So, I’ve been doing the superset routine I put together after watching the two free workout videos I got, and have become quite a believer in the approach.

A bit of a confession is in order…. I had heard of supersets a long time ago.  It’s just that the guy that told me about them was not a great communicator… actually annoying… and didn’t seem to be getting any results from whatever workout he was doing.

When I came across the superset workout consisting of compound exercises, I thought it would be an “easy” workout to get more of my body exercising in a shorter time.  I figured I’d be lucky if I could do three workouts a week, and in fact, I haven’t been able to at least three times in the last eight weeks… My hunch was right.  Sometimes circumstances just prevented me from getting to it.

What I didn’t know was how hard it would be to do a single superset of ten exercises.  I guess my old perception of a superset was just two or three exercises focused on one muscle, like biceps.  My years of meager progress following the advice in the Mike Mentzer course I bought eons ago brainwashed me into thinking anything more than one set would be overtraining.

To be fair, Mentzer was on to the notion that most people can’t work out like professional bodybuilders.  There was no middle ground, though.  It was one set done to failure per muscle.  Period.  That didn’t do anything for cardio conditioning… nor did it intend to.

So, I had all kinds of mental roadblocks to overcome.  I’m glad I did.  Not only did the first “week” of three supersets of 15 reps prove to be brutally difficult for me, it was impossible!

The approach Vince DelMonte laid out, of 3 supersets of 15 for two weeks, 4 supersets of 10 reps for two weeks, and 5 supersets of 5 reps for two weeks really did something great…  The lighter weight you start with to make it through 15 reps of any one exercise helps avoid injury.  It also builds endurance in the muscles involved.   Work capacity, I think it may be called. As I’ve blogged in earlier posts, it took me at least two weeks to be able to finish three supersets, and that was just because I was gasping for air.  Only after running into that complete cardio wall did I realize this workout was great cardio exercise too.

My wife had been running intermittently prior to our starting to lift weights, and was therefore in much better shape from a cardio perspective.  She was able to keep on going as I had to slow down when we finally attempted to do two sets…. The same thing happened in our third sets the first couple of times we did them.

Moving to 4 supersets of 10 reps allows you to increase your weights, but you know that that last superset is going to be tough…   Finally, at five sets of five, you can put more strain on your muscles with even heavier weights, but still not enough to hurt yourself… because you KNOW five sets will be tough to finish.

My wife and I fell out of sync for two weeks, and Friday, two days ago, was the first time she did a 5×5, and my fifth time through.  When she “complained” I was slowing her down, I got her to adjust her weights a little, going a little heavier,  and we finished at the same pace.

The cardio benefit is stunning.  The strength benefit is stunning.

Because I don’t have a belt for adding weight to do dips, I wanted to do “a little more” than the previous workout, and therefore did five sets of 10 dips.  Fifty dips in a day, within an hour and ten minutes, actually, and I lived to talk about it!

To give you an idea of how far I’ve come (and I will post pictures… maybe in one week), when I started, I could only do three or four dips, and had to jump up and do negatives to try to get anywhere near 15 reps….

It’s a big deal to me… and I actually don’t care if anyone thinks otherwise.  I use this as a particular example of building strength I’ve never had… a proof of sorts that this routine is great.

If you have read earlier posts, my wife and I started on this in part to test the theory posed by DelMonte that this kind of routine and intensity makes your body produce its own growth hormone, and that growth hormone is the best fat-burning catalyst we have.  My wife is slimming down fast, too.  Her coworkers have been asking her what she’s been doing, she’s fitting into clothes she hasn’t worn in a couple of years… and on and on.

Getting back in shape lifting weights has to be the best-kept secret out there…  Really.

All I know is that this week marked the transition into five sets of five reps of each exercise.

We went away for the Fourth of July holiday weekend, and stayed with family right near Cape Cod. Let’s just let it suffice to say I did not eat or sleep all that well… but I had a heck of a lot of sorely needed fun.

