Home Exercise Handbook

8/10/2019 Home Exercise Handbook

1/21

1


2/21

2

Copyright : 2008 by Lyle McDonald. All Righ ts Reserved

This book or any part thereof, may not be reproduced or recorded in any form wi th outpermission in wri ti ng from th e publi sher, except for brief quotations embodied in criti calarticles or reviews.

For in form ation cont act:Lyle McDonald Publi shi ngPO Box 1713Salt Lake City, Ut 84110Email: lyl [email protected]

First Edi ti onFirst Prin ti ng
mailto:[email protected]:[email protected]


3/21

3

Introduction

You received this e-book when you purchased either the hardcopy or e-version of my Rapid Fat Loss

Handbook. In t hat book, I out li ned a beginners hom e exercise program that can be done wi th no m ore

equipment than your own bodyweight and possibl y two m il k jugs fil led wit h water.

If you want to get more equipment than that, perhaps small dumbbells or some rubber tubing, most of the

exercises in the program can be done with those as well (most commercial tubing you can buy will come

with exercise descriptions). You can be as creative as you want, food cans be used for resistance, you could

even li ft rocks, or your chi ldren. If you get serious, you can usually find h ome gym equi pment at any yard

sale or in the newspaper want ads.

For each exercise, Im going to explain what muscles are going to be worked along with how to do the

exercise; each also has pictures to show you exactl y what youre supposed to be doing. Addi ti onall y, Ive

in cluded both a begin ni ng and more advanced version of m any of th e exercises.

The exercises li sted in th e order you should do th em. Ive also included a few opti onal exercises after themain program, exercises th at you can do i f you wish but wh ich aren t required.

Wh at Id actuall y recommend you do is prin t t hi s ent ire e-book out and put i t i n a small bi nder. Then, you

can simply turn the page to the next exercise and read the description/look at the pictures while youre

resting.

As well, so that you wont have to keep going back and forth between the books, Ive also included the

exercise in form ati on from t he Rapid Fat Loss Handbook in th is e-book.

First I want to repeat some in form ati on from th e m ain book before present in g the exercises th emselves.


4/21

4

The basics of resistance training

I want to talk a li tt le more generall y about the topic of resistance train ing. First I want to explain some

terms for people who are wholly unfamiliar with resistance training, those appear in the box below.

Perhaps the single most important piece of advice I can give to beginners regarding starting an exercise

program is to start slow ly and buil d up graduall y. If t heres a sin gle way to ensure th at you wont stick wi th

an exercise program, its to start with far too much and either get so sore or so overwhelmed that you dontmake it past th e first day.

Trust me when I say that this is all too common an occurrence: someone decides to start exercising,

overdoes it the first day, cant walk for the next week and thats the beginning and end of the program.

Bett er to start more slow ly and buil d up more graduall y. That way, by the tim e youre actually doing a lot

of exercise (or training very intensely), the increase has been so gradual that you never really felt

overwhelm ed by th e program.

One nice thing about being completely new to exercise is that it doesnt take very much to generate a

response in terms of gett in g stronger or gaini ng or main tain ing LBM. In th e section above I defined sets;

here I only want to mention that numerous studies find that, for beginners, a single set gives essentially

identical results to doing more than one set. This isnt to say that increasing the number of sets done overtime cant be useful or isnt a good idea, only that, in the beginning, theres little to no need to do more

than th at.

For that reason, in the sample exercise programs below, I strongly suggest that beginners perform only a

sin gle set to begin wi th . Il l talk about h ow to progress th e train ing program (i f desired) as well .

Anot her issue for beginners is li ft in g speed; th is refers to h ow quickly (or slow ly ) the reps are done. For

beginners, theres reall y l it tl e to di scuss. For both safety reasons and from th e standpoin t of learn in g the

exercises, I recomm end th at beginners use fairl y slow and cont rol led movement speeds. Lif ti ng the weight

Basic Weight Training Terminology

Repeti ti on (rep): the raisin g and lowering of t he resistance once is referred t o as one rep (or repeti ti on).

Set: A set i s a series of repeti ti ons. So i f you l if ted a weight 8 ti mes and then stopped, you would h ave

done one set of 8 repeti ti ons.

Rest in terval (RI): Between sets of t he same exercise, you typicall y rest (doin g noth in g), and th is rest m ay

last anywhere from 15-30 seconds up to several minutes, depending on the specifics of the training

program.

