Don't Wait to Train. You Need to be Building Muscle

Reminder: every year after 30 we lose muscle mass (if we're NOT actively training to gain/maintain muscle mass).

Each year that we put off training, it becomes harder and harder to gain lost muscle mass back and to gain new muscle mass.

Add to this that more muscle mass = more calorie burn and a healthier metabolism, and you'll realize that having more muscle mass also helps you remain more lean (less fat). 

More muscle + less fat = improved quality of life both short term and long term.

You need to be resistance training!

Not sure what to do?

Here's a list of exercises and variations. Pick one exercise of each movement pattern and make sure you're doing that at least 1 day per week. 

Movement pattern 1 (squat): squat or split squat

Movement pattern 2 (lunge): lunges or reverse lunges

Movement pattern 3 (hinge): glute bridges, hip thrust, or RDL

Movement pattern 4 (horizontal push): pushups or bench press variation 

Movement pattern 5 (vertical pull): pullups or lat pulldown

Movement pattern 6 (vertical push): overhead press or pike pushups (or handstand pushup if you're a beast)

Movement pattern 6 (horizontal pull): single arm rows or inverted rows

Movement pattern 7 (bicep isolation): any bicep curl

Movement pattern 8 (tricep isolation): any tricep extension (including close grip or diamond pushup variations)

Movement pattern 9 (calf isolation): calf raise or jump rope

Movement pattern 10 (ab isolation): any ab exercise 

Optional movement pattern 11 (shoulder isolation): lateral raise or upright row or rear delt fly

Sample Program 

Upper A

Ex 1: horizontal push x 2-3 sets

Ex 2: vertical pull x 2-3 sets

Ex 3: shoulder isolation x 2-3 sets

Ex 4: bicep isolation x 2-3 sets

Ex 5: tricep isolation x 2-3 sets

Lower A

Ex 1: squat/split squat x 2-3 sets

Ex 2: hinge x 2-3 sets

Ex 3: lunge x 2-3 sets

Ex 4: calf isolation x 2-3 sets

Ex 5: Ab isolation x 2-3 sets

Upper B

Ex 1: vertical push x 2-3 sets

Ex 2: horizontal pull x 2-3 sets

Ex 3: horizontal push x 2-3 sets

Ex 4: bicep isolation x 2-3 sets

Ex 5: tricep isolation x 2-3 sets 

Lower B

Ex 1: squat/split squat x 2-3 sets

Ex 2: hinge x 2-3 sets

Ex 3: lunge x 2-3 sets

Ex 4: calf isolation x 2-3 sets

Ex 5: Ab isolation x 2-3 sets

I recommend doing that program 4 days per week. If you recover well, you could even do it 5 or 6 days per week.

You can use different exercise variations during the 2 different upper and lower sessions.

For example, you could do incline dumbbell bench press for Upper A horizontal push and do pushups for Upper B horizontal push.

One more example is you could do Bulgarian split squats for Lower A squat and do goblet squats for Lower B squat exercise.

Sample Program 2

Here's a second program for those of you that prefer to do just 4 exercises per session. 

In this plan, we use a Pull, Push, Legs split.

Pull

Ex 1: vertical pull x 2-3 sets

Ex 2: horizontal pull x 2-3 sets

Ex 3: bicep isolation x 2-3 sets

Ex 4: ab isolation x 2-3 sets

Push

Ex 1: horizontal push x 2-3 sets

Ex 2: vertical push x 2-3 sets

Ex 3: tricep isolation x 2-3 sets 

Ex 4: shoulder isolation x 2-3 sets

Legs

Ex 1: squat/split squat x 2-3 sets

Ex 2: hinge x 2-3 sets

Ex 3: lunge x 2-3 sets

Ex 4: calf isolation x 2-3 sets

Train at least 3 days per week on this plan and as often as 6 days per week. 

Sample Program 3

This is an even more abbreviated program, but, I recommend training more frequently if doing this particular plan. These workouts will probably take just 15-20 minutes so you should be able to train almost every day. Don't beat yourself up if you miss a day, though. Just roll it over the the next day. 

With all these plans, I'd like you to get in the habit of training more frequently than not. That is, working up to training at least 4 days per week. I want exercise to be a part of your daily lives.

This is another PPL split but training just 3 exercises per session.

Warm up before each session with 1-2 sets of an ab isolation.

Pull

Ex 1: vertical pull x 2-3 sets

Ex 2: horizontal pull x 2-3 sets

Ex 3: bicep isolation x 2-3 sets

Push

Ex 1: horizontal push x 2-3 sets

Ex 2: vertical push or shoulder isolation x 2-3 sets

Ex 3: tricep isolation x 2-3 sets 

Legs

Ex 1: squat/split squat or lunge x 2-3 sets

Ex 2: hinge x 2-3 sets

Ex 3: calf isolation x 2-3 sets

Now you've got a reason and a plan to train. It's up to you to go and execute.