The Workout
Back and Shoulders
Barbell Shoulder Press - 3 sets of 10 @ 95 and 135(2)lbs.
Seated Wide-Grip Row - 2 sets of 10 @ 190 and 225lbs. 1 drop set from 240(5) to 210(5) to 180(5)lbs.
Standing Shrugs - 2 sets of 10 @ 270 and 360lbs. 1 set of 7 @ 410 lbs.
Seated High-Row - 1 set of 10 @ 270lbs. 1 set of 6 @ 320lbs. 1 drop set from 320(7) to 270(5) to 180(10)lbs.
Seated Shoulder Press - 1 set of 10 @ 140lbs. 1 set of 6 @ 190lbs. 1 drop set from 190(6) to 140(7) to 90(10)lbs.
Pull-ups - 3 sets til failure
The Intro
One of the first things you do when you start at the gym is pick a goal and work towards it. This is done by identifying your weaknesses and working them til they cry for forgiveness. If you ask most people what their weakness is you’ll find rather similar responses. Some will say their abs, some there legs and some will say their chest. But our weaknesses go far deeper then that. It’s those second tier of weaknesses that when developed lead to true success. By this I mean most of our true weaknesses are fundamentals such as our form or training techniques. A vast majority of us, especially me is our time management.
The Reality
Every one of us has seen the group of guys working out together and spending half the time clogging machines and talking about the girl they hooked up with last night. Then there’s the super meathead (so he thinks) that spends 3-4 hours in the gym trying to hit every muscle tissue available. In reality they both do more damage to their success then they would if they went to the gym only once or twice a week. This is because their time management sucks. While everyone is different, you generally get much more out of an intense lifting routine that makes you work your body hard with low rest in between. This serves as a major factor in the success of some of the niche workouts such as P90x, Insanity, or Crossfit. None of these programs take 2-3 hours to perform and give remarkable results. This is because your body needs to be forced to adapt. This will never happen if you let it recover too much between sets. The average rest period should be between 60 and 90 seconds. That means that your average workout should not be 2-3 hours but more like 45min to an hour.
The Solution
As I said before time management is one of my major problems as I tend to get distracted easily on my phone looking up scores, Facebooking, Twittering etc. My solution to this was unorthodox but it definitely worked. I started going to the gym later, much later. I started going to the gym pretty much an hour before they closed. That way I had no choice but to speed up my workouts and lift more intensely. I absolutely hate not getting a full workout in and will do anything and everything to make sure I reach all my goals for the day. This forced me to pretty much do double the work in half the time and definitely gave me better results.
Moral of the Story
In order to reach your best potential you must challenge yourself at every turn. When you hit a goal, raise it. When you reach a personal best work twice as hard to pass it. And when you find your weakness, do whatever it takes to overcome it.
"Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn’t do than by the ones you did do."