This is a controversial video on how to train properly but I guarantee it works…unless you want to be a bodybuilder.
Hi guys. I’ve got one of the lengthiest and most complicated emails to answer for you today. But I’m going to break it down very simply for you.
So this question comes from Nick. I mean I don’t even know, what the email’s going really, but essentially it’s all about, should I be training body parts versus not? Then should I be doing transitional phases, and all this kind of, it’s like crazy stuff with respect to working out.
I was very confused by the email. But I think I’ve kind of distilled it down to something I can provide benefits everyone with. Which is essentially, when working out should you be training one muscle at a time, or different body parts on some days, or like chest and back, chest and bis, right. All that kind of body builder lingo, or should you be doing something else.
Well, as an athlete, I like to consider training movements instead of muscles. Because when you train movements, you train your body as it’s supposed to be used. That’s a good thing, right. If you train your biceps only today. You do three sets, or maybe you do 3 exercises, 3 sets of 12 reps. We’re going to do that. We’re going to build our biceps.
Then we’re going to do some chest. We do three exercises; three sets, ten reps whatever it is. Then I’m just I don’t know, I’m just feeling stupid here. That’s old school body building mentality. There’s nothing wrong with that, believe me. I mean you’ll get great results by doing that. For me I would rather shoot myself in the head, than train like that. For me that’s like the worst type of training ever conceived in terms of boredom. That’s personally my opinion just based, I don’t like train that. So very rarely I ever train like that.
So having said that though, I do most, I’ll give you some examples of my workouts in a second. But I believe you need to train movements. Because in real life, you’re not just doing chest press and bicep curls all day. Right you’re twisting, lunging, if you’re in sport situation, and all sorts of crazy stuff. I think the biggest problem nowadays, why we’re seeing so many injuries with athletes, is that all these athletes are training like idiots, and doing this kind of body building workouts. It’s not their fault. They don’t know any better, right?
They’re more concerned about the beach body, than they’re about how they’re performing on field or on the ice. So believe me, I’ve worked with a lot of athletes, like on very high soccer players. I’ve put together these programs for them.
I remember like some of the most common questions like, Yuri is this going to give me a six pack for the summer. I’m like; don’t worry about the six packs. Okay, worry about what’s happening underneath the six packs. If you’re just core is strong and stable, you’ll be okay.
So anyways, train movements, not muscles. When you train movements, you’re able to be training a lot of muscles through those lunges motions. You also train your nervous system to coordinate all that, right. That’s a little bit more applicable to everyday’s work.
So just going to my previous question, or my previous statements. We’re seeing a lot of injuries now, because a lot of athletes and people in general, are training with this bodybuilding mentality. Where I’m going to hit, back and tris today. Then I’m never going to train legs and stuff like that.
So they create imbalances, simply because they’re only training very limited ranges of motion, or very limited muscle groups. Then they go out, and as an athlete for instance, they play soccer or play hockey, play basketball. Now they’re required to do all sorts of crazy stuff. Jump up, get down. Lunge, bump into people, balance, stabilize on one leg. All of a sudden they’re screwed, because they haven’t trained their body to accommodate for that.
So I like to think of myself, even though I’m finished playing soccer professionally. I still have to consider myself as an athlete, because I’m performing every single day in some way, shape or form. Whether I’m picking my up my kids. Whether I’m going for a run. Whether I’m doing a Kettlebell workout. Whether I’m sitting at my desk. Whether I’m picking on my dogs, taking them for a walk. Playing tennis, do whatever it is, right.
We’re all performing. I believe it’s the best way to get an awesome shape, and not necessarily the body builder shape. Because you’re not going to get into body builder shape by training movements. So you’re going to get into a body builder shape, by training like a body builder.
So if you want to do that, then I’d highly recommend you follow my buddy, Vince DelMonte, because he is the guy, who is going to help you do that. He is a great guy. I love him to death. We’ve very different training philosophies, but he’s awesome. So, if you want his great YouTube channel, I just type in Vince DelMonte. He’s got awesome stuff for building mass, body building stuff.
If you want to get really fit, lean, muscular, strong and performance, then what I’m saying here is very important. You need to train movements not exercises, or not muscle group. So I’m going to give you a couple of examples of my workouts. Yesterday sorry, two days ago, and I’ll start, I’ll tell you exactly how not to plan your workouts too.
Two days ago, I did Romanian Deadlift or Stiff-Legged Deadlift. So, really targeting the back of the legs. So again it was kind of a targeted exercise. But that’s a big movement. So, we’re going to allow the posture a chance. So we’re going to allow the extension muscles involved. Okay, anything jumping related or running, all are going to benefit from this Stiff-Legged Deadlift.
Work that in with a Kettlebell Press. So it’s a cool little jerk and press. So, we did that for about 4 reps back and forth. Then I did double kettles. So I was holding two Kettlebells at the side here, 20 kilos each okay. We’re doing front squats with the Kettleballs. Work that in with chin-ups, okay.
So again you can think of those as kind of targeted movements. But I’m telling you this; the front squats are killer. Well probably, one of my top three exercises of all time. If you do Front Squats with Kettlebells; holding up here, keeping your elbows high. Not only are you going to target your legs, but your core is going to be activated like no other exercise can do. If you don’t brace your core properly, during a Front Squat, your spine will literally buckle. Okay, that’s how important it is to have a strong core in that exercise.
So, that was an example of a workout that I did. 4 exercises, 8 sets total or like 12 whatever it was, and took me about forty five minutes. The next day I had a soccer game. So I was obviously feeling my legs, my hamstrings were a bit tight. Not a great idea. I didn’t really feel good in the field at all.
So I wouldn’t recommend doing that kind of workout, for instance a day before a soccer game. Give yourself a couple of days recovery. But those are those examples. All through the kind of Kettlebell swings, Kettlebell snatches. So I’m getting the extension plus a shoulder movement and plus core stabilization. So there’s a lot of stuff going on. You really have to, what it comes down to is identifying, what is your main purpose. What is your goal?
My goal is not to put on muscle mass and become a body builder. That’s not my goal at all. My goal is to be strong, keep my lean mass, maybe put on a pound or two here or there whatever. But I’m not concerned putting on mass, right. So when I go to the gym, I’m really focusing on, how I can make my body more performance. The next time I play tennis, I’ll feel better. I get more power on my back, and on my forehand.
So, I’m almost thinking like an athlete. I’m not saying you have to. But I’m saying if you want to emulate some of the results to what I have, and be an athlete in your own regards, then that’s the way to go. Plus it’s probably a little bit safer way to train, in terms of preventing injuries down the road.
All right. So I know that’s a long winded answer. I don’t know whether there’s much structured to that, whatever. But I just figured the question was a little bit all over there. So maybe the answer was a little bit all over there. Hopefully this last seven minutes was useful. It was a complete waste of your time, which obviously it’s not, because you probably learnt something.
Join me on Facebook. URL is down here. Be sure to like my page. Ask me your questions there, and I will answer them on my upcoming video at some point. Right.
Thank you again. Talk to you soon.