Frequency: This is simply how often you exercise, typically individuals will perform resistance training

anywhere from two to seven days per week (some very advanced or simply very obsessed athletes will

li ft more than once per day). Wi th in th e context of t he rapid fat loss plan, two to th ree days per week ofresistance train ing is more than enough .

Muscle group: Thi s simply refers to t he muscle or muscles th at are targeted by a given exercise. A bicep

curl may work only the biceps (the muscle on the front of the arms) while a squat may work the glutes,

hamstrings and quadri ceps (muscles of t he lower body)


5/21

5

in two seconds and lowering it i n t wo seconds would be an appropr iate speed. This woul d make each

repeti ti on last four seconds.

Fin all y i s th e issue of breath in g. Generally speaking, when li ft in g any t ype of resistance, beginners are best

served by exhaling as th ey l ift th e weight and i nh ali ng as th ey lower it . However, far more im portant ly is

that people make sure to breathe in the first place; Ive often seen beginners hold their breath and end up

gaspin g for air mi dway th rough a set. It s more important that you breathe th an how you breathe.

A beginning weight t rainer shou ld be perform in g the most basic of rout in es. At most one exercise per

bodypart shoul d be done and the whole body shoul d be worked at each workout wi th hi gh repeti ti ons (12-

15) and li ght weight s.

As mentioned above, this accomplishes a number of important goals: it burns calories, will decrease the

carbohydrate stored i n mu scle (whi ch i ncreases how much fat th e body burn s at rest) and tends to be safer

and more effective in th e begin ni ng stages of t rain in g.

If you belong to a gym, this type of routine can be done easily and quickly using machines or free weights

(barbell s or dum bbell s). If you don t belong to a gym, th e accompanyin g e-book contain s some basic

exercises th at can be done at home usin g the min imum amoun t of equipm ent . The workout it self would

be done a maximum of two to three times per week (three is the absolute maximum) on alternating days.If you decided to exercise tw ice per week, you woul d want to spread the days out across th e week. Monday

and Thursday or M onday and Friday or some sim il ar spacin g (e.g. Tuesday/Friday) woul d be ideal. If you

exercise three times per week, you would exercise Monday/Wednesday/Friday or

Tuesday/Thursday/Saturday.

In the box on the next page, Ive include two sample routines for beginning exercisers; one is a basic gym

rout in e if you h ave access, the oth er is a basic home rout in e th at can be done. If you need or want more

details than that, you can go purchase one of the dozens of beginning weight training books on the market.

Thi s should get you started.

Although sets are listed as 1-3, I highly recommend that beginners start with only one set of each exercise

on t heir f i rst day. As m ent ion ed above, an excell ent way to completely derail an exercise program is to start

wi th too m uch too soon. If t he first day is ext remely easy, you can alw ays add a second set during your

second workout . If it s sti ll challenging, sti ck wi th t he sin gle set.

Beginner Home Exercise Rout ine

Exercise Sets Reps RI Muscles exercisedSquat or lunge 1-3 12-15 1 Glutes, quadriceps, hamst ringsGlute bridge* 1-3 12-15 1 Glutes, ham stringsPush-up 1-3 12-15 1 Chest, shoulders, triceps1-arm row 1-3 12-15 1 Back, bicepsLateral raise* 1-2 12-15 1 ShouldersBiceps curl* 1-2 12-15 1 BicepsTriceps dip* 1-2 12-15 1 TricepsCrunch 1-3 12-15 1 Stomach

Bird dogs 1-3 12-15 1 Lower back


6/21

6

Although the repetitions are listed as 12-15, not everyone will get to 15 repetitions, especially on

bodyweight exercises (weight machines at the gym can always be set very l ight) in it iall y. I recomm end that

you stick with the exercise until you can get 15 repetitions fairly comfortably before considering adding a

second set. On ce you can do 2 sets of 15 easi ly, you can consider addi ng a th i rd set. Or you can add weight

instead of addi ng sets as discussed t wo paragraphs below on progression.

RI stands for rest i nt erval, whi ch I have set at one mi nu te across th e board. If youre only doin g one set of

each exercise, this means th at you would rest one minute between exercises. If you are doing mul ti ple setsof an exercise, you should rest one minut e between sets. So say you are doing 3 sets of 12-15 leg presses.

You do your fi rst set of 15, rest a minute, do a second set of 15, rest a minu te, do a th ird set, rest a minute,

then move on to your next exercise.

