Lift & Read Series: May Book Club Part 1 & My Lifting Program for the Month

Welcome to the rundown for the month of May.

This monthly lift & read series is 2 months old, but I'm excited to continue it.

In this series, I go over what I plan to read this month and what my training will look like this month.

Last month, I accomplished a lot of reading and training, but my training program was pretty sporadic. I incorporated a few different programs at once. This month, I'm getting back into a more rigid training routine, following 1 specific program.

May Reading

I usually read 3 books from different genres at a time.

Fiction

Self development or business development non-fiction

Physical culture or some fitness related book

For fiction, I'm finishing up book 2 of "The Speed of Light" series and will immediately move on to book 3 after. So I plan on completing the rest of that series this month.

So, the first fiction of this month is book 2, titled, "The Arms of Brothers."

After that, I'll read book 3, "The Footsteps of Men."

If you recall, I was absolutely blown away by book 1 of the series, "The Hands of Enemies." You can check out my glowing review from a couple weeks ago here: https://www.30minutephysique.com/post/lift-read-series-a-book-that-everyone-should-read

As for my personal development, non-fiction book, I'm still slowly chipping away at last month's, "The 5 Types of Wealth."

My physical culture book this month is a classic: "Periodization Training for Sports," by Tudor O. Bompa, PHD and Michael C. Carrera. This is a great book for strength and conditioning coaches and athletes. I work with a few high school (soon to be college level) baseball players, and I may find myself training many more of their teammates soon, so I figured it'd be a good time to brush up on my programming for various sports teams and athletes.

I focus on reading fiction more than non-fiction from day to day, so I go through more fiction books than the other 2 genres. Reading fiction has become a form of meditation for me. It's a way for me to reset my dopamine levels and let my mind relax.

May Training

For training, I'm going back to my preferred plan for maximizing my body composition, improving my physique, aesthetically. That program is a PPL split, using 4 exercises per session. I call the program PPL 4X.

Here's the full rundown:

4 exercises per session

3-6 sessions per week. I usually aim for 3 days on, 1 day off with this program. But I find even just 3 days per week – hitting every session once a week – works well, too. Find a frequency that works for you, allow some flexibility within it, but always lift at least 3 days per week with PPL splits so that you're hitting each muscle every week.

This is my go to when looking to maximize the way I look. It's a straight up bodybuilding plan.

3-4 sets per exercise.

The key with PPL, and other 3 way split programs, is that you MUST train at least 3 days per week! However, you needn't stress about training more than 3 days per week. Each session has enough volume for the muscle groups to grow with just once a week frequency. You most definitely CAN train more than 3 days per week with these plans, though (I typically do). But, any sessions beyond 3 days per week are bonus sessions. So train as much as you want, but make sure to get at least 3 days (1 day for each, respective session) per week.

I do "Pull" before "Push" because the triceps play a role in pulling movements. Therefore, fatigued triceps will negatively effect my pullup and row performance. 

Don’t believe me? Go do a set of overhead extensions and then try doing a set of pullups. You will feel that the long head of the tricep attaches to the lats. Therefore, I always schedule Pull sessions before Push sessions. 

I rest 1-3 minutes between exercises, depending on exercise and circumstances (such as how long I have to train).

Warm up before each session with single leg glute bridges or clam shells AND abs. 1-2 sets of each

Pull Day 

Ex 1: pullups (or lat pulldowns)-3-4x5-10

Ex 2: single arm rows-3-4x6-12

Ex 3: incline dumbbell curls or concentration curls (or whatever other curl you like)-3-4x6-12

Ex 4: incline hammer curls or shrugs or heavy kettlebell cleans or kettlebell high pulls (swing plus high pull, 1 or 2 hands)-3-4x10-15

Push Day

Ex 1: clean & press or military press-3-4x5-10

Ex 2: incline or flat dumbbell bench press-3-4x6-12 or high rep pushups for 3-4 sets

Ex 3: single arm cable/band pushdowns or single arm cable/band overhead extensions or single arm dumbbell skull crushers

Ex 4: lateral raise-3-4x10-15

Legs

Ex 1: Bulgarian split squats-3-4x6-12

Ex 2: single leg RDL or kettlebell swings (any variation) or leg curls (any variation)-3-4x10-15 (10-20 if leg curls)

Ex 3: lateral (Cossack) squats or reverse lunges or single leg box squats-3-4x6-12

Ex 4: calf raise variation-3-4x10-20

Where you see multiple options of exercises, feel free to pick and stick with 1 OR just rotate between the options from session to session as you please.

I naturally gravitate towards these brief, frequent body building type sessions. It's fairly inspired from my time studying and experimenting with Vince Gironda's programs. Vince believed in training frequently yet briefly, and I found that fits perfectly with my own desires.

You see, I feel best when I train. Days where I don't train, I feel anxious and I itch for physical activity. A quick pump does me good.

With that said, I have no desire – nor do I respond well – to slogging around in the gym for hours at a time.

If I can do 4 exercises for 3-4 sets apiece 4-6 days per week, I'm a very delighted camper. These 30-45 minute sessions, practiced nearly daily, satisfy my mental, emotional, physical, and possibly, in a weird way, even my spiritual needs. 

While the volume seems fairly low, I'm able to accumulate 8-12 sets per muscle per week of direct stimulus, along with plenty of indirect stimulus. I am able to keep the quality of each set high, get a good pump, and finish my session without being completely wrecked for the rest of the day or week. I do enough to trigger a hypertrophic response (which is my main goal) but not enough to fatigue myself or tax my recovery system.

The next day, I train a different area of the body, and I'm able to squeeze in my training wherever I need to, or am able to, during the day. In that brief period of time I train hard, make a little progress, force a growth adaptation, and get out in one piece. I repeat this over and over again.

I train anywhere from 3-6 days per week, and, as long as I get 3 sessions per week I know I'm doing what's needed to improve my physique.

Furthermore, I can easily adjust the program, or individual sessions, to fit the needs of myself or my clients based on what they enjoy, what equipment they have available to train with, and what exercises they/I need most to improve weak points in the 

physique.

This program offers quick sessions, the flexibility to train very frequently or just 3 days per week, and the flexibility to adjust exercises as you wish.

Conclusion 

Well, that's the lifting and reading plan for the month of May. I'll keep you posted with any updates – like every time I start a new book or if I feel the need to write a review for a given book, like I did last month. I think I finished last month with 5 updates to the lift & read book club, sharing every time I began a new book as well as providing a bold review of book 1 in the "Speed of Light" series.