We were all a bit wiped out on Monday, and made the call that this week would be a Tues-Thurs-Sat workout week. It turned out that my wife’s schedule changed, so we haven’t worked out together yet this week. Tuesday’s workout had a huge break after the first set. I can’t remember exactly, but I know it had something to do with the boys. So, as I re-started the routine on set two, my perspective on weights was a little off. I increased weight on a couple of exercises I may not have if I’d never had that break.

Today I finished the five sets of five reps in one hour and 15 to 20 minutes. I had increased weight on a few of the exercises, pushing hard. I read the free “Insane Muscle Gain” report from Vince DelMonte and was inspired to up my intensity. Mind you, I only had about 4 hours of sleep…

In trying to figure out how many reps for the body weight exercises like dips I should do, I figured that I should probably try to do just a little more than last week’s 4 sets of 10 reps, so I settled on 5 sets of 9 for dips. 45 dips on the day… and I pulled it off, without compromised form.

In fact, the reduction in reps to five helped a lot for all the exercises. I tried pushing up the weights I use for every other exercise… Success!

The intensity of the superset workout can not be understated. I have read more and more about intense resistance training having more cardio benefit than hours on a treadmill or bike. The clincher I read today: If you can actually watch television (at a gym) while you’re “working out,” you’re not working anywhere remotely near the intensity you should be for any benefit. I can’t argue with that one bit.

Maybe I worked too close to “failure” over the last couple of weeks doing ten reps, but with the five reps, it seemed easier to just get five out and get on to the next exercise. It felt like a different kind of intensity doing the more rapid transition from muscle group to muscle group. I quickly began to sweat profusely… There’s a psychological benefit to “I only have to do five?” which I find encourages me to push harder through reps with the extra weight.

Tonight I’ll definitely get more sleep, and tomorrow I’ll finish my first week of 5 x 5. Today is the 10th of July… so seven or so weeks into it since May 18… and I’m using weights nearly double what I started this program with on most exercises. I have to admit that when I started, I didn’t think I had this kind of reserve left in me, nor did I think I’d progress as fast as I have. I’m enjoying progress!

What I had forgotten was the number of reps/set, rest, and number of supersets per week.

I think my inability to get through more than one superset during that first week threw me for a loop. My old habits included doing a set, and then waiting until I was good and ready to do another set.. of the same exercise. Blasting from one exercise to another with only 60 seconds rest was just something I hadn’t done. Ever. And, make no mistake, when you try it with compound exercises for the first time, you’ll find it’s tough too.

It took me about four weeks to catch on that the routine required changing the number of reps/exercise and supersets done every two weeks. I think there was also a promo around that time that consisted of a 12 week, transform-your-body-contest open to anyone purchasing the program. Since I thought this free video workout was a 12 week program at three supersets of 15 reps per exercise, I’d say I mixed them all up.

So, here’s what it’s supposed to be:
3 sets of 15 reps/exercise for two weeks
4 sets of 10 reps/exercise for two weeks
5 sets of 5 reps/exercise for two weeks

For the exercises… a couple of caveats first:
I work out in my basement, and I’m tall enough that I can not do a standing military press without hitting the ceiling. I also own a Hoist home gym that has a weight stack for pulldowns. I otherwise don’t have a good place for pullups/chinups.

Deadlift
Flat barbell bench press
Squat
Bent over row
Clean
Seated dumbbell military press
Plate Chopper
Pull downs
Dips
Reverse Incline Leg Raises

And this, dear readers, is a killer weight lifting routine.

At the end of the routine, I have more often than not added oblique crunches, two or three sets per side. I’ve also added one pass through a shoulder superset with really light weight a few times. My shoulders have always been a weak spot in my mind.

Check out proper form, and review the rest/repetition info in these free workout routine videos.