One factor I h avent talked about yet i s progression . To get stronger (or buil d bigger m uscles), you h ave to

overload them by making them work harder. For beginners, thi s usually means adding more weight t o the

exercise to make it more di ffi cult . So once you can do 15 repeti ti ons easil y wi th say, 10 pounds, you would

move to 12 or 15 pounds. This might bring you back down to 12 repeti ti ons, then youd bui ld back up to

15 repeti t ions, once th at got easy, youd add weight again . Beginners can generall y use th is type of

approach for quite some time before needing anything more complicated.

For the home exercise routine, progression can be a bit more difficult. Ive included some more advancedmovements in the accompanying e-book that you got with this manual but eventually even those may

become too easy. Adding weigh t by usin g small dum bbell s, plates (both of whi ch can usually be purchased

fairly inexpensively at various sporting goods stores, or found used) can be used.

Exercises marked wi th a * shou ld be considered opt ional. They can be performed i f you have energy, ti me

or in clinati on bu t are not required. The goal of t hi s rout in e is to h it th e greatest amoun t of m uscle mass

wi th th e least n umber of exercises. If you only performed th e main exercises, you would have covered your

bases.


7/21

7

Exercise 1: The squat

If there were a sin gle exercise that you could do for t he lower body, it would be th e squat. Alm ostnothing works the glutes, hamstrings, and quadriceps (the three biggest muscles in your lowerbody) as well . And the best part is th at everybody knows how to squat. When you sit down i n achair, or sit down to use the toil et, you re squatti ng. Onl y now were going to m ake it an exercise.

Squat: Beginner

Bodyw eigh t squat

To perform th e bodyweight squat, you should stand wit h your feet roughly shoulder wi dth apart

and w it h your toes angled out sli ght ly. M ost w il l f in d that i ts easier to balance wi th th e arms outin f ron t as shown below. Slow ly l ower (taking roughly 2 seconds) unt i l the thi ghs are parallel toth e ground, you wil l need to lean forwards sli ghtl y to avoid fall in g over. Then return to thestandin g posit ion . That consti tut es on repeti ti on, conti nue unti l you reach th e goal of 12-15repetit ions. You should inhale as you lower yourself and exhale as you stand back up.


8/21

8

Squat : In termedi ate

Weighted squat

The squat can be made more dif fi cul t by adding resistance. If you have access to dum bbells, theycan be held by the sides duri ng the exercise. If you have rubber tubing, you can stand on t op of i tto provide resistance. An easy hom e solut ion i s to take two empty gall on m il k jugs and f i ll th emto th e same level with water. These can be held by the sides to make the exercise more dif fi cult asshown on the next page. Other than the addition of resistance, the intermediate version of thesquat is ident ical t o the beginner version .


9/21

9

Squat: Advanced

Spl i t Squat

To perform th e spl it squat, step out wi th one leg (th e back leg should be on th e toe) so that, whenyou bend your knees, both end up at a 90 degree angle as shown on the right . In hale as youlower and exh ale as you stand back up. Perform 12-15 repeti t ions on on e leg, rest one minute,then perform your repeti ti ons on the oth er leg. Alt hough the spl it squat is bein g demonstratedhere wi th mi lk jugs, you should perform the exercise wi thout any weight th e fi rst few t im es th atyou do it.


10/21

10

Exercise 2: The glute bridge (optional exercise)

If you didnt feel like you worked your lower body enough with the squat, you can do a secondlower body exercise that wi l l especially target the glutes and hamstri ng muscles. That exercise isthe glute bridge shown below.

Glu te bri dge: Beginner

To begin the glute bridge, lie on your back with your feet out away from your butt, arms go byyour sides. From th is posit ion, press th rough your heels to raise your rear-end off t he floor. Onlyraise up un t il your body i s in a straight l in e (as shown below) before lowering. That consti tuteson repet it ion , and you should perform 12-15 repeti ti ons. Exhale as you bri dge up and in hale asyou lower.

To make the glute bridge more di ff icul t, you can add resistance. If you h ave dumbbells, you can

hold t hem in your lap; small weight p lates work here as well . Alt ernately, you could pl ace aheavy book or someth in g sim il ar in your l ap to increase th e resistance.

Of course, you can also move to a more advanced version of the exercise, shown on the nextpage.


11/21

11

Glu te bri dge: Advanced

The 1 l egged glu te bri dge

I want to make it very clear that the 1-legged glute bridge is a very advanced variation on thisexercise, requiring a great deal of not only leg strength but also core stability. Id strongly suggestfi nd in g a way to add resistance to th e normal glute bridge before att empt in g thi s one.

