Radio Routines

Remember to take responsibility for your own wellness by getting approval from your doctor on any health, fitness, or nutrition advice given by PJ or any other fitness professional before you put it to personal use.

THE STARTER ROUTINE (no equipment needed)

Before you start the exercises in this or any strength training routine, a warm up is necessary. This can be done by going for a 5 minute jog, climbing on a cardio machine, or just jumping up and down. Do whatever it takes to get your body warm. If your muscles are warm before you start strength training, they will be much stronger during the workout. Since you only get out of your workout what you put into it, more strength will certainly help your progress. In fact, research shows that the warm up can actually increase your strength gains by 15% or more! The warm up will also make you less likely to be injured and will even reduce muscle soreness the next day, so make sure this step always happens first.

Don't bother stretching before you strength train. Research shows this does nothing to warm you up or prevent injuries. In fact, it may make you more likely to be injured and can actually make you weaker during your workout. This will of course diminish your results, so stick to the warm up before, and save the stretching for after your workout.

Each exercise pictured below requires only 4-7 reps in perfect form. If you can do 7, you are ready for more weight or resistance. If you can’t do 4,  you should reduce the resistance. Always judge your form very strictly. If you cheat your way to 7 reps, you will be progressing in resistance faster than your muscle are ready, and you will overweight yourself causing stagnation in strength. Struggling along with a weight that is too heavy is a sure way to flatline your progress and cheat yourself of optimal results.

If you can do 7 reps, go straight into your pulses and  holds just as if you had reached failure. Holds and pulses are referred to as "splinter" techniques here. They are meant to get you to fatigue and beyond, because this is where the fastest change takes place. Pulses are just as they seem - little one inch pulses in the middle of the range of motion or at the fatigue point or the exercise. Just pulse there as long as you can until you can no longer stay in that range. Next comes the hold. Simply try to hold your position where you fatigued in your pulses, as long as you can, until that is no longer possible either. At this point you have reached the fatigue necessary for change, and you can move on to the next exercise.

You will have to hold and pulse longer to get to full fatigue if you can complete all the reps, than if you had reached fatigue within the reps, but that’s all part of the program. Remember that you are getting strength and endurance with these methods so whether you fatigue quickly or not, you will be spending a lot of time under tension and will be training your nerves just as much as your muscles. 

The intensity level is the key. If your muscles can do it, they won't see a need for change. They are fine staying the way they are, because they can do it! If you make them fail however, they see that they can't do it, and desire to get stronger. With the right rest, protein, and water, they will rebuild stronger and more toned than before as a result of the failure experience. 

Your first exercise is Lunges. You will be working pretty much every muscle from the waist down, but mostly your butt and thigh muscles. Use a nearby wall to balance with only if you need to. Using a wall instead of a chair or table is important because you won’t be tempted to grab onto it to help you with the exercise. You will only be able to use it for balance.

Your front knee should be directly over or behind your front ankle at all times. Never let your front knee go in front of your ankle, as this will unnecessarily load your knee joint and unload your leg muscles. Keeping your front knee back will also work your hamstrings and butt muscles more effectively.

Start with your back knee on the ground and lunge upwards creating 7 complete stops on the way up and 7 stops on the way down. When you reach the bottom of the range, stop just shy of the back knee touching. The only time the back knee should touch should be to start, and when you are finished after reaching full fatigue.

You will begin to lose your balance as you near full fatigue, and when you do reach fatigue, start your pulses and work through your holds. You will find balance increasingly difficult but this is normal and it just proves you are getting to the fatigue necessary.  You know you are done with your splinters when you can no longer keep your back knee off the floor.

As muscle fibers fatigue, they stop working. The longer you push through this fatigue, less fibers are able to help out with the control and balance until finally, you don’t even have enough to keep you off the floor or maintain your balance. That is the point where your muscles are shown they have to change because they can’t do it! 

The pictures below shows all seven stops on the way down. Use the same stopping points on the way up. Notice how the top of the range is never achieved and the bottom of the range is cut short an inch so the back knee never actually touches. This creates the constant tension for faster fatigue mentioned earlier.

Your second exercise is Pushups. You are working chest, triceps, and the front of your shoulders with this exercise. You also are working core muscles, so perfect form is important. Sway backs and saggy posture takes away from the effectiveness and muscle isolation which will cause the set to drag itself out longer than necessary, so stay with the form, especially when you are at full fatigue!

Start with pushups from the hips. This will be less resistance and will allow you to progress up the knees when strong enough to do 7 perfect reps from the hips. Pushups from the feet are the next step when you can do 7 reps from the knees. If 7 perfect reps are possible from the feet, increase the difficulty by placing your feet up on a chair and keeping your hands on the floor. When doing pushups from the knees or feet, make sure your body is completely straight with absolutely no bending at the hips or swaybacks!

This exercise is a smaller range than lunges, so the 7 stops will feel closer together. On this exercise, lightly touch your chest to the floor at the bottom and stop just shy of locking your elbows at the top. When you touch your chest to the floor, be sure to touch only lightly so the muscles maintain tension and keep working by holding your weight for resistance.