Again, if you’re just getting back in shape, be careful! Even with very light weights, you will be shocked at how hard you work to do a superset if you’ve never done one. Don’t give up if it takes a few weeks to get do three supersets of 15 reps per exercise. This workout routine will rapidly transform your body.

For those getting back in shape: I’d suggest getting to the point or fitness level where you can do three sets…. THEN consider yourself “starting” this workout routine, doing two weeks of sets of 15 reps, then going to 4 sets of 10, then 5 of 5.

Let me know how you do!

I did feel a bit self-conscious when I used the term “bodybuilding” to describe my efforts. After all, I don’t own a speedo and I’m not going to shave my chest or my legs… but I am working hard on building muscle. I’m not just toning. I’m lifting. I’m not just doing a few sets of bench presses and squats to maintain my current muscle mass. I’m going through a routine, increasing weight and intensity, to grow.

I guess it was a bit of a sanity check that led me out into the big, bad world of relentless nonsense on bodybuilding. One blog post written by some pro bodybuilder talked about weights to use if you are over 40 and going to start training again… I could swear I read “for the bench, pick a light weight, about 225lbs, to re-introduce yourself to training.”

I can’t even imagine trying lifting my old maximum workout weights… especially doing supersets of compound exercises. But I started light, and built up some endurance, and strength, and am making great progress. It’s not about “benching 200″ which was a high school taunt… (I can’t remember what my old max bench weight ever was, because I was doing inclines for the years I tried the Mentzer routine.) It’s not about the weight, or the reps, it’s about building muscle. If I can do it with a 10 pound dumbbell, doing the crazy shoulder superset at the end of my workout, that’s what it is.

If you’re thinking about getting back in shape yourself, go for it! Start with really light weights… maybe even “just the bar” so you can get your form down and ease into it so you don’t hurt yourself. There’d be not much worse than getting all psyched up to start building muscle again and have to stop because you hurt your shoulder, for example.

I’ve been healthy, not gaining much weight, no hypertension, etc, so it was a lot easier for me to get back in to a routine. Still, it took me four weeks to get to three times through DelMonte’s superset routine. So if you’ve not done any exercise lately, make sure your doctor clears you, and start fast walking or biking to get your heart used to beating hard. Then, I’d do the routine I started with, and go once through it. When you change your old training method from “waiting around until I recover as much as possible to do the next set of the same exercise” model to the superset model, your body will change quickly.

Tomorrow, if I don’t actually get the sore throat bug going through my family, I’ll start the second week of 4 by 10. Need some sleep too, so with that, I’m off for tonight.

All things equal, for whatever reason, my elbows have been aching a little, so something had to give.  I wanted to sub another compound exercise  for the clean, and settled on the upright row.

I’ve read all about “muscle confusion” and “turbulence training” and even DelMonte talks about switching up routines.  I didn’t figure I’d change the routine until I finished with the 12-week-transform-your-body-routine…  You know, try to power through to measure “before” and “after” results of that one routine…  but I couldn’t figure out what kicked my butt so badly.  Today was one of the days I dreaded when I used to think about getting back in shape… sore, achy everywhere, tired.  We had a bug run through the rest of the family this past week, so I thought I might be getting sick.  For all I know I am, but my shoulders really ached with soreness today.

Then it dawned on me… besides being the end of the first week of doing 4 sets of 10 reps for each exercise of the super set, I wanted something different to work obliques… side crunches didn’t seem to be doing it for me.  so I had added twisting cable pulls.  I had forgotten.  I had seen the exercise in one of DelMonte’s promotional videos.

I had gotten a false sense of security with compound exercises, and added another for obliques.  It might have been a bit much.

I did two sets for each side, since it was the end of a very tough workout.  That explains a lot of soreness.

