YearLong Workout Plan
1 Squat
Set up a barbell on the supports of a squat rack. Step underneath the bar, squeeze your shoulder blades together, and let the bar touch your upper traps. Grab the bar with your hands as close together as is comfortable. Nudge the bar off the rack, take three steps backward, and stand with your feet a bit wider than shoulder-width apart and toes turned slightly outward [1]. Take a deep breath and bend your hips and knees, lowering your body as far as you can (try to squat to where your thighs are below parallel to the floor) [2]. Explode back upward to the starting position. That’s one rep.
Directions
FREQUENCY: Perform each workout once per week, resting at least a day between each session.
HOW TO DO IT: Perform each pair of exercises (marked A and B) as alternating sets, resting the prescribed amount of time after each set. So you’ll do one set of A, rest, then one set of B, rest again, and repeat for all the prescribed sets for each exercise. In Workout C, you’ll perform a tri-set, marked a, b, and c. This means you’ll complete one set for each of the three exercises without resting in between. So you’ll do all your reps for 3a, then all your reps for 3b and then 3c before resting.
Perform the remaining exercises as straight sets, completing all the prescribed sets for an exercise before moving on.
TEMPO: The first digit is how many seconds you should take to lower the weight. The second digit is how long you should pause at the bottom (when your muscles are under the most tension). The third digit is how long you should take to lift the weight. A “0” means to move right to the next digit, and an “X” in place of digits means to perform each rep with explosive speed.
WEIGHT: Use the heaviest weight that allows you to complete all the prescribed repetitions for each set.
Workout A
1 Squat
Sets: 4 Reps: 4–6 Tempo: 211 Rest: 120 sec.
2 Hip Extension Plate Drag
Sets: 2–3 Reps: 8–10 Tempo: 211 Rest: 90 sec.
3 Romanian Deadlift
Sets: 2–3 Reps: 12 Tempo: 311 Rest: 60 sec.