When you "hit the wall" and can’t move any more, pulse there until you start to sink to the floor. Then hold as long as possible until you end up on the floor. Really try to drag this out as long as possible because the longer you spend at fatigue, the faster you will progress. Every second counts exponentially at this point, so pushing yourself that extra few seconds beyond what you think you are capable of will be worth much more than you may realize! The extra effort really will be worth it!

A hard touch, bounce, or rest (even ¼ second) will only unload the muscles and prolong the exercise longer than necessary. Locking your elbows at the top will cause the same problem as the joints take all the pressure and muscles get to rest. Remember that any rest at all is working against your end goal of failure. A quick rest might feel good at the time and even allow you to keep going with a new sense of energy, but that’s not the point. Failure is the point and the only way your muscles will change, so constant loading and tension are vital to achieving this full fatigue.

Once you reach fatigue, perform your hold and pulse splinters until you can no longer stay off the floor. If you can do 7 perfect reps, go back down to the mid point of the range (halfway between the top and the bottom) and do your pulses and  holds there until you end up on the floor.

Your third exercise is called Superhero flyes. This exercise will work your back, butt, and posture muscles as well as your rear shoulder muscles. Lie on your stomach with your arms in front like Superman. Slowly raise your hands straight up and look forward. Your feet will come of the ground as well, but only a few inches. Since this is a very small range, only 4 stops are necessary in both directions. Add an extra pause at the top and stick a quick squeeze in there so you are sure you are at full range.

When you can do 7 reps in good form, try it with some soup cans or books of the same weight in your hands. One to two pounds is all you will need to take yourself to the next level. Remember your pulses and holds at the highest possible point when you get to fatigue or 7 reps. You will know you are at fatigue because you will not be able to get as high as your first rep.

Once you have finished your splinters for Superman flyes, move your arms straight out to the side like Batman. Now perform the same straight up and down motion with this new posture. Your feet will come off the ground about as high as they did with Superman flyes. Follow all the same tips as mentioned above with special attention to the extra squeeze at the top of the range.

When you have finished your splinters for Batman flyes, move your hands and arms down by your sides like Aquaman. This will engage your larger and stronger lat muscles in your back, so holding books or soup cans in your hands might be necessary for added resistance.

As you arch up bringing your feet off the floor, raise your hands straight up as far as they will go. If you can reach past your own body, add the extra squeeze at the top by coming together with your hands and try to touch them behind you. Don’t worry if your body is not built this way or you cannot reach your hands together. Try anyway and you will be accomplishing the same peak contraction. After you reach fatigue or 7 perfect reps, finish with your pulses and holds as high as you can keep your hands.

Now roll to your back for Crunch Twists. This will train all four layers of your abdominal muscles. Lie flat on your back with your fingers interlaced behind your neck. Your hands are only there to support the weight of you head so keep your elbows wide, and avoid pulling up with your hands. This pulling temptation will increase with your fatigue level, so be constantly mindful of this.

Point your chin to the ceiling and keep it up through the entire range. This will help prevent pulling your head up and forward as well. You can also concentrate on pressing the tip of your tongue to the top of your mouth as an added technique to keep your head in the correct position.

Next, suck your stomach in as far as you can. Visualize pulling your navel to your backbone. Maintain this contraction through the entire range to exercise your deepest stomach muscle called the transverse abdominus. This muscle is responsible for the flat stomach look, so strengthening it is vital to a more toned waist as well as adding strength to your core.

Now crunch up slowly, completing four stops (ratchets) on the way up. Try to get your shoulder blades off the floor, but keep your low back down. When you get to the top of your range, hold it there and twist 4 times back and forth. Each twist should take about 2 seconds each way. Then crunch down slowly, stopping 4 times on the way down as well. You should still be maintaining the “sucking in” you started with. Keep this tension constantly no matter where you are in the range and regardless of the rep you are on.

When you get to the bottom, immediately start back up to your next rep without any pause or rest. The stomach muscles should remain tight the whole time so they fatigue as fast as possible. Taking little breaks or rests will only cause you to have to do more to get to fatigue. It will also rob you of the benefits of the combined strength and endurance this program is designed to deliver.

Go until you reach full fatigue and cannot complete the full range an more. The hold as high as you can until you start to sink down. At this point, pulse until you can no longer keep your shoulder blades from touching, and then try to hold your shoulder blades off the floor as long as possible.

This concludes your starter program! Done correctly, this routine should take you 12-15 minutes to complete. Resting only 1 minutes between exercises will increase your cardio as well. Longer rests will still improve your strength but will detract from your cardio improvement.

Performed twice a week, this routine can be done for up to 4 months before your body adapts to it, but research shows that after 6-7 weeks, your brain may need a change. Switching programs every 6-8 weeks also encourages new enervation phases, which continues nerve training, new muscle strengthening, and coordination improvements. Restarting the enervation phase also prevents muscle bulking, so switching every 7 weeks keeps you lean and toned over big and bulky as well!

Be sure to stretch when you are done with this or any other strength or cardio routine. Each stretch should take 30-90 seconds, depending on the time you have available. Stretch only to the point of a healthy feeling in the muscles and never past that to where you feel pain. Pushing a stretch too far will cause your muscle to contract in order to protect itself, and will not give any additional flexibility benefits.  Research shows that stretching while warm after a strength training workout will add another 10% or more to your strength gains, so this little amount of extra time is worth it!

CHECK BACK SOON! THERE'S MORE TO COME!