I don’t think I mentioned this yet, but when I went back to look through the original videos, I realized I had been missing a couple of important details about doing the routine.  Off the top of my head, I think I was supposed to do three sets of 15 for only two weeks, or maybe three, then go to 4 sets of 10 for two weeks, then to 5 sets of 5.  It took me and my wife three full weeks to get to the point we could even finish the superset routine 3 times.  So we’re a little “behind schedule.” No big deal, though, progress is still huge.  Yesterday I got two sets of ten dips followed by two sets of 9.  Never would I have believed you if you told me I’d be able to do 38 dips in one day.  So, there is progress.

One more week of 4 sets with 10 reps each exercise… Still don’t have the diet thing down, but still making progress.

I was supposed to be doing three sets of 15 reps of each exercise, supersetting them in one 10 exercise monster set… for only three weeks.

I had barely been able to get through one of these supersets when I first started.  It took nearly four weeks to get to the point I attempted three sets.

As I reviewed the program, I re-learned that I should already have been in the four supersets of ten exercises phase… oh well, I guess.

Here’s a point from me.. I’m not in my mid twenties looking to pack on 41 pounds of muscle to go out to clubs and meet girls interested in guys who just put on 41 pounds of muscle… I do want to put on as much as I can, because, quite frankly, I am getting great results and it is downright fun to be succeeding.  Really!  So it’s taken my 48 year old bones some time to rebuild the stamina to get through multiple supersets.  Now I’m trying to stick more to the program.

Another point of progress… laugh if you will, but today is the first time in my life I could do ten bodyweight dips.  I did it on my first set, and still managed to do nine in each of the following three sets.  This program is still kicking butt. Even when I was going to a gym regularly in my early thirties, 12 years ago, and leg pressing nearly 400 pounds on one of the sled machines, I couldn’t do more than four or five dips.  I felt so pathetic I never did them.  Pushing myself in the basement is a lot easier.  We’re fortunate to have a lot of weights in our basement.  It’s making our working out together possible.   This is one aspect of “my stuff” my wife isn’t complaining about my dragging from house to house as we moved!  My musical gear.. that’s another story, but we’re doing the dips between massive PA speaker cabinets I still have!   Now that I’m getting back in shape I know I’ll be able to move the gear more easily once I start gigging again.

My wife and I looked at her travel schedule this past weekend and decided to set our workout days as Sunday-Tues-Thurs for this week.  Sunday was our first time through four sets. We were wiped out from lack of sleep, my parents’ visit, the boys not sleeping one night, so opted to make today, Wednesday the day.  I know we’d get maximum muscle gain strictly following Delmonte’s program to the letter, but, as I said previously, our middle-aged lives are rather complicated.  Flexibility is key to staying with the program for us.

My wife is making great progress too, and has become quite the believer of Vince’s theory on growth hormone being an amazing fat-burning catalyst.   She is not pushing herself as hard on each exercise as I am, but plenty hard to build muscle, and has fit into her size 8 jeans for the first time in four years.  Yesterday we were talking, and she guessed we’d been working out 8 or more weeks… I think she actually said 10 weeks… based on the rapid progress and weight loss she has been making.  She was shocked to learn we’d only started our 6th week of working out together on Sunday.

I can attest to the growth hormone-fat loss connection myself.   I haven’t put on any more “love handle” even though I’ve been indulging…   My wife baked the best cookies in the world for me with our boys for my birthday, I had a small piece of father’s day cake with my sisters and parents and my family, I had two beers and greasy appetizers at a restaurant on my birthday, followed up by a small cake chaser….  all since my last blog entry!  (Not a model I suggest following!!!) I’m not gorging on cheat food, but I’m not eating like a bodybuilder for sure.  I imagine my gains would be even better if I cut out the cheat food and ate stricter percentages of protein, carbs, and fats…

I know I mentioned I intended to alter my diet to maximize my gains, but I’ve been pretty lazy about that.  I like to eat.  I eat well 99% of the time… My biggest indulgences are pasta and tiny bit of ice cream.  About once a week my little guys shriek with joy for pizza night.   I’ve been having a protein snack before bed, eating a small bit of leftover chicken or steak or burger from dinner, or two tablespoons of peanut butter (9 grams of protein? Who knew?)  We eat a lot of fruit and fresh vegetables in our house, eggs for breakfast, juices are kept to a minimum.  I’ll shift to five meals vs. four, then possibly six a day.  I won’t deny myself the joy of my little guys jumping at the chance to ride with their dad to go get the pizza… But I’ll cut down the number of slices I eat.