Like the normal glute bridge, start by laying on your back; this time you will have one legextended straight , the oth er leg is on t he floor in th e same posit ion as for the normal glu te bridge.Your arms should be by your side. From t hi s posit ion, fi rst ti ghten your abdomin al (stom ach)muscles before raisin g your butt of f the floor by pushi ng th rough the heel of t he other leg.

Exhale as you raise up to ful l extension, dont but don t over-extend your low back. Inhale on theway down and that equals on repetition. Dont be surprised if you cant get very many repetitionsthe fi rst few t im es you t ry th is exercise.

As with the normal glute bridge, if you get to the point where the single leg glute bridge is tooeasy, you can always add weight by placing small dumbbells, weight plates or a heavy book onyour stomach.


12/21


13/21

13

Push up: Intermediate

M odif ied Push up

The in termediate push-up, often derogatoril y referred to as a Girl push-up is sim ply a push-updone with t he knees on t he ground. Wh il e more dif ficult t han th e wall push-up, it s much easierthan a standard push-up.

The modi fied push-up starts wi th th e feet up and the knees on the floor, th e hands should beabout shoul der width to begin. From th is posit ion , bend your elbows unti l your chest i s justabove the floor, inhali ng as you l ower yourself as shown in th e picture below. Exhale as you pushyourself back to th e start in g positi on. Thats one repeti ti on. Don t be surpr ised if you can t go allth e way down wit hout collapsin g or can t get very m any repeti tions when you fi rst t ry thi sexercise. As you get stron ger, youl l be able to lower yourself m ore and do more reps.


14/21

14

Push ups: Advanced

Standard push ups

When modifi ed push-ups get too easy, the next progression is to move to normal or unm odif ied push-ups. As I ment ioned above, I im agine that everyone is famil iar wit h t hestandard push-up, so often th e bane of grade school PE classes. The start ing posit ion is shownbelow, the onl y di fference is that n ow the knees are off th e floor and th e body should be in a

completely straight li ne.

Whil e in hali ng, bend th e elbows unti l t he chest i s just of f the fl oor (as show below), beforeexhaling and straightening the elbows and returning to the start position.

Once again , dont be surpr ised if you can t go all th e way down or do very many repeti t ion s th efi rst time you try th e standard push-up. Sti ck wit h i t and youl l be able to lower yourself furt herand do more reps as you get stron ger.


15/21

15

Exercise 4: One-arm row

Possibl e the most di ff icult muscle group to exercise at hom e or wi th out equipment i s th e upperback, in fact most of th e bodyweight exercise programs Ive ever seen sim ply i gnored the problemcompletely.

To perform t he one-arm row, you wil l need someth in g to prov ide resistance. In th e picturesbelow, the exercise is bein g demonstrated wi th an object I imagine everyon e wi ll have in th eirhomes: an empty gall on m il k jug. Fil led with water (or sand if you prefer), th is can provideresistance dur in g the exercise. You wi l l also need a chair or l ow table to stabi l ize yourself on .

The one-arm row works th e muscles in th e back alon g with the biceps (muscles on th e front ofthe arms).

To perform th e 1-arm row, first stabil ize yourself on the table (or sofa, or bench) wit h one arm,the other leg can stay on th e fl oor or also go on the table. You should be holdin g the resistancein the opposit e hand, wi th the arm hanging straight down (l eft picture). Your upper body shouldbe flat t o the floor; that is, dont t urn your shoul ders. Pull in g with your back muscles, pull themi lk jug (or dum bbell ) straight up un ti l your elbow is sli ghtl y above your upper body, exhali ng asyou do so. Inhale as you lower the weight back to the start in g positi on. Thats one repeti ti on.Perform your set of 12-15 repeti ti ons before resti ng for a min ute and exercising the other arm.

There isnt any m ore advanced version of t hi s exercise, th e best way to make it more diff icul t is touse more resistance. So you can f il l t he mil k jug up wi th more water, or put sand in it , or investin some dum bbell s or rubber tubin g if desired.


16/21

16

Exercise 5: Lateral raise (optional exercise)

Although you worked your shoulders wi th th e push-ups, some hom e exercisers may wish to doext ra work for those muscle groups. Like the one-arm row above , theres no parti cularl y easy wayto work the shoulders wi th out some sort of equipment to provide resistance. Again, you can usetwo gall on mi lk jugs fi ll ed wi th water (make sure to fi ll th em equall y) or small food cans, or

dumbbells or what have you.

