Getting in shape can be expensive – but JOE have made it less so.
You’ve got your gym membership, tubs of supplements, training gear and all the other diet stuff on top.
That’s even before you’ve factored in your personal trainer.
So if you’re thinking of drawing up your own DIY training programme to get shredded for summer, step this way.
JOE has devised the 14 essential tips every DIY gym shark needs to create the perfect plan.
Here are the first five to get you started. All aboard the #gainz train.
1. Masterplan
How long have you got? How many days a week can you train? You need to get your timescales locked down.
Most people will do a 14-week, 12-week or 8-week body preparation. So if your trip to Ibiza is in a month, hotfoot it down to the gym right now.
Once you assess how many weeks you have to get in shape and how many days per week you can train, you’re ready to start putting together your programme.
2. Training split
How are you going to organise your training over the week?
Beginners working out three days a week will normally go for a full body routine on each of their training days.
But for anyone who is more seriously into bodybuilding you’ll need something a little more heavy duty – working on single body parts or muscle groups.
Some tried and tested weekly splits are:
- Two Day Split – Day 1 is lower body exercises and Day 2 is upper body exercises. Then repeat. Simple.
- Push/Pull (Three Day Split) -Day 1 is all legs, Day 2 is ‘pull’ movements like back and biceps, Day 3 is ‘push’ movements like chest, delts and triceps
- Four Day Split – Day 1 is legs, Day 2 is chest and triceps, Day 3 is back and biceps and Day 4 is delts (obviously with rest days in between).
- One Body Part a Day – devote one session for chest, back, glute and hams, quads and shoulders.
3. Weak points
We can’t all be like Arnold Schwarzenegger. We all have our weak points.
But if you’re drawing up your own plan you can assess your weak points and add in extra work to bring that body part up to scratch.
For example, if your shoulders need some extra attention you can devote a whole session to training your delts.
But you can then add in some extra delt work on your chest workout or bolt some extra front and lateral raises on the end of a leg session.
Be creative.
4. Luxury muscles
Unfortunately God only gave us seven days in the week – that’s why we can’t really afford to set aside time for abs day and calf day.
Even devoting a full day for doing arms can be a push if you’re only training four times a week.
But needless to say these body parts need a workout. So when you’re drawing up your plan you need to think where you can add exercises in.
Joel Corry told JOE that he will add in a devoted 30-minute slot at the end of his workouts to really hit his abs or his calves.
But you could add them into the mix on leg day or devote a little extra time after you’ve trained your back.
5. Muscle balance
Yes it’s important to bring up weak body part with extra work – but it’s even more important to train for a balanced physique.
We’ve all seen those guys who are all upper body with chicken legs (think Johnny Bravo) – or that guy with the huge chest and drainpipe arms.
That means looking at each body part and understanding the muscle anatomy and using that knowledge to train your body optimally.
Triceps, for example, have three muscle heads. So understanding which tricep exercises work each head will help you train them properly and really get them growing.
Don’t neglect your lateral and rear delts by just focussing on exercises that predominantly build your anterior delt like upright rows and front raises.
Equally, when you’re training legs – don’t just do four squat variations to grow your quads if you’re not going to do the same amount on your glutes and hamstrings.
Get researching muscle anatomy and the movement you need to be doing.