I liked the transition to four sets of 10 reps for each exercise.  I increased weights for nearly everything.  The stamina in all my muscles felt like a limiting factor, although I know I benefited from the intensity of that oxygen debt.  Today was the second time through four sets, and while it was difficult, I got through it in an hour and 20 minutes.

Really, Vince DelMonte’s program… you should check it out.

We only managed to work out Tuesday and Saturday.  Both days we got through three sets of the routine.  Both days I got more unassisted dips done than ever before.  That felt good.  Building endurance through weight training is a route I really never would have considered before signing on to Vince DelMontes’ program.   I would have hopped on my bike.  I should do that, and will, but have given priority to trying to get my garage and workshop in order.  Lame, but it really is out of control.

I’m still making great gains.  It’s still just under a month, and I’m still increasing weights on exercises even though I’ve struggled to complete three sets in under an hour.  Maybe tomorrow, or later today I should say, I’ll keep all the weights the same as my workout yesterday.   This time, I definitely recovered better, again reminding me that I’m making progress.  Last week at this time I was in dire shape with muscle knots and far more tired.   If I can get through the routine in an hour or less, I’d be convinced I’m improving my endurance tremendously.

I’m 6′ 2+” and started working out weighing just over 180 pounds.  I was only able to do a couple of body weight dips when we started working out, especially since they are near the end of the routine.  I’ll “weigh in” again tomorrow, but I think I was a leaner 185 this morning.

If the kids sleep, and I wrap this up soon, I’ll be getting about 6 hours of sleep, which unfortunately, is a lot for me.

Enough for today’s update.   I need sleep to push myself tomorrow.

I was reminded of another little “gotcha” that seemed to always rear its head when I resumed lifting weights.  That is, I have nearly always developed muscle knots in my lower trapezius, right under the edge of my right shoulder blade, after starting another attempt to get back in shape over the past years. These constant muscle spasms could jolt me with enough pain when I turned my head to the right that I’d gasp.  I’d always resort to a week or two of rest and attempts to stretch out the spasm, completely derailing my exercise plan.

This past Sunday I woke up barely able to turn my head…  Frustration.  I tried a lot of things to relieve the pain but nothing worked until I found a stretch that did the trick late in the day.  The key to the stretch for me was in the forearm flex.  I stood facing a wall, with my arm reaching toward the wall, completely parallel to the floor (straight out in front of me).   When I pushed against the wall with my wrist bent upward, and pushed my shoulder forward as far as I could while still staying square to the wall, I finally felt the knot being stretched out.  I hadn’t had any relief until I had my palm flat on the wall.

I woke up Monday a little sore, but knot-free.  My wife was tired too, and as we tried to get ready to work out, we both realized that we were each exhausted.  The three sets was a big change, and the little guys had really wreaked havoc on our sleep one night, so we were by no means well rested.  We put off our Monday routine to Tuesday.

One way to make sure you absolutely transform your body in 90 days, as DelMonte challenges some of his email subscribers, is to never miss a beat on the Monday-Wednesday-Friday schedule.  I’m trying to remain grounded in the reality of my life, so if I only severely transform my body in 90 days as opposed to “completely” transforming it, I’ll still be ecstatic.  Surgical removal of a home office desk chair from my person sounds expensive, and that’s the route I was on.   The routine is tough and I’m getting results.

As a matter of fact, someone I saw at church on Sunday asked if I were losing weight.  No kidding.  After only seven or eight workouts, and no dietary changes.  In fact, we had been to a party and I absolutely enjoyed sampling ALL the food.  I have been eating a lot, and not as mindfully as required to get ripped and shredded.