Standi ng wi th your two jugs (dumbbell s, etc.) at arms length by your sides (left p icture), you wi llsim ply raise your h ands and arm s up and out to th e side unti l th ey are level w it h your shoulders

(right pi cture). Exh ale as you raise th e weight , inhale whi le you lower unti l you have performedall of your repeti ti ons. You can make th is more dif fi cult by addin g more water to th e mi lk jugs,or using heavier dum bbell s. This exercise can also be done wi th rubber tubing by standing on topof i t and raise the tubin g out to t he side.


17/21

17

Exercise 6: Biceps curl (optional exercise)

Although the biceps (th e muscles on t he front of th e arm) were worked duri ng the one-arm rowexercise, some home exercisers may wish t o do more work for this muscles group. The biceps curlexercise is th e way to do th is, like th e previous exercise, it wi ll requi re someth in g to provideresistance. Again , well be usin g our handy m il k j ug.

To perform the biceps curl, start with one jug (dumbbell, etc.) in each hand with your armsstraight by your side. From thi s positi on, exhale as you curl th e resistance up t o shoulder l evel,your elbows should stay by your sides. Inhale as you l ower th e weights, thats one repeti ti on. Asalways, t ry to perform 12-15 repeti ti ons before resti ng.

As with the lateral raise, theres no advanced version of this exercise, you can make it moredi ff icul t by using heavier resistance by adding more water (or sand) to the mi lk carton, usin gdumbbell s or standin g on tubing.


18/21

18

Exercise 7: Triceps dips (optional exercise)

Although t he tri ceps (on th e back of t he arm) were hit wi th push-ups, some hom e exercisers maywish t o do more work for th em. I give you th e tr iceps dip. Youl l n eed a sturdy chair or table todo thi s one.

To perform the tr iceps dip, start w it h hands on th e table or chair and t hen walk your feet out toth e posit ion shown i n t he picture on t he left . Inhale as you lower yourself by bending yourelbows un ti l they reach a 90-degree angle as shown in t he picture on t he left . Exhale as youstraighten your arms again; thats one repeti ti on. Try to perform 12-15 repeti ti ons before resti ng.To make this one more difficult, you can put something heavy in your lap, books, smalldumbbell s or something li ke that.


19/21

19

Exercise 8: Crunch

The crunch works your abdomi nal m uscles, what most call th e stom ach muscles. Before showingyou the exercise, I want to poin t out t hat all of the crunches in the world won t give you a flatstom ach or a six -pack. Both of those goals is mostl y about reducing body fat, which is what th erapid fat l oss program is al l about. Doing crunches is more about strengthenin g your mi dsection.

Just dont think that by doing endless crunches, or doing them every day, or anything like thatthat youre going to sli m your stom ach. Do your 12-15 repeti ti ons l ike all of the other exercises,rest and m ove on.

To perform th e crunch exercise, li e back on the floor wit h your knees bent (t h is helps to keepstress off the low back). Probably the biggest mi stake people make when they do crunches isyanking their head up off the floor with th eir hands, giving th emselves neck strain. Instead, putyour hands beside your h ead or by your temples (you can also cross them across your chest tomake the exercise a bit easier).

From th at posit ion , exhale as you t ry to curl your shoulders and upper back up off t he floor t o th eposit ion shown in th e second pi cture. Please note that thi s is a very small range of motionmovement, you dont have to rise up very far to work the abdominals.

Inhale as you l ower back down and th ats one repeti ti on. Perform 12-15 repet it ion s as always.

There are a number of ways to make this exercise more difficult when doing it as above becomeseasier. One is to put the arms straight out overhead, anoth er is to put a small weight on the chest(e.g. book, dumbbells).


20/21

20

Exercise 9: Bird dogs

The bird dog exercise works th e muscles in both your upper and l ower back that are important forlow-back health.

To start the bird-dog exercise, you wi ll need to get on the floor on all fours. You may wish t o puta th ick towel or mat on th e floor i f th is one both ers your kn ees. Your hands should be directl yunderneath your shoulders and your back should be flat as shown above.

From th e start posit ion, you are goin g to li ft one arm and t he opposite leg up unt il th ey are level

wi th th e floor as shown in th e picture above. Try to keep your back flat and your head in thesame posit ion as wh ere it started. Exh ale as you l i ft . In hale as you lower th e hand and leg andthe repeat with the opposite arm and leg and then lower. That equals one repeti ti on. Perform12-15 total repeti ti ons which m eans 24-30 total l if ti ngs and lowering.


21/21

Date post:	02-Jun-2018
Category:	Documents
Upload:	55b180c3
View:	223 times
Download:	0 times

Home Exercise Handbook

Documents