices, flavored milk, white bread, pasta, etc.). This is something that I have been conscious about since I transitioned to a healthy nutrition plan back in 2010. However as I read more about nutrition, I came across several articles about how some people do not tolerate carbohydrates well, and in general the fat-loss benefits of a low-carb diet. If you are trying to wean yourself off your favorite junk food, it might not be the best idea to start with this plan, since this is a big change. If however, you feel like you are ready to lose some stubborn fat, and you are diligent as well disciplined, this might be the thing for you. Like any plan, it is no magic pill, and you are still required to work hard, watch your calories and stay consistent. With all the caveats in place, here is the nutrition plan I have been on for last 8 months.

Targeted Ketogenic Diet (TKD): The idea is simple -- limit your carbs to only around your workouts. Voila! So, you eat carbs before your workout (an extra fruit and some oats for me), and right after your workout (again extra fruit and oats). For all my other meals, I get my carbs only from fibrous vegetables. Of course, the sky will not fall if you were to take a bite of your favorite dessert once in a while, but the results follow from consistency. This is the plan I adhere to when I am trying to bulk (gain muscles), with calories adjusted to keep myself in a surplus. Here is a sample of my meal plan:

Workout days (A):

Meal 1(Pre workout): Oats (45 gm), soy milk (240 ml) and coconut oil (15 ml) microwaved together. Mixed with whey protein (1 scoop), a banana and pecans (15 gm). Topped with cinnamon and dash of garlic salt.

Meal 2 (Post workout): Oats (45 gm), soy milk (240 ml), whey protein (1 scoop) and a mango blended into a shake. A cucumber with sesame cashews (15 gm).

Meal 3: Chicken (150 gm) baked with Indian spices, broccoli (150 gm), ranch (30 ml). Lightly frozen, low sugar, low fat yogurt (170 gm).

Meal 4: Canned tuna (110 gm drained) mixed with mayonnaise (15 gm) and a bit of lemon juice. Topped with chopped carrots (150 gm) and wasabi almonds (15 gm).

Meal 4.5 (Mini treat): Crunchy peanut butter, banana granola peanut butter, sunflower seed butter, cookie butter, almond butter (2-4 Tbsp altogether depending on craving).

Meal 5: Lean ground turkey (110 gm) cooked with crushed tomatoes and taco seasoning. Topped with bell peppers (150 gm) and bleu cheese dressing (30 ml). Lightly frozen, low sugar, low fat yogurt (170 gm).

Meal 6: Casein protein (1 scoop), blended with spinach (150 gm), flaxseed oil (10 ml) and water (400 ml).

Non-workout days (B):

Meal 1: Egg whites (6) omelette with swiss cheese (1 slice = 30 gm) and dash of garlic salt. Cauliflower (150 gm) with walnuts (15 gm).

Meal 2: Soy milk (240 ml) and whey protein (1 scoop). A cucumber with sesame cashews (15 gm).

Meal 3: Same

Meal 4: Same

Meal 4.5: Almost same, may be curtail a bit

Meal 5: Same

Meal 6 (Another dessert): Cottage cheese (225 gm) mixed with crushed pineapple (60 gm), flaxseed oil (10 ml) and stevia (sweetener). Dash of cinnamon.

This is just a sample of course, and substitutions are encouraged. A heuristic for preparing a meal is: get a fist-size of protein (like eggs, fish, lean meats, cottage cheese, greek yogurt, whey), some fats (like nuts, good oils, nut butters) and plentiful of low-starch vegetables (like spinach family, green beans, brussels sprouts, not too much potatoes ). If it's a meal right before or after a workout, add a fist-size of grains (like oats, lentils, barley, brown rice) and a fruit (of course adjust the quantity if it's grapes). Bodies are not calculators, and if you are a couple hundred calories here or there on certain days, it won't amount to anything, so you don't have to try to be perfect with numbers as long as you have the ballpark figure. Also, if you notice my meals, I only need to cook chicken, turkey, and microwave or roast vegetables, all of which is really easy and fast. The rest is done on the fly and it takes me 4-6 minutes to prepare a ready-to-eat meal, less than the time it takes to order food at McDonalds. A lot of these recipes I just invented, and sometimes the results were not very gourmet, but now I have a few staples that are fast and tasty (not just my opinion).

Devise your own cooking strategy and this way you will have healthy food to eat 5-6 times a day by just putting 2-3 hours in the kitchen every Sunday. Lastly, buy some tupperware to carry your food. Almost all the meals can be easily carried around, and they would stay good for a day even without refrigeration (in moderate temperatures). To give you some examples, I have carried my food to movies, mall, festivals, conferences, theater, parties, a club (just once) and the list goes on. Point being, once you set your mind to it, packing your meals becomes second nature and you eat healthy most times. Except when it's cheat meal, then you just carry an appetite.

For a short but highly efficient cut (loosing fat), I would only have meal plan A on Mondays, and meal plan B on all other days. I would also reduce my fats a bit and give up on the mini treat (meal 4.5). This is a strategy I only employ for 2-4 weeks at a stretch, since it is hard and not very sustainable, but it gives good result. This philosophy is somewhat similar to Cyclic Ketogenic Diet (CKD). I intend to stick to these plans (TKD and CKD) for quite a while to come, since they have worked well for me. Some experimentation might be needed to figure out what works best for you. For example, someone with a high metabolism who is having a tough time gaining any weight might have to add some more carbs (and overall more calories), someone else might have to reduce calories analogically. Bottom line is, a solid nutrition base is what propels you towards your fitness goals; working out is the easy part.