So Tuesday the 9th came fast.  We worked out later in the day, and managed time between sets a little differently.  We had been blowing right through as fast as possible.  Now we waited about 60 seconds before starting the next exercise.  Even though the first attempt at three sets of the entire routine was so tough, I increased my bench press, squat and plate chopper weights by 5 pounds.  Call me a glutton for punishment.

I did much better getting through each set of each routine, but hit that cardio wall again towards the end of the second pass.  The third set was very tough motivationally speaking.  I had to keep repeating “train hard, get results” to myself.  I probably got an even better pump this time around, but felt too dead to indulge my inner 16 yr old and flex for my mirror.

Even with the increased weight on those exercises, I was able to do more dips than I ever had before.  My shoulders have always been scrawny and small.   It’s obvious I’m getting stronger.  Now I just need to sleep more!

I had started writing the first post last Wednesday, and edited it yesterday, shortly after finishing that workout.  I cleaned up a few typos and posted it this morning.  I”m going to try to make this one quick…

As I mentioned in the first post, Friday was the first I got through three sets of the compound exercise workout.  I’ve had a hard time balancing DelMonte’s instruction to “create an oxygen debt,” and determining how much weight to use for each exercise.  For me, there’s a little trial and error involved… I hadn’t been working out regularly before starting this up, and my old habits included training to failure each set.  I knew I had to lower the weight I’d normally do, but I didn’t know how much.

Since I am 47, soon to be 48, and am aware I’m not yet in great shape, I only did one set of the “circuit” for the first three, maybe four workouts.  Yes, I want to get in shape fast, but I don’t want to kill myself in the process.  The instructions include allowing the least rest possible between exercises, which is new for me.  I used to rest until I was good and ready to put everything I had into the next set.  Starting a set already out of breath really decreased my capacity for that set.  But, I recognize, as I’m trying to suck all the oxygen out of the atmosphere, that the “least rest possible” between sets REALLY amplifies the cardio effect and benefit of the routine.

I struggled the couple of times I tried to do two sets.  I felt super tired halfway through the second pass through the routine, and took more time and recovered a little before starting the next exercise.

This past Wednesday, June 3, actually, I did two sets, and had even increased the weight on a couple of exercises. I felt it the next day.

My wife and I agreed our goal Friday would be doing all three sets, so I reduced the weights I used, reverting back to what I started to use when I began. Even with this, I hit a MAJOR cardio wall.  Since I had decreased my weights, I forced myself to finish all three.  I took longer and longer between exercises on the third pass through the routine, but I was determined.

I said it was tough in the first post.  My lungs were burning I was breathing so hard.  But, in line with the thought that our bodies will try to adapt to new requirements we impose, I felt good that I was really in new territory.  I did catch myself getting a little sloppy in my form on a couple of reps, though. So if you’re thinking about starting this up, remember that good form will prevent injuries.

Ok, so it’s Saturday, and I’m sore, and feel a little tired, but it’s not nearly as bad as I thought it would be.  My forearms are the most sore, and that’s ok.  I want to get some strength and endurance in them because my next order of business is to get playing my guitar again.  My wife said she felt a little tired, but not too sore… yet.  She started off in much better cardio shape than me, and that advantage may be showing.  One thing I do have to say, though, is that my muscles were more pumped than perhaps they’d ever been. Maybe I’m just not remembering my old workout days all that well, but I felt huge. My inner 16 year-old self dug that!

Since I’m not a crumpled heap on my couch, I’ve got a lingering renovation project I’m going to try to finish. I might have to change the oil in our cars, though… and replace the belt on the lawnmower. It never stops.

It’s only been three weeks… and I know I’m getting in shape.  I’ve lost a good deal of my admittedly not-too-large love handles, I’m standing up straighter, and have more energy.  I am digging this routine…  DelMonte